#50 – 07 Apr 2023

We’ve all heard it:

“Be professional”

I have previously spoken about turning pro. And as creators running a business, we do need to be professional. 

But something must be said about embracing the amateur mindset as a strength when starting. 

Amateurs do things for fun. They break the rules and go with the flow.

Often this doesn’t lead to much. 

But sometimes, it leads to new breakthroughs and discoveries.

After all, they don’t know what they are doing. They were just having fun.

They had nothing to lose; they weren’t professional.

They aren’t hung up on being perfect.

It’s all about the love of the game for them.

They will quite happily share their subpar work.

And because of this, they get better over time.

If they keep showing up.

Experts are often closed off from the world and locked into their existing ideas. The amateur is unafraid to ask a silly question, break the norms, or undermine authority. 

I’m not writing off the professional. We should all aim to be professional. 

I advocate bringing some of that “beginner’s mind” to our professional work.

Doing something is better than doing nothing.

Here’s Austin Kleon on amateurs:

They’re just regular people who get obsessed by something and spend a ton of time thinking out loud about it.

There is some merit to this idea in the current climate.

Obsession 

I have seen Zach Pogrob (@behaviorhack) blow up to over 1 million followers on Instagram in the last year with the concept he has been developing:

Follow obsession

People are lapping it up and diving into their respective obsessions.

I like how Zach distinguishes “obsession” from “hustle culture”:

Obsession is the opposite of ‘hustle culture.’

You don’t grind. You don’t force anything.

Obsession is natural. When you follow it, it flows like water. Creating isn’t work. It’s a natural extension of you.

Zach Pogrob

So the crazy thing is that all these regular people (amateurs!) are inspired to follow their obsessions and dive deep. In the process, they are carving out a new purpose in life and becoming a professional.

Think of the caterpillar going into the cocoon and transforming into a butterfly.

This is me in this newsletter exploring all these ideas around my obsession with “follow your creative calling”. I’m creating online to build a new, more fulfilling way of life and a one-person business that supports me.

On being certified

Sometimes amateurs have more to teach us than experts.

Austin Kleon

That quote sums up why the creator economy exists!

People enjoy learning from other regular people who are a few steps ahead.

And remember, we are talking about creative fields here. Not the obvious regulated professions, where you need a qualified and experienced expert. For example:

• You will see a surgeon if you need knee surgery.
• If you need legal advice, you will see a lawyer.
• Or my old profession, hang onto a good accountant when you find one!

But on the fringes of the mainstream is where the creator economy comes in for general skills that aren’t taught so well in school or university.

For example, I have learned much about sales, marketing and online business from “unqualified” creators. This sounds funny to me, as I have completed a university MBA – the gold standard business degree. It was a rewarding experience but taught me nothing about building an online creator business. And I am a chartered accountant who worked in a wide range of companies and industries, but that did not prepare me for the intricacies of a solo creator business. It’s a different game, and it’s not taught in schools, as it’s unfolding before our eyes.

Twitter, YouTube, podcasts and newsletters have been free universities for me. You just have to be mindful of who you follow.

I can quickly consult various current opinions (for free), not some (expensive) business textbook written ten years ago. And you can seek out the creators who are “walking the talk” and have social proof of their results. For example:

• Learning about newsletters from someone who has built a successful newsletter.
• Learn about fitness from someone who has the body to prove it.
• Learn about business from someone who built and sold a company in your domain.

I’m not talking about the pretend gurus:

• Who grows on Instagram by helping you grow on Instagram
• Who read the same three books on marketing and are now the LinkedIn “know-it-all”.
• Who tells you that you can solve your life’s problems instantly by getting up at 4 am and having a cold shower.

Or consider something like podcasts that have blown up in recent years. It’s hard to find up-to-date and relevant information outside the creator economy. 

The “amateurs” are in control.

They don’t have university degrees.

They aren’t certified.

No, they are real people who weren’t afraid to get after it, following their obsession, learning deeply on a topic, and then sharing what they know.

Ironically, these people now become the most “trusted” experts with the biggest audiences on their given niche or topic.

A story comes to mind from the marketing entrepreneur Russell Brunson. In his book Expert Secrets, where he addresses one of the imposter syndrome objections he often hears from his coaching clients:

“But Russell, I’m not certified. I can’t help people yet.”

This is one objection I hear way too often. “I’m not certified. I don’t have a degree. I haven’t been to school for this. How can I possibly claim to be an expert?” I always smile when I hear these words come out of someone’s mouth because I know where I came from.

I ask them, “Well, I’m curious. You paid me $50,000 (or $100,000) to teach you this stuff. What do you think my credentials are?”

They think about it and usually say something like, “I don’t know. Do you have any marketing degrees?”

I say, “Nope. I barely graduated from college, and I got a C in marketing.” I didn’t get good grades, and I don’t have any certifications to my name. But guess what? I’m really good at getting people results. My results are my certifications.

Let that point sink in – my results are my certifications.

Could you say the same thing about your work?

It makes me realise we often don’t focus on the most high-leverage things.

I have spent thousands of dollars on coach training. 

But do you know where I learnt the most?

From actually coaching people.

Not reading books or sitting in a classroom. 

The books and training get you only so far.

The famous Mike Tyson quote comes to mind:

Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the face.

Haha, that captures it perfectly. Particularly with my coaching example, you could have done all the study in the world. Still, until you get in the arena, you don’t know what it’s like, and some curveball will metaphorically “punch you in the face”.

Knowledge can be a trap

That’s the key. You don’t have to be the most knowledgeable person in the world on your topic, you just have to be one chapter ahead of the people you are helping.

There will always be people in the world more advanced than you are. That’s fine. You can learn from them, but don’t let it stop you from helping the ones who are a chapter or two behind you.

Russell Brunson

We often think we need to “know more” to get started.

That is just another form of procrastination. 

Another fear.

Something you hide from.

But we must cultivate a new mindset here, as we have value to add to those a few steps behind us.

Academic experts or superstar entrepreneurs are sometimes too far down the line of knowledge or success. So they can struggle to be of basic value to the average person reading a blog or watching a video on YouTube.

The more we know, the harder it is to communicate in regular terms. Unless we happen to be gifted communicators. And let’s be honest, not everyone is. 

We get caught in the weeds of knowledge as we take all the assumptions and mental models we have built over time for granted.

We forget what it’s like not to know.

It’s like learning to ride a bike for the first time. It seems impossible, at first, to stay up and balance, and we cannot manage.

But then snap!

Suddenly it clicks.

And we can’t “not” balance.

It becomes second nature.

And when someone asks us how to ride a bike, we say:

“I don’t know, you just ride.”

We’ve forgotten the micro steps which got us there.

Document your journey 

This is why it is important to be documenting what you learn as you go.

• Keep a journal
• Write digital notes
• Share content.

This becomes super valuable to beginners. 

Beginners learn more from people who are only a few steps ahead of them.

The fellow pupil can help more than the master because he knows less.

The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met.

The expert met it so long ago he has forgotten.

C.S. Lewis

And you know what the secret is?

Most people online are absolute beginners at whatever they are searching for.

Can you see the opportunity?

Follow that obsession.

Share what you know.

And the people who love what you love will find you.

Your inner compass is telling you something. 

It’s time you started listing.

Your new life awaits you.

We’re all amateurs

The world is changing at such a rapid rate that it’s turning us all into amateurs.

Even for professionals, the best way to flourish is to retain an amateur’s spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown.

Austin Kleon

Yep.

We don’t have it ALL figured on.

Nobody does.

AI. Chat GPT, anyone? 

The world is changing fast.

Horizons are moving as I type.

We can’t keep up with everything. 

So embrace that amateur spirit and welcome the unknown.  

You need to use your voice to “find it”.

I used to worry a lot about voice, wondering if I had my own.

But now I realise that the only way to find your voice is to use it.

It’s hardwired, built into you.

Talk about the things you love.

Your voice will follow.

Austin Kleon

One of the things amateurs get worried about is “finding their voice”.

Gurus always tell us to find our voice.

Or find our niche.

Or find our passion.

But really, we don’t “find it”. We create it through some kind of action.

To find our voice, we use our voice.

To find our niche, we experiment with different niches.

To find out passion, we try things we are interested in.

It’s all about action.

We can’t sit around waiting for our voices to strike.

It just doesn’t work that way.

So we must stop wasting our precious time waiting and instead start acting. 

This point is where the amateur and the professional mindsets meet.

The professional takes action, even when they don’t feel like it.

But don’t lose that “beginner’s mind”, the amateur mindset – follow an obsession and go deep on something that may seem ridiculous to the professional. Lean into uncertainty, and don’t get hung up on existing rules or what people think of you. 

That is where you may strike gold.

Reflection

Are you following an obsession? How would you define your current “obsession”?

Is there something you are not “qualified” in, but you have earnt a wealth of knowledge or practical experience?

Could you currently say your results are your certifications?

How can you shift your focus to results?

Talk about the things you love. You will find your voice. 

How can you spend more time in the arena, and less time in tutorial hell?

Have you started documenting your journey?

A quote to ponder

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

What happened this week 

This was part 2

I’m on my Easter holiday. So I hope you enjoyed this part 2 inspired by Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work.

Oh, sh*t. I just realised I have nothing planned for next week! 

Let’s see what this amateur can cook up 😅

Final thoughts 

Today’s writing background playlist was lofi cafe on Spotify. 

Happy Easter!

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It would be great to have you on board!

Cheers!

Matt K. Head