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This is the first edition of my new weekly Monday Check-In series!
Every Monday, I post this newsletter to keep track of how my life, job, channel, and business are going. What’s working, what’s not, the things that happen to me, and the numbers behind it all.
If you’re new here, my mission for the next 10 years has three parts:
- Build a community of 100,000 happy creators who love their life, content, and business.
- Make $500,000 net income in a single year.
- Stay consistent enough to become one of the most influential people on the internet.
These posts serve as way for me to be disciplined and transparent about my journey — to build a business I love alongside you, so that we can do it together.
Today is September 2nd, and the main thing I’m thinking about is…
Create more stuff!
I am a creator who tells myself I love to create content…
…and that being a massive creator is the life I want, for both myself and my audience…
…yet I continually put up mental roadblocks to actually create the content.
It’s everything — from “people won’t like this” to “I’ll do it later” or “I can’t do it right now because of (excuse)” — and these are the exact statements I’m trying to push my viewers away from feeling. I want everyone to get into the habit of creating, yet I haven’t yet gotten into the habit myself.
Maybe it’s because I’m still settling in and building routines in this new house?
Maybe I’ve got some self-worth stuff going on?
My days are consumed with the same thought repeating in my head over and over again:
“I want to be creating and publishing.”
Publishing as much helpful content as I can possibly produce will get me everything I want. I know this. You know this, too, because you’re here.
And together, you and I know the solutions.
It’s so obvious:
Create more stuff!
Set non-negotiable input goals for yourself that you cannot miss.
You have to get X number of videos and Y number of newsletters out each week or you’ve failed your audience. You aren’t serving them properly. And if you aren’t serving them properly, you’re refusing to give yourself a chance at building this audience & business you say you want.
It’s a lot of the reason why I’m calling this series Monday Check-In — I have to get this out every Monday or I’ve failed.
I have friends publishing daily emails and daily YouTube videos. Their commitment to sharing their thoughts online has brought them a community of fans, customers, and business partners.
We will do the same, if we do the same.
That’s what I’m thinking about this week. Tell me what you’re thinking about this week.
Now, let’s talk about the good stuff!
The Good Stuff
This is the part of the Monday Check-In where I update on all of the good & exciting things happening around me and my business.
Here goes:
I made the decision a few weeks ago that it was time to open myself back up to external client projects outside of work. I’d closed it off for a while as I was in a particularly busy season of life.
On the day I said this out loud to myself, two projects fell into my lap — one serving one of my longest creator friends, and another intro-made-on-my-behalf-without-me-asking with a SaaS company looking for YouTube help.
I’m not a woo-woo guy but saying things out loud as manifestation is real. It’s how I landed my girlfriend of 5.5 years, but that’s a story for a different time.
I’m all settled into this new house. Put the final touches on my office this weekend, with some cable management magic and this basketball behind me as a final decoration. This space is done and it feels damn good.
My life at work has settled down. I was recently assigned to take over my old job as the manager of our newsletter agency, in addition to producing our weekly podcast & YouTube channel. It was stressful for a good 1.5 weeks but I have a refreshed understanding of the work and what to do on a daily basis, and I can handle it.
Had three fantasy football drafts this weekend. Got Amon-Ra St. Brown in all four of my leagues. I’m all-in, baby.
Now, here’s what’s got me down:
Got Me Down
This is the part of the Monday Check-In where I talk openly about the things I’m struggling with, in regards to my content, mindset, or business.
I’m not exercising enough. Could say this for the past 5 years. It’s basketball maybe once a week and occasional walks 2-5x per week. I’ve stayed around 220lbs for about 4 years now, and I’m going to stick this at the top of each check-in until I do something about it.
My plan to solve it: Get a membership at the rec center by my new house.
Networking. I’m lucky enough to have access to many of my favorite creators & entrepreneurs but I don’t talk to them enough, and I don’t have anyone here in Michigan that I can jam with about being a creator. Need to fix this.
My plan to solve it: Build it into my routine to talk to these people I look up to often. At least 2 texts/DMs a day to my connections list.
What I said before about not creating.
My plan to solve it: Committing to three YouTube videos and two newsletters per week. Monday Check-In is mandatory — my flagship piece on both YouTube and the newsletter. The rest can be anything — unedited thoughts, a fully-produced masterpiece, this new game show I’ve been working on… anything.
Now, let’s check in on this week’s Running Numbers!
Running Numbers
Every week, I’ll take stock of multiple different numbers in my life and track them here, along with their % increase or decrease.
- 2024 gross income: $39,179
- 2024 product/service sales/dollars: $6,569
- YouTube subscribers: 104
- YouTube total views: 2,539
- YouTube watch hours: 61
- Newsletter subscribers: 354
- Newsletter open rate: 45.19%
- Twitter followers: 549
- Fantasy Football record across four teams: 0-0
- Rec league basketball points per game: N/A (first game is Sept. 9)
That’s it!
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Thank you for being here!
Tim