12 Comments

John, I think of my creator life as nothing but a series of small bets! That's why this issue really spoke to me.

I'm noticing that my bets are getting progressively bigger though... Don't know if that's a good thing or not...

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I'd say lean into those bigger bets. Nothing to lose... if they come off, great, if they don't, write it up to experience! Excited to see you grow Ishan.

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I love that approach John. Success or failure shouldn't matter. One must keep trying. At the very least, you'll have an experience to write about and draw insights from!

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Excellent issue John. Really appreciated the recap, summary, and background on Small Bets, both as a concept, and re Daniel's community. I actually joined but have just felt too overwhelmed to get onto another platform and engage. But Daniel's product course sounds useful. I recently jumped into a digital business training course by James Wedmore which I am finding excellent. It's very much in line with the turning pro idea, leaving old identities behind and taking one's self and business seriously. Just first few days of this year-long engagement led me exactly to the fundamental requirement for a small bet that you talk about here, that it's something you already know. So I started a new substack called Pivot to the Podium, to help people engage public speaking with more confidence, either for their own business or as a professional itself. Here's a link to the new project if you're interested to check it out. https://pivottothepodium.substack.com/ I'm already having to work with imposter syndrome, which is crazy since I've been making my living as presenter for the last 30 years! Oh the mind! Anyway, really enjoyed this issue, so thanks.

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Thanks so much Rick! Very excited for you and your new project. Can see your passion for helping people shining through in everything you do. I mean - I don't think anyone else reads and comments on as many essays as you do - a true champion of others! Yes, so many things going on, it's difficult to be everywhere. Check out Small Bets once you have a minute. I think you'd make an excellent guest speaker. Daniel typically pays community members to present on interesting topics and I think we could all learn more about public speaking confidence. Backing you with the new venture.

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Thank you John. I keep getting nudges toward the Small Bets community, so I'll take the hint. I appreciate your support and shared enthusiasm for my new venture.

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This was super helpful to read! I didn't realize you put your product together in one day, that really inspires me. We all have a treasure trove of experience to pull from and making the product doesn't have to be the hard part!

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Thanks for commenting Michelle! And you're 100% right. Before I launched my Notion info capture system I put it off for so long because I thought "building a product" was such a big lift. When I finally put my bum on the seat it only took a few hours to record myself, write some copy and share it on Gumroad.

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Love this summary and the inspirations you are sharing! I picked up The Coaching Habit again this week after reading your tweet. A favorite book on the shelf that is a good reference. Now I should pick up a small bet again after this post, thanks for the reminder!

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Jun 21, 2023·edited Jun 22, 2023Author

So many nuggets of wisdom in there! And here I was never valuing the impact of coaching. Happy to have met great coaches through WOP to show me better. Yes, go for it! Think you can build some interesting walking/nomad/education related products.

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I learned about this concept of small bets from Dekera's newsletter. Your article was super helpful in breaking down the steps to get started! I am a huge fan of the equations and the visuals you've created. I'm on this journey of overcoming limiting beliefs too. I'm not sure I could do what entrepreneurs do every day (having seen their sacrifice first hand) but your article makes it possible to reconsider this.

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Happy it helped Sadia! Thanks for letting me know Dekera shared this - I need to thank her :).

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