The Weekly Startup #11

Today is going to be a little different than usual. I'll be writing about my past week. I'm trying to explain why I did things in a certain way. I have no idea if they are the right or wrong decisions. It's just how my mind works. I hope you'll learn a thing or two.

Underneath some topics I placed polls. If you want to learn more about the specific topic you can vote for it. This enables me to make the content you really care about. Help me help you!

In today's email:

• How to beat inflation (don't be a victim)

• How the economy works (Watch this instead of Love Island tonight)

• How to start a Side Hustle: (Different approaches to go at it)

• How to get the most value out of your existing assets and skills (A book)

• Proof that it's really easy to succeed (And why most people don't)

The only way to beat inflation is by increasing productivity.

For the past 2 weeks, I've been working from Spain. I've travelled here alone. Tomorrow my girlfriend joins me for a 3-week holiday. I will still be working during that. 3-week period, just not as much as the last 2 weeks.

For some people, this might sound strange. I hear a lot of "You're travelling alone???" comments. I'm not writing this to impress you or create the image of me being some remote working guru. I'm writing this to give context to my reasons. (And fuck what people think)

When you dedicate a period without distraction solely to work you can accomplish a lot of things in a short period of time. At home, I get distracted faster. Over here, alone, I don't have anything to do besides work.

So what I'm trying to say is "Schedule time to do deep work once in a while."

Now linking to the title. I've shared this video before, it's Ray Dalio explaining how the economy works in a 30 min video. I would recommend you watch it. It's the most complete and easy way to get a basic understanding of where we are today.

In it, Ray Dalio refers to one simple concept. In order to increase your spending, you need to increase your productivity. Or put simply, if you want to spend more, you've got to work more. This is what makes a strong economy, and the concept works for a single business as well, and also for the individual.

I like to increase productivity on the side hustles I have. So for the past 2 weeks, I've been working hard on all of them. I've launched a new website and optimized it for local SEO. I've optimized another website for SEO so it will rank better going forward. And I've created a new content strategy for a third one.

So basically, if you want to beat the current situation, and beat rising costs, ask yourself where you could increase productivity.

Starting a new side hustle

One of my websites is a content website you've probably seen before. I've been linking to it from here. > www.Startuplibrary.xyz <

What I did the past 2 weeks was the following:

• I've added Google Adsense to it to make some future money

• I did keyword research to look for keywords and topics with high traffic

• I optimized for mobile, making it faster

• I've added a Job Board

I'm not going to dig deeper into those specifics today, if you would like to learn more about how I did the above vote yes down here and I'll create the content.

What I want to explain today is the road that brought me here.

A lot of people think that every business should be created from scratch. That those ideas need to be new and unique. But I didn't start the above website from scratch. I don't have a passion for writing texts. It has evolved from my other hustles. Let me explain.

As you probably know I own several Instagram pages. With a total of approx 1,5 million followers. I didn't grow them from 0 either. I've bought one of them at 545K and traded the others for ad space. I never paid 1 dollar of my own money for them.

I'm going to do the same thing I did above. If you want to learn more about the specifics of how I did those deals, I'm happy to explain it if there are people who want to learn. So hit yes in this poll if you want more about it.

So I didn't start any side hustle from scratch. I pretty much bought all of them and then grew them to be more profitable. All the other side hustles evolved from here. So this mailing and the website are add-ons to the existing Instagram pages, they evolved from there.

As you might know, I earn most of my money from selling ads on my main Instagram page. On the website, I've installed Adsense which enables Google to do ad placements. So basically, the more traffic I drive, the more people sometimes click an ad thus earning me money. It's not a big fat pension play but it's a new source of income. A similar play. would be possible for this mailing. I could sell ad space in the future.

While we're on the topic. Would you opt-out if I would sell ads in this mailing? I've put a poll below: You know the drill 😛

So to conclude. What I do is pretty much:

1. Find well performing content on Instagram

2. Find the specifics people use to search for this content (keywords)

3. Create more in-depth content on those topics for my website

4. Drive traffic to the website

So my 2 new side hustles (this mailing and the ad-enabled website) did arise from looking at my existing assets and building upon them. No need to find something new. You can go and buy something or look at your current skill set and see how you can build new things upon it. A great book that helped me learn how to do this is:

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition

If you're into marketing I highly recommend you read this. Jay Abraham (the author) is a real hustler. I love his 0-dollar approach.

It's really easy to become successful

I'm not being arrogant here. This week I've concluded the obvious. Call it the secret to success. At first, it annoyed me, but then I got to appreciate it. And so I want to share it with you.

This is week 11 of this mailing. I've shared a lot of resources already. And I can see what you click on. And how many people click. So last 2 weeks I did some tests. On Instagram and here I've dropped resources that somehow relate to the topics on most people's minds.

Think of resources to make it really easy to get started. Like book summaries of must-reads if you want to start a business (The Lean Startup). But also more general content like "12 best books that will teach you how to build a startup" which includes a mention of The Lean Startup.

And of course, I've dropped the "Viral Posts" the posts that you'll find if you follow all the motivational accounts out there.

Here is what I've learned.

This is one such "Viral post". Basically what it says is you have to pick your hard. To demonstrate this example. You can complain about your situation, or you can put in the work and create a better situation. Both situations are hard. It looks like many people understand this concept. since 1906 people have double-tapped on this post.

Then comes reality.

When I make a list of the books you need to read to better your life, or in this case, essentials to help you start your own business. 63 people actually click the link and see check the books.

But that's not all. A list of books is one thing. Now comes the drilling down. So I thought it would be nice to drop some summaries. This would enable people to spend 10 minutes reading, grabbing the core concept and then deciding if this book would be worth consuming as a whole.

This is what that looks like in reality:

So here we at. 5 people tapped the link in bio to read the summary. And this was the most popular book so far. It's also one of the only books you need to read to understand how to run a startup. A lot of startup owners I know literary say: Just read this book.

So to sum it up. I have 1.149.000 followers on this account. 1906 like a post that states that you should choose your hard. Are you gonna complain or are you going to put in the effort to better your life? Then 63 actually check what books to read if they want to start a business. (which they pretend to want looking at the content they consume and the nature of my Instagram pages). Then 5 actually click a link to read a summary of one of the most popular books.

Now, I don't even know for sure if those 5 finished the summary. And if they did, how many would you say read the actual damn book?

So you want to know my secret to success? It's also dropped in a lot of different forms on Instagram. Many quotes are written about it. It's all about actually putting in the work. Learn new shit, read shit, then try and implement it. Actually, do something, try something, start something.

Seriously, if you are reading this you are probably 1 out of 5 people left to do so. People are lazy. This is exactly why so many get scammed. Because they want the easy fix. They want to double-tap the quote, not read a book. That's why posts about "12 Netflix series to get you into the 3% are so popular". Because people are lazy fucks. There, I said it. And I can since we are at a point in this mailing where 99% of readers already tuned out.

So if you're reading this, consider yourself one of the lucky few. You've got what it takes to outperform most people out there. Your curiosity and will to do something about your situation will bring you the success you're looking for.

All the motivation you need.

Now, if you got here and you are thinking: But I still have no clue what to do. That's fine. There is no rush. The fact that you're exploring, that you're reading, consuming. That fact is a sign that you're going. to find what you're looking for. That's the only motivation you'll need. Just keep doing what you're doing. Because at this stage you're already. outworking a shitload of people.

Even if you feel like you don't, just look at the numbers above. Out of 1.149.000 people that follow me, you are probably among 4 others to read this sentence. It's this "skill" or persistence to succeed that will actually help you succeed.

While people are looking for a quick fix, getting scammed along the way, you're right here, learning. And it's exactly this mental switch which leads to success.

And the funny part. Eventually, you'll realise that it actually was easy. Looking back, my decisions and recent growth went pretty fast. The hard route turned out to be pretty fast after all. Just not fast enough for people who want to become a millionaire by double tapping an Instagram post.

If you made it this far, I want to thank you. If you feel like you need some help or just want to share what's on your mind you can reach out to me via my personal mail right here. I'll answer personally (since I will probably receive 5 emails tops 😝 ). So let me know what's on. your mind, what you're struggling with and I'll see if I can help you out.

Thank you!

How You Can Help Me. (If you like this mailing)

First of all, thanks a lot for reading. It motivates me to create and find more content going forward.

I want this information to be free for everyone. The world will only be a better place if chances are distributed more evenly. Inequality is already growing too fast. It's up to us to tighten the gap.

You can help me grow this educational platform I'm building in 2 easy ways (that cost you nothing).

1. Share this newsletter with friends who could benefit.

2. Follow me on Medium (I need 100 followers to get paid by Medium for my writing)

Thank you!

You made it to the end. I hoped you liked the insights provided in this mailing. This email is brought to you by Startup Library, a brand of The Growing Investor. I intend to shift my cheezy quote game on Instagram to a more serious game where I share with you the resources I use to keep myself updated and motivated. If you got any suggestions feel free to reply to this mail or send me a DM on Instagram. If you found value for a friend I would appreciate it if you'd share this mail with them and have them sign up as well.

Thanks again and I'll see you next week with new resources to shake your professional world.