Exponential Growth From 0 📈
Ha! Get it? 😉 My lame joke out of the way, here are my observations...
(3 min read)
Did I reach a breaking point?
We could at least call it a tipping point.
After working since 2006 for various employers, I reached the point where it felt harder to help employers build THEIR dreams and wealth than it does to take the (scary) leap to build my own.
“Choose your hard.”
I’m getting started on my solo journey now.
It might take YEARS.
I'll feel paralyzing doubt and fear at times.
But I've been lucky enough to see sufficient examples of people:
🟢 patiently playing the long game
🟢 believing in themselves
🟢 sharing their journey vulnerably
🟢 helping others
🟢 thoughtfully designing their life
🟢 reaping rewards (eventually)
And those role models were more than enough activation energy for me.
What would feel like a grand-slam to me, personally?
Let's start with what would NOT.
❌ Creating a “job” for myself
❌ Working 40+ hr/wk
❌ The freelancer / consultant hustle
❌ Living on social media and sending tons of DMs
❌ Packing my calendar with 1:1 calls
❌ Pressuring people into purchases
❌ Starting a podcast or YouTube channel
❌ Working in “sprints” and “launches”
I love being in full control of my calendar.
These new life choices allow me to free up time and create flexibility.
E.g. maybe my partner Katie and I will decide to become parents. 🤷♂️ We don’t know.
What we know for sure is that if we have a baby, we’ll prefer spending time with them more than with coworkers.
I’m creating that option.
I’m creating many options.
I don’t want to sell my time anymore.
Instead, I aim to create income-producing assets.
Helpful content and tools that others find valuable enough to pay for.
Infinitely scalable (and available for purchase 24/7, even while I’m playing or sleeping).
On one hand, it’s an audacious goal. What an unconventional path.
On the other hand, maybe it’s pretty basic.
If I don’t overcomplicate it, and if I don’t quit, I really can design my life how I want.
There are 341 M people in the USA and 8 B people worldwide.
Even though I’m not yet crystal clear on what I’ll offer, I know there will be enough people interested.
When I hit my stride, my days will look like:
Waking up when I want
Walking around Martin Lake with Katie
Writing a batch of helpful content (whether newsletter posts, courses, or LinkedIn)
Checking email only 1-2x per day, and being thrilled to see the appreciative messages flooding in, as well as receipts from digital products sold overnight
Playing basketball 🏀
Dabbling in fun side projects
Eating delicious vegan food 🌱🍽
Sleeping deeply
What sacrifices would I make to design that life? A lot.
At first, it looks bleak. This is normal.
I’m a beginner, and I don’t know what I’m doing. I need to embrace that.
Technologist Ray Kurzweil says that even experts fail to internalize the nature of exponential growth.
After all, it starts out very flat!
Trends are unrecognizable as exponential until much later.
Here is my newsletter data and projection:
Oh no! Crickets. Yikes.
But if we zoom in, we can see something encouraging:
Hey! That’s going in the right direction!
And zoom all the way out to see the full picture:
These are the same chart!
Exponential growth is powerful. Consider:
compound interest
bacterial replication
technology adoption
viral content
etc
You can make an educated guess about whether a habit of yours could experience a snowball effect. ❄️
Maybe you’re hoping to gain a social media following.
Or attract more newsletter subscribers. 😏
Those are both areas where you know that exponential growth happens.
Can you keep showing up?
Can you hold yourself back from interrupting the magic?
Can you persevere during the horizontal part of the line, having faith that the line will turn more vertical eventually?
Easier said than done—I know.
Other caveats:
Growth will be jagged and won’t follow a formula perfectly.
Subscriber growth ≠ income growth
The biggest success stories are from people who did shit you won’t do(I don’t want to think about that one) 🤫
The amount I’ll need to learn this year is so much that I’m glad I’m not fully aware of what I’m getting myself into.
So check in with your “why”.
This much I know:
I want to invest in myself.
I love freedom and optionality and making decisions for myself.
Timeless and universal principles are more important to me than fleetingly relevant skills, so I’ll prioritize my learning accordingly.
I want to make life easier for people.
I love inspiring others (which often requires taking risks).
The corporate world often made me feel like 🤮.
My body feels better when I’m not forcing myself to do what someone else wants.
My plan with this newsletter is to send entertaining and helpful stories just Tuesday and Saturday.
Be sure to hit the 🔔 at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcwalsh so that you don’t miss out on the stories from the in-between days, though! Come say hi! 👋
Also, who else might appreciate being here?
Thanks so much for spreading the word!
👀 Caught my eye this week:
“What The Prisoner's Dilemma Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything”
Yet another stunning Veritasium video. 3.7M views already, well-deserved. Recommended not just by philosophers or economists but also by psychologists (including my partner Katie). The recent experiments and conclusions were new to me (and heart-warming).
🕙 What we learned in recent posts:
🟢 The power of slow, power of long, and power of 3 little lines
🟢 How writers hit 500k subs and make posts succeed
🟢 Why I expect to go from 0 to 10k subscribers in 12 months
🟢 I turn 40 today. I'm excited about...
🤔 Question for you:
When have you stuck with something without needing to see encouraging results for a long time?
Or whose stories have inspired you when they demonstrated such commitment?
Reply or leave a comment!
I’ll be so excited to write back to you.
And if you've got a moment, I'd love to hear what you thought of this email.
Send me a quick message — I reply to every email!