“Doing the most limits your capacity to expand. Pause.” 😌 ~Octavia Raheem

By Jessica L. Williams • Issue #272 • View online

Remember what I said last week about how it’s not so much about balancing business/life/work but more about priorities? There are chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy in my future as I try to heal from whatever is going on with my neck/shoulder. That means I’ll be taking a lot of breaks and doing everything I can to keep my shoulders relaxed and away from my ears. 😌

I’m also looking into some options that’ll make for better ergonomic situations as I’m sure that may be a contributing factor, but baby steps. Fun fact: If you use a Mac, the Voice Control / Dictation settings are pretty impressive. I’m trying to see if I can get into a rhythm of using that more and maybe save myself some typing and clicking.

Sometimes if we don’t get the rest we need, our body forces us to, so if you take anything from this, please rest, take a lot of breaks, and work on that posture.

In other news, I could use your help with something. If I were to do an interview series featuring side hustlers, what questions would you like answered?

I have been thinking about doing something like this for a while. I’d like to have questions that don’t take too much time for folks to answer and provide value. Here are some initial questions I came up with:

Tell us about your side hustle. What do you do? What products or services do you offer?
How did you get the idea?
How did you make your first dollar? Or get your first client? Or, if you haven’t yet, how do you plan to?
When are you able to work on your side hustle? How do you make time for it?
Working a job alongside a side hustle can be challenging and draining at times. How do you recharge? What are some ways you practice self-care?
What are your must-have or favorite tech tools?
What advice would you give to an aspiring or new side hustler?
Where can we find you online?

Would answers to those questions be helpful? I want to help you meet others doing this juggle and perhaps learn more tips to help you build your side hustle, so I want to ensure I get the correct info.

I’d love to hear any thoughts or ideas as I’m still noodling all of this over. If you want to directly edit or comment on the questions, I set up a Google doc here. Or feel free to reply directly to this email.

On to the picks!

P.S. Relax those shoulders. 😉

Note: This email may contain affiliate links. If you click through my link and make a purchase, that means I may receive “thank you money” at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love.

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#loves 😍

🎧. Listening: Why I love Batching Content Creation. Denise Duffield-Thomas, aka the Batching Queen, talks about content creation. I want to do more batching this year as I think it’ll help me do less, better. She and I discussed this, and I hope to get that recording up soon. But in the meantime, if you need tips on a different way to approach content, take a listen. She calls herself disorganized and lazy, but this is how she can show up consistently for her audience. Also, she only spends two days a month creating content, giving me all the #batchinggoals feelings.

📚 Reading: Black Girl in Love (with Herself): A Guide to Self-Love, Healing, and Creating the Life You Truly Deserve. I started reading this book last February, but it slipped off my radar for some reason. Then, I felt the need to pick it back up, and it’s like therapy for black women in a book. So much of what Trey talks about is relatable growing up and raised to be a “strong black woman,” how therapy and things like falling apart are frowned upon in our community, but also ways to work within that and make things better for ourselves.

🎥. Tool: Testimonial. When I checked out The Curious Bunch’s signup page, I discovered this tool and loved how Vidya displays tweet testimonials. I did it for my signup page (take a peek here), and I have to say I love it. Of course, the tool does so much more than that; it’s your go-to tool for all client testimonials, but even starting with tweets is such great social proof.

#reads

Tara J | A Well Rested Blk Woman

@WhereWomenBloom

The biggest piece of #selfcare advice I can give you is internalizing the following phrase:

“I am one person.”

Quick thread 🧵

6:19 AM - 10 Mar 2022

Why You Shouldn’t Quit Your Day Job To Become A Full-Time Creator

“If you’re just starting out as a part-time creator start with choosing your ‘sacred hour’ and hour where you will write and hopefully publish something. Then grow your time from there.”

I love how Ev walks us through how she plans her day, the times she works on her job versus business, when and how she goes about tweeting—hoping to create a post like this at some point this year.

evchapman.medium.com • Share

How To Reverse Engineer Content Monetization

“Creative pursuits are supposed to be about joy, passion, fulfillment and interest. Figuring out a way to monetize them is an added bonus. But making a business out of creating content?”

Dylan looks into a few different monetization strategies for content businesses like advertising, affiliate marketing, and paid subscriptions and how he would approach each if he were starting over.

growthcurrency.medium.com • Share

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😍. Last issue’s top pick was: How to get your first 1,000 email subscribers

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