Category: Creator Confidential
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Sometimes, you just gotta wait
In 2019, Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation partnered up with the NFL to advise on the social justice initiative Inspire Change and advise on the Super Bowl halftime show. That year, the Super Bowl drew in 98.2 million viewers. It’s a coveted event for recording artists to play. Before working with Jay-Z, the NFL…
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Meeting people with cold emails
An extraordinary professional moment happened to me in a very ordinary finance class. Instead of paying attention to what the teacher was saying, I read an article in HBR and emailed the author asking for advice about how I could find my passion. They graciously responded with valuable advice—essentially, to try a lot of things!—and…
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A path to consistency
An earlier blog post I wrote has been bouncing around my mind lately: consistency starts with inconsistency. If the fear of commitment—or the avoidance of hard, consistent work—prevents you from getting started on something, the best solution is to find another way to see it. What could make the work easy? Do you need to…
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Polish as a commodity
Here’s an interesting idea: don’t use your editing time to polish a post (i.e., tightening up sentences, making line edits, rephrasing, etc.). Instead, use it to do more research. For example, find a better example—one that surprises you (and, hopefully, the reader). You could also look for a related concept to tie into the piece.…
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Primary focus
“Figure out what your primary focus is and make progress on that every day, first thing in the morning, no exceptions,” Nabeel Qureshi writes (while hat tapping Tyler Cowen). “Days with 0 output are the killers.” This was the gentle reminder I needed, and I shared it in case it might help you. 0.1 output…
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Four ways to reach out to your network for (job) opportunities
I recently contributed to a discussion on Hacker News about the pains of job hunting. In particular, my comment was on the topic of tapping the people you know on the shoulder, without sounding too desperate or forward. Rather than worrying about how you come off, focus on being intentional instead. You want to know—and…
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Algorithms charge an ignorance premium on marketing
When you write (or make videos, music, etc.) and rely on an algorithm or platform to distribute your work, you are also paying for it to do so. You may not realize it during the good months, but in the bad months, you’ll start wondering where your earnings went. The platform will always have a…
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Don’t worry about getting chosen
There are plenty of good people making good work who don’t get selected for the lists—30 Under 30, bestseller list, honor roll, etc. That doesn’t take anything away from their work. It certainly doesn’t diminish them in any way. Similarly, making the list doesn’t guarantee success either. “I know somebody who had a number one…