-
Imagined realities can be shaped
For better or worse, people know what “content marketing” is. It’s a genre. It also used to make me feel sick. I felt embarrassed, as if content marketing meant that I didn’t take writing seriously. I vented about it a few years ago. When I started a business which worked with software companies on their…
Herbert Lui
-
Being frugal makes entrepreneurs less fragile
Many—maybe most—bootstrapped entrepreneurs tend to bias towards frugality. A dollar saved is a dollar earned. Saving money buys greater freedom, it also enables the entrepreneurs to survive longer, so they have more time to execute their plans or to get lucky. Here are some scenes from my career to illustrate: A client leased a beautiful…
Herbert Lui
-
When you follow your inclinations, you create a special type of luck
Very early in my career, I worked a day job writing for Lifehacker. One of my favorite posts was about how to create your own luck. The piece featured research from neurologist James H. Austin, who suggested there were four types of luck. One of these types is specific to your own personal preferences, inclinations,…
Herbert Lui
-
Don’t make maintenance a last resort
If you only ever visit the doctor when you have an emergency, you’d believe that every doctor’s trip should be urgent and borderline life threatening. “The doctor is so ineffective!” you might think. That’s not how it needs to be though. Annual check ups and visits with mild symptoms help you get ahead of the…
Herbert Lui
-
Good judgment does not mean being judgmental
Anyone who wants to make good work needs to master the art of receiving constructive feedback, knowing what to do with it, and following through with making changes. “There are no writers, there are only rewriters,” says author John Seabrook. What pieces of feedback are useful? Which is most important? What are some possible solutions?…
Herbert Lui
-
To get back into reading, choose a book just for fun
Whenever you fall off a reading practice, a useful way to get back into it is to read a book just for fun. Purely out of interest, curiosity, and joy. Some books that have done that for me lately: Office Ladies, Adversity for Sale, How Starbucks Saved My Life. When you don’t read, it’s easy…
Herbert Lui
-
Strong defense sets up strong offense
A few days ago, I observed how my work either felt like playing defense or offense in a sport. I wrote, “Saving money, living gently and slowly, and minimizing risk feels like playing defense… Getting in motion, creativity, and shipping work feels like playing offense.” I am in the thick of a season where I…
Herbert Lui
-
If you’re exploring your career, keep more options open
There will be seasons where you need to keep options open, and others when you need to commit. My friend Jason wrote a provocative article about the latter. When we recently caught up, I mentioned his article and I told him how I felt like I’d been juggling a lot of projects. I wondered out…
Herbert Lui
-
Share your reminders to yourself
If a lesson was important enough for you to remind yourself about, there’s a good chance it will be useful for other people too. A lesson is particularly helpful when you share the story that led you to learn the lesson. People remember stories. What’s obvious to you isn’t obvious to everyone else. Publish your…
Herbert Lui
-
Maybe it’s not you
A good friend of mine has worked tenures at several great tech companies. Their professional success was never surprising to me; I’d known them for years, and I knew any team would be lucky to have them. Still, when tech companies started laying people off—by the tens of thousands—they got caught in two of them,…
Herbert Lui