Welcome to my newsletter! For the small group that agreed to receive this, I hope these don’t hurt your eyeballs for too long before they start to get better in quality as the months go on. Feel free to pull the pin (unsubscribe) if you’re not interested. I won’t be mad, just disappointed. Ha, kidding, I won’t be disappointed either. Just go 😂.

OK, the purpose of this newsletter is to share my journey towards creating a better life for myself and family - and hopefully it helps someone else. My life is great now by the way, that is part of what I want to explore: being content while on the journey/pursuing financial independence. I basically just want to have freedom in how I spend my days, mostly to be with my wife and little man.

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People are probably confused when I post stuff on socials because I haven't sorted out what exactly I’m trying to say. This newsletter is a home base and and it is currently based on two areas that excite me the most to learn and talk about:

1. (Practical) As you all know, I am entrepreneurial at heart. I am always learning from smart people on how to make a sustainable living, outside of a conventional job or 9-5. I have not successfully pulled this off yet, though I’ll keep going until I do, and perhaps by sharing it all here, I’ll have greater accountability to do so.

2. (Peaceful) I am also a big fan of ancient philosophies like Buddhism, Taoism & Stoicisim and other mindset stuff that can help people to become more resilient and content, from the inside out.

So this is a combo that for now I’m calling ‘Practically Peaceful’. Because as much as I would like to just walk around or sit on a rock and meditate all day, that wouldn't fly with my otherwise very patient wife and the health of the family finances would suffer. She has put up with all of my crazy ideas over the years and I look forward to how my journey to being a calmer and more composed family man will also be one that makes money. The overlap is that everything I explore will be with wellbeing at the core. For example: a business/income stream won't be explored if by establishing it means that it’ll come at the cost of your health or relationships. I call these: lifestyle businesses. Businesses that are built around the life you want to create, not the other way around.

My musings and findings will go under 2 headings: Practical and Peaceful. Capito? 🙂 This approach is one that I have modeled off a fellow online writer (sounds too soon to say fellow, but I’ll run with it) Darius Foroux. His Newsletter is called Wise and Wealthy. Similar topics too, I suppose. It’s worth checking out if you’re interested by the way.

So for this week:

Practical

I am really inspired by the ‘solopreneurs’ that are blazing a new path in the creator economy, showing that it’s more than possible to create a profitable one-person business. Two people that I particularly resonate with are Dan Koe (makes $2.4 million per year) and Justin Welsh (makes $1.7 million) . A fellow Aussie creator Matt K Head, wrote a great article recently that talks about the work of these 2 guys as well as a bunch of others. The main point of the article is how to find your ‘niche’ and what you’re going to share with the world. It’s something that I’ve let stop me from getting started on this journey- That I need to be clear about my niche and have expertise in what I’m sharing.

Not true, as he puts far better than me, the niche is “you”. That’s partly why they call it a personal brand. The thing we talk about is our specific interests, goals, skills, personality, strengths and abilities. Our content will change and evolve as we do, hence ‘Practically Peaceful’ for now. This is an empowering concept.

You can check out his article here:

https://mattkhead.com/2023/02/24/tlg-44-start-building-your-personal-monopoly/

Matt is also a late thirties fella with a small family, who left a secure corporate career to pursue what he really wants to do as well. It helps to hear about others that share this fear.

Eventually this will become something that can make some money.

Any of the posts that you see on social media from me - are an attempt to get this stuff up and going ☝️.

I’m also thinking about adding income reports from these upcoming ventures for transparency, if that helps people to see the progress?

Peaceful

I wouldn't call myself religious by any stretch, though I have become more interested in Buddhism since I met my wife, whose mum is a practising Buddhist. As well as being fortunate to accompany her to visit temples and speak with Buddhist monks, there are a lot of books around her house. One that I’ve borrowed for a long while now is a small book by Ajahn Brahm, a well known monk who runs the largest monastery and meditation centre in Australia. The book is called Happy Everyday - 365 enlightening quotes. It’s just a 365 page book with a different quote on each page. One I’ll share today is: When you speak less, you listen more, when you listen more, you become wise. Definitely one I need to try to implement more.  

Some fun - a good ol dad joke:

5/4 of people admit they’re bad at fractions.

You made it! Thanks for reading!

Ultimately, this is here to be valuable to you, the reader. If there's anything you’d like me to explore more or you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Until next week. ✌️