Quick note: I’ve switched to beehiiv (from kit) so this email might look a bit different than normal.
I met up with my friend Sarah Kuiken last week (right here in Sydney), and it was crazy how similar we felt about our businesses.
Both of us felt so UGHHHHH at doing the same old service for the same old clients. I mean yeah we’re both good at what we do, but its like… there’s this feeling that we’re meant for more.
I mean, I look around and see some absolute morons killing it online, giving advice and setting up communities and running newsletters and all this other stuff.
And I can’t help but think… if they can do it, why can’t I?
And of course, Sarah feels the same way, so we walked around Sydney for hours just talking ideas. See, neither of us are the kinds of people that want to package up some empty bullshit and pretend it’s amazing. We need to offer something awesome. Something valuable. Something that let’s us hold our heads up high.
Ngl fam, it’s pretty frustrating sitting there trying to think of ideas. It felt like I was the biggest cliche, coming up with the same generic crap everyone else is already doing. And eventually I got mad and just kinda erupted.
Me: You know what I really want? I want people to pay me money to tell them what to do. I’m good at that, literally everyone that follows my advice ends up smashing it.
Sarah: So why don’t you do that?
I opened my mouth to answer, and… couldn’t.
Cause I realised, it’s just… scary. Putting yourself out there with an offer of some sort is scary. Especially when it involves giving advice.
That fear has held me back from doing HEAPS of stuff, cause every time I think of something, there’s that little voice in my head that chimes in:
Who the fuck do you think you are?
Why would anyone listen to you?
Why would people pay you MONEY to tell them what to do?
How the hell would you even do something like that?
Why don’t you stay in your lane?
What, you think you’re some kind of internet guru LOLOL?
What if it fails?
What if people laugh at you?
And loads more. It’s fucking intense. And intimidating. And nerve wracking.
But…
There are people worse than me doing it. So why not me?
The challenge
Sarah, lovely woman that she is, challenged me to actually go out and do the thing.
To stop letting fear of failure hold me back and actually put myself out there.
So the first thing I had to do was actually figure out:
Logistically, how the actual fuck do I put myself in a situation where people can pay me for advice?
Not a lot of people know that I actually used to run my own business coaching and consulting practice, and I shut it down cause I hated the whole “high end, 1 on 1” coaching model.
So obviously didn’t want to go down that path. But I still wanted to help people.
I thought for ages about this, and I realised the times I had the most impact was when I was super active in communities.
Like, I tried blogging and posting on social media and it never felt right. I’m not really the best at coming up with topics to talk about. But throw a problem at me? Boom, I gotchu fam. Not to be an arrogant bastard (lol okay maybe a little), but I know a lot about a lot of different stuff.
In the covid lockdown era, I was giving so much advice in industry facebook groups that people knew who I was and trusted my advice. I built a reputation for being smart, with a strong moral compass, and giving absolutely no BS.
That’s how I ended up getting around 300 people to buy a course from me, and had a newsletter with almost 500 people on it. It was from being active in communities, and using all that knowledge to help people with their challenges.
The community
So in response to Sarah’s challenge (even though I’m actually scared as hell to do it), I’m launching the idgaf community.
It’s for solopreneurs (or freelancers) that are out there, selling their expertise, but struggling a little.
Maybe you don’t know what to say online, or maybe you’re sick of losing work cause you’re too expensive, or maybe you just want to hang out with “likeminded legends” - either way, I’m building this for you.
It’s the next level up from absorbing my knowledge and general idgaf attitude via email, now you’ll be able to do that with way more of a “live” vibe.
What I’m doing:
Weekly (at least) live calls (I’ll record them and put them into some sort of archive for people that can’t make them live). Might even do two a week to cover different time zones - I’ll figure that part out once there’s people in the group
Message board thingy where you can post your questions. I’ll be there to answer them, plus post other tips and tricks
Other smart people will join up too (they promised), so you’ll have access to a whole bunch of experts in various topics
I’ll (eventually) start putting in workshops and masterclasses on specific topics (I do these for other communities already, so why not ours)
What’s awesome too: you’ll be in this community with other people going through the same shit you are. Fuck crying in the shower by yourself!
And more stuff as I think of it (also open to feedback and ideas)
Full disclosure: this will probably be a bit light to start with. Definitely a weekly call, definitely a message board thing (cause I’ve already set it up), and then more stuff will happen when I know people are actually willing to join.
This could end up being awesome. Mayyyyyybe. It kinda depends on the people that jump on board I guess.
The offer
And that leads me here. How much is this thing gonna be?
Well, my plan is to charge $100 a month…. but I think that’s way too much for something brand new, with barely any people, and no proof it’s worth it.
So for launch, I’ll make it $25 a month (75% off). And I’ll lock that discount in for as long as you stay a member, cause if you’re willing to support me with getting this thing off the ground, I’ll support you by keeping your membership cheap AF.
You can check it out and sign up with the discount here:
I’ll run this offer until September 30th my time, so if you’re interested, jump in before then. The earlier the better tbh, cause the more people that jump in, the more fucks I’m going to give and the more energy I’ll put into it.
If you have questions, ask me.
Hey where’s the usual helpful email content?
Ooh sorry almost forgot. Here’s the helpful bit:
Cliche as it is, have you ever thought about what you’d do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Not the funny shit I give like “skydive without a parachute” or “rob a bank” but all the genuine shit.
In my case, it happened to be “start a community.”
In your case, it could be join a community (heyoooo - jk), or post a video, or write a post on LinkedIn, or niche your service, or launch a new offer, or create a course, or some other shit that makes you break out in a nervous sweat.
Whatever the thing: What’s holding you back? And what’s the worst that can happen if it goes wrong? And most importantly, what’s the BEST that can happen if it goes right?
After all, if I can have the audacity to tell people to pay me money to hang out with me virtually (it’s probably worth it though), why can’t you have the audacity to do your thing?
ps. I have a new (personal) website
Also, I made my new website live yesterday. I spent a lot of time on it, but I think it’s pretty cool.
You can check out my pixelated self fighting off the gurus and suits over at the all new https://nickgulic.com/
Cowabunga,
Nick Gulic
ps. Wondering what ideas we had for Sarah? I’ll let you know when she does her thing!
