Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
You might have heard of Substack, or even begun to use it as a reader or a writer.
It's quickly become the favorite newsletter/blog platform among many of my clients.Â
If you already have a newsletter or blog, simply copy/pasting that content over to Substack can help you access new readers. Many love using the Substack app to discover new content.Â
Substack is also where I now host my podcast!
If you're intrigued and want to learn how to use and grow on this full-featured platform, it's my next course.
You'll gain step-by-step strategies and join a community of like-minded soulpreneurs, all working towards the same goal -- building thriving Substacks that make a meaningful impact and a sustainable income.
Click below for info about the course.
Any questions feel free to comment below đđź
13 - 3
You have a rare combination of strengths that will help you in business. Look at the list of possibilities below â find a unique combination that offers you an advantage.
Be honest about your weaknesses too. Minimize your need to use those traits. It will save you time and angst. And itâll free up the energy to focus on your strengths!
The point is not to have âmoreâ strengths... but rather, to know what is your specific combination and then to strengthen it â to spend more time and energy on making that alchemy more potent.
**
Strengths or weaknesses:
If you're often told that you're attractive, you have an advantage in posting selfies and talking head videos. No judgment either way⌠other than the fact that your audience will naturally judge⌠weâre human!
I make a lot of videos not because Iâm attractive ;-) but because people say I have a nice voice, and am unusually expressive, so those are my advantages for video...
Iâm not saying you shouldnât make videos if youâre not gorgeous... but just know that itâll take you longer to grow a fanbase than a conventionally good-looking person.
**
Got more time than most of your peers? That means you get to experiment more with content, offers, netcaring and collaborations. The more experiments, the more you learn how to do it well, and see how you can do it your way!
Got more ability to spend money on ads? That means you'll have an easier time building an audience that way. Use it!
(Donât worry if you have neither, keep reading...)
**
Got more tech savviness than the average person? That means you can experiment with more techy ways of growing an audience such as SEO or Google Ads⌠versus the person who finds tech difficult, who should instead lean in on more humanistic marketing such as social media and netcaring. Your tech savviness allows you to apply more automation to your online activities, saving you time!
Do you like spreadsheets? That means you'll have an easier time organizing data and finances.
**
Live in a place with beautiful surroundings? Lucky you. Video and pictures will be to your advantage.
Have cute animals that are willing to be on camera with you? I wish my fur-kids weren't so resistant to being on camera! đźđś
Love to write? You're blessed! By contrast -- I hated writing most of my life. Still to this day, I have resistance to doing it. If I didnât teach content creation, I doubt Iâd be doing so much writing.
Are you a good teacher? Great! You will do well with creating online courses and group programs.
**
Got a network of influential people? You're so fortunate! Focus on netcaring with them and seeking their support in promoting your content and offers.
Got graphic design skills? Cool! You will have an easier time with your website, Instagram (and social media in general) and video thumbnails. I don't have such skills so I keep my designs stupidly simple đ Not my advantage but that's ok, I use other strengths.
Good at copywriting? I'm barely average at it â but I can instantly tell what's good when I see it. If you're good at copywriting, which is salesmanship-in-writing, then you'll have a much easier time selling things in writing.
**
Naturally funny? Rock it in your content!
Naturally charismatic and motivational? Content is great for you. And youâll also have an easier time selling stuff!
Got a unique quirky or unusual style or energy that comes across in writing (or on video)? It makes your content stand out, so lean into it :)
Are you good at conversation? Do more market discovery calls with your audience and netcaring with colleagues.
Some of the above strengths can be developed, of course... but if you begin with an advantage, you progress much faster with it.
That's why everyone should focus on their rare combination of gifts and minimize using their weaknesses.
**
Additional gifts you might haveâŚ
Lower cost of living or less income requirement â therefore being at peace with a more gradual pace of growing your business!
Younger (more years to experiment!)
âOlderâ (let your wisdom lines shine!)
Certification(s) that your audience knows & cares about
Non-American accent (sounds more interesting and credible, less boring!)
Gender, race, and other personal characteristics -- find audiences who would naturally appreciate those traits!
Multiple interests you can combine into a rare, interesting offering
Multiple aspects of your history / background / trauma / life experiences -- that you can combine into a uniquely strong offering.
What else did I miss? Comment below.
**
âDon't be the best, be the ONLY.â âKevin Kelly
Trying to be the best is exhausting. Instead, when you find your unique combination of strengths and lean into it, you come alive!
The less advantages you have, the more you must lean into the few that you do have. And we all have some!
The more advantages you have, the more opportunity you have to help those who are less advantaged.
Perhaps tag a friend â tell them what you perceive their strengths to be đ¤
14 - 2
Many heart-based solopreneurs rebel against the advice that we have to find and commit to a niche, narrowing the vastness of our interests and depth of our work in order to solve a specific problem in the marketplace.
If youâre reading this youâre probably a multipotentialite, integrating various modalities and fields into your work.
Same with me â my offers are niched, but not my overall brand âauthentic business coachâ is broad.
What follows is the strategy Iâve been using for 15 years⌠so if youâre niche-resistant, try it out as well:
1. For your personal brand, stay as broad as you'd like. You can simply describe your business based on values, or overall type of work (e.g. coaching, healing, etc), or your broader mission.
2. However, for each of your services, programs, products, events, get as specific as you are able to.
A coach might create a webinar about overcoming blocks to career advancement in a specific industry, and a coaching package that offers a specific modality to help someone through the challenges they have with their family of origin.
A healer might offer a service subscription for those dealing with chronic fatigue, as well as a group healing experience to ease anxiety.
**
âBut if I donât niche my whole brand, I wonât be memorable.â
My response â it doesnât matter if youâre not memorable to random people. Your audience will see whatever current thing youâre promoting, and if it resonates with them, theyâll sign up and/or share it.
Instead of fearing that you wonât be known for something specific, put your energy into making a deeper impact in your content and your service towards clients, fans, and friends.
When you give someone a meaningful experience, they have a lot more energy and room in their mind and heart to remember the thing you did that made a positive impact for them.
And thatâs what theyâll tell other people about.
**
Itâs like a musician who has multiple albums, dozens of songs. The song I remember â and share â is the one or few songs that made the most difference for me.
They might even produce music in multiple genres, and as a fan I might not connect to most of what they made⌠but the few pieces that moved my heart? Thatâs what Iâll always remember fondly when I think of that band, and thatâs what I âknow them forâ.
Same thing with you: you can announce dozens of very different offers in the next few years. But each of your clients, fans, friends will only remember the one, or the few, that was most relevant for them.
The offers that werenât relevant for them?
Theyâll have scrolled on by, and probably wonât even remember that you offered it.
Thereâs way too many other things they saw that day, some of which had more of an impact on them.
Thatâs also the danger of niching your business as a whole: if itâs not relevant to your audience, theyâll forget about your offers anyway, and you only have that one niche to test with them.
If however you stay flexible, you get to test many offers, in whichever niches you want to play in, and see what works well for your audience.
**
So, donât fret if you canât niche yourself or your business as a whole. Stay open, stay creative, and play with the edges as much as youâd like.
Unless you explore more, you wonât know which new thing you create could become your greatest hit!
22 - 1
I'll be launching a course about using Substack! It'll be co-taught with 2 other experts who are making good money via substack, writing on what they love đ
Would you like a discount link when it's ready? Kindly fill out the following form BY NOVEMBER 4. Help us rank the possible titles for the course:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiTa_EQHF7UpWvxDâŚ
4 - 2
Not sure know how long I'll keep this post public because "curiosity killed the cat" đź... and I'm really curious about the political leanings of YOU my dear community...
Kindly click on the link below and let me know...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflsosM0jI5XHhl4jâŚ
If you comment below this post, please be kind đđđź
2 - 1
Next course I'm teaching is how to use and grow on Substack. I'll be co-teaching it with 2 experts who are doing a lot better on Substack than I am đ
I'll teach the basics and they'll teach the more advanced stuff.
If you could pick the brain of Substack experts what would you ask?
What would you love to know regarding how to use/grow Substack? đđź
8 - 2
Do your ambitions align with your values?
The more attached to your timeline of achievement, the more you're in danger of "means to an end" thinking⌠the beginning of wrongdoing:
"I'll do whatever it takes to get there."
"The outcome is more important than the journey."
This ignores the toll it takes on one's soul.
**
Should you have a timeline for achieving a goal?
Itâs natural to have a wished-for timeline. It helps plan your actions and eliminate some less-effective steps for getting there.
E.g. Youâre launching a membership and wish to enroll 100 people. Great! Youâll eventually be able to do it, if you keep growing your audience and announcing the membership.
But if you become fixated on the timeline, for example, to enroll those 100 people in the next 3 months, youâll be tempted to compromise your values by using unethical tactics to meet that deadline.
Or, if you do whatâs right, and donât get to that 100 goal, youâll be disappointed and discouraged about future efforts.
To practice joy or fulfillment in the process, along the way, is to be connected to your deeper values while taking action.
That kind of care about the journey is what keeps you true to your heart, and deeply happy.
**
Look at your expectation of how much money youâll make in the next 12 months. Is that a realistic timeline?
Your ambitions for making a certain amount of money are not unethical, but your timeline might be.
The more that you require your timeline to be achieved, the more unethical you must act, or the more discouraged youâll be.
The less you require of your timeline in order to be happy, the more heartfelt you can live.
**
The secret of "joyful productivity" is to discover (and practice) the deep happiness that's available within the process of getting anywhere or getting things done.
The more we find that process-based deep happiness, the less attached we are to the outcome.
The more ethically (according to our values) that we can act, the more heart & soul gets infused into our actions.
**
Notice your self-talk
Statements that indicate a "means to an end" mindset include:
âIâll do whatever it takes to get there.â
"Just gotta get this done."
"This is going to be a slog."
"This is boring."
**
To cultivate a fulfilling-means mindset, try saying:
"Am I feeling gratitude for the opportunity to do this?"
"What aspect of this task can I en-joy?"
"What value am I practicing as I do this task?"
"How can I breathe Spirit into this task?"
**
The subtleness of long-term growth
Showing up consistently, doing similar things, again and again, aiming to always improve bit by bit along the way, is the key to success.
Yet, few people follow this, because true growth often cannot be perceived, except for occasional bigger events like the results of a launch which hides all the gradual work that took place along the way.
**
Acting with a focus on the end result, the goals to achieve, means you'll underappreciate the process.
If you can find happiness in the everyday process, you'll more easily stick with it long enough to build the skills, which then bring the results.
So that's really the "deep work" I care about: the finding of meaning within the day-to-day practice, when the results aren't yet obvious.
18 - 1
Years ago, I advocated that *all* content should be given away for free.
I've evolved my stance on thisâŚ
I realized that I wasnât accounting for 3 important factors:
**
1. The consumerâs relationship to contentâŚ
There is a big difference in energy when something is free versus paid.
Most of the time, people want to enjoy and relax with free content, but when it comes to paid content theyâre more likely to take it seriously and implement it.
Also, people tend to trust the quality of paid ideas more than free.
And rightfully soâŚ
**
2. The creatorâs accountability when being paidâŚ
There's a big difference in motivation and accountability for the creator.
When you create free content, itâs a good opportunity for casual philosophizing, testing ideas and stories, and sharing in-the-moment inspiration.
When you're going to be paid for content, youâll feel accountable and motivated to organize ideas such that itâs more likely to create results.
Paid means youâre more likely to be reliable.
**
3. Income liberates your timeâŚ
Without charging for some content, you forgo a substantial income source, which could liberate your time to create even better content.
When I first started creating courses, I gave it all away for free. It was a good way to test my ideas. As I started charging for courses, and people started buying them, it liberated my time to create better courses.
It also gave me time to create better free content too. Everyone wins.
**
Take a moment:
Think about one writer or video creator that you admire.
Wouldnât it be nice if they had more energy and time to create better content?
Charging for some of their content would allow them to serve with more happiness, create higher quality stuff, and to have the time (instead of being at a job) to invest more into their creativity and impact.
**
Go to one of your favorite creatorsâ social media or website.
Find out how you can pay them for something.
If they have a product such as a course or book, buy one, and let them know that you are buying because you appreciate their free content so much!
They will feel encouraged to create more and better free content, and this helps everyone.
If they don't currently have a paid product you want, then give them this feedback:
"If you created ______, I'd love to buy it!"
This kind of feedback is gold for the creators you admire.
Thank you for your caring and support of your fellow creators đđź
23 - 1
You're invited to a free webinar I'm teaching on October 16 --
1. Get inspired with a high level overview of Authentic Business.
2. Learn how I do authentic business planning, to stay clear with priorities throughout the year.
3. What foundations for business success do many soulpreneurs still need to put into place?
4. There will be time for Q&A.
5. Come and meet fellow soulpreneurs and gain essential insights for authentic business success in just 1 hour.
See the time in your timezone and register here:
www.georgekao.com/bizplan2025
5 - 0
This week is one of my content sabbaticals.
See you next week! đď¸
...however I do have a Wednesday announcement about my free webinar so you'll hopefully see that one đ
What is a content sabbatical?
Explained here: www.georgekao.com/blog/sabbaticals
5 - 0
George Kao is a business coach who champions integrity in marketing, instead of the predatory tactics that we have all experienced as consumers. George has personally coached hundreds of clients, and offers valuable free articles and videos about authentic marketing and joyful productivity at his website, www.GeorgeKao.com -- He's the author of 4 books, including Principles of Authentic Business: Create a Sustainable Livelihood from the Heart.