Make time your friend – not your enemy

The story of?my creative journey?begins with startups. And in the startup and tech world, speed is really important.

If your company doesn’t show rapid growth and improvement from day one, you’re not interesting to investors. If you aren’t interesting to investors, you’re not interesting to the media. If you’re not interesting to investors or the media, building your company is going to be harder and slower…

So from the moment you start, you’re up against the clock.

There are all these adages like “move fast and break things” or “fail fast.” Time is not your friend when you’re building a startup company.

But now that I’m in the third chapter of my creative journey, I’ve found the opposite to be true for independent creators.

This week I was interviewing Michael Bungay Stanier, the author of the popular books?The Coaching Habit?and?The Advice Trap?for an upcoming episode of?Creative Elements.

We were talking about his path into building an agency and starting to write. And when he was talking about “writing his first book,” I clarified, “We’re talking about?The Coaching Habit,?right?”

“No, I actually wrote four books before?The Coaching Habit.”

First of all, yikes, I should’ve known that from my research.

Second of all, Michael wrote and published FOUR books before he really hit with?The Coaching Habit!

Those books each had their own varying degrees of success, which Michael is and should be proud of. But I don’t think he’d fault me for saying?The Coaching Habit?is what introduced him to so many readers.

It’s just one example in a?slew?of examples of creators who worked for?years on their body of work before finding a success that really propelled them to another level.

Succeeding as an indie creator comes down to your willingness to keep going.

There is so much noise and so many other creators competing for attention. But I’d bet you’ve felt the temptation to give up before…and most people give in to that temptation at some point.

You can win as an indie creator by simply continuing to show up, dedicating yourself to improving your craft, and making time your friend.

If you do that over a period of years, math takes over. If you see any growth at all, no matter how small, math and compounding results will help you.

Albert Einstein described compound interest as the “eighth wonder of the world.” He said, “He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays for it.”

And not only are you putting yourself in a position to succeed through time and compounding…but you’re?creating opportunities for luck?to strike.

But the key is creating habits and expectations that allow your work and process to be sustainable over the long term.

You’re ambitious. It’s natural to feel some impatience or frustration with your progress. But as an indie creator, time is on your side. Make it your friend, not your enemy.

If you liked this,?subscribe to my Sunday edition of Creative Companion.

#78: Marie Poulin [Inconsistency] – Earning $40,000 per month as a course creator

Marie Poulin?is the creator of?Notion Mastery. Marie helps ambitious business owners design their life and business systems, so they can make space for growth.

Notion is one of her favorite tools for making your goals visible and taking action on your ideas, and she loves showing folks how to use it to Supercharge their productivity.

Marie educates people on how to use Notion on YouTube and through Notion Mastery, her 12-month, semi-guided learning journey. She provides video instruction and all kinds of templates as a starting point, which she pairs with weekly live office hours, an online community, live demos, coaching hot seats, and even some additional workshops.

In this episode, we talk about Marie’s transition from agency job to full-time freelance, her discovery of online education, her foray into creating a software product, the origins of Notion Mastery, and why her inconsistency hasn’t slowed her down one bit.

Listen to the episode ??

PS: Want to enroll in Notion Mastery? Support the show by enrolling through?my affiliate link!

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Hey, I'm Jay Clouse! And I'm here to help you find?creative independence.

Most of my creative energy is directed towards my podcast,?Creative Elements, and my newsletter,?Creative Companion.

I've created a number of courses and?workshops?including my best-selling?Podcast Like The Pros?and my?Freelancing School Course Bundle.

I want to support YOU on your own journey to creative independence.

The path is long, but you can do it. And I'll be right there by your side, encouraging and inspiring you the whole way.

You can also connect with me on?Twitter?or?Instagram.