Seanwes Podcast

If you’re not yet making a full-time living with your business, that’s okay! It can feel like having a day job is a step backwards, but really it’s the foundation of everything you’re building. It’s enabling you to build your business the way you want to build it. I often see people waiting entirely too long to start bringing in revenue with their business. Even if you’re working a day job, you can still start making money on the side! A lot of people wait to start making money with their business “until it can be sustainable”. They’re thinking of it more as a leap when instead they should think of it as a transition—an overlap. How do you know when you’re ready to make money? Where should you start? What’s the easiest way? We’re talking about all of those things today.

It can be hard to ask for help. We feel bad, we feel like we're inconveniencing someone, and often, we think we can find a way to do things ourselves. It's true: you can be a lone wolf and figure everything out on your own. But you miss out on the benefit of relationships. You miss out on giving someone else and opportunity to feel helpful and important. Think about a time where a friend asked you to help. Helping feels good—but not only that, it's required to build a relationship. I used to think I was "wasting" my credits by asking for help. You know how you do a favor for someone and they "owe" you? Well, I was always hesitant to waste that "ask" until a friend explained that's not how it works. A relationship is built through giving and asking—over and over. You're supposed to repeat it! It's like exercising a muscle. Like with exercise, you can't start out with the heaviest weight. You have to start small and build up.

I've said in the past: I don't want a trade paper version of Overlap to exist. This past weekend, I was in Franklin, Tennessee speaking at Tribe Conference. While I was there, I met a smart lady who works in publishing. She asked me about my goals for Overlap. I told her I wanted the message to spread as much as possible. She said, "What if I told you your quality restrictions are working against your ability to accomplish your goal." I said, "I'm all ears. Push back." The punchline was that she strongly recommended I consider making a trade paper version of Overlap. It would be more economical, more accessible, and would facilitate the spread of Overlap. Going into this episode, I haven't made a final decision. You'll get to hear me and Ben figure this one out on the air.

Someone shared a tweet by John Mayer: "I don't wanna talk on the phone but I'll trade voice notes with you for 90 minutes." I thought it was pretty funny. I know I catch myself sending tons of texts or voice notes before realizing I could have saved time by calling. Obviously, the biggest reason for the rise in popularity of audio clips is asynchronous communication: people want everything (including conversations) on their own time. But more interestingly, I think people also want to be heard. When you send a voice memo (as opposed to making a phone call), it forces the other person to actually listen to your message. They can't interrupt a recording. Most people aren't listeners, they're wait-to-talkers. This begs the question: Why is it that we are such poor listeners even though we all so desperately want to be heard? There may be something to slowing down the communication method and forcing each party to actually listen to each other.

You've spent so much time working on your product, and it's finally time to launch. Now, you want people to know about it, care about it, and buy it. I've launched a lot of products and seen (as well as made) a lot of mistakes. I've learned a lot and I'm applying everything I've learned to my latest launch. Today, I want to take you behind the scenes of what I'm doing to promote my new book, Overlap, which launches on September 14th.

On September 7th, one week before the Overlap book launches, we're releasing a new documentary! "How to Write a Book" is a film Cory McCabe has been working on for over a year. This 22-minute documentary takes you behind the scenes of writing my first book. In today's mini sabbatical episode, I interview Cory about the making of the film. I suppose you could say it's a behind the scenes look at a behind the scenes film! We'll be talking about Cory's thought process, how he came up with the narrative, and why it almost didn't happen.

When I say “day job” people react like I said a four-letter word! Getting a day job is not giving up on your dream. A lot of people feel like having a day job is holding them back. They're eager to take a leap. But trying to monetize your passion too soon is what will kill your passion. When you don’t protect your passion by first covering your bills with a day job, it will be crushed the first time it encounters resistance. You have to protect it. Protecting comes in the form of a day job. You have to protect your ability to make objective decisions and your ability to say no to bad opportunities. When you put yourself in a position where you have to make money from your passion in order to survive, you will be desperate. This desperation leads to compromise on many things—including your prices, professionalism or morals. A day job that covers 100% of your bills is what prevents scarcity mindset. Build a solid foundation and then overlap. Overlap is a transition, not a leap.

You just want to do the work, but then some business influencer says you have to build hype before it's even ready. That means creating content, right? Who has time to create content? It's hard enough just to do the work! A big mantra Gary Vaynerchuk has is "Document. Don't create." What he means is, don't get caught up in feeling the pressure of constantly having to create. Your story and your journey are both interesting—share them! Share the process of getting where you want to go. Share the journey as you work towards getting there. I completely agree. And while Gary has made a video and written an article on this topic, I think it deserves an even more in-depth discussion to explore some examples of what documenting looks like. We're going to help reduce the overwhelm you feel when it comes to creating content.

We have information coming at us from all directions: social media, videos, podcasts, leaders, influencers, peers, mentors... Much of the advice that's shared is well-meaning. But a lesson just learned by someone who is far ahead of you may not be relevant right now. It very well could be the right advice but for someone in a different position. Getting the right advice at the wrong time is just as bad as getting the wrong advice. How do you find advice that will help you where you are right now? How do you know the difference?

From a young age, we seek love, acceptance, and approval from our parents. This deep-seated conditioning extends to many other areas of life as we get older, but it's not always a good thing. Your need for approval creates anxiety. Ever find yourself compulsively checking social media notifications? Approval addiction negatively affects your performance. It keeps you from focusing on the right things and making meaningful progress. How do you stop worrying about what other people think?

Ever try to fit too much into your day? Do you feel like you should be doing more, but at at the same time you have absolutely no capacity? You get to the end of your day and there's still a mountain of things left to do. Meanwhile, you haven't dedicated any time to your mental or physical health. A new email just came in. Someone's knocking on the door. Your watch vibrates with a text message. Your computer displays a reminder of a meeting coming up in 15 minutes. We say yes to too many things, don't think carefully about what really matters, and try to fit too much into a day. Is it any wonder we feel overwhelmed? Aaron Dowd joins me on today's show to talk about overcoming mental overwhelm.

I have a big idea called Overlap. But that word doesn't mean anything to anyone else until I explain it. While I have enough to say about my big idea to write the book on it, I also need to be able to communicate that idea in a simple manner. That's where today's episode comes in. I thought it would be fun to do a conversional episode with Ben about distilling down your big idea. We also talk about how to come up with your big idea.

Hopefully you know about my book, Overlap, launching on September 14th. You've heard me say it before: "People don't notice announcements they notice consistency." If you want people to notice your project (this could be a book, podcast, video show, course, Kickstarter, or t-shirt collection), you can't just announce it once. You can't just mention it, you have to build up buzz and anticipation by continually talking about it. Of course, you have to figure out a way to do that without being annoying or unnecessarily repetitive. To get people to pay attention, you have to grab their attention. If I want people to know about Overlap, I have to talk about it. There's a big problem though: I'm extremely introverted.

Have you been struggling with enthusiasm or motivation for a project lately? Have you encountered multiple setbacks that have derailed your progress? At any given time, we all have dozens of things asking for our attention. Sometime even demanding our attention. How do you stay focused and motivated when there are so many things trying to pull you away from your main goal? What do you do when making progress feels impossible?

In the last episode, we talked about choosing one thing to focus on. Of all the many things you COULD do, which do you choose? In this episode, we talk about what to do once you've chosen something. Now you need to project that focus. When I say "curate", what I mean is to selectively project a single focused thing. You want people to know what you're about. We have a cognitive limit, us humans. Dunbar's Number refers to our ability to maintain only about 150 close relationships. Beyond those 150 people, connections are surface level. In other words, people are forced to simplify you. They do their best in a very short amount of time to figure out what you're about. What they do next is a bit tough to accept: They put you in a box. Unfortunately, this is going to happen no matter what. There's nothing you can do to avoid being put in a box by others. But what you CAN do is define the box you're already going to be put in. How do you define the box? By curating what you share. Publishing, sharing, and

Do you feel overwhelmed with the possibilities? There are so many things you could do. So many things you want to do (or you're good at). How do you pick the right thing to focus on next? What if you pick the wrong thing? This line of thinking is a distraction. We're going to talk about how it's impossible for you to pick the wrong thing (this should come as a relief!) and why you need to pick an option and GO. Indecision is the enemy and we're here to help you get unstuck.

Some people just know what they're passionate about. That's great for them, but what about you? People say "Find your passion" like it's a TV remote stuck between the cushions, but it doesn't feel quite so easy. Passion is important. When things get tough and you encounter obstacles, passion will see you through. But you need more than passion. You need skills. Sometimes your existing skills can develop into passions. Today, we talk about places to look, how to start with skill, and why you need to pick one thing now but don't need to do one thing forever. Oh, and if you've been exploring for a while, we'll help you stop feeling like it's been a waste of time.

Ah, communication. The world would be a better place if more people were better communicators. We can either complain that they're not or work to improve ourselves and our own communication. I choose the latter! Here's the problem: other people aren't hearing you. You don't feel heard, you're not getting what you want in life, and you think it's other people's fault. You want something. You think you've told someone. They don't understand (or worse: they think you never told them), and you're left disappointed. How do we fix this? The first thing to acknowledge is that communication is both the sending and receipt of a message. If you're broadcasting and nobody's picking up the signal, you're not communicating. We talk about how you can take ownership and responsibility for communication to ensure you're heard. You'll be able to resolve a lot of relationship problems and avoid arguments if you learn how to communicate.

It’s hard to say "no". We often feel a sense of obligation and don’t want to offend anyone, or maybe we just feel bad. We don’t want to disappoint people. While "no" can be a hard word to say, it’s the only tool we have for creating more time. Yes fills time. No makes time. But it’s not enough just to say no for the sake of saying no. We need to look at the deeper reasons for saying yes. When we say no to one thing, we essentially give ourselves the credits to say yes to something else.

So you're making content, grinding it out, and publishing on a consistent schedule, but no matter how hard you work, it doesn't seem to move the needle. You're not making sales. Crickets. What's the deal? That's what your bank account wants to know. Something is broken. I used to be in IT. I ran a computer repair business where we performed on-site services. I'd get a call from a client who said something was "not working." I'd drive out to their location and check under the desk. It was "not working" because it wasn't plugged in. Something's not plugged in when it comes to your content strategy.