The Mossletter 29
Hello Friends,
I hope this little electronic transmission of bits, bytes and symbols on the interwebs finds you well. I hinted at this a bit in my last letter, but I’d like to share with you something I’ve been working on for sometime now …
⭐️ Welcome To Micah’s Guides
👀 Super-Short Version
I’ve created a new business called “Micah’s Guides” — check it out!
🧐 Longer Version
❓What The Heck Is Micah’s Guides?
Micah’s Guides is a little business I’ve started where I create fun and engaging online instructional videos (and release them on Udemy).
🤔 Why Did I Decide To Build Online Courses?
Yeah, I mean it sounds a bit rando, right? Well to be honest, several things pulled me into this:
While I’m very grateful for the current employment that I have — someday — I will be my own boss.
I listened to an audiobook recently called “Don’t Start A Side Hustle: Do This Instead”, and the author got me thinking about viable business models … and while starting a side hustle can lead to amazing outcomes, if the business model I’m tethered to doesn’t really “scale” without my direct intervention* (*translated: without me putting in a ton more time) then those types of businesses can be hard to maintain. (Or to think about it another way: would I rather build something once, and get paid for it once — or would I rather build something once, and get paid ten times for it, a hundred times, a thousand times, etc?) Anyway, the author talks about several different types of “passive” or “semi-passive” revenue streams, and I guess you could say the concept of building online courses “spoke” to me.
I don’t know about you, but we don’t currently have a ton of space at our place …so the idea of a business built purely on digital inventory / assets indeed has a certain allure.
Those who have known me for years know that I’m kind of a nerd about several things: writing, art / design, film / video, etc … I’ve built up skills over the years learning how to write and make my own video content (primarily for software companies), and of course, writing and building videos is something I enjoy doing … so why not do it for myself?
When thinking if I’m qualified to make a course on a subject, I ask myself:
Can I share a solution to a problem that has vexed me for years? ✅
Can I say (objectively) that I likely know more about a particular subject than, say 90 - 95% of the world? ✅
Can I share something I’m passionate about? ✅
If my chosen course subject touches on one or more of these ideas (and ideally, if it hits all three — bingo-bango 🎯), then yes, why not create a course and share what I’ve learned with the world (and make some money while I sleep)?
🧠 What’s The First Course About?
The first course is titled “Micah’s Guide to Journaling With Mindfulness”, and this is pretty personal to me (which is probably why I chose to start with this one).
Long story short, I’ve been trying to figure out how to have a consistent journaling practice in my life for over ten years* (*I actually just looked back at my first journal entry, and it was in May of 2011, and my second journal entry was three months later … I guess you’ve gotta start somewhere? 🤷🏻). Needless to say, I wasn’t very good at the whole “journaling” thing for many years … I’d start it up, stop it, start it again, rinse / repeat.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I realized I (truly / madly / deeply) needed some sort of positive outlet for my (private) thoughts, and if I was able to create a daily habit that helps me “reset” everyday — then it would be worth pursuing. More than ever, I felt like I needed some additional “structure” in my day (if only for five minutes), and after much trial and error — I eventually figured out a simple yet effective workflow that “clicked” for me (and now I’ve consecutively journaled for more than 1,000 days in a row)! As a bonus, this habit is also a nice introduction to the principles of “mindfulness”, as the writing prompts are centered around research found in cognitive behavioral therapy.
🎟️ Alright Bob — Tell ‘Em What They’ve Won!
So as readers to this humble blog / newsletter / Mossletter, I’d like to give you an opportunity to own this course … for free!
Yup, if you’re interested in taking this course, you can “purchase” this for the low-low price of zero dollars (you just need to have a free account with Udemy).
Why am I giving it away for free? Well, on the one hand, I wanted to do a little something for people that have (for whatever zany reason) remained on this email list! Also, it’s not going to be free forever, just for the next several weeks (more on that below). Finally (full disclosure) this gesture is not purely altruistic … there are no-strings-attached here, however, you would effectively be helping me “beta-test” this (so to speak), and if it turns out you do like the content — I would hope that you would consider sharing it with a friend (who you think might benefit from it) or perhaps leaving a (kind?) rating or review.
Enough boilerplate — here are the details to the promotion:
The course is currently live, but it’s “private”, in that it requires a password to access it (I’ll open it up to the wider Udemy marketplace soon).
Here’s the link:
https://www.udemy.com/course/draft/5000816/?couponCode=MINDFUL-MARCH-2023
Here’s the password:
journalingFTW
Here are the promotion details:
The coupon expires on March 28, 2023 2:00 PM PDT (to which the course will then revert back to normal price, or whatever price Udemy currently offers it as a sale promotion).
Phew! I know that was quite a long read — thanks for sticking with me and for being a faithful reader! If you (also) happen to be spinning up new projects or businesses — I’d love to hear about them! Drop me a line and say hello.
🖋 Parting Words
If you’re not failing, you’re not trying enough different things. — Tim Cook