🚀 Is this the end?
That's what 365 days of writing taught me...
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🎞 New Mini Documentary: Overthinking - Under editing
⏰ Time it took to write: 10 hours 8 minutes
This is going to be more of an honest evaluation of the year than a Why-How-My-With structure article, which you've come to expect from me. 🧐
But I promise I'll put more lessons learned than that! 😎
A little introduction to frame the whole article.
I started writing this blog 365 days ago, that's when I made the decision that even though I "hate" writing, I would make the effort and try something new. Something that no one in Hungary has ever done before:
Documenting my journey to $1,000,000, while focusing on the lessons learned and writing out anything that might be even a little bit useful to YOU. The goal is to give you an arm's length view of what it's like to be an entrepreneur, what the highs and lows are.
This is how the OM Blog started! 🚀
And the purpose of this article is to:
📚 Summarize the lessons learned from 1 year
🫤 Share the low points
🔮 Looking ahead to what the future holds
But before we get started, let's look at...
🚀 How's the challenge?
🎙 We've got the Alex Hormozis Podcast
We need a little more time to get this into publishable form, as we'd like to get a little film around it, which could be the subject of the next Documentary. 🎞
But it was a defining experience in my life, we covered topics like:
What are the winners better at?
How would you scale the BookBase?
How to learn to learn?
How would you change the education system?
What was the hardest decision you ever made in your life?
and other such tidbits...
I promise you; it will be worth the wait! 😉
📚 All Book 📕 Reviews in one place
Dave was kind enough on the Discord server to pull out all the Book Recommendations I've recommended so far in 1 year. 🔍
He made it available for you on this page (HUN): https://cautious-oregano-09a.notion.site/OM-blog-k-nyvaj-nl-f35265dc395641eb9a470c89900dabd1
He said he'll work on it a bit more to make it more organized, but I think it's a perfect place to start.
Use "Ctrl + F" or "Cmnd + F" to search.
Many thanks to Dave! 🙏🏻
🎯 The new Goals are coming
We will soon be coming to the end of our 3-monthly targets, which we have more or less met. I'll write a more detailed explanation about that! ✏️
Now it's time to set new goals, which we'll do in the next week!
The focus will definitely be on "Reducing Cancellations" and "Improving App Usage"! We will focus on these and nothing else! 👁
Let's see then...
📚 What did I learn?
The last year has also been a serious journey of self-discovery for me. Since I had to show new things week by week, it pushed me pretty hard to improve myself at an insane speed. Which of course I am happy about!
I'll break down the biggest lessons for you to make it more consumable!
1. What simple determination can do 🧠
Suddenly overnight I decided I wanted to do this and for at least 1 year. At the time I didn't think about how much work and energy it would take. However, you know me so well that if I promise myself something, I will keep it no matter what! 💪🏼
That's what happened to this one! I decided this was what I wanted to do and from then on, I stopped making excuses and committed 100% to my choice.
There were no alternative options, just me and the Blog! So, after a while my brain really realized that there was no way out of this and then started to help me. It helped me how to be more productive, how to optimize the task and how to write better articles. ❌
That's when ideas like this came:
Always write in the library
Have a concrete skeleton for the whole thing (Why-How-To)
Write an outline
Have a publishing checklist
I should write a list of papers, etc.
All-things that helped me complete the assignment.
This is what your mind can do if you use it well!
📕 Book recommendations: Vadim Zeland's book "Real Surfing" shows the power of exactly that. It's quite spiritual, but a brutal good read. One of my favorite books by Iman Gadzhi! It's also summarized in BookBase above!
✅ Publication Checklist
Outline written
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How we stand written
Why section written
How section written
What part written
Challenge written
What I read written
What I listened to written
Quote selected
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Read through
Complete with emojis
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2. Responsibility 🙏🏻
In the beginning only a few people read my posts, then overnight we were at 15,000, then 20,25,30 and it just went up week by week.
It was then that a football match got me thinking a little. At that time there were about 15,000 people reading the mail. I was watching a LaLiga soccer match when the commentator announced that the attendance had just come in with 14,780 people in the stadium. 🏟
Then I froze for a moment. 😳
I said, if there's a crowd like that and it's 14,780 people. That's how many people read my mail every week...
And that was the moment when I reassessed everything. I took it even more seriously from there, because I felt that if I didn't write good enough letters, I was letting down a whole stadium of people. And I REALLY didn't want that! 🔥
From now on I didn't write for myself, I wrote for the readers!
3. Better finished than perfect 💪🏼
I had a system that every Friday at 9:30am a little rocket would arrive in your email inbox. And it always had to be around 9:30. Because that's when everyone was expecting it.
If I hadn't been prepared, I would have let down the people who were prepared to read it. 😒
So, I was constantly in an internal battle between "It's still not good enough" and "Get it done because time is short".
Could I have written better articles?
Of course, but then I certainly wouldn't have finished it in time!
💡 Side note: That "could I have" I don't know how grammatically correct it is, but it's the only one that fits.
So, I had to make a rule for myself. Namely:
I must strive to write the best article I can, to the best of my current knowledge, by 9:30am on Friday. What I can fit in until then I will put in, what I can't, I will leave out and I won't feel bad about it.
It was this agreement that gave me a little peace of mind afterwards. 🧘🏼♂️
📕 Book recommendation: Austin Kleon's book "Show Yourself" perfectly exposes this problem for us and convinces us with reason why it is better to show our work to the public than to hide it!
4. The importance of deep work 👁
A surreal amount of time goes into writing 1-1 blog post. You see, it usually takes between 7-10 hours. However, few people know that it's 7-10 focused hours where I block everything out and just focus on that.
💡 Side note: The only thing that interrupts my writing i.e., taking a drink of my water a foot away. I usually work on the post in 2–3-hour blocks and rest in between.
I read Cal Newport's "Mindful Work" shortly before I started this blog. 📒
The first 1-2 articles seemed very long, I was entertained by them for days and that's when my brain helped me and tried to optimize the task. One of those suggestions was "The Mindful Work".
So, I developed a routine for myself that I always follow when I am at home. It's a routine like a boxer preparing before a fight. 🔄
I get up, I get ready
Go down to Lipoti Bakery for breakfast (strictly 2 pastries)
Come to the Lyceum library
Sit on the same chair
I put out the same water bottle
My phone automatically switches to black and white and turns off all notifications
Then I open the computer and the Substack editor appears with the sketch I wrote yesterday
This usually happens every Wednesday of the week and always the same way
I don't get up until I have the first finished draft (2-3 hours)
This gives my mind the freedom to put all its creative energy into writing. Because until then, it doesn't have to make decisions about almost anything, always, everything goes the same way, like a well-established system! 🧠
I honestly believe that if we told an average person to write an article of this quality. Anything you could use; it would take nearly 20-30 hours of work.
For me, it's not 10 hours because I'm any smarter, I'm just very focused and can get more done in the same amount of time. 👁
📕 Book recommendations: Cal Newport's book "Focused Work" will quickly convince you why it pays to work with focus. Something awesome about how little quality work the average person can get done in a day. You'll find it in BookBase!
5. How much your environment influences you 🏛
It makes an insane amount of difference what you do, where you do it. For example, I can't write an article at home or at my Mum's. I just can't because either the Kossuth radio is on or the music is playing or an ambulance is passing by and it throws me off.🫤
There is almost no one here at the library but me and my thoughts.
💡 Side note: And the books, with brutally beautiful furniture, it's a great feeling to work in a place like this, if you have the chance, definitely try it sometime!
It's quiet here by default, everyone is focused on their own business and conversations are very rare. Evidently, if you want to date, the library is not the best place, but for focused work I think it is! 👨🏽💻
If I didn't have to shoot so many videos, I think I'd be working here every day! I'm sure my productivity would be better!
Trust me, there comes a point when it's no longer fun to work from your bed at home! 🛏
Try a new place and see how your focus changes!
6. It helps me organize my thoughts 💭
I've found that writing out my thoughts helps me organize them too. I can't write a ramble here because you'll think I'm a complete idiot. That way I have to "chew" my thoughts a lot more before sentences like this come out of them.
Besides, if I try to explain a topic in a way that a 5th grader can understand, I have to simplify it. That way I can quickly identify my "blind spots", the parts of the topic I don't really understand. 🤔
💡 Side note: It's part of the Feynman Technique to try to explain it to a child, and then see what you don't really understand either. You reinterpret it and try to explain it again. The result is that sooner or later you will understand it too!
Since writing this blog, my thinking has changed a lot, mostly thanks to this. After all, you are coached here on a weekly basis and you are always simplifying and simplifying! 🧠
I'll add that I have plenty of room for improvement, but I feel like I'm on the right track! 💪🏼
7. I don't hate writing that much 😄
Perhaps the biggest realization for me was that I had labelled myself as a bad writer because of my bad old Hungarian watchmaking experiences. That was until I forced myself to take that label off.
Then, as I moved forward in time, I realized more and more that I really liked writing. It feels good to sit down and think long and hard about something. It gets my brain moving, organizes my thoughts and has a thousand other positive effects! Since then, it has become one of my favorite pastimes! ✅
Lesson: Always question your old habits, because they might not be relevant to you anymore! Don't let 1 bad experience ruin your mood for life! Feel free to go to a singing class or enroll in a dance class or do anything you feel like giving a new chance! I don't think you'll regret it! 😉
📕 Book recommendations: If you're interested in writing, Stephen King's book "On Writing" can be a great way to get started.
📕 Book Recommendation: Or, what's also known as the Writer's Bible, William Zinsser's "On Writing Well". This will give you more practical tips. Both are available at BookBase!
Did you know that: You get gifts for every person you invite, and they're valuable gifts:
1️⃣ Invited - 🧭 A Guide to Targeting E-book
3️⃣ Invited - 📙 Exclusive Workbook with Practical Tasks (with the most useful books I've read)
🔟 Invited - 🎥 Self-confidence Course with 11 videos (showing you specifically how to be more confident in business, meeting people and making friends)
Thank you! 🧡
🫤 What were the difficulties?
I would be lying if I said it was easy and that anyone could do it. Anyone can do it if they are as committed as I am! But unfortunately, that can't be said for everyone.
There was more than one point when I too was thinking about quitting or just taking a break. It's been a mental rollercoaster of a year and those were the hardest things:
1. I always had to adjust my week 🗓
Since I always wrote on Wednesday, I knew that on one hand I couldn't go anywhere on Wednesday and on the other hand I couldn't stay late on Tuesday night, since I had to get up in the morning.
💡 Side note: The Offline meeting was on Wednesday and therefore I wrote the blog all day Thursday, sight unseen.
This was unpleasant for me in a way that my freedom felt a bit limited and the worst part of it all was that I "forced" this limitation on myself. 🫤
But here again, commitment helped a lot, if I'm committed and I've come this far, I don't want to give up here for some petty reason.
Yes, I had to cancel a boating trip, a party or even a barbecue, but I have to say, IT WORKED! Because I kept my promise to myself. 💪🏼
2. Write during the road trip 🚗
This was probably THE hardest! When you're literally on a bucket list trip and you want to enjoy every moment of it, but you know you've made a promise to yourself and it's going to take 4-5 days out of your 25-day trip. ❌
That's when I really strongly considered taking a break just for this little while. But I remembered the stadium and all the young people who answered emails and I just couldn't do it.
I had it in my mind that I would then change my usual writing routine. I'm not dedicating 1 day to writing, I'm writing a bit every afternoon and evening. That way I only lose 2 hours of each day, but I don't lose a whole day! 🧠
And it worked again! Again, I just had to will it! ✅
So I didn't have to give up as much, but I was able to keep the promise again! 💪🏼
Were those my best posts?
Far from it!
But, did those posts help readers?
100%!
"Remember, done is better than perfect!"
3. Constantly come up with new and interesting topics 😥
After a while I felt like I was completely out of topics. Physically I didn't know what to write about anymore. This is called creative burnout, when suddenly you don't know what to produce content about. And there are so many things, so many angles to look at things, but you're so exhausted of this mental "muscle" that you don't see these possibilities. 😓
That's when I asked my Instagram followers, what problems do they have?
I received 100s of responses, aggregated them and got 13 new topic ideas worth writing about and with relevant experience.
💡 Side note: Yesterday I did a podcast with Alex Hormozi and he said that the biggest problem with articles on the internet is that it's hard to find credible sources because "He who doesn't do, does the writing". Here he meant that 1-2 articles are translated and collated and you have the new article under your own name. But that there is no substantive knowledge in it!
Then I started to work on these topics and lo and behold one topic turned into another and then a third and so on. So, from these 13 ideas, I wrote about 37 articles in total. 😲
Lesson: Ask your readers what they are interested in, what are their problems? Then see which of your life experiences so far fits your topic and just start writing about it. Then it will come from one topic to another, I promise! 😉
4. Fighting my never good enough mentality ⚔️
As I have already described in the lessons learned. It was hard to let go of my mentality that I want to write the best article I can. Yes, but to write the best article, you need maybe 10 times as much time, which I didn't have! ❌
Perhaps this was the biggest lesson I learned from the Hormozis Podcast when he explained the difference between a gold medal and silver medal Olympic runner. The difference is literally very little 🤏🏼 in the end. But maybe the gold medalist trained 10x as much to finish so much further ahead. However, that minimum time was worth a gold medal, not a silver. It's the winner take all mentality. And, if you look at the content, it's the same. You don't want to read a good article on the subject, you want to read THE BEST, because you don't have infinite time!
I'm increasingly drawn towards that, but I knew I couldn't live up to that mentality here, as I have a very tight time limit. I have to write 1 article a week.
So, we've taken that mentality to YouTube and I'm living it out in Documentaries with Geri. There we have more time for 1-1 content and because of that we can do the best! 🎞
🔮 What's the future?
I've been thinking a lot about whether to continue this? 🤔
Can I say anything new? 🧐
Is it good for me mentally to keep myself within such tight rules? 🤨
And the answer for now is...
YES! 🔥
I will continue, for the time being, in this framework, and then I may make some minimal changes. I'll show you what I have planned for the future:
1. Monetization? 💸
Next year, I need to figure out a way to monetize, which means I need to somehow turn this into a money-making machine. It could be a premium version of a newsletter, finding sponsors or simply just selling ad space.
However, I also saw that 78% of people wouldn't be worth 2,000 forints a month for this knowledge, which was both painful and sobering to see that we need to do even better! We need something extra to bump up the value to make the 2,000 forints worth it.
If you have any ideas on this, I'd love to hear them! 😉
Just drop me an Instagram or email me! ✏️
The point is, it has to make money somehow. Not because I'm so money focused and so tight-fisted, on the contrary!
That would give me the opportunity to invest more money and more energy! 💰
I also have 1-2 plans on what I would invest in most, but that will come in the next section.
I believe that this could be self-scalable, which would result in more people reading the articles, which would result in more revenue, which could be reinvested in doing better research, inviting credible experts and asking for their opinions, and thus better articles. Which would result in more people reading the articles...
📕 Book recommendations: Kevin Kelly's book "1,000 Real Fans" describes this dilemma perfectly. From 1,000 subscribers, you could get 2,000,000 HUF cash flow per month, which could easily be used to hire 2 people, pay for the software and even have enough for marketing! It only takes 1,000 real fans to change your life!
2. What would I invest in? 💰
I would definitely hire someone who can help with research so that we can find the most credible sources. 🧪
Someone who I could send my thoughts to via voice message and they could be reformatted into a draft that I would later transcribe and add to. 📝
The goal is to hire a person, first part time and then full time, for this task. Which in itself would result in an exponential increase in the quality of the articles, I think, as I would then not have 10 hours to write one, but 10+20 hours!
The first step to Leverage is manpower! 💪🏼
If we were going to invite credible people, we could also do a Podcast with them, which could also be added to the newsletter as extra material. 🎙
For each article we could make a help material, with exercises, charts, anything to help the readers understand and incorporate what they learn. 📒
And I have similar, crazy ideas! But I'm also looking forward to recommendations here.✏️
3. Move to Beehiiv? ✈️
I love Substack, but it has its limitations. Beehiiv is a much more complex piece of software, designed specifically for what I want to use it for. ✅
The only problem is that it is paid and what we need is 40.000 forints a month. I'm not saying that it's unaffordable, just that it's a bit of a jump from 0 to 40.000. But you know:
"What is expensive is not what costs a lot, but what doesn't pay off."
We'd see much better analytics in that.
There would be automations, for example, if someone doesn't open a letter that's been sent for 3 days, they get it again. Or, if someone unsubscribes, at least they could say why. 🤖
Not by the way, you can set any number of invitation rewards there!
You could even get different rewards for each invitation and that's what I think will make it really valuable! 🎁
Finally, a quick recap:
I truly believe that I achieved my goal, not only by writing 52 Blog posts, but also by producing useful content that young people could learn from.
True, the $1,000,000 is not there yet, but what goes around comes around! This will be especially true in our case!
Thank you for being part of this journey and for reading in and out of my casually rambling thoughts on a weekly basis. Without you I might have stopped a long time ago!
So, thanks again! 🙏🏻
🔥 Biggest obstacle
The Hormozis call has highlighted that churn is our biggest problem, which is the "attrition" of people. Ergo how many people are cancelling, on a monthly basis, the BookBase. ❌
That's an insanely high number for us, which could mean a lot of things:
The app is buggy
The summaries are not good
Young people still don't like reading
So, for the next period, I think that's all we'll focus on!
Overall, Alex had a very good opinion of BookBase, but there was one sentence that really stuck with me. I think it will keep us motivated for a while now:
"I don't wanna be in a business that has that much churn."
"I wouldn't want to invest in a company that has such a high churn rate."
We have no secret desire to get the Book Club to $3,000,000 in annual profits so we can apply for Acquisition.com's portfolio and work with Alex! ✅
So, the goal is there, all that's missing is the path to get there! 💪🏼
👷🏼♂️ Fix It Friday
Fixing the bugs took longer than I thought, but now the new version will really be out. One way or another it has to go out!
Since then, a few more bugs have been fixed:
Allow multiple books to be listened to in one day for challenges ✅
Book not available bug fixed ✅
What's still on the front page:
No hit screen when searching 🟠
Support center complete overhaul 🟠
📖 What have I just read?
I've just read Geoffrey A. Moore's book Crossing the Chasm, which mostly explains how when you introduce a technological innovation, how you can get customers. Or rather what categories of customers they fall into. 📝
Innovators
Early adopters
Early majority
Late majority
Laggards
🎧 What have I just listened to?
I'm not going to lie; I haven't listened to much business this week apart from reading. Perhaps one of the more important ones I'd highlight is a chess strategy video. The London System was explained in it. ♟
You know I've been really into the world of chess lately; I play chess for half an hour every day just to exercise my brain and be more strategic. 🧠
u.i. If you know of any brutally good chess content producers who teach chess in their videos, please don't spare me, email me! 📧
✍🏼 Top quote
"God will sell you anything for the cost of labor." ~ Leonardo da Vinci