Kia ora,

Welcome to the inaugural Business-Minded Newsletter!

Each week I’ll be sharing lessons, tips and interesting things, as someone who is also on the journey of creating a life and career that’s fulfilling, challenging and values-oriented.

The content may evolve over time but that’s growth, baby!

Estimated Read time: 4 minutes 59 seconds

The Deep Dive: F**king Around to Find Out

So often on social media, we see the big celebrations i.e. the big promotion, the business milestone etc.

But we rarely see the very first steps, which actually require much more significant behaviour change and risk, with no certainty of reward.

The first step of making goals happen isn’t glamorous or flashy. It’s usually small and easily overlooked, even by the person doing it. 

Dreaming big is great. But it’s starting small that turns ambitions into reality.

This past 12 months has been a dramatic period of change for me. I’ve gone from having a team of 6 and an office, to a completely different business model, a new city, and working in corporate fractionally on top of my agency work.

The question “what’s next?” is a question I’m still trying to answer. 🤷‍♀️

The only way forwards is, to put it eloquently, “f**k around and find out.”

This newsletter is the first step in that process.

If you’ve read this far, THANK YOU. Your support means the world. If you have any feedback or requests for next time, please reply to this email and let me know. 🥹

(for an insight into the process behind the newsletter, see below).

Steal my fool-proof newsletter development process:

1. Write down the type of person you’re trying to help aka your Market of 1 - basically a persona but with a specific person in mind.

2. Change your mind a couple of times before returning to your original idea.

3. Survey people who are your Market of 1 to find out their interests and pain points, and how they liked to consume content. (This step takes courage as once you tell people about the newsletter, you have to see it through).

4. Write a first draft and send it to a wider circle of people who also fit the bill of Market of 1.

5. Gain valuable feedback — namely that what you’ve written is a good start but the niche or target isn’t clear.

6. Rewrite 3x, get frustrated, ask ChatGPT to help you understand the common themes in your content.

7. Have existential crisis about AI knowing more about you than you do.

8. Set up free accounts on 3 different email providers. Get decision fatigue. Circle back to the first one you tried. 

9. Use Canva to bash out the world’s most basic logo.

10. Encourage people to sign up, publicly.

11. Find out your subscribe link isn’t working, publicly.

12. Faff about with email design.

13. Realise design is not your passion.

14. Proof read a gazillion times.

15. Hit send on issue no. 1. 

16. Self-five for doing the thing. ✋

Action of the Week:

What could “f**king around to find out” look like for you?

Few people want to invest lots of time/money/ effort into an experiment and then find it to have been a waste of time.

But there are actually plenty of small actions you can take to test an idea or inclination that require little time or money.

Here are some examples:

• Have a business idea/career goal? Organise a catchup with someone who is doing the role or business you’re interested in to learn how they got there. Offer virtual or a-synch options, (e.g. offer the person the option of sending a voice memo as a response to your question) as you’re likely reaching out to very busy people who may not always have time for a face-to-face.

• Want to learn a new skill? Find a free YouTube tutorial on the skill to see if you’re interested broadly in the subject matter. If so, see if there are appropriate courses in your area or online and enrol. 

• Want to get into public speaking? Find a local organisation or interest group that aligns to your expertise and contact them to see if they’d like a guest speaker. Make sure you give a compelling example of the topics you’d cover and why it’d be valuable for members.

(After a bit of “f**king around” you may find that you’re actually not interested in the thing you tried out, and that’s totally okay. You’ve successfully eliminated an option off your list.)

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “I wish someone had told me this in my last role” by Esther Dawson

Podcast ep: How to Get Good at Just About Anything by Do You F*cking Mind

Learning: Girls That Invest Investing Masterclass. Enrolments are currently closed but keep an eye out for the next one! I also read the book too, and loved having both resources.

Tech: Bose QC NC headphones. The noise cancelling functionality isn’t as good as earbuds, but they’re superb for calls, even in busy areas like cafes. Unbeatable if you do a lot of remote work.

Money: Open an account called ‘Christmas’. Start putting aside an amount in it every week. If you put $33 in each week from now until 20th December, you’ll have roughly $300 ready to grab any last minute Christmas gifts and/or to cover all of those social drinks and catch-ups.

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise