WC 015: The Indifference of a Vast Universe
I'm back!
Feels good to drop in with you after a bit of a much needed break, and admittedly, some hammock hustling on the side.
It's funny how these things go.
I haven't taken a peek at my email stats in well over a month, and I'm pleasantly surprised to note a rather significant uptick following the training Ry and I did with Deadline Funnels for their Evergreen Summit
It's not too late to peep those recordings if you missed it during the live drop.
So yeah - if you are joining here after that epic event, welcome!
I'll do my best to not take your readership for granted, should you choose to stick around.
It's been an interesting week getting back into the flow of things, as I’ve been ramping up for not one, but two different launches that hold significance in the directionality of my business going forward.
Lots of implications for my progress on fairly challenging goals that I’ve set for myself.
With the "pause" for time away in Costa Rica, I intentionally created space to really lean into both preparing for this “busy season”, and also give 100% of my working focus towards creative thinking about how to approach these projects.
(and let’s be honest, I also was looking forward to some time away in the sun and surf).
But in all seriousness, despite my best intentions, ability to plan, and skill of strategizing, I’ve still found myself deeply bogged down by stress this week, and accompanied by a deep sense of “efforting”, or wanting to make sure things go “exactly right”.
With one of my projects, things are off to a bit of a slow start, and my mind can’t seem to stop racing, trying to “fix it”, rather than trusting how the plan unfolds, and having faith that I’ve already done my part, and the rest will be a bit of a tango.
Such a fine line between the application of more effort, and trusting the flow.
At least for me.
More evolved minds may find it easier.
But that’s where I’ve found myself this week, dropping my self-care habits with reckless abandon, in favor of checking those DM’s “one more time” to see if something is happening that requires attention.
It’s all so silly when you think about it.
But the fear is real.
We go “all in”, and give 100% of ourselves to our creative pursuits, and when the future feels uncertain, it requires a degree of skill to find rest amidst the tension.
This never really gets any easier, we just get better at moving through the feelings.
If you are feeling the pressure in your biz right now, know you aren't alone.
No matter how far we might come, and how “together” things look on the surface, this is a shared, common experience we’re almost certain to feel at various points along the journey.
And with these feelings, I can honestly say I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Uncertainty gives rise to the spice of life.
The “juice” or “rasa” as one of my teachers would say.
Here's What I Want to Share This Week:
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Growing a list, launching a program and scaling a business is a whole lot harder than it was in 2014 when ads were cheap, lead magnets were cool, and Steph Curry was still finding his range.
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Who We are Celebrating This Week: Nabeel Azeez
"Bald. Bearded. Magnificent"
Anyone who kicks off an introduction with these three words is a friend of mine.
Nabeel has been in my peripheral vision for the last year or so, hanging around in our FB group, so I was excited to see him taking the dive to become one of our first charter members in CTC Circle.
He was also super generous leading up to joining, pointing me to some quality Circle resources to further optimize our community setup.
Nabeel co-owns a small email marketing agency, Dropkick Copy, with his brother. He helps entrepreneurs enroll more clients, manage their email lists, and optimize email revenue (among other things).
If you are curious to learn more about his work, check out Nabeel's 44 email marketing tactics to boost response. You'll probably find something on the list to boost your creative thinking.
This Week's Curiosities :
Build Deeper Relationships With Your Community (link)
I found this tool last month when I was starting to piece together the community experience for CTC Circle.
"Oh My" was all I could muster as I was rendered speechless by the implications.
Burb promises to empowers creators to build flourishing,
community-first businesses.
Now that's something I can get behind.
But in all seriousness, while it's still early (they are in early-access invite stage), this looks like a product that's built to win.
It essentially allows you to automate a lot of your community management experience without having to get too far into the weeds with tools like Zapier and Make.
Think of all the toys that you've ever wanted for managing your FB group that Facebook never will let you have (but for Circle).
It makes tightly-woven cross-platform experiences more feasible and less complicated for the everyday course creator.
This is one to watch, and I'll be breaking down a few ways we're using it in the near future.
Sign up for Burb via Early Access
Glock Apps (Link)
I was getting my dopamine fix in the Twittersphere the other day when a tweet by a pretty smart CTC Circle member caught my eye:
I removed one image from an email and saw a ~38% increase in inbox placement.
Same content...
Same links...
...just minus one 62 kb jpg.
Kinda nuts. pic.twitter.com/A7VR4VC1TjMay 11, 2022
I looked a bit closer, and saw that this was in reference to some testing being done via Glock Apps.
Worth a look if you are in need of some deliverability testing.
Airalo (Link)
Get $3 off your first purchase using the referral code PHILIP5352
Getting a local eSIM for international travel has always been a bit of a hassle, and the alternative is to either a: get fleeced by your domestic provider at home or b: switch over to Google Fi which also can become a bit of a hassle, in addition to the fact that I've found that there are many countries where it still doesn't work nearly as well as getting a local number.
Enter Airalo to save the day. I found this by chance during my time in Costa Rica when my Google Fi was failing me hard.
I've seen a few other services like this, but this one worked like butter.
As long as your phone is set up for eSIM, you can have a local data connection in minutes if not seconds.
Thank me later.
Volley (Link)
Volley is a video messaging app that makes it possible to talk face-to-face flexibly. It's a killer app for coaching, community, and collaboration.
I'm giving it a try in Tier2 of CTC Circle, and think this one might have legs.
Curious how it works?
I'd like to think I'm pretty friendly most of the time.
Memorable Quote:
I read this quote earlier this week by Swami Shankarananda and it really struck me as deep truth around how I often experience business and life:
"When life does not go the way we would like we acutely feel the indifference of a vast universe that is unresponsive to us, to our needs, to that which we value, and to that which is important to us. We struggle to provide for our families, for love, for creative expression, and to become what we intuit we can be. Struggle is inherent in the nature of life and creates tension within us. Meditation comes as a welcome ally and dissolves that tension if we let it work on us”
With appreciation,
Phil
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Wizard's Chest 015: The indifference of a vast universe
I'm back!
Feels good to drop in with you after a bit of a much needed break, and admittedly, some hammock hustling on the side (inside joke) 👇 pic.twitter.com/JYyHkgkBSb— Philip R. Powis (The Wizard) 👽 (@philiprpowis) May 20, 2022