So I’m currently trying to make money, after a few years of mostly living off my savings whilst focusing on other things like e.g. my “post-rationalist healing arc” (What makes post-rationalism post-rationalism?)
And now I’m down to like £3k, and expect to be totally out of money in a month, so it’s very much crunch time!
I currently have 3 websites live (idk how long these will last, but here they are):
I slept terribly last night, stressing out about all of this. I ended last week having done a bunch - I think it was like, Monday = finished the co-thinker site, Tuesday = sent it to 19 friends asking for help/ideas/referrals, ~Wednesday made the FA site, etc. Also had a call with a great guy (Shai) who felt like me in 5-10 years and he was very encouraging
But now I’m stressing about like, what if my pricing is wildly wrong? How the hell do I find people? What if I’ve been totally failing to do The Mom Test, what if Claude has been far too sycophantic?
So ok, I do actually have good references, there is empirical “Alex is good at this stuff” stuff. But for Ediya, I didn’t get paid, for Brent, I didn’t get paid much at all over a full year.
I’m stressing about something like: do I most like working with people who can’t actually pay me? That is, is my offering specifically aimed at people who can’t pay, and that’s why they’re stuck, because they’re at capacity. Vs any founder who actually has money would have hired to get help by now, so I’ve only helped people like Ediya and Brent who were at capacity so couldn’t make enough money for >1 person, so I helped them a bunch but it still took a long time for them to be able to afford >1 person.
Stressed that a bunch of inner circle people are saying “nah I can’t think of anything” or “nah I’m good”
Messy middle
Anyway, I think this is good, overall. This is the messy middle! This is showing that I’m right at my growth edge. I have no idea how to price myself, I have no idea how to evaluate this idea as a business. So the pain of that is getting me to read about microeconomics, about businesses, for the first time in my life. And the knowledge I gain will be practical and empowering.
And, and this is one of the most exciting things about this whole venture: I’ll also be able to apply what I learn to my clients (and friends) too! Like, “oh I know a bit about business/pricing/etc”. New goggles through which to see the world
So yeah, I’m in the messy middle right now. Is ~coaching (although that’s not quite what this is, I am aiming for something more tangible and outcomes-focused) a lemon market? Is there no path to scaling or making enough to live off here? This is how I find out!!
Let’s say I want to become a VC one day. This feels like step 1 (well, there’ll have been a bunch of prerequisites that I’ve gradually collected in order to get to this point, of course). Step 1 = attempt to go into business, get in the arena, flail about, etc. This is how I discover where I am confused, and gradually iterate. It feels stressful and I can blend with an overwhelmed part that is like “oh god, what if I never figure it out”, etc. But really it’s just, one step at a time…
Current open questions/stuff I wrote on my phone last night
Tossing and turning and adding stuff to an Apple Note, lol
“Pay what you want” at the end of week 1 and then we negotiate a rate?
I bet [person who I haven’t contacted yet] could set me up with places that need help!!
Have Claude ask me questions to figure out complimentary substack that I could write, to promote this - probably stuff about my tacit knowledge or opinions. “The unreasonable effectiveness of dialogue” or something
Use to mom test to do outreach. Interview people about their actual problems? No website, don’t be daunting and too opinionated
Am I targeting the total wrong people, under-capitalised (?) - read that deep research report about pricing and stuff
Have Claude roast my cothibker offering, make a report as a business professor or something. Imagine this website I’ve made is for an undergraduate course or something. Red-team. Because I’m sure I’ll be doing stuff wrong but not having the language for it
“Scaling” coach, to ensure I’m actually targeting ppl with some capital
Offer a free week to people who do in fact have money, that is, founders in america, then negotiate from there if they like me
free fractional CoS for a week
Should I use this to get more of a “job”. Like, “hey, I’ve been offering this, but really I’d rather actually work with you”
Imagining what Shai might say
Looking at all of the above, it does feel the answer is just “dude, try it out”
Contact [person]
Offer a free week (ridiculously good deal)
“But what if it’s solopreneurs who can’t pay me!!” - then pivot/iterate
The problem is when you try to see the future
“Can I do x?” (e.g. “can I do free work for someone for a week?“) = yes
“Can I do x, and guarantee that it will lead to y?” (e.g., “can I only offer free work to people who will be able to pay me afterwards) = stressful
Presence of stress means presence of stress
I think the causal structure goes something like this:
Thinking about making money/thinking about how to price myself etc causes stress
Because, it’s stressful to think about, as it triggers thoughts like “what if I don’t have any skills”, “what if I’ll never make money again”, stuff like that
And it’s easy to then endorse those worries, but those worries are downstream of the stress
I am trying to make money & facing the fact that I have ÂŁ3k in the bank, and that brings about stress. The end. No need to get stuck in thought loops or endorse downstream worries
