If you’re reading this…
- You (or a friend) may have asked me for help on a crowdfunding project
- You may have asked me for a coffee meeting or a phone call
- You may have invited me to speak at an event
- You may have asked me to consult with your company or startup
- Or you may have simply asked me a quick question via email
Normally, I can’t get enough of this stuff.
I love to help people
I love connecting with people (and connecting them to each other). I love giving advice. It’s literally one of my favorite things to do.
My soul lights up when I’m on the phone giving advice to an entrepreneur, replying to an email with a blog-post length reply or helping a client draft a marketing strategy on a whiteboard.
If you know me, you know this is true.
But for the next six to eight weeks, it has to stop.
I’m helping people as a way to hide
It’s time for some transparent honesty.
I’ve been talking about finishing my online crowdfunding course for a couple years now. And it’s still not done.
Multiple people email me everyday asking for help and advice on their crowdfunding campaign. They ask if they can hire me to consult. They ask how we can work together.
The demand for my online crowdfunding course is clear and present. Every single day it’s not finished is costing me money.
That, and the great feeling I get from helping entrepreneurs, should be motivation enough.
So why haven’t I finished it?
The truth is, it’s worse than regular procrastination
If I was sitting on my couch, eating cereal and watching MacGyver reruns all day, I would know that I was procrastinating.
If I was downing Jameson shots and dumping my sorrows on the bartender, the avoidance would be impossible to ignore.
But I’m not. I’m helping people. I’m speaking at conferences. I’m teaching crowdfunding workshops.
But the reality is, I’m hiding.
In his seminal book, The War of Art, Steven Pressfield calls this The Resistance.
I’m succumbing to The Resistance
My own brain is messing with me.
Because I’m spending time helping people, taking one-off phone calls, consults and coffee meetings, one part of my brain tells another part of my brain that I AM being productive.
Hey, at least I’m not drinking at the bar, right?!
But it’s still hiding. It’s actually a worse form of hiding, because I can lie to myself and convince myself I’m still being productive.
An issue of scale
When I help one person, I only help one person.
When I produce content that anyone can read online, I can help thousands of people.
Very clearly, the best way for me to help the most people is to stop my “productive hiding” and finish my crowdfunding course.
So I’m going into hiding
For as long as it takes, I’m going into my Creation Cave (a term I stole from my brilliant friend Jonathan Fields).
Until my course is finished, I’m saying “no” to just about everything.
No to speaking gigs. No to podcast interviews. No to coffee meetings.
I need to say “no” to helping some people (maybe you) so I can finish my course and help the most people.
I hope you understand.
Until my course is finished, here are some free resources:
If you join my email list here, you’ll get three free bonuses immediately.
- An hour-long crowdfunding interview, where I share crowdfunding tips and tricks with Dan Martell
- A curated bundle of my favorite crowdfunding links from across the web
- My never before published hour-long crowdfunding keynote from Yanik Silver’s Underground conference
I hope to complete and launch my online course soon.
Thank you.
Photo Credit: simonlesleyphoto via Compfight cc