Renegade Newsletters: Just Get Started

Sometimes its just damn hard to break the cycle of research

One evening, just over four months ago I was sat watching TV and was searching on my iPad for a recipe for Tonkotsu ramen. Its notoriously (in the ramen world) a pain in the ass to make so I was looking for some shortcuts to get similar results.

… then I spotted something…

… and it had nothing to do with ramen. (this is the last mention of ramen I promise).

What I spotted was an opportunity.

To be fair, I spotted this for the first time over fifteen years ago but I simply ignored it, at the time I didn’t think it was worth the effort, there were easier ways to make money back then.

I went to bed that night thinking about it and got up early the next day to do some research.

… and the next.

I had re-discovered something pretty amazing.

The next steps… picking a niche, and making a plan.

I didn’t need to be an expert, a few days reading about the topic would be all that I needed to get started, but I did need to learn a few new skills.

These skills were things I had previously wanted to learn, so I did some research, got some tools, bought a few books and a couple of video courses, and went all in.

I learned a lot.

Then I needed to pick a niche.

.

.

.

.. and here I am, four months later, still thinking about niches. I have a whole moleskine notebook devoted to this projects, with at least forty pages full of niche ideas and notes.

I went to bed angry last night because I realised I had wasted so much time when I could have just picked one idea and run with it, and if it didn’t work I could have pivoted to the next.

I was so pissed with myself that I got up before sunrise this morning, took my notebook and a coffee and took the dog out for a walk. (she was not happy about going out that early).

I vowed not to come back until I had picked a niche.

I sat in the park for three hours this morning, grabbed a bacon butty and a sausage for Doris, and stared at the notebook until I made a decision.

Finally I chose one.

I still can’t believe it took me so long. Procrastination and indecision are terrible hair shirts to wear.

The relief I felt by picking a niche was immeasurable. I got back home and worked straight for the last six hours, I was genuinely excited to get started, and over the next thirty days or so I will learn a ton, and find out if my hunch was right.

It just needed me to get started.

So I am sure you are asking what the hell this has to do with newsletters? Well, in the next lesson I will be talking about picking a niche and I just wanted to share with you that I struggle picking a niche too.

But it is best to pick one and get started, than to spend months thinking about it and never getting going. You can always change niche if it’s not working. As for learning tools and skills, you really don’t need to, the best way to learn is to produce and learn on the go.

I hope that helps.