First-Principles, Investing in Yourself, and Better Clients
Hey friends, happy Sunday!
This week I wrote a lengthy post on Becoming a Creator where I go into detail about the next steps I’m taking with my business, the frameworks behind making the decisions, and the business model I'm building.
Aside from writing this week has been busy on the client work front. I’m hoping to get the “Work Together” consulting side of my website finished over this weekend as I move everything under one site. From there I can really start to push forward with creating, making, and building more things.
Let's get onto the Filter!
On First-Principle Thinking
This week I read a great post from Farnam Street on First-Principles. First-principles thinking is one of the most valuable mental models for unlocking creativity.
The idea is to break down complicated problems into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up.
First-principles help to stop reasoning by analogy "Oh it's kinda like this" and start reasoning from what we know is true.
Thinking in this way takes more energy but it allows you to rework the building blocks of any problem and try to fit them together in a better way.
Elon Musk is one of the best examples of a first principle thinker and I found this fascinating video where he explains his thought process.
On Investing in yourself
Nat Eliason wrote a great thread this week on why young ambitious people should NOT over-invest in their retirement accounts.
In the thread he makes the argument that through hoarding cash you can instead build up a cushion for self-education.
Most people want the same things in their work & financial life:
1. To have the freedom to say “no,” to work, people, places, anything they don’t like.
2. To do fulfilling, self-motivating work.
3. To make enough money to not worry about money.
I think they come in that order.
You need to have the freedom to say no in order to find fulfilling work.
And you need fulfilling work to reach the point of not worrying about money. How do you get the freedom to say no? Cash.
Through building up a pile of cash you free yourself. You can invest in self-education, you can wait for the right opportunities and take on more risk.
In the long run, the ROI of learning will be higher than maxing out your retirement account because you can significantly increase your earning potential.
On Better Clients
This short article from Seth Godin on "Better Clients" is the best piece I've read on freelancing and just generally making a living on the internet.
"Better clients challenge you. They support you. They spread the word. They pay on time. They pay more and expect more.
Everything else will take care of itself if you focus on getting better clients."
Everything comes down to better clients.
It applies to other areas of business too, better business ideas, better co-founders, better markets.
Your time is often best spent finding better opportunities, but to do that you need the ability to say no.
If you're living paycheck to paycheck, project to project you don't have the freedom to find those better clients.
Relating back to Nat's point, stockpiling cash is the answer because it gives you freedom. Without that freedom you're running in a hamster wheel going faster and faster but getting nowhere.
Once you gain that freedom you can start to build a flywheel around your business by focusing on better clients, ideas, people etc....
Tweet of the Week
Favourite Quote of the Week
"You're either remarkable or invisible.
The world is full of boring stuff—brown cows—which is why so few people pay attention.… A purple cow … now that would stand out.
Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing" - Seth Godin
Final Notes
If you enjoyed this edition of the Sunday Filter then I'd love it if you share it with a few friends. You can send them over here to sign up.
This week I'm looking forward to trying a sensory deprivation tank for the first time. On the creation front, I should hopefully finish up a post I've been working on for a little while about greatness and optionality.
Have a great Sunday,
- Stephen