Now Not How

I was listening to a podcast with Noah Kagan and Ali Abdaal where they talked about the idea of “now now how”.

This is a conversation I wish I could have listened to years ago.

Most people never take the first step towards starting a youtube channel or launching their first business because it feels overwhelming.

It seems like there’s 1000 things you need to get right before you’re “ready” enough to start.

Ready never happens.

I started YouTube in January 2021 but it wasn’t until August 2023 that I started taking it seriously - committing to 1 video per week.

I remember telling myself for YEARS that all I had to do was upload one video every week and my channel would take off.

I wish I could slap my older self in the face for how many times he said this.

Every morning for at least a year I would think to myself “all I have to do is get 1 video per week out and then I’ll be set” and yet nothing changed.

I kept telling myself I needed a better camera or I didn’t have enough or [insert excuse here].

I was scared of something.

It might have been the fear that my videos were shit (which they probably were anyways).

It might have been the fear I’d get a mean comment (i’m used to it now lol).

I can’t remember what “woke me up” so to speak but I had a 180 degree switch in what felt like overnight.

I realized that I was lying to myself and the only thing holding me back from winning is me.

I’m so grateful that I made that decision close to a year ago now.

If you can make every decision with the frame “what would myself in 5 years be grateful I did today”, I promise it will change your life.

This doesn’t have to be surrounding business/your career, I started going to the gym with my friend 6 days a week last year and I’ve now fallen in love with it.

I was always too afraid of being the skinny kid at the gym and never would have gone otherwise.

Now that I’m starting to see serious progress I’ve never been more grateful for my previous self.

I was fortunate enough to have someone to push me but you get the point.

I’ve only been consistent for about a year on YouTube and it’s already drastically impacted my life.

Some months I now make more money from my own work than from my software development internship.

There’s far more I want to accomplish and plenty of limiting beliefs I have to break to get there, but I hope this was helpful.

Start when you don’t feel ready, you’ll probably surprise yourself.

The One Monitor Setup

I’ve been building out this second setup at my parents house over the last couple of years and it gets better each time I come. It’s not “minimal” but I like it.

Things I’ve found interesting

links to valuable stuff I thought was worth sharing

How To Start A Business In 48 Hours - Noah Kagan - This video and his book “million dollar weekend” sound clickbaity but what he talks about is gold. I highly recommend giving this podcast a listen.

How Anyone Can Make $10K - $1M per Month | Daniel Priestley - A great podcast with Daniel Priestley. He talks a lot about validating an idea with waitlists etc before building and it resonates with me a lot. I’m somewhat going against his advice with a new project i’m building (more later) but I plan to act on a lot of what he says.

Jacob Sucks At Code - I’ve been watching a lot of Jacob’s videos recently and his content is what I dream of making 5 years from now. He’s building a startup (subbb.me) while documenting everything and it’s so interesting to watch.

Have a great week.

Cole

P.S. If you found this letter helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend :)