Hello!
First off, I'm happy to be a part of this awesome community!
I just realized I suck at introducing myself, so I will try to keep it short.
Originally from Poland, born in 1990.
I've been into the self-publishing business since 2014.
I took it seriously from the very beginning and focused myself 100%. Instead of following various spammy little techniques often taught in many "Kindle guru" courses, I focused on providing value and the best information I could come up with. I just followed my intuition.
It allowed me to generate my FU stream of income in the span of a few months (not FU savings yet, but Rome wasn't build in a day), say goodbye to the lying boss, quit my soul-sucking job, leave my sinkhole of a hometown, and move to beautiful Cote d'Azur in France. Freedom! I lived in picturesque Nice and hustled like crazy.
After over a year, due to life circumstances (a rough breakup, etc), I went back to my country and bought an apartament (stupid decision, but it's still a good problem to have). I wanted to create a base for myself, a place to go back to from my world trips (I love travelling), a place where I could be productive and flourish, feeling at home.
I hit the gym again, started buying expensive clothes, etc.
Unfortunately, long story short, due to various life events and also because of the burn-out caused by 10 and sometimes 14 hour workdays, I ended up heavily depressed just after a few months. Because of many different things I had to take care of (buying the apartament, business-related legal stuff, nose operation, etc.), and my overall mental condition, I just published one book in 2016. It was the longest one I've ever written. It was good. And it was not selling.
Looks like at that point in my life, my hometown proved to be for me what Chicago was for @MJ DeMarco . And it wasn't even the same place anymore when I came back. It felt different. I couldn't fit in again. I couldn't relate to the people.
I dissapeared from life for about 4 months, turned into a dead man walking.
And just before December 2016, feeling that there's nothing to lose (I couldn't force myself to get any work done anyway), I finally decided to do what MJ did.
Get the f*** out of there to a place that supports me. And damn it, I hate winter!
I bought one way ticket to Thailand, packed my backpack and got into the plane.
Have been travelling around South-East Asia since then (8 December 2016).
I can say that Thailand has healed me. What an amazing experience!
I've lived in Chiang Mai, Koh Phangan (Thailand), on Bali and in Siem Reap, Cambodia (where I am currently, but will be going back to Bali soon) and also traveled 9 countries in Asia.
After a long period of idleness, I finally started feeling alive again and went back to working on my business on a regular basis.
Regarding my self-publishing journey, I will post a progress thread later. From what I've noticed, it won't be too original, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
So far I read entire @MTF progress thread and it blew my mind.
@ChickenHawk journey is next in the waiting line, even though I'm in non-fiction
And I think there are many more. Can't wait to dive into them!
Finally, to provide some value, here are some of the biggest mistakes I've made on my journey. Maybe it will save someone else's time, nerve and mental health
1) Shining object syndrome - at some point, when I already generated myself a nice, steady income, I started chasing shining objects. Because everybody and their dogs were starting Amazon FBA e-commerce businesses at the time, I started one too. Obviously, with two businesses demanding my daily attention and lots of energy, I couldn't focus on either one. Long story short, I chose a product in a niche that got oversaturated quickly and decided to quit after about 8 months. The amount of money I made in the end was silly. Had I focused fully on my self-publishing business instead, I would've been so much more ahead now. Maybe at the level of the most successful publishers on this forum.
2) Building my mailing list, but not taking enough care of it (short automated sequence, few sent messages etc). I already took care of this problem long time ago, but that's something I would do differently if given a chance to go back in time. I progressed immensanely this year, but still have to learn a lot about this topic.
3) Obssessing about multiple streams of income - because some smart and accomplished guy said so in their podcast. Because Amazon businesses violate the Commandment of Control. Because of some horror stories I've read. Because Mark Cuban and Mr. Wonderful have 390186 different businesses. Because blal-blah-blah. All of this made me feel constantly pressurized to come up with something else, and at some point in 2016 I lost my focus again and started learning about dropshipping, like the FBA lesson wasn't enough.
After some time I realized I don't even really want to do that. Focus and time lost again. All of this time, my money and effort could be put back into my self-publishing biz instead. And if I went anywhere near MTF's level, the commandement of control wouldn't be a big problem, as I would be able to generate fantastic savings in no-time. Lesson here: Listen to yourself and apply all of the advice, even if it comes from the most inspiring and wise people such as MJ, according to your own judgement and your individual situation.
If you really want to create multimple streams, feel free to try - but better do it as a part of one brand/businesses. However, I would not recommend it, especially if you think you can laser-focus instead and create a single big stream of income (provided you know how to save money). Worse comes to worst, you have tons of cash in the bank and years or even decades to come up with something else.
4) Working too much, to the point of quitting gym, because that time could be put into work. A big fat mistake, obviously. Gary Vee and Mark Cuban say "f*ck balance". Work 24/7! Grind! Crush it! Berserk! It sounds so cool and you will feel so tough. A real hustler. But you should think for yourself (and btw, I'm sure they both go to gym regurarly). And you are not Mark Cuban in any regard. The last thing you want to get is a burn-out so heavy you will end up totally paralyzed and too mentally crushed to take any action for months. Don't repeat my mistakes Businesses is a holistic thing. Body and mind must be taken care of.
I was able to free myself from the Scripted life fast, but then I felt into some bad traps.
I hope I learned my lessons and maybe you will be able to get something out of it too.
Anyway, I'm here, back to the surface. Alive and kicking.
Here ya go, a "short" introduction
If you are also into self-pub, or location-independent lifestyle, or live in Asia, or like juicy seedles grapes just like me, step out of the shadows and say "hi!"
And here's the final take away (a sentence that served me as a credo during my journey so far):
"Here's what you do if you want to get ahead: COMPLETELY CUT OFF EVERYTHING THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT YOU"
Cheers!
First off, I'm happy to be a part of this awesome community!
I just realized I suck at introducing myself, so I will try to keep it short.
Originally from Poland, born in 1990.
I've been into the self-publishing business since 2014.
I took it seriously from the very beginning and focused myself 100%. Instead of following various spammy little techniques often taught in many "Kindle guru" courses, I focused on providing value and the best information I could come up with. I just followed my intuition.
It allowed me to generate my FU stream of income in the span of a few months (not FU savings yet, but Rome wasn't build in a day), say goodbye to the lying boss, quit my soul-sucking job, leave my sinkhole of a hometown, and move to beautiful Cote d'Azur in France. Freedom! I lived in picturesque Nice and hustled like crazy.
After over a year, due to life circumstances (a rough breakup, etc), I went back to my country and bought an apartament (stupid decision, but it's still a good problem to have). I wanted to create a base for myself, a place to go back to from my world trips (I love travelling), a place where I could be productive and flourish, feeling at home.
I hit the gym again, started buying expensive clothes, etc.
Unfortunately, long story short, due to various life events and also because of the burn-out caused by 10 and sometimes 14 hour workdays, I ended up heavily depressed just after a few months. Because of many different things I had to take care of (buying the apartament, business-related legal stuff, nose operation, etc.), and my overall mental condition, I just published one book in 2016. It was the longest one I've ever written. It was good. And it was not selling.
Looks like at that point in my life, my hometown proved to be for me what Chicago was for @MJ DeMarco . And it wasn't even the same place anymore when I came back. It felt different. I couldn't fit in again. I couldn't relate to the people.
I dissapeared from life for about 4 months, turned into a dead man walking.
And just before December 2016, feeling that there's nothing to lose (I couldn't force myself to get any work done anyway), I finally decided to do what MJ did.
Get the f*** out of there to a place that supports me. And damn it, I hate winter!
I bought one way ticket to Thailand, packed my backpack and got into the plane.
Have been travelling around South-East Asia since then (8 December 2016).
I can say that Thailand has healed me. What an amazing experience!
I've lived in Chiang Mai, Koh Phangan (Thailand), on Bali and in Siem Reap, Cambodia (where I am currently, but will be going back to Bali soon) and also traveled 9 countries in Asia.
After a long period of idleness, I finally started feeling alive again and went back to working on my business on a regular basis.
Regarding my self-publishing journey, I will post a progress thread later. From what I've noticed, it won't be too original, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
So far I read entire @MTF progress thread and it blew my mind.
@ChickenHawk journey is next in the waiting line, even though I'm in non-fiction
And I think there are many more. Can't wait to dive into them!Finally, to provide some value, here are some of the biggest mistakes I've made on my journey. Maybe it will save someone else's time, nerve and mental health
1) Shining object syndrome - at some point, when I already generated myself a nice, steady income, I started chasing shining objects. Because everybody and their dogs were starting Amazon FBA e-commerce businesses at the time, I started one too. Obviously, with two businesses demanding my daily attention and lots of energy, I couldn't focus on either one. Long story short, I chose a product in a niche that got oversaturated quickly and decided to quit after about 8 months. The amount of money I made in the end was silly. Had I focused fully on my self-publishing business instead, I would've been so much more ahead now. Maybe at the level of the most successful publishers on this forum.
2) Building my mailing list, but not taking enough care of it (short automated sequence, few sent messages etc). I already took care of this problem long time ago, but that's something I would do differently if given a chance to go back in time. I progressed immensanely this year, but still have to learn a lot about this topic.
3) Obssessing about multiple streams of income - because some smart and accomplished guy said so in their podcast. Because Amazon businesses violate the Commandment of Control. Because of some horror stories I've read. Because Mark Cuban and Mr. Wonderful have 390186 different businesses. Because blal-blah-blah. All of this made me feel constantly pressurized to come up with something else, and at some point in 2016 I lost my focus again and started learning about dropshipping, like the FBA lesson wasn't enough.
After some time I realized I don't even really want to do that. Focus and time lost again. All of this time, my money and effort could be put back into my self-publishing biz instead. And if I went anywhere near MTF's level, the commandement of control wouldn't be a big problem, as I would be able to generate fantastic savings in no-time. Lesson here: Listen to yourself and apply all of the advice, even if it comes from the most inspiring and wise people such as MJ, according to your own judgement and your individual situation.
If you really want to create multimple streams, feel free to try - but better do it as a part of one brand/businesses. However, I would not recommend it, especially if you think you can laser-focus instead and create a single big stream of income (provided you know how to save money). Worse comes to worst, you have tons of cash in the bank and years or even decades to come up with something else.
4) Working too much, to the point of quitting gym, because that time could be put into work. A big fat mistake, obviously. Gary Vee and Mark Cuban say "f*ck balance". Work 24/7! Grind! Crush it! Berserk! It sounds so cool and you will feel so tough. A real hustler. But you should think for yourself (and btw, I'm sure they both go to gym regurarly). And you are not Mark Cuban in any regard. The last thing you want to get is a burn-out so heavy you will end up totally paralyzed and too mentally crushed to take any action for months. Don't repeat my mistakes
Businesses is a holistic thing. Body and mind must be taken care of.I was able to free myself from the Scripted life fast, but then I felt into some bad traps.
I hope I learned my lessons and maybe you will be able to get something out of it too.
Anyway, I'm here, back to the surface. Alive and kicking.
Here ya go, a "short" introduction
If you are also into self-pub, or location-independent lifestyle, or live in Asia, or like juicy seedles grapes just like me, step out of the shadows and say "hi!"
And here's the final take away (a sentence that served me as a credo during my journey so far):
"Here's what you do if you want to get ahead: COMPLETELY CUT OFF EVERYTHING THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT YOU"
Cheers!
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