This month's good stuff
The power to create our own reality.
Hi, it’s Melissa, and welcome (back) to “your founder next door”, a weekly publication with stories and tidbits of my human journey bootstrapping eWebinar to $5m ARR. No BS, just straight-up truth bombs on what it’s like to build a company without an abundance of resources or friends in high places.
What got me thinking this month
If you read my article a couple weeks ago on the power of reframing your business, you’d know that the idea of identity has been top of mind. Since that epiphany, I’ve been looking at eWebinar through a completely different lens and unlocking things I never even knew were there. I’m in the process of rewriting our entire homepage from scratch, approaching eWebinar as a blue ocean company, assuming that anyone who comes to us has no idea the pain they’re living in.
On the same wavelength, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we hold the power to create our own reality by simply believing something to be true. That’s a good thing, if you use it wisely. The problem comes when we don’t question our beliefs because they are so deeply ingrained.
When we believe something is true, everything around us falls into place to support that narrative because we want the outcome that we want. We filter for the evidence that confirms it and ignore everything that doesn’t. In this way, we can literally design our future. We can also design our own blindfolds.
I’m in the middle of reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. Naval is the cofounder of AngelList, an early investor in companies like Uber and Twitter. In this book, he talks about how the number one thing keeping us from seeing reality is that we have preconceived notions of the way it should be. We convince ourselves that our business is great, so we become blind to the signs that it’s not. We only pay attention to what’s working. We put off reality because we hide it from ourselves. He says to see the truth, you have to let your ego get out of the way. The smaller your ego, the less attachment you have to the outcome you want, the easier it’ll be to see what’s real.
This hit close to home. I spent years locked in a conclusion that we were doing fine when we could have been doing great. I convinced myself we’d hit a ceiling, making up all sorts of excuses to deflect from the hard work I didn’t want to do deep down.
One of my favorite quotes from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho says: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
I’ve always interpreted that as an external force. The Universe working its magic on your behalf to align the stars.
Maybe it’s simpler than that.
When you truly believe in something, you start to see it everywhere. Opportunities suddenly become visible. Connections start landing in front of you. Creative juices won’t stop flowing. Your energy is elevated. Not because the universe shifted, but because you did.
Perhaps the universe is not an external force we can’t control, but an internal one where our true power lives.
Perhaps the universe is in us.
Quick tidbits
Something to think about…
Chris Walker, Founder of ENCODED and Refine Labs (exited) shared this on LinkedIn about “looking up to influencers and celebrities” which made me think about my own “idols” and whether spending time on social media professionally has been net-positive or negative. The most successful people I know in real life don’t even have a LinkedIn or Substack account, they just execute without the noise.
Lenny’s Podcast episode, 5 questions to ask when your product stops growing by Jason Cohen (2x unicorn founder, including Wordpress) is one of the best I’ve heard. Packed with practical advice on diagnosing symptoms of slow growth.
This month’s articles you may have missed
7 reasons why self-service SaaS is the hardest thing I’ve ever built: Self-service SaaS is the hardest thing I’ve ever built. The lifestyle? 10x more rewarding than sales-led.
Find something worth suffering for: You don’t need to do what you love, but find something worth suffering for.
The power of reframing your business: How redefining our business changed the problem we’re solving.
How to say no to discounts: A template for saying no to anyone who asks you for a discount.
Till next time,
— Melissa ✌️
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