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Hey friends,
I had an incredible day on Monday.
I’ve been looking for a clear mission statement for my company for a while now. A north star goal that isn’t about yearly revenue or KPIs.
So for the first time ever, my whole team gathered in London, and we had a 2-day strategy session facilitated by the amazing Daniel Priestley.
Dan’s a business coach, author (Oversubscribed, Key Person of Influence), and creator of ScoreApp, a cool way of creating online quizzes for your audience.
I was blown away by how useful the session with Dan was. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty, but he was super-thoughtful and energetic, and helped us discuss issues in a way we’d never done before as a team.
We also settled on a new company vision:
We help people build a life they love.
And new company mission:
We do this by creating content that inspires and educates, and by giving people the tools and resources they can use to build a life they love.
Everyone felt ‘yes, this is it - this rings true as our mission statement.’
Anyway, I got 5 main insights from this whole experience, which even if you’re not an entrepreneur, I’m hoping will apply to you:
1. The Power of Coaching
If you want to grow or improve at something, it’s incredibly useful to bring in a coach or mentor. Business coaching, guitar lessons, therapy, etc. A good coach will give you a ton of insight based on their huge knowledge bank. They’ll also bring a fresh pair of eyes to bear on the situation, which is particularly useful if you’ve been stuck on one issue for a long time.
2. The Power of Twitter.
Dan and I followed each other on Twitter for a while before meeting in person. And the first time we talked in private was also over Twitter DMs. If you’re not already on Twitter, I highly recommend it as a way of connecting with cool people. It lets you have conversations with literally anyone. And if you post interesting content, you can build a following in just a few months.
3. The Power of Starting a YouTube Channel.
YouTube is also an amazing way of connecting with people you admire. If you make videos about a topic you love, then even if you get ~1000 views you can guarantee some interesting people are watching. And trust me, some of them will get in touch. This happened to me all the time in my first year on YouTube.
In fact, if you want to get started on YouTube you could do a lot worse than sign up to my Part-Time YouTuber Academy, where I walk you through the whole process… 😉 Enrolment actually opens tomorrow - take a look if you’re interested. We’ve also got a bunch of scholarships available if you’re serious about YouTube but can’t afford the course.
4. The Power of Having a Podcast. A little while after connecting on Twitter, I invited Dan to talk on my Deep Dive podcast (episode should be out fairly soon). We got to know each other better, and that led to this week’s in-person coaching.
This is a great example of how hosting a podcast also gives you the perfect excuse to meet people you admire. It’s much easier to say ‘do you want to do an interview on my podcast?’ than ‘will you be my friend?’
Even if my Deep Dive podcast lost money, I’d still do it just to chat with people like Will MacAskill, Julian Hearn, and Julie Smith, amongst others 😃
5. The Power of Meeting In-Person
Having the whole team in the same room for those two days was massively energising. Everyone left feeling inspired and on the same page. And that was mostly down to having quality face-to-face time (complete with lunch and random chit-chat).
Whatever you’re working on, I highly recommend meeting people in-person as much as possible: it deepens relationships about x5–x10 faster than DMs and Zoom calls.
I hope this gives you some inspiration - have a great week!
Ali xx
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Thanks to Morning Brew for sponsoring this issue of Sunday Snippets 🙏
🎉 Part-Time YouTuber Academy Cohort 7
Ever wanted to take YouTube seriously, but not been sure where to start? My team and I have been hard at work for the last few months, and we’re finally ready to present Cohort 7 of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy 🎉 🥳 🎪
PTYA is our flagship live-cohort course, where I’ll teach you how to make amazing videos and level up your YouTube channel. Every week there’s a live 2-hour keynote led by myself, Q&As with incredible YouTubers, guest workshops with creators like Thomas Frank (2.7M subs) and Charisma on Command (5.7M subs), and video assignments for you to complete, with individual detailed feedback on each video you submit.
Now, you don’t need a paid course to succeed on YouTube. There’s a ton of free content online that’ll help you out. But it’s a lot easier with PTYA.
If you put in the work, engage with our community of experienced and beginner YouTubers, and use the feedback we give you to improve your videos, you’ll have way more structure and support than if you learned by yourself.
So if you’re interested, the the course will run from 14th November to 9th December 2022, and enrolment opens tomorrow: 31 October at 16:00 GMT. We’ve got 400 spots available, with over 20,000 people on the waiting list, so if you’re keen I’d suggest signing up early 🚀 We also have a very liberal money-back guarantee, so the course is literally a risk-free investment - if you do the work and think the course wasn’t worth the money afterwards, you just email us and we literally give you your money back.
More details on the website 😃
♥️ My Favourite Things
🎙️ Deep Dive Podcast - Dr Tara Swart: The Power Of Neuroplasticity And Braincare. Tara and I had an amazing conversation about neuroscience, specifically how to improve brain performance using simple behavioural changes.
📝 Stationery - Magic Whiteboard. Essentially a whiteboard that sticks on any wall (using static electricity), which you can roll up after you’re done using it. It’s been great for
🏐 Exercise - Foam Roller Ball. I started using these to massage my back after workouts: my body has thanked me ever since.
🤖 AI Writing Software - Lex. This software is both amazing and a little bit scary. With just a 2-sentence prompt, it could generate a whole (admittedly slightly generic) tweet thread in my voice.
24 hours ago, I tried an experiment - I tweeted a thread with 15 productivity hacks. It’s become one of my highest performing tweets of all time, with over 1 million impressions and 23,648 engagements.
The truth is - the entire thread was written by an AI.
Let me explain… 1/ pic.twitter.com/I46miMywKW twitter.com/AliAbdaal/stat…
In 5 years of YouTube, the most common question I still get from my viewers is “how are you so productive?” So here’s a thread of 15 actionable tips that help me do more of the things that matter to me, without burning out. 🧵 October 20th 2022
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🎬 My New Videos
🧘 I Asked 15 Experts For Life Advice. Here’s What I Learned - I go over the 15 best lessons I’ve learned from interviewing experts on my podcast. Had a lot of fun filming this.
✍️ Quote of the Week
In the modern economy, hard work is not a competitive advantage anymore; everyone works hard. If you were to gather up all the hardest working people in the world, you would not find the top CEOs and the entrepreneurs, you would find the people who are struggling to make it up the ladder or struggling to survive at all.
The competitive advantage is in thinking expansively, connecting with the right people and spotting fresh opportunities. Your best ideas will come out to play – not to work.
From Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestley. Resurfaced using Readwise.
