How do you stay motivated? How do you connect with like-minded people? How do you add value to your purpose? What is your purpose?

I have had these existential questions looming over me for awhile. Especially living in New York city, there is almost a sense of adderall in the air, and if you aren’t going 150mph you, are being left behind. New York City is an incredibly motivating place to live, but at times it can be very overwhelming because it’s easy to do a horrible thing… peer compare. I would meet so many of my peers who seemed to be doing INCREDIBLE things: business owner here, 20K Instagram followers there, first book published, first round of funding completed, etc. You will meet lots of these people in New York. Don’t feel overwhelmed. Don’t put yourself down. Instead, shift your mindset. A positive outlook on peer comparison could instead be, “Wow, I am so excited for this person. They have found how to monetize their passion and they are killing it in their career. I’m grateful to have such an inspiring person in my network. Someday it’ll be my turn if I keep at it.”

Once I shifted my mindset, life changed for me in New York. I even found an incredible group of people doing incredible things. They all live with a purpose and have chosen to surround themselves with other positive influences. This group is called Personal Develop Nerds (PDN) and they meet once a month, and you can join the group here if you want to take your personal development to the next level.

Two of the incredibly inspiring people who I met were Jillian Richardson and Gregg Clunis.

If your business needs a fun, fresh voice or anything branding related, Jillian Richardson is your woman. She is a full-time freelance writer and is making major moves in the city. She’s hosting her next event for freelancers called HustleFest, check it out. If you’re a freelancer in NYC, you need to be there.

Another person who really stood out at PDN was Gregg Clunis. He was the speaker at the first meeting I attended. He taught the group how to break down your goals in an incredibly tangible manner. Gregg is sharp, motivating, and a crazy hard worker. How do I know this after only meeting him one time? It’s thanks to his podcast, Tiny Leaps, Big Changes, which he has over 250 podcasts. I’ve listened to many of them, and I’m hooked. As soon as I heard Gregg’s speech, I knew I wanted to blog about him and his podcast. Listening to good podcasts is a quick, easy, and time-efficient way to get motivated, stay motivated, and connect with like minded people.

I chatted with Gregg and asked him to hand select some of his best episodes that are entrepreneurial related. He selected a few of them for us, and I’m happy to share them here as well as to give you some key takeaways and highlights. Make sure to subscribe to Tiny Leaps, Big Changes and say hi to Gregg on Twitter @greggclunis

#189- How to Build a Side Hustle (feat. Sean McCabe) (longer podcast)

Takeaways:

• As a company, be specific on the messages that you project. “When you’re projecting everything, people remember nothing.” - Sean McCabe
• There needs to be a protected time where you give yourself permission to try something and when you are following your passion. Maybe what you want to do isn’t really what you want to do once your try it. Try it out first, and know it’s ok to fail. Don’t just jump ship and quit your job.
• Just showing up doesn’t make you better. You have to try and deliberately improve.
• 3 reliable ways of making money from virtually any niche = client work, products, and teaching.
• The journey is not a straight line.
• We are so afraid of picking the wrong thing. What if I start heading in the wrong direction? You can’t steer a parked car. Move and then you can course correct.
• “Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” - Steve Jobs
• Change your mindset from “I can’t do that” to “I can learn that.”
• Don’t hire too fast. You don’t want to scale until you know what works.
• Perfectionism can cause paralysis. Be ok with 90%.
• People need to know, like, and trust you.

#130 – When Starting a Business Gets Hard

Takeaways:

• Starting a business can change your worldview; it’s doing the opposite of the system we’ve grown up in. This is difficult.
• Entrepreneurship can be sensationalized. When you are an entrepreneur, you are at fault for everything.
• Entrepreneurship = there is no limit on what you are able to learn, but there is also no limit on what you’re able to lose.
• The conversation needs to take place on the failure of entrepreneurship. It’s normally only sensationalized.
• Before you become an entrepreneur, really consider what that fully means.

#175- Going Back to a Job After Entrepreneurship

Takeaways:

• When you offer too many services, you may lose your focus.
• Valuable Asset: How to properly price yourself.
• If you have to go back to work after being an entrepreneur, don’t look at it as a failure; look at the new experience as another notch on your belt.
• Taking a job may humble you, and you have to know when it’s time to get a job (usually financially driven). This can be part-time too.
• Whether you have a full-time job or not, you can still be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is a mindset.

# 163 – The Argument for Introverted Entrepreneurs

Takeaways:

• There is a common misconception that entrepreneurs have to be extroverted.
• When you are trying to become something you’re not, this will significantly slow down your progress.
• What determines success and failure, lies in the actions that we take and not if you are an introvert or extrovert.
• Introverts are not shy, and extroverts are not loud. Being an introvert means that energy comes from within and you recharge by being alone rather through interaction with others.
• Introverts are great entrepreneurs.
• Embrace all the positive sides of being an introvert.

Go out there, find your hustle!

If you need office space to help with this huslte, drop us a line at join@workbetter.us

Photo by Niv Rozenberg on Unsplash