Why your side projects fail every time: (this took me 17 years to learn, I'll teach you in 2 min)

I get it. I've started dozens of side projects. But the reality is - They were doomed from the start, because I didn't focus on the only thing that matters:

GROWTH. Growth can mean a range of things, but it usually looks like one of these: • Users • Visitors • Revenue • Customers • Subscribers Everything else is a detour to failure.

Sam Altman famously wrote: "The only thing that solves lack of growth is growth". He advises us to keep a list of all the things that block growth. This exercise will help you identify the underlying causes. Let's take an example:

Suppose you're trying to grow your Twitter following. You'd write a list of all the reasons why you're not growing quickly. It would probably reduce down to: • not writing threads • not writing great hooks • not getting high engagement

From there you would identify the obstacles behind each. Not writing threads could be: • fear • lack of making time • lack of commitment You're LITERALLY not producing the thing that generates growth on Twitter.

Not writing great hooks might be because: • you haven't studied viral hooks • you don't spend 80% of your time on the hook • you are afraid of failure • you are half-assing it

Not getting good engagement might look like: • you haven't studied viral tweet formats • you're scared so you haven't networked with others • you aren't engaging with others' tweets • you're writing boring useless threads • you're writing shitty hooks

This exercise literally works for anything. Formula: 1. The only solution for [PROBLEM] is the opposite of the problem. 2. List of causes of [PROBLEM] 3. List ways to reverse each possible cause This applies to your personal life too, but we'll stick to marketing for now.

Problem: my ads don't convert. Solution: ads that convert. Literally the only thing that will solve this problem are ads that convert. SOoooooo... You need a list of reasons why your ads aren't converting:

Possible reasons: • you're targeting the wrong people • you're reaching them at the wrong time • you're solving a problem no one has • you haven't differentiated your product • you wrote the ad copy in 3 minutes • your images look unprofessional • etc.

Your ONLY job now is to look at each of these really hard and ask yourself where you're screwing up. If you focus relentlessly on the possible causes of the problem, you will surely uncover behaviors that can REVERSE the problem.

The catch is that the answers may be uncomfortable. Maybe you're not growing on Twitter because your ideas are boring and unoriginal. Fixing that could be a lot of work. Maybe your ads don't convert because you are a bad copywriter and have a low quality product. Ouch.

Almost every side project I've failed at was doomed because I didn't focus relentlessly on the few things that would have made them succeed. I often focused on everything but. So just remember: "Lack of growth is not solvable by anything but growth."

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