Money Changes Everything

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

Money is more than just a means of survival. Its influence runs far deeper into our psyche and daily existence. It shapes our choices, affects our relationships, and can dramatically alter our perspective on life and work. As someone navigating the intersection of creativity, business, and personal fulfillment, I've come to realize that financial success isn't just about accumulating wealth—it's about creating a sustainable foundation that allows our true passions and talents to flourish.

The Japanese concept of ikigai (生き甲斐) offers a framework for understanding the intersection of purpose, profession, and contentment. At its core, ikigai represents the convergence of four essential elements: what you love (your passion), what you're good at (your vocation), what the world needs (your mission), and what you can be paid for (your profession).

I know what I'm good at. I have a general understanding of what change I can affect in this life. I know what makes me money. I know what I enjoy doing. What I struggle with is maintaining an environment that allows me to enjoy what I'm good at for sustained periods of time. Especially when money and small wins are inconsistent or hard to come by. Your ability to maintain joy and happiness in your work is directly related to how long you'll be able to sustain that work. I started my business over 8 years ago, and have dedicated so much of my time to being profitable and equating growth with success. I think, somewhere along the way, I vastly underestimated my need for enjoyment as a creator and business owner.

This realization last year prompted me to reflect on the relationship between passion and persistence. To have a meaningful relationship with your work, you have to spend time on it. You have to have moments of deep work, prolonged work, fulfilling work. There's no escaping that if you want to be truly great at something.

If you wouldn't be looking for fewer reasons to spend time with the love of your life, why are you looking for fewer reasons to spend time on your life's work? If you love something you spend time on it, you make time for it, and you don't consider that time a waste of energy or effort.

There's enough mediocrity in the world, and I have no desire to contribute to that. But I'm also working toward having a better work-life integration that allows me to show up as my best self for myself, this community, clients, friends, and family. A simple resolution that took me 31 years to articulate. Today's my birthday. Thank you for being here. I'm grateful for each and every one of you. 🥂🍻

In Readworthy News

// SZA has achieved a rare feat: she has a #1 album on the charts and the #1 movie at the box office. I got to see One of Them Days this weekend with some friends and truly loved it. Their press run for the movie included her, Keke Palmer, and Issa Rae on First We Feast and it will definitely get your week started with some laughter. Maybe we’ll get to see them perform with Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl?

// Threads now has native scheduling and markup. I think native scheduling was imminent, and I appreciate the cute feature that is markup. Being able to access your insights on mobile is something Twitter never managed to do so I’m glad they made that accessible as well. Meta is also planning to roll out Edits (a social video editing app) in the spring, to attract mobile video editors who lost access to CapCut in the TikTok ordeal.

// Substack rolls out their creator accelerator program, a $20M fund. The video that co-founder Chris Best posted on Threads was vague, at best. From what little I can gather from this article, it looks like they’ll be paying writers to move their lists to Substack, which won’t benefit writers currently on the platform. Live streaming is also now available to all, not just top writers (aka writers with a high number of paid subscribers). I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Substack is a great publishing platform, but its closed system just isn’t ideal for many. I’m not convinced that a majority of newsletter writers will be able to have a sustainable creative business by paid subscriptions alone, and they’re continuing to double down on this rather than give writers more tools to generate revenue. I don’t understand it but I hope it benefits indie writers in some way. They are definitely attracting folks who are tired of social media because the platform is free to use and offers an ad-free scrolling experience.

Short and sweet, like the dessert and cocktails I will hopefully be enjoying tonight with my family. 🎂

Please Hustle Responsibly,

🤙🏾✨

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