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The Perpetual Vacation

Byjack

I’m very much enamored with the idea of changing the way I work in this new world of contracting, freelancing, and entrepreneurship.

In this new world, the certainty of your career and job is no longer there – leaving both an opportunity and a problem depending on how you look at it.

The certainty that was filled by your job needs to be filled in some other way – and I propose that way is via a strong system of habits, routines, and mindsets that lead to strong health (both mental and physical) leading to high energy, happiness, and peace.

I like to think about this as the perpetual retreat – my ideal vacation or workshop where vast amounts of work is done not at the expense of one’s happiness or physical well being.

What I would love this perpetual vacation to look like:

  1. Ideal working conditions (lots of light, spaces, nice temperature, comfy seats and pillows, people with common values)
  2. Constant personal growth (always learning and progressing in areas I care about)
  3. Strong support system (therapists, coaches)
  4. Physical training (swimming, running, martial arts, weight training)
  5. Natural sleep when possible (wake up when I feel like it, nap when I want to)

Next questions to figure out:

  1. How will I balance naps with working enough hours?
  2. How do I balance free methods with paid assistance?
  3. How will I find the kind of coworking/community you would find at a retreat?
  4. What do I bring more learning type energy out of meetings and working on projects that aren’t personal to me?

The initial thought I have about paid assistance is that if it enables me to earn more, then its a no brainer to get it. If it simply makes my experience more vacation-like, then it must fit into a budget.

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Learning Time: Rizz AI?

Byjack

Didn’t know what direction to take exactly but thought I’d watch some stuff.

Takeaways:

  1. When you find the people you want to work with be persistent about working with them
  2. If your competitor is not known, they don’t exist
  3. Presigned URLs vs base64 encoding images *want to research
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Path to Fast Growth

Byjack

Some thoughts:

  1. You don’t always need or want to grow fast
  2. However, if you do, this is how

To summarize very quickly:

There are two things you can do to grow faster, get more customers, and make the customer more valuable.

To get more customers you need:

  • More traffic → Advertise more/better
  • Higher conversion % → Practice sales/Improve offer

To make them more valuable you need to:

  • Raise your prices → Grow gonads & decide
  • Buy more times (decrease churn) → Reach outs, exit interviews, prepayments, OB, Fast results, Events

Spend 80% of your time doing this.

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AI Answers My Questions

Byjack

AI

Before I can provide informed answers to your list of questions, it would be helpful for me to understand more about your background, current situation, goals, and resources. Please allow me to ask you some questions to gather this context:

  1. What is your current profession or line of work? Do you have experience running businesses before?
  2. What specific skills, expertise, or qualifications do you possess that are relevant to the potential AI consulting or art coaching businesses?
  3. Do you have any existing client base, network, or portfolio to build upon for these businesses?
  4. What are your primary motivations or goals in starting these businesses? Is it mainly for income, personal fulfillment, or a combination of factors?
  5. What is your current financial situation? Do you have savings, investments, or other sources of income to support yourself as you build these businesses?
  6. How much time and effort are you able to dedicate to these business endeavors on a weekly or monthly basis?
  7. Do you have any partners, team members, or support system in place to assist with these business ventures?
  8. What is your level of expertise or familiarity with AI technologies, and what specific areas of AI are you most knowledgeable about?
  9. For the art coaching business, what is your artistic background, medium, or areas of expertise?
  10. Have you conducted any market research or identified potential target audiences for your services?

Please provide as much relevant detail as possible in response to these questions. The more context I have about your specific situation and goals, the better I can tailor my advice and recommendations.

Me

  1. I currently work as an AI consultant where I do advisory and coding services for large companies. I also do a little coaching of artists on the side.
  2. I studied art for many years, went to a magnet art program in high school, and got a full ride to college for art. I have also started a non-profit children’s magazine when I was in middle school with my sister that used comics and cartoons to talk about social issues. The magazine is no longer running but when it was, we won over 26k in grants. I studied art and mechanical engineering in college, and worked in the software industry for over 6 years and have focused the last year on generative AI and large language models.
  3. I do have an art portfolio, I don’t really have a strong client base, maybe a 2 or 3 who may not be ready to by. I am working on my network, I do have some connections on linkedin that I have not fully tapped into. I estimate maybe 20 or 30 solid connections on linkedin (even though I have over 1000 total connections).
  4. It was personal fulfillment, I feel art coaching makes me really happy, I want to see more artistic masterpieces in the world and I feel I’m really good at coaching. AI is also really interesting for me and I think I’m really skilled at designing clever AI solutions.
  5. Yes, I have a 40k emergency fund, 120k in stocks, and about 35k in cash. I also still do some AI contract work that nets me about 4k per month (which about covers my living expenses)
  6. I have to work 24 hours per week on the AI contract, I’m willing to dedicate another 24 hours on these ventures
  7. I don’t really have anyone. I do have a girlfriend who is supportive but she doesn’t really understand the space. I have a life coach, and also a good friend who also wants to start businesses.
  8. I have a pretty advanced level of knowledge when it comes to generative AI and more basic knowledge on AI in general for other types of machine learning
  9. My background is in painting, but I also sing, play the piano, dance and write
  10. I did a bit of market research for my Art coaching business. It told me that people struggle with a couple of things: balancing art with a different fulltime job, they miss a community, and sometimes need inspiration

AI

Thank you for providing such detailed context about your situation. Based on the information you’ve shared, here are my thoughts and recommendations:

  1. What should you focus on first?
    With your background in both AI and art, I would recommend focusing initial efforts on building up your art coaching business first. This aligns with your passion, leverages your artistic expertise directly, and can be a lower-risk entry point compared to starting an AI consulting firm from scratch.
  2. How to divide what you want to do into steps?
    For the art coaching business: 1) Build out service offerings and pricing 2) Create marketing materials and online presence 3) Tap your existing network for first clients 4) Continuously improve/expand offerings based on client feedback

For AI consulting: 1) Define your niche and unique value prop 2) Build case studies from past work 3) Network and prospect for clients 4) Decide pricing/engagement models

  1. AI or Art Coaching?
    Focus primarily on art coaching initially, using your passion as a competitive advantage. Maintain AI skills through contract work while validating the coaching business.
  2. Should you do AI consulting?
    Yes, AI consulting can be very lucrative, but wait to fully commit until the art coaching business has traction. Use contract work to learn the consulting landscape.
  3. Finding a partner?
    Having a partner can be helpful for AI consulting eventually, but for art coaching, it’s better to lead solo initially to control vision and branding. Hire contractors/staff later if needed.
  4. Legal business setup?
    For simplicity, operate the art coaching under a sole proprietorship to start. Incorporate (LLC or Corp) for AI consulting when you’re ready to go full-time.
  5. Make life easier?
    Prioritize optimizing your energy and focus. Batch routine tasks, automate what you can, and protect deep work time for high-leverage activities.
  6. Marketing businesses?
    Art coaching: Build an online presence (portfolio site, social media, content marketing). Network locally. Get featured on relevant platforms/communities.
    AI consulting: Content marketing, networking, prospect outreach, referral partnerships.
  7. What are you missing?
    A formalized business plan and growth strategy for each venture. Dedicate time to properly scope, plan, and set measurable goals.
  8. Art coaching success without burnout?
    Set boundaries from the start. Limit number of active clients. Build passive income streams like courses/workshops. Focus on your unique methodology.
  9. Maintain AI expertise?
    The contract work helps. Also, publish content, study the latest research/trends, and collaborate on code projects with others.
  10. Make it fun while achieving goals?
    Celebrate small wins. Inject creativity into your work. Spend time with supportive people. And be sure to safeguard work-life balance.
  11. Something to start succeeding at today?
    Update your portfolio site and start promoting it. Reach out to warm connections about art coaching services. Attend/participate in art events.
  12. Are your goals properly scoped?
    Your goals seem reasonable, though having finite milestones will help measure progress. Adjust as needed based on traction.
  13. Speed up progress today?
    Conduct a time audit. Identify low-leverage activities to reduce/eliminate. Also, batch similar tasks for efficiency.
  14. Make a lot of money in a month?
    With your skillset, freelance AI projects could generate sizable income quickly, though likely requiring intense effort that month.
  15. Small shift for massive impact?
    Consistently publishing valuable content and leveraging your existing network can be high-impact, low-effort activities.
  16. What to hire out?
    Once cash flows allow, hire for time-consuming tasks that don’t directly generate value (administrative, marketing execution, etc).
  17. Make you happier/more successful today?
    Spend an hour reviewing your goals/vision. Realign your daily priorities accordingly. Then tackle one high-impact step for each business.

The key will be patience, persistent effort, and continuous optimization based on what data tells you. Let me know if any other questions come up!

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My Two Year Plan

Byjack

Here is my dream life:

  • Part time accountant: 2.2k-3.2k
  • Full time videographer: 4.3k-6.4k
  • Full time editor: 4.8k-6.9k
  • Apartment or down payment on house: 3k
  • Art studio 2k
  • Massage everyday: 1.7k-3.6k
  • Therapist 2 times a week: 2.8k
  • High end business coach: 4k
  • Eat out at a nice dinner 3 times per week: 1.2k
  • Fly first class to a destination with a plus one, with a nice airbnb every month: 5k
  • Organic high quality groceries: 1k
  • Nice quality clothes: 1k-2.3k

Total: 28.2k-41.4k

Per Year: 338.4k-496.8k

If I wanted to save 50%: 676.8k-993.6k

Before taxes that would be: 1.091M-1.601M

Meaning each month I would have to bring in: 90.1k-133.4k per month

I realize that this is more of an end goal. To get to the place I want to be right now, I don’t need to make enough to save 50%. That can come later. I highly suspect that having a great business coach, massages, and a therapist will enable me to double and triple my income.

So lets take another look at the numbers. What is the bare minimum I need to get into this lifestyle?

338.4k per year -> 531.8k before taxes

44.3k per month

If we were to operate on the Parrado Principal just for coaching:

  • 80% from group coaching: 355 group coaching clients | 20% from one on one: 6 one on one clients
  • 80% from art coaching: 425.4k | 20% from AI consulting 106.4k

Questions for myself:

  1. What should I focus on first?
  2. How do I divide what I want to do into steps?
  3. What should I focus on, AI or Art Coaching?
  4. Should I even do AI consulting?
  5. Should I try to find a partner for AI consulting? Should I wait until I find a partner to do anything?
  6. How do I want to legally set up my companies?
  7. How do I make my life easier?
  8. How do I market my businesses?
  9. What is something that I’m missing?
  10. How do I make my art coaching business succeed in a way that doesn’t destroy my peace?
  11. How do I maintain my AI expertise? How do I make progress without being overwhelmed and unfocused?
  12. What will make my life more fun while making big strides in my businesses?
  13. Is there something I can start succeeding at today?
  14. Am I aiming at the right goals? Are they too small? Too large?
  15. What can I do today to rapidly speed up my progress?
  16. If I wanted to make a lot of money, enough to live on in the next year, and I wanted to make this money in a month with my current skillset, what should I do?
  17. Is there a small shift I can make that will have a massive impact on my income/success?
  18. What should I be hiring someone else to do? What things will have a good return on my investment, make me money not lose money?
  19. What should I do today that will make me happier and more successful?

My intuitive answers:

  1. What should I focus on first?
    • You want to focus on the fundamentals: sleep, meditation, food, emotional processing
    • The stronger the fundamentals are, the more you will be able to handle anything
  2. How do I divide what I want to do into steps?
    • Picture some of your immediate goals that make you feel excited, give you energy, make them small enough to understand, and work on meeting those goals first
  3. What should I focus on, AI or Art Coaching?
    • It depends on what you want to do, to create a large business, AI makes more sense
    • For creating a smaller business, focus on Art Coaching
  4. Should I even do AI consulting?
    • Yes of course, there is a really good business opportunity here
    • If you mean at the same time as Art coaching, the answer is it depends, you will have to pick a priority
  5. Should I try to find a partner for AI consulting? Should I wait until I find a partner to do anything?
    • No you shouldn’t wait, you can start by yourself
    • Yes, you should look for a partner while you are looking for clients, you are developing a network for both
  6. How do I want to legally set up my companies?
    • Depends on how easy it is to change, the benefits of separating them, etc.
  7. How do I make my life easier?
    • Stop doing everything alone, work with other people
  8. How do I market my businesses?
    • Ask other people for ideas
  9. What is something that I’m missing?
    • You are missing a business coach/mentor
  10. How do I make my art coaching business succeed in a way that doesn’t destroy my peace?
    • You write about your challenges and experiences, to approach the business like an opportunity for personal growth
  11. How do I maintain my AI expertise? How do I make progress without being overwhelmed and unfocused?
    • The best way is if you could connect the art coaching with AI and AI with art coaching, if you could find a way for them to be symbiotic, that would be the easiest way
    • The other way is to find a simple and easy way to make money from AI
  12. What will make my life more fun while making big strides in my businesses?
    • I think maybe posting about your process/journey on social media
    • Hosting events and meeting people
    • Speaking at events
    • Creating strong boundaries for doing other things unrelated to business
  13. Is there something I can start succeeding at today?
    • Yes, focus on the fundamentals, they are the most important part
  14. Am I aiming at the right goals? Are they too small? Too large?
    • I think you are focused on the right goals, but maybe it is too early to be thinking about timelines, just create a bunch of attainable goals and work through them with no timeline in mind
  15. What can I do today to rapidly speed up my progress?
    • Meditate
    • Sleep as much as possible
    • Find a mastermind
  16. If I wanted to make a lot of money, enough to live on in the next year, and I wanted to make this money in a month with my current skillset, what should I do?
    • Teaching people would probably be the best way, that is probably your strongest skillset at the moment
    • Probably not the best use of your time for your goals
  17. Is there a small shift I can make that will have a massive impact on my income/success?
    • Yes, write down goals and look at them everyday
  18. What should I be hiring someone else to do? What things will have a good return on my investment, make me money not lose money?
    • Finding a good video editor or social media manager
    • Marketing is key and you need to work with people to get good at it
  19. What should I do today that will make me happier and more successful?
    • Remember your mission(s) and focus on them
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Workpost 27: Business Inspiration

Byjack
  1. Start with what you love
  2. Learn how to do what you love doing better
  3. Find a partner to fill gaps within your execution
  4. Come up with simple execution plan
  5. Figure out where the revenue comes from
  6. Start with purpose, later you manage purpose not employees
  7. Delay gratification
  8. Culture has to be client centric
  9. Hacking luck is about persistence
  10. Taking risk increases luck
  11. How to deal with failure
    • Don’t let things own you
    • Do not let short term ego go (enjoy looking like a loser)
    • Learn to embrace getting a D
  12. Take your time
  13. Don’t ask yourself what you will do when you grow up, ask yourself what problem you want to solve
  14. Write down in detail what person you are looking for in a cofounder
    • Opposite of what you love to do
    • Same moral code
    • Post it everywhere
  15. Sell the sizzle, not the steak
  16. Build sales relationship
    • Do they need you?
    • Do you like them?
  17. Marketing is about experimenting and connecting with people over time
  18. Marketing is all about the process and the system
  19. Marketing is about having fun
  20. Write press release like its the actual story, do all the work for the journalist (high res photos)
  21. Lean into marketing for other brands you like and they can lead to brand sponsorship

Something I was thinking about in this video is how I love challenges, but I don’t like failures. But maybe the most important thing to do, or a really good outcome for a challenge is failure, and I can focus on failure if I want to. I think maybe a big part of failure, is unexpected outcomes. It isn’t important that you didn’t succeed at what you originally went for, but how you grew in the process of trying and discovering what unexpected things were on the other side.

The cofounder part is also really interesting in writing down what I want so I can recognize someone when I see them.

Sales relationships makes me think about reaching out with all my goals and involving people on a journey because that is the thing that interests me the most, it is the thing that I can connect with people on very easily and naturally.

Marketing is making me think that failure might also be about the story you can tell afterwards. The story is not about success, it is about the exciting hook and premise. Failure is one of the most interesting ends to a story, although it can be depressing.

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Workpost 24: Feeling Good and Business Plans

Byjack

Last night I was feeling some doubts about my coaching practice and I did some IFS therapy on myself to work through some of the shame and anger I feel around people rejecting my coaching or not seeing its value.

Today, I woke up feeling really tired but now I’m feeling good.

I’m working on stuff of my choosing and I really like it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my business lately and what the starving crowd and what I want to happen.

I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code a little bit about selling high-ticket clients and expensive products.

So after listening and reading Alex Hormozi for two days here is what I learned:

  1. Charge an obscene amount
  2. Use that amount to create a crazy experience
  3. Solve a really big problem (to create really big value)

I think what really big value I want to create with my coaching is to help people create a masterpiece.

If I was to breakdown Alex Hormozi’s formula for value:

  1. The dream: create an artistic masterpiece – a breakout piece (this will make you a career in this space a breakout piece, you will feel proud of yourself, you will be able to call yourself an artist proudly, this will be the best work you’ve ever created)
  2. The certainty: I am an artist and engineer, I have a lot of experience coaching people through mental blocks, I will give you a guarantee.
  3. The time: 1 year
  4. The effort: without giving up your mental sanity, quitting your job, or disconnecting from family

Value of this offer: 250,000+

10-15%: 25,000 – 37,500

2,083 – 3,125 per month

Three stages:

  1. Explore art
  2. Establish your routine
  3. Create your masterwork

Objections/fears:

  1. I don’t have enough time
  2. I don’t know what I want to do
  3. I have kids
  4. I don’t want to quit my job
  5. I don’t know what other people will like, what if people don’t like it
  6. Too much work
  7. Keep switching what I want to do