The Portfolio Life With Jeff Goins

As you may know, I’ve been traveling quite a bit this year. It’s been fun to meet many of you at the various events I’ve spoken at or attended. One question I keep hearing is: “What’s your favorite writing tool?” It’s always good to ask what’s working for someone, but this question represents a popular misconception about creative work. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/jarvis

You didn’t fail. The goal was to learn something, so if you learned, you succeeded. It’s only when the unexpected happens and we don’t learn from it that we really fail. The reason why you may not have achieved what you set out to achieve was that you were measuring (and therefore expecting) the wrong thing. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/quick-win/

Why does anyone buy anything? Because the cost of not having it is greater than the cost of acquiring it. This is true for almost everything but especially for sales and marketing. If you want to thrive as a creative professional, you need to understand what it takes for someone to buy from you. Otherwise, you just might starve. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/close-sale/

When is it time to launch your latest product? The answer is before you think it’s ready. This is where you make your product public. Is it a book? A course? A new coaching program? Now is the time for you to let the world know. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/quick-launch/

Digital products have changed my life. Courses. Ebooks. Coaching programs. Masterminds. Membership sites. All of it. Making things and sharing them on the Internet has revolutionized the way I live, learn, and earn a living. And if you aren’t taking advantage of this revolution right now, you are missing out on a lot. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/walkthrough/

How do you create something from nothing? You don’t. You always start with something. Creation comes from chaos. And so will your next book, course, or big project. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/scratch/

One of the challenges of being a creative professional is that you aren’t always sure what people will buy. It often feels like a game of Roulette, in which you have to create a lot of work, hoping someone will buy something. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if you could sell something before you ever created it? Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/minimum-viable-product/

So many people set out to create a product—whether it’s a book, a coaching service, or an online course—and assume they know what people want. Don’t do that. Instead of assuming, just ask. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/test-it/

People don’t typically buy what they need. They buy what they want. Which is why I love the saying: “Sell them what they want, give them what they need.” But how, exactly, do we do that? Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/first-product/

It’s time you started thriving, and that really begins with you changing your mind. But maybe you don’t realize that you’re a starving artist. Maybe it didn’t occur to you that the way you think about yourself and your work is actually holding you back. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/challenge/

What I’ve learned since leaving the nonprofit world and starting a business, which included becoming an author, speaker, and digital entrepreneur, is that you can do a lot of good through business. I now believe that the best way for me to help people is through business. I don’t think that’s true for everyone, but it’s been true for me and for many of my friends. I know a lot of people who come from a ministry or a nonprofit background who are now doing more good in terms of the number of people they are able to help through for-profit enterprises. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/start-business/

Learning how to be unapologetically ourselves in our writing and creative work is the first step to becoming effective at what we do. If we don’t do this, our writing will not resonate with our audience. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/writing-sucks/

In life, there are so many decisions to make. And so it is with creative work. As is often the case, art imitates life (and vice versa). We are constantly choosing one thing over another. And this can be a real struggle for many of us. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/next-right-thing/

How do you get busy, important people to notice you? In this age of connectedness, it’s easier than ever to meet your heroes and even partner with them—as long as you know how to do it. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/heroes-partners/

How do you sell 1.7 million copies of a self-published book? You demonstrate unwavering faith and extraordinary effort. Hal Elrod knows a thing or two about that. A cancer survivor, bestselling author, and successful entrepreneur, Hal has been inspiring people for years to tackle their days with his Miracle Morning book and process. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/miracle-equation/

The point of marketing is not to convince people to buy your stuff. It’s to help you find the people who need your work. Don’t create something for everyone. Create something for someone. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/not-for-everyone/

I have always believed in ending things well. Recently, I shared with you why I decided to end my conference. Now, I want to share with you more about it. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/final-tribe-conference/

How do you know when it’s time to quit something and when to stick with it just a little longer? All of creativity—and life, it seems—is really just an attempt to answer this question. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/quit-something/

People often ask me how I work and I refuse to answer the question because it has absolutely no value at all. Almost every morning after dropping off my kid at school, I go to the same coffee shop, sit at the same table, drink the same cup of coffee, and write. It’s the same ritual, every day. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/how-i-work/

Do you remember when you started it, this thing you now call your craft? Do you remember when you did it because you loved it, because you couldn’t stop doing it? I don’t. But I’d like to remember. I’d love to go back to being an amateur if I still can. Full shownotes: https://goinswriter.com/amateur-again/