7-Figure Small

Let's talk about CEX.

Last week, Brian Clark and Joe Pulizzi announced that they are joining forces to host a first-of-its-kind event for creators and content entrepreneurs. It's called Creator Economy Expo (CEX), and it will take place May 2-4 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona.

This week on 7-Figure Small, Joe is back. You may recall his last appearance on the show, which included a discussion about his creator coin $TILT that helped spur us in a similar direction, launching $MOVE a couple months later. 

In this episode, Joe and Brian share the story of how CEX came to be, who it serves, and why they decide to partner up.

It's a moment more than a decade in the making for two entrepreneurs who have carved out successful 8-figure personal enterprises serving a similar audience. Now their "co-opetition" has morphed into a full-fledged partnership resulting in the first live, in-person conference dedicated to combining the fundamentals of audience building online business with the emerging trends and tools of web3.

You'll find out about the Super Early Bird pricing (which is live now) and also learn about the special NFTs -- called NETs, or Never-Ending Tickets -- that were created especially for the event.

We're excited to be hosting this event, and we hope to see you in Phoenix in May. 

To learn more and get your Super Early Bird tickets, go to https://cex.events.

When we think about and discuss the concept of being “unemployable,” it’s easy to conflate that with being alone. 

Consider the title of Paul Jarvis’ seminal book on the subject: Company of One.

Even the headline on the unemployable homepage right now – "No Investors, No Employees, Big Profits" – can be taken, at a quick glance, to suggest building on your own. 

But the reality is that for the vast majority of unemployables, trying to navigate an increasingly complex web of tools, opportunities, and competition is more successfully done together than separately. 

Whether it’s a content collective you join, an educational community you’re a part of, or even a partnership that you enter into, you can get the most important parts of being unemployable (freedom, flexibility, and financial independence) while mitigating the biggest downsides (lack of support, loneliness, risk).

And this week, we explore this idea with two individuals who have built successful unemployable careers while proving that being unemployable doesn’t mean being unattached.

Joining Jerod on 7-Figure Small this week is Danielle Hughes, the founder of More Than Words, where she helps businesses develop their genuine personality brand so they can attract the right clients and repel the wrong ones. She is also a longtime member of the Unemployable Initiative, our community for unemployables who want coaching and connection, so they don’t have to go it alone. You can learn more about it at https://unemployable.com/community.

And joining the conversation is Trudi Roth, Jerod and Brian's partner at Movement Ventures, and who you probably know well from her role as the beloved recurring essayist for Further.

We discuss their entrepreneurial journeys and what they've learned about the importance making connections, seeking support, and finding a sense of belonging. Then we discuss why the concept of attachment is even more important in the emerging web 3.0.

That leads to a candid conversation about women's perceptions of web 3.0 (and how they often differ from men's), why women are more likely to be patient and deliberate before rushing in, and what can be done to help onboard more women to the Internet's next frontier.

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If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discovering the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox, and more.

We’ve spent a lot of time on the podcast over the last few months discussing the emergence of web 3.0.

This includes analyzing the technologies that are enabling web 3.0 and analyzing what they mean for the future of audience building, community building, and the kind of content entrepreneurship and personal enterprise building that so many 7-Figure Small listeners are working toward.

This week, Jerod shares some advice that will be useful to anyone involved in web 3.0, whether you’re just dabbling in it for the first time or already down the rabbit hole.

In this episode, we present a series of "Do's and Don’ts" that will help you to seize the many opportunities that are present here in the still-early days of this transition while helping you avoid the many potholes and pitfalls in what is still fair to call the wild, wild, west of web3.

And here to help Jerod is yet another member of the Unemployable Initiative, Josh Risser. In addition to his growing experience in web 3.0, Josh has built a successful freelance career as a voiceover artist and coach. He shares his journey from fledgling musician to six-figure freelancer before we dive into the Do's and Don'ts that will help you have a successful experience in web 3.0.

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If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discovering the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox, and more.

To learn more about the Unemployable Initiative, go to https://unemployable.com/community

To learn more about $MOVE and The Coin Collective, go to https://rally.io/creator/MOVE/

We launched the 7-Figure Small podcast last year as a natural evolution of the unemployable concept. The big idea, as stated right there in the podcast description, was to share compelling stories and actionable strategies for creative freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to live the "7-Figure Small" lifestyle.

And we’ve done that. 

But things in our world have changed quite a bit over the last 18-24 months, and that change has been reflected in the content here on the podcast.

Web 3.0 has come hurtling down the tracks like a freight train, seeming to pick up speed every day as the tools empowered by blockchain technology -- like creator coins, NFTs, and DAOs -- become more and more accessible. In turn, the stories and actionable strategies we’re sharing have changed, by necessity. 

It even led to the creation of a new educational community, Future Freedom, which you can -- and should -- learn more about over at futurefreedom.com. In fact, when you go there, you can enter your email address to get a free email course from Brian that will help you create your ideal future, on your terms, by explaining the keys to succeeding in the new creator economy.

And Forest Linden, our guest this week on 7-Figure Small, is really the perfect guest to bridge the gap between the old 7-Figure Small podcast and the evolved 7-Figure Small podcast.

Because he is a case study in how to build an audience-first, one-or-two-person business that can scale to six figures and beyond. He is also a true native of the emerging web 3.0 landscape in just about the most fundamental way possible -- by being a former miner of Bitcoin and Ether.

Forest currently runs Clarity Lab, where he helps people and businesses find the best software for their online businesses and scale their revenue

He has also helped his wife grow her mid-six-figure business The Art of Money, founded a six-figure online business called Tech Husband, and earned more than $200,000 in one year by selling an online course teaching people how to build websites in Joomla.

In this conversation, we hit on a number of topics:

• The throughline that has driven his career choices.
• How Forest went from living in a tent and playing music for money to running six-figure technology businesses.
• The good and bad of being an unemployable.
• How he's thinking about opportunity in the metaverse.
• The fundamentals that continue to endure for audience builders and online entrepreneurs.
• Why it all ultimately boils down to relationships and being helpful, not matter what technology platform you're on.
• Plus, he runs through a few of his favorite tools for content entrepreneurs.

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If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discovering the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox, and more.

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few months discussing web 3.0, the emerging and converging technologies that are creating it, and how these trends will impact the strategies and tactics we choose as audience-building entrepreneurs.

If you missed any of our recent podcasts episodes on web 3.0, make sure you to dip into the recent archive to get caught up.

And if you want to go deeper on the keys to succeeding in the creator economy and web 3.0, go to futurefreedom.com and sign up for Brian Clark’s free email course, where you’ll get his latest thinking on how to build an exceptional business and lifestyle by embracing change instead of dreading it.

This week, we resume talking about web 3.0 and the metaverse, and all that those terms encompass, but in a slightly different context.

Our guest this week is Mich Bondesio, an expert on business performance. She has spent years helping business leaders improve performance, enhance their creativity, boost their productivity and build a healthier work culture.

She is the founder of Growth Sessions, where she works with business owners, writes the bi-monthly Cadence newsletter, and hosts the Creating Cadence podcast, where she explores how to create momentum, work with purpose, and live with intention — to activate our better selves and support better business.

And she is also a leader within the Unemployable Initiative, our private membership community for unemployables who are working toward building a 7-Figure Small business.

Instead of analyzing how these rapidly evolving web 3.0 technologies will affect our strategy, we discuss how they will actually affect our ability to execute and, simply put, actually get work done.

• What does it do to our brains, and our ability to focus, when more and more of our experiences are mitigated through screens?
• What does it do to our ability to build meaningful relationships, which people and teams need to thrive?
• And while it’s easy to point out and dwell on the potential negatives, are there second order benefits that we may be overlooking too?

Plus much more.

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If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discovering the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox, and more.

What exactly is a “digital nomad?”

Here’s one potential definition:

Explorer, Traffic & Website Builder, Always Striving to Be & Do Better. Driven by continuous exploration. Personally, professionally, and as a full-time nomad. At home in Canada & the USA but consider myself a citizen of the world.

That’s the headline and description from one of our member profiles inside of the Unemployable Initiative — a member who certainly considers herself to be a digital nomad.

It’s a concept we’ve discussed here on the 7-Figure Small podcast. And we’ve certainly discussed it over at Future Freedom. In fact, if you go to futurefreedom.com and register for the free email course, one of the lessons you’ll receive is about how to “unretire” and travel the world.

But my hunch is that while many folks striving to build a personal enterprise are intrigued by the idea of being a digital nomad, it’s a concept that remains pretty abstract in most people’s minds.

It’s aspirational, and it makes for compelling social media posts, but it’s something “other” people do and that may actually feel unattainable … until you are actually out there being a citizen of the world yourself.

So this week, with Brian headed off for a retreat in Peru, I (Jerod) take the opportunity to dig into what it’s really like to be a digital nomad, while also shining a light on one of our most consistent and helpful contributors in the Unemployable Initiative — our private, paid education community for unemployables across the globe, whether firmly grounded in one location like me, or constantly on the go, like this week’s guest.

And yes, as you might have guessed, our guest is the person whose profile description is listed above: Pat Williams, the founder of CyberCletch, a boutique web design and digital marketing agency that she runs from, well, anywhere.

We discuss:

• Pat's life and career arc that led to her current digital nomad setup
• The source of her wanderlust
• The benefits of life on the road with a location-independent business
• The challenges of life on the road with a location-independent business
• The sources of support and connection that help Pat along the way
• Her advice for anyone considering making a similar career and life shift
• The stories that encapsulate what the digital nomad life is like

And much more.

To get links to all of the resources Pat mentioned, check out the show notes: https://unemployable.com/digital-nomad

***

If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discovering the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox, and more.

Jack Butcher is proof that new voices can come along and quickly build a 7-figure small business with an online audience. And then also parlay that initial success into the next iteration of their own personal enterprise.

Of course, people only see the so-called “overnight success” and not the longer path that made it possible. Like so many others, Jack didn’t just jump into online courses.

He paid his dues developing industry expertise, worked one-on-one with clients to test his ideas, and only then did he launch scalable courses that brought him over a million in revenue.

And now, thanks to the unique visual aspects of the brand Jack built that was bigger than himself, he’s able to capitalize on the biggest digital trend of 2021 -- NFTs.

It all comes down to the audience he started with, and how his biggest fans constitute something more in the form of community. Listen in to hear how Jack’s journey played out.

***

If you’re interested in gaining more guidance on building your own personal enterprise in the creator economy and discover the opportunities in the emerging Web 3.0, take our free Future Freedom course.

Just head over to http://futurefreedom.com and enter your best email address. You’ll get five value-packed lessons (plus a few bonus lessons) delivered direct to your inbox.

http://futurefreedom.com

Technology is driving change and the evolution of the web.

That's what we discussed in recent episodes about blockchain, creator coins, NFTs, and smart contracts and DAOs. But what really matters, beyond the shiny newness and seemingly infinite possibilities of the tech, is the people.

Specifically, how the unchanging fundamentals of human nature operate in the context this new technology creates.

Because as Brian is fond of saying, “Technology doesn’t change human nature, it amplifies it.”

What will that mean in web 3.0? We explore in this week's episode.

• Why “community” is so much more than just a buzzword.
• Five fundamentals of human nature that matter in a web 3.0 context.
• Does audience still matter?
• Does audience size still matter?
• How the Personal Enterprise fits into this rapidly evolving context
• The 3 models for building a successful web 3.0 enterprise: Leader, Joiner, Collaboration.
• If 2021 was the Year of the NFT, 2022 will be the Year of the ___ ?

Links:

• http://movecoin.net/
• http://futurefreedom.com/
• https://unemployable.com/podcast/nft-case-study-cryptodads/

As we discussed on a recent episode of 7-Figure Small, the use cases and utility for NFTs go so far beyond just getting a cartoon image to use as a profile picture.

This is actually the biggest mistake that many people new to learning about NFTs make when they see the exorbitant amounts of money that projects like Crypto Punks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club sell for. They assume it’s about the artwork, when that’s merely the top layer.

What really matters is everything going on beneath the surface in these super-exclusive communities that provide real benefits to their members.

Because that’s really what someone is buying when they purchase such an NFT: yes, they’re getting a unique jpeg that can signal social capital and even convey valuable IP rights; but more importantly they are getting entry and access into an online space that can provide networking, camaraderie, purpose, opportunity, fun, giveaways, and even collective revenue streams.

And sometimes, it’s not the community that comes first; it’s the NFT project — with a spontaneous community spinning up around it. Do some of these spontaneous communities turn out to be short-term mirage communities filled with speculators hoping to flip a jpeg for a quick profit?

Absolutely.

But when done right, these spontaneous communities can quickly become genuine, connected communities that carry the initial mission — and financial goals — of the NFT project’s founders beyond their wildest expectations.

In this case study conversation, which was originally a piece of premium content for Future Freedom members, Jerod talks with the founders of one such NFT project — CryptoDads. (Full disclosure, Jerod is a member of the CryptoDads community by virtue of owning multiple CryptoDads NFTs.)

Jerod stumbled upon CryptoDads after spending some time searching for an NFT project to get into, so he could see this spontaneous community building from the inside. As he explains, he immediately bought into this project because of the utility roadmap the founders had laid out, and because the big idea spoke to him on a personal level. The best of these NFT projects connect with members in at least one key component of their identity. CryptoDads hit him in two: his emerging interest in crypto, and his enduring joy and responsibility of being a dad.

And because this project made a similar connection with so many other like-minded people, as well as the inevitable speculators who are always looking for promising projects, its public sale of 10,000 NFTs ended within minutes, driving quite a bit of revenue for the founders, devs, designer, and investors. They also get a cut of each NFT when it is resold as well. Pretty interesting business model, right?

Also an extremely challenging one to pull off, as we discuss. But even if launching the next 10,000-mint pfp NFT project isn’t in the cards for you, it’s useful to understand why they can be so powerful in building spontaneous communities.

And with NFTs set to serve as unifying digital tokens for existing and emerging communities alike moving forward, understanding this phenomenon through the prism of a project that is making all the right moves early on will help ground your understanding of NFTs moving forward.

Links:

http://futurefreedom.com
http://cryptodadsnft.com
http://twitter.com/cryptodadsnft

We began this series by talking about blockchain, then followed it up with two episodes on emerging applications built on top of blockchains — creator coins and NFTs.

This week, we discuss the intermediate layer between the blockchain and those applications, which make them possible: smart contracts.

• What a smart contract is and does
• The legalities of smart contracts
• Examples of smart contracts
• How smart contracts led to the rise of Ethereum
• How smart contracts can revolutionize the way freelancers work and get paid

Then we tackle another emerging application that smart contracts empower — DAOs.

• What is a DAO? What does it do?
• How access to a DAO is granted
• The legalities of DAOs
• Examples of DAOs — from the wild and esoteric to the remarkably practical
• The future of DAOs and how they will impact online communities

All that and more on this edition of 7-Figure Small.

Links:

• $MOVE coin: http://movecoin.net
• Future Freedom: http://futurefreedom.com