Our plan to increase organic traffic on liipbrand.com with content.

Since we launched Liip eight months ago in September 2021, all of our site traffic has come from us promoting the brand on social media or talking with people we've met.

This, of course, got us our family and friends and friends of friends—people we knew—visiting the site and buying from us. And because we knew them, or they knew of us, we never really had to convince them to buy as they were going to support us no matter what.

Because of this, we didn't worry about putting too much information on the site when we launched. We purposely made it as simple as possible because, at the time, all we needed was for people to add our product to their cart and checkout. We could figure the rest out later.

Well… now it's later, and the site needs to do more.

We need to increase our organic traffic to attract new people to the site and convince them to buy our product without having a relationship with them or talking directly to us. We need to prove to them we have a product that's not only worth trying but one they should spend money on. We need to educate people about the benefits of our product and what goes into it and communicate the values of our brand so they feel aligned and a part of it.

So, to grow the brand, we believe if we create valuable content that attracts people to the site and gives them a good experience, they will be more likely to buy our product.

Starting with low traffic.

The key part of this is the "valuable content that attracts people to the site."

Right now, we have our home page, which is our product landing page, three product detail pages, an about page, FAQs, and a handful of miscellaneous terms and conditions pages. And, really, there's not much on all of those pages. They are pretty thin with the minimum amount of content necessary.

And, because our content is so limited, it doesn't draw people to the site.

Our page views on liipbrand.com from our launch on September 1, 2021, through May 24, 2022.

As you can see, other than the traffic spike when we launched the brand and a few others around some holidays, our traffic remains pretty consistently low, between 0-10 page views per day. Or, basically, nothing.

But, while that could seem like a bad thing, you have to remember we really haven't done anything with the site that would increase organic traffic.

So, that's what we're going to do.

We are going to make the pages we have work harder for us than they are now by adding more content to them. We are going to do keyword research to better understand search intent. And then, we are going to add pages and content to the site to attract new people who've never heard of us before based on those keywords.

Also, disregard the revenue numbers in the chart. I haven't connected the checkout flow to GA4, so that's why those are reading $0.00. Trust me, even though our traffic is low, we have sales ;)

Attracting organic traffic.

Ultimately, this is going to be a traffic acquisition experiment.

Instead of trying to build an audience through social media where we have to post and update our feed constantly, we are going to focus on capturing organic traffic with evergreen content. This type of content has infinite leverage as it can stay relevant for a long time once it's published, possibly forever, without you having to do anything more with it.

By focusing on search engine optimization content, we can begin to position ourselves as a credible brand without interacting with people one-to-one by providing valuable information to people searching for answers to questions on the internet.

Now, of course, these won't be just any questions but things related to lip care and the cosmetics industry.

The goal is to get people to the site and give them the information they are looking for. Not to try and sell things to them. But, obviously, since they are on our site, if they then decide to view our products, the option to purchase will be there for them.

Ultimately, I want this content to give people a positive perception of the brand, so they become ambassadors and repeat purchasers.

From 0 to 100 daily page views.

Tactically we will do this in three steps.

1. Develop a list of product-related keywords we want the brand to rank for in the future

2. Add more product information and brand storytelling to the existing pages

3. Publish new articles focused on unique long-tail keywords we believe we can rank for quickly

SEO isn't something that happens overnight, so we'll have to monitor our performance to see what's working and what's not. But the thing is, when done right, SEO content can keep compounding long after it's published. And that's the true value in focusing on this type of evergreen growth strategy now instead of more fleeting social posts.

We're building for the long term.

So, to have something to optimize for, my goal is to go from 0-10 daily page views to 100 daily page views in a year. June 1, 2022, to June 1, 2023, and I plan to publish at least 20 articles to make this happen.

Doing the math, if each of these 20 new articles can attract 5 page views a day, then we reach the goal of 100 page views a day.

Honestly, I think 100 daily page views is a bit of a low target, and page views might not even be the right metric to measure, but it's a 10x increase from where we're at, and we have to start somewhere.

Now, while there's nothing to show for it yet, I wrote this article to keep myself accountable and share a behind-the-scenes look at how I'm thinking about growing Liip. That said, if you have any SEO tips or suggestions for what I should do, please share them. Otherwise, I'll be back with an update relatively soon.

How to start a DTC brand with a limited budget.

If you want to start a DTC company, you're either going to spend a lot to have things done for you or do a lot of it yourself.

This is how to do it yourself.

Unlike a digital product which you can theoretically create for free, creating a physical product requires inventory. So, at the very least, you will have to spend something to develop or buy a product you can sell.

But before we get to that, a DTC company is two things. A brand and a product.

The brand is how you communicate. And the product is what people buy.

It doesn't matter whether you start with a product or a brand. If you start with a product, you can create a brand around it. Or, if you have an idea for a great brand, you could then develop a product for it. All that matters is that you have at least one of these before you get started.

Before we get into it, parts of this guide may seem incredibly simple. And it's meant to be. But it's these simple things that are often overlooked in the beginning because they don't seem necessary. Skipping them, though, can make your life much harder and may determine whether or not your business has a chance of being successful.

And, so you know this isn't just theory, I will use Liip, the lip balm brand we started, as an example throughout.

Ready? Here's how to start a DTC company when you're doing a lot of it yourself.

Creating your DTC branding.

Developing a brand is challenging because it's so subjective. It's easy to get hung up trying to decide because you don't know the right answer. And, what you like might not be what everyone else likes.

This is why the best thing to do is to simplify.

Don't try and do too much in the beginning. Obviously, when you look at established brands, you'll see all they're doing and want it too. But you have to remember those brands didn't start with everything. Brands are built over time. And really, that's what a brand is—the result of many small things working together to create something bigger than its parts.

So, yes, you need something, but don't worry too much about the brand in the beginning.

All you need is a name, logo, typography, and brand colors. And that's pretty much it. Maybe some photos or illustrations if they help communicate what you and your product are all about. But not much else. 

Simply, do everything you can not to overcomplicate this.

Coming up with your brand name.

It needs to be memorable. So it can either be unique or literal. I tend to go towards literal as it can help communicate what the brand and product are about.

For example, Liip is perfect. It's short, easy to say, and immediately gives people an idea of what products the company probably sells.

Liip wasn't our first idea, though. We started out wanting a Scandinavian name so we could have a cool letter modifier like ø, ä, or something like that. And, when we found out the Norwegian word for lip is Läpp, we thought it was great. But as much as we tried to make it work, we couldn't get away from saying "lap" even though Läpp is pronounced "lip" in Norweigan. We also realized if we couldn't stop ourselves from saying it incorrectly, we definitely didn't want to be correcting everyone else we wanted to buy our product. 

So, knowing we wanted to keep the same sentiment in the name, we simplified it and stylized the spelling we are used to with an extra "i" to make it Liip. This got us the double dots, formally called an umlaut, and an easy-to-pronounce brand name that isn't confusing at all.

It also made the logo easy to create.

Designing your first logo.

When you’re starting out you are of course going to think you need an iconic logo like Apple or Nike. Something dynamic that adapts to whatever context it’s in and holds its own against the brands everyone knows and loves.

But really, all you need is a wordmark, a stylized version of your brand name.

A wordmark accomplishes two of the most important things a logo needs to do. First, it communicates who your company is. And second, it makes it memorable. When no one knows who you are, those two things are all you need to worry about.

Then, as your brand grows and you need more assets, you can expand your branding to include other variations that can be more contextually relevant. Until then, though, don't do more than you absolutely need to.

For Liip, the logo was easy. Since we had a Scandinavian-influenced name, it was obvious that the design aesthetic would make its way into the logo. The double dots of the "i" were going to carry the weight of our logo design, and it was simply a matter of stylizing it in a way that helped it stand out.

To do that, we focused on typography.

Choosing typography for your brand.

If your logo communicates your name, the typography communicates the character of your brand.

This is because it's easy to manipulate to communicate different things. Unlike your logo, which you won't want to change, you can change how people perceive your words with the design of the typography. Something in italics means something different than if it were bold.

And the size of typography makes a difference too. Big, and it's more intense or lively. Small, and it's more serious and considered. You get to make these decisions as you build out your typography stack to influence how people perceive your brand.

Since there are so many more variables, you should choose no more than two different fonts—one for headers and one for body copy. But, ideally, if you can, I think it's best only to choose one.

That's what we did for Liip. We found Source Sans Pro worked perfectly for the logo. And instead of trying to find another font to complement it, we decided to use it for everything. Then, all we had to do was set different weights and sizes to create a hierarchy between the headers and body copy.

To find a font, you can use Google Fonts for free, or if you have a Creative Cloud subscription, you can use Adobe Fonts. These have hundreds of fonts to search through, so you'll more than likely find something. And, it's so helpful to use their intuitive filters to narrow things down to what you like.

Also, I know some designers won't agree with my advice of using a standard font for a logo, but a custom logo isn't the point of this article, and it shouldn't be a priority for anyone starting a DTC brand.

The next thing that can give your brand personality is color.

Choosing colors for your brand.

Every color means something different.

Red is intense and energetic. Orange is youthful and enthusiastic. Yellow is lively and spontaneous. Green is for growth and stability. Blue is calm and intelligent. Purple is for luxury and mystery. Pink is playful and approachable. Brown is honest and friendly. Black is elegant and powerful. White is minimalistic and clean. And, gray is formal and professional.

This is why it's a big deal to choose a color to represent your brand. Whatever you pick changes the way people think of it. So if you want to use color, I think you should use black and white as your base and then pick one accent color to highlight and emphasize different things in your design.

Liip is a hydrating lip balm, so it made sense to use blue as our accent color, given water is associated with blue.

If you need help, coolors.co is a great app to see how different colors work together and create your brand color palette.

Then lastly, imagery helps set the tone of the brand.

Picking images for your brand.

You'll need two types of images—product photography and lifestyle photography.

eCommerce Product photography.

Since we're selling a physical product, at a minimum, you're going to need ecommerce product photography. And, as the name implies, these are images of your product.

These are usually products shot against a white or single-color background for eCommerce sites.

For product photography, I would use Soona Studios. They have a great portfolio, have worked with brands you've probably heard of, and are affordable.

Brand lifestyle photography.

Then, for brand lifestyle photography, unless you're a photographer and can take the photos you want, start by finding free images with Unsplash. Lifestyle images show off places or activities that relate to the people you want to attract to your brand. They can help people see your company as "a brand for them."

Lifestyle images are less important initially, so if you can get something 80% right, that's good enough. You don't need lifestyle images with your product in them yet, either. It is just something that helps convey the tone of your brand and get people to relate to it.

Professional photography is expensive and is something you can do later once you know things are working.

Lean DTC branding.

Ok, I hope you can tell by now the point of this is to help you get started as quickly as possible and not get caught up worrying about things that don't matter just yet. Since you don't yet know what works and what doesn't, it's best to do as little as possible without looking like you're cutting corners. Then, once people interact with your brand, you'll quickly understand how people react to it and make informed decisions on what to do next.

Here's a recap of what the lean DTC branding package looks like:

• One brand name

• One wordmark logo

• One headline font

• One body font

• One brand color

• Product photography

• Free lifestyle images

Next, let's go through product considerations so you can launch your brand and start getting sales.

DTC Product.

​​​​Answering these questions will be easy if you already know what you're selling, as the product will dictate the answers. But, if you don't yet know what you want to sell, they will help you find a product that fits your strategy. 

These are the questions we asked ourselves that led us to the idea of creating a lip balm brand. There were certain things we knew we wanted, and lip balm happened to be one of the product ideas we thought we had a unique perspective on. So, while this section is shorter, you must spend more time on it as it's critical to get your product right. 

Unlike your brand, which you can change and adapt as needed, you have to commit to your product. Or, at least to the category, because if you completely change your product, you're essentially changing your brand along with it. So, if you don't want to run the risk of having to start over, it'll be best to think through and answer these questions before you get started.

These considerations fall into a few groups: Product category, Production & DTC Fulfillment, Product marketing, Financial considerations, and Unique knowledge.

Product category.

• Am I entering an established category or creating a new one?

• Do people need to be educated on the category, or do they already understand it?

• Are people loyal to another brand, or are they willing to try new products?

Production & DTC fulfillment.

• Can I make this product myself, or do I need to find a supplier?

• Are there any restrictions, guidelines, or compliance requirements I need to follow?

• Does the product need to be stored, and where will I keep it?

• Can I get the product or raw materials from more than one supplier?

• Is the product easy to ship, or will I need to figure out a unique solution?

• Can I handle fulfillment, or do I need a 3PL?

Product marketing.

• What is my unique selling point, and how is my product different?

• What is my primary marketing channel?

• Who is my target market?

• Are there any restrictions or guidelines for marketing products like mine?

Financial considerations.

• Do people buy this product once, or is it a repeat purchase?

• Does the product have a high or low margin?

• What is the average price of similar products?

• Am I going to price my product as premium, standard, or budget?

• Is the product cheap to produce or acquire?

• What are my sales channels – e-commerce, wholesale, retail?

Unique knowledge.

• Do I have experience with this product and category?

• Do I have relationships and connections which can help me?

• Am I interested in this product and category?

• What skills do I have that will give me an advantage?

• Am I excited about building this brand?

Launching your brand.

There are obviously many more things to consider when starting a DTC brand, but you'll know you're on your way if you can answer these. And as I said earlier, if you don't yet know what product you want to sell, using these questions to narrow down your options will help you make an informed decision so you understand what you're getting into.

What this approach does is help guide us to work on things that matter now without getting caught up in something we don't have to worry about just yet. This is why we start with a simple branding package and straightforward product considerations so we can go from thinking about an idea to selling a product as quickly as possible.

This guide is just to get us started in the right direction. Launching the business is an entirely other thing and requires its own article.

But then, once we have a business to work on, we can look at testing our ideas and optimizing our product and brand. Because without both of these things first, a brand and a product, you can't start a DTC company.

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Fake productivity.

You know the people who go around telling everyone how many books they've read in a year?

I do because I used to be one of those people. Those people are annoying—I was annoying.

Usually, and I'm speaking for myself. These people are ambitious. They have big dreams and ambitious goals, and it seems like they're always working toward something. But as time goes on, you begin to realize they really haven't done anything. They always talk about what they want to do but never have anything to show for it.

Really, how many self-help books do you need to read before you actually start working on becoming a better version of yourself? How many business books do you need to read before starting the business you want? How many podcasts or YouTube videos do you need to watch to feel #inspired?

Probably not many. At least not enough that you'd bother putting it in your Twitter bio and telling everyone about it.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with trying to learn as much as you can, it's just more so disappointing. Disappointing because you know if these people spent even half the time actually working on the things they say they want to instead of thinking they’re not ready, then they'd be so much further along.

I know this because I had to learn it myself.

There's, of course, merit in immersion and educating yourself before you start something so you don't make mistakes that can be easily avoided. But then there's also the experience and education that comes with actually doing whatever that thing is. And this isn't to say you should skip the initial education part. Rather, it all comes down to where you're at and what your intentions are.

When you're starting out, you should read and search out new perspectives a lot. It's actually kind of your job when you're young. To become well-rounded, you need to try as many things as possible, as fast as possible. Reading, listening, and watching others help you do this quickly, as there's no way you could do it all on your own.

Sampling many different things is how you find the ones that interest you and rule out those that don't.

Then, once you have a general idea of where you want to end up, it's much easier to identify the next step.

In an ideal world, you take what you've learned and start to apply it. And, eventually, you won't have to rely on reading, listening, and watching as much as you'll be learning by doing. You might even start creating the things that other people read, listen to, and watch.

The trouble, though, is when people, like you and me, mistake things that feel productive as actual productivity and don't transition from learning to doing.

Fake productivity feels productive.

Reading books feels productive because we're reading about all of the progress others have made. Listening to podcasts makes us feel like we have also gone through the same journey as the guest we're listening to. Watching a YouTube video makes us feel like we, too, have done the work we're watching.

This is why getting caught up chasing knowledge instead of results is so easy. It's so much easier to feel like you've accomplished something than actually trying to do it yourself. There is such a fine line between productivity and procrastination. How do you even know what side you're on?

It's actually kind of simple. And really, we know when we're doing it. It's just a matter of acknowledging it and adjusting our actions accordingly. When you do things to learn and expand your perspective, you are being productive. When you do those same things as a way to put off actually doing the work, you're procrastinating.

I am sure the people who read to impress others are no longer here, but I want to make sure it's clear I'm not saying you shouldn't read. Just make sure you know why you're reading—or listening—or watching something. Because while I said focusing on being exposed to as many perspectives as possible is a young person's job, it's also for anyone trying to learn or figure out what to do next.

We'll all go through phases, and sometimes we will need to read entire books to help us define our next move, and at other times, might only need to seek out specific information and read one chapter. The point is not to let those things get in your way of being productive and making progress.

So, instead of racking up vanity metrics to maybe impress people with things like how many books you’ve read. Focus on doing things that propel you forward. Because excelling at the game of fake productivity isn’t a game worth winning—play your own game instead.

After trying every productivity system I could find, I designed the Output Journal to take advantage of everything that worked and get rid of everything that got in the way. You can get this framework and a few emails with the strategies and psychology of why it works here:

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Infinite leverage.

When you work for someone else, time is your only leverage.

And, it’s hard to get ahead when selling your time as there’s a limit to how much one person can do. This is especially true when you realize the only reward for working smarter and accomplishing more in less time is, in fact, more work. Whoever bought your time wants to get as much out of it as possible while paying you the least you’ll accept.

It’s an endless race you can’t win.

This is why we need more leverage than just our time. Now, there are other types of leverage like labor, tools, and automation, but along with time, capital is the other main form of leverage. And really, capital is the ultimate form of leverage as it allows you to buy those other things like labor, tools, and automation, essentially buying time, which can multiply your output.

But our goal in increasing our leverage shouldn’t be to increase our output. Instead, we should want to do more with our time so we don’t have to work all of the time.

Lucky for us, we now live in an age of infinite leverage where this is possible.

Instead of trading our time to acquire capital or taking on outsized risk with loaned capital, this new form of leverage doesn’t require permission from anyone else and costs basically nothing.

If you haven’t guessed already, I’m talking about the internet.

Things like blogs, podcasts, and youtube channels specifically.

These mediums and platforms allow you to do things you once needed permission and capital to start but now can set up in an afternoon on your own. 

But it’s not just that these are now cheap to produce. No, it’s that they give you infinite leverage. When you write a blog post, record a podcast, or upload a YouTube video, you create something with incredible potential. Instead of doing something that is 1-to-1, these are 1-to-many.

Your article, podcast, and video can be read, listened to, or watched an infinite number of times. Instead of getting out what you put in, the output of your effort extends way beyond the moment you created it. Your content is available to anyone, at any time, without you having to do anything more. These platforms will actively promote your work as their main objective is to share useful content with their users. You creating content ultimately benefits both them and you.

And not only do each of these mediums work on their own. They can also be stacked and become leverage for each other where the success of one creates the opportunity for another. Infinite leverage is built with compounding assets.

That said, there’s one thing you have to be aware of if this is how you want to get away from trading your time for money.

When we start, and for a while in the beginning, we’ll be investing our time and getting no money. That’s the paradox of infinite leverage. It’s a slow burn fueled by delayed gratification. But if you commit to seeing things through, the right things will build over time until one day they pay off way more than you ever realized possible.

So start right now. Or, you’ll have to wait even longer.

Play your own game.

Eventually, ambitious people all realize the same thing.

The game they're playing isn't meant for them.

More specifically, working for someone else isn't for them.

Having a job and working for someone else is great when you're starting and want to build your skills quickly. Learning from people who've been doing something for years when you don't have any experience is the best way to fast-track your growth. You get to see firsthand how things come together, and you don't have to worry about making mistakes as you won't be in a position to make any that truly matter. It's all upside, and you get out way more than you put in.

However, this advantage slowly starts to disappear as you gain more experience and responsibility. Your growth will begin to slow down as your knowledge gap decreases. Instead of being expected to learn, you'll be expected to contribute, which is exactly what ambitious people want. Real stakes and an opportunity to prove they know what they're doing.

But what they don't realize are the limits that come with this new responsibility. Just because you're now allowed to do one thing doesn't mean you'll be allowed to do the next thing. The company you work for doesn't need someone to keep growing. They need someone to do a specific job.

Now, there's something to be said for pushing through this in the beginning. When you're starting out, you don't have any leverage. Even when you have some responsibility, you still don't really have any leverage. At this point, you're getting out pretty much what you put in.

This is why people invest their time into becoming good employees. They want to one day have enough leverage to demand more. But getting too comfortable being an employee can lead to career risk.

What looks like a clear growth path is often an illusion.

Being an employee means there's a limit to how much you can achieve. It means your opportunities are limited to the company's opportunities and what you're allowed to participate in. It means there's a limit on your income and how fast you'll be able to get it. And, ultimately, it means you're not in control of your career.

When your income relies on trading your time for money, and you don't get a proportionate amount of money for the outcomes you generate, you tend to feel like you're being taken advantage of. Instead of feeling like there's an even split, you start to think you're putting in more than you're getting out.

This is when ambitious people realize working for someone else isn't for them.

It's no one side's fault more than the other. It's simply the rules of the game they're in. The company wants to get the most out of its employees while paying them as little as possible. And the employees want to get the most out of the company without having to sacrifice all of their personal time.

Now, this works for some people. But if this arrangement doesn't work for you, don't get caught complaining about it. It's simply what it is. Instead, I suggest playing your own game. One where you create the rules. A game where you define success and allows you to follow your ambition as far as you possibly can.

Unlike working for someone else, your growth might be slow initially, but it will most likely pay off big in more ways than one.

Planning for 2022.

I’m pretty good at following through on the goals I set for myself.

Mostly because I’ve thought about it enough to be fairly certain I’ll achieve it by the time I set one.

This is good and bad. Good because I can build momentum as accomplishments build on each other. And bad because it probably means I’m not pushing myself if I’m always achieving what I set out to do. It means I’m playing it safe and not setting ambitious enough goals that challenge me to keep improving.

This is why I’m doing things a bit differently this year.

I usually keep my goals to myself as they’re for me, and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks. I’m not really motivated by a desire to live up to anyone else’s expectations. Rather, I’m only looking to impress myself.

This year I’m stating my goals publicly.

Having more visibility on what I’m planning to do will help me make sure I’m only working on things that matter. When it’s just me, I tend to focus on busy work or things I know I can complete instead of what’s important. And, when I’m the only one who knows what my goals are, I’m free to bend the rules and let things take longer than they should.

I don’t want to be like that anymore.

By doing this, my theory is that I’ll be more conscious of how I’m spending my time. Not that I’m looking for outside accountability, but more that I don’t want to let myself down by not following through on what I said I’d do. Now, with whatever I’m doing, I’ll always have to ask myself, is this helping me achieve my goals, or am I distracting myself from them?

I didn’t set goals like this last year and if you read my article, Looking back on 2021, you can see how I missed the mark on a few things I was working toward.

And like that article, this one is for me too. I don’t expect you to read this, but if you’re interested, let’s get started.

Format.

As I’m going to do this every year, I’ll use the same category framework I followed in last year’s review. Doing it this way helps me better track and understand how I’m spending my time across the five categories: Health, Relationships, Work, Wealth, and Experiences.

Additionally, I will define a Theme for the year as I think it will help set the tone for how I approach everything I want to accomplish.

Themes.

My two themes this year are Intensity and Inevitability.

Intensity.

I’ve been thinking about the idea of intensity after hearing Sam Parr and Shaan Puri talk about it on their podcast. They talked about how upping your level of intensity when you work out can remove the need to be more disciplined in other areas. Specifically, you could increase your intensity while working out and achieve even better results instead of restricting your diet.

They also applied the same idea to business as they talked about how it’s so much easier to do more with something you already have going on than trying to start something completely new.

For me, increasing intensity goes hand in hand with how I want to be more aware of what I’m working on and how I’m spending my time. Instead of making incremental progress on many things, I want to have a few projects I make significant progress on. It’s also a way to make sure I’m fully present with whatever I’m doing rather than be doing one thing but have my mind somewhere else.

Inevitability.

Another thing I’m thinking about as I head into next year is how to make achieving my goals inevitable.

One of the challenges with setting goals, especially when thinking about a whole year or more, is they tend to be quite large. This doesn’t make them bad. It just means they’re harder to approach.

When I have big goals like this, I’ll often get caught up trying to perfect the process or spend too much time thinking about how great the outcome will be. Either way, when I do this, I’m not doing any of the actual work it’d take to achieve those goals. I fall into this trap because it’s easier to focus on things I can control instead of what I can’t.

So, when it comes to making outcomes inevitable, I think it’s about figuring out how to balance those two things. First, knowing where I’m headed, and second, having the proper process to keep me on track but not distract me.

To do that, I need to constantly be questioning whether or not the work I’m doing is helping me move forward or if it’s just keeping me busy.

Again, having this mindset should help me focus on a few important things rather than many.

Goals.

Since this is the first time I set goals this way, I’m approaching next year as a foundational year.

It’s foundational in that what I do this year will set me up for the year after. And, I expect next year will set up the following year, and each year after that. The point is, instead of having goals that are a ways off, constraining them to one year will introduce a sense of urgency to achieve them.

I’ve also made each goal quantifiable so I can clearly track my progress. But, as you’ll see, some are finite while others are more open-ended. This is important to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed and burned out from trying to do too much. To help with that, I tried to be realistic and set goals that support and build on one another. This way, I’m not having to switch between things all of the time.

That said, there’s still probably too much here, but I’d rather that than too little.

Health.

My health goals are not things I’ll be able to do quickly. This is why I only have two of them. They both will take planning and discipline to see through, and I think doing them will benefit me in other areas in ways I don’t realize now.

• Add 15 pounds of muscle; Currently 125 lean muscle mass

• Full sit down Pigeon Stretch on both sides

Relationships.

My relationship goals all center around time. I want to be more intentional about the time I spend with the people I care about. This means it’s not just more time, rather, it’s that the time we spend together is meaningful.

Girlfriend.

• Review our individual goals together and set goals for us as a couple

• 12 Monthly check-ins to review our progress and see how we can support each other

• 1 date night per month minimum

Family.

• Take my dad out 4 times

• Take my mom out 4 times

Friends.

• Explore two local communities or groups

Work.

Last year, I realized I look up to the people I do because they create and share content all of the time. In the last few years, I’ve experimented with writing, making videos, and being more prolific on social media but never did it long enough to gain any traction. This year, my work goals focus on implementing all of those skills I’ve been building up so I can be more like the people I admire.

wesjones.co

• Publish 10 Articles

• Create 3 Paid Information Products from Articles

• Create 8 Vlogs (Can include videos for Liip and Superperfect)

• Acquire 4 consulting clients from DTC Articles

Liip.

• Open 20 retail accounts

• Create 3 brand storytelling pieces for the website

• Interviewed by 2 publications

• Write 6 Articles for the Liip Blog

• Start Liip Team with 5 influencers

• Create Affiliate program

Superperfect.

• Launch website

• Create 1 About Video

• Publish 10 Articles

• Create 2 Paid Information Products

• Post on Instagram 150 times

Employer.

• Promoted to Sr. Content Strategist

Wealth.

Last year I set the goal to reach $100 a day in passive income but didn’t get close to it. It was one of those things that sounded easy enough, but without an actionable plan, I couldn’t make it happen. Now, I think I can make this one inevitable with the work goals above.

• Achieve $100/day Passive Income between WJCO and Superperfect by the end of 2022

• Simplify my Investing strategy to a “Set & Forget ETF strategy” to focus on wealth creation

Experiences.

I often travel for reasons other than my own. Honestly, I’ve never taken a trip for myself. It’s always with or for someone else. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t feel like I deserve it or what, but it’s something I want to try.

• Take one personal trip for more than four days

Getting started.

When I step back and look at my goals for next year, I simultaneously think it’s a lot and also not very much.

I know I have the foundational skills to do all of these things. Now it’s simply a matter of following through. This doesn’t mean it won’t be hard, though. I expect I’ll have to make a lot of tradeoffs throughout the year if I want to achieve all of this.

So, instead of trying to take on everything at once, I’m going to map my goals out against the full year. This way, things can build on one another and create momentum to carry everything forward. To stay on track, I’ll be conducting quarterly and monthly reviews along with weekly and daily reflections.

As I said before, the point for next year isn’t to do many things. Instead, it’s to do a few things really well.

I’m excited to get started.

Also, I don’t believe in resolutions and waiting for a new year to set goals. It’s just the easiest way to time block things consistently.

If you’re interested in following my progress, you can find me @wesjonesco on Twitter and Instagram.

Looking back on 2021.

Since 2014 I’ve tried to figure out what this site should be.

For a long time, I wanted it to be the home of an advertising agency that traded under my name, wesjones.co.

But as much as I thought that’s what I wanted, I finally realized it’s not.

This site is mine.

And while the articles I write are meant for other people like you to learn from, this one is for me too.

Actually, there will be two articles every year going forward that will be for me. One, this one, will be a look back on the year and another that looks forward. I’m using it as a way of public reflection, review, and planning to help keep me accountable. I don’t expect you to read it, but it’s here if you’re interested.

While it will certainly be easier to focus on the positive moments of the past year, I will try to include the things that didn’t go so well. It’s only fair, and no one benefits from hearing how good they are, especially me.

Let’s start here.

The first time I wanted to write an article like this was in the lead-up to 2020.

I, along with many others, thought 2020 was going to be the year everything came together. Everything we’d been working toward in the previous decade would finally be realized, and the future would be secure. Well, we all know what happened.

2020 feels like a lost year, and while it wasn’t the year I wanted, I think it was the year I needed.

I needed it because it made me question what I was doing, why I was doing it, and whether or not I actually cared about those things or if I was doing them because I felt others expected me to.

2020 gave me permission to change what I didn’t like.

Instead of thinking I still had to do it all, it allowed me to say I don’t want to do this anymore. This doesn’t align with my values. And, I’m not going to put energy into things that aren’t helping me get where I want to go.

And that’s why I’m writing this on this site now. Because I can. Because this is what I care about. Because this is what I want to be doing and what I think will help me focus my life in the direction I want to be going.

Until recently, I would have told you I was wasting time jumping from one thing to another. Now I think every experience I’ve had has been me collecting the elements necessary to build the foundation I’ll work from for the rest of my life. I’m genuinely excited in a way I haven’t been in a long time.

Format.

Earlier this year, I began grouping things into these five categories: Health, Relationships, Work, Wealth, and Experiences. So this article will use those as the framework. Of course, some things don’t necessarily fit, but I’ve found these cover it for the most part. And, when something could work in multiple categories, I simply include it in the most relevant one.

Then, following the categories, I have a Stop, Start, Continue section. This will be different from the next article about my 2022 goals, as it’s still more of a reflection on this year. For me, it’s a good way to question whether or not the things I’m doing are helping or distracting me.

Either way, it’ll be a nice bridge between the two articles.

Life.

Mostly everything. Rather than combine things across categories, I’m going to look at them individually.

Health.

This might be because I’m getting older, but I stopped running long distances and pushing my body to the point I could get injured.

I realized if, and when I got hurt, I couldn’t work out and maintain the gains I’d achieved. I was in this never-ending cycle of building up my tolerance and endurance, only to get hurt and have to start all over again. In the end, I wasn’t making any progress at all.

Now, I’m focused on being an everyday athlete. Someone who can show up every day and perform.

This doesn’t mean I put in half the effort. Instead, I’m learning how to push myself right to the limit and still be able to recover and come back stronger tomorrow.

What changed was realizing I’m not trying to impress anyone with outsized effort in the short term. Rather I’m looking to impress myself over the long term. I want to be fit and flexible forever. What I don’t want is to become someone who’s unable to do the things they want to because they didn’t take care of themselves when they could.

To help with that, I prioritized building out my team of doctors, so I have people to go to if I have questions. And, it helps to know what my baselines are, so we have a history to work from if we ever need to.

I also started experimenting with adding vitamins and supplements into my daily routine. After a month of research, I settled on Athletic Greens – Get 5 Travel Packs and a year supply of Vitamin D when you use that link. It’s definitely expensive but it seems to have the most benefits for what you’re getting as it’s a multivitamin, probiotic, prebiotic, and has adaptogens in it. That along with the simplicity of only having to take one thing each day makes it so easy.

And, for a while, I was pairing AG with a collagen supplement but haven’t kept up with that one as much for a couple of reasons. I stopped mostly because it tasted like horse hoof and I wasn’t sure it was doing anything after talking to a doctor about it.

One thing I don’t talk about unless someone asks is I stopped drinking in 2020 and passed the year mark this summer. It’s been an interesting experience but, honestly, way easier than I would have thought. Not being able to go out as much earlier this year definitely helped. But even as I’ve been able to go out more recently, it hasn’t been much of an issue with anyone I hang out with.

Finally, doing these things resulted in dropping 15 pounds this year. That wasn’t my goal, and I probably didn’t need it to happen, but it’s a nice way of validating the things I’m doing have positive outcomes. And, I simply feel better knowing I’m not carrying around any extra weight, even if it wasn’t something that was bothering me.

Relationships.

This one is somewhat tough as I can only write based on my perspective, but I have to try anyway.

Girlfriend.

We’ve been living together for over a year now, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s so fun having my best friend there to do things with all of the time. And I love how we’ve both been bringing our lives together as we build out our home. Having shared goals and the same taste for design is so important too.

That said, one thing that’s been a challenge for me is making sure I have time that’s entirely focused on her. I’ve always been someone who gets immersed in whatever I’m interested in at the moment and can let whatever else be secondary. Amazingly, she recognizes that and gives me the time I need to follow these interests. Still, I know making more time for her is something I can be better at.

Family.

I don’t know. Family is always complicated. It seems everyone is great one-on-one, but then there’s always something when we’re all together. I don’t know if that will ever change, but I can keep working on how I approach and react to it.

Friends.

It’s tough when all but one of my good friends are each a plane ride away. It shouldn’t be hard to keep in touch, but it is. Everyone has their own things going on, and unless there’s a reason to sync up, we can go months between catching up. This, too, may just be what it is, but I can probably be better at being present with the friends I have and put myself in situations where I could make new friends nearby, so it doesn’t always feel so long in between.

Overall I think improving my relationships comes down to time spent nurturing and caring for them. I don’t think that means spending all of my time on them, rather it means spending quality time on them so the experiences and memories are long and lasting.

Work.

The biggest thing I learned in 2020 was that I didn’t want to keep pursuing Project Management as my career. The more I looked at the people above me, like my boss, I realized I did not want to have their job.

So, it took about a year, but thankfully I was able to transition from being a Project Manager to a Content Strategist while staying at the same company. I wrote about how to do it in my article, How to change careers without starting over. It’s been so great, as I’m actually excited about work again.

Then, for personal work, I stopped taking on freelance projects and instead worked on my own projects.

My idea was to experiment with different ideas by doing limited challenges. I figured I could do anything for a set number of days, and then at the end, I’d decide whether I wanted to keep doing it or not. Or if there was something else or another way I’d like to try it.

I did a 100 Days of Meditation project, which changed the way I think about meditating. I wrote about the 100 Logos in 100 Days design challenge in my article, So you want an iconic logo like Apple or Nike? I did an energy audit and time tracking experiment to understand why I felt like I was so busy but wasn’t getting anything done. And, I completed the Ship 30 for 30 writing challenge on Twitter, which led to me publishing four articles on this site that I’m proud of and excited to keep adding to.

I kind of mentioned this earlier, but doing all of this felt a bit directionless as I worked on all of these disparate things. Looking back now, though, I think I was confirming whether or not I liked these things before deciding what I’d focus on going forward.

That said, the experiments were a great way to try things out without fully committing to something for the long term. 100 days was probably too much, but 30 seemed just right. And I realize you can always stack 30-day experiments on top of one another to build up momentum.

Finally, my girlfriend and I launched Liip, our all-natural lip balm brand. This is something we’d been working on since January 1, 2020, but never had the right opportunity to launch it. Then this fall, everything lined up, and we went live on September 1, 2021. We both would have been happy with 20 orders in the first week. Incredibly though, we had over 100 orders in the first week and sold out of our initial inventory of 250 sticks three weeks later.

Now, things have slowed down a bit after the launch, which has been good as we’re looking for ways to keep marketing and growing the brand beyond the people we know personally.

I think something great for us too is that neither relies on Liip for our income. All of the money goes back into the business. It’s something we’re doing for fun and as a way to learn how to launch and manage brands so we can keep doing it in the future with more things.

Wealth.

As I said in the Work section, I purposefully stopped taking on freelancing work to focus on projects of my own. I got so much out of doing my projects, but I did miss the extra income I used to make from freelancing on top of my day job.

I’m ok with it because I believe putting in time on these projects now will have a bigger payoff in the future than the extra money I could have made in the short term. This is because freelance work only pays when you’re doing it. While other projects like Liip don’t require trading time for money and will eventually be able to operate without my direct involvement.

I also brought all of my bank and investment accounts under one view this year.

I used to intentionally keep them separate so I’d never know how much I had. Obviously, this could have been bad if I didn’t know how to manage my accounts, but I always knew I had more than I thought because of how I automated money away from my main account.

It was an easy way to save without having to think about or see the money. I just “never had it.”

Now, though, it was time to get a full picture as I’m looking further ahead at larger moves I’ll want to make in the mid-future after buying my first property last year.

One thing I struggled with when consolidating all of my accounts, though, was understanding what my actual monthly expenses were. Based on what I was doing in the past, I figured I could keep being extremely aggressive with my saving and investing rate. But I didn’t realize I’d have to factor in all of the new expenses of owning a condo and living with someone. I’d never had to think or plan for it and was surprised when I thought I’d have enough money each month but always had to transfer some from one of my other accounts to make up the difference.

This isn’t an ad, but I’m so happy I found Truebill last month. It helped me get a complete picture of my monthly expenses broken down by category and made it easy to understand where I’m spending my money. It’s my favorite app, hands down, and I recommend it to everyone.

Experiences.

I didn’t do much in terms of fun or experiences this year. Mainly because we couldn’t. But not having the option was nice as it allowed me to focus on everything else.

That said, I did travel again. Once to Chicago to meet some of my girlfriend’s friends and Colorado with some of my friends.

Then, this is one of those things where I wasn’t sure exactly where to put it, but I think reading books should go here as education ultimately is an experience.

I used to love having an identity as someone who read a lot of books. But, this year, I stopped that. I decided I’d reread some books as I’d always read one and then never pick it up again. And, what’s the point of reading if I don’t take anything away from it.

My thinking is, reading fewer books multiple times means there’s a better chance at learning and applying what’s in them. This makes it incredibly important to only read good books, and I need to get better about not wasting time on books that aren’t good or aren’t teaching me what I want to learn right then.

Anyway, this is what I read this year:

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis.

Great book. Conversational and practical and one I expect I’ll reread many times.

Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger by Janet Lowe.

Fine, but long and nothing to really take away from it. I should have put this one down.

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach

I got this after transitioning into Content Strategy. Pragmatic and foundational, I’m about halfway through and expect to reference this all of the time.

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.

I read this years ago but wanted to go back to it for the philosophy and framework of only working on what matters. Such a good book.

Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks.

I got this after seeing it referenced on Twitter a handful of times. This is another one I’m about halfway through and will finish at some point. The thing about books with exercises is you have to do them if you want to learn anything.

Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Reread the first half of this one as a refresher on how small changes can lead to outsized returns. There’s a reason this is the definitive book on habits. I might get this one as an ebook, too — I’ll say why in a minute.

Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms by Mark Spitznagel.

I really wanted to like this one, but it was terrible. I should have stopped after 20 pages but instead wasted so much time thinking it would get better.

Doing Content Right by Steph Smith.

I just started this one and will definitely be finishing it before the end of the year. I got this one when it launched last year but hadn’t made the time to go through it yet, even though I knew it would be great.

I used to be against ebooks because they weren’t “real books,” but I’m reading Doing Content Right on my phone, and I think it’s changing the way I’ll read books going forward. I read everything else online now, and it would be nice to have my highlights tracked digitally and accessible anywhere. Plus, the fact I can read wherever instead of 30 minutes before bed will mean I can get through so much more.

Overall I don’t feel anything truly remarkable was achieved this year. But when I look closer, I can see how I put many things in motion for each category this year that I’ll continue to build on. I also think I’m now not as easily enticed by new opportunities and will instead stay focused on what I’m already doing. It’s counterintuitive, but by committing to doing less, I think I’ll actually be able to achieve more going forward.

Stop, start, continue.

As I’ll be writing a follow-up to this article on my plans for 2022, I thought the best way to approach this would be to keep it short. I’ll write one thing for each category under Stop, Start, Continue. This way, I can give a bit of direction without being too prescriptive, as this should still be focused on what’s happened this year.

Stop.

What am I doing now that I no longer want to do?

• Health - I want to stop eating so many processed foods

• Relationships - I want to stop reacting negatively to situations I don’t control

• Work - I want to stop thinking I have to do everything myself

• Wealth - I want to stop feeling like I don’t deserve what I have

• Experiences - I want to stop saying yes to things I don’t want to do

Start.

What am I not doing that I want to start doing?

• Health - I want to start learning the science of fitness and flexibility

• Relationships - I want to start being more thoughtful about the time I put toward my relationships

• Work - I want to start creating a financially successful business

• Wealth - I want to start diversifying my income streams, so I’m not reliant on one thing

• Experiences - I want to start taking meaningful trips

Continue.

What am I doing now that I want to keep doing?

• Health - I want to continue working out every day

• Relationships - I want to continue strengthening my relationship with my girlfriend

• Work - I want to continue writing and publishing content

• Wealth - I want to continue aggressively investing and managing my finances

• Experiences - I want to continue learning and educating myself

Alright, that’s it.

A part of me is nervous about publishing this, as it’s a bit of a peek into my personal life and how I think. But that’s the point. Making it public is a way to keep me honest.

I’ll follow up with my 2022 Goals soon.

If you’ve read all of this, let me know on Twitter, @wesjonesco, I’d love to know what you thought and what kept you reading till the very end.

So you want an iconic logo like Apple or Nike?

Every project I’ve ever worked on started with a name and a logo.

The logo is what gives an idea an identity. It’s what makes it real. Or, at least closer to being real. Once there’s a logo, there’s something to talk about, something to show people.

As you start designing your logo, you begin to understand the character and personality of the brand. The logo is initial the shape that defines how it’s presented. It sets the tone for how you want people to react and interact with your company.

The logo is the most important element of any brand.

The challenge when starting a new company is thinking you need to have the perfect logo.

We think of iconic brands we know, like Apple and Nike, and want a logo like theirs. A simple logo that transcends cultures and is strong enough to carry the weight of an entire company. A logo people immediately recognize.

In need of a logo, Nike founder Phil Knight contracted a local student to design a logo for $2 an hour.

The problem is, when we think that way, we miss the fact that these companies have over 45 years of history that give meaning to their logo.

Started in 1976, Apple’s first logo was actually a drawing of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, it was changed a year later to the Apple icon.

Your logo doesn’t need to be perfect.

The apple logo is a flat apple icon with a bite taken out of it. The Nike logo is an abstract image of the corner of a running track. These shapes wouldn’t mean anything to you if the companies hadn’t spent years developing exceptional products and artfully marketing the company as a brand people like you should love.

So, yes, the logo is the most important element of a brand’s identity. But it’s not the brand. Brands are built over time and are the result of everything a company does and presents itself with.

Simply, a logo isn’t going to define your company. It’s just one of the ways for people to identify it.

This is why I’m saying your logo doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t even need to be great. It just needs to be good.

Designing 100 logos.

To test this theory, I challenged myself to design 100 logos in 100 days.

These are some of my favorites. You can see the reset on instagram @wesjonesco.

The purpose was to develop a set of principles unique to designing logos for startups.

I did this because all logos begin as startup logos. A company’s first logo sets the foundation for what it can become. The only difference between a startup logo and an established brand is the history the company has. And while some logos have stood the test of time, most evolve as the brands mature.

This isn’t to say your first logo can’t be like Apple or Nike. Only you can’t expect people to recognize or care about your’s the same way. At least not in the beginning. In the beginning, all you need to do is give people something to identify your company with, and by implementing these five principles, you’re going to have the best chance at doing that.

Your first logo doesn’t have to be your forever logo.

You need something to get started. Something good enough to feel ligament. But, you don’t want to overcommit to something before you know more about where you’re headed.

You just don’t know enough when you’re starting out.

Design principles for startup logos.

While the principles are meant for designing startup logos, you’ll see how they are fairly universal and could also be used by established brands who want to completely redesign their logo or brands looking to refresh and update their existing one.

So, whether you’re designing the logo yourself or are having someone else do it, these principles are meant to help you develop a well-thought-out logo that’s appropriate for your business, sets the foundation for your identity, and is something you’re excited about.

And, most importantly, help you not get stuck overthinking it.

If this is what you need help with, these five logo design principles are what you’ll want to keep in mind.

1. Communicate the brand.

The only thing your logo needs to do is communicate your brand name.

Especially, if you’re a startup.

If you’re a startup, no one knows who you are. No one knows you exist. And, no one knows why they should care.

Your logo needs to introduce people to your brand.

To do this you’re going to want to design a wordmark. A wordmark is a stylized version of your brand name. This way you can communicate your brand name and have a unique design for people to remember.

Then, if there’s a time when you need something smaller, you can take the initials of the company to create a lettermark using the same design language.

The consistent design language between the wordmark and lettermark helps strengthen the brand and lets the “G” stand on its own.

Companies like Google and Tesla do this well. They have their stylized brand names as their primary logo and then have G and T lettermarks for times when the primary logo is too large or doesn’t fit the context. Since both have the same design language there’s no mistaking what brand they’re representing. This continuity builds up brand equity as people associate one with the other.

Now, there are other logo formats you could use like emblems, mascots, and pictorial or abstract marks.  But, at this early stage, it’s often too much to introduce people to both a brand name and another element unless it’s so literal there’s no mistaking what it’s for.

An example so obvious is YouTube and its Play Button icon.

Twitter, another brand that uses an icon, actually launched in 2006 with a wordmark and later added the bird icon in 2010. They then paired the wordmark and icon together until 2012 when afterward they’ve able to use the icon by itself.

Notice the subtle refinements between the wordmark as well as the bird icon as Twitter updated its identity as it became more established.

The trick to this is showing both the wordmark and icon together until the association is strong enough that they’re interchangeable.

2. Design in one color.

Every logo has to work in black and white.

And, when you’re first designing your logo, you should only work in black and white.

Adding color can be exciting and make a logo seem more dynamic, but color is subjective and leaves things open to interpretation both individually and culturally. Because of this, you should only use color to embellish and only if it’s absolutely necessary.

The reason you don’t want to rely on color because there will be times it can’t be displayed in color. And, by working in black and white, you know you’re designing a logo that’s durable and can work anywhere.

If it can’t work in black and white, it’s not a good logo.

The YouTube logo works perfectly well in black and white, the use of red is simply a way to tie in the color of a record button on movie cameras.

3. Make it scalable.

Your logo has to work everywhere.

Big, small, digital, print. Everything. While you’ll have guidelines for how people should use it, you don’t know where it’ll need to be placed. To plan for this, you need to make sure it can adapt to whatever environment, material, and context it’s in.

What you don’t want is to have to force-fit your logo into a high-profile placement because you didn’t think beyond your website.

The Walt Disney logo is a responsive logo designed to work at many different sizes without losing any of its meaning.

A good logo will have visual weight and contrast to be recognizable from a browser tab all the way up to an airplane or the side of a building. This is why I think the right approach is to use a wordmark as the primary logo with a secondary lettermark for times when a smaller size is needed.

The point is you can’t overcomplicate it and have your logo try and do too much.

4. Timeless, not trendy.

Timeless design is sophisticated and elegant. It’s meant to be highly functional, adaptable, and subtle without being bland or boring. Rather than looking old or new, it’s intentional, appropriate, and durable.

These are the qualities you want.

If you chase trends, you’re going to be left with a logo that looks dated as soon as it passes. And instead of being a brand that conveys confidence and awareness, you’ll be seen as one who is out of touch and trying hard to stay relevant as you redesign your logo to keep up.

The Olympics logo is as timeless as it gets.

5. Your logo doesn’t have to work forever.

We place so much importance on the logo in the beginning because it’s often all we have. We don’t have a website, we don’t have a product, and we don’t have customers. All we have is an idea.

And having a logo is what starts to make an idea feel real.

So it’s understandable why we think our logo is so important. But we also have to remember that it’s not critical. All we need is something to get us started. Because at this point, no one knows who we are, no one knows what we do, and no one has a history with us as a brand.

Starbucks has consistently updated its logo to match contemporary design trends without losing the foundational elements of the brand.

A logo isn’t that important until we develop our idea into something people can interact with.

Then you can gauge what people are saying and whether or not the logo supports the company’s values, products, and direction. If it does, great. If not, no problem. Now you have a better idea of what your company stands for and can design a logo that better fits your brand.

Designing iconic logos.

That’s it. It’s really quite simple.

A good logo communicates the name of your company, works everywhere, and is easy to remember.

A bad logo is either too generic and doesn’t say anything at all or is overly complicated and falls apart as it tries to say too much.

In the end, it comes down to understanding your logo is not your brand. It’s just one way to identify it. These principles are meant to point that out. Not that your logo isn’t important. It’s just not as important as the other aspects of your business, like your products, values, and marketing strategy.

The Nike logo didn’t mean anything at first. Founder Phil Knight even said, “Well, I don’t love it, but maybe it’ll grow on me.” Obviously, the Nike logo has become one of the most iconic logos in the world. But it wasn’t the logo that did that. It was everything else the company did that gave the logo meaning.

So while we set out to talk about design principles, we ended up discovering what it really takes to have an iconic logo.

That is, if you want a logo people remember, build a company worth remembering.

How much does a logo cost?

Ok, an article about logo design for startups feels incomplete without a few notes on pricing.

If you’ve looked into it at all, I’m sure you’ve found the price range for logo design goes from $5 to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Now, I know that range doesn’t really apply to startups.

Startup logos tend to be about 10 to $20,000 for Seed or Series A funded companies. Down to about $5,000 for a well-capitalized bootstrapped startup. Below that, you can find something at whatever budget you have to spend. The thing to know is, at these lower levels, there might not be much difference in the quality you get whether you’re spending a few thousand or a few hundred dollars. The real difference is that you will have to do a lot more vetting to get someone and something worthwhile.

And, you might actually end up spending more in the end if you only look for the cheapest price.

These price differences really come down to the value the logo will bring to your company, how much discovery and process work will go into developing your logo if there are any legal and compliance requirements to work through, and the reputation of the designer or firm you end up working with.

So while I say you don’t need a perfect or even great logo, there’s definitely a threshold for good, which I hope the principles above will help you recognize and be able to talk about better.

It’s worth noting too. You’re most likely going to be working with an individual for anything less than $5,000.

Want me to design your logo?

If you’re interested, I charge $425 for initial logo designs.

I charge this low rate because I’m not trying to make a living by designing logos. I just love doing it and want to help new projects get off the ground. If you want to work with me, you’ll have a logo within a week and you can learn more about the process and how to kick things off on this page.

And, for what it’s worth, Phil Knight paid $35 for the Nike logo. Twitter bought the first iteration of its bird icon from a stock photo site for $15. And the Coca-Cola and Google logos were both designed by one of their founders for $0 each. The secret then is, with a little bit of luck and if you’re able to commit to something, you might not have to spend much.

Autopilot Income: Three ways to make an extra $100k a year.

Getting to $100,000 was the first financial goal I had once I started my first job in New York City, making $48,000 a year.

I'd always thought of earning $100k as the threshold for making it. Or, at least, being on the way to making it.

Living in NYC on less, I realized $100k should be enough money to live anywhere in the world. To buy pretty much whatever I want. And enough to really start saving and investing. At $100k, I figured I wouldn't have to worry about my finances as much.

What I didn't realize, though, is after reaching that goal, there's still a feeling that you're not getting ahead.

Yeah, you can buy whatever you want and live and travel wherever. But, while you're saving more, it's not like you're saving enough to create a real sense of security or freedom.

This makes reaching $100k somewhat unsettling.

Especially if it's all coming from one job. You're comfortable but incredibly dependent. If you lose your job, your ability to do everything you've become accustomed to goes away, and you've got nothing.

And, that doesn't change no matter how much you're making if it's all coming from one place.

An extra $100k changes everything.

Making an extra $100k per year, though, will let you invest aggressively, plan for and execute large purchases, be prepared for unexpected expenses, and most importantly, give you the freedom to do whatever you want without having to sacrifice other things.

No matter what happens, you know you'll be ok.

And this is what I want to figure out how to do.

But, it matters where that extra $100k comes from.

I don't think you want to try and get it from your current job. The reason is, traditionally, if you want to make more at a company, you're going to have to take on more responsibility and give up more of your time to earn it.

That's not what we're after, though, as it makes us even more reliant on one thing for our well-being.

What we want is to make an extra $100k on top of the salary and benefits of our full-time job in a way that doesn't require us to trade more of our time for more money.

Too good to be true, right?

I don't think so, and I'm going to tell you why it’s easier than you think and three ways to get started.

$100k isn't as much as you think it is.

Really, it's not. And if you don't believe me, read on to find out why.

$100k divided by 12 months is $8,333 per month.

Seems like quite a bit.

$100k divided by 52 weeks is $1,923 per week.

Ok, a little more manageable but still kind of hard to think about what you could consistently do every week to make that.

Now, this is where it gets interesting.

$100k divided by 365 days is $274 per day.

And, let's round up to $275.

That's something we can work with.

Doing this math completely changed my perspective. I recheck it all of the time because I still can't believe it. And, even though it adds up to the same amount, figuring out how to make $275 per day is way easier than figuring out what you'd have to do to earn $100k in a year.

Now, it's not too hard to figure out how to make $275 per day when your time isn't already allocated to a current job, and you can do physical labor like cleaning windows, power washing driveways, cutting lawns, general maintenance, or anything like that.

If you were just starting out and only wanted to work for yourself, I'd say start a service business like that doing something you don't mind, but others would rather pay for.

Unfortunately, that's not for us, though, as we already have a job that's paying us well and we don't have extra time we can sell except for hours after work or on the weekends, which we don't want to give up.

So we need to think differently.

What we need is Autopilot Income.

Autopilot Income comes from things you put time into setting up, and then you can let run on their own.

It's kind of like passive income, but not exactly as they're not set it and forget it strategies. You don't have to actively monitor them, but you'll still want to check in every so often to make sure things are still working properly. It is similar to how pilots turn on autopilot except for when they have to take off and land or need to make an adjustment.

Autopilot Income is things that work for you in the background.

Which means it comes from things that don't require you to trade time for money.

And to do that, we need to look for things that:

• Require little to no maintenance

• Don't need any customer service

• Are going into proven markets

• Have a clear path to quick profitability

This also means we can't think of it as a startup either, as we're not trying to start a company that will require a significant amount of time and attention. Remember, we're looking for simple things we can do on our own that can make us an extra $275 a day.

Three things that fit these criteria, for me, are:

Digital Products.

These can be information products like eBooks, self-paced courses, or video series you develop based on your own knowledge and experience. They're easily replicable as they exist digitally and don't require any inventory or ongoing costs other than hosting or incremental merchant fees.

Affiliate Marketing.

Instead of developing your own products, you can sell things other people have made and get a commission on the sales you generate. And, rather than actively promote products one-to-one, you can create evergreen content that will always be available to anyone looking for it.

Dividend Investing.

Probably the closest thing to free money as you can get. Dividends are a percentage of the profits certain companies distribute to their shareholders. The only thing with this one, and we'll see why later, is it truly takes money to make money.

Now, to be fair, I haven't made $100k from any of these yet, but they're all strategies I'm actively working on.

So, just as I broke down what it takes to make an extra $100k per year by making an extra $275 per day, I'll go over the requirements and break down the math to show each of these strategies can get us there. This is everything I wish I'd learned earlier about making money without having to sell my time.

We'll start with the most accessible option, creating digital products.

Digital products.

When I say digital products, I don't mean subscription-based SaaS tools that require long development time or someone else to build them for you.

Instead, I'm thinking about things we can create quickly based on our own knowledge and experience — information products like an ebook, email course, or video series.

Things you make once and can sell infinitely.

Starting here gives us an incredibly low barrier to entry as we can pick whatever format we're most comfortable with.

Getting started.

And while the format is trivial, what makes these products valuable is our unique experience and perspective.

Others might think they don't have anything worth teaching or that no one will care what they have to say. But they're wrong. Everyone wants to learn from someone who's actually done what they're trying to do now. This means there's always an opportunity with these types of products, whether the topic is incredibly broad or super focused.

But where to start?

If you're an ambitious person, think about what you've learned in the last six months. Could you put a guide together to help people get where you are faster by sharing the process you went through, the unexpected things that happened, and the mistakes you made so others can avoid them if they buy your product?

I think so.

So, if this is something you want to do, the best thing to do is start writing. Once you start writing, you'll get a sense of what you're interested in and have a perspective on. What trips most people up is overthinking the process to the point they don't launch something because they think it isn't good enough or has to do too much.

Luckily, that's where the math and pricing strategy can help us.

The math.

The math for getting to $275 a day selling digital products is incredibly simple. All we're going to do is divide $275 by the price of our product to figure out how many we have to sell each day to reach our daily goal.

Revenue Target / Units Sold = Price Per Unit

However, before picking a price at random, we have to think about various considerations as the price changes the perceived value and level of fidelity people expect based on the price alone.

So, let's first break down the math, and then we'll talk about different pricing tiers.

As we'll see in the chart below, sales volume from 1 to 11 gives us some pretty big jumps in price, but there are only incremental changes after that. So, instead of listing each of them, I've curated the list to the ones with round numbers. Obviously, you can do the math for the ones I skipped if you're curious about what they are.

• 275 / 1 = 275

• 275 / 2 = 137.50

• 275 / 3 = 91.66

• 275 / 4 = 68.75

• 275 / 5 = 55

• 275 / 6 = 45.83

• 275 / 7 = 39.28

• 275 / 8 = 34.37

• 275 / 9 = 30.55

• 275 / 10 = 27.50

• 275 / 11 = 25

  —

• 275 / 14 = 19.64

• 275 / 20 = 13.75

• 275 / 22 = 12.50

• 275 / 25 = 11

• 275 / 28 = 9.82

• 275 / 50 = 5.50

• 275 / 275 = 1

Now, we're not going to price things at a fraction of a dollar. Instead, it's better to round up where you can, as it gives us a little padding if there are days when we don't sell our target amount. So price points like 275 / 7 = $39.28 should become $40.

Seeing these numbers should act as a guide to show how it doesn't take much to make a compelling offer that can get us a significant amount of autopilot income.

So, when picking a price, we need to ask questions like:

• Have I positioned myself as a credible resource on the topic

• Am I providing enough value to justify my price point

• Have I packaged my product in a way that's not misleading

• Are people willing to pay this price for this information

• Is selling this product at this price going to be worth it to me

Your pricing strategy will start to become clear as you ask yourself these questions.

When I created The Producer Playbook, I landed on $20 as the price for the book after thinking through these questions.

Sharing the knowledge I'd gained after working as an advertising project manager for five years, I knew I was providing way more value than the cost. I felt too that if I wanted to charge a higher price, I'd have to add more to the offer than just the ebook.

And, as I thought about it, I realized people have different expectations at different price points.

Which means you don't always have to provide incredible value. Rather, all you need to do is justify the price paid. Which can be pretty low, all things considered. If you're able to teach them one thing they didn't know or save someone an hour, that's often worth way more than the 10 to 50 dollars or more they might have paid for your product.

Risks.

The risk with digital products like these is that the market could change. You could pick a topic with a small target audience. Someone could come along and create a better product. Or the information becomes outdated. These are things you should watch out for, but they shouldn't stop you from creating a digital information product if you're looking for a way to start making extra money.

And, if you're not ready to create your own thing just yet, you might consider another path that doesn't require you to create a product at all.

Affiliate marketing.

Another way to sell things online is to sell other people's products.

With affiliate marketing, you create content to promote things other people have made and get a commission from the sales you generate. Of course, you still have to create content, but it doesn't have to be as involved as creating a digital product as it's not the content you're selling. Instead, you're sharing your experience with a product and using your credibility to help persuade others to buy it based on your recommendation.

You can do this with text, audio, and video, but it's likely easiest to start with text-based content like articles and blog posts.

Getting started.

Figuring out how to work with brands like this might sound complicated, but you can usually find out pretty quickly if a company has an affiliate program and its requirements by searching "company name + affiliate program."

Most larger companies have their own thing set up for you to work with them directly. Or, if they don't, they might work with a third-party aggregator. And, if they don't have either of those things, you can always become an Amazon Partner and sell whatever's on Amazon.

This is the best part of affiliate marketing. You don't have to hold any inventory because you're working as an extension of the company. The company manages its inventory, and all you're doing is marketing and promotion. It's a win-win as long as you're getting a meaningful commission.

The math.

Affiliate commission rates usually start around 5% and can be up to 30%, depending on the company and product you're selling. Sometimes, though, it might be a credit to their store or something else of relatively low value. These lower offers aren't worthless, though, so long as you're benefiting from them.

Another key metric to know before getting into this is the average conversion rate for affiliate links is between .5 to 1%. Of course, your conversion rate could be higher or lower depending on your specific audience and the products you're selling, but it's good to know the baseline as we're getting started.

So, while there are several variables, getting to $275 per day with affiliate marketing ultimately comes down to the amount of traffic you're able to generate.

The formula we'll use to figure out how much traffic we need is:

Price Target / (Product Price * Commission Rate) / Conversion Rate = Required Traffic

For example, if we promote a $50 product with a 1% conversion rate, here's how much traffic we would need to generate to make $275 a day at various commission rates:

• 1% Commission = 55,000 Page Views

• 5% Commission = 11,000 Page Views

• 10% Commission = 5,500 Page Views

• 15% Commission = 3,666 Page Views

• 20% Commission = 2,750 Page Views

• 25% Commission = 2,200 Page Views

• 30% Commission = 1,833 Page Views

Anything above 30% isn't common, but you could negotiate higher rates with niche sellers you have relationships with.

Now, these numbers are probably a bit intimidating.

Figuring out how to get to 1,000 page views a day, let alone 50k can seem almost impossible, especially if you're just getting started.

But, seeing these numbers should also be a bit inspiring as it shows it's not impossible.

All it means is we have to play the long game. We can't expect to create content and get this amount of traffic at the start. Instead, we need to make sure our content is written and set up to grow organically from SEO and referral traffic. And, if we're able to do that, then affiliate marketing can be one of those things you can set up once and passively monitor as it works for you in the background.

But, before we start creating content to promote various products, we're going to want to ask ourselves a few questions like:

• Am I interested in promoting this product, and do I have something to say about it

• Do I have enough credibility in this space for people to trust my recommendation

• Are there enough people interested in this topic to generate the traffic I need

• What other content am I going to be competing with

• Does the commission structure make it worth it to me

I haven't done too much of this yet, but I have ideas of how to implement it more in future articles. Like the draft I have on living my perfect day, I'll include how I take Athletic Greens every morning as an all-in-one supplement (get five free travel packs when you click that link and sign up). Or, in the one about investing, I'll share Titan as a way I automatically invest some of my money in top-tier stocks every month without having to do in-depth research (we'll both get 25% off our management fees if you click the link and sign up).

The way I like to think about it is if I'm already creating content and there's an opportunity to include a relevant affiliate link, then I absolutely should. But, I'm not going to create content just to have affiliate links. I think it would come off as disingenuous, and my heart wouldn't be in it.

That's not to say you can't create entire businesses from affiliate marketing. Wirecutter and NerdWallet, are examples of how people have built phenomenal companies with affiliate marketing. It's just not my strategy for my personal site.

Risks.

The risks with affiliate marketing are somewhat similar to creating digital products in that the products and content you create might become outdated. The companies could change their commission structures. And, you have to make sure you're compliant with their affiliate policies. Mostly it's all pretty straightforward, but they are things you need to be aware of if this is something you want to do.

But, if you aren't interested in creating any content at all, this next one is probably the easiest way of generating income without having to do much of anything.

Dividend investing.

While a bit more technical than selling Digital Products or Affiliate Marketing, Dividend Investing is likely the easiest way to generate autopilot income.

The only thing is, you won't be able to do this unless you have money to invest.

That's because dividends are only distributed to shareholders.

And, since dividend investing is an investment strategy, and this isn't investment advice, I'm not going to get into all of the details of what to look for and instead cover the math of how dividends can get us to our $275 per day goal.

Getting started.

Essentially, dividends are a percentage of a company's profits paid out to shareholders on a predetermined timeline. This percentage is known as the Annual Yield, which is often paid out quarterly or in some cases semi-annually or even monthly. The timing and amount vary per stock and can fluctuate over time depending on a company's overall performance.

With this in mind, when we're thinking about adding stocks to a dividend portfolio, we're looking for stocks that have been consistently making increased distributions over time. A search for the "Dividend Aristocrats" will give you a list of them. The reason for this is we want to make sure, at the very least, we're keeping up with inflation but, more importantly, outpacing it.

The math.

While it's likely a bit lower now, the commonly held amount you should be able to draw from a portfolio without reducing the principle is 4%. So, we'll use that as our baseline to determine the amount we need in our portfolio to generate $275 a day.

The equation to figure out our recommended portfolio amount is:

Target Income / Average Yield = Portfolio Amount

So, to make $275 a day, or $100,000 a year since we're talking about this annually, we'll need to have a portfolio of $2,500,000 considering an average annual yield of 4%.

A lot, but not impossible. And, while we're at it, here's a progression from 50k to one million to give you an idea of the size a portfolio needs to be to generate these additional income levels.

• 50,000 / 4% = 1,250,000

• 75,000 / 4% = 1,875,000

• 100,000 / 4% = 2,500,000

• 250,000 / 4% = 6,250,000

• 500,000 / 4% = 12,500,000

• 1,000,000 / 4% = 25,000,000

Clearly, it takes money to make money with this strategy.

But, it's not all or nothing. You can start with whatever amount you have and keep adding to it. And, instead of taking the dividends as distributions, you can automatically reinvest them into buying more dividend stocks so you can grow your capital base and increase future distribution amounts.

This automation makes it as close to set-it and forget-it as it gets when it comes to "free money."

Risks.

Of course, there are risks and things to consider with Dividend Investing, too.

The simple one is that you'll want to keep an eye on the market to watch out for any trends, events, or changing sentiments that might negatively affect your portfolio and adjust accordingly.

The more complicated one, though, and why it might be a good idea to get professional advice, is you'll have to consider the possibility there might be better opportunities to grow your money than with dividend stocks.

In the end, it comes down to whether or not you're willing to trade a somewhat certain dividend yield for what could be a riskier, though maybe more lucrative, bet.

But, the thing is, nothing says you have to pick one or the other.

The portfolio approach.

I wrote about each strategy as if you could only focus on one of them to reach our goal of making an extra $100k per year as it was the best way to break down the math.

However, that's not how we should be thinking about it.

Instead, we should take a portfolio approach.

For example, you don't have to create one thing and pick one price point with digital products. Rather, you can create multiple products at different fidelities with related prices for each. And, they don't have to be interconnected or about the same topic either. This way, you're not relying on one product selling consistently every day to reach your goal. Instead, the revenue from all of your products will blend together and create your gross income.

Same with affiliate marketing and dividend investing. You don't pick just one product to promote or one dividend stock to invest in. You create a portfolio of assets that all contribute to your overall goal.

Doing it this way reduces our risk significantly as we're not reliant on one thing or one strategy.

This is why it's so important to do these in addition to our full-time job. By stacking our full-time job with these autopilot income strategies, we become invincible. If something goes wrong or stops performing like it once did, we still have everything else working for us.

The sense of security that comes with knowing we're likely not ever going to have any financial risk is really what we're after when we say we want to make an extra $100k per year. Not so we can frivolously spend it all. Though, spending some of it shouldn't be a problem as we know it's money we can easily replace.

And, now we know all it takes is $275 per day.

How to change careers without starting over.

Realizing what you're doing is no longer right for you is hard.

It's hard to get excited about something if you don't like it anymore.

It's hard to think all of your skills and experience might not have any value if you do something else.

And, it’s hard to think about who is going to give you a chance to do something new at all.

That's why I think it's so much easier to change careers while staying at the company you're at.

Though, unfortunately, many people don't think they can change jobs and stay where they are because all of the career advice says you either need to just be happy you have a job or that the only way to get what you want is to quit and go somewhere else.

This advice ignores the most obvious opportunity you have.

The relationships you've built at your current job are the best leverage you have to make a change and define the career you want.

You know the nuances of the company, what they value, what their challenges are, who can help you, and where the opportunities are. And, most importantly, they know you.

Imagine having to develop new relationships and prove yourself at a new company while also taking your first steps down a new career path. There are so many things you have to do right that inevitably, something will go wrong. And that's assuming a new company is willing to take a chance and hire you for a job you don't exactly have any experience with.

Now, imagine starting a new job you're excited about with people you already have relationships with, who trust you, and are as committed to your success in a new role as you are.

It sounds too good to be true.

But, I'm going to tell you the exact conversations to have and questions to ask to make it happen.

I'm going to show you:

1. How to have tough conversations with your boss

2. Why you have to be honest with yourself about what you want

3. The questions to ask as you research different career opportunities

4. How to make sure you don't pick a job that ends up being just like your old one

5. The three-phase approach to effortlessly transition into a new role

It's all here. But first, I'm going to quickly tell you about the first time I switched jobs before I knew how to do any of this.

Create the right opportunities for yourself.

The first time I switched jobs, I went from being a project manager to a new business manager.

As a project manager, I was managing a team producing social media content for Google. But, being new to advertising, I wanted more. I was young and ambitious, and I wanted to be on different projects all of the time. Not stuck on one project with no end in sight.

And, I thought interacting with the executives at the agency was a way to fast-track my career.

To me, joining the new business team was the way to achieve both things.

I'd get to work on the most exciting projects with the best talent at the agency as we pitched all types of clients interesting ideas and new technologies.

So, I needed to figure out how I'd get there.

But, the new business team was made up of an agency executive, a director, and an account manager. And the three of them had it covered.

From the outside, though, I could tell there was no consistent process in place as each pitch looked like it was barely being held together as it was delivered. As a project manager, I believed there was a better way if someone was able to put a little structure and consistency in place.

So I started suggesting little things I thought could help.

Things I posed as questions to see if they'd thought about doing it differently. All I wanted was to be a part of the conversation. And, by bringing these things up, I figured I was at least positioning myself as someone interested in helping out if they ever needed it.

After a while, I told my boss if there were ever an opportunity for me to lead a new business pitch, I wanted to do it.

This was all I could do unless something changed.

Then, things did when the director left for another job on the other side of the country. Now a team of two, the executive and the account manager had to keep everything together, which they managed for a while.

Then, as it happens at advertising agencies, a couple of pitches were already underway when another came in that they just couldn't say no to. But, the problem was, they didn't have anyone to run it.

This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for.

I told my boss and the new business team that I was interested in running the pitch if they'd let me. It was time to see if the goodwill I'd been building up by being interested and helpful all of those times before would be enough to get me my shot.

Thankfully, they said I could if I was sure I wanted it and was willing to do it on top of my current responsibilities as a project manager.

Of course, I wanted to, and no problem. I'd make it work.

It took about a year to go from talking about wanting to work on new business to my first real opportunity. But because I was patient, helpful, and clear about what I wanted, I had positioned myself to be the person they thought could do it when they needed someone to step in.

If I'd never said anything about wanting to do that type of work, no one would have known that's what I wanted or been comfortable with me taking it on when there was an opportunity.

Luckily the pitch went well, and from there, I kept getting opportunities to lead pitches until it became inevitable that I would switch teams and work on producing new business full time.

Being capable and persistent were the keys to making it happen this first time.

The next time I switched careers, though, was a bit more formal.

I don’t want to leave, but I don’t want to do this.

Switching into new business at my first agency was great, but I started to get restless again about a year and a half later. And this time, I felt like there was no more opportunity at the company for me. So, I quit. Then the next place was fine for a while and when I felt like there wasn't any opportunity there, I quit again. And, I quit the company after that too.

I was chasing a career, thinking I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing because of the company.

That's until I got to where I am now. This time I realized it was me that needed to change.

I loved the company, but I didn't love the job. I was simply over it.

I realized the reasons I wanted to pursue a career as a project and new business manager were no longer true.

I was ready to do something else. I wanted a new challenge. And, I didn't want to shift my focus like I did the first time. This time I wanted to do something completely different—a new career in a new discipline.

I wasn't exactly sure how I would do it, but having the experience of switching careers once before let me know it was possible. I also learned from the times I'd quit and seeing the people visibly so surprised to find out that I was unhappy that I should start the conversation with my boss.

Unfortunately, most people don't do this because they're afraid of getting fired.

They think if they tell their boss they don't like their job, they'll find someone to replace them.

Naturally, the first assumption in all of this is that you have a good relationship with your boss. That's a given. But it can still be intimidating to bring something like this up, especially when you don't intend to leave. So you need to be prepared. You don't want to start a conversation about how you want to do something else but then not be able to answer any of the questions that will inevitably be asked or not propose any clear next steps.

So, if you’re like me and want to do something else but don’t want to leave the company you’re at, here are the five steps to making that happen.

Mitigate the risk of not being taken seriously by thinking through potential objections and coming prepared with a proposed plan of action.

1. How to have tough conversations with your boss.

It's a myth that your boss only wants to hear good news.

I used to think this way. I thought if we only talked about things that were going well and avoided anything that wasn't perfect, they would be happy. I didn't want to bring up how I was feeling or if I was struggling with something because I didn't want to be a burden or create more work for anyone. I thought if I brought those things up, people would think I was being difficult, which is the last thing I wanted people to think.

But what I know now that I didn't know then is that it's a boss's job to help the people who work for them, especially when it comes to knowing whether the people on their team are happy or not.

Bosses want people who are engaged and excited about the work.

That's why I knew that instead of silently resenting my job until another opportunity came up as I had before, the right thing was to talk to my boss first.

So, during one of our weekly 1:1's, I told her how I was feeling disengaged and uninspired by the work I was doing and that I wanted help figuring out what we could do to make it better.

We'd had a couple of conversations before this where she'd given me some feedback saying that other team members said I didn't seem to care as much as I once did. So, me bringing it up wasn't something completely new. And it was important that I was coming and asking for help instead of deflecting and not taking any responsibility for what I was doing and how I was feeling.

It was in this conversation that I brought up the idea that I might want to do something else.

I told her how the reasons I started down this career path five years before didn't seem to be the ones that would keep me in it for the long term. That when I looked at the natural progression of where this career would take me, I didn't feel like it was getting me closer to the goals I have for myself.

I told her I felt I was ready for a new challenge and wanted to learn a new skill set and wondered if that was something we could explore together.

Your boss wants to know how you feel, even when you're not feeling great.

It was important we'd had a few related conversations about how I was doing at work before I brought up the idea of switching careers, so I didn't catch her completely off guard.

Seeding the conversation like this helped make it seem like a natural route we could go down. This isn't to say it wasn't a bit shocking for her to hear one of the people on her team no longer wanted to work for her. I'm sure it was. But, she took it in stride and quickly shifted from a superior to a collaborator in helping me figure out what we should do next to see if this was even possible.

Since this was the first time we talked about me switching careers, we both agreed the next step was for me to really think about how I was feeling, what wasn't working, and what I thought I might want to do. Then we'd meet again to go over this self-evaluation and figure out what we should do after that.

Thinking back on this conversation, I think these three things made it successful and are things you should consider as you plan out how you'll bring up the idea of switching jobs with your boss.

Take the lead.

Come prepared and be ready to talk through what you're thinking so your boss has something to react to. You don't want to bring this up and make them feel like it's their job to figure it out for you. It's not. But also, don't make it seem like you already have a complete plan in mind. Doing this shows you're serious but also keeps things informal at the same time.

Ask for help.

Ask your boss for their help in figuring out your next move. This helps them feel invested and makes it something you do together. And, you're definitely going to need their help with getting everyone else who needs to sign off on this onboard.

No ultimatums.

You absolutely cannot use this as a bargaining chip. This is not about getting an offer and using it to go somewhere else or increasing your salary where you're at. The reason you can have this type of conversation is that you have a relationship built on trust.

Remember, if you're not willing to have a tough conversation, nothing will change.

Only you can decide what’s going to be best for you, what you value, and how you want to live your life.

2. Conduct an honest self-evaluation with these four questions.

With my boss now onboard, the next thing I needed to do was write things down and consider what it would mean to switch careers from all angles before we could take it up with other people at the company.

I realized that if I wanted a job that wasn't like my old one, I'd have to approach it differently. And that meant being honest with myself about what I was doing and what I wanted.

I didn't want to rush into something new only to find out it wasn't how I thought it would be.

So, what I did is use a modified version of the Japanese concept of Ikigai. Ikigai is a framework to help you define your overall life purpose. For this, though, I was just trying to figure out if a different career would provide me more satisfaction and fulfillment at work.

Ikigai asks, What are you good at, What can you be paid for, What do you love, and What does the world need?

To focus on my career, I adjusted it to What I am good at, What I am bad at, What I want to do more of, and What I want to do less of.

I figured defining each end of the spectrum would help clarify how I was feeling and give me a better perspective as I eventually would decide what would be the best fit for me going forward.

It's important to answer these questions honestly based on how you feel and what you believe. Not what you think you should say, what other's expectations are, or what anyone has told you before.

This is a self-evaluation, so now is the time to be selfish.

Likely, you don't like your current job because you did what other people wanted you to do instead of what you knew was right for you.

With that in mind, here's how you should think about each of these four questions.

What am I good at?

This should be an easy one. It's whatever you find easy that's hard for other people. These can be things that are directly related to the job you're doing now. Or something you don't get to do at your job but know you're competent at.

If you're having trouble coming up with examples, think about what other people tell you you're good at. And if you still can't figure it out, ask them.

What am I bad at?

This might be a little harder to define because we all want to be good at everything. But, knowing what you're not good at will help you identify what type of jobs you should stay away from simply because you're not innately suited for them.

These are things you struggle with. Things that take more time than you think they should—the type of things that seem to come easy for others that you have to work at.

What do I want to do more of?

These might even be things you're not doing at all now but want to start doing. Being able to say how you want to spend your time will help you qualify potential opportunities based on whether or not they'll allow you to work on these things or not.

What do I want to do less of?

This is probably the easiest of the four. These are the things in your current job that you for sure don't want to keep doing. Knowing what these are will help make sure you don't find yourself in the same situation again.

The key is knowing you won't get everything you want.

There will always be some things you have to do even if you don't like doing them. This is about finding a better balance and helping you do more of what you like and less of what you don't.

Once I'd answered these four questions, my boss and I met again to go over them.

Now, I had more details and specific examples of what wasn't working for me, my strengths, and what I wanted to spend more time on. Going over this with her helped me validate what I was thinking and check to see if I was missing anything.

From here, we talked about what disciplines I might be interested in that would maybe satisfy the things I'd written down. And, we picked four that I would look into more. This was helpful because it meant I didn't have to research everything. Instead, I could focus on things we thought had a high probability of being right.

The four we chose were Project Management, which I was doing currently, Account Management, Strategy, and Analytics.

As I research them, I listed out the pros and cons as well as wrote a paragraph on my feeling towards each discipline and why I thought it might be a good fit or not.

It was important to include Project Management as it’s what I’d been doing and would be the baseline for how I’d evaluate the others. And, I couldn’t rule it out entirely as maybe in doing this I’d realize it was the right job for me and what I wanted to keep doing but that I was at the wrong company. That’s not what ended up happening, but I don’t think I would have had as strong a perspective without it.

After I looked into these disciplines, my boss and I met to see where I was starting to lean and set up the next step.

When asking other people their opinion you’re not looking to copy what they’ve done, rather you’re looking for insights to help you make better decisions for yourself.

3. Learn about different careers with these five questions.

Up until now, it's been a lot of self-reflection and research.

But, the next thing to do if you want to make an informed decision is to talk with people at various stages in the careers you're interested in.

This will help you know what you might be getting yourself into.

You don't want to change careers only to find it's nothing like what you expected. Or worse, exactly like what you were trying to get out of.

Unfortunately, many people don't know what to ask, so they just make assumptions.

They observe and think what they see is what they'll get.

But, if you don't talk with people and ask the right questions, you might find yourself in a new job where:

• You're not challenged in the ways you want to be

• There's more of the work you don't like doing than you thought

To make sure this doesn't happen, all you have to do is find a few people who will talk to you about their job for 30 minutes and ask these five questions to better understand what it's like.

And since you're looking to switch careers while staying at the same company, you have everyone you need to talk to right there.

After we had narrowed down what disciplines I was interested in, my boss had started to talk with other people at the agency who would need to sign off on me doing something else. So, at this point, it was easy for us to set up these informal interviews without having to hide my intentions as I could be completely upfront about what I was doing.

You don't want these conversations to feel like an interrogation, but you do want to get an overview of what this person does, along with some specific details about how they do their job.

These five questions do both of those things.

They're open-ended enough to let the person answer however they want while also specific enough to get you what you need.

Explain your job as if I didn't know anything about it?

Often, people try and overcomplicate what they do to make it seem important. But that's not going to be helpful to you.

You want the basics from someone who does this every day. You want to know what the expectations are, how it fits in with the company's other functions, what projects you'd be a part of, and when you'd get involved. All of these things you could probably infer, but you want to confirm by asking.

Also, by asking it to be explained as if you didn't know anything about it, the person might offer up some invaluable information they take for granted, but you wouldn't have any idea about it.

What are the primary skills and tools you use?

With this, you're trying to determine if any of the skills you already have line up with what the job requires. Of course, you're also figuring out what you're going to have to learn and whether or not that interests you.

Also, most everyone will say the tools don't matter, but if you find out what these are, you can start getting familiar with them before you need to use them.

Are there any frameworks you rely on?

Now you're starting to ask about the craft of the job.

By asking about frameworks, you'll get insight into different ways to approach various problems. If there are any best practices, you should know about, and generally how the work comes together. It's a good way to learn about the type of thinking you'll have to do in a new role.

Also, most of the time, people will use real examples to explain what they're talking about, which will help you understand the theory and how it's applied.

What do you not like doing?

I'd be willing to bet that everything anyone has said has been about the good parts of their job until this point.

But, no matter what, everyone has something they don't like doing. Asking this will help you get a sense of the less glamorous aspects of the job.

Also, they'll likely tell you what more junior people have to do to work their way up the ladder, which will be helpful as you learn what it takes to grow in this career.

Where do you learn from?

This shows you're serious and not just basing your decision on one conversation.

It also gives you something you can deep dive into on your own, whether they tell you about books, podcasts, websites, newsletters, Twitter handles, or whatever else. And, you're going to need to know where to go to find answers and information if you decide this is the path you want to go down, so it's helpful to get familiar now.

The best part about talking with these people is they become your peers.

As you wrap up these conversations, I'm sure they will all say you can follow up with them if there's anything more you want to ask or get their opinion on. This is important because these will be the people you end up working with if you decide to move into their discipline.

And, remember, the point of asking these questions isn't to copy what someone else has done. Rather, it's to give you more context so you can make an informed decision.

You want to develop compounding skills so that whatever you’re doing today continues to be more valuable over time.

4. You want to do something unrelated but similar.

I call this Degree of Separation, which is how you balance the skills and knowledge you've already developed with the opportunity to learn something new.

It's what helps you start to qualify and narrow down your decision.

As you can see with the list of disciplines I was looking at, they progress from completely overlapping with what I was already doing to things further away from my existing skillset.

The point of this is to make sure you're not starting over. But you are instead becoming more valuable by choosing a new career where you can use your existing skills in new ways and have the opportunity to develop additional skills.

You want to find something that allows what you've done and what you will do to complement each other.

Finding the right balance.

I think the best ratio of new to existing skills is 60/40.

50/50.

I think 50/50 would leave you doing too much of what you were doing before. It would be too easy for people to expect you to split your time between your old job and your new job. And because you’re going to be better at your old job you’ll inevitably be expected to spend more time doing that instead of gaining experience with your new job.

60/40.

60/40 gives you enough new things to learn so you're challenged and feel like you're growing. While leaving enough existing knowledge, you can fall back on so you don't feel in over your head. This is important because you don't want to feel discouraged or like you’re falling behind. You want to create enough momentum so you always feel like you’re making progress.

70/30.

On the other side, 70/30 would mean you'd have to spend a lot more time training and would basically be starting over, which is what we're trying to avoid.

Of course, determining what’s going to give you a 60/40 split is going to be a bit subjective. But based on your self-evaluation, what people told you about their discipline, and opinions from those helping you out you should be able to have an idea of what makes sense.

Choosing your perfect job.

At this point, after you've talked with your boss about your desire to do something different, were honest with yourself about what you wanted, researched and spoke with people in other disciplines, and evaluated your skillset against what you'd have to do in different jobs.

You're now ready to make a decision.

Taking everything you learned, you need to think through what will be the best job you can have that'll put you on a career path you're excited about.

You need to think about your strengths and what you want to be doing more of and see what disciplines line up with that. And what you want to be doing less of, and rule out any disciplines requiring more of that type of work.

You also need to think about your existing skills and make sure some of them will still be relevant and that the new skills you're going to have to learn are things you're interested in.

And, you have to think about the future too.

Right now, you're focused on seeing if you can make every day better. This is important, but you also need to make sure whatever you get into next is something you can see yourself doing and being excited about for the long term.

Switching jobs like this isn't something you can do often, and definitely not twice at the same company.

You want to be sure the path you're about to get on is going to be worth it.

For me, this was moving into Strategy.

When I evaluated the different disciplines, we selected I knew staying in Project Management would continue to be the same, and I wasn't excited about where that would lead.

Many people thought I'd be good at Account Management, but I knew that it had more of the things I didn't like doing as a project manager just with a different focus.

And, while I love using data to inform decisions, the core skills of Analytics were just too far out of my existing skill set to let me go into that type of work without having to start over.

The more I researched and talked with people about Strategy, I realized a lot of the skills I'd developed as a project manager would easily translate to this new discipline.

Things like writing clearly, viewing challenges from various perspectives, managing different types of people, and putting together actionable plans that teams could execute on. All things that I was good at as a project manager were also indicators of great strategists.

And strategy let me be more creative, which was the one thing I wanted to do more of that I wasn't getting as a project manager.

This meant the things I needed to learn were new frameworks and understanding how things should happen from the strategy side. All things that are part of the craft and can be easily taught.

This overlap of skills made it an easy sell to my boss, the leader of the strategy discipline, and the rest of the agency executives who needed to sign off on this as they could see how things fit together and that it would be a win-win for everyone.

If you want to go fast, start slow so you can build up a solid foundation of knowledge and habits.

5. Three steps to successfully transition into a new career.

Now that I'd selected Strategy as the discipline I wanted to switch into and got the approvals I needed, the next thing we did was put a plan in place for how we would make the transition happen.

Obviously, I knew it wasn't going to happen immediately. All along, I'd been sure to tell people I didn't have any timing expectations other than I didn't want this to be something we stopped talking about.

I knew I was asking for a lot already, and demanding it to happen by a certain time didn't seem appropriate at all.

Mostly because switching disciplines meant they'd have to find someone to replace me who I would have to train, and then there would have to be an opportunity on the Strategy side that I could fill. So a lot of things had to come together to make it happen.

Everything up to this point had taken about four months—talking with my boss, doing my self-evaluation and research, and my informal interviews with people in different disciplines. However, switching disciplines ended up taking about eight months to fully transition once it was official that I'd be moving into Strategy.

So, about a year in total.

Doing it over this period of time was great, though, as I was able to gradually reduce my responsibilities as a project manager while building the knowledge and skills I'd need as a strategist.

Going slow like this meant I never felt in over my head and was able to build up my confidence and muscle memory, so by the time I was a full-time strategist, I was ready and didn't feel overwhelmed.

Most people, though, want to get thrown in the deep end to prove themselves.

You don't want to try and do too much too fast.

If you do, you might not build the proper habits as you rush to just get things done. And while you'll be taking skills with you, you have to realize you will be reorganizing and rebuilding your foundational skills. So it's important to remember:

• It takes time to ramp up and get acclimated

• No one expects too much from you yet

• You don't want to make a mistake you can't recover from

I ramped up over time through these three phases as I built up my experience.

Doing it this way allowed me to set the right expectations and get the right experiences with the right people to prove I was capable in this new role and build up my knowledge and confidence.

Phase 1 - Orientation.

Before you officially start, you'll want to start getting acclimated.

This will likely be with your new boss or someone above you who can teach you more about the role. It'll probably be one of the people you had an informal interview with, most likely.

While your exploration conversations were about the role overall, these are more technical and get into the activities and deliverables.

For me, this was a weekly 1:1 where we would go through different examples of strategy work, an introduction to the tools I needed to know, and general discussions about what I should be thinking about and focusing on.

Phase 2 - Boot camp.

Most people think they can start once they know the theory, but it's never that easy.

You won't have an awareness of what to look out for just yet. So, you'll want to shadow someone on a project to learn and see how they do things. This will help you start to get a sense of what to look out for, where the roadblocks are, how to navigate project politics, the type of deliverables people will expect from you, and how to be efficient with your time.

I was lucky enough to work on a mid-sized project with one other Strategist who showed me the way and let me do some of the work with their oversight. This was great because I was able to apply what I'd been learning and get immediate feedback on what I had right and what I could do differently.

It's so much easier to learn by doing when the stakes are relatively low.

Phase 3 - Basic training.

Finally, once you've gone through orientation and shadowed on a project during boot camp, you'll be ready to start doing some of the work yourself. You won't be ready to take on an entire project alone just yet, but you'll continue to partner with someone on the team so you can keep learning while getting more and more responsibility.

And, most projects are often big enough that it'll never just be one person anyway, so don't worry about not leading a project for a while.

While this is a linear process, there's no set time frame you can expect for them to occur. You have to wait for the right opportunity to come up. And then every project is different and will take however long it needs to.

The point is to build up your confidence and muscle memory, so you know what to do when you're on your own.

The last question you need to ask yourself before changing jobs.

While it's exciting to think about getting a new job, you can see the way this works is to be intentional about how you approach it.

You don't want to rush into anything.

That's hard, though if you're to the point of thinking your current job is so bad, you'd literally do anything else.

If that's how you're thinking, then any opportunity to change is going to look attractive.

If that's you, all I want you to do is ask yourself this one question before deciding anything.

Is a new job going to be better, or just different?

Honestly answering this simple question will tell you whether or not you're excited about a new job because it's better than your current one. Or if you're excited because it's different.

If it's better and gets you closer to where you want to be or doing more of what you like, you should go for it.

If it's just different, you're probably better off making a plan to find something that's better.

Changing jobs because it's different just to get out of your current one has risks like:

• A new job might have the same problems as your current job

• A new job might not give you the fulfillment you're seeking

• A new job might mean having to prove yourself all over again

Taking the first opportunity that comes your way is risky because you might end up in a worse situation.

I know this from my experience changing companies enough times to get out of where I was instead of finding something better to know it's not worth it.

Once the newness wore off, I was back to dealing with the same problems, needing to impress people I didn't know while feeling frustrated by my lack of progress.

So, again, is it better, or just different?

Wrapping up.

Changing careers isn't easy.

But after doing it twice now, I've developed this repeatable method for how to do it.

As you can see, the process is pretty straightforward, but it requires a lot of patience and confidence in your ability to navigate unknowns and have uncomfortable conversations.

The secret for all of it, though, is that you need to come prepared and be willing to put in the work.

You can't expect anyone else to take this seriously if you don't show how committed you are. That's why there's such a focus on self-reflection and research to make sure you're making the best decision for yourself.

This is why it's so rewarding to know you took control of your career when you're able to make it work.

You know you've done something for yourself that not only makes your life better, but likely everyone's around you as well.

Often, though, people stay in jobs that aren't right for them because they don't know that they can orchestrate a change. Or, they're held back from talking about it because:

• They've been doing their job for so long they don't think they can do anything else

• They don't know what it is they want to do; just that it's not what they're doing now

• They're worried they'll have to completely start over

• They're not sure they'll be paid the same in another role

But the only way to answer any of those questions is to start the conversation.

To recap, here are the five steps to change careers without starting over.

Step 1: Have a tough conversation with your boss.

This is critical. You have to tell your boss how you feel.

You can't expect them to know how you're doing or what you want if you don't tell them. Let them know you're looking for their help in figuring out how to make your time at work better by switching into a new role.

The key to this is seeding the conversation beforehand, so you're not catching them completely off guard.

Step 2: Conduct an honest self-evaluation.

Next, you have to do an honest self-evaluation.

You'll want to create a list of things you're good at, things you're bad at, things you want to do more of, and things you want to do less of.

This is what's going to guide you as you explore different careers you might be interested in.

Step 3: Explore different careers.

Next, you want to do your own research and have exploration conversations with people in different disciplines to see how your self-evaluation lines up with the work they do.

You want to get a sense of what these different careers are actually like from the people who do them.

Step 4: Choose something unrelated but similar.

With all of the information you've gathered, you're now ready to decide on whether or not you're going to stick with your current job or if you want to do something different.

If you're going to change careers, you want to pick something that gives you a 60/40 split between new things you have to learn and your existing skills.

Step 5: Gain experience and build your confidence.

Once you've done your research and identified what new job you want to transition into, you and your current and future bosses can then start to develop a plan to make it happen within the company.

Doing this in a phased approach will allow you to ramp up into the new role and not feel like you have no idea what you're doing.

I know changing careers will never seem as easy as I laid it out here, but know it's possible if you follow these steps and are willing to put in the work.

And, remember. If you don't decide what you're going to do with your life, someone else will decide for you.

If you have any questions about changing careers or want to learn more about lifestyle design, follow me on Twitter @wesjonesco.