You don’t need to know everything

Paralysis by analysis, imposter syndrome, decision-making blocks, and the fear of potential error—all of these quick little turns of phrase have a common thread: inaction. And inaction keeps you where you are instead of where you need to be.

You have some goals that you’ve been kicking around for a long while, right? But you just can’t seem to move the needle. The font is off. The graphics look like shit. You don’t have enough capital to launch.

Yeah, these are all problems. But there is a bigger issue at play here: failure to press forward in some small way. Look, if your goal is to break away from the status quo or shake free of the system, you have to be realistic: it is a game of inches—sometimes fractions of inches.

We intended to do that thing. To start writing daily emails (that me 😞). We meant to grow our social media account to spread the word, but instead, we spent four hours doom-scrolling (also me). Or you were just too damn scared to walk away from a job that was crushing you (not me, although I actually liked my job).

Most of you probably follow me because of my freelancing and writing posts, and that’s what I do for a living, so I’ll lean into that for the sake of this discussion.

If you want to start a second income stream, you are probably getting lost in the noise. God knows I was and still am half of the time. But unless you are in immediate jeopardy of losing your W2, you don’t need to move the needle all the way to 1,000. You just need to get the ball rolling with a little momentum.

And here is the real deal: if you are counting on making WiFi money to save you from the cubicle farm, you had better start earning some WiFi money to get a taste for it. You do not know what it feels like until you have done it successfully. It doesn’t have to be much.

That first little gig for $20 on Upwork? Yeah, it can potentially launch your next career and really change your whole life. It did for me, and there’s no reason it won’t for you.

But you have to stop bullshitting yourself first. If you are getting hung up on minutia like fonts, logos, etc., it’s because you are probably scared. But you aren’t biting off the whole thing all at once. I took my first gig on Upwork in February 2016, and I resigned from my job in April 2021. Over five years!

Honestly, I still had a LOT to learn before leaving my job, but I did it anyway. You’ve heard me say this a bunch, and you’ll hear it again, but you have got to take that first step and start doing something. Shut out all the noise and grind until you make some money online. Don’t get hung up in directions, either. Just pick something.

A service makes the most sense because you can learn a valuable skill fast (if you don’t already have one) and hit the market running.

Create a profile on Upwork, tweak it with tips from top Upwork earners, and go get the bag.

That’s just your first couple of steps, and right now, that’s all you need to think about.