EP5 - The evil voicemail effect

02/15/15 • 7 min

Stacking the Bricks: Creators and Entrepreneurs You Can Relate To

Earlier this week, Alex and I were stuck. Hard. I was crazy unhappy with the lessons I'd been trying to design. What I was doing... wasn't working.

Why was I stuck? What did we do to get unstuck? What on earth is the "voicemail effect" and why is it the source of so much writer's block?

If you find yourself stuck in a project — and therefore avoiding it — then this episode might give you the inspiration you need to figure out why. That kind of thinking can save your project.

More insider peeks at https://unicornfree.com/2015/watch-us-build-our-next-product

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week, Alex and I were stuck. Hard. I was crazy unhappy with the lessons I'd been trying to design. What I was doing... wasn't working.

Why was I stuck? What did we do to get unstuck? What on earth is the "voicemail effect" and why is it the source of so much writer's block?

If you find yourself stuck in a project — and therefore avoiding it — then this episode might give you the inspiration you need to figure out why. That kind of thinking can save your project.

More insider peeks at https://unicornfree.com/2015/watch-us-build-our-next-product

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

EP4 - Shipping is a skill

Are you a procrastinator?

Don't feel bad about it - DO something about it.

On this show, you’re going to be hearing a short story from my business partner and co-host Amy Hoy admit something....there was a time when she wasn’t so great at shipping. That's right, the author of Just Fucking Ship used to be a serial procrastinator.

As she describes, "I could ship work and projects for other people - bosses, clients - but when it came to shipping my own things I was the worst." Amy goes on to describe the sequence of events that snapped her out of her nasty habit and started her down the path of shipping, including the story behind one of her most famous projects http://twistori.com and how it helped her career.

This episode is just a tiny excerpt from a longer interview hosted by one of our friends and alumni, Sean Fioritto, who has been writing a series called “Github Ghost-towns” where he’s been talking about all of those side projects that we spin up...and then leave to rot.

You know what I’m talking about. ;)

The FULL LENGTH interview with Sean is action-packed with stories and advice from Amy and I, including a bunch of tips that we use every day to make sure we keep shipping the products and ebombs that you all seem to love so much.

Get your own copy of Just Fucking Ship

There are 21 principles that we used to Just Fucking Ship the book Just Fucking Ship. You can learn what they are here and pick up a copy for yourself: https://unicornfree.com/just-fucking-ship

Coming later this month JUST for Stacking Bricks subscribers...

Over the next month, podcast subscribers are going to start getting an exclusive listen to behind-the-scenes conversations between Amy and I as we build the next version of our bootstrapping course, 30x500.

These will be real conversations between us as business partners - not staged for effect - as we make crucial decisions about the launch of our next product and a glimpse at the very process we teach in action.

We've never done anything quite like this before so we're excited to invite you a bit further into our world. Subscribe now so you don't miss it, and we'll see you next time!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

EP6 - "The Life-changing Magic of Shipping"

Right now I'm reading a book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Japanese organizing expert Marie Kondo.

It's amazing. I can't recommend it enough. Already, I'm feeling an increase in lightness, beauty, and joy in my home. But that wasn't the reason I started reading it to Alex during one of our Skype calls last week. Nope, I shared it with him because of a deeper truth, and its masterful presentation.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up isn't just about tidy homes, it's about life.

The book itself is so good because it throws out every traditional piece of advice. Marie proves it: Little by little won't solve the problem. Storage won't fix the problem. Fancy boxes and shelves and "one thing a day" won't get you there, ever.

You have to do something radically different to get a radically different result.

Most startup advice is on the day-to-day level: the little tactics. Try this, try that. Pivot. Split-test. But like tidying, the problem occurs upstream. These tactics will never fix the broken strategy.

The lessons from this book? Virtually the same lessons we have learned ourselves in business, and what we do our damnedest to teach our students. The previous failures, the negative self-talk, the self-perpetuating cycle, the backsliding that terrifies our students... it's all exactly the same as Marie describes in her students. Only the implementation details change.

Sound at all familiar? It sure sounded familiar to me.

Listen to part one of our 2-part conversation to learn the revolutionary approach Marie teaches for tidying, and how those lessons apply to your startup, too. Bonus: life (and business) wisdom from ancient Chinese philosophers, 500-year-old French noblemen, and the Bible.

-Amy