Mar 04, 2023 3 min read video

The Mossletter 29

Hello Friends,

I hope this little electronic transmission of bits, bytes and symbols on the interwebs finds you well. I hinted at this a bit in my last letter, but I’d like to share with you something I’ve been working on for sometime now …

⭐️ Welcome To Micah’s Guides

👀 Super-Short Version

I’ve created a new business called “Micah’s Guides”!

🧐 Longer Version

❓What The Heck Is Micah’s Guides?

Micah's Guides is a little business I’ve started where I create fun and engaging online instructional videos (and release them on Udemy).

🤔 Why Did I Decide To Build Online Courses?

Yeah, I mean it sounds a bit rando, right? Well to be honest, several things pulled me into this:

While I’m very grateful for the current employment that I have — someday — I will be my own boss.
I listened to an audiobook recently called “Don’t Start A Side Hustle: Do This Instead”, and the author got me thinking about viable business models … and while starting a side hustle can lead to amazing outcomes, if the business model I’m tethered to doesn’t really “scale” without my direct intervention* (*translated: without me putting in a ton more time) then those types of businesses can be hard to maintain. (Or to think about it another way: would I rather build something once, and get paid for it once — or would I rather build something once, and get paid ten times for it, a hundred times, a thousand times, etc?) Anyway, the author talks about several different types of “passive” or “semi-passive” revenue streams, and I guess you could say the concept of building online courses “spoke” to me.
I don’t know about you, but we don’t currently have a ton of space at our place …so the idea of a business built purely on digital inventory / assets indeed has a certain allure.
Those who have known me for years know that I’m kind of a nerd about several things: writing, art / design, film / video, etc … I’ve built up skills over the years learning how to write and make my own video content (primarily for software companies), and of course, writing and building videos is something I enjoy doing … so why not do it for myself?
When thinking if I’m qualified to make a course on a subject, I ask myself:
- Can I share a solution to a problem that has vexed me for years? ✅
- Can I say (objectively) that I likely know more about a particular subject than, say 90 - 95% of the world? ✅
- Can I share something I’m passionate about? ✅
  - If my chosen course subject touches on one or more of these ideas (and ideally, if it hits all three — bingo-bango 🎯), then yes, why not create a course and share what I’ve learned with the world (and make some money while I sleep)?

🧠 What’s The First Course About?

The first course is titled “Micah’s Guide to Journaling With Mindfulness”, and this is pretty personal to me (which is probably why I chose to start with this one).

Long story short, I’ve been trying to figure out how to have a consistent journaling practice in my life for over ten years* (*I actually just looked back at my first journal entry, and it was in May of 2011, and my second journal entry was three months later … I guess you’ve gotta start somewhere? 🤷🏻). Needless to say, I wasn’t very good at the whole “journaling” thing for many years … I’d start it up, stop it, start it again, rinse / repeat.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I realized I (truly / madly / deeply) needed some sort of positive outlet for my (private) thoughts, and if I was able to create a daily habit that helps me “reset” everyday — then it would be worth pursuing. More than ever, I felt like I needed some additional “structure” in my day (if only for five minutes), and after much trial and error — I eventually figured out a simple yet effective workflow that “clicked” for me (and now I’ve consecutively journaled for more than 1,000 days in a row)! As a bonus, this habit is also a nice introduction to the principles of “mindfulness”, as the writing prompts are centered around research found in cognitive behavioral therapy.