It's really just a big, stale, scaley, moldy, gangrened, exhausting, hardened armpit of an excuse, isn't it?
That you need to decide on the right newsletter platform before you can get started.
That you need to have the perfect name.
That you need to have the perfect positioning.
That you need to have the perfect plan.
That you need to have everything scheduled, and everything ready, and four-hundred years of content lined up, and headshots, and media kits, and bubble gum that matches your bra, and branded merch that says "Per My Last Email, I Have Dissolved," and a book deal (a book deal!!!), and THE PERFECT REPLY for when Jimmy Kimmel asks for your hand in marriage overlooking the Adriatic Sea.
Well, you know what I have to say to that?
Hot dogs. 🌭
Yes, that's what I have to say to that: big, old, fat hot dogs.
I mean, probably don't say that to Jimmy Kimmel. Or, you could. This is your one wild and precious life.
What I mean issssss, you know when you put a hot dog in the microwave and you leave it in there for way too long and next thing you know it's bursting open at the seams???
That is gonna be your brain.
Because, I PROMISE YOU, this whole "needing to know what you're doing" thing IS ACTUALLY GOING TO GIVE YOU A STROKE.
You can't think your way there.
That's like trying to think really, really hard about ice skating and then hoping once you hit the rink, your legs just know how to do The Rotational Death Spiral 3000.
Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
You can't think your way to the Olympics. You gotta work your way to the Olympics! You gotta put on a pair of ice skates for the first time. You gotta look like a b-hole in shiny tights for the first time. You gotta hang onto the wall like a shivering little starfish for the first time. You gotta call out for your mommy the first time.
You can't skip steps, you overachiever.
This is why I whole-hippedly believe (as opposed to whole-heartedly, which is way too soft) that the BEST way to start something new?
Is to start by sharing what you're learning now in real-time.
Instead of trying to become this all-mighty expert before you can launch.
Because honestly that's half of what's tripping you up, isn't it??? The whole "who are you to ___________" thing?
You gotta just put on your ice skates, Tanya Harding.
I don't care what your logo looks like.
I don't care that you don't have all of your post categories made.
I don't care that you don't know what you're going to write about yet.
I don't care that you don't have a fully-formed idea in your head.
The ONLY way you can get a fully-formed idea???? Is by doing the work to form it. The messy stuff IS the forming. The putting yourself out there is the forming. The weird newsletters that change their format later is the forming.
Starting should look like . . . starting.
You shouldn't have a polished idea.
You know why?
Because there is no such thing. If it's polished and perfect, it's already dead in the water.
Good ideas are living, breathing, air-sucking little things. They're the yeast of the business world (oh god). No, but really: good ideas are good because they aren't stagnant perfect little museum relics of 14 months ago; they aren't being put in a glass box to be studied and poked and thought about to death. Good ideas are out there in the open, they're active, they're causing a ruckus, they're tiny toddlers, running, kicking, screaming, telling you your muffin top looks weird.
Good ideas are nimble, flexible, fast, always ready to put on their tap shoes. They're always shifting into something better and growing alongside you.
Let. It. Happen. Man.
Stop trying so hard to control everything.
Letttttt gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Make the website tonight. Launch the newsletter tonight. Make the IG page tonight. And let whatever name you decide on, let it be good enough for now.
Because needing to have everything "ready?"
Isn't strategy.
It's procrastination in a bow.
NOTHING IS PERMANENT, THIS IS CALLED FREEDOM, TAKE IT AND RUN WITH A KNIFE.
Cause this really is your one wild and precious life. Even though I'll forever deny writing that in public.
Loooooove,
Ash
P.S. What's keeping you stuck right now? Hit reply. Tell me. Say hi. Gimmie a fist bump. I'm in the inbox and I read every one!