GM: This is Letters by Elgwaro – sweeter than perfumed high school love letters. I help you keep tabs on the gig economy as you plan to escape the rat race. I gotcha.
Here’s what I’m serving up today
- Nugget
- Gig Ideas
- Gig-Treats
Nugget
It’s funny how we know what we need to do to become successful yet can’t get ourselves to do it. I’m talking to someone who’s neither the cream nor the dregs of society.
The ones who love enjoying life, do the bare minimum and earn just enough to cater to all their basic needs. We are the majority. We can decide to turn the world upside down if we want.
But again, where do we get the motivation to do that when there’s enough on our plate and we can afford a mini pizza every weekend? But I digress.
Why is it hard for us to get things done, to get outside our comfort zones, to reach out and grab what we desire?
I’ve been trying to solve this riddle through experiments. Currently, I’m working on one inspired by David Goggins. If you haven’t heard about that beast of a man, kindly get busy scraping the internet.
But for the lazybones like me, here’s what you need to know.
- Goggins is the man who runs ultra-marathons with broken feet.
- He has the record for the most pushups—4030 in 17 hours.
- He lost one hundred and six freaking pounds within three months to become a Navy seal.
- His dictionary doesn’t contain the phrases ‘give up’, ‘I can’t do it’, or ‘let me try tomorrow’.
- He’s the man who will stare into your eyes, give you a pep talk, and the next minute you bounce into an executive boardroom meeting and ask for a salary raise.
- He’s the alarm clock you need in the morning.
Goggins advises people to embrace hardships. He states..
"We all have a certain amount of grit within us, but it's not until we face hardship that we realize just how much we have."and
"The only way to change your life is to be comfortable with discomfort."So I’m taking on this challenge and embracing hardships. I’m picking discomfort from the swamp, taking a bite of its head and chewing that slimy chunk with pleasure.
How?
By taking cold showers.
Goddammit! You call that a hardship?
Honestly, cold showers suck, especially now in the rainy season. They might not be the most inspiring hardships out here, but for me, they are as uncomfortable as it gets, especially in the first 10 seconds when the body is coming to terms with the fact that you’re torturing it.
I’ve been doing it for 2 weeks. It’s a bit easier nowadays, but not enjoyable.
I can’t say my life has changed drastically, but one thing I’ve noticed is that the words “let me get done with this now anyway” have been popping up in my mind more often whenever I get a task.
I don’t know what that means but I’m liking the fact that I’m more motivated to get things done fast’
So, here’s my bit: find something healthy but uncomfortable and start doing it every day. Be it taking tea without sugar, talking to a stranger, or waking up early, Choose your pill and run with it, then observe if any other aspect of your life is improving.
Gig Ideas
Writing is not a thing for many. Sure, some people enjoy it, like me, who gets goosebumps whenever I’m writing in prose. But most people would rather count from 1 to 10,000 than write an article.
Yet, you wouldn’t pass up a chance to make an extra buck, would you?
There’s a great opportunity waiting to catch your eye. So pay attention.
We are currently riding the AI wave. It’s the mark of a new era that might define the next century of our existence—hoping apocalyptic theories such as the Zombie invasion and scorched earth scenarios crumble in the face of their prophets.
During this infancy stage of AI’s hostile takeover of our workplace roles, you can harness its power to offer services to people at a price before it penetrates the crevices of society and becomes the default tool of work.
If you have impostor syndrome when it comes to writing, AI can do the heavy lifting for you. It can generate awesome ideas, structure outlines, and flesh them out with readable, comprehensive content as you watch in awe.
You can then go through the generated content, add a piece of your personality – if you have any – and take it to the market. That’s where the hard work is. But as long us you understand the principles of marketing which include…
- Focusing on your customer’s needs
- Adding value to them
- Differentiating your offer from competitors
- Effective communication
- Consistency
- Long-term perspective and
- Feeding from feedback….
…you’re good to go. By the way, I just generated those 7 principles using ChatGPT
So, here are three ideas you can explore to make some money with the help of AI tools
- Ghostwriting: Create a Fiverr profile for ghostwriting services; start at $5 per hour. When you get a gig, use ChatGPT to develop an outline and expand topics. Request two blog versions, combine to produce a comprehensive post, and deliver.
- Sell A children’s eBook: Define your target age range, ask ChatGPT to generate a story explaining a topic to that age group, and use Bibisco to structure the eBook. Use Midjourney to create illustrations, proofread using Quillbot, publish online, promote on social media, and sell.
- Write cover letters: Set $10/letter on Fiverr. When a client shows interest, request their details. Get ChatGPT to write a professional cover letter highlighting qualifications. Review the work, rewrite it in a formal way, and offer changes to make sure the client is happy.
While these gigs might seem easy at face value, they require strategy, patience, and some investment.
If you’re open to the idea of making money online and you dedicate your time to learning your craft, of course with the help of AI, you’ll be logging into your mobile money app smiling.
Gig-Treats
- Loom: If you’re building a one-person online business, you’ll need to demonstrate some activities to your freelancers. Loom is the perfect tool to use. Simply screen record your processes while explaining every bit. Loom uploads it and gives you a link to share.
- Sculpt Your Dream Life in 5 Steps: Stop whatever you’re multitasking now and read this guide on how to make all your important dreams come true.
See you next week.