Keep going, reflecting, learning and getting 1% better each time #40
Hey all, another week, another newsletter from me. Number 40, that brings us to about 9 months. A huge achievement on its own.
This week I have a lovely story of a trip down Grafton Street and coming face to face with a YouTuber with over 5.9 million subscribers.
Before that, as you may be aware I am working on a minimum viable product for my stock market recommender. I pre-launched this a while back but stopped for various reasons - well now it’s back with an improved algorithm.
So if you want free weekly stock market advice sign up here @ Finance Weekly.
The story
Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland for me is the heart of the city. Rather than just being a plain old high street, Grafton Street is lined with a whole range of street artists. It could be singers (mostly), magicians or escape artists - every 50 to 100m someone is doing something amazing.
As a 4 cord guitarist myself, I love seeing people perform, it just fills me with so much happiness. I could spend hours just watching, regardless of skill or ability, I just love seeing it.
And it’s a great place to do it. Grafton Street is one of the busiest streets in Europe with 8,802 per hour walking down it. That is why the whole street performance thing down Grafton Street is regulated with performers being given a single short slot.
The new guy
Last Sunday we went for a walk around Dublin, as we got to the start of Grafton Street the first performer was playing his guitar and singing his heart away. The only problem was - he wasn’t great.
The standard of guitar playing and singing was on a level where my wife turned to me and said - “I think you could do that [performing live]” - it wasn’t a compliment.
It was the equivalent of seeing someone with 2 broken legs and saying “you could probably beat him in a race”.
I turned to my son and shared some wisdom, something along the lines of…
This guy isn’t great today, but he’s here, he’s doing his thing, and if he keeps going, reflecting, learning and getting 1% better each time - then in 5 years time he’ll be amazing.
It’s a lesson that I believe applies to us all.
As we walked a little bit further down the street I found the opposite end of the spectrum…
Allie Sherlock
I first came across Allie during one of my YouTube binging sessions. Late one night just chilling, nothing on TV, so I had my headphones on listening to music on YouTube and came across Allie. I think the first video I saw was a duet with another talented person called Fabio Rodrigues.
In short, Allie is the opposite of the first guy I saw down Grafton Street.
Allie has, by many people’s metrics, ‘made it’.
She has amassed 5.9 million subscribers on YouTube and her content has been watched over 1 billion times. She has 2.3 million followers on Instagram and a record deal with Patriot Records.
According to YouTubers.me, Allie made $14.5k in the past 30 days on YouTube and $85.1k in the past 90 days, in ad revenue alone. And has an estimated net worth in the millions ($).
And here she is, right in front of me down Grafton Street.
Allie isn’t there busking for money, Allie is there making content.
From a numbers perspective, Allie will only be able to perform to a maximum of 8,802 people per hour. However, by capturing her content her performances can be and will be seen by millions of people around the world.
The point
Now this isn’t a post about recording content and putting it on the internet.
This is a post about the difference between the first guy I saw and the person who is crushing it.
Allie started her singing career in 2014. That was 9 years ago. And has worked hard and tirelessly on that ever since.
It wasn’t instant overnight success.
On day one she didn’t have 5.9 million subscribers, and her first month’s pay wasn’t $14.5k.
She worked at it.
And this brings me back to the advice I gave to my son, and here I’ve adapted it so it is advice to us all…
You might not be great today, but you are here, you are doing your thing, and if you keep going, reflecting, learning and getting 1% better each time - then in 5 years time you’ll be amazing.
Success isn’t an instant overnight thing for us.
Yes, there are some examples of where this has happened, but that isn’t us.
The average person like you and I, has to work at things and we have to work at these things for a long time - that’s how it is supposed to be. As our Mandalorian friends would say… “this is the way”
And on that Sunday down Grafton Street there was a real example of that.
Someone who worked hard over the years.
Lesson 2
This is more of an anecdotal lesson I learned that day down Grafton Street and seeing Allie. The lesson…
We are our own biggest blockers
Or to put it another way…
We create our own obstacles
This newsletter was born that day I was down Grafton Street. I saw the first guy and then saw Allie, and I knew the story I wanted to share with you all.
As we walked back down the street, Allie was packing her gear away and taking selfies with her fans, and my wife said “go and get a selfie with her, it’ll look great for the newsletter”.
And she was right it would have looked great for the newsletter.
But I couldn’t do it.
what if she said ‘no’?
what if she looked at me like I was strange?
what would other people think of a 44-year-old man getting a selfie with a young woman?
I don’t do selfies with people, it’s not my thing.
The idea felt a bit silly
In reality, none of this made any sense.
I imagine she would have loved to have been told she would be featured in a newsletter as an example of someone who was doing great.
Of the 8,802 walking down that street in that hour, less than 20 of them would have seen me ask and even fewer would have seen me take the actual selfie. Because in reality - no one really cares what you do.
But still, I had a blocker, several blockers.
I could have had an awesome picture to accompany this newsletter, instead, I have this one…
A lesson learned the hard way, and the final more popular saying:
You miss a 100% of the shots you don’t take
I didn’t even take my shot that day.
Fin.
Happy Friday everyone, I wish you all a great weekend.
Feel free to share this newsletter using the link below. TBH - I’m doing a bad job at marketing this, so any help is always appreciated.
Best, John