u/sumizeit

For years I treated every self help book like a contract. If I started it, I finished it, even when the last 150 pages just repeated chapter one with new stories. Last year I stopped doing that. Now I read until the main idea clicks, write down the one thing I want to try, and put the book down. My reading list looks way less impressive. But I changed more habits this year than I did from the 40 books I “finished” before that.

I get the pushback. Sometimes the best idea sits in chapter nine and you only find it if you stick around. Still, I think most of these books are one good essay stretched out to hit a page count, and we keep reading out of guilt. So I’m curious. Do you finish every self help book you start, or do you bail once you get the point? And has a book ever saved its best part for the very end?

Earlier this year one of my businesses had a churn problem, and I kept trying to fix it with features. New onboarding. A new pricing page. Then I finally did the thing I'd been dodging for months and called five people who canceled to ask them why. Three of them said almost the same sentence. They liked the product but forgot it existed after the first week. That's it. No feature on my roadmap would have fixed that, and those two hours on the phone taught me more than six months of staring at analytics.

What bugs me is how long I put it off. I think a lot of us hide behind building because talking to people who walked away feels awful. Building feels productive. A call with someone who left feels like reading your own bad review out loud. I'm pretty convinced now that the uncomfortable conversation is usually where the real answer is hiding. So I'm curious. What's the one conversation you avoided way too long in your business, and what happened when you finally had it?

What finally gets you moving?

For years I treated motivation like the weather. I’d wake up, check how I felt, and decide if today was a “go” day. Most days weren’t. I run a few companies now, and I almost never feel like doing the hard stuff. What changed was tiny. I made a rule that I only have to start for ten minutes, and if I still hate it after that, I’m allowed to quit. I almost never quit. Turns out the feeling shows up after I start, not before.

I think a lot of us are stuck waiting for a spark that only comes from moving. Sounds obvious. It took me way too long to see it anyway. So I’m curious. What’s the one small rule or trick that gets you off the couch on days when you feel nothing at all? And did it stick, or do you keep having to find a new one?

I had an interesting year. I learned something this year - the people you surround yourself with, tell us a lot about who you are.

When I judge someone, I look at who their friends are. That tells me a lot about who they are.

I think that's especially important if you decided to marry someone.

I've noticed that when I surrounded myself with toxic people (i was young and foolish), I also became toxic.

But then I got rid of all those people and found the smartest and kindest individuals (really hard). My motivation and productivity went through the roof.

They were people I met who seemed overly stressed and a bit unhinged. I'm super calm and I love life (wasn't always that way. Took a lot of work). By being around me, they changed a lot for the better.

Another example, was my mother. She used to have a hard time, and then I asked her to travel with me every year. We spent a lot of time with each other going to Norway, Russia, London, Paris, Vienna, Dubai, China, etc. We once didn’t like each other. After all the traveling, she finally understood me and I understood her and all her sacrifices.

Just something to think about.

I read the books, tried the 5am wake ups, tracked my habits in three different apps, and built a morning routine so tight it had its own spreadsheet. Then one Tuesday I realized I hadn't changed anything that mattered. My job was the same. My friendships were thinner. I could tell you everything about my sleep score but not the last time I called someone just to talk. Self improvement had become a hobby, a very productive feeling way to dodge the scary stuff, like quitting the job I hated or admitting I was lonely.

Here's what I think now. Most of us aren't stuck because we lack a system. We're stuck because we already know the one or two things we should do, and we'd rather research than do them. Planning feels like progress. Doing feels like risk. So I'm curious where you land on this. What's the thing you keep optimizing around instead of just doing? Be honest, because I'll go first. Mine was a conversation I put off for eleven months.

My customers do not like subscriptions (true for most users). They complain about subscriptions when they use my competitors.

So I had lifetime (but that's a bad business decision).

What do you to encourage users to purchase a subscription when they hate subscriptions and will eventually cancel?

Though I’ve had few cancellations.

I add "Cancel anytime by going to X"

I tried lifetime at a higher price but again I hate lifetime.

I have a beautiful dashboard that Claude refreshes every day at 6am with a summary of recent TechCrunch articles, hacker news, marketing blog posts, product blog posts, beta list, product hunt, favorite YouTube channels, etc.

Goal is to make sure I’m up to date with all the stuff going on in tech. I also want to make sure I’m learning everyday.

How do you keep up to date and learning?

What blogs do you read? What websites do you visit? What YouTube channels do you listen to? What podcasts do you listen to? How long to you spend on learning each day?

P.S I’m also a successful entrepreneur. Hence I’m here!

I saw this amazing short drama where the female lead screwed over the mistress and husband and ended up with all the money by remaining calm and calculating. The mistress ended up killing her husband because he refused to marry her. She for the first time didn’t kill the wife. Sad the husband died though.

I have a few questions

- why does the FL always accept a drink from the mistress? I mean it’s obviously spiked
- why does she even interact with the mistress? I would get far away from her.
- why doesn’t she leave as soon as she hears her husband cheats or better yet get a lawyer to screw him over good time?
- why isn’t she going to the media to screw him up?
- why is her house always open so that anyone including the mistress can go in?
- also why isn’t she recording all conversations with that mistress?

I liked that short drama because the woman used her brains to get out of a bad situation and win. No abuse. No getting hit by a car. Not much interaction with the mistress. Just calm and calculating. In fact, the mistress ended giving her $60k a month for her kid to keep the status of the main wife. lols. Now I call that smart. But of course, the husband refused to divorce his wife for the mistress. The wife ended up having to threaten the husband to get all his money and a divorce. Anyway, point is - the main wife handled the mistress and husband situation well. Protected herself and her kid and didn’t end up getting killed or hurt.

But mainly - why interact with the mistress at all? I mean obviously she is up to no good.

Your husband cheats. First thing - get out and get a good lawyer or find a way to deceive him to sign a contract to get all his money (make sure this is legal I’m not a lawyer). Don’t interact with that mistress at all.

Anyway the good news my YouTube feed got fixed and I don’t see mistress short dramas anymore. Now is mostly inner thoughts, villainess, or revenge. So that’s much better than something that’s just gonna upset me.

I keep getting followers from profiles who are private and have like 200 followers and weird profile photos.

Or they are public but have like 2 weird images.

Are these bots? Anyone with experience? I would like to get real people to follow my account. How can I do that when I boost a post?

Also whenever I post, some account automatically comments “send me this post”. Why would I send you this post? Send it yourself!

Threads seems more real though.

Is there a free SEO keyword tool to see search volume for particular keywords?

Or do you know a mobile app that is cheap to find SEO keyword volume?

Most people believe that entrepreneurs give up when things become difficult. That's not what I see. Entrepreneurs give up after they find it boring. Year one runs wild. A new concept. Customers for the first time. Small successes that seem to be enormous. Then year two arrives. The tasks become the same five tasks over and over again. Namely, sending emails, follow up calls, fixing the same malfunction and communicating with the same customers. That's the point when people give up. Not because they cannot deal with it but because they expected to experience more excitement.

Only the entrepreneurs who learn to deal with boring can be considered successful. They stop chasing after endless ideas and stick to just one idea for years. The problem is nobody warns you about this aspect. People only show you great outcomes. They will show you the picture of joy but won’t show you reality.

This happened to me with a mentorship platform I started - chasing mentors and mentees down so they showed up - became a pain and really annoying. But I didn’t quit though. Chat GPT killed that business.

Therefore I am going to ask you to share with me what the dullest part of the business was that brought you the most money. And how many of you thought about giving up just because the work became boring?

Most people believe that entrepreneurs give up when things become difficult. That's not what I see. Entrepreneurs give up after they find it boring. Year one runs wild. A new concept. Customers for the first time. Small successes that seem to be enormous. Then year two arrives. The tasks become the same five tasks over and over again. Namely, sending emails, follow up calls, fixing the same malfunction and communicating with the same customers. That's the point when people give up. Not because they cannot deal with it but because they expected to experience more excitement.

Only the entrepreneurs who learn to deal with boring can be considered successful. They stop chasing after endless ideas and stick to just one idea for years. The problem is nobody warns you about this aspect. People only show you great outcomes. They will show you the picture of joy but won’t show you reality.

This happened to me with a mentorship platform I started - chasing mentors and mentees down so they showed up - became a pain and really annoying.

Therefore I am going to ask you to share with me what the dullest part of the business was that brought you the most money. And how many of you thought about giving up just because the work became boring?

Most people believe that entrepreneurs give up when things become difficult. That's not what I see. Entrepreneurs give up after they find it boring. Year one runs wild. A new concept. Customers for the first time. Small successes that seem to be enormous. Then year two arrives. The tasks become the same five tasks over and over again. Namely, sending emails, follow up calls, fixing the same malfunction and communicating with the same customers. That's the point when people give up. Not because they cannot deal with it but because they expected to experience more excitement.

Only the entrepreneurs who learn to deal with boring can be considered successful. They stop chasing after endless ideas and stick to just one idea for years. The problem is nobody warns you about this aspect. People only show you great outcomes. They will show you the picture of joy but won’t show you reality.

This happened to me with a mentorship platform I started - chasing mentors and mentees down so they showed up - became a pain and really annoying.

Therefore I am going to ask you to share with me what the dullest part of the business was that brought you the most money. And how many of you thought about giving up just because the work became boring?

Lately, I've been offering regional pricing to under developed countries. Like something that costs $12.99 in the US costs $1.50 in India.

Does anyone else do that? I feel like that really undercuts profits, but then again if 10% of Indian population buys that might be a lot of money.

Does offering regional pricing make you more money? I mean it's hard for me to offer a product for such a low price.

This is for a digital product.

Lately, I've been offering regional pricing to under developed countries. Like something that costs $12.99 in the US costs $1.50 in India.

Does anyone else do that? I feel like that really undercuts profits, but then again if 10% of Indian population buys that might be a lot of money.

Does offering regional pricing make you more money? I mean it's hard for me to offer a product for such a low price.

Digital business not Physical.

Most people believe that entrepreneurs give up when things become difficult. That's not what I see. Entrepreneurs give up after they find it boring. Year one runs wild. A new concept. Customers for the first time. Small successes that seem to be enormous. Then year two arrives. The tasks become the same five tasks over and over again. Namely, sending emails, follow up calls, fixing the same malfunction and communicating with the same customers. That's the point when people give up. Not because they cannot deal with it but because they expected to experience more excitement.

Only the entrepreneurs who learn to deal with boring can be considered successful. They stop chasing after endless ideas and stick to just one idea for years. The problem is nobody warns you about this aspect. People only show you great outcomes. They will show you the picture of joy but won’t show you reality.

This happened to me with a mentorship platform I started - chasing mentors and mentees down so they showed up - became a pain and really annoying.

Therefore I am going to ask you to share with me what the dullest part of the business was that brought you the most money. And how many of you thought about giving up just because the work became boring?