If someone asks my brother Irshad, what do you do? And he replies, I’m a copywriter… Meh. There are 1000s of him. Instead if he says, I’m a rapper… Now the response is, OHO! Tell me more. Eventually they say, so what else do you do? Now when Irshad says, I’m also a copywriter and I run a boutique marketing agency with my brother… How much more impact do you think that will have?
I get similar reactions when I mention my media company for Muslim men, MuslimMan™, and my training program for global south copywriters, CopySkills™.
The value of passion projects
Many people are genuinely interested in your side-projects because they like people with layers. In a crowded market it becomes easy to differentiate yourself from your competition. Your side-project acts like a calling card, a conversation starter, and a top-of-funnel touch point to pull prospects in.
Beyond this, if your side-project is something you’re passionate about you’ll find it much easier to create content for it. How many articles can one write about sales and marketing, anyway?
It also acts as a lab for you to test new business strategies and tactics. Selling my own products is why I am as good as I am. Because I’ve had to apply my knowledge to build an audience and sell them stuff. No amount of hand-copying sales letters will get you as good as selling with your words for real. And this learning happens on my own dime. I’m not spending my clients’ money to learn the ropes.
One final benefit: It adds another source of income. This gives you the confidence to stick to your vision and do the work you like, as opposed to compromising your values to pay the bills.
FU money starts with FU cash flow
The foundation of FU money is FU cash flow. Once you reframe it this way, it seems much more attainable. If FU-money is a goal, FU-cash flow is a system.
FU Money is subjective and abstract. At what point do you know you have it? On the other hand, FU Cash Flow is objective and concrete, and depends on factors you control. Best of all, FU cash flow lets you act as if you have FU money today and not some imaginary date in the future.
What’s your FU-cash flow number? Let me know in the comments.