Just finished @dvassallo's awesome cohort course. It's 9+ hours of pure informativeness & inspiration.

Here are my 8 main takeaways:

👇👇👇

1/ Treat your ideas as cattle, not pets.

As an aspiring novelist, I made all the fatal mistakes of believing in:

-hard work
-consistency
-efficiency
-focusing on 1 big thing

...when I needed:

-trial & error
-intensity
-slack in the schedule
-focusing on many small bets

2/ Go for small wins.

A long string of failures is psychologically costly.

It's discouraging as hell.

Exactly how I felt after getting 16 rejections on my novel manuscript.

3/ Befriend randomness with your own inspiration generators.

Some of these include:

-Cocktail parties

-Social media

-Constraints

-Downtime/boredom (as @rorysutherland says quoting John Lennon in his excellent "Alchemy": "Time spent doing nothing is rarely wasted")

4/ Examine your own behavior when creating your own product.

Ask:
-Would you buy it?
-Why?
-And at what price?

5/ Give, give, give.

-Everyone wants some kind of help

-There's always something you can offer

6/ Have a filter for your small bets:

-Small input

-No long-term obligations

-No high running costs so you can make time your friend

-Things that already sell elsewhere

7/ Trust your subconscious.

-Procrastination may be a good signal

-So is short attention span

-Chronic anxiety may stem from not having enough randomness in your life

-Perseverance is overrated

8/ Your preferred lifestyle should dictate your business decisions, not vice versa.

-Work is something you do that lets you earn minimum necessities

-Your business should improve your life

-Variable income is a good stressor

-Try different things & find out your preferences

Daniel is so generous with his time it's clear he just wants to be helpful.

And he is!

Psyched to be plugged into the awesome community of peers through the course

& to go build my own portfolio of small bets.

So can I recommended it?

YOU BET.