Recently I was in a stranger’s car that I summoned on the internet, and we were casually chatting while stuck in traffic. He asked me what I do for a living. I said I do content creation and marketing on the internet.
He commented that I’m lucky that I know how to make money on the internet. He’s studying law and questioning his choice because he doesn’t really want to be a lawyer. But the smart money is on being a lawyer. But he also doesn’t know how he’s going to build a business as a lawyer.
He mentioned that there are millions of lawyers in the world, which is accurate. So he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to be successful in such a saturated market.
Perception is a funny thing. It’s rarely reality.
I told him that just about anyone with an internet connection can make money on the internet. Though it’s not as easy as snapping your fingers, the monetization part is easier once you have identified the thing that makes you unique and relatable.
Like my hilarious lawyer writer friend. He, just like my driver, came to realize one day that he didn’t want to be a lawyer. Here he was with a law degree, and a burning desire to be a stand-up comedian instead. So he became a writer. He now makes a steady living writing video scripts for a successful YouTube channel that lampoons today’s news stories and public figures through a legal lens.
I told him about the lady who years ago inspired me to make yoga videos, and share wellness through movement. I wanted to create short instructional videos that each showcase only one pose: how to do this one thing the right way. So I Googled it to see what other people were doing. One of the top hits for “triangle pose,” a common and popular yoga pose, was a woman with more than 2,000 followers on her YouTube channel.
This was a really bad triangle pose she was demonstrating.
There are some different ways to practice this particular pose. One common difference that many people who have done a little yoga would know is that the Bikram triangle is different from Hatha. Whatever this lady was doing looked like no triangle pose I have ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot. She was using her living room ottoman to prop herself up, so there was nothing happening in the hips and hamstrings because she was too high with her torso, neither of her legs were straight, so again no hammies, and she was just kind of flailing her other arm in an arc, like drawing a rainbow over her body. Her cueing left everything to be desired, and I realized in that moment that literally anyone can find their people on the internet. Anyone.
People don’t love you because you’re a lawyer or a yoga teacher or a whatever. They love you because you are you. They are drawn to you. All you’ve got to do is be you and unapologetically keep doing that.
There are billions of people in this world. So it’s a really solid bet that at least a few of them want to hear what you have to say. Or could benefit from the information that you send out there with your particular flair. The way you say it, the aesthetics of your content, your voice, your sense of humor, your ability to call literally any shape you make with your body a triangle pose, whatever it is that’s unique to you, that’s where the money’s at. And the belonging, the validation, the self-trust and a whole bunch of other fun stuff too.
Don’t let yourself get stuck in limiting beliefs that keep you from becoming the most you that you possibly can be. Let yourself dream a little. You may find yourself inspired, and inspiring, too.
“Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive that is youer than you.”
– Dr. Seuss
Peace and love to you, wherever this message finds you.
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