#53 — DeepDive — “How to Monetize Creativity and Solo-preneurship” — Sahil Lavingia

It's with Sahil Lavingia, who is the founder and CEO of Gumroad, who's been on the podcast before. A great Below the Line episode with him going into detail in reflecting on his entrepreneurial path. Today goes a little bit more into detail on one specific thing, and that's monetizing your creativity.

Not only has Sahil monetized his own creativity, but he is also the founder of a company, a writer, and a painter. But his company actually powers the monetization of a countless number of creatives around the world. Whether they are creating art, making music, writing books, or wanting to pursue a side hustle.

Sahil tweeted about this recently, and that tweet thread is why I'm having him back on the show. He sent out a single tweet that went pretty viral that said: “I believe virtually everyone can make a living doing what they love. I discover new creators doing it in new ways almost every day. Do you want to create full-time but don't see a path towards doing it? Reply with what it is and let's see if I can help you outline a plan!”.

A lot of people replied and a lot of patterns emerge from that single tweet that I'm excited to dive into with Sahil today. We covered the concept of exercising versus training, prolific versus perfect and setting realistic expectations and timelines. We also talked about being really public, really early. When he started to paint he actually created an Instagram @shlpaints before he even started to paint as a way to give people an insight into his path as a painter, and also as an accountability tool. We talked about why, when, and how to build an audience — and also about the time and dedication required to build the necessary skills and the audience that could provide potential financial freedom while pursuing one's craft.

If it's something that you set realistic expectations, and specific goals around then, in Sahil’s words, it's as easy as going to the gym three times a week for two years... He's never heard of that “not working for somebody,” and he thinks the same applies to anyone that wants to pursue a creative endeavor.

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You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC