what if it were easy?

Quick life update:

My cousin turned 50 last week.

So he and his wife rented a cottage and invited a bunch of us to celebrate with them.

This was the view:

Not too shabby, amirite? 😜

Clear, warm water…

A shallow, sandy beach…

And near perfect weather all week long.

It was beautiful.

The other thing that struck me was how peaceful the lake was.

You can see how still the water is in the pic above.

At this time of year, most lakes in Ontario are crowded with boats and tubes and canoes and jet skis.

Yet for some reason, this one was totally tranquil.

Very soothing.

Anyway, as I lay there, reclined in a beach chair with a drink in hand…

I reflected on a question I think about a lot these days:

“What if it were easy?”

It’s one I got from Tim Ferriss.

And I find it so good for letting go of limiting beliefs.

For example:

I grew up with the belief that earning money meant working hard.

Ergo, the more money you wanted to make, the harder you needed to work.

I also made a promise to myself on the come-up:

Not to let a lack of effort be the reason why I didn’t succeed.

All this to say, I’ve never been afraid to work hard.

And my hustle muscle has served me well.

But it’s a sword that cuts both ways.

Because the problem is…

Not everything needs to be hard.

Especially when it comes to operating a newsletter business.

In fact, it can and should be simple.

That’s the beauty of the business model.

And asking yourself “what if this were easy?” forces you to look for shortcuts you may have missed out of a desire to prove to someone — maybe yourself, maybe others — that you have the guts to do it the hard way.

Whether that means launching into a brand new niche that isn’t validated yet… 

Coming up with the most creative name for your newsletter…

Designing an original content template that’s unlike anything else anyone has ever seen…

Or masterminding some new & complicated way to monetize…

All that stuff is the hard way.

I know because I’ve been guilty of every single one in the past

Ultimately though, what starts out as your key to freedom (aka the willingness to work hard) can morph into the bars of your prison cell.

So tread carefully.

And don’t forget to look for the easy way every once in a while.

Just some food for thought for ya on this Friday afternoon :)

Jim Hamilton

P.S:

If any of the above resonates with you…

You’ll probably be interested in the sale I’m running next week.

It’s for my 7-Figure Newsletter Swipe File™.

This is a database I’ve built up over the last 2 years with high-quality marketing assets from 6- and 7-figure publishers that cover every piece of your newsletter business.

So instead of having to create everything from scratch…

You can model what’s already working for other publishers…

Then put your own creative spin on it.

It’s a perfect example of starting with the easy way.

And something that’s helped me out a lot in growing & monetizing my two email newsletters.

So if that sounds interesting…

Stay tuned for my email on Monday with all the details on how to get access.