Are we having fun?

After month In the US, 6 days in Tel-Aviv, writing to you from the Bangkok airport (but a delay in sending; I know, I’m working on it): this is your world traveler, the storyteller, your pal whenever you need to chat or have a pint, Nir Zavaro here.

In today’s storytletter:

• Are you happy with your life journey?

• Less is more—how did Shafique win the crowd?

• Some thoughts about passive income

A warm welcome to the 33 new subscribers joining us, many from the US and Australia. If you are working on some cool ideas, mail me, would love to hear
Nir Zavaro

Are you happy?

I wish people would stop asking me if I’m happy. To be honest, I wish they wouldn’t stop asking, but rather wish I could give them a better answer. At least that was my feeling for most of 2023, until New York.

For those of you who are new here, I have been traveling the world since February 19^th, 2023. I left my apartment in Tel-Aviv to see if I could really make my dream of teaching storytelling a reality. With over 60 flights and 40 countries, I travel so much that it often feels exhausting and lonely. People see the glam of social media, but when meeting me face-to-face, people often ask me if I am happy.

I would reply, Sure, but, and the but was long, full of excuses.

This past month, I have realized I have what it takes to build my life however I want, as long as I keep pushing, but more than that, as long as I allow myself time to reflect and change my plans.

My main takeaway has been to own the good and the bad during this marathon. At this stage, I’m maybe at the 25% mark; I have already started the journey, and I know I will finish it. Knowing that achieving my life goals depends on my brain, my will, and my positive mindset, I might as well enjoy it, right? It will be tough; I will want to quit at times, but I need to look ahead and pace myself, so to answer your question, F**K yeah, I’m happy.

Next time you struggle, remember you decided, so either keep going or change your decision.

What is your marathon? How long, and what is your goal? How far along are you in your journey? Reply and let me know.

❤️‍🔥Less is more; short is big

When you get 15 minutes to pitch your idea, ask for five or even three.

Shafique my good friend was asked to promote the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards at an event last week. It meant a lot to him, so naturally, he was nervous. He had some notes and ideas for an improvised 15-minute talk. Knowing the type of people in the audience and the event style, we agreed to limit his talk to less than 5 minutes and went to work. In a few hours:

He wrote his first draft, which was over 1,300 words.

I asked him to read the first 100 words, and we timed his count at about 120 per minute, slow but good. So, we decided not to use more than 600 words.

We wrote, edited, and spoke about it, and although we are on opposite sides of the world, we understand emotion, being boring, and the importance of bringing value to the audience.

We agreed to use most of the allocated time for an FAQ (to which we added a slide with relevant questions).

the constraints helped Shafique choose his words, structure his story, but more than that, he was able to sculpture, learning that many things are not needed or can be left to the imagination of the audience.

I am not your public speaking coach. Your talk will improve when you become a better storyteller.

Would you be willing to spend 5–10 hours improving your pitch? To scale your business?

🥳 Some indie hacking thoughts

You can make a living by working four hours a day. You can work from anywhere in the world. Well, that’s what the solopreneur’s ads keep saying, so let’s test it.

My world tour means I am a nomad, but I don’t consider myself a real digital nomad, as I’m moving around fast, according to my work schedule rather than enjoying each location for a month or more.

This type of travel has led me to wonder if my next steps should be around scaling the team or scaling the business. What if I can start building an indie business while traveling?

Here are my initial thoughts:

My newsletter—I can probably monetize it. last month, I made 11.63 dollars from one ad. Although the audience just crossed the 300 mark last week, it has a 52% opening rate.

My live cohort—it’s time. Many people have reached out, asking if there is an online course. A big part of my ability to craft and improve my workshops, has been by doing these workshops all over the world, live. I feel like my next step will be a weekly cohort, four to six weeks of teaching, and group sessions.

A platform: They say dreams take time, but this one has eluded me for two years. While the main platform is built and ready, we have had issues with some bugs and budget. It’s been a year since I last worked on my platform, Stook (story meets hook).

There is something very appealing to me about indie hackers and solopreneurs. As I’m starting to think about scale, the next focus points will be on automation, finding the virtual assistant to help me save time, and I think i’m ready to share the progress with you all.

Any ideas? Please reply if you have built an online course, a cohort, or an app to support your work. I look forward to learning from you all

Did you get your F*ck the Slides copy yet?

I am thrilled to share that the book has reached Amazon Best-Seller status.
It was my mission to support and help as many entrepreneurs as possible to become better storytellers, so seeing this happen.

DM me if you have any thoughts.