I know it seems the world is getting crazier by the day, but as humans, we all crave one thing we can never truly have: certainty.

I’ve been in Hong Kong this past week, speaking and meeting with many businesspeople. I’ve also had several calls with entrepreneurs in the U.S.

No one knows exactly what’s about to happen, but remember this: when things feel uncertain, you can panic, or you can get to work. There is always an opportunity, always a positive hidden within the negative. When the world goes negative, you go positive.

How are you feeling about 2025? What opportunities do you see ahead? How are you planning to win?

I'd love to hear your thoughts—hit reply and let me know.

In today's storyletter:

• Want more clients? stop being selfish

• Building in Public - I’m loving it

• From the Web: Guy Ritchie is back
  

  Let’s go!
  
  

Stop being selfish

You don’t have a problem finding clients or getting leads—you’re just too selfish.

The Problem

I had three different calls this week with amazing entrepreneurs who run great businesses (all of them at 7 figures or up), telling me they're struggling to find new clients. Yes, the market is tough. True, leads are expensive. But when we dug a bit deeper, they weren't selling, weren't reaching out, and weren't marketing.

Please—I’m begging you—stop telling me you hate sales or that you don’t like to promote or talk about your business.

The Mindset Shift

Imagine you open a business and no one knows about it. Imagine it’s somewhere in the middle of the Sahara desert. The more people know about you, the better your location becomes. Your dream is to be on Fifth Avenue, but if not enough people show up, it’s hard to get there.

If you have a good service or product, you have knowledge, and you genuinely want to help others become better, why are you being so selfish? You should be sharing your expertise with as many people as possible. Get it?

If you love what you do and you’re good at it, tell the whole world—but stop calling it selling. You're looking for clients who understand what you do and genuinely want it (it’s even better if they can pay for it or find a way to pay if it’s helpful to them).

When you realize you need to own your expertise and talk about it openly, you’ll see your marketing in three clear layers:

• You want everyone on the planet to know who you are, regardless of anything.

• You want the right type of companies and people to know who you are and what you offer.

• Most importantly, you want the right people with the right businesses to know exactly who you are, think about you when they need you, understand clearly why you’re the solution, and, more than anything, be able to afford you.

In most industries, the best part about this client circle is that potential clients are endless—you'll never run out. So what holds you back is you, not anything else.

What to Do Next

• Make a list of benefits—ensure they solve an issue and connect to emotions, not just dry data.

• List 3-5 things that make you stand out from your competitors—write it all down.

• Identify two ideal types of clients—reach out, either cold or through connections, and ask what it would take for them to work with you today. Remember, if you need the work, pricing is something you can always figure out.

Real-Life Example

On a call this week, a business owner explained he doesn’t like to sell, relies on one client for 60% of his revenue, finds it hard to get new clients (small market), and doesn't have a marketing budget.

After about 25 minutes, it turned out it was all in his head. You can always turn negatives into positives. We discovered he would happily pay a 10% referral fee per client, about $20K per project, instantly creating a budget. We realized he had an endless supply of potential clients when pitching enterprise-level companies for smaller firms (which are still large companies).

In an ever-growing market, he shifted from "not enough clients" to needing only five this year, onboarding perhaps two per month. This changed his creative approach from begging for work to interview mode.

Perspective is Everything

It’s all a matter of perspective. You can focus on the negative or flip it into a benefit. He will succeed in getting those clients. Now it’s just about planning actions—small to big, just actions—but more than anything, he feels proud of his craft, his work, and his ability to help people scale.

If you adopt this mindset, you will succeed. It’s about going out there, shouting to the world what you can do, and ensuring the right people hear you.

Your Turn

Got questions or something you're working on? Hit reply and share your story—I might even feature you in a future video or newsletter!

Building in public

Zero to Someone

Speaking in Hong Kong this week, talking with people who run or manage billions and helping founders understand that it's all about brand equity, made me realize I'm on the right path.

This trip is almost over; I'm flying to Bangkok in a few hours.

It's week 22 of this Storyletter, and this new version is getting the best reactions yet.

A new YouTube video is in the oven, and this week's video was a great one-shot rant.

While walking the streets of Hong Kong, I felt enormous gratitude for being able to do what I do. It was a beautiful day with great weather, rare for this time of year. As I sat somewhere taking it all in, I genuinely felt happy.

Remember:

• It's not about how many followers you have; it's about what you do.

• It's not about comparing yourself to others on social media (most people lie anyway); it's about helping others achieve their goals.

• It's not about how much money you make; it's about becoming the best at your craft.

What's Next?

• Improve YouTube – create new videos and begin exploring hiring an editor.
  

• Scale this Storyletter – see if I can help more people.

• 0 to Something Website – After the site got hacked, I managed to fix some of it. Now the goal is to boost traffic again. Right now, it's almost at zero; many links are broken, the main page isn't good enough, and there's a lot of work needed to improve the blog.

• Book – I'm happy to share that I had a breakthrough regarding the book's structure. The new insights into brand-building mean rewriting the entire outline, but it feels right.

• Licensing Meetings – I've started taking meetings to explore licensing opportunities for my methods—exciting stuff!

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, ideas, or thoughts. I'd love to hear from you!

Join me on my journey

Feeling very grateful for this community and this journey. Let’s keep learning, building, and improving together. 💡
My YouTube channel. Subscribe and support.

About Building in Public

Sharing the journey in an open, unfiltered way—the good, the bad, and the behind-the-scenes of scaling my next idea.

Just for Fun

Enjoy these nuggets

🎧 Music:
This week’s newsletter was created while listening to this classic old-school performance:
Check it out here →

🎬 Old School is Back:
I'm sorry, but if you're one of the OGs, you'll recognize the original. It has to be funny—or at least great slapstick!
Watch it here →

🍿 Trailer:
Guy Ritchie is back with a new movie, and here's the trailer:
Watch the trailer →