Welcome to edition 2 of my best discoveries series. If you missed the monumental first one, you can catch up here.
This past week, I got myself into some online courses and sat down to scribble a lot of interesting ideas about new posts, new videos and, (what do you know), my life! I'm actually in the process of drawing up a new "career" trajectory. And in the midst and excitement of all that, I came across an epic quote!
I'm handling all these and a worthwhile bonus at the end.
So grab some yams and a lovely cup of tea before we get started (insert a Wakandan accent).
1. Facebook Pixel Understanding: Everything we do online is material for someone somewhere!
I was doing an online training some days ago which focused on digital marketing. When we got to how Facebook Pixel actually works, I was stunned.
While I knew a little about how advertisers use our click choices to send ads our way, I had no idea how indepth the pattern analysis was!
Whatever random and seemingly innocent click you enact on a post on Facebook or on the web for that matter, is recorded in some data bank somewhere, ready for an advertiser to grab and use in their favour. That is scary. And a little disturbing.
Of course, I'd be very happy if I was on the other side targeting consumers with my products but I can't help but feel like a puppet when I'm the one on the receiving end.
Perhaps I should purposefully begin confusing the algorithm(s). Perhaps I should consider switching up the routine choices I make on the internet? And how much randomness would I need to engineer in my online choices in order to bring confusion to the algorithm? Is that even possible? Hmm. I smell an experiment.
2. Freelancer-to-Entrepreneur shift
One email came to my inbox the other day and from it, my forgotten entrepreneurship dreams and goals reappeared in all their glory. They urged me to finally make that big jump from freelancer to entrepreneur - and to do it with the seriousness and the long-haulness that it deserves.
In the days following that, I scribbled like crazy on my notebook and my mind got into an Olympic-esque sprint.
What email was this I received, you ask?
Well, I can't exactly reveal it because - well - I can't.
All you need to know is that I'm currently being tormented by fear and all its demons. I've done my best to call in my army. I've done my best to subdue these enemies but only time will tell how well I can succeed in this battle.
Wish me luck! Or blessings! Or clients! I'll appreciate anything I can get.
3. Discovering the Smart Passive Income Website
I will start with a definition just to be sure you understand what I'm talking about.
Passive income is income resulting from cash flow received on a regular basis, requiring minimal to no effort by the recipient to maintain it. (Source: Wikipedia)
Now that that's out of the way, I'll continue on about this interesting website I came across.
Smartpassiveincome.com is the brainchild of a guy called Pat Flynn. He is also an author with a useful entrepreneurship book that I've mentioned here.
To say his website is informative is an understatement.
Flynn has a bunch of awesome resources for anyone who looks at the internet with dollar sign eyes. I'll clearly keep following his content as I prepare to grab my very own slices of that enormous passive income pie.
4. #CreatingEveryDay is Everywhere!
Yep, its literally everywhere!
And no, it is not a trending topic. So you can relax your FOMO senses. I mean everywhere on my social media profiles. Not everywhere on the internet. Well, at least not yet :P
It's just a hashtag that I've decided to adopt and run with. It's my baby. My mantra. My current life theme. It guides me to create something new (or new-ish) every day.
My youtube channel is my excuse. And a damn good one at that. It forces me to use whatever trappings of creativity I can scrape up on a daily. And it's a challenge that's now morphed into a habit.
I believe I was born to create. I need to keep at it.
5. One epic quote
So one day I'm just minding my own business, you know, scrolling my Twitter timeline and then BAM! One tweet catches my eye.
It's this one:
The meaning my brain conjured up is this:
We usually end up holding on to things that may not be destined for us with this idea in our heads that we are "making it work". But sometimes, all we need to do is just let go. We have to let go in order to be ready to receive what's actually destined for us.
Such intense wisdom captured in just 28 words.
Epic.
BONUS
Seeing that you've gotten this far, I thought I'd gift you with a bonus.
It's a TEDxTalk by Creativity expert, Balder Onarheim. He shares fantastic tips on how to be more creative.
The video begins a little slow. The valuable takeaways are concentrated closer towards the end.
Here it is:
So to summarise:
Which of the above speaks most to you? And what new thing have you discovered recently? Let me know in the comments section way below. Until next time, stay curious and keep discovering!