Reflections on impact [#8]
Or when someone tells you "You have no idea how many lives you changed"
Dear Reader,
The more astute of you will realise it has been 3 weeks since my last letter, rather than the usual fortnightly cadence. I’d say I had a good excuse because I went to see family for the first time in almost 2 years, but high performance doesn’t accept such excuses. I failed to prepare for it, and I failed to deliver on my commitment. It’s that simple. I apologise if I somehow let you down
And because time with family, especially with elderly relatives, has a tendency of making us reflect, I am going to indulge and talk a bit about why I write this letter and what impact I hope to get out of this. This is Transformative Letter #8, eight being the symbol of infinity, so rather fitting to talk about impact! This may sound like a self-indulging letter, and I apologise if it does, it is more a reflection on the kind of impact I hope to have in this world, and the letter being a tiny part of this.
I confess I hadn’t thought of it much so far, but one of this newsletter subscribers, who won the prize draw for a free coaching session told me in our session
You really have no idea how many lives you changed, do you?
Now, I’d love to claim they said that purely because of the previous letters, but the truth is that we had some shared history. They were among the thousands of people I had coached as part of a training programme on data and career in my past life.
Every week, we had a Career Clinic, which was essentially a Q&A where they bombarded me with the thorniest issues they were dealing with, and I did my best to respond as kindly (and brutally where required) as I could. There were some very painful truths I had to share in those sessions, and I know they needed the tough lough, even if it may at stung at the time. Somehow, I miss those sessions. They were cathartic for me, and people (claim) they got tremendous value from it.
This however was just the tip of the iceberg. There’s only so much value you can have from sharing a session with 80 other attendees on a slow day. Where I really thrived and felt fulfilled was in individual one-to-one sessions. I spent literally more than 1,000 hours (and getting close to 2,000) coaching people from the most varied walks of life. Some pro bono, the vast majority paid.
And the reality is, financially, my ghostwriting gig was infinitely more lucrative. The return per hour I got was much higher, and the “prospecting” meant few customers could deliver a very nice payday which would take me several coachees to equate.
You’re fired!
When I decided to fire all but one of my writing clients, I realised that money wasn’t my key motivator. Impact was. I knew that while I’d make less money coaching people (because surprise surprise individuals have less budget than well-funded organisations) I’d also be more energised by it, I’d be more fulfilled, and I’d create more value in the world (even though I made some really killer thought leadership content for huge brands like Oracle or Zendesk, if I do say so myself).
And it’s all well and good to say I wrote for big brands, but I rather think about
the engineer who doubled their salary after following my guidance,
the people who finally broke through a long rut with my strategies,
those who set up their freelance gig and thrived far more than they ever could working for a paycheck,
the person who built up the courage to leave a toxic workplace despite being on a visa (yes, they found a much better job in plenty of time)
or the person who found themselves after year of self-effacement
These are the stories I’ll take with me to my grave. These are the people I’d like to think would make the journey for my funeral when the time comes. These are the ripple effects I’ll have sparked into the world (that and fixing the broken world of job seeking, with TestGorilla, of course).
A small celebration
Curiously enough, this morning, I woke up to the news I had reached Top Mentor status on MentorCruise, a marketplace for mentoring and coaching services. This is something I had been working towards to some extent, but as you likely didn’t know of it before, it shows how front and centre it had been to me. I often mention MentorCruise as “the cheapest place you’ll ever be able to buy my time online” (but this is changing today!)
MentorCruise has the distinct advantage of being a passive channel for me. I don’t prospect. People that come through here I would never have met, and I am therefore very grateful and happy to pay MentorCruise their cut. It’s only fair. Apparently, according to their platform, I am one of their top 9% of mentors worldwide, whatever that means.
What’s in it for you?
Alright, I’ve been blabbing about my results and my ankles are swelling. My goal here isn’t to gloat. But rather, it is a hope that what I have written is contagious. That sensation of being told I changed lives, the sensation of knowing I changed lives irreversibly is probably one of the best feelings in the world, second only to falling in love, I reckon. And I really hope it will encourage you to think how you can have that kind of impact.
I have left money on the table, focusing on my coaching as my one and only side hustle is probably going to be a terrible financial decision, but it is also the best investment for my soul.
Where is the ROI for your soul in all of this? Maybe I can even help you identify by coaching you?
Therefore, to celebrate and thank you for being a part of this newsletter, I’m offering a subscriber-only deal. I have three possible plans on MentorCruise, with gradually more hands-on support from me.
If you ever thought of getting coaching with me, hit me up. Newsletter subscribers will have a 20% discount compared to what I offer on MentorCruise. That’s my way of saying thank you for letting me into your inbox twice a month and reading my reflections.
I also intend to celebrate more with you in the future. Those reflections on impact have deeply moved me, and I am thinking of a couple of ways I can pay this forward. So this won’t be the last you hear of it, I promise.
For your reflection
As I reflected today, I hope you will prompt yourself to ask yourself “When have I been most fulfilled in the past year? How can I do more of that?”
And if you likewise would like to share some of your own reflections or react to what you read (or you feel I have impacted you in some way), please, please, please, don’t be shy and hit me up. Spread the goodness.