Yesterday, I met up with my ex-coworkers after one year of layoff. Apart from sharing my huge endorsement of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie, we reflected on our lives in the past year. Our friend, Micky, told us about his adventure on a desert island where he had to rely on various skills to survive. He walked away from the experience not only having learned more about himself but also unexpectedly building a network with whom he became a co-worker.
Despite having taken completely different paths, Micky and I have gone through a similar process of discovering 'what we want to do in life,' a question that many ponder. This newsletter will summarize my four eras of the year and how one experience gave rise to the next.
The Etsy Shop Era
At the beginning of the year, we invested a lot of our time in designing routines and activities to help our kid become more independent. I found some interesting online resources such as flashcards and potty training reward charts on Etsy. However, I didn't like the graphics and thought that I could make my own using generative AI.
This marked the beginning of our Etsy shop era, where I honed my art skills and M built a small shop to sell kids' educational products online. It was a low-cost but high-time investment, even with automation. In order to create one product each week, we spent half a day every day designing, generating images, putting it together, and creating listings.
Sales were slow. The Etsy market was competitive, with many big players in our niche already having thousands of products. After two months, we realized that to make the shop more visible, we needed to run promotions and populate our shop with more valuable products for customers.
After our kiddo enrolled in special education, which provided effective resources for home activities, we naturally scaled down the Etsy shop. It was at that moment I realized I was primarily making the products to suit our needs, but it wasn't our real interest. We closed the shop but wondered, 'What is our real interest?'
The Content Creator Era
Who doesn't love traveling? Most people travel once or twice a year for vacations. We went on more than ten trips this year, thanks to our week-on-week-off schedule and help from grandparents. I created a lot of content on Instagram when we traveled because I love sharing those experiences.
I only became curious about the content creator gig when one of my posts went viral. It garnered 200k views on Instagram organically, while other posts barely hit 300. I was surprised! What made this post perform so differently? I began analyzing some statistics and noticed that the post brought in thousands of profile visits weekly, but the conversion rate (to followers) was low.
I started observing how influencers posted and set up their profiles. It became clear that it's not about what you want to post but about what others want to watch. Audiences want to feel empowered, entertained, or educated. Social media influencers figure out what kind of content they can provide that matches the audience and their own interests.
I updated my account to a creator account, followed many influencers in my niche, and started posting more strategically. Every step along the way, I felt a bit more comfortable being myself online and narrowing down my niche. I began sending direct messages to people I didn't know to get advice and made some new friends through my posts.
I learned from the Etsy shop experience that it takes iterations and consistency to improve a product. My goal is not necessarily to make money on social media (yet) but to learn the art of influencing, which could be helpful in marketing one day.
The Climbing Era
Well, it goes without saying that climbing has been my obsession and passion. I had the idea to explore a career in the climbing industry, but it took me half a year to actually apply.
I enrolled myself in a route setting class, designing climbs on a climbing wall. I enjoyed it; however, there are very few open spots for internships or inexperienced setters. Everyone had to start from ground zero, with a front-desk job at the gym. So I applied but have only received rejections so far.
In parallel, M and I decided to take an SPI course, where we learned how to take clients climbing outdoors and ensure they have a good time. We realized that we are still far from getting certified. We need more experience in trad climbing, anchor systems, and trad gear, which could take years.
I learned an obvious lesson: pursuing a passion like climbing doesn't directly pay off unless you are a top athlete. However, enabling others to pursue their passion, such as being a climbing guide or a route setter, does pay. This prompted the next question: 'How can I enable other climbers?'
The Next Venture
I have been collecting idea about products and services I wish existed for climbers. I ranked them and pick one from the long list that has a low startup cost, matches my skills, and could be profitable. I set the launch date for next Spring and started allocating the time to build it.
By spending time on couple of my interests, I was able to distinguish my own passion from the needs. Dipping toes in different industry shows me that some career path will require the right timing to pursue or take patient. The alternative is to craft our own path that enable others to pursue their passions. We can do this by thinking about the intersection between our skills and what others would love to pay for.
The mistake that I made in the past was not trying. Having a full-time job doesn't mean that we couldn't pursue a hobby or take a course on the side. It's a time commitment. But, it can definitely be done if we suspect that full-time job is not what we want to do for the rest of our in life.
One thing to think about this week
Take some time to reflect on the past year. Is there anything you learned that could change your future?
Thanks for reading so far. From now on, I will publish this newsletter bi-weekly (twice a month) instead to put more focus on the next venture. Thanks for reading, as always!
Rooting for you as you keep trying and find out your ikigai