I found Ship 30 for 30 at a time where I felt stuck in my career.
During the pandemic, I worked as an Emergency nurse. While many people worldwide were forced to take a break from work, I was forced to work. The civilians clapped their pots for us, but in reality, healthcare workers were exhausted as the government capped our salary, managers denied our vacation requests, and the sick patient workload continued to increase.
I wanted out of the nursing environment, but I wasn’t sure how.
After all, it was all I knew how to do…to be a nurse. But then I found Ship 30 for 30, and it gave me a whole new perspective about my career path. Eight months after joining this ‘little’ 30-day writing challenge, my future looked brighter than ever. I no longer feel stuck, and I have a feeling it can do the same for you.
Here’s how Ship 30 for 30 can help you pave a new career path online.
It helps you become confident in your writing
Writing isn’t difficult. Writing words that people will stay for is.
When I started writing back in October 2020, I was scared of possible grammar mistakes and terrible ideas I’d share. But Ship 30 for 30 helped me shift my mindset to get as many ideas as possible out of my head and throw them out into the online world.
I learned to ignore my inner critique and focus on the ideas I wanted to share by publishing a lot.
When I published a lot, I learned the type of content that people resonated with, even if I had grammar mistakes. If the piece didn’t do well, I also learned to detach myself from it. Early on, you’ll learn that some pieces will do well, and some pieces won’t.
And after doing this at least 30 times, you become confident in your writing and yourself.
After doing the 30-day challenge and applying the Write The Ship (a comprehensive writing course in the annual membership) learnings, I was asked to be a weekly contributor for the biggest publication on Medium called Start it Up. From that experience, I also became confident in pitching and writing for big brands and creators like Gumroad and Matt D’Avella without a formal writing portfolio.
Pitching was scary, but writing for them wasn’t.
Knowing that I’ve got the fundamentals of writing in my back pocket, thanks to Cole and Dickie’s teachings, Ship 30 for 30 gave me the confidence to write for big high-quality clients.
It trains you to spot odd problems and develop your unique solution
If you want to become a successful online entrepreneur, you have to learn to spot problems no one has a solution for.
Personally, I’ve encountered a personal problem where I couldn’t find a solution. When I was learning how to make money online, many successful creators told me that I had to “niche down.” The act of niching down is where you pick a specific industry to focus on and only talk about that problem.
I tried this approach and failed.
In ship 30 for 30, they teach you to let your content data speak for itself. That is, if people are engaging with a specific type of content, whether it’s a tweet or an essay, you have a choice to follow that signal. You’re no longer playing a guessing game, when it comes to coming up with ideas.
After testing out this approach using a single tweet and multiple atomic essays, like this one, I became the Multipassionate Creator, the go-to person on “how to show up if you have multiple passions online."
When people struggle to show up online, other creators send confused people my way.
A couple of months after Ship 30 for 30, I opened my own paid membership community to help other creators struggling with the same thing I was. Though I wasn’t an expert, I learned to show up with fellow creators struggling with the same thing, and people happily paid me for it.
You learn that you can promote, launch and get paid for a product before you’re an “expert”.
It trains you to make a habit of shipping no matter how small it is
Once you ship 30 essays on the Internet, you can ship anything.
A few months after completing ship 30 for 30, I learned to ship other things:
- A writing tracker template where people donated over $100+
- A monthly paid community membership called Creator Sandbox
- Longer essays published in Start it Up, Thought Catalog and Gumroad
Ship 30 for 30 helps you get used to the habit of shipping. You realize that despite being scared, there’s truly nothing to be scared of. Over time, you tame your fears of being judged and failing. They’ll still be there, but they’ll be quieter.
Once you have these small experiences, you can learn to ship bigger things like a freelance writing business, an online course or anything else that your heart desires.
Final Thoughts
Anywhere you go online, you’ll see creators making six figures selling eBooks, community memberships, becoming a freelancer, or even selling an Excel course.
You realize that there are many ways to be successful online. But Ship 30 for 30 helps you lay the groundwork on how to be successful online no matter what path you choose. It helps you see what’s right for you by putting your ideas out there with solid writing.
Once you get the right people to listen to your ideas, you’ll find the people who will tell you what they want and need from you. You’ll learn what you need to ship online, whether that’s another tweet, essay or an entire online business.
Ship 30 for 30 showed me that I could be more than a nurse, and that I can use my skills, experiences and ideas to make a non-traditional living online.
If Jerine's story resonated with you, click here to hop aboard the next Ship 30 cohort.
Also, make sure to check out The Roaming Heart, Jerine’s 2 minute-read bi-monthly newsletter on living and creating with intention.