I've been holding back from experimenting with new businesses. I'm not sure how the next few months are going to be like, and I don't want to make commitments like sketchnote event bookings or additional freelance contracts. Besides, focusing on my own stuff has been an interesting experiment so far, and I want to continue it.

Still, from time to time, I get the itch to build systems and processes for creating value for other people. For example, when I talk to people who are struggling to find jobs or having a hard time building freelance businesses, I want to support and encourage them by helping them see opportunities. Talking about stuff can feel a bit empty, but actually doing stuff–and showing how to do it–is more helpful, especially since I seem to be more comfortable with sales, marketing, and business experimentation than many people are.

So, depending on how these next few months turn out, what are the kinds of businesses that I'd like to build?

• E-books and other resources: I like the way free/pay-what-you-want information makes it easy for people to learn without friction and still be able to show their appreciation through payment, conversation, links, or other good things. I also like the scale of it: I can spend some time working on a resource, and then people can come across it when they need it. No schedule commitments, either.
• Software, maybe?: Someday. The upsides of working on stuff that other people use: feature suggestions, warm-and-fuzzies. The downside: dealing with bugs. I think the first step would be to build tools for myself.
• Visual book reviews?: People seem to like these, and I enjoy reading.

Let me take a step back here and break that out into the specific characteristics I like. If I identify those characteristics, I might be able to recognize or imagine other businesses along those lines. What attracts me?

• Scale: Build once, help many. I don't mind lower sales at the beginning if I'm working on the kinds of things that people will find useful over a long period of time.
• Accumulation: I like collecting building blocks in terms of content and skills because I can combine those in interesting ways.
• Generosity: I like free/pay-what-you-want because it allows me to reach the most people and feel great about the relationships.
• Flexibility: I like minimizing schedule or topic commitments because that reduces stress and lets me adapt to what's going on. Self-directed work fits me well.
• Distinction: I like doing things that involve uncommon perspectives or combinations of skills. I feel like I can bring more to the table.
• Value: I like things that help people learn more, understand things better, save time or money, share what they know, or be more excited about life.
• Other things I care about: I care about making good ideas more accessible, which is why I like transcripts, sketchnotes, writing, and websites. I also care about helping good people do well, which is why I help friends with their businesses.

Writing fits these characteristics pretty well. If I can help friends through process coaching and things like that, I can learn more about things that other people might find useful too. It's entirely possible to build good stuff around just this learn-share-scale cycle. Anything else (spin-off businesses? software? services) would be a bonus.

I have a little more uncertainty to deal with. I can see the timeline for it, so I'm okay with giving myself permission to take it easy for the next couple of months. After that, I'll probably have a clearer idea of what the rest of this experiment with semi-retirement (and other follow-up experiments! =) ) could be like.

What would more focused writing or content creation look like? I might:

• Pick a subject people are curious about and write a series of blog posts that I can turn into e-books
• Revisit that outline of things to write about and flesh it in
• Organize blog posts and other content into downloadable resources
• Create courses so that people can go through things at a recommended pace and with multimedia content
  • Ooh, more animations

I think that would be an interesting life. =)

I still want to do something to help all these awesome people I come across who are having a hard time finding jobs or building businesses for themselves, though. It's odd hearing about their struggles while at the same time watching the stock market keep going up – businesses seem to be doing okay, but it's not trickling down? Maybe I'll spend more time listening to people and asking what could help. Maybe I can spend some time connecting with business owners and seeing if I can understand their needs, too. Knowledge, ideas, and encouragement are easy, but there are probably even better ways to help. Hmm… That gives me a focus for networking at events. Looking forward to helping!