Ask Your Friends What They Think You Would Be Good At

— 5 minute read

Its starting to feel like spring time here. Which has given me a boost of energy. Feeling like a house plant that got a much needed watering and some sunshine. Of course with the boost of energy and more sunlight time to think about side quests.

I got the idea to ask some trusted friends who have known a bunch about my journey, what they think I would be really good at. These were sent via Text, Twitter DMs. Resulting in some conversations and hearing other peoples perspective.

FAVOR: I'd be curious to get the "What does {Friend} think I should do, or be good at to do as a side project?"

Asking close friends this question to see what I should/do as side quests.

Responses will be curated into a blog post.

I sent this prompt to 6-8 friends.

Part of me was expecting to get replies like "Just do more better.". But instead I got deep thoughtful responses that confirmed I have some of the best friends out there.

What has been interesting is almost all of the replies hit on a couple of CORE feelings I've been having about what I should be really pushing on to level up on.

  1. Networking/Connecting people
  2. Finding a problem and building out a solution
  3. Having an opinion on how to put stuff out in the world
  4. Blog content
  5. Speaking at events
  6. A Live Stream

A lot of similar suggestions from friends, which is nice to hear the that these things I'm doing consistently sort of fit into certain boxes. The goal being when somebody a problem, they can say "OH Emmett does that thing well. You should talk with him."

Side Quests (suggestions)

  1. Micro-apps for B2B content creative
    • Showing off the PDF/Ebook/Case Study you built in multiple formats
  2. Network/Friend Connector/Recruiter/Head Hunter
    • Connect people, build bridges, change the world
  3. Blog Content
    • Continue writing here, and start another niche blog writing about finding problems to solve and talking to humans to solve those problems
  4. VIDEO Walkthroughs
    • Get my face on camera and walk through how I find real problems people are having, and quickly building out MVPs to help solve these painful problems for people.
  5. A live stream where I talk to builders, see what they are up too.
  6. Bridge Builder
    • Connect the people in my network to each other and see where the connects/referrals go.
  7. Recruiter/Head Hunter
    • After years of calls and interactions online. I have a network that I could help place into job roles that will change companies.
  8. Live Stream a daily check-in series
    • Make sure the builders and everybody in my network are hanging in there.

Projects I'm working on

  • PDF Capture
    • Tool used to show off your PDFs! More ways to show off your work coming soon.
  • This Blog
    • You already know about this one if you are here.
  • CoderDads
    • Communify for Dads that Code, been fun to support and hear the stories from over 300 Dads!
  • Coffee Chats
    • To connect with people, no meeting agenda, like getting coffee with a friend.

Questions I avoided

"What problems do you have right now, you can solve for?"

I hate this question, I think because that would require me to sit with the uncomfortable truths that weigh on me.

Example Move more, eat better, be a better parent, be a better partner.

Nobody wants that type of content from me. Most of the problems I have would be fixed with systematic change across the board. Think Universal healthcare, Universal Childcare, have you tried to work with kids at home?! My problems seem small compared to everything else going on.

Also to remind those who may not know. My "Office" is in a 3 season porch, and I work through the winter in Upstate New York here. A lot of people see my setup and say "Oh I could never."

I view it as a gratitude practice, I could very easily be back to doing factory work, or up doing construction and being up on a roof. People would look at my office and say you can solve this. Sure, but in the long run does it really boost things that much? Probably not much.

My view has always been, I need a laptop and decent internet and I can do good work.

Wrapping up with the biggest learning. Ask your friends the questions that keep you up at night. I've lost sleep over feeling like I need to be doing side projects, and as an ideas guy. The list of things I could do is infinite, but its always what SHOULD I be doing with the limited free/open time I have.

The biggest thing I learned, I have a group of friends that are chomping at the bit to see me win. It fuels me up and gives me so much confidence in whatever I decide on.

Get a group of people that will throw their hat in the ring for you, and cheer you on.