I'll keep this one brief. I am starting a new weekly paid newsletter on substack called The Art of Gig. It will cost you $5/mo ($50 for a year). It should be of interest to those of you who are either already in, or thinking of getting into, the indie consulting game. It may also be of some interest to those of you in the regular paycheck economy who have a lot of dealings with the gig economy.
I'll be sending out the first paid issue early next week. You can read more about what I have planned on the About page, and sign up if this interests you.
As a heads up, I'll also be launching a companion Teachable course next week, and you can sign up for either, both, or of course neither, depending on which bits interest you.
This newsletter will of course continue doing its breaking smart thing.
For some more context on why I'm doing this, and why now, read on.
What you guys said you wanted in a consulting course.
I’ve been flirting with the idea of somehow sharing my learning and thinking as an indie consultant for a while (I've been at this game for 8 years now). A few months ago, I got a flatteringly strong response when I asked on twitter if people were interested in learning the game from me.
More recently, when I polled people about the preferred format (see image above), a subscription newsletter turned out to be the top choice (38% of 261 votes), followed by a recorded video course (32%). So I’ve decided to pursue a barbell model and divide what I have to say on the subject across these two channels. The Art of Gig newsletter will be one end of the barbell: weekly nuggets of soul food for consultants.
The other end of a barbell will be a Teachable course I plan to launch next week. That will have a somewhat broader scope, and should be of interest not just to consultants, but managers and executives as well. On the course site, I hope to gradually build up a repository of recorded video deep dives on my favorite business topics. I hope to cover topics such as the OODA loop, my book Tempo, and of course, the art of drawing 2x2 diagrams.
I may add other elements to this activity as it matures.
One reason I'm launching these two things now is, ironically enough, that I will shortly have an opportunity to temporarily step back a bit from the consulting game, thanks to an upcoming yearlong fellowship with the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles starting in August. During this period, I will primarily be working on a book. I will not be taking on new clients, and will be limiting my work with existing clients.
So I figured it would be a good time to do some of the long overdue perspective taking, reflection, and learning-capturing from my 8-year journey in the indie consulting gig economy so far. Hopefully, putting some energy into making what I've learned explicit to myself over the next year will allow me to return to the game with leveled up thinking when my fellowship ends.
Anyhow. If this interests you, sign up for the Art of Gig, and look out for the companion course announcement next week.
_Feel free to forward this newsletter on email and share it via the social media buttons below. You can check out the archives here. First-timers can subscribe to the newsletter here. More about me at venkateshrao.com. _You can follow me on Twitter @vgr
Check out the 20 Breaking Smart Season 1 essays for the deeper context behind this newsletter. You may want to sign up for the Season 1 Online Workshop too.
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