Asking For What You Want, Running 1,000 Miles, & Building a CBC with Maven
2nd edition of Justin's Journal
Hey friends,
Back at it again! They said we couldn’t do it, but we proved them wrong, coming back with the 2nd edition of this newsletter.
But really, I don’t know who “they” is. Probably just an analogy for my inner critic and resistance I feel to writing this newsletter as I have a thousand thoughts in my head other than writing this at 3:47 A.M from my couch in Los Angeles.
I digress.
Before we dive in if you’re not already subscribed and want to join in on this adventure, subscribe below.
Let’s do this.
In this week’s edition:
Asking For What You Want
1,000-Mile Running Club
Building a CBC with Maven
[Podcast] The Next Generation Professional Social Network
[Podcast] Transforming Customer Service with Human-Centered AI
[Podcast] Making Learning Culture Pervasive in the Workplace
Asking For What You Want
Recently, this Tweet took off with about 15,000 views in a day:
I think the tweet resonated with people for a few reasons:
We’ve all been in situations where we didn’t ask for something
We understand the importance of asking for what we want
We’re afraid of rejection and this holds us back
The last part of that tweet, the amazing outcomes, is what I’ve found to be the best piece to focus on when faced with a difficult ask.
Often, the downside is minimal.
But the upside?
Limitless.
1,000-Mile Running Club
In March of 2020, due to the pandemic lockdown and my gym being closed, I started using Strava to log my running. I’ve been a huge fan since.
Last year, my goal was to run 1,000 miles, but, due to an ankle injury that forced me to take two months off, I fell short.
After seeing the Tweet below from Ruben Harris at the end of 2021, I joined this running club on Strava and I’m loving it so far.
I’m a big fan of adding accountability to your goals, especially in a group where relevant.
This could be a writing group, a group of entrepreneurs, a book club, or any other community where you’re all striving to accomplish something - the more specific the better.
Last week, our 1,000-mile running club wrapped up week one.
I’ve found the group incredibly motivating, I’m off to a good start, but damn, look at those top 3 😳
Sure, I’m on pace to well surpass 1,000 miles this year, but the guys at the top are on another level.
Just a bit of inspiration for the rest of the journey.
That’s the power of a community.
Building a Cohort-Based Course (CBC)
Speaking of community, this week we had our orientation for Maven’s Course Accelerator.
Maven is building the university of the future, empowering the world’s experts to offer cohort-based courses directly to their audience.
I joined the 4th cohort of their accelerator and am building a course on how to leverage a podcast for career and business opportunities.
Creating a course is something I’ve always wanted to do and Maven gives me the know-how and accountability to finally do it.
A few takeaways from orientation week:
Meeting other students is fun. I’ve seen a few of the students on Twitter, but never really had the chance to interact with them until now. The Maven team did a great job facilitating connection not only in the orientation but on Slack and in a student social gathering on gatheround.
Start with the end in mind. In our opening session, we went through our 3-month, 1-year, and 3-year goals for our course which I found incredibly helpful and, candidly, need to spend more time on.
Launch a pilot. The idea of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) has been made popular over the last decade by Eric Ries’ book The Lean Startup and a similar idea applies to creating a course - Launch with a pilot of 10-15 students, get feedback, iterate, and launch again.
I’m excited for week one next week and if you’re interested in joining a future cohort of their accelerator, you can learn more here.
Just Go Grind Podcast
Episode #314 - Vivian Chen, Founder and CEO of Rise, on Building the Next Generation Professional Social Network by Crafting Authentic Connections
Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
The Vitalize Podcast
Episode #30 - Transforming Customer Service with Human-Centered AI and Navigating a Rapidly Growing Distributed Team, with Deon Nicholas of Forethought
Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Episode #29 - Making Learning Culture Pervasive in the Workplace with Ted Blosser, CEO and Co-Founder of WorkRamp
Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Thanks for joining me in this second edition!
Last little tidbit… I met one of my co-workers in person for the first time!
I hope you had a good week and I’ll see you next week Sunday.
Justin
P.S. We’re starting a newsletter at Vitalize, still figuring out the format, but it’ll be super useful (I hope) for founders and investors. Subscribe here before any of your friends 😉