You might be wondering, “Hey, where did that devilishly handsome Declan go? I miss getting his emails about building 5-to-9s.”
First, thank you for your concern.
Second, I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my personal life.
Seeing a small sliver of opportunity, my wife and I made the hasty decision to break our apartment lease, move in with my in-laws, and buy a house.
No joke, one random Friday in September we called the bank for a preapproval. On Saturday and Sunday, we toured a dozen places. On Tuesday morning, we put in an offer. By the evening, we were under contract.
And just last week we finally moved into our first home.
So yeah, I’ve been preoccupied.
But never fear, I’ve had The 5to9 in the back of my mind this entire time. I haven’t forgotten about you. And it made me realize a core tenant about 5-to-9s:
A 5-to-9 is flexible. You can pack it up and take it with you. You can start and stop at your leisure. You run the 5-to-9, it doesn’t run you.
Some people have hobbies. Some people have jobs. And some people have hobbies that feel like a job. That is not what a 5-to-9 is. You should never feel like you have to do it. You are the one in control.
To get a bit meta on you, that’s exactly what happened to this newsletter. I realized my attention would be distracted for a few weeks, so I put the newsletter on the back burner. No harm done. I wasn’t burning cash by doing so or letting down customers. I temporarily stepped away and then stepped back.
Anyway, enough with the preaching. Let’s talk about what’s to come.
What’s to come
So far this year I’ve published every newsletter I’ve written under the “free” umbrella so that everyone who’s signed up can read. That’s going to change, kind of.
Once a month I’m going to write up a Deep-dive newsletter. This will be the tricks and stuff I usually keep to myself and my close friends of other 5-to-9ers. They’ll be long-form essays, how-tos, interviews, and recommendations to help you build and grow your 5-to-9. This type of writing takes time and commitment, and since I’m a one-man show (for now), I’ll be putting this monthly Deep-dive newsletter under the “paid” option.
To be transparent, it’s $7 a month (or $70 a year). This helps support the publication and keep it running (I consume ungodly amounts of coffee). As a little thank you for being an early subscriber, I’m running a 2020 special for the remainder of the month. You can easily sign up here:
If that’s not for you, no worries. I’ll also be writing smaller tidbits for the “free” option of the newsletter each month. These will be shorter insights, ideas, and nuggets to inspire you to keep building your 5-to9.
To give you a sneak peek of the topics I want to explore over the next few months, here’s a list directly taken from my notebook:
An all-inclusive list of free online tools for building 5-to-9s
Core skills one must have to run a 5-to-9
90-day action plan to get your 5-to-9 off the ground
Book reviews
How to incubate your 5-to-9
Back of the napkin financials for 5-to-9s
Why you should start a 5-to-9 even if you’re happy with your 9-to-5
5-to-9 to small-biz success: how to make the leap?
I hope that whets your pallet.
One shameless self-plug
One more thing before I sign off.
I wrote a book.
I didn’t expect to write a book this year. I didn’t expect a lot of things this year. And yet here we are.
If you’ve felt lost in all the 2020 chaos, I wrote this book for you. You can find it on Amazon here.