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Ryan TAA's avatar

I love the idea of the trust thermocline. Not just in author connection either. Thanks Russell!

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Nicholas Kotar's avatar

I'm really worried about this. I have 4 kids 11 and younger and my life is anything but stable. I make plans, but these days they hardly ever happen the way they're supposed to. I'm open with my people about these challenges but I expect them all to get fed up and move on. Thank God that hasn't happened yet, but I keep expecting it to any day now.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Well, you can always move back from the thermocline. There is a reason I almost never announce anything until it's happening, and I spent a long time building a backlog of books so that I'm never relying on what happens NOW to dictate what happens in the near term future. If you're talking about partners and such, I think it's different. Like, you have to announce things to people you work with even if they don't work out. We didn't expect Writer MBa to suddenly fall apart, but also, we spent a month going through everything, signing contracts, etc, before we announced it, and then kept people updated on what was happening, moving things to new servers, and making it as painless as possible. Generally, I try really hard not to announce things twice, and only when I have a plan. Like, my editors and such know things are on the roadmap, but nobody knows what's happening until it's happening.

I also think you probably should hire somebody to be your implementer in your company if that is true. Most companies work best when there is a visionary/implementer team in place.

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Nicholas Kotar's avatar

yes, you're absolutely right. I'm starting realize how important it is to keep the excitement of new projects and ideas under wraps until they're ready to go. I do have someone who is implementing stuff, but I need to empower her to have more authority in that line. To help keep my own unhelpful enthusiasm contained :)

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

What I do is keep a file/emails in draft and I write them whenever I'm excited, and then when the project is ready, I have bottled the enthusiasm in it, and I've kind of burned it off in the moment, too. I am about 6 months ahead in my blog, but I write them in the moment when I'm thinking about it. People think you have to send things when you're excited, but you really don't. You can bottle all that excitement for use in the future.

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Nicholas Kotar's avatar

love that idea. Definitely going to do that.

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RenoQueen's avatar

I already blew everything due to some personal emergencies. Overcame my complete shame and started back again. You learn from what happens and plan ahead like Russell says.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Welcome back.

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