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Julia V. Ashley's avatar

My natural growth path is Collaborator.

I'm currently in Stage 2/3, so my next step is to look at existing data and choose what to drop and what to double down on. (Thus far, anthologies and group promos work, and random, untargetted social media doesn't.)

My Eco system is Aquatic/Swamp.

I am in a Growth Era.

My biggest friction Point is Prioritization, and I'm addressing it by seeking out and testing collaborative options. Participating in promos. Run a promo. Participating in Anthologies. Run an Anthology. Find new avenues by talking to other creators/collaborators. Test ads, pointing to these collabs. [Shining a beacon on a group is more fun, anyway]

See you at the Frictionless breakthrough session, as well as, the next HAPI breakthrough session.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! How does that feel?

Julia V. Ashley's avatar

More doable. Less haphazard. Purposeful.

Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

I would love to be in touch with you about an anthology! I just sent my final edits in for an anthology set to print early next year and it was a great experience. Send me a message - I'd love to hear your vision!

Julia V. Ashley's avatar

I am still developing my vision, but I would love to chat about your experience putting an anthology together!

Julia V. Ashley's avatar

Who knew you could just say you want to collaborate, and people would respond? Seems like magic. And thanks for touching base.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Yes. This is the magic of doing the things in your scale path. They work without much effort, almost frictionless.

Dr Karen Shue's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter.

I’m currently in Stage 1-2, so my next step is keep writing the book (content) and posting on Substack (platform).

My base Ecosystem is Bramble.

I’m in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Mindset + Prioritization < Heart + Audience, and I’m addressing it by experimenting with different ways to share more, so I become more visible, get more feedback, and thus build energy and shift mindset. Substack and Notes are the tools for more immediate sharing, which needs to be complemented by book-writing.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! How does it feel declaring that?

Dr Karen Shue's avatar

I don't know that it feels much different, since I knew these were my priorities before -- and still a bit stymied for how to get the writing done more easily/frictionlessly/frrequently. But experimenting...

Stephanie A. Cain's avatar

My natural growth path is Collaboration.

I’m currently in Stage 3, so my next step is start forming collaborative partnerships

My base Ecosystem is Forest.

I’m in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Audience, and I’m addressing it by forming collaborations with people who create the same sort of content I do.

I have an author I adore sharing my stuff to her newsletter later this month. I might not have asked her for that collaboration if I hadn't done this challenge, but I asked and she said yes!

Caledonia's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter.

I am currently is Stage 1/2 so my next step is to reduce my distractions to get more writing done to build an initial body of work.

My ecosystem is Estuary.

I am in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Heart and I am addressing it by learning to shift my mindset to better embrace and trust what the characters "show" me is the path for their story(ies). I also need to learn better embodiment practices to better facilitate embracing each story's path.

I will have to remember to build in entry points and waypoints for navigating my body of work.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! Hope does that feel?

Caledonia's avatar

It seems to have a centering kind of feel to it. Kinda like finding a keystone.

Charles Harris's avatar

My natural growth path is Evangelist

I’m currently in Stage 2, so my next step is to work more closely with my very small group of fans and give them more to work with, such as a price drop (but see below)

My base Ecosystem is Forest

I’m in a growth era

My biggest friction point is Prioritisation, and I’m addressing it by focusing on a few projects, a price drop, launching the paperback edition of my latest comedy crime novel and looking into Kickstarter for building more fans.

I’m still not sure what best to do next if I’m focusing on Evangelist. Any suggestions?

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Did you read the evangelist article? At the bottom it talks about building an evangelist stack. https://www.frictionlessgrowth.com/p/evangelists

Of my work I think the Irresistible books book/workbook and the build a super fandom course are the best next stepsz

Write Free Press's avatar

My natural growth path is Collaborator.

I’m currently in Stage 2, so my next step is focusing on collaborations.

My base Ecosystem is Tundra.

I’m in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Audience, and I’m addressing it by setting up swaps and promos on bookfunnel with authors/books more similar to my own for one pen name, and joining a shared world so I can expand into a new genre in 2027 for my other pen name. I'm still considering running my own shared world, but it might be more than I want to take on at least in Q1.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

How does that feel? Do you feel like there is direction there?

Write Free Press's avatar

I do! I like having a plan with items I can check off. Focusing on growth and not growth and monetization will be my biggest issue, I think. I’ve been doing this the wrong way for like 10 years. 🤣

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Almost everyone has.

Alexis V. Adalynd G.'s avatar

Me hoping I did this right:

My natural growth path is collaborator.

I’m currently in Stage 2, so my next step is to drop the things that aren’t working.

My base Ecosystem is Aquatic ( though I will say I do like the Estuary, but need to reread some things to absorb the information on that, but I think I could work within that blended ecosystem.

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, and building resonance by telling immersive stories, sharing hooks and behind-the-scenes magic, and building partnerships around shared worlds.

My biggest friction point is heart and prioritization, and I’m addressing it by reviewing my project list and letting go of the ones that don’t fit/ feel right for me now. Prioritization would be one thing method, and stacking limits( I am notorious for trying to do all of them at once!). I also like the kill list review, removing things that no longer serve me or bring me joy(because I tend to shut down when I do them).

Russell Nohelty's avatar

there is no real way to do it right or wrong. There's a wide latitude of "correct", but if you're trying at all you're doing it right, even if you aren't commenting. As I wrote in my article yesterday, you make assumptions, test, and see if it works, and then have a think on it.

How does it feel though in your body? Do you feel good saying that? If you feel good, it probably is good.

Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

For anyone reading through afterwards, I just tried out the Russellbot (the digital brain mentioned at the end of the post) - it's amazing! It was taught to reply in a natural speaking voice (that sounds very much like Russell). I was able to discern that my writing style is, indeed, reader-focused (yay Forest ecosystem!). I was provided with many ideas to get into reader groups (to help shine my light as a Spotlighter, I'll look for other's reader groups. Substack Chats can be good for this). I learned how to segment my audience and how to segment my content (both through Substack Sections). It is a very cool tool!!!

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Yay!! I had somebody buy into Hapitalist, talk to russellbot for like 30 minutes and say they just did a years worth of messaging their offer work and knew how to talk about their new product, so I am thrilled to hear that :)

Laura VAB's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter. I’m currently in Stage 3, so my next step is finding another, more time-efficient outreach. My base Ecosystem is [still uncertain]. I'm in a growth period. My biggest friction point is Audience (with a side of Income), and I’m addressing it by flailing like a Muppet and wishing really hard. ;-) (But seriously, I've been struggling to build that audience for a long while and I've maintained a steady respectable figure without growth for years.)

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Lots of audience resources in Hapitalist, probably the #1 compass point there is I for on.

Beth Biss's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter.

I’m currently in Stage 1/2, so my next step is to focus on improving my newsletter and writing more books.

My base Ecosystem is Bramble (Forrest/Grassland).

I’m in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Audience, and I’m addressing it by creating newsletters that are novel-focused to attract the right kind of readers.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Great! How does it feel to declare it?

Beth Biss's avatar

It feels good. I have been approaching this time in my business as mostly a learning period. I'm pretending to be at "Novel College" so I am focused on what I can learn, not what I can earn. I'm starting year three now and writing book 3, so I guess that means I have some real-world experience under my belt.

Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter.

I’m currently in Stage 3 because I've found one thing that works really well to get subscribers (Notes), so my next step is Stage 4, hone in on what works (Notes) in a way where I share my expertise, "show up" and build relationships.

My base Ecosystem is Forest because I'm relational and connective.

I’m in a growth era.

My biggest friction point is Prioritization, and I’m addressing it by planned engagement on Notes.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Awesome. How does it feel to declare it?

Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

Very freeing and clear! Like the fogginess is gone.

CC Robinson's avatar

My natural growth path is Spotlighter

I’m currently in Stage 2 so my next step is start a Substack and automate everything so I don’t have to be present all the time.

My base Ecosystem is Aquatic.

I’m in a monetization era for a few more months. I just launched an online store and I’m running ads (which despite the Spotlighter growth path I actually like doing). I’ll be switching into a growth era in March to grow my ARC team.

My biggest friction point is Income, and I’m addressing it by the online store and small-dollar facebook ads (which I’ll be starting back up on 12/26!).

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Awesome! How does it feel to declare that?

CC Robinson's avatar

It’s good! Creates clarity and focus.

Trisha J. Wooldridge's avatar

My natural growth path is a Spotlight Evangelist.

I am currently in stage 2/3, so my next step is figure out what needs to be finished/dropped most urgently to lessen the overwhelm.

My ecosystem is Taiga.

I'm in a growth era.

My biggest friction path is Income and I'm addressing it by trying to learn new things and ask for help with what I don't know that I don't know / can't see.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

amazing! How does that feel to declare?

Trisha J. Wooldridge's avatar

Like I have a few more pieces of the puzzle on how to get out of my current situation?

Jen Peters Jensen's avatar

My natural growth path is Evangelist.

I’m currently in Stage 2, so my next step is trying many different things. (Don't think I ever answered this one, so my things include changing what's in my newsletters, starting a subscription, writing more books, and doing better at Amazon/FB ads.

My base Ecosystem is Bramble (Grasslands/Forest)

I’m in a growth era. Big time! I haven't focused on or stressed over income in several months while I've been putting translations up and redoing covers.

I think a lot of us have multiple friction points. One of mine is income, but I've been ignoring it and I will continue to do so for a while, so...no friction. Prioritizing is hard because there are so many things to try, but I've been pretty good about choosing one or two at a time so I don't burn out. My biggest friction point is Audience--they might be looking for what I have, but not as hard as I'm looking for them! I’m currently addressing it by doing well-targeted newsletter swaps and BookFunnel promos, but I am now putting serious time into planning and building a community that will invite the people who are looking for me. Also re-doing my NL welcome sequence to align with what I'm offering the community.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Makes sense! How does it feel to declare that?

Marni's avatar

My natural growth path is Launcher

I’m currently in Stage 3, so my next step is is to prepare a marketing strategy for my first self-published work

My base Ecosystem is Forest

I’m in a growth era, trying to get to monetization.

My biggest friction point is Income, and I’m addressing it by getting my story out in a different format as a book instead of waiting for the film industry to decide it's time to release the project.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Cool! How does it feel to declare that?

Marni's avatar

It feels good. It gives me a better sense of where I am and what I need to figure out in order to move forward. The most critical thing to remember is to keep moving forward and not to pull back over feelings of uncertainty. Imposter Syndrome is a monster.

Tiffany Chu's avatar

- My natural growth path is Evangelist

- I’m currently in Stage 2/3, so my next step is solid 3

- My base Ecosystem is Forest

- I’m in a growth era

- My biggest friction point is P, and I’m addressing it by trying one thing at a time and examining it after a month/quarter.

Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing. How do you feel with that?

Tiffany Chu's avatar

Like I'm not going to be fumbling around anymore, so great!