I’m the creator behind Public Lab. The first thing you spotted is likely the excessive use of broccoli around here. That’s right, I’m a die-hard fan of transparency, community, and … 🥦 broccoli.
Let me tell you my story! 👇
For the first 8 years of my career, I was a hard worker. I dedicated all my time to the companies I was working for or co-creating. When the last company didn't work out, I thought to myself "Dang! I'm still a nobody."
It was Nov 2020, my first child was coming along (in the picture, you can see now I have my second child!). I started rethinking how work and family fit into my life. I wanted a family-oriented life with more time and flexibility.
From that day onwards, I knew I had to build myself a presence and a voice online and then grow a sustainable business with them.
But, I had no idea how to start and get people to notice me.
So I started documenting my journey, sharing my learnings, and telling people what I was working on Twitter. It was slow at first because I had no followers.
Then my Twitter followers, newsletter subscribers, and website visitors all started to go up! People resonated with what I shared and I met a lot of amazing people. That's when I first ...
Realized the power and potential of Building in Public!
It was incredibly refreshing to know that I don't have to create the perfect marketing stories to get people to listen to me.
I can just be myself and tell my stories as I work on new things.
Since then, I’ve:
👍 My Build in Public guide has been read by 20,000+ entrepreneurs
👍 I have a superb community around me that statistics like 18k Twitter following & 3k newsletter subscribers can’t accurately describe it
👍 I have a steady, growing online business (scroll down to see) that I look forward to run every day
👍 I hang out with my wife, 2 girls, and family anytime I want
I am someone who highly values staying true to myself, so this new approach to build an online business with my true presence makes sense to me.
I don't just get followers along the way, but also super friends and fans who cheer and help me grow every day.
It doesn't matter whether I have 500 or 10,000 followers. It is the connections and conversations that lead me to build the right things to help the right people that is the most powerful.
But getting over my fear and developing my voice haven't been easy. I've had so many people tell me about their fear to put themselves in public.
They feel that they don't have meaningful things to say. They don't know what to talk about. They don't have a way to stay consistent. And they don't know how they can build a business around all these.
That's when I thought - what if I could create an experimental space and help other creators build their presences and businesses online? That's where the idea of Public Lab came from.
Here's the purpose of my work. This lab is where ...
Creators come together to show our work, build influential brands and connections, and grow the online businesses we're proud of. All because we want more time and flexibility in our lives.
If this sounds like your story too, join me to do this together.
I'm sharing my business metrics since starting in Nov 2020.
