Ramit Sethi's Advice To Me: Part 2, Ignoring Ramit's Advice Made Me Rich
image source: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/
Here's Ramit's first email response to me:
On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Ramit Sethi [email protected] wrote:
- How serious are you about this?
- How open are you to listening to new ideas?
My response to Ramit:
Ramit,
- Dead serious
- Extremely open. Meaning, I'm ready to follow directions from someone smarter than myself
Ramit's response:
On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 8:34 AM, Ramit Sethi [email protected] wrote:
You say you are financially "fucked" and "desperate."
I recommend you stop pursuing starting a new business and get a better job.
My response:
Ramit,
Ok, let's see if it works.
Thank you, Leah Stephens
Ramit's response:
On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 8:34 AM, Ramit Sethi [email protected] wrote:
Write me back by Tuesday night at 11:59pm with an update, please.
My response:
Ramit,
Ok. My brain is reorganizing itself to be hired. Take
a look at my LinkedIn profile to see if I should delete stuff.
Maybe I should work at a recovery center since I used to be an alcoholic....
Please note: I didn't go looking for a better job at this point. I went looking for freelance gigs, anything that could utilize my writing and creativity. I stopped looking at jobboards, job ads, and I stopped sending in my resumes. I began searching for creative opportunities through friends, and I began using my networking skills to create my own income. One of my freelance gigs I got in March I scored just by talking to a guy on Linkedin who worked for a software company. I started wheeling and dealing, making up my own rules. In my mind, when Ramit said "better job", I interpreted that as meaning going out and finding a traditional job through the normal ways. I rejected this advice, and just started making my own income from my writing and creative talents in a kind of haphazard, scrappy way.
Ramit's response:
none.
After Ramit stopped responding to me, I wrote an update after I decided not to take his advice and instead pursue my dream of writing and creating businesses around my creative pursuits. Around March of 2017 I got a very low-paying writing job as a science/tech writer with Interesting Engineering. I also got a job as a ghostwriter for a CEO of a software company. Neither one of these freelance jobs was considered lucrative, and I was still just scraping by, making about $2000 per month. I was working my tail off, writing several articles per day on very complex subjects. It was grueling, but it was better than driving, or selling cars. My mind was happy....Then, after I found Steemit, and was making decent money, pursuing my own creative, entrepreneurial pursuits on here, I decided to write to Ramit to give him an update on my newly found gold mine:
July 7, 2016
Ramit,
I wanted to update you. I became a freelance writer 3 months ago and this month I pulled in $7500. My life has revolutionized.
I no longer do the 9-5. I'm pretty happy.
-Leah
Ramit's response:
none.
I wrote another two emails to him for reasons not even clear to myself. I think I wanted him to praise me or something. He never responded to any of them, but here they are:
July 25, 2016
Ramit,
Hey I wanted to give you another update on my finances:
I made $12,000 in four weeks on steemit.com.
I was the #1 content creator and I worked hard posting 2 high quality posts per day.
My talent and hard work paid off.
Here's the article I wrote about my experience:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@stellabelle/how-i-made-usd12-000-in-one-month-on-steemit
And just for fun, I wrote him a final email today:
Dear Ramit,
Hi, you probably don't remember me from last year. I'm now in the best financial situation of my entire life because I followed my dreams instead of following your advice. I have four different sources of income now and total creative freedom. I just wanted to update you on this development from the last year. I do want to thank you for actually replying to my emails in the past and asking me some tough questions. Those questions did enable me to double down and get serious. It was your specific advice though that wasn't useful to me.
Thanks, Leah
What do you think? Did Ramit help me help myself?
Have you ever written to a famous entrepreneur or self-help guru and received advice that helped you?
Part of me thinks I'm a total bitch for writing that final email to him. At least I'm honest. His advice was really not good for me. His questions were good, but he failed to understand my personality and how I could harness my natural creativity.
Sorry Ramit, but you didn't make me rich. I did, because Steemit was invented. Dan's invention made me rich.
Cheers,
Stellabelle
@stellabelle YOU are my Ramit Sethi, at the moment... I am going to read your other article and the part 1 of this one and try to follow the path you have made here on steemit... I am exactly like you in a lot of ways and I am just DONE working for the man, as it were... I was recently fired from another crappy ass job that did help me build character that was sorely lacking for sure, but I am a damn good artist and pretty good writer, and steemit could be my end-all be-all if I just stick with it. I have not been the overnight success that I always want to be, but I can see that I could make it here if I just keep striving for it... thanks for this article - and YES Ramit did help you - or your Higher Self helped you through Ramit - because - in my mind - he hit you in that "Done" place and you just were ready to hear it at that moment - and were able to jump into the Abyss and drag your true self out of it... Timing.
ok, if you think you can do it, go all in. Half measures won't cut it.
we'll see
Stella, that is wicked inspiring hun, way to double down and keep trying. It just goes to show too, you never know somebodies past.
Interesting Leah, I wrote to Derek Sivers and he gave me helpful advice about the book I was writing . But even better, he volunteered that he liked my blog, and I didn't even ask him about that. Life changing in making me not give up!
hmmm, so his feedback was tailored to you specifically...interesting!
Yes, he said he didn't know much about my topic so he referred me to someone's work he admired on the topic. I had never heard of her, but she was awesome and I used her quotes and studied her ideas.
and i knew you way back when 😉 good job! i always knew you'd find something that suited your particular set of talents and thanks for introducing me to steemit. i've been getting kinda bored with facebook and could use some extra money 😜
Just seen you posted this on Steemit Blogger Central. Resteeming for you now. You should join our slack one of these days, you might like what we are doing in there for SBC and the community. Putting this on our Twitter and Facebook.
ok thank you so much. i have too many things to do. not enough time!
Totally understand, trust me I know how that is, its been crazy for me here too lately.
part of the issue is that i am running too many facebook pages....steemit newbies would be better run by someone else with more time/energy
Yea that could be a time consuming side to helping the community. How long have you been running that? I would say I could help but this Slack opening with the pages is kind of the same, coming at me every second of the day lol. I could put some feelers out for you though if you want to find someone to help lighten the load
yeah sure
I will see what I can dig up. I do have one person in mind though, @sacred-agent came to me wanting to start up something to help new users out, kind of give them a workshop so he might be interested. He probably isn't on now but I can message him in the morning and see
ok thanks
I love it. You survived here on Steemit and kept posting when things weren't looking good on Steemit. That is cool that you wrote one last e-mail to him.
I have a question though. How did you initially find out about Steemit?
I was working as a science/tech writer for Interesting Engineering. I up in the middle of the night, having just discovered a breaking story about a programmer who automated his job for 6 years. I could only find 2 sources, Reddit and another small magazine. I went scouring the internet for any source that described this guy, and I found one small post about him on Steemit. Once I saw that dollar amount below the post, it was all over. I quit my writing job the next day and dove into the steem rabbit hole. it was meant to be. i came in with nothing and no one.
That is really cool how you found it. Most people came out of the crypto world. I suddenly saw it shoot out of nowhere up on CoinMarketCap and was like "What is this?" Started reading into it and it was very interesting. Started posting and the rest is history.
yeah, but in march i did get burned out and went to find a new community.....now i am in 2..
What other community are you in now?
this is great, inspiring, following your dreams got you where you really should be, I am glad I read it, thank you for this post
Wow! This two post converted into an instant follower! Great job! I will have to read your posts now because they are hidden gems
oh, yeah, i do like hearing these words.....thanks for your honesty!
Yeah, I much prefer your route to his recommendation, if you can call it that. Definitely better to go and do what makes you happy. Strange that his response was get a better job, seems to go against a lot of what he has written in the past....maybe like you sort of said in Part 1 he is like all the other self help gurus and is all a front. Glad your shared your experience! Thanks!
glad you found it entertaining.
He can make you a rich and miserable corporate workaholic - that's how I feel about him.