Episode 51

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Published on:

20th Dec 2021

Use Side Projects to Develop New Skills, Meet People and Launch a Career | E51 Alex Williamns

With New Year’s quickly approaching, I’m guessing you will be thinking about how you want to spend more of your free time in 2022. Friends, family, and your health are all great choices but I want to dangle one more idea out there: a side project.

A side project is something that you do aside from your primary job but unlike hobbies, they have a sense of effort and thoughtfulness in their approach. Examples could be starting a blog, creating an app, or forming a band. Side projects are a great way to learn new skills, meet people, and develop a purpose outside of your career. Heck, they might even lead you to your next job.

That was the case for my guest today. At the beginning of 2019, Alex Williamns started a podcast to improve his listening skills. Exposing himself to podcasts, and media in general, substantially changed the trajectory of his career. Since then, Alex has hosted 9 podcasts and has produced 14. He now runs two podcast media companies called MeCho Radio and Polytropos.fm.

This episode is meant to inspire you to start something new, redefine failure, and challenge you to bite off more than you can chew…but not too much, just enough.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:27] Why Alex started his first podcast

[11:20] Alex’s outlook on success and failure…and what’s more important

[18:41] How Broken Bulbs has changed how he processes failure

[25:26] Going from chronic procrastinator to future planner

[41:31] Alex’s most recent project and how it differs from all his other shows

 

More of TSIR:

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About the Podcast

FI Minded - Financial Independence, Early Retirement & Lifestyle Design
Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It
Pursuing financial independence, financial freedom, or early retirement often leads to the same questions: How do I become financially independent? How much should I save? What happens after I reach FI?

FI Minded helps you use money to create more freedom, without turning your entire life into a financial optimization project.

Host Justin Peters explores the decisions behind building a flexible, work-optional life, from reaching financial independence and navigating Coast FI and Slow FI to spending your money, changing careers, stepping away from work, and figuring out what comes after FI.

Each episode combines practical personal finance with conversations about early retirement, lifestyle design, work, spending, healthcare, self-employment, and life after financial independence. The goal isn't simply to reach FI as quickly as possible. It's to make progress toward financial freedom while actually enjoying your life along the way.

On FI Minded, you'll learn how to:
- Reach financial independence without burning out
- Build a flexible, work-optional lifestyle
- Navigate Coast FI, Slow FI, and other paths to FI
- Make smarter decisions about spending and saving
- Prepare financially and emotionally for early retirement
- Figure out what life can look like after financial independence
- Think through the tradeoffs behind major money and lifestyle decisions
- Make progress toward financial independence while actually living your life.

Some of our past guests include Carl Jensen (1500 Days), Jeremy Schneider (Personal Finance Club), Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show), Andrew Giancola (The Personal Finance Podcast), Jordan Grumet (Earn & Invest), Rachael Camp (Work Optional), Jillian Johnsrud (Retire Often), Sean Mullaney (FI Tax Guy), Jill Sirianni (Frugal Friends), Jackie Cummings-Koski (Catching Up to FI), Joel Larsgaard (How to Money), Cody Garrett (Measure Twice), Jesse Cramer (Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors), Jess (The Fioneers), Chris Hutchins (All The Hacks), Diania Merriam (EconoMe), Andy Hill (Marriage Kids Money), Fritz Gilbert (Retirement Manifesto), Maggie Tucker (Inside Out Money), Cody Berman (The Financial Independence Show), Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamins), Doug Cunnington (Mile High FI), and and others helping you rethink how to approach financial independence.
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