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My main indicator of business effectiveness is the desire to be calm and satisfied with what I have. I love my job. I love what I do because I want it to still exist in 10 years. I want this to thrive for decades. The whole world believed that being a universalist meant having a bunch of stereotypes. This was not considered attractive. I categorically disagree with this opinion. I knew that station wagons had enormous value. So I set out to change the world's view of how unisex people see themselves and how the world sees them. In short and to save time, you can simply say that I am an avid all-rounder. Hi, I'm Lilly Comedy. I'm the founder of Generalist World, and I make $30,000 per month as a solo founder with a very small team. The
entire business was built from an island that is home to 191 people. I am often asked, "What is it like to build a business from a remote island in Scotland?" So today I'm happy to tell you how I work. From the outside, my day probably looks pretty boring. Most days are literally the same. So the first thing I do after waking up is go outside. My morning starts with a walk, and my only goal is to notice something I didn't notice yesterday. When you start walking like this, you realize how much interesting things there are around. Then I return to my cozy corner in the living room where I meditate. After meditation, instead of immediately going to Slack or email, I tune in to creativity. So I spend the morning creating content.
I think these quiet mornings have a big impact on my workday. This means that when I go online, have calls with my team or partners, I don't feel anxious, confused, or desperate. And I noticed that because I am calmer and more balanced, I make better decisions. I am the founder of Generalist World. And over the past four years of building Generalist World, we've made almost $ 600,000. When people ask me, "What is Generalist World?" I always dream of having a simple answer like : "It's a SaaS platform." Or: "This is an agency." But the honest answer is, it's actually the whole world. It's a mailing list, it's a community of participants, we have a job board, we hold a summer school, we literally invented our own holiday-International
Generalist Day. And we actually exist for people who have done a lot of different things that don't fit into the box at work, and we exist to help them change the way they perceive themselves. Hi, this is Gus, the producer of Starter Story. Quick, I hope you enjoy Millie's story and how she built this incredible business on the island. I think it's just amazing. But you might sit there and think, "Could I do the same?" Well, of course, I don't know about the island, but that's the question-the reason Starter Story exists. And inside Starter Story, we recently introduced a bunch of new features designed to help you figure out what kind of business you can open. You
can really think of it as a research platform now. There are thousands of real businesses inside, and they all have real data. You can find data on revenue, growth rates, startup costs, tools, technology stack- everything you need to validate your business idea. And every month we add new free resources to help you figure out what business is worth starting. The last one is a database of over 100 business ideas that can be launched for less than $500. And that's just one of dozens of free resources in Starter Story. So, if you're ready to get started, follow the link in the description and get it all 100 % free. Okay, back to Millie. So, my mornings are a time for creativity.
Anything that requires a flow of my creative energy, I leave for the morning. And then I always take a big lunch break. I have a walking route that I walk every day, often twice a day. This takes about 40 minutes. This is " the loop," as I call it, and it's my favorite walk in the whole world. I've gone through it hundreds, maybe thousands, of times, and I don't get tired of it. And in the afternoon, I plan meetings, podcasts, partnerships, and things that require less creative energy and more of my presence. In general, this world was built from my little cottage in the Highlands. He is 200 years old. Imagine a picturesque cottage in the Highlands: stone walls, no central heating. I learned how to skillfully light a fire, because our entire house
is heated by wood-burning stoves. When you step out the door, you won't see people, but you might encounter eagles or otters, and a variety of birds. It's almost like a double life: I can go online and reach a huge audience. You know, hundreds of thousands of people see, read, and watch my materials every month. And then I can close my laptop and go play in the sea. It's been an incredible 5 years. I lived in the wild. That's the best way to describe it. And life in the wild brings a peace never even knew existed. I guess that's how people decide, right? Okay, I want to start a business, and then they ask, "So, what kind of business should I start?" And they often follow the path they believe is right.
They don't stop to ask themselves important questions: Why am I doing this? Why should this even exist? I think it's better not to fall in love with an idea, but to fall in love with a really serious and interesting problem. For example, generalists are undervalued, which means my work will never be finished. I will never completely solve this problem. I will never be able to help the tens of millions of generalists who feel undervalued, and that is why I continue to work. When I first started building a business, the only benchmark was a million dollars. And it seems to me that everyone around me has blindly believed in one pattern. It's just an arbitrary number, right? I have a different view on this. If you are a person who wants to
work hard and " spin"-honor and praise to you. But I believe that we need to talk more about those who want to have a business, make a profit, and not lose themselves, their health, or their family in the process. And it is precisely this category that I belong to. A business that brings in a couple hundred thousand a year, without investors and with a small team of friends. I don't feel pressure or a need to reach tens of millions of people and make millions because it will change my lifestyle, and I love it. I probably wouldn't be able to walk in the woods for a few hours a day if I had thousands and thousands of clients needing support. So, I think you have to be as honest with yourself as possible about what kind of life you
want to live. I usually finish my day around three o'clock. I have this rule: when I'm at work, I work, and when I'm not-I rest. See you later. The world will not stop, the General Assembly will continue to work, and if not-I will fix it tomorrow. So, after work, to be honest, I'll probably take a little more walk. As you can see, walking is my favorite activity. After that, I will start cooking dinner. Where I live on the island, there are no restaurants, no Uber Eats, so everything I've eaten for the last 5 and a half years, I've cooked myself. Almost all of our food is locally produced. After dinner, I chat with friends, play the guitar, write poetry, and am usually in bed with a cup of chamomile tea by 9 p.m.-that's my reading time.
I read for at least an hour every night. I usually fall asleep around 10 and then wake up in the morning, around 6. Don't wait for anyone's permission. They won't come. There will be no permission. You have to give yourself permission. Looking back on the most important partnerships, including the most recent one with Bee High, I didn't wait for them to say, "Yes, let's collaborate." I said, "Hey, that's a huge amount of work. Here is the result of what I have already done. We have to work together." And it grew into our biggest partnership. We just signed a contract for a full year. And one last piece of advice: be more eccentric. Everything on the Internet, social networks, and websites has become so bland and
monotonous, everything looks the same. Friends, just add a little whimsy. Be a little weirder. The more honest I became with myself and the more eccentric I became, the more success came to me.
