Sometimes we need to squeeze those trendy bastards for all they’re worth…

But let’s talk about your addiction like the marketing junkie you are.

We all know that hot spicy rush when we see the next big thing.

We love that dopamine hit when we whip out our credit card for another course, plugin, or platform that promises to transform our business into a money ejaculating unicorn overnight.

(We’ve all been there googling “how to make money online” at 3am)

We all know the cycle. Buy the shiny thing. Get high on possibilities. Never implement. Feel shame. Swear off shiny things. See new shiny thing. Repeat until death or bankruptcy, whichever comes first.

The problem isn’t the shiny objects themselves. It’s the relationship with them that’s more toxic than if we were take our ex and drop them in a vat of radioactive gunk.

Now stay with me for a second cause this might be a novel idea…

…what if those gleaming, promise filled objects aren’t inherently evil?

What if they’re just lemons waiting to be squeezed into something refreshing?

Let’s use good ol’ marketing as an example:

The fundamentals of marketing are still the same blunt instruments they’ve always been. They’re the rusty hammers and bent nails that have built empires for centuries.

List building. Copywriting. Offers that don’t suck. Customer service that makes people feel less like numbers and more like humans.

These basics aren’t sexy. They’re the marketing equivalent of missionary position. They work, but nobody’s making TikToks about them.

But ignoring the new shit completely? That’s just as stupid as buying every shiny object that crosses your path.

Platforms evolve. Algorithms shift. Attention migrates. (Insert 2020 as an example)

But if you look at the “master” and imho, the real fucking wizards of this game. They don’t ignore the shiny. They don’t worship it either.

That’s the real trick.

They sample it. They test it. They implement the parts that enhance those boring, effective basics. They squeeze the goddamn lemons and make refreshing lemonade.

And as an example cause you know what I feel about all of this A.I. bs:

…go ahead, buy that course on the latest A.I. copywriting tool or that new funnel builder everyone’s raving about.

But and this is a big BUT…

For the love of all things profitable, use it. Test it against those unsexy basics. See if it amplifies what already works.

The hardest part isn’t finding new things to try. It’s sticking with what’s proven while selectively experimenting with the new.

It’s making that shiny object lemonade. One part trendy innovation, two parts time tested fundamentals, stirred with the sweat of actual implementation. Then you can sit down. Sip it. Savour it. And for once in your life, finish the whole damn glass before reaching for another one.

Which is also why I’m going back through this gem right here. Cause it’s some of the best fundamentals of direct response you’ll ever get.

Yeah it’s boring and not so sexy but it’s the type of thing that works. Even if on paper it may bore you to tears.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

The internet’s drowning in a septic tank of A.I. generated horseshit.

Perfectly formatted. Perfectly vacuous. Reading it is like licking the inside of a corporate bathroom’s hand dryer.

The words look like words, sure. The sentences have subjects and predicates and all that grammatical foreplay, but they’re dead eyed mannequins wearing human skin suits. No pulse. No soul. Just the robot equivalent of a smile painted on a department store dummy whose eyes follow you around the abandoned mall.

You’ve felt it, right? That creeping sensation when you’re reading something that sounds like it was written by a chorus of marketing graduates being slowly digested in the belly of a silicon beast.

The way your eyes glaze over, your brain cells committing suicide one by one rather than process another “According to experts” or “In today’s fast-paced world.”

People are starving for words with fingerprints on them, you know? Actual human words.

Content that bleeds when you cut it. Sentences assembled by someone who occasionally stares into their refrigerator at midnight contemplating the existential dread of expired yogurt.

Write like you’ve got nightmares and dreams and that weird memory of your uncle’s basement that smells like wet cigarettes and regret.

Write like your keyboard is connected directly to the meat computer behind your eyeballs, not some cloud based suggestion engine that’s been fed a diet of LinkedIn motivational posts and corporate style guides.

(Did I tell you I don’t like LinkedIn before?)

Your readers can tell the difference. They might not say it, but they feel it in their gut.

That subtle wrongness when words have been sanitised of all humanity, like a hotel room that’s too clean and you just know someone died there.

So spill your guts onto the page. Let your sentences have nervous breakdowns. Occasionally go off on tangents about how pigeons might be judging your life choices. Be weird. Be human. Be the kind of writer that A.I. can only poorly imitate, like a child wearing their parent’s clothes and pretending to go to work.

At the end of the day, we’re all just electrified meat puppets trying to connect through strings of symbols before the universe pulls the plug and we all cease to exist. Might as well make those symbols taste like something other than corporate approved flavour packets.

Be your weird self. Sneak it into your writing and watch people look for more.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

“…helped grow my marketing agency to 7 figures, and led to big breakthroughs in my life and business.” – Ben Bader, CEO 94Marketing

​It’s time.

​
After four months of waiting…

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​The Path is finally open to new members.​

​
This time is different, though…

​
…So before you jump inside, there are three things you should know:

​

1.

​
I’ve decided to re-open our founder’s discount one last time.

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Which means, when you join before Thursday at midnight, your membership will be half price for life.

​

2.

​
After Thursday at midnight, The Path will remain open, but the price will be doubling permanently.

​

3.

​
As we spoke about last week…

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​In the coming months, we will be specializing The Path for up and coming entrepreneurs.

​
Of course, all of our previous masterclasses, practices, and systems will remain in the platform.

​
But our new material will aim to help you build and scale your business…

​
…While also developing and mastering yourself, in the process.

​
​Entrepreneurs who are committed to building both outer and inner skills are exceedingly rare.

​
But somehow, we’ve managed to build an entire community of them, inside The Path.

​
And there ‘aint another one like it 🙂

​
​Come join us.

​

• T

​
​P.S. I want to make clear:

​
This pivot to entrepreneurship isn’t a replacement, it’s an addition.

​
Our usual material on self-development and self-mastery will continue to be added to the platform.

​
(and, will continue to grow and evolve as it always has)

​
But, as every experienced entrepreneur knows:

​
​The path of entrepreneurship is a path of self-mastery.

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It is a path of channeling your inner skills into the outer world, and turning your most inspiring ideas into a living reality.

​
If you’re serious about that Path:

​
​Welcome to the right place.

“There is a saying that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. At Apple, I learned that is a total crock. You will work harder than you ever thought possible, but the tools will feel light in your hands.” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

Another Monday. Another goddamn wrestling match with your email service provider…

There you are, bleary-eyed, first sip of coffee barely touching your lips, and already you’re navigating through seventeen different screens just to send a simple broadcast.

Click here. Scroll there. Wait for this page to load. Check that box. Uncheck the other one.

Why the hell is this button greyed out? Where did my draft go? Why does this platform hate me with such burning passion?

Meanwhile, the rest of the digital marketing herd is doing the same shuffle across their platforms of choice…

ActiveCampaign users are drowning in tabs.

Aweber folks are fighting with the template builder that somehow manages to be both overly simplistic and needlessly complex.

Drip users are watching that spinning wheel of death. (I used to love Drip back in the day)

You didn’t get into this business to become an amateur software engineer. You’re here to write emails that connect, persuade, and sell.

To craft words that make people feel something. To build relationships through the inbox that will eventually translate into cold, hard cash for your warez and service you provide. I mean you’re an artist after all. You don’t want tech to suck.

Me? My Monday morning looks different.

I roll out of bed, stumble to my desk with coffee in hand, and open BerserkerMail. Two clicks later, my broadcast is loaded. Another click and it’s scheduled. By the time you’ve navigated your platform’s labyrinthine dashboard, I’ve already hit send on an email that’s going to land straight in my subscribers primary inboxes.

Before my first cup of coffee is finished, I’ve completed what takes most email marketers half their morning.

No bloated features I’ll never use. No constant upsells for “premium” functionality that should be standard. No need to watch another 72 tutorial videos just to figure out how to edit a sequence. Just a clean, intuitive interface built by people who actually use email marketing to make their living.

BerserkerMail was built by marketers who were sick of the same bullshit you’re dealing with.

So they created what they couldn’t find.

An email platform that plays into the sexiness of email marketing while slapping the complexity completely out of it.

So if you wanna join me in the land of the living? Where sending emails is actually enjoyable again? Where you can focus on your words instead of fighting with your tech?

Go here and check it out: https://berserkermail.com/

Stephen Walker

P.S. Ben Settle is my boy and cause he used one of my testimonials in an email. I thought I’d give him some love, cause so far I haven’t been given the slap like I was given by an email service provider I shall not name…

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

Sometimes your writing needs to be nice and polite and professional and all that responsible adult horsecrap…

Then sometimes it needs to transform like The Hulk and turn your restrained voice into a raging monster of hyperbole that grabs people by their eyeballs and drags them right down the page and into your world.

Exaggeration is one of those tools that are so far ignored that when you start to use it. The results were shock you.

Boring writers don’t want you to know that humans don’t respond to reasonable statements. We respond to emotion and intensity.

Now I’m not saying go over the top where you’ll be dancing that fine line where compliance might come back and bite you in your ass…

I’m talking about the type of exaggeration that amplifies your personality to make things more fun to read and ultimately more fun for you to write.

You think anyone remembers mild mannered Bruce Banner? Hell no.

They remember the raging Hulk smash machine that destroys everything in its path.

When you need to hook someone’s attention, subtlety is for suckers. You need to become larger than life. You need metaphors that would make English teachers weep with terror. You need adjectives that violate the laws of physics.

Don’t tell me your product “improves workflow efficiency.” Tell me it “obliterates productivity roadblocks like a tactical nuclear warhead.”

Don’t say your service “helps with stress reduction.” Say it “wrestles your anxiety to the ground and makes it cry uncle while your peace of mind does a victory dance.”

The world is drowning in vanilla content. Be the writer who shows up painted green.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

P.S. When people tell you you’re being “a bit much,” that’s when you know it’s working.

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

“Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.” – Alan Watts

​Life goes by way too fast…

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…Most of the time.

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But I’m two weeks into a solo retreat right now, and time is stuck at a stand-still.

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Two weeks ago feels like two months ago, and I’m staring down the barrel of seven more weeks of silence, which might as well be a year.

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​Time distortion. It’s a bxtch.

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Speed it up, and life becomes a blurry haze of day to day tasks, one after the other, not a single rose smelt.

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Slow it down, and, well, you find yourself sitting here writing this email whining that the clock won’t move.

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There’s gotta be a sweet spot around here somewhere…

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…But it’s damn hard to find, and I’m convinced the reason why is none other than:

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​Technology.

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Yes, technology.

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Screens, content, notifications, posts, podcasts, reels, likes, hearts, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs stuck sideways from swiping that damn infinite-scroll that sucks the brain right out of your head and the time right out of your life.

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Which is exactly what I’ve eliminated or minimized over the past two weeks, hence, the time distortion.

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​It’s a bit scary, when you think about it:

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If you’ve ever been laying in bed looking at your phone, only to snap out of the spell and realize it’s 1 AM and you’ve totally botched your bedtime…

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If you’ve ever binge-watched a show, only to pry your bleeding eyes away from the screen and look at the clock in shock…

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If you’ve ever disappeared down a YouTube rabbit hole and watched time disappear along with you…

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…And afterward, had that eery, sobering, way-too-familiar thought:

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​”Holy sh*t, that was a huge waste of time…”

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…Well, here’s another one for you:

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We do that to ourselves, in small hits or big doses, continuously, all day long.

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Every time our attention dances from one shiny notification to the next, time blurs and accelerates and then is gone.

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Sometimes we get something in return for it:

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A new insight, a wave of inspiration, or even just some genuine, high quality entertainment.

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​But more often, if we’re honest about it, we get nothing.

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We spend the two most valuable resources we have — our time and attention — on empty calories that leave us worse for having consumed them.

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It’s a raw deal.

​
I once heard Buddhist teacher Reggie Ray say:

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​”Modern technology is one of the most dangerous threats to our spiritual development that we face today.”

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And every time I reduce or eliminate it, I remember why.

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I don’t think the solution is to throw away our phones and stare at the wall all day.

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But it also isn’t what we’ve been doing, which is playing our lives on fast forward while barely paying attention to the scenes because we’re too busy looking at our phone.

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Let’s stop speedrunning and play this game right.

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We only get to play it once, after all.

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• T

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

I’m just gonna give a little shoutout to Jack Grapes

For years he’s been teaching a thing called “Method Writing” and one of his core techniques is the literary equivalent of streaking…

It’s basically you running naked through a field of words, while letting whatever bonkers thought nuggets tumble out of your skull meat and onto the page.

You don’t stop or edit. You don’t let your inner critic come say hello on your shoulder. You just keep writing.

And whatever comes out. Just stays. Could be about your breakfast. Could be about that weird dream you had where your teeth turned into tiny harmonicas. Could be any entire paragraph about how pigeons are secretly government surveillances drones (which they are…)

The point isn’t to write something good. The point is to write something true. Something raw and unfiltered.

All you need to do is a set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes or whatever you feel comfortable with and get to work.

If your hand starts to cramp? Tough. Keep going.

Running out of ideas? Write “I have no ideas” fifty times until new ideas burst out of your writer-ly chest cavity.

This exercise isn’t about craft or making art.

It’s a technique to get your brain to know that it’s totally cool to just spit out words of pure consciousness.

The good stuff? The real writing? That all comes later. The aim is to get your brain to produce words on demand.

If you want to go deep down this rabbit hole, jump onto Amazon and punch in Jake Grapes. Those two books are a MUST have if you have to produce loads of words or if you have days where you doubt yourself.

(…and remember: pigeons aren’t real.)

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

Spoiler: We’re all douchebags within a various degree.

The world runs on a special fuel made from blended confidence and bullshit.

The most dangerous predator in the business ecosystem isn’t the smart person. It’s the certain person and this applies in every aspect of the world we’re so happily sucked in to.

Meanwhile, the person who actually knows what they’re talking about is usually the quiet one saying things like “I think we should test that assumption” or “the data suggests otherwise.” But nobody listens because uncertainty sounds like weakness to primate brains wired for tribal hierarchies.

(The little meat computer in between our ears can be an absolute bastard to deal with)

The Confidence Industrial Complex

The self-help industry is a $10 billion machine that sells confidence like it’s miracle-grow for success. “BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!” they shout, as if mere belief will transform your mediocre startup into Amazon.

Here’s what they don’t tell you though. The graveyard of failed businesses is packed with the corpses of ventures led by supremely confident CEOs. Their tombstones read something like this:

“HE WAS CERTAIN. HE WAS WRONG. NOW HE’S DEAD.”

How to Not Be a Confidence Drunk Moron

When someone never expresses doubt, run. They’re either delusional or lying.

Actual expertise looks like nuance and specific knowledge, not broad, sweeping certainty.

The phrase “I don’t know” generally comes from people who know their shit, or at least have battle tested it and survived the tale.

But if you look at the world now, especially in politics and business. The loud wrongness gets promoted over quiet competence.

The most dangerous words in life and business might just be “I’m absolutely certain.”

You need to doubt appropriately and be a little sceptical, otherwise you’re just going to get caught by the douchebags that are little more confident than you and that swing, is wild.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

Me being the incredibly high IQ person that I am.

Who everyone adores…

I’ve happened to have one of those days, where I ordered £60 worth of food

From a restaurant that is over 163 miles away, tucked away neatly in London.

Now my local place it’s usually around £25-30 and within a few minutes walk…

I should have noticed the price, but I was like “Well it’s probably just inflation or whatever”.

So when I got the message to collect I was like “Hell yea” and went off to get the goods.

I arrived and they were like “There’s no order for you. You might wanna check the app again”

And so I did and that’s when it hit me. Yep. I picked a restaurant with the same sounding name, based in London.

I laughed, they laughed and the owner gave me a drink cause we’re all good.

“It’ll take us 20 minutes to whip up your usual,” he says.

(Which is crazy if you’ve got a regular meal at a local restaurant and they all know you by name and/or beard awesomeness)

Anywho…

Long story long. I got my meal. I went hope and was just laughing at my own stupidity.

Life happens. Shit happens and you know? Not everything can be all peaches and cream.

And so when I got to thinking again about this who creative life most of us have decided to adopt. We know all too well that things aren’t gonna go smoothly.

Sometimes it’ll cost us money. Sometimes it’ll cost us relationships and sometimes it’ll cost us friends and family.

Will the outcome always be good? Hell no. Sometimes it’s bad and sometimes it’s just blasé with a side “meh-sauce”

But you know what we do?

We don’t cry about an order placed 163 miles away while being hangry.

We crack on and do what needs to be done.

We get some more food and we keep writing to our audience while sharing the wild and zany shit that does happen to go down.

And while I may be just shy of £100 out of pocket for a meal. Lessons were learned.

Well, it’s 22:20 as of sending this.

And the only real lesson is to re-read yo’ shit.

Pitches to clients, contracts or deals set up between you and someone else. Our brains do this magical thing where we gloss over comforts and that can sometimes bite us in the ass.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

“To build product, make something people want. To create art, make something you want. The best do both.” – Naval Ravikant

​
​I’ve got three lessons for entrepreneurs — aspiring and experienced — today.

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So square up, strap in, and listen close.

​
Yesterday, we talked about the big, hairy problem with our membership, The Path:

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Ambiguity.

​

It’s tricky to say exactly what we do, here…

​
(self-development? spirituality? business? internal practice? …

​

…all of the above, hence the ambiguity)

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​…Which is the kiss of death for a business.

​
If you can’t say exactly what you do, and who you do it for, in clear, simple terms:

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It’s curtains for you.

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Lock the doors and close up shop.

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​That’s lesson #1.

​
Thankfully, The Path has been more creative outlet than business, for me:

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A transition point between businesses, while I figure out what I’m going to do next.

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But in the course of that creative process, clarity has emerged:

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Clarity on the direction of my work, and who I can help the most.

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​Which brings us to lesson #2:

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If you’re looking for clarity in your own work, and trying to forge your own path forward…

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…Look first at the path behind you:
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Your unique life experiences
The skills you've developed
Deep interests and curiosities
What you feel naturally suited for
Your successes and failures

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Where do they intersect?

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​For me, the intersection point is clear and obvious:

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1. Entrepreneurship 14 years in online business
   8 figures in revenue generated
   Privately coached dozens of 6, 7, and 8 figure entrepreneurs

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2. Advanced Self-Development & Spirituality 12 years of intensive meditation and internal practice
   10 years in traditional plant medicine and over 500 healing ceremonies
   Completed over 2 years of formal solo retreats
   Currently running ~10 group retreats per year

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I’m a bumbling nitwit at many things…

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…But when it comes to entrepreneurship and self / spiritual development:

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​I’m don’t play at this sh*t.

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I’ve got serious skin in the game, deep experience, and a skill set I’d stack up against nearly anyone.

​
There are more successful business teachers, and there are more advanced spiritual teachers.

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​But put the two together, and I own that lane.

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And there is no more potent recipe in business than owning your lane:

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Your own unique intersection of the marketplace that you can serve better than anyone else in the world.

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​That’s lesson #3.

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Which brings us to the big announcement:

​
Moving forward, The Path — and my work as a whole — will specialize in that unique intersection of:

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​Advanced Self Development for Entrepreneurs

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And, if you’re an entrepreneur — experienced or aspiring…

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…And you’re one of the rare few working to master both the outer business world and your inner world:

​
Welcome to the right place.

​
It’s an honor to share this path with you.

​

• T

​
​P.S. Speaking of The Path:

​

I’m gearing up to re-open our membership for the first time in four months.

​

I don’t have a set date yet, but it won’t be long — more details to come.

​
In the meantime, watch the new clip one commenter called:

​
​”…the most important talk I’ve heard so far”

“What you seek is seeking you.” – Dune Prophecy

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

…and 103 emails since I’ve had to restart this wacky list of misfits

Getting my ass booted off a platform I enjoyed has definitely changed the way I view the whole online space.

But the main thing I took away was:

Nothing is promised and can be taken away without any explanation…

So where you can have a backup. Make as many as you can.

I won’t say I wasn’t pissed when it happened, but I was left more annoyed at my own stupidity to be honest.

Well. I was lazy.

Luckily I’m using a platform that sends me email backups often and don’t care about the spicy nature of some of my emails.

So looks like I’m in good hands.

So whether I’m ranting, sharing wild shit or just doing a little more of the “teaching” side of things.

I’ll keep on sending these daily emails.

I look forward to writing them and I know a few of you enjoy reading them.

With the warmer weather coming back, I’ll be able to share more too.

For now though. I have to get back to building something I’ve wanted to for a long time.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleaguea

If you’re not diggin’ these tasty little emails anymore you can hit the unsubscribe button right here >>> unsubscribe

Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom