
April 19, 2019
Kunal (@CrazyPolymath) – Crazy Wisdom
Key Takeaways
- The core principle of marketing:
- You need to know who will find value from your product and where they are hanging out
- The internet has made it possible to learn and sell skills with great ease
- When creating a product, you need a twist somewhere – either in the product itself or in the marketing of it
- You HAVE to do something different
- Most of the time, we procrastinate because of the presence of distractions
- And often, that distraction is easy to indulge in (like easily being able to pick up your phone and scroll Twitter)
- “Stress kills creativity. Creativity needs space and time to grow.”
- If you love what you’re doing, hustling at it comes naturally
- “Always look for the truth. The truth is almost never visible on the surface – you have to dig deeper.”
Intro
- Kunal has a KILLER Twitter feed (@CrazyPolymath)
- He’s a self-described “normal brown guy from India”
- Kunal is 27
Thinking From First Principles
- Kunal learned about first principles from this Elon Musk Reddit AMA
- How do you think from first principles?
- It’s all about asking “Why?” and following the answers down to the root
- Recently, Kunal has been grappling with the first principles of marketing for his upcoming book
- Kunal explains:
- When you read a book or blog on marketing, the knowledge you gain from doing so is limited by the author’s knowledge
- A better route – ask yourself: “What are the core first principles of marketing?”
- And the answer Kunal has come up with – You need to know who will find value from your product and where they are hanging out
- ^ THAT’S marketing
The Internet and It’s Effects on the Career Landscape
- Prior to the internet = limited places to learn skills and sell the ones you have
- You had to find an in-person mentor to learn about a particular field
- Then you had to physically approach companies you hoped to work for
- Post-internet = Unlimited places to learn skills, unlimited places to sell your skills
- With the internet…
- You can go to YouTube to learn about anything
- You can send your resume to nearly anyone
- With the internet…
- “The internet created the two most important things for building a career – building skills and market”
Why is Kunal so interested in learning?
- Related: Naval Ravikant has famously said – “The tools for learning are abundant. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.”
- It largely results from his parents
- Parents who pressure their children to pursue certain career paths DESTROY their interest in that particular field
- Kunal’s parents never really forced him to do anything (like to do well in school or to pursue a certain field)
- “Curiosity is a superpower”
Kunal’s New Book – How to Monetize Your Passion
- He plans to sell it on Gumroad
- The overall goal with the book is to help people find their passions and package them in a way that others will then pay them to do that activity
- He also plans to cover how to market that passion online
- Kunal and Stewart dive into Stewart’s passion of massage therapy/body work, and teaching yoga 1 on 1 online through Zoom
- Kunal suggests that Stewart create an ebook or online course to market his services
- Specifically about solving a particular problem his clients would face (but you need to do it in a different/fun/engaging way)
- For example – A while back, when Kunal was creating programming tutorials, he did so in quite the unique way – through a letter written from Batman to Superman
- You NEED a twist somewhere – either in the product itself or in marketing it
- Specifically about solving a particular problem his clients would face (but you need to do it in a different/fun/engaging way)
- Stewart wants to explore teaching people how to teach yoga online
- Kunal examines – Back to marketing, you need to know who will find value from the service (potential yoga teachers) and where they are hanging out (probably online Facebook groups or Reddit)
- So a few good routes:
- Contact the Facebook group admins and offer them 50% profit if they allow you to market your course/service in the group
- Reddit allows you to display ads on certain subreddits
- So a few good routes:
- Kunal examines – Back to marketing, you need to know who will find value from the service (potential yoga teachers) and where they are hanging out (probably online Facebook groups or Reddit)
- Kunal suggests that Stewart create an ebook or online course to market his services
What’s the biggest obstacle Kunal has faced in writing his book?
- Procrastination (he plans to dive deeper into how he’s actually solving procrastination in his book)
- “Most of the time, we procrastinate because of the presence of distractions”
- And often, that distraction is easy to indulge in (like easily being able to pick up your phone and scroll Twitter)
- So to combat this – Kunal has started uninstalling addictive apps from his phone
- And often, that distraction is easy to indulge in (like easily being able to pick up your phone and scroll Twitter)
- Procrastination is NOT core laziness – it comes with layers
- The topmost layer is distraction
- The next level involves your skill level not matching your expectation level
- Next is the self-doubt/fear of not being able to complete the task/do a good job
- “Most of the time, we procrastinate because of the presence of distractions”
The Importance of Good Questions
- From Kapil Gupta‘s appearance on the Crazy Wisdom podcast (Podcast Notes), Kunal learned that the type of questions you ask literally give direction to your life
- Another thing Kunal has learned from Kapil – the ability to search for the truth of all situations
The Creative Process
- “Stress kills creativity. Creativity needs space and time to grow.”
- Kunal says he gets a lot of his best ideas during quiet times – like during a walk, or taking a shit (seriously), or while showering
- “Relaxation is a huge part of the creative process”
- How does Kunal relax? – Lots of long walks, watching sunrises and sunsets
Kunal’s 5-Year Plan
- He hopes to complete 3 books
- The first, as mentioned, is about how to monetize your passion
- The second will be about the first principles of mathematics
- “Mathematics is a very beautiful subject, but it’s taught in the worst way possible in schools”
- The third will be a children’s storybook
- As society is moving away from religion, we need better stories/methods of teaching children life’s lessons
The Problem with Hustle Culture
- “I’m a big anti-hustle component. I hate hustle culture.”
- Kunal expands:
- Everyone has a unique skill set – embrace yours
- If it doesn’t work for you to hustle/grind your eyes out until you succeed, don’t
- As Kunal is a bit of a procrastinator, before realizing this, he used to be very hard on himself for not being able to work “hard” at something
- Everyone has a unique skill set – embrace yours
- Kunal adds:
- When you hate something and try to “hustle” your way to success, you’ll break down quickly
- But if you love doing something, hustling comes naturally
- Hustle culture Twitter tends to promote hard work/grinding/hustle, not so much the fact that the hustle is a side effect of loving what they do
What explains Kunal’s rapid Twitter growth?
- The answer may disappoint you, but mostly luck
- One day Naval Ravikant retweeted a bunch of his tweets and he caught fire
What is Kunal reading right now?
- He doesn’t read books, just articles
- If he’s researching something, he prefers to just read book summaries online
- “I feel like there’s too much filler content in books”
Wrapping Up
- “Always look for the truth. Truth is almost never visible on the surface – you have to dig deeper.”
- To make it easier to find the truth of situations, Kunal recommends journaling and mediation
These notes were edited by RoRoPa Editing Services