I spent a week with Farza Majeed. In his own words, he's "just a guy that loves creating things for others", such as:
- a $100k/year eBay business selling CDs as a teenager
- Zipschool, a better way to homeschool your kids via live classes for 150,000 students
- Buildspace, a school for people to work on their own ideas, helping over 200,000 people become app developers, content creators, musicians, writers, or doing anything else they loved
Farza is like the internet's big brother. He makes it seem so simple to follow your passion, because he's because he's been doing it for years. He never gives advice, just tells his story and hopes people learn something from it. You look at him and think, "if he can do it, why can't I?"
Everyone in Silicon Valley wants something from you, but Farza literally hasn't charged his users for the past 5 years. I'm often shocked at how he's able to afford rent, yet I'm also fairly certain he's going to be a billionaire.
After burning out, he's back to founding another company. I wrote for @sfalexandria_ about his journey, how he changes the lives of everyone he meets, and what keeps him going.
https://t.co/WTsSn8G4ha
every morning i sit down at my desk and ask myself the same question
"do i build or do i share?"
"do i build or make another tiktok?"
building is always easier. there's always something new to make.
but sharing is hard. it means putting yourself out there to be judged.
i recently started posting a youtube video every day, and it's helped a lot.
it stopped me from asking "should i share this?"
and forced me to ask "what should i share?"
my grandma watches my youtube videos every day
last week she told me “no one else is watching. you should make something more interesting”
she’s right. i’m a founder who’s sunk over a million dollars into this company posting daily vlogs that get a few hundred views
i made a video about why, and why ever founder should be making content
i met january this year with a lot of dread
for most of last year, i was working from my room. i thought that's what hard work looked like, being alone and heads down for so many hours, but it was incredibly lonely.
for the last two months, i had the absolute delight of being part of an incredible community: SLAM & Co
i was working alongside some of the most sincere, talented, and warm people: ceramicists, video game designers, bakers, engineers.
it is so rare to find a community that feels good down to it's bones, and Slam has done the near impossible of achieving was that.
i have felt nourished by the time I spent there. If you're also a solo entrepreneur looking for community, take this as a sign ✨
shani once said "Work can be literally anything you want if you know how to sell it"
she's carved out her own path making a living from art
by doing things like
painting portraits at tech events
writing poems during mother's day
we made a video about her story and how there are so many ways to carve out your own path in this world
This is Shani (@sha_zng).
She makes more money painting at tech events than she does at her tech job.
We had a conversation about how artists can make a living from their creative work.
today was day 3 of Declan eating souvla every day
also day 6 of documenting turning an empty warehouse into our dream workspace
i hope you enjoy the video. lmk if you have any feedback
We made a video about Meghan, who left her accounting job to pursue her dreams
She started a business selling sudoku journals
This is a video about her story, it's really worth a watch
This is Meghan.
She’s making a living off of a book.
It got her on the career ladder, got millions of views on TikTok and even got Billie Eilish to like her post.
This is what she does in our space.
We rented out an entire building in San Francisco
To make the Hogwarts for founders, artists, creators, and makers.
We just got the keys, and I made a video about it
I spent 24 hours with Niv, a baker, before she held her first ever cake pop-up.
We talked about how she got into baking, her love for storytelling through food, and why you should start before you’re ready.
Here’s the video