Jonathan Stark

The Ditching Hourly Guy • I help solo consultants make more and work less w/o hiring • Get pricing tips by subscribing to my mailing list

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

I’M GOING TO DEVOTE MY LIFE TO...

Two scenarios:

## 1. Alice

Let’s say Alice had a powerful personal experience that led to her exclaiming:

“Arghhh! F\*ck it!!! From now on, I’m going to devote my life to helping substitute teachers transform their students without burning out!”

## 2. Bob

Let’s say Bob had a powerful personal experience that led to him exclaiming:

“Arghhh! F\*ck it!!! From now on, I’m going to devote my life to making enough money to buy a big fancy house for my wife and kids!”

----

If you had to bet _real money_ on one or the other of these two succeeding...

Would you pick Alice or Bob?

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

WHAT DOES “NICHING DOWN” EVEN MEAN?

In my interview with J.J. Peterson, we discussed the idea of finding a niche.

We’re both big fans of niching down, but discovered that our definitions of the term don’t overlap completely.

To me, “niching down” is when you stop marketing to everyone (e.g., “businesses” or “people”) and start marketing to a very specific type of ideal buyer.

Most people seem to think “niching down” and “picking a vertical” are synonymous, but there are other ways to niche down.

- Vertical focus (e.g., dentists)
- Platform focus (e.g., people who need a Shopify expert)
- Demographic focus (e.g., 25-35 year old moms in NYC)
- Psychographic focus (e.g., Terry Pratchett fans)

_How_ to pick the right niche is a story for another day. For now, know that “picking a vertical” is just one way to do it.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

STRATEGIES FOR GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE

Many years ago, my wife and I realized we had different strategies for getting somewhere in the car.

Her strategy:

“Get to the destination as efficiently as possible.”

My strategy:

“Get to the destination as enjoyably as possible.”

### Here’s the thing...

The strategy you choose extends to other parts of life.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

PATH VS GOAL

There’s a difference between a path and a goal.

Pursuing a path is easy.

Pursuing a goal is right.

If you live long enough, you will eventually learn that doing what is right is better than doing what is easy.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

SMALLEST VIABLE EXPERIMENT

Let’s say you want to write a book.

BUT!

You’re afraid that you’re going to waste a ton of time and money creating a book that nobody buys.

What if you ran a test to validate the idea first?

Okay, that seems reasonable.

How could you test whether anybody might be interested in this book idea?

- You could launch a video course to teach the concepts you plan to write about in the book

How could you test whether anybody might be interested in this video course idea?

- You could run a half-day Zoom workshop to teach the concepts you plan to write about in the book

How could you test whether anybody might be interested in this workshop idea?

- You could do a 60-minute webinar to share the key insights you plan to write about in the book

How could you test whether anybody might be interested in this webinar idea?

- You could share a post on LinkedIn asking for DMs from people who are interested in the insights you plan to write about in the book

----

Sharing a post on LinkedIn might seem like too small an experiment to help validate your book concept.

But think about it like this:

If you wrote the book...

And had it professionally edited...

And paid thousands for a cover design...

And had the interior layout done...

And uploaded it to Amazon...

What would you do next?

**You’d post about it on LinkedIn.**

If nobody responds to the LinkedIn post, your book is in trouble.

So...

Why not post to LinkedIn _first?_

Wouldn’t you rather find out if anybody cares BEFORE you spend all the time and money it would take to publish the book?

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

WHAT’S WORTH DOING?

How do you decide how to spend your time each day?

Each week?

Each month?

Each year?

### Here’s the thing...

I’m sure you woke up yesterday and did things.

But...

How did you decide that those were the things worth doing?

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

READER QUESTION RE: WHAT’S YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY?

Daniel Georgiev responded to an “empty Gmail inbox” image of mine on LinkedIn to ask:

> What’s your time management strategy, Jonathan Stark?

Thanks for asking, DG!

The core DNA of my approach is from GTD by David Allen.

And my email management approach is from Inbox Zero by Merlin Mann (who was also heavily inspired by GTD).

But my REAL trick is keeping things ruthlessly simple.

For example, I have only THREE inboxes:

1. The lock screen on my phone
2. The week view in my calendar
3. The today view in my task tracker

With this simple setup, the “event loop” of my daily operating system looks like this:

- Check the lock screen on my phone
- Is there an emergency-level notification?
- If yes, respond
- If no, rejoice ;-)
- Check the week view in my calendar
- Do I have a meeting coming up now?
- If yes, join the meeting
- If no, note the time of the next meeting
- Check the today view in my task tracker
- Is there a task I feel like working on right now that can fit into the available time before my next meeting?
- If yes, do it
- If no, do whatever I feel like in the available time
- _NOTE: I might set an alarm to snap me back to reality in time for my next meeting_

Then, whenever I finish 1) responding to an emergency, 2) participating in a meeting, 3) completing a task, or 4) doing whatever I feel like, I go back to the top (i.e., lock screen) and run the process again.

I’m not sure, but I’d guess I run through this loop between ten and fifty times a day.

Why am I telling you all this?

I’m glad you asked!

This process results in me spending a lot of time doing _whatever I feel like_, which I have found makes work not feel much like work at all.

What’s more, I never have to burn mental calories worrying about forgetting something. I trust the system and can relax, knowing nothing important will fall through the cracks.

Questions? Just hit reply!

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

DO NOT SKIP STEP 1

Let’s start with some obligatory quotes:

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”
—Terry Pratchett

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”
—Kenichi Ohma

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“If you genuinely care about the goal, you’ll focus on the system.”
—James Clear

“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
—W. Edwards Deming

### Here’s the thing...

1. Get very clear about what you want
2. Build a system to get it
3. Work the system

**IMPORTANT: Do not skip Step 1**

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

EXPERIMENTS VS PUZZLES

Lemme start with some informal definitions, off the top of my head:

1. EXPERIMENT—An experiment is an attempt to support or refute a hypothesis. Proving or disproving the hypothesis are both _equally successful outcomes._
2. PUZZLE—A puzzle is a finite game in which the player attempts to transform a current state into a pre-defined future state. Success or failure _depends on whether the player produces the future state._

Experiments and puzzles are VERY MUCH NOT the same thing.

BUT!

People seem to conflate them.

When I talk about running experiments in a business, it seems like most people think I’m talking about solving puzzles.

It’s like they want to start off with a predetermined future state in mind and then puzzle and puzzle until their puzzlers are sore, trying to figure out how to produce that future state.

An experiment, on the other hand, would start by presenting a loosely held, falsifiable hypothesis and then find a credible way to prove _or disprove_ it as quickly as possible.

Signing up to solve a puzzle in a business context is based on an implied desirability of the future state. This creates all kinds of sunk costs, which is bad, but more importantly, _it presumes that the future state is actually valuable._

For example, “Can I figure out how to get more engagement on LinkedIn?” is not an experiment. It’s a puzzle. And it presumes that more engagement on LinkedIn will create business value.

Will it? Maybe, maybe not.

An experiment, on the other hand, would start with a hypothesis in which you have little emotional involvement. Which is to say, you would be equally delighted to prove or disprove the hypothesis. And the faster you disprove it, the better.

Why? Because...

**It’s an opportunity to move on to a better hypothesis.**

Stop doing puzzles and start running experiments.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

I JUST LOST $150!

I’ve been writing about time management a lot this week, which might seem weird.

After all, this mailing list is supposed to be focused on pricing for independent professionals.

The thing is...

Once you start pricing your work instead of billing for your time, you notice a dramatic change in how you experience doing your work.

Way back when I billed hourly, every time I logged an hour of client work, I thought:

“I just made $150!”

After I ditched hourly billing for value pricing and productized services, every time I spent an hour on client work, I thought:

“I just _lost_ $150!”

This realization creates a powerful financial incentive to get a lot faster at delivering outstanding results.

That’s when time management started to become extremely interesting to me.

Because every hour I _saved_ working for a client was an extra $150 in my pocket _for doing nothing._

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

“FAILED EXPERIMENT” IS AN OXYMORON

When thinking about running business experiments, it seems like lots of people imagine that “proving their hypothesis” is a success and “disproving their hypothesis” is a failure.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of an experiment.

The point of an experiment is to learn something by proving or disproving a hypothesis.

Proving _or disproving._

Either is a successful outcome.

Why?

Because you have _learned something._

Disproving your hypothesis is not a “failed experiment” or “a mistake”.

The only way to have a failed experiment is to run one and learn nothing from it.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

WHY I DON’T USE DUE DATES ON TODOS

In yesterday’s message (subj: How I use my todo list), I mentioned that I don’t put due dates on my todos.

Why not?

Because then I’d only ever see my todos _on the day they were due._

This would put me in constant crunch mode, stressed out all the time.

Which raises the question...

Why _wouldn’t_ I see the todos that had due dates set in the future?

Because when I look at my todo list, _I only see the ones with today’s date on them._

**This is a critical component of my system.**

Here’s why...

I look at my todo list probably fifty times a day.

If I got slapped in the face by every incomplete todo I’ve ever added to the app every time I opened it, I’d probably curl up under my desk in the fetal position.

To stay productive, I need to _only_ see the tasks I can work on right now.

If I can’t work on a task right now, _I need to NOT see it._

For example...

As of today, I have 1196 incomplete todos in my todo list app.

_NOTE: 1167 of these tasks have no date at all. More on that tomorrow._

If I saw all of them _fifty times a day,_ I’d be way too distracted to ever make progress on anything.

So what date do I add to the task instead?

I call it my “Radar Date”.

This is the date at which I want the task to appear “on my radar”.

_NOTE: In the app interface, this date is still called the Due Date, but in my mind, it’s more like “the earliest possible date I can start working on this task”._

By default, when I create a task, the date is stamped as today - i.e., the current date, not Nov 4th 2025 ;-)

If I can’t work on the task until a future date - because something else has to happen first - I set the date to be the earliest future date that I think I can begin working on it.

So when I check my todos, I only ever see the ones that I can actually do something about right now, which keeps things from getting overwhelming.

Of the 1196 todos in my todo app, I only have 11 on my TODAY list. Not bad!

And I’m about to tick off “Send daily email” ;-)

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

@kevinwhinnery @AnthropicAI Claude Project chat in the mobile app on Android

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

Opus 4.7 appears to have been designed specifically to string me along without producing anything useful in order to trick me into burning maximum tokens. I've literally never been more frustrated by one of these contraptions.

/cc @AnthropicAI

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

@BrianDunning Thanks! Have her email me at [email protected]

(Also, this is the first example I've seen of my positioning working on a generational scale... w00t!)

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

THE FASTEST WAY TO FIND OUT WHAT WORKS

A mailing list subscriber who recently started his solo consultancy business wrote in with a few questions that basically amounted to the following:

> “How can I waste the least amount of time doing the wrong things in my first year?”

This is a completely understandable impulse, but it’s a category error line of questioning.

### Here’s the thing...

Whenever you are faced with a high degree of uncertainty, you should do a lot of experiments.

And by definition, most experiments don’t work... but that’s not wasted time.

It’s how you find out what DOES work.

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

Just me or does this pizza oven look like a probe droid?

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

WHAT’S REALLY THE DOWNSIDE?

There’s probably something you do on a regular basis that you don’t like doing.

It could be something you do every month or every week or, worst of all, every day.

Something that drains you.

Something you dread.

But guess what?

Good news!

**You don’t have to do it.**

You might disagree, but hear me out...

Just as a thought experiment, ask yourself this:

What would be the consequences of NOT doing it?

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

SUCCESS STORY FROM READER TOMMY CARUSO

Fellow list member Tommy Caruso wrote in to share an AHA moment related to niching down his side business _(shared with permission):_

> Jonathan,
>
> I finally got it — but not from consuming your content. From explaining it.
>
> My brother (software engineer, re-entering after a break) was building a landing page targeting small businesses. Classic mistake: trying to serve everyone. I found myself saying, “Jonathan would tell you to find one industry’s problem and become the expert at solving it.”
>
> That’s when it clicked for me, too.
>
> I pivoted my side business. Now I’m laser-focused: helping contractors qualify to provide customer financing. I know exactly where they are, what they need, and how to serve them (usually starting with a professional web presence).
>
> The mental model that finally made it stick: Niching isn’t casting a smaller net. It’s using precision lures to attract the right work — work that pays well, builds reputation, and leads to more of the same.
>
> Thanks for years of pushing this concept until it finally landed.
>
>

Wow, that’s a niche website!

I mean, just look at the main headline:

**Helping Contractors Qualify for Customer Financing One Step at a Time**

Q: Who’s the site for?

A: Contractors who want to qualify for customer financing.

Clear as a bell.

Congrats to TC for seeing the light and acting on it :-)

Yours,

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]

[Jonathan Stark @jonathanstark]

IT STARTS WITH NOTICING

When you undertake the various activities of your life, how conscious are you of their effect on your internal state?

Or to put it more simply...

**Do you notice how stuff makes you feel?**

If you DON’T notice how stuff makes you feel, I would _strongly encourage_ you to start.

### Here’s the thing...

You started your own business in order to craft the life you wanted to live.

To spend your time in a way that energizes you instead of draining you.

Therefore, it makes total sense to systematically remove stuff you don’t like doing from your to-do list.

You can’t do this without a list of stuff you don’t like.

Do you have one?

Yours

—J

[This is a repost of my mailing list. The most up to date version can be found on my website every day. Go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive]