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I'm leaving Money Twitter
Claudia Stellner
August 13, 2023
Julian Shapiro once wrote:
“Without self-reflection, we ride the momentum of whatever we're already doing and whatever we stumble across. This means we work on the wrong things by default because our core values shift over time and they're often not what they used to be.”
As I spent the entire past week
thinking
strategizing
and reflecting
on my business journey, this quote popped into my head more than I can count.
And as a result, I came to a few important realizations, that I’d to share with you in today’s letter. ↓
To start with, all I’m gonna say is this:
Twitter is an incredible space.
The amount of
• knowledge
• connections
• skills
I've gained over the past 1.5 years I've been in there is nuts.
But after careful consideration of my current ambitions & values…
I realized it’s time to move on & pivot from the ‘Money Twitter’ space.
I wrote this letter to share a few raw thoughts that guided me through this decision, and also share a bit of my plans for the future.
But before we dive in, an important note:
Everything I'm writing about in this letter is based on MY perspective at this point in MY life.
Meaning, I'm not preaching or judging anyone.
No. This is purely a note to myself.
I'm just trying to be transparent about my journey because I believe it's a fair thing to do since you're a part of my inner circle.
Ready to dive in?
Alright, let's get it:
4 Thoughts On Leaving Money Twitter:
1) The Never-Ending Twitter Flywheel
The Twitter business model is quite messed up.
Especially for the ones on the outside.
Just take a look at how it works:
People grow fast by teaching other people how to grow fast so those people can then grow fast by teaching other people how to grow fast…
You get the idea.
Or...
They build a business by teaching other people how to build a business so they can build a business by teaching other people how to build a business…
And so on.
Is it sustainable?
Maybe.
Is it fulfilling?
Depends on the person.
But at this point, it’s not for me.
Long story short…
I want to explore a lot more of the business world than 'Twitter Solopreneurship'.
Because I know there IS a lot more.
And in fact…I KNOW I should explore a lot more if I want to set myself up for a rewarding career path.
Which brings me to the point #2:
2) Securing Opportunities For The Future
If I were back in high school and someone asked about my plans, I'd say that my first priority was to learn what the options were. You don't need to be in a rush to choose your life's work. What you need to do is discover what you like. You have to work on stuff you like if you want to be good at what you do.
In the graduation-speech approach, you decide where you want to be in twenty years, and then ask: what should I do now to get there? I propose instead that you don't commit to anything in the future, but just look at the options available now, and choose those that will give you the most promising range of options afterward.
What You’ll Wish You’d Known, Paul Graham
Paul Graham has expressed my plan in the most accurate way possible:
Explore & learn about all the options available.
Exploring new options → learning new skills.
Broad palette of skills → infinite leverage.
3) Regret Minimization
What choices can you make today that minimize the regret you'll feel as an 80-year-old looking back on your life? When you minimize future regret, you sleep well knowing you're maximizing fulfillment.
Although the though of ‘I’m not into Money Twitter anymore’ has been in my mind for a longer time…
I still kept resisting no matter how obvious has it been for me.
Why?
Because Twitter is pretty much the only thing I'm good at.
If I won't be doing Twitter, then what?
But whenever I'd ask the Regret Minimization Framework, the answer would be clear:
I don't want to spend my time doing something that doesn't bring me 100% fulfillment & passion, considering the fact I’m still in my teens & I can use all the extra time I have to experiment build and fail.
This brings to another point…
3) Time-Billionaires
This concept has stuck with me ever since I read the article The Time Billionaires.
As a teenager, time is my most valuable asset.
I already have 10+ years of headstart over most people in the business world.
And I want to use all this time to
fail
build skills
stack a portfolio of wins
make powerful connections
learn about how the world works
study languages
Basically do every single thing that I know I won’t regret when I’m gonna be in my 30s, 40s, or 50s.
Now onto the last thought:
4) Compounding
I am willing to take as much time as needed between projects to find my next thing. But I always want it to be a project that, if successful, will make the rest of my career look like a footnote.
Unpopular opinion:
Twitter is a vehicle for generating great opportunities rather than a great opportunity itself.
Now it's time to leverage all of the opportunities over the past 18 months of writing on Twitter, to find something that will make my 'Twitter career' (cringe, I know) 'look like a footnote'.
Bottom Line pt.1: What does it all mean for me?
If I’m being honest with you…
I don’t have a super polished roadmap of the next steps to take.
Yet.
The good news might be...I'm not quitting Twitter altogether.
But from now on, it's going to be more about my personal insights & philosophies rather than writing tips 🙂
Besides that, I'm also planning to rebrand this newsletter (but more on that the next week).
Bottom line pt. 2: What does that all mean for you?
If you're trying to build a creator business on Twitter, here's my timeless advice for you:
Don't focus on nitty-gritty hacks and tatcics.
Focus on building foundational skills instead (like writing, speaking, thinking, etc.).
The ability to persuade people or to think clearly is going to be relevant anywhere, at anytime (and its always been).
We can't say the same thing about 'knowing how to format your tweets so you grow your account faster.'
Alrighty, that's it from me today.
Here's to the new era
— Claudia "Moving On" Stellner