This has been a challenging year in many ways, but when I moved into my new digs in Surrey on Canada Day, the last six months – long and dreary – started to take on a dreamlike quality, almost as if they had never happened.

I did not feel ready to dive into a ton of new projects, which should be obvious from this relatively short update, but it always seems to take some time to adapt to a new neighborhood, new home, new workflow, etc., and this move was no exception. I suppose this should be acknowledged as a form of creative expansion too, though.

Either way, I made steady progress with my projects and found a couple of new ways to expand creatively.

Here’s what I’ll be sharing in this letter:

• Creating and Sticking to a Budget
• Stretching the Outer Limits of What’s Possible with Bonus Content

Creating and Sticking to a Budget

This probably appears to fall under the category of “boring adulting stuff,” and perhaps it does. But I’m going to try really hard not to make it boring.

The big “aha” moment for me came when I started to see weekly paychecks from my full-time contract as a prompt engineer for Big Tech.

Previously, as a self-employed, I could never quite tell for sure how much money I’d be making by the end of the month, so I would frequently check my bank balance before spending anything.

As I began to see a consistent amount flowing in from my contract, I realized that I could allocate uniform monthly amounts to:

• Personal development
• Health
• Debt repayment

So, save for a couple of weeks where I ended up spending a little more on auto repairs or birthday presents, I have kept to this schedule.

And if you haven’t figured out why we’re talking about spending, it’s because income needs to be flowed out, and spending is a discipline all its own.

Chiefly, if you don’t actively tell your money where to go, it’s in danger of being absorbed by the unexpected.

Stretching the Outer Limits of What’s Possible with Bonus Content

Understandably, so-called “bonus stacks” have left a bad taste in the mouths of some consumers…

But as a creator, it’s in the category of “things you’ve got to do.” There aren’t many worthwhile alternatives.

You can’t just put a book, course, or coaching program out there. It almost has no chance of standing out from the glut of competitive training material.

There’s no need to follow the same, trite, eye-roll-inducing webinar format that every marketer seems to favor in selling the product.

But to “close the deal,” you’ve got to let people know that they’re getting more than just another PDF, audio series, or video bundle that’s going to sit on their hard drive left unconsumed.

I will be honest in sharing that I’ve sometimes dreaded the idea of having to create reams of PDFs or audio recordings following the entire ordeal of writing a book, for example.

But I’ve been challenging myself to think of the bonus creation as “part of the process,” not something separate. I’ve also been going above and beyond in thinking about and creating the type of content that would be of high value to the reader.

In the last couple of months, I’ve been hard at work developing the bonus content for Digital NO-Mad, which is nearing completion.

The only reason it’s not already done is because I’m polishing up other manuscripts simultaneously. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see my book launch schedule.

Either way, I’m looking forward to having these add-ons done and out there.

Closing Thoughts

I would love to hear how you have been expanding yourself this summer. Leave a comment below and let me know!