Regardless of what the media, our governments. The keyboard warriors and scaremongers online say.
There’s never been a better time to be alive.
Why?
Because the barriers to entry have never been so low, it’s almost non-existent.
And I’m pointing the finger at myself with this article.
We live in a time. Where if you want to create something. Publish something. Build something for yourself.
You can, at almost zero cost.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to become a millionaire. Or want to stream how amazing you are at Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
You can put it out to the world.
So, what’s the one thing holding us back? For hitting publish?
It’s ourselves!
“The Bar Has Never Been So Low”
If you’ve read my articles or seen some of my posts online.
You may have seen me refer to the Modern Wisdom podcast. And A few episodes in particular.
The host and his guest state that “the bar has never been so low”.
And yes, this isn’t completely from an aspect of creating online. It’s more general. More people are overweight, divorced, and have little or no savings than ever before.
That may be true.
But I’m focusing on the barriers to entry with that statement.
That in the past. Let’s go back to the 1990’s.
Suppose you wanted to get something out to the world. You had to go past the “gatekeepers” (more on these in a second).
Once the year 2000 rolled by.
The new millennium made these barriers to entry drop in height. To make the gatekeepers more lackadaisical.
Nothing is stopping us anymore.
Barriers Are Easy To Step Over. They May Even Not Exist
Rewind to the 90’s
If you wanted to start a business. You needed to create a business plan. And present it to people. More than likely a bank manager. To secure the money to get started.
If you wanted to record music. You had to “tour” the right venues. Hoping that a record company would notice or hear about you and offer you a contract.
If you wanted to create a TV show or star in one. You had to attend the right acting schools. Look “the part” and audition in front of the right people.
If you wanted to become a talk show host and interview people. You had to spend years working for others. Hoping one day you’d get your chance. On a small platform to start with. Then fight your way up.
If you wanted to become an author, publish a book. You had to write a draft of your book. Then go to all the book publishers and pitch your book idea or written draft. Hoping one person will like it and agree to start printing it.
If you wanted to teach others a skill. You had to undertake a teaching degree at University. And comply with the rules and adhere to restricted knowledge to teach.
I could go on with this list.
Unless you were part of the 1%.
All these things were difficult to get started with.
More often than not. You had to spend years and years, as an apprentice. Learning, “tipping your cap”. Doing things in a certain way, a certain order.
And that there were all these gatekeepers. People who permitted you to do something.
And they were, still are, very biased and very strict with who they let pass.
But that’s all changed now.
Step Over The Barrier To Publish With An Email Address
I’m writing this article in September 2024.
And the barrier to entry is nonexistent. Well almost.
More often than not. The barrier now is having an email address.
Let’s go through the barriers from the previous section and compare them to the modern world.
Break Through Barriers
Starting a business today. In the UK at least. You can use a government website and spend £30 or so, to register a business. All you need is an email and a few personal details. Use the same email address to register for LinkedIn and Stripe. You’ve a way to find customers for your new business, and to get paid.
Did you record an album? Register with SoundCloud and self-publish all your albums. Even get paid (very small amounts) when people listen.
Want to star in and record a TV show? Register with YouTube and create a channel. Then you can create playlists for all the TV shows and episodes that you want to record.
Love interviewing people? Register with Apple Podcasts, and Spotify and publish all the interviews on their platform. And you’re not limited to how long, or how many questions you can ask.
Written a book you want to publish? Register with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. And you can get your book published in different formats. Even physical printed books. So anyone can grab a copy of your new novel.
Want to teach people what you know? Register as a tutor with Udemy and record your course. Students from around the world can then learn from you, unrestricted.
As I’ve mentioned “the bar has never been so low”.
The barriers to entry are at ankle level. They’re so easy to step over.
And the gatekeepers are “asleep”.
Well, all they need is your email address. A few personal details. To verify a thing or two. And for you to stick to their T’s & C’s.
That’s it.
What Barrier Is Blocking Us Then?
If the bar has never been so low?
That barrier to entry is so easy to step over?
And the gatekeepers let you pass with little requirements and questioning.
Why haven’t we reached our goals?
Done what we said we would do? Start that business. Record that podcast. Edit that video for YouTube. Written that book.
Unfortunately in the now uber-connected world of ours. There are other barriers.
There are both external and internal forces at work.
But, we can boil them down to the internal battles that we have with ourselves.
That there at things (more on these in a second) that we must overcome.
These might not be barriers to jump over. Or gatekeepers to sneak past.
They feel like a mountain that we need to climb.
And that we don’t have the right equipment for the climb.
The Biggest Barrier: Ourselves
I’ve begun to discuss this in the previous section.
A lot of the time these days. The things we want to achieve. It’s the internal battles, the internal foes we must defeat to start doing what we said we would do.
To start working towards our goals.
That’s because 6 million years worth of evolution is fighting against us.
Here’s why.
Our “Hunter Gatherer” Mindset
I’ve been thinking about this alot over the last few years.
And I’ve read a good few books on the subject.
The modern world has changed. And its changing so fast. Our brains can’t keep up. We aren’t evolving at lightning speed.
For example. One million years ago. If we needed to eat. We would have to venture out into a risky world, with other people from our tribe.
And our brains were always on the lookout for treats.
A sabre tooth tiger. Fruit that could poison us. Another local tribe looking for a fight.
The list is endless.
And because of this. After millions of years of this mental processing, our brains still have this mindset.
When you’re hungry. Slumped on the sofa watching Netflix. You can unlock your phone. Open a food delivery app. Order more food than you can stomach. And get it delivered to you in less than an hour.
The daily risks have gone. They almost don’t exist.
But our brains still look for risks.
And they make them up. Make them seem so scary and life-threatening. That they stop us from doing most things. We only seem to do the least amount of work to survive.
The word “thrive” doesn’t even come into view.
It Toys With Our Sleep
I’m speaking to you if you’re a man reading this.
Women may do this too.
But I’m a bloke, so I can only talk from my experience.
When asleep with my wife next to me.
If I hear a noise. Or something rustles outside.
If my wife has a bad dream. Or tugs at the covers, even a little bit.
It wakes me up.
Why?
Because I’m hardwired to do this. The years of evolution still put me on alert. “On edge”
And you can’t change this.
You can’t stop your mind from being on high alert.
All you can do is to try and notice when this happens and to move past it (more on what to look out for in a moment).
To plan out what you want to do and to stick to it.
If you’re interested. I’ve created a simple habit tracker to help me stick to the tasks and goals I’ve set for myself. Click here to check it out.
Even when my “Primal Brain” kicks in and tries to protect me.
We can’t blame our brains.
As I’ve said. All it’s doing is to try and protect us.
But the problem with that. It makes a mountain out of a molehill.
And that can stop us dead in our tracks.
Preventing us from doing what we said we would, or wanted to do.
So what should we look out for?
Here’s what I’ve found.
5 Biggest Internal Barriers To Overcome
If I spent a few days thinking back on my journey. I could expand this to 10 barriers, even more.
Here are the 5 internal battles that I’ve had with myself over the years.
Still do.
But that’s all they are. Internal.
Let’s run through them.
Worrying About What People Think
This has been one of the biggest issues for me. This has stopped me hitting “the publish button”.
One of the biggest internal battles I’ve had to win.
And you know what?
It’s all in my head.
One of my SaaS businesses is in the B2B space. So, where do a lot of business owners and people that could use my product hand out? Yep, LinkedIn.
The problem is, a lot of my oldest friends are on there too.
I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about what people. Not strangers, but people I know well. Are going to think about the content I put out. Not trolls, but friends.
And I’m here to tell you that it’s all in your head.
I’ve lost count of the great feedback from my friends. About pieces of content that I’ve put out.
The people I know. You know the ones?
The friend(s) that you think will criticise, make fun of you, or make a joke out of you in front of others. That will tear strips off you for publishing something.
But it’s the opposite.
They have given me the most positive feedback.
Telling me how much they liked a certain piece of content. Or that they find something interesting. And how supportive they are.
And why worrying about what people will think is a waste of time.
Because they won’t be thinking what you think they will be thinking. About the content, you’ve been overthinking haha.
Worried That It’s Not “Perfect”
This is a tough one.
You have seen a lot of content. From people who you like and admire.
And it always looks so slick, so polished.
So the content you want to put out there. You want it to be as good as theirs. But that’s not going to be possible.
Unfortunately great content is a volume game.
It’s like building muscle. You have to put the reps in. For years. And there’s stuff you don’t see. Like rest, recovery, diet, and supplements. There are a lot of other things that play their part.
And it’s linked to a point I’m going to talk about in a second, comparison.
You don’t know what skills. What they’ve learned along the way makes their content so great.
Also, what resources do they have available?
If it’s you, alone, at home. Trying to create content using your phone, a cheap microphone, a laptop and the free version of Canva.
You can’t compare yourself to slick-looking content.
They’ve got more experience. Could have access to a studio. $100,000 worth of equipment. A team of producers and editors. The list goes on.
So the way I look it is to use a few phrases to reframe the process of publishing. Or putting something out into the “ether”
My Favourite Reframes
First: “Published is greater than perfect”.
You can make the greatest-ever YouTube video or blog post. But if it isn’t published, it will never be perfect. Because no one will see it.
Second: “Progress over perfection”.
Trying to get better each time you hit publish is better than trying to make it perfect.
And both link back to putting in the reps.
A top tip I saw from Mr Beast. From when he was in his early days.
He said: “I tried to improve one thing with every new video I recorded and edited”.
Like I said, “progress over perfection”.
The same with James Dyson and his new type of vacuum. He created over 6,500+ prototypes before he was happy. And he tested a single tweak in every prototype.
What amazing insights.
Publishing on YouTube? Try to improve the thumbnail or the first 15 seconds.
Writing a long-form article. Try to improve the headline, the opening paragraph, or the preview image.
Posting on social media. Try to improve the hook, the structure, or the order of the post.
And do it every single time.
Why Should People Listen To You
This is a tough one to overcome.
You think you have to be an “expert” for people to listen to you.
That you have to have 10+ years of experience. And a back catalogue of amazing wins for people to take you seriously.
In some cases, that may be the case.
But if you’re starting. This won’t be the case.
It could be a “chicken and egg” scenario.
I don’t publish content because I’ve no major wins. But I’ve no major wins because I don’t publish content. Only if something is out in the world, can it lead to something to then create content about.
Start where you are.
Over the last 6 months. I’ve heard this concept from both Dan Koe and Shaan Puri.
And it helps get over the internal barrier of “why should people listen”.
Well, it’s because “you are the niche” (Dan Koe).
You are unique.
There’s no one else on this entire planet that is exactly like you. Thought, opinions, influences, experience, interests.
“No one can compete with you being you” (Shaan Puri).
If you’re interested in learning more. I’ve put links to two videos from these creators that talk about this. They articulate it better in the videos than I can in written form.
This helps us with this battle. Because people should listen to you, because of your unique view of the world.
Some people will like you and the content. Others won’t
And that’s OK. You only want to find those that find you interesting anyway.
Comparing Yourself To Others
I’ve touched on this already.
You can’t compare yourself to others.
They may have huge resources at their disposal. A vast backlog of experience because they’ve been doing this sort of thing for years.
Have learned from different people and been able to upskill quicker than you have.
You know what?
They could also be lying.
How many so-called “influencers” have gone into debt to hire an expensive car or private jet? To fake it.
Social Media only shows you 1% of someone.
I guarantee they will have crippling self-doubt too. They have worked through that.
So what can you do about it?
Well, still compare yourself to someone. But start comparing yourself to you of yesterday. That’s it.
Am I getting better? Sticking to it? Doing what I said I’d do?
That’s the game.
If Something Fails, That You’re A Failure
I’m trying to refrain from going on a massive rant about the school system.
But we’re brainwashed to think that failure is a bad thing.
And that failing at something means we’re a piece of shit.
HORSE SHIT!
I’m going to use the muscle-building reference again. I love the link between fitness and personal growth, even business.
Anyway
To build muscle, you need to train your muscles to failure. To push them to discomfort. Also, this creates tiny tears in the muscle. Which forces them to repair, get stronger, and bigger.
So much for failure being a bad thing.
It’s critical in this instance.
I always remember an old boss of mine saying something to me once. After I’d made a massive mistake.
“Don’t worry lad. We all makes mistakes, if you don’t make any mistakes, it means you not doing any work”.
And I love that.
If you are going to try to do anything. You are going to fail at some point, make a mistake, get it wrong. And that’s a good thing.
Failure = learning.
What failing doesn’t mean, is that you’re a failure. It’s the opposite.
Why?
Because you’re learning, growing, getting better. You’re gaining experience, knowledge, lessons.
So if someone has never failed. They are the failure.
Because they’ve never put themselves out there.
Conclusion: Hitting Publish
If you’re interesting in something. If you want to publish something you’ve been working on and get it out to the world.
To start a blog or newsletter. Record videos to put on YouTube. Interview people you admire on a podcast. Start a business.
It doesn’t matter.
The barrier to entry to that thing has never been lower.
And the gatekeepers are no longer that strict.
The battle now is internal.
That we fail to publish that thing. Do the work. Create something and put it out into the world?
Why?
Because we tell ourselves we can’t.
In my experience, it’s because of one of these 5 internal barriers that I put up
- Worried About What People Think
- Worried That It’s Not “Perfect”
- Why Should People Listen To You
- Comparing Yourself To Others
- If Something Fails, That You’re A Failure
And that if we fail at that thing, that makes us a failure.
But that’s wrong. It’s the opposite.
If you fail to even try, that’s the definition of failure.
Failing over and over means you getting better with each new failure.
And that’s great thing to have.
If nothing else. You’ll have something to talk about the next time you want to hit “publish”
Recommended Watch For Help You Publish
How To Grow An Audience If You Have Followers – Shaan Puri (My First Million)
