Power of intentional Growth!

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”- Socrates

I was doing everything right – waking up early, posting daily, juggling content calendars, tweaking your website, trying every side hustle strategy under the sun and yet my growth felt flat!

Relatable?

I was running on fumes, chasing the next trend, believing the only way to grow was to do more.

More platforms.

More posts.

More productivity hacks.

More, more, more.

Until I crashed.

And it wasn’t burnout that hit me first. It was the slow erosion of clarity.

I lost sight of why I started building my affiliate business in the first place.

I had a podcast with decent downloads but no direction.

I was creating content, but not making real connections.

My days were packed, but my growth was stagnant.

That’s when I learned the difference between growth and intentional growth.

And I want to share that lesson with you today.

Why Hustle Culture Fails You

We live in a world that worships busyness.

“Sleep is for the weak.”

“Grind now, shine later.”

“Outwork everyone.”

Those mantras might look good on Instagram reels, but in real life, they’re traps.

Especially if you’re building a business on the side… while managing a full-time job, a family, and your sanity.

The problem with hustle culture is that it glorifies doing everything instead of doing what matters.

But here’s the truth:

“Success doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing the right things, deliberately.” – Greg McKeown, Essentialism

When I started my affiliate marketing business, I wasted months building landing pages for offers I didn’t truly believe in.

I felt productive.

But I wasn’t being intentional.

Intentional growth means narrowing your focus so you can pour your energy into what truly moves the needle, for you.

And that’s how you accelerate your side hustle growth.

Not by running faster.

By running in the right direction.

The 3-Part Framework for Intentional Growth

Let me give you the exact framework I use now, both for my content and my business:

1. Choose One Business Focus Per Quarter

If you’re trying to build a podcast, grow a newsletter, monetize Instagram, create an affiliate site, and write a course all at once, you’re setting yourself up for shallow growth everywhere.

Pick one primary business focus every quarter.

Not forever.. just 90 days.

For example:

• Q1: Grow your email list
• Q2: Launch your podcast
• Q3: Build your first digital product
• Q4: Optimize your affiliate funnel

When I chose podcast growth as my Q2 goal last year, I turned down several “shiny” opportunities.

But I doubled my listener base in 3 months.

Why?

Because my efforts weren’t diluted.

Book to read: The One Thing by Gary Keller – a game changer for learning how to prioritize one outcome at a time.

2. Apply Content Marketing Minimalism

Here’s a hard truth: most creators over-produce and under-perform.

If you’re trying to publish daily across five platforms, you’re likely spending more time distributing than creating impact.

Instead, choose 1-2 core channels that align with your strengths.

Are you a talker? Double down on podcasting.

Love writing? Prioritize long-form content or newsletters.

Great on camera? Pick video.

Then repurpose strategically.

In my case, I focus 80% of my content effort on my newsletter and podcast.

My social media accounts like Threads?

It gets curated snippets and stories not a daily hustle.

Because intentional growth isn’t about being everywhere.

It’s about being effective where you are.

Book to read: Company of One by Paul Jarvis – a brilliant look at how small, focused businesses can thrive by doing less, not more.

3. Schedule Weekly CEO Time

You can’t grow intentionally if you’re always in your business instead of on your business.

Every Friday afternoon, I block 90 minutes for “CEO Time.”

No content creation.

No emails.

Just thinking, reviewing, and refocusing.

I look at:

• What moved the needle this week?
• What felt like noise or distraction?
• What needs to be cut?

This practice alone helped me realize that I was spending 8 hours a week editing social posts that brought me zero leads.

So I cut them.

That time now goes into strategy, partnerships, and audience conversations.

All high-ROI activities.

Intentional growth happens when you review your actions and refine your focus.

Book to read: Deep Work by Cal Newport – especially useful if you struggle to create focus time in a noisy world.

Growth Is About Subtraction, Not Addition

Intentional growth is not a productivity hack.

It’s a mindset shift.

It’s the willingness to let go of “shoulds” and say yes to fewer, more aligned actions.

If you’re overwhelmed in your side hustle journey, I want you to know:

You don’t need to do more.

You just need to do less, better.

Start with one focus.

Build one habit.

Master one channel.

And you’ll see more growth than you ever did chasing it all.

Remember this: Hustle is loud. Growth is quiet.

The less noise you make, the more signal you’ll send.

The clearer your focus, the faster your results.

Growth is not about being busy. It’s about being brilliantly focused.

Recommended Newsletters

Here are few newsletters that I would recommend that you sign up to if you are interested in learning the art of running a side-hustle:

• Write, Build, Scale
• Why we buy
• The Book Bub
• The Stacked Marketer
• The Growth Bulletin
• Unconventional Productivity for Online Business Owners
• Side Hustle Weekly
• The Affiliate Guy
• I will teach you to be rich
• How Brands win
• For the Interested
• Send and Grow

Sign up to these and follow them. You will get a lot of information and content for your blog posts, podcasts and even social media posts.

I will share more such ideas in my future newsletters.

I put in about 18 hours every month to create this newsletter, starting from researching to writing and editing it.

So, If you enjoyed reading this Newsletter, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could recommend it to others. You can send them to https://thegrowthcreator.com to subscribe to it for FREE!

What am I reading?

I absolutely love books and I read a lot.

In fact, I don’t just read a lot, but I also take notes on every book that I read.

I have pages and pages of information in my Notion Second Brain, so that I can find them and use them when ever I need.

I have added some of the newest books that I have been reading, to the Amazon store, so you might want to check it out.

Want to know more about the books I read. You can check it out here!

That’s it for this week!

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