Whaddup yo?
How the holidays going? Kicking it with the famz? Trying not to flip out?
This shit’s a novel – I know – but if you’ve ever been impacted by Sensophy, I hope you’ll read it.
I just got back from 3 weeks in Argentina and Chile. I was taking time completely offline to get clarity on my future vision, which started with reflecting on the past.
I went back and read the first 20 posts I created on Sensophy in 2010 – and WOW – the dude who created those posts feels so different than who I am today.
He was obsessed with this question (that I’m still obsessed with):
“How can I combine my passions and strengths to serve the world?”
Sensophy was his answer. I thought I was a half-decent writer who loved life-changing wisdom, so I decided to create a website.
I didn’t have a biz plan. I didn’t know anyone in the industry. And 99% of people probably thought that this 25 year old ex-graffiti writer was, in no way, qualified to give life advice.
I sucked my teeth and said fuck that. I put myself out there super vulnerably, kept it , cared deeply about helping people, and treated my readers as a *community* instead of an audience. As a result, Sensophy grew and turned into something special.
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When I was first learning about business, I read up on Harley Davidson. It was the best example of branding I’ve ever heard of – still to this day. This is a BUSINESS that literally has customers TATTOOING its logo because they believe in it so much!!!
While I don’t think anyone’s ever tatted a Sensophy logo (if so, send pics!), Sensophy did have that same kinda magic. A place deep in people’s hearts. Something they were proud to rep. A shared sense of having found your tribe.
When I started Sensophy, I knew one day I wanted to get paid to run it. And about 3 years in, I decided that I wasn’t gonna look at Sensophy as a “blog” anymore, but instead as a “business”.
Granted, a dope ass business with a deeper purpose than just making money. We were changing the world one person at a time. But as I focused more on how to grow the biz, I paid less attention to the Sensophy brand.
When I look back over the last 3-5 years, Sensophy has lost some of that magic it once had… The magic when I was posting my personal phone number everywhere for anyone who wanted help and inviting community members to come sleep at my crib. Even though the business has done pretty damn well, I feel a little bummed about that brand magic slipping away.
On the other hand, although I haven’t written much about this publicly, I’ve spent the last 5 years honing my craft of coaching – which I love! Last week I got an email that said, “Working with you over the last year has been the best and most meaningful investment of my life.” Followed by, “it’s because of your help that my life right now is in the best position it’s ever been.”
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Recently I decided to start a new biz (I’ll share more about that soon). And during my time in Argentina, I took an inventory of where I wanna be spending my time in 2019 – and what that would mean for Sensophy.
I realized that walking away from Sensophy completely didn’t feel right. And I think that’s because I know it holds a place in so many people’s hearts.
So, while next year I’ll be spending the majority of my time doing 1-on-1 coaching and bringing the new biz to life, I’m also gonna dedicate a portion of my time to bringing more dopeness into Sensophy.
That means creating more ways for you guys to connect with me and each other. Updating our dusty ass website. Strategically re-laying out the content to serve you more. And essentially, looking at each decision through the lens of:
“Will this make people more or less likely to get a Sensophy tattoo?!”
Less decisions based on dollars. More decisions based on dopeness.
I’ll send out some more info on that later, and how you can get involved if you’d like, but for now…
Thank you to everyone who has rocked with Sensophy at any point in their growth journey.
From the ones who left the initial comments on those first 20 blog posts, to the people who signed up to do 1-on-1 coaching before I even knew how to coach, to the ones who proudly repped Sensophy’s Inner Circle, to the ones who’ve come on our Bali retreats, to the ones who have been working with me in my online immersions, group-coaching, and masterminds in the last few years. Plus, of course, everyone who I’m currently working with 1-on-1 now.
Fucking THANK YOU.
I’m getting waterworks and a throbbing heart just thinking about how meaningful of a journey this has been. And I’m so beyond grateful that we got to play together … while, of course, crackin “that’s what she said” jokes and making hip-hop references all along the way.
To everyone who’s ever helped Sensophy in any way – and there’s A TON of you guys – hand on my heart, I appreciate the shit outta you.
Big love,
From NYC,
ON PURPOSE,
Jacob
PS: Come stay connected to me on Instagram for behind the scenes foolishness!
PPS: I read email replies. Especially the short and sweet ones!
