The Real (And Personal) Reasons I Created the Impact Generation
And what I hope to accomplish with this project
Introduction
In the Fall of 2023, at the ripe age of 58, I was struck with a thought that shook me to my core:
You only get one shot.
The first time this idea entered my mind, it was like a jolt of electricity shooting through my body. I knew exactly what it meant and the implications given my age and where I was late in my career.
In this newsletter, I want to unpack this experience for you. It represents the real (and very personal) reasons for creating the Impact Generation. In addition, it forms the catalyst for what I want to accomplish with this project.
Why the Message Was So Urgent?
The phrase, you only get one shot, means that you only get one chance at life on this beautiful planet we call earth.
It’s a one-time deal.
There are no do overs.
And that sobering thought grabbed me by the lapels, shook me, and wouldn’t let go for two reasons.
This is your life
First, it forced me to look at my life, and all the decisions I had made regarding my family, studies, and career. The questions that lurked beneath the surface were always:
What had I done with the one shot I had been given at life? Was I satisfied with my life?
It’s a terrifying thing to be confronted by your life’s priorities and choices.
Your ideology is everything
Secondly, as I was completing this uncomfortable life survey, I was also undergoing a massive change in my belief system. As many of you know, I’ve dedicated the last two decades of my life to teaching the Bible in various countries and Christian institutions in Latin America as well as the U.S.
But, to use a now familiar term, I was deconstructing my faith, worldview, and everything I had believed and taught about the Bible.
That story is long and complex and deserves to be told on its own. However, the reason it’s important for this post is because I was now confronted with another jarring thought:
My ideology had shaped EVERYTHING about my one shot at life.
And let me clarify. I wasn’t feeling regret for those decisions (ok, a little regret, since working in the non-profit world wasn’t exactly the best way to accumulate wealth).
Still, my wife and kids were my world. And, at that point, we had lived a wonderful adventure as a family residing and working in three different countries (Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Colombia) over a period of two decades.
However, the mixture of those two ideas was potent:
You get one shot at life.
Your worldview determines the quality of that life.
It was the seeds of the Impact Generation.
Preparing the Soil
Self-imposed limitations
At the same time this turmoil was coming to a head, I had already created an educational brand around my expertise over a period of many years.
I had a website with 200+ articles and I had designed, promoted, and sold my own digital products. I even began helping a few non-profits and churches with their digital marketing strategies.
In 2023, I began conducting workshops on digital entrepreneurship among my theology students and individuals in various churches in Medellín. I wanted to give folks another avenue for generating an income aside from full-time ministry or church donations.
As I dictated more than a dozen workshops, I discovered the biggest barrier to success for our students. It was not the technology or the steps for monetizing their expertise.
It was the multitude of limiting beliefs they brought to the table.
What held people back from testing the waters of the digital economy were the erroneous patterns of thinking they had inherited from their culture, society, parents, and even religion. Ultimately, they amounted to self-imposed limitations about their worth, talents, and abilities, plus false ideas around work, careers, money, and wealth (especially money and wealth).
The digital economy is real
Finally, as I was building my own brand, I could also see that the digital economy and the future of work were being transformed right before my eyes.
The aftermath of COVID had changed the landscape:
Remote work
Zoom trainings
Live transmissions
Millions of folks rethinking their work / life decisions
This was on top of the maturing of the e-commerce landscape, and the rise of the solo creators and the one person business models.
It was the perfect storm.
The perfect storm
Here’s what I perceived in the Fall of 2023:
The digital economy was real and booming, and represented a realistic and non-traditional option for generating an income and even making a living.
The biggest hurdles for success in the digital economy were not the technology or the process. The biggest hurdles were self-imposed limitations.
My workshop students were hungry to make an impact in the world, but they were limited by traditional methods of studying, working, and earning a living.
I was a lifelong teacher, trainer, and mentor with some success in navigating the virtual economy.
I wanted to make a much greater impact with the remaining time I had left.
Thus was born the Impact Generation.
It began with this newsletter, and has now grown to include workshops, a WhatsApp group, an e-book and a mentorship program. The Spanish versions of those products launch today while the English versions will go live in two weeks!
My Hope For This Project
The Impact Generation is a multimedia publishing, training and mentoring brand. Our mission is to identify and develop entrepreneurs of impact using the tools of the digital economy.
What is my hope for this project?
I want to help as many people as possible understand the unique opportunities afforded by the digital economy. This requires that I teach on technology, monetizing an expertise, and digital marketing.
But my biggest challenge (which is also my biggest reward), is to help people overcome their self-imposed limiting beliefs.
This is why I write about:
The importance of emotional intelligence to the entrepreneurial journey.
The erroneous patterns of thinking we bring to the project.
The cultural matrix which stunts our creativity, and hems us into a particular way of life and career.
We want to bet on you
Our business model begins with you, and a deep dive into your awesome superpowers.
This is our antidote to your limiting beliefs about yourself, money, work, and your career. But it is also our gift to you, so that you can work on something that absolutely brings you life and joy.
We then teach you the skills for monetizing your expertise in the digital economy. We want you to stop trading your time for money, or giving away your best talents, skills, abilities, and years to organizations that can never pay you what you are truly worth.
Finally, we want to bet on you because life is too damn short to have a job or career that doesn’t light your fire, or that is based on a cultural agenda, belief system, or parental / societal / religious expectations.
Remember.
You only get one shot.
What are you going to do with that amazing gift? We can help you answer that question.
Here’s to you success.
Gustavo
