More people than ever are making hundreds of thousands of dollars from the comfort of their bedrooms.

This is something that was only reserved for the multi-national companies in the past.

But thanks to the digital souk, your average girl can do it too.

We are entering an age of the creator economy. It’s expected to grow from $128 billion to $529 billion dollars by 2030.

You aren’t late to the party. Get on the ship before we leave you.

It lowkey feels like when Prophet Nuh عليه السلام was calling out to his son to get on board before destruction hits.

Get on board before the destruction hits from the 9-5.

But don’t get it twisted.

This path is paved by Taqwa.

If you don’t fear Allah

You will drown on the way there.

“And whoever fears Allāh - He will make for him a way out". (65:2)

The Digital Golden Age

We are quite literally living through a renaissance of self-discovery and innovation. It’s an age that gives importance to:

• self-guided learning

• personal exploration and trials

• holistic knowledge

• digital tools

• mastery of skills

• pioneering your own path

To thrive, you need to become a digital polymath.

A New Way of Reaching the Ummah

My ig page grew over 100k followers in a matter of weeks. It doesn’t feel like anything to me. I still feel the same as I did yesterday. But what I’m realizing is that there’s a new society here.

Social media is no longer just a distraction app (although that may be the case for most people)

It’s a whole nother society.

No one’s forced to join. That’s exactly what makes it so appealing.

The barriers to entrepreneurship, careers, book publishing, video production, and seeking knowledge have dissolved. The gatekeepers no longer hold the keys.

You want to know how someone started their abaya business? Just google it.

You want to know how to edit a video? Just youtube it.

All you need now is an internet connection, a platform to voice your ideas, and the confidence to take on a journey of trial and error.

Bring Value

Everyone says ‘you need to create value’ but no one really tells you what ‘value’ is.

No, it’s not lengthy chatGPT generated instagram captions.

Value is the synergy between your actions, motivations, methodologies, and who benefits from that equation.

Value is create through:

• A problem: A hurdle or discomfort that that creates stagnation when unresolved.

• A Solution: A transformative outcome that allows the beneficiary to go beyond their initial state.

• An Insight: A creative approach that develops understanding, skill, and realization to bridge the initial gap.

• A Community: The collective who experience the same problem, can benefit from the solution, and are receptive to the insight for action.

Value is the essence of shared experiences.

Value is the impact through your narrative.

In order to generate a creative livelihood, our mission is to navigate through life's challenges, gain insights from these experiences, and pass it on to those ready to receive it.

Those who are a few steps behind you.

1) Create Contrast

I get a lot of questions from people saying they don’t know what they want.

Well, what is it that you don’t want?

Identifying what you want comes from experience, not imagination.

It’s easier to pinpoint what you don’t want — deriving lessons from adversities, as trials are tests from Allah meant to steer us back to the right path.

Create the anti-vision of what you don’t desire for this life.

Think about:

• What do you not want to feel like?

• What do you want to not look like?

• What qualities do you not want in your spouse?

• How much money is not enough money to live comfortably?

• What does your worst day look like?

• What do you not want to be questioned about on the Day of Judgement?

Think of your anti-vision in the following topics: health, wealth, relationships, and happiness. These are timeless pillars of human pursuit, a creative career in any of those almost guarantees a means of sustenance بإذن الله

And if you want more questions to reflect on, check out my islamic reflection journal. It has a question for every single day of the year.

2) Solve for x

Now that you have a clear understanding of your challenges, we will label them as unsolved equations (I majored in Financial Mathematics so you will probably see a lot of mathematical references throughout my letters).

Pick one unsolved equation. Solve for x. Move on to the next. Real value comes from the process of solving problems, not just figuring out what x is.

That’s why your math teacher always told you to ‘show your work’.

I remember during my advanced calculus classes, we would solve an equation with the work spanning for pages

Only for the answer to be 0.

It wasn’t the answer that was valuable, but all the pages of work behind it.

But let’s say you have little to no interest in solving for x. Think about what your perfect future looks like.

List everything that’s the exact opposite of what you don’t want — this will be your starting point for what you do want.

Think of this as your basic vision for the future. You will add and subtract from it with time.

3) Building Your Path To Understanding

Focus on building as a way to learn, not just learning to build.

You’ve pinpointed a problem in your life you want to solve for. It might be improving your health, becoming more disciplined, finding freedom, or something else that’s bothering you in your everyday life.

Keep that problem in focus and set a solid goal to tackle it.

Goals might not initially pull you in. They may not seem appealing or urgent at first.

You need to invest your time and energy into this goal until the thought of not reaching it feels like a loss.

When I first was working on Qur’anic Du’as, I almost gave up. I spent over a year curating every single du’a from the Qur’an, reading through tafsir books, designing over 250 pages, coming up with a million different templates only to throw it all out.

I was in the design phase when I thought to myself "maybe this isn’t what I want to do” but it was too late. I spent a considerable amount of time solving this problem and I couldn’t give up now.

Let your goal shape how you see things long enough for you to find compelling reasons to chase it.

Reasons aren’t build overnight.

They are created through dialogue, reading, active listening, and sifting through life’s experiences until you gather enough “whys” to stay on track.

Expect to stumble. Failure isn’t just a probability; it’s a necessary step to discover what you need to learn.

When you meet failure, see it as identifying a gap in your knowledge.

Let every setback reorient your approach, guiding you towards what you need.

4) Your Story is a Magnet

Fail.

Launch your product with 30 followers.

Share your ideas and get roasted for them.

Start your business and let people criticize your every move.

This path has been walked by many before you. You’re not alone.

Start a portfolio of your setbacks until they pave the way to your success.

These setbacks are your story.

And in every good story, people are more drawn in by the struggles, not just the wins.

You become a magnet for attention and value when you emerge with solutions from your own life’s challenges.

Share Your Value

All of that value that you create is incomplete until you share it.

Choose your medium. You can go about it through a mix of:

• writing

• video

• audio

• graphic design

Whatever you choose, I will always recommend to learn how to write as well.

When I’m having a creative-block, I brain dump.

When I’m thinking of my next post, I write the script and captions

When I want to create my own perspectives, I draw out and write mind-maps.

Learn writing through content, emails, guides, products, etc.

Because you have the task to transform the thoughts and solutions in your mind into powerful ideas that resonate, occupy minds effortlessly, and sway actions and perceptions.

Share your value through communication.

Engage people through your distribution channels.

Putting your value out there is the key to drawing others to you.

Without engagement, the exchange of value remains incomplete.

This creative path isn’t like a normal job. You don’t get paid for work you complete.

It’s a bigger mission that must be shared with someone else to generate a creative livelihood.

Thank you for reading this letter.

And as always:

مع حبي (with love)

— Saufiyah ♡