In partnership with
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
Why should you subscribe?
I have over ten years of work experience in healthcare, program management, and data analytics on two continents. So, I know a little about helping you work smarter
I comb through tonnes of self-improvement content so you don’t have to, and I distill the content into bite-sized wisdom for you
I’ll occasionally make you laugh
If this sounds good, click the subscribe button below, add your email, read my welcome email (check your spam folder or “Promotion” tabs), and follow ALL the instructions. This is important so you don’t miss future posts.
Hi! I'm Shem Opolot, and this is The Friday Fix, my weekly newsletter. If you've received it, you’re either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter (yes, I’m the kind of person who uses words like “latter”) camp and want to subscribe, then click on the shiny button below:
You can also skim the past posts here.
Otherwise, grab a seat 🪑.
HAPPY FRIDAY 🎉 It’s a happy Friday, indeed. When most of you read this, I’ll be on a flight to Uganda to see my three babies. This is a heads up: I might take the rest of the month off to focus on my family and friends. Unless the words oil-spill out of me, I’ll be back in September 😊.
TOGETHER WITH THE HUSTLE DAILY
100 Genius Side Hustle Ideas
Don't wait. Sign up for The Hustle to unlock our side hustle database. Unlike generic "start a blog" advice, we've curated 100 actual business ideas with real earning potential, startup costs, and time requirements. Join 1.5M professionals getting smarter about business daily and launch your next money-making venture.
LIFE
Are you a sellout?
Can we swim against the tide, or are we all sellouts?
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. If you’re unfamiliar, the show followed the same basic plot: the coyote would spring elaborate traps to capture the roadrunner, and we’d watch him fail repeatedly. Much like Tom & Jerry, all this happened with no dialogue—just the occasional “beep beep” from the roadrunner to announce itself, and expressions of exasperation or connivance from the coyote.
As a child, the coyote’s spectacular failure entertained me, but as an adult, something else struck me. The writers skillfully ping-ponged our complicity between the two characters as we watched. In many scenes, you’d watch the coyote set up his trap and intermittently break the fourth wall to stare at you and invite you to be his accomplice. You held the nail while he hammered away, and briefly, you wanted him to succeed.
But after he sprang the trap—beep beep!—the roadrunner would show up, coming to a screeching halt from its blistering pace. It would also break the fourth wall, and make you complicit in the disaster that’d befall the coyote by winking at you after it inspected the trap, before speeding through it unscathed. The trap always malfunctioned until the coyote returned—incredulous—to test it.
***
Every time someone finds out about my newsletter, they ask me three questions: 1) “Like, every Friday?!” 2) “What is it about?” And 3) “What’s the goal?” #1 and #3 are easier to answer, but the nebulousness of #2 is part of its charm, I feel.
This week I’ve been thinking about #3. Most people assume the newsletter is a stepping-stone to something else—money, fame, something more. Those same people roll their eyes—like HR when you tell them your greatest weakness is you SoMeTiMeS wOrK tOo HaRd—when I tell them I write for myself first.
But it’s true. Everything else is a bonus.
Do I want to make money? Of course. Have you seen the price of eggs? The ads I run herein reflect my vulnerability to market forces. But would I sell this newsletter for millions of dollars? Not if I couldn’t create some other version of it and do the same thing. Not if I had to get approval before writing something.
It’s easy to say this now when I care about the price of eggs. But you cannot fully account for the choices you’d make if you had infinite resources. That’s a future version of yourself you can’t fully embody.
In a capitalistic world, where everyone’s goal is to escape capitalism, aren’t we all sellouts-in-waiting?
A creator on Instagram, incensed by the host of celebrities signing million-dollar deals with prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi (whose ads, admittedly, I’ve run in this newsletter), talked about everyone selling out and the prevalence of self-commodification. Whether on Instagram or LinkedIn, everyone is twirling for the algorithm. The creator made his case eloquently, and even admitted that his posting purpose and cadence were also, in a way, subservient to the algorithm that pays him.
But he let the audience off the hook.
Most of us aren’t posting or creating. Most of us perform social media’s most valuable role: digital voyeurism. But when we measure culpability in this crime of commodification, Coyote or Road Runner, we’re all complicit, keeping the algorithm and money machine chugging along.
We know this thing is bad. We know it’s harmful, but can we swim against the tide or is selling out inevitable?
TOGETHER WITH THE HUSTLE DAILY
Your Next Side Hustle is Already on This List
Ready to stop scrolling job boards and start building something of your own?
The Hustle's free "Side Hustle Ideas Database" uncovers 100 unconventional, actually-actionable ways to earn on the side.
Inside you'll find:
A curated list of 100 real side hustle ideas spanning e-commerce, services, content, and weird corners of the internet most people never think to look
Opportunities at every level, whether you have 5 hours a week or 50, zero capital or a small runway
Offbeat, under-the-radar ideas you won't find in generic "how to make money" listicles
Subscribe for free today and get instant access. Your next income stream is one click away.
THINGS
A quote
I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.
A read
I hesitated to share this, and I must warn you, it’s scandalous. But also well-written, loaded, and fascinating.
A picture
Spent a grand ole time with some old friends this past weekend, and more white than I ever have.
WORK
TEXT me
TEXT is one of my favorite functions in Excel. I mostly use it to extract the day, month, or year from a date. Like so:
Notice how the format of the day changes as I add more ‘d’s.
Now you can use it to figure out the day on which you were born.
PRODUCTS
A course
A guide
FUN
The Friday Fix playlist
Your picks
> What does your lifestyle say about your economic class?
> The safest swimsuit color
> Sample the book before you buy it
Have a great weekend,
— SO
