WLW #174

👋 Hey Reader!

This is issue #174 of Work Less Wednesday, where I share with you 5 things you should know about, in 5 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,075 other minutes this week.

📰 1. I’m Launching A Substack Next Week – inner entrepreneur

There’s a lot going on in Rich-land, and I’m going to add one more thing to the mix.

Next week, I’m publishing my first post on my new Substack “inner entrepreneur.”

It will be setting the stage for the rollout of some new tools I’m building for entrepreneurs, complimenting the new product I’m launching in a few months.

So here’s the deal:

Later this week (tomorrow?), you will likely get a notification from Substack that you have been added to the list.

I’d love for you to give it a chance and check out the first issue, which I’ll release Monday, October 6th.

If you’re not interested, you can just click unsubscribe on the email (no hard feelings!)

​You can subscribe early here (if you want!)

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❤️ 2. I Gotta Say It – I Love Apple’s New Liquid Glass.

Last week I updated my phone to iOS26 and MacOS26.

And I gotta say, Liquid Glass is awesome.

​It seems like the public opinion isn’t with me – the general consensus is it’s cool to hate on it.​

But I’m loving it.

Why do I love it so much?

1. It feels really good – there is a tactile sense to the phone that feels totally new and really responsive.
2. The animations are really fun.
3. The new glass icons on mac make for a much more minimalist experience, which is great for deep work.
4. The new phone call screening feature has eliminated the amount of spam calls I get per day by 95%.

I haven’t been excited about an iOS update in a long while, but this one did it for me.

If you haven’t updated yet, you can check it out here.

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📝 3. A Zoom Call With The Most Obsessed CEO – Jon Courtney Interviews Sam Ovens

Awesome interview by my pal Jon Courtney (CEO of AJ&Smart)

Here’s what he said:

“Sam Ovens.

He’s the CEO of the inanely successful Skool.com, which has over 17 million users, and ran one of the first and most successful businesses in the online education space: Consulting.com.

Sam is fascinating, he’s obsessive, he’s unconventional.”​

This isn’t your usual CEO podcast, there’s no polished soundbites, but if you want to go deep with an unconventional mind, this is for you.

You can watch the full interview here, and check out Jon’s podcast The Unscheduled CEO on Substack here.

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🤝 4. The 24 Hidden Rules of Corporate Politics – Guide by Gaurav Jain

“You may not take an interest in politics, but politics will take an interest in you.” – Pericles

Corporate politics suck.

It’s one of the (many) reasons why I don’t have a job. 😂

But here’s the truth:

If you work with clients, you will deal with corporate politics, whether it’s directly or indirectly.

And you don’t have to like it, but you NEED to be aware of the basics of what is going on.

Otherwise you will be victim to these unseen forces that will affect your ability to do good work.

I’ve been lucky to navigate these dynamics on my own firsthand through trial and error, but if you’re not able to, this awesome guide is a great place to start.

Here are 5 pointers to get you started:

1. 🏈 Everyone is playing the game, even the ones who say they hate politics. Don’t watch what people say. Watch what they do.
2. 🙈 Ignoring politics is how you lose by default. “My work speaks for itself” is not true.
3. ✅ Influence doesn’t require authority. You need just two things to shape outcomes: credibility and timing.
4. 👥 Proximity to power shapes your trajectory. People bet on those they can see.
5. 🤝 Relationships beat results (over time). People support those they know and trust, not always those who deliver the most.

​Read the full guide here.​

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🖐 5. More Things I’m Into This Week…

📗 Book I’m Reading – Katabasis by R. F. Kuang​

🪿 Soundtrack For This Week – Goose – Madelena (Seeing them live next week!)

🧱 LEGO I’m Building – Vincent van Gogh – The Starry Night​

📱 Minimalist Smartphone I Think Looks Cool – Minimal Phone​

💬 Quote I’m Pondering…

“If you want to be given everything, give everything up.”

– Tao Te Ching

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How we can work together

When you’re ready, here a free way I can help you:

• 🎧 My Podcast. Listen to or watch my free podcast The Rich Webster Show. It is an unfiltered look behind the scenes at my life and work.

And one paid engagement:

• 🧪 The Lab. I advise and mentor 6-7 figure Creative Solopreneurs. If you want to work closely with me (i.e. we speak 1-2 times a week), watch this video, the follow the instructions.