Hippie CEO Life #24 - 1 Year of Writing
September 23, 2022
“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.” -- Stephen King
One year ago, i decided to start the Hippie CEO Life newsletter. Looking back on that decision a year later, it’s become clear that i started the newsletter for all the wrong reasons….all the business influencers were saying you have to start a newsletter, i wanted to create something that would be popular, maybe deep down i thought it might be a good way to generate more business.
When i first launched the newsletter a year ago, i got an immediate response from my closest network of friends and supporters — if you are reading this in your email inbox, you are part of that amazing group of people that always tend to show up regardless of what i try to do, build a business, write a book, launch a newsletter.
Then after a few months of on again, off again writing, i made a terrible mistake. i opened up the analytics reports in Substack, and what was clear was i wasn’t attracting any new subscribers and very few people were reading the newsletter. i felt sad, defeated, the reasons why i started writing weren’t being fulfilled, so i kind of gave up. i kept publishing when i really felt motivated to tell a story but it was very infrequent.
Then in April of this year, i decided to dedicate time to writing again but this time i was going to do it for me. i would use the newsletter as a public journal of sorts, a place where i could record my thoughts and experiences of building a brand, in hopes that through writing and reflection, i would gain more insights from the experiences i was having.
i decided to stop looking at the data (i know this sounds weird coming from someone that runs an analytics agency), i decided to write every Friday, and i decided to be happy even if i was the only one reading the newsletter.
So what have i learned?
The activity of writing, especially if you are able to do so consistency, creates an opportunity to dive more deeply into our thoughts and experiences. It’s made me feel more creative, more introspective, more alive.
Cadence is critically important. In the beginning, i decided to write when i felt like writing, when i had great ideas, when i was feeling creative, but that didn’t work because most of the time, none of those things were true. So i decided that i would write every Friday morning, regardless if i felt like it or not, and i’ve done so since April, and it has made all the difference.
If you are writing to create a large following, drive new business, for most of us, just writing consistently is never going to be enough. You have to understand your audience, understand the style and content that resonates with them, you have to write and publish with them in mind, then you need to market, market, sell, market, ask, market, sell, you content. You have to write something worth reading. OR, if you are like me and decide to just write for yourself, then do that, but don’t find yourself on the fence writing for yourself but then agonizing over the metrics that never seem to grow.
i don’t think everyone needs to write a newsletter but i do think everyone needs to find time to write on a consistent basis. It’s good for the soul.
"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn." --Anne Frank
