OpCo: One Year…Writing A Newsletter Is. Not. Easy. Regardless of What You Hear Others Say

What I have learned from writing a newsletter for the last year: celebrating one year of OpCo

I have learned a lot about myself, about how people view me, and a lot about a few topics over the past year. The main thing I have learned is that {CURIOSITY + PRACTICE = GREAT WORK}…eventually. This thing has made me a better thinker, leader, and professional. It has pushed me to go deeper, and to ask why? OpCo has pushed me to see passed the status quo and question in a productive way, is “the way we have always done it”, worth keeping as it exists today.

Practice

I love it. Organized thoughts which breeds more ideas. Opportunity to have a voice and share valuable thoughts in an organized platform. Building a newsletter builds character, as people might say. Building character doesn’t mean you will get something in return, growing and monetizing is whole different topic, for which I am far from an expert.

Seth Godin says it quite well. Basically saying something like: You do if for the practice of doing it, because the work needs to be done. Not for accolades or fame, but because it’s what you do.

Habits are what you are. Love that idea.

Feedback and sharing

At first I had the normal “why do you do that?”, “you have a newsletter?” Which some may have mentioned a couple times, same people! Now I get a lot more, “I see your newsletter” or “I like your content kind of feedback.” Engagement and building a following is hard and takes time. Compounding with LinkedIn is just now starting for me at still a slower pace, where followers go up a few, most days. For X and Threads, those are just reposts, and even with some engagement on each, it would take a lot more to build there. LinkedIn first for me, eventually spending different effort on those down the line.

Someone once asked me how I do all this research for these newsletters? Much of my writing is based on previous learning, who I follow, and what I reflect on from experience and education. I cite from a source if that source was used to create that edition of the newsletter of course, and when I think of a quote or reflection from a thought leader I follow, I of course cite it. So much of this has been from a collection of my learning and experience, so much from previous leaders and teams. I would like to do more research on a lot of this, but that requires a significant time commitment.

The business side

It’s really hard if you can’t (or don’t) commit the time, effort, and learning bandwidth. I haven’t sold it actively, and have made $0 off OpCo, in fact I’m sure it’s cost a few bucks, so it’s actually in the red, but I can see it is tough to grow subscribers without an existing broader audience, and even harder to sell paid subscribers or sponsorships if you’re not a “personality” with that existing audience to pull from, an existing business, or a highly engaging and hot topic, like Crypto or something similar.

I have thought about changing the title, but from the recognition side to what is better, it has made me pause. If you have a thought on what I should call OpCo, please let me know!

Being well known or known well?

Had someone mention the other day it was good to see me in real like, as a real person, since I’m one of those guys on the internet. They stopped short of calling me internet famous, I think, which is hilarious, but that got me thinking…I don’t have 10k followers, heck not even have 5k, but the consistency speaks for itself. People see I’m not going anywhere and you can’t lose if you don’t quit. People see commitment, consistency, thought, with presence. It’s interesting to think about lower number audiences and the correlating tendencies, not my expertise. I haven’t even analyzed what lands well, what resonates more, what people engage with more often, or anything like that. Sure I have noticed some trends, but no in-depth analysis - maybe I’ll get to that late in the year.

Content

Everything you think you shouldn’t say, most of that is what makes good writing, not all, but most. Some may be too blunt for the majority of your audience and too polarizing and therefore a bit too scary for most of us. But the great stuff is behind the, oh I don’t want to share that, can’t say that, or that’s too personal, no one cares. As Kenny would say, “that’s the good stuff.”

Content will always be there, you always have thoughts, experience, knowledge, or entertainment inside you. It’s just a matter of what you listen to and what you let out to share with the world.

What have I learned from the newsletter? What has the newsletter done for me? I think that is still an open question, as it’s early on, a year in, and I plan to continue. Here are a few thoughts:

What have I earned from the newsletter?

• Trust

• Credibility

• Attention

• The right to write more

How have I grown as a result of the newsletter?

• Habit

• Introspection

• Thinking

• Internal grit

• Experience with writing in a different way

• The urge to write more

Is it worth it? It is for me because I love it. For many, who don’t love to write or don’t love to share, it would be more of a form of torture. Gotta love the work, the practice.

A newsletter makes sense if you enjoy writing and like the accountability of consistently putting it out there, or maybe you just like the platform to write regularly. Or if you have the ability to gain and/or engage an audience from your newsletter.

For it to be any good, you’ve gotta love the work. I still have a long way to go to develop this “hobby” or practice. Beehiiv has been really helpful with making this habit productive and simple…nothing complex and easy to write and publish.

Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Please repost or share with someone who may benefit from this edition.

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