Consistency, No Exceptions❗
👋 Welcome!
The smartest thing you can do is to “figure out early that you're smart, but not that smart.” This is one of the gems from Dickie Bush’s summary of David Perell’s podcast with the highly productive Tyler Cowen. In summary, Tyler is an economics professor, who among many other prolific activities has published a new post every day for the past 17 years and hosts his own podcast. He ends every podcast by asking his guests about there productivity methods and how they get things done. This is the question the episode is devoted to. Tyler’s compounding advantage is that he “started early” and “kept on going for many, many years.” It also meant giving up much of his childhood. He writes daily, with no exception: “If you write every day you don't have to worry about how much you've written, it's going to add up.” Reading is his big advantage. He taught himself at two and “can read 5 to 10x faster than any of his peers.” One reason he gets things done is that his “social life is geared toward being curious, exploring ideas,” not TV. Read the full thread, Dickie’s Notion notes or listen to the podcast.
😺 Products of the Day
July 20, 2020
🥇 Range app for Slack: Run your team check-ins with Slack.
🥈 Cheerble Board Game: The only toy you need for your cat.
🥉 75 Ways to Get New Clients: Ideas to secure your next client by tiiny.host.
🚀 Maker News
PR & Social
Jen Hartmann, Head of PR and Social Strategy at John Deere, recently spoke with Twitter guru Matthew Kobach about her work. Ari Lewis shares a thread with 44 lessons from the conversation. Early on in her career at John Deere, Jen became aware that customers are storytellers and consequently can be valuable brand advocates. She believes it’s not only important to keep an eye on the latest social trends, but “to listen and stay tuned into” your audience. Make them feel involved. She adds that everyone suffers from imposter syndrome. We learn as we go along. The key is, don't be afraid to fail, allow mistakes. Every opinion matters! She thinks the best tweets are those that share an emotion. Again the key is to tap into your audience. Below Aaron Aalto has also brilliantly sketched out the conversation. Read Ari’s full thread.
Source: Aaron Aalto
Transaction Fees
Spencer Fry finds it painful that creators are spending so much money on transaction fees, as there are alternative platforms that charge none. He believes the fee-based platforms “goal is to lock you in” just when you’re beginning. In the beginning, it may seem attractive, but later on, this can bite you. His advice is to choose a platform “based on where you intend for your business to be, rather than where it is today.” This will save you many headaches later on. Read the full thread.
Writing Strategy
Packy McCormick is the writer of the fast-growing Not Boring Newsletter. In a recent Compound Writing private call he spoke about how he works and thinks. Alexander Hugh Sam shares his key takeaways in a thread. Packy believes writing is a simple way to “explore and experiment with different ideas.” When writing an essay or blog post try to add something else that fits your style, like memes and graphs. He differentiates between timely and timeless pieces. The first help growth while the second acts “more as a resume and lays a foundation.” Get feedback from other people such as friends, family and your surrounding community. Posting consistently is the key to building an audience and community. Try and “be open and transparent with what you're trying to do/doing.” He concludes by reminding us that Twitter only represents 0.001% of the world. There are many more people out there! Read the full thread or watch the video.
💭 Afterthought
To finish the day a simple yet powerful Tweet by Eric Jorgenson. For me, especially the last statement is so timely. With NoCode tools and the engaged Maker community, there are no excuses not to get building. As Marc Köhlbrugge would say, “done is better than perfect,” so ship it! Take care and see you tomorrow.
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