Issue 11

March 11, 2024

​

The Aha Moment

On my mind

I've been thinking a lot lately about my newsletter, specifically the content and value of it. My primary goal remains — to write a weekly newsletter in 2024. We're still in March, but I feel positive about this goal! I'm confident I can accomplish it. My thoughts have started drifting to the future of my newsletter.

I want to think more about my newsletter content and its value. And I'd love to craft a long-term vision and plan for it. When I think about sustaining a newsletter for years to come, a few goals come to mind:

• Limitless content that's easy to create – I always want something to write about. I never want to run out of content. For now, I've been writing about the progress of my side projects. However, what if my progress stalls, or I get tired of writing about that? I believe I have valuable knowledge to share about being a leader and entrepreneur, but do I need to pick one focus or can I write about both? This is what keeps me up at night. 😂
• Consistent value for my readers – The best newsletters that I read have a clear value proposition. There are lessons I learn and knowledge I gain when I read them. The messaging is consistent and reliable. Whenever I click on the email, I know I will gain something valuable. That's what I want for my subscribers.
• Brand and product awareness – I'm building apps as a solopreneur and co-founder. I'm active on X and LinkedIn. And occasionally I write long-form articles. A big reason why creators have newsletters in the first place is to promote everything else they do. When I start selling the apps I'm building, brand and product awareness will take on a whole new meaning. If I have a growing mailing list, I can use my newsletter to drive traffic to my social media accounts and the apps I sell. There's a reason why this formula works for entrepreneurs and small to large businesses — it works!

I can't say for sure what my newsletter will look like in a year, but I'm excited to find out. If there is something particular I've written about that you've found valuable, please let me know!

Valence

We met last week and might have blown apart our original idea. However, we came up with a much bigger and better idea. I believe this new idea will create more use cases for the Slack app, which could result in more customers down the road.

We now have a shared teamspace on Notion so we're starting to track our tasks and meeting talking points there. This is helping us stay organized and focus our meetings on what needs to be discussed.

I've also been thinking more about the data side of the app. I will hold off on creating and connecting to a database until we have a solid plan for our app, but it never hurts to think about the data model and how different pieces of data relate to each other. One of my favorite activities at the beginning of a software project is to create a types file. With TypeScript, I can create various types and interfaces that my project will use. This helps me wrap my brain around how the app will consume data and use that data to display content.

After this week, I hope we'll have more clarity on the direction of our app. And I hope we don't blow apart our current idea again!

Agendaful

Last week, I had an aha moment. I'm spending too much time on the wrong things, like designing a logo. I have people who are willing to beta-test the app. I need to stop wasting time on the icing and focus on baking the cake! Translation: I need to reach MVP (minimum viable product) with Agendaful and get it in front of users ASAP! I took steps last week to work towards that.

I reached out to some managers I spoke with back in January. I gave them some updates on Agendaful and they'd like me to reach back out when Agendaful is ready to use.

I also started integrating the app with a database so data like meetings, agendas, and users can be saved. This is huge! It means the app will be able to support multiple Slack workspaces. In other words, I can have customers and eventually put the app on the Slack app directory. Next up on my radar will be more integrations with the database.

​

One last thing…

Over the weekend, my son's basketball team won the rec league championship game. The game was tied with 10 seconds left. My son caught a pass from his teammate and drained a 3-pointer to win the game! And the crowd went wild.

It was a long season, especially for my son. He was sidelined for 5 weeks with a leg injury. When he recovered, there was only 3 weeks left in the season. Oh and by the way, his team lost the championship game last year by 1 point. Sounds like a Disney movie, right?

I'm so proud of my son and glad he had a taste of winning after his challenges during the season. Winning takes on a whole new meaning when you have to put in the work and overcome obstacles along the way. The next time you face an uncomfortable roadblock or feel like giving up, keep going. Your success will taste even sweeter.

Thanks for reading this week. See you next week! 👋