9 Lessons for One-Person Businesses from 90 Days of Consistent Writing

Bula (hello in Fijian)!

Last week, we discussed 3 Practical Blockchain Use Cases for Businesses. For my premium subscribers this week, we looked at the role dreams have had on some of the mightiest empires, tribes, and businesses in the world - from the mighty Mongols to the Sinoi tribes of Malaysia. 

On Friday, Sep 2nd, I officially hit 90 days of consistent writing for this newsletter! That's 90 weekdays for premium daily subscribers, plus 18 Sundays for free weekly subscribers, non-stop.

To celebrate, I'll be sharing 9 lessons learned as a One-Person Business (OPB) building more productive communities in the blockchain space. Here's an outline:

1. Focus on who you want to become (not just what)

2. Ask your networks about platform options

3. Choose one person to follow

4. Start monetizing from day one

5. Habit-stack your new writing routine

6. Create a small, intimate group for premium subs

7. Get more feedback from your paying subs (vs. free)

8. Do things that don't scale, know your people

9. Use your sleep-time dreams actively

Let's dive in.

Last week's premium newsletters:

• Daily #086: Legend of the Iron Wolf

• Daily #087: Mongol Hordes, The Senoi Tribe & Dream Control

• Daily #088: Dreams of Innovators 

• Daily #089: Dreams from the past

• Daily #090: Slack Happy Hours, Group Productivity & Shared Dreams

1 - Focus on who you want to become (not just what)

When I first started this newsletter, the simple aim was to become a better writer. I spoke about my intentions in my first two newsletters here and here.

I chose a "who" type goal because that is what I learned after reading the book Atomic Habits and even observing the behaviors of users on my platform/startup, Honā.

By focusing on the who, I've had a far better time establishing the what as sub-goals. It's also helped me stay focused, by refining what I say yes to versus no. 

Another part of the inspiration for becoming a better writer was the realization that I was writing each night in my Moleskine anyways. I'd been doing this for years, so why not start sharing my thoughts with the world, and maybe even get paid to do so?

2 - Ask your networks about platform options

When I made the decision to become a better writer, I had already done a lot with public speaking, but never really focused on my writing skills. I also noticed that so much of online community-building - especially for business - comes down to great writing/copywriting skills. Essentially, content.

So it didn't hurt to give the skill of writing more focus.

After I set my goal, I started to ask whether I should focus on blogging or newsletter writing. Since newsletters have been making a comeback - especially paid newsletters - I thought that would be my best next step.

So I reached out to my networks about their favorite newsletter platforms. The best responses came from a Facebook group for the brand Trends. The top contenders came out as:

1. BeeHiiv

2. Substack

3. Revue

4. ConvertKit

5. MailChimp

I had experience with each of these except for BeeHiiv, so I started asking more about it. It was created by the folks at Morning Brew, who have a wildly successful newsletter.

After doing some digging, I felt like BeeHiiv would be the best platform to grow with (as they kept popping up by other creator types in the group). I later found out that this exact list was what some other newsletter gurus were recommending too (featured image above), so the group reflected the insights of pros too.

After 90 days of using BeeHiiv, I can safely say that it's been the best decision. Not only do they get rid of all the bells and whistles that often get in the way of writing on other newsletter platforms, but they also provide guides on how to optimize your newsletter for SEO, provide tips from creators, and have a very responsive support team. 

If you want to give BeeHiiv a shot, click here (affiliate link).

3 - Choose one person to flow

When I first started writing, I was just freestyling. There was no real plan. 

I applied my "it will come" method by setting a destination, taking action, and trusting things would come together.

Sidenote: "it will come" doesn't mean you shouldn't plan. It's a mindset that accompanies planning. But if you're struggling to get solutions, sometimes simply taking any action trumps not taking any at all. Procrastination and analysis paralysis is not good either.

Lo and behold, after about a month in, I stumbled upon an online entrepreneur by the name of Justin Welsh (above). I really liked how structured and systematic his posts were, as well as his writing style, so I started to take action on the tips he kept sharing weekly.

As a result, I started seeing significant improvement in both engagement and conversions (which mattered more to me).

4 - Start monetizing from day one

According to some newsletter gurus, you shouldn't start asking for money from subscribers until you've hit 1-10,000 subscribers.

I wanted to see if I could monetize from day one.

As a result, I saw a 10% conversion of premium subscribers for my first 100 subs. Actually, my first paid sub came in around subscriber #25.

Since my primary goal was to become a better writer, the paid conversions were icing on the cake. It's always fun realizing an idea and then seeing people pay for it. 

Since I was doing this "for free" in the past, getting paid (even if small at first) starts opening your mind up to new possibilities and pathways. 

Sidenote: because I make money elsewhere, there is no pressure to make sales from this newsletter alone. As a result, I'm "free" to focus on just providing value, instead of worrying about sales, conversions, funnels, etc. Those things are still important, and you most certainly will need to leverage them, but it is not as important as your #1 priority (in my case, becoming a better writer) in the beginning. I too often see - and have made this mistake myself - wasting time trying to get all fancy with the setup (e.g. conversions, platforms, etc.), instead of remembering what's most important. As I usually say, "through patience and persistence, it will come." And that has indeed played out with this newsletter as I've stayed focused. All the tools, optimization hacks, people, etc. have 'come' as I've continued staying focused.

5 - Habit-stack your new writing routine

In order to become a better writer, I knew I had to develop a new routine I could replicate daily. I'd heard of many writers recommending morning routines, so I decided to give it a shot. 

Again tapping into lessons from James Clear's book, Atomic Habits, I used one of his habit-stacking techniques, which involves adding a new habit to an already existing one. 

For me, I placed my new writing routine on top of my morning tea routine. So this is what my morning now looks like:

1. Wake up

2. Exercise with my partner

3. Grab tea/coffee

4. Write (30-45 mins.)

5. Start work day

During the first few weeks, I played around with writing both before sleeping and after. I found that doing it after waking worked better, but there were times when the before bed moments worked well too.

Whatever you try out, just decide on one and stick with it.

6 - Create small, intimate groups (aka "pods")

As an entrepreneurial community-builder, I'm always looking at ways I can take what I'm doing and either:

1. Form a community (if it makes sense)

2. Monetize

After getting my first few paid subscribers, I tried asking for feedback via the daily newsletters. But responses were often slow or lacking. 

As a result, I formed a private DM "pod" on Instagram (IG), which is essentially just a small DM group. Why IG? Because that's where most of my premium subscribers were (interestingly). 

If you want to learn more about IG pods, click on the image above, but don't overcomplicate the process. Just set up a group DM and talk with your readers.

7 - Get more feedback from paying subs (vs. free)

There's something to be said about the art of soliciting feedback. 

Just because you ask a group a question, doesn't mean the answers you get will be the right ones for your specific problem. Who you're asking can influence the quality of the response(s). 

If I ask a group of nurses about the best code editors, how good do you think those answers would be? Sure, a small percentage might actually have a programming background, but the chances are slim.

As a result, as I started growing this newsletter, I started asking more business-specific questions to my premium subs in the IG pod. 

Why?

Because they're actually putting skin in the game by paying something. They're actually invested. As a result, I respect their feedback far more than those who aren't willing to pay anything. 

Again, this is not to say you can't get quality feedback from those who aren't paying you anything. It's just relative to the questions you're asking or problems you're solving. You just need to be discerning.

8 - Do things that don't scale, know your people

There's a famous Y-Combinator (YC) saying in Silicon Valley, "do things that don't scale." Since a lot of one-liners can get misconstrued, the context behind this is that, when you're a small startup, you can't apply the same line of thinking as a larger company.

You're at a different stage.

As a result, you need to "do things that don't scale" before you can even start thinking about scale. Companies and entrepreneurs who've ignored this advice have often found themselves wasting unnecessary time, energy, and money. Been there, done that.

Even with my first 100 subs, I've taken the time to learn a lot more about them one by one. So I know exactly who I'm attracting, if they're on par with my expectations, who's willing to pay, who's engaging and why, etc.

It may seem too simple, but that's the trick. Sometimes it's harder to keep things simple because it requires focus and discernment.

When it comes to my premium subscribers, over the last 90 days, I've found the following shared traits:

1. Community-builders

2. Entrepreneurial

3. Spiritually pragmatic

4. Interested in blockchain innovations

9 - Use your dreams more actively

This may or may not seem odd, but as I was writing about dreams for my premium subscribers over the last week, I realized that entrepreneurs today associate 'dreams' differently to say the dreams of innovators from the past. 

When I was reading historical accounts about dreams, they were in the context of night-time dreams that led to eureka moments. A lot more 'mystical' in nature. 

However, in today's times, dreams are referenced as daydreams or visions. Dreams of the waking world.

As someone who's been fascinated by dreams since young - thanks to my Polynesian ancestry and family upbringing - I've been able to use my dreams more proactively when dealing with problems in my waking life.

I've also learned about the different dreaming techniques of different cultures, which eerily match some of the activities I grew up with in my own family. 

Over the last 90 days, I've been using dreams to glean insights for newsletter editions and ask for help on other business-related issues. They've been a major boon and inspiration to my writing process.

If you'd like to read through some of my dream analyses, or simply explore the topic, upgrade today and explore the archives.

Next Steps

Now that I've shared 9 lessons from the last 90 days of writing, what's one thing you could take from this and apply to your own business or community-building efforts? Regardless of industry, writing is a vital part of general communication skills that can improve your life as a whole - whether personal or professional.

I hope this edition inspires you to improve your own skills as a writer too! The world deserves to hear your unique take and voice.

Until next week, remember: through patience & persistence, it will come.

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