I’m going to start this post with a plea, if you are enjoying this project and my posts please:
Share it with someone you think it will resonate with
Repost/Restack the posts you like to Substack
Write a substack note about why you like it and link to my page or a particular post
Add it to your list of substack’s you recommend
I know this is shameless but I haven’t mechanized the motion well enough to grow this organically and I’ve never asked anyone to do any of these things above, so I’m asking now. I ONLY want you to do it if you truly do like it.
Based on the feedback I get regularly from this small group (42 subscribers) directly in my email or via text - the posts are resonating and people are enjoying it. They just aren’t sharing it and spreading it to others for them to enjoy.
/end shameless plug/
Thoughts / Ideas / Reflections
A former colleague of mine (now friend and just great guy) Brady Silas, texted me last Friday out of the blue:
This led us to having a nice convo about some of the creative things he’s working on and got me brainstorming a few things, but mainly the idea of using physical media to promote the project. Here are those ideas:
Print promotional 1-pager to post on local bulletin boards at coffee shops and community spaces
Make a weekly magazine, print it, and put at those same places
Set up a table at a park or high traffic area and give away the magazine or have a QR code for people to subscribe
Create a little “Daily Gratitude Guide” that I can pass out
I’m thinking Master P selling tapes out of his trunk in the projects of New Orleans, or Justin Vernon of Bon Iver passing out burned CD’s of “For Emma, Forever Ago” to his friends and people around Eau Claire Wisconsin. Old school, boots on the ground, grassroots promotion.
Would love your idea on this too - leave a comment on the post or email me back with your ideas!
Stats
Percentage to goal: 44% to 100 day goal
(I’m still pumpin these babies out every day and loving it)
Subscribers is up to 43 total, now lagging behind the number of posts! (This is why I need YOUR help promoting)
Views and Open/Read rates on my posts have remained steady and highly engaged - 51% read rate on average and still getting 45-50 views on average per post.
One interesting tidbit is that my views on Monday and Tuesday are by far the highest. Maybe it’s the weekend posts getting traffic, maybe I just do my best work early in the week 🤷♂️
Biggest Learning
Process matters.
This is boring as all get up but the boring stuff matters. You can get by on instinct and determination and talent for a while, until you hit a wall. Everyone has a wall, or ceiling (or whatever you want to call it) where they can’t move past and reach diminishing returns. You cannot grow beyond and become more without systems and processes in place.
This week in my primary business, Levver, we have put in place several new processes that have tremendously upped our game. We are more organized and more effective than ever and it’s paying dividends. Need to get to the point where I can build similar things here for A Letter For.
Biggest Win
Last week in my P&P post I put it out to the audience that I wanted to try a long form email exchange with whoever was willing to volunteer.
It worked! I got 2 respondents to the request and we’ve got the ball rolling on those conversations. I’m excited to post them here soon when they come to their natural conclusion. So far the conversations have been very fun and stimulating. I may post them as letters or I may create a whole new post format for them and try to do one of them every other week or something like that.
Highest Level of Resonance This Week:
I joined a choir. Specifically the Salt Lake Symphonic Choir led by Erin Pike Tall. Can you get more resonant than that???
This wasn’t a rush decision, it’s been in the works for 3+ years. My neighbors Adam and Adrien have been asking and prodding me for a long time to join and have been members for a long time. Adam helps compose a lot of the music (he’s a genius musician).
My first rehearsal was last Thursday and it was awesome. I grew up singing in choir in church and school. My High School (Hopkins HS in Minnesota) had a tremendously rich choir program where I got to learn and be around some incredible singers and musicians.
Our conductor/teacher was Matthew Culloton who composed a lot of the music we sang. He was the BEST teacher and leader, he really created an energy and culture to being proud of singing in the choir and kids taking hold of it and making it a “cool” thing to do. Many of my basketball teammates sang with me.
I’m stoked to begin my journey back into choir - rehearsing and performing. There is a special thing that happens when 60+ people are in a room together trying to get their voices (vibrations) to synchronize and harmonize and create 1 sound that reverberates and fills a space.
Here is one of the pieces we will be performing in May that I’m loving, sung by another local choir from BYU: