Thread by @thepatwalls

Feb 2019 #openstartup report:

Revenue: $3,740
Visitors: 42K
Mailing List: 4K

A reflection on (1) the business & (2) nomad life.

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(1) THE BUSINESS

Search traffic continues to rise.

There are now many days where the site gets 1k+ visitors from Google Search.

I tested a slide-out email subscribe CTA - I thought I would NEVER do this.

My email opt-in rate has always been pretty low. The results were phenomenal.

I implemented Feb 19, you can see the massive spike below.

Shoutout @Klaviyo for allowing me to do this so easily.

I've committed to daily content in 2019.

Every day, I release a new story.

It's been fun to implement features that enable this, I've automated a ton of stuff!

I quit looking at Google Analytics/other metrics on the daily.

I wrote a blog post about this a while back, but I did it because I was legitimately addicted to checking it.

https://twitter.com/thepatwalls/status/1083306282528821248

It's been the best decisions I've ever made. I only check it once a week now (calendar event).

Now, I focus more on my INPUTS and less on my OUTPUTS. I focus on content, features, and just getting things done!

And most importantly, I save so much time (more on that later).

I have been mostly quiet about this, but I have created a Starter Story Premium Membership.

Some features include getting early access to interviews, as well as audio versions of interviews (@blogcasthost).

MRR: $102

I now have an "Open" page, if you want to see some more metrics of the business.

starterstory.com/open

I have a paying customer for Clout Report (clout.report), they are a consultancy that wants to track data on artists and influencers!

I've been slowly working on new features, such as tracking follower data for each day.

I have also added 20,000 artists after building a SoundCloud spider and scraper.

You can check out how the new data looks at the link below.

If anyone else is interested in this kind of data, let me know.

clout.report/lil-pump

(2) LIFE

For this monthly report I want to reflect on some life stuff.

After quitting my full time job and going nomad I've been going through a bit of mid life crisis.

I've been having some trouble adjusting to nomad life...

When I had a full time job I was running at 10x speed. Working 8 hours a day, putting in hours before, after work and on weekends.

But now that I don't have full time commitment, I don't need to work these kind of hours anymore.

So what to do with these "extra" hours...

I assumed I should fill them up with "new" things. New projects, new hobbies, new activities, etc.

So I set some insanely ambitious goals.

I wanted to be a entrepreneur/blogger/streamer/YouTuber/influencer all while having a great social life.

As I started working towards these goals I quickly realized this was a bad idea. I was in way over my head.

But why did I want to be all of these things? A couple reasons, I think.

(1) The media/Twitter influences us that we NEED to do all of the things.

- Bloggers tell us that we should be blogging twice a week.
- YouTubers preach the value of daily vlogs.
- Makers advise you to launch products in 24 hours.

My Twitter feed has become a clusterfuck of "do this", "do that" and you will be successful.

Maybe that's obvious to most, but I would be lying if I said that it didn't influence those goals that I since deleted.

(I am certainly guilty of this btw)

But it's not just Twitter, it's Telegram groups, podcasts, online communities, etc etc.

It's the reason I've left most groups, tweeting less, and exploring life a bit more (more on that below)

I have to follow my own path with less influence from all of this noise.

The other reason why I wanted to be so many things?

I am scared of the idea of working less.

But why?

I think it's because work can be an escape from deeper problems, such as anxiety and my own insecurities.

Success behind my laptop screen will solve my problems, right?

Over the past couple months I have been trying to work less, and finding myself slowly being more OK with that.

It probably sounds ridiculous, but I'm proud to say that I went to a coffee shop the other day and had a 2 hour conversation with a stranger, instead of putting on my Bose headphones and going into a laptop black hole.

I've been trying to put myself out there more, talk to people, be more open as a person, get out of my comfort zone, and become a better listener.

Meeting @AndreyAzimov and @levelsio in Bali inspired me on this kind of stuff as well.

I assumed they were 100% heads down working like crazy. But meeting them IRL was insightful - they were so friendly, helpful, and great listeners. (thank you for listening to me vent btw)

And the last thing I want to reflect on...

Forcing ideas.

Now that I have so much extra time, I feel the pressure of my "next" product/business.

"What is going to be my next big thing?"

Every day, I think to myself: "I should be making progress on this new idea, money is running out!"

This has caused me to "create" work for myself with the goal that some new brilliant idea will come out of thin air.

It's taking time, but I'm becoming more OK with not having that idea right now. And trying my best to embrace that rather than force it.

I've been able to relax so much more.

The idea will come when it comes, but sitting behind a computer screen will probably not be the way that it happens.

Thanks for reading!