Operational Update #2: End of summer break / 200 Subscribers
The second update & second milestone, plus graphs!
I’ll start off with some bad news: I’ve failed to meet my new year’s resolution.
At the start of the year, I set a goal of writing once per week. In update #1, I was feeling good.
Unfortunately, I failed to keep it up over the last two months - and took a summer break.
So what happened? Why did I stop writing?
Well first, work got really busy. It’s hard to get yourself to write on the weekends when you’re all-in from Monday through Friday.
More importantly, Seattle summer kicked in. If you live in the PNW, you know the euphoria that comes from back-to-back days with blue skies (and all the outdoor activity that accompanies this feeling).
All this fun was great for me as a human being, but bad for me as the writer of a weekly Substack.
But now work is cooling down and the weather is too, so Operational is back! Read on for a progress update plus some thoughts on where Operational is headed from here.
Progress
So far, I've published 20 pieces of content (0.63 per week). Going forward, I’m going to shoot for 3 articles per month (roughly weekly, but with some buffer in case I run out of time).
Operational crossed 200 subscriber mark in July. Interestingly, it has kept adding subscribers throughout my 2 month hiatus (+15). Nice!
In terms of topics, there’s not a huge pattern - but if I squint at it, the ones that have done the best tend to be more generalizable (i.e., related to productivity or topics that in cross-functional roles want to understand).
Mission
After spending a bit of time reflecting over the summer (and looking at the post data), I think I’m going to tweak the focus of Operational’s content.
My favorite solo-creator content (e.g., Lenny’s Newletter, Stratechery, Dan Hock’s Essays) has something in common: they come from a very unique perspective, but they’re widely accessible.
When I started Operational, I got the part right but I missed on the second part. Starting a blog that focuses on startup ops & strategy is a good idea, but it’s a super niche topic. Most people just aren’t in the position to adjust packaging and pricing or choose a 401(k) plan.
For the next few months, I’m going to go a little broader. Rather than just focusing on “how to” guides for startup ops & strategy, I’m going to talk about how to operate more effectively at a startup - regardless of your particular role.
I will obviously still write from my perspective as a business person at an early-stage B2B SaaS startup, but I’ll try to focus on topics that can help a wider array of people.
Learnings / observations
Consistency matters a lot, but it's really hard (said this last time, and I’ll say it again)
I don’t think I’m going to try to get collaborators / co-authors for now, and just focus on building out my base of content
LinkedIn reach is the #1 driver of audience performance
Questions / asks
Does anyone know if “How to get things done as a busy generalist” was shared anywhere? It’s still an insane outlier in terms of performance
People don’t engage on Substack. How can I fix that?
Closing thoughts
Thanks for reading and following along! I’m super excited to get Operational going again.
As always, if you have any suggestions, questions, or advice feel free to comment below or shoot me a message.
Thanks to Statsig for employing me (note - this is a test for Statsig SEO).
I get more engagement on LinkedIn :)