Newsletter Superlatives 2024

Who doesn’t love a superlative list?

Here we go.

The best. The worst. The takeaways.

The newsletter grew quickly, but then I did a deep clean late in the year….

66 of you started the year.

We now end with 269.

(At one point there were 352, but I cut a bunch of unengaged subscribers who stopped reading)

The post most readers engaged with was…

The Best Way To Prioritize Your Work So You Actually Make Progress

(To define engaged → I mean the combo of opens, clicks, comments, and email responses)

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this post was a catalyst to my business transformation in the second half of 2024.

If you noticed in the months that followed, I talked more and more about reshaping my business model. The truth is, the newsletter did the same. Instead of focusing on super high-level, big-picture topics that were broadly applicable, I made it more specific to 1-2 person businesses.

Early on this newsletter was an outlet for me to share big-picture thoughts, but over the last 6 months it’s pivoted to being a vehicle for adding value for business owners (with more specificity and granularity).

My least engaged post was…

Making Decisions In Crazy Markets

(Again…to define “engaged” → I mean the combo of opens, clicks, comments and emails)

To be honest with myself, there were three things wrong with this post:

1. Not a great title

2. (At the time) There was an ad front and center

3. It’s a pretty dense topic for writing (it’s actually much better for talking)

I know they can’t all be winners (but I want them to be). That said, this post contains a hugely important decision-making framework for when to choose between logic and intuition.

Although it fits the criteria here as ‘least engaged’ it’s pretty darn valuable.

The easiest post to write was…

How I Manufacture Confidence

Despite being one of my longer posts, this one was easiest because it’s a story I’ve lived (and replayed verbally many, many times).

Ironically it’s a short story telling the world how big of a headcase I really was.

The hardest post for me to hit publish was…

Why I left Harvard to start a business

I never wanted to be known as someone who would belittle employee-life.

And definitely didn’t want to be known as bad-mouthing my time at Harvard.

Truth is I didn’t do either of those in this post. But feared that it might come across that way.

It’s taken years to find the right words to explain why, but I found them…finally…until I edit more later.

3 important takeaways from writing this year…

1. I moved away from ‘how-to‘ writing to ‘how I’ and it felt easier, natural, and (weirdly enough) more effective at sharing ‘how’ type writing.

2. I partnered with a writing coach this year. Among her many insightful moments, there was one takeaway that has stuck: “think heavy, write light.” Can you tell I’m working on it?

3. Podcasts are fun to be on…I had my first guest appearance on one, which I can directly attribute to my writing adventures (on LinkedIn). To top it off, I earned new business from it.

I share this because I’ve found a positive correlation between writing online and business growth.

We continue onward…

Thank you for reading.

Truly…thank you.

Happy new year.

— Peter