Summer 2019 Update: Newsletter, Podcast, Blog & Side Project

At the beginning of the year, I restarted this personal blog, on a self-hosted version of Ghost. Along with the site being brought back after multiple attempts at blogging, I wrote a reasonably lengthy 2018 year in review post. Now, nine months into the year, I have started to reflect where I am and what progress I’ve made.

I started reviewing the year and trying around July time, but more recently, I started thinking about what I want to do next year. This review was partly sparked while listening to the Cortex Podcast, where the hosts talk about years in themes. Themes for each year is different than new year resolutions, which I have never been a fan of for a few reasons. We set these goals that then loom over us for the year and create more anxiety and stress than they are helpful. Not only do we set resolutions but we also often forget about them in a month or so.

I set several goals, and for better or worse, I fell off the wagon. I partly got burnet out, but I also started focusing heavily on work. I became less motived as I got further away from each goal I set. I let the newsletter go dormant, let the podcast die, and didn’t focus on IronMic as much as I should’ve.

Now, I am trying to reframe what I am doing and how I am doing things. Part of it is letting go of the goals I set at the start of the year but also putting more thought into the projects I do. I don’t want to write for the sake of writing; I want to write about something exciting and interesting. I want to talk about a topic that sparks conversation. I want to share knowledge through the newsletter that will help others.

Newsletter

The newsletter is going to get refreshed. I am going to focus on it monthly. The weekly grind is hard, and I often cannot find interesting topics or news around the internet to share with friends. It’s the start of a new month, and I would like to share an update, but at the same time, I haven’t found a ton to share just yet so I may wait till October.

I am using Button Down, which is a markdown newsletter service. Sunny initially recommended it. I’ve thought about moving but haven’t found a service that I love just yet.

Podcast

Well, the podcast has died. I want to reboot, but I want to wait a while or find someone to edit the episodes. At work, I am working to launch a podcast around marketing for small businesses and startups. I haven’t fully fleshed out the idea, but it’s in the ideation and planing stage with more news to share soon.

I am using Anchor to host any podcast I am working with and I use IronMic to have an easy to use website.

Blog

The blog is still updated here and there. As I mentioned above, I want to write about things that interest me or spark a conversation. The Klokki time-tracker article is a prime example. It was an app I used on a daily basis and fairly unknown. I wrote a simple and to the point article with a little click-bait headline. The app is hands down the best app for time tracking on the Mac if you’re prone to forget to start a timer or if you’re like me and you jump around from task to task.

The technical portion of the blog is what kicked off the article 😀. I am using a Digital Ocean droplet that’s around $10 a month to host this site.

SideProject – IronMic

IronMic v2 is coming out in the next month or so with an updated UI and some new features. The development and design work is being done by Kyle and Sunny now, but most of my work will come into play post-launch. We are launching a revamped marketing plan with SEO being the core driver. I am currently working on research for keywords we want to own and integrating these words into the copy for the new site. I am also more active on the IM Twitter, sharing information on podcasting and sending cold tweets to podcasters.

Since I am sharing the technical parts of how I run everything, I asked the team to possibly write an article on what tech they use to build IronMic. I’ll get an update if they run with the idea.

Overall

I have accomplished some of the goals, with keeping up with starting conversations with more people on Twitter and taking more photos with my DSLR. I’ve kept a better log of what I am working on, and I have been testing different productivity tools.

I may share where I have landed with note taking apps, time tracking, and even which is my default browser.

Hint, it’s not Google Docs, haha. Now that Summer is over; I am working towards the launch of IronMic V2 with Kyle and Sunny. I’ll share updates on that project over on the IM Blog.