Unrestricted

A Biweekly Newsletter for Curious Entrepreneurs

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October 5, 2020 Update 11: No Priority leads to No Progress

Every week, I share an update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

What did we work on last week?
❌ Got just 1 new subscriber (from 210 to 211). In addition, I wasn't able to finish the newsletter — it's not great priority compared to the work I'm doing with Enter Network. That's a shame, but it's ok for now.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

Again my goal is to finish a blog article on my experiences with Amazon FBA, and write a newsletter to send Monday next week.

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September 28, 2020 Update 10: No promotion = very few new subscribers

Every week, I share an update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

What did we work on last week?
✅ I shared a LinkedIn post which did fairly well — although it didn't quite reach the 3k views I had intended (around 1200 views so far).

❌ Got just 3 new subscribers (from 207 to 210), so this isn't as good as I hoped it to be. I need to step up my promotional game :)

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

The goal is to write a great new newsletter on a failed side project, really sharing my lessons on failure and my experience with Amazon FBA.

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September 21, 2020 Update 9: 7 Subscribers per week or 1 per day

Here's my update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

What did we work on last week?
✅ I've started writing the new issue of the newsletter — this time on a very personal experience (the story of a failed startup). I'm very curious to see if this is more — or less interesting for my readers.

❌ I saw barely any difference in open rate compared to the previous issue, even though I made changes in the subject line. It may be that I have too few subscribers to properly see the difference.

❌ Again got 7 new subscribers (grew to 207 from 200 last week). This is the same as last week. In a year, I'll grow by 364 subscribers which is good, but I'd like to grow faster.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

The goal is to write a great new newsletter, and share a LinkedIn post that will get at least 3k views.

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September 14, 2020 Update 8: 200 Subscribers & 6 Coffees Bought!

Here's my update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

  1. What did we work on last week?

✅ Just sent out a new newsletter issue on peer support groups. I made the subject line a bit more enticing than usual, so I'm curious to see what that will do to open rates.

✅ Got some great feedback from @emredemirel on my landing page and newsletter issues, so that's been super useful.

✅ Implemented a Buy Me A Coffee button, and 6 people bought me a coffee!

❌ Got 7 new subscribers (200 from 193 last week), which is ok, but I'd like to grow a bit faster.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • The goals are to revamp my landing page a bit and share a good LinkedIn post that will lead to at least 10 new subscribers.

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September 7, 2020 Update 7: Got a great retweet & 8 new subscribers

Here's my update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

1) What did we work on last week?

✅I started a new blog article on expenses you encounter as a founder — weaving in my personal expenses per month to show where my money goes. It's still a work in progress.

✅ Got some nice feedback on my book review of The Right It. The writer, Alberto Savoia, also tweeted about it!

❌Didn't have enough time to write a new newsletter, so I'll be working on that today.

❌Didn't get to promote the newsletter much, but it did grow to 193 subscribers (from 185 last week).

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • Sending out a new newsletter issue is my main goal for this week.

2 Comments

  1. 1

    Congrats, I'm on board :)

    1. 2

      Thanks Dan! Happy to have you — and I'm curious to hear what you'll think of the next issue.

August 25, 2020 Update 6: 10 subscribers through 1 LinkedIn post

Here's my update on Unrestricted, the biweekly newsletter for curious entrepreneurs.

1) What did we work on last week?

✅Yesterday, I made a preview of today's newsletter on LinkedIn. This single post led to 10 new subscribers (which is currently a growth of around 6%!). This means the newsletter grew from 173 to 185 subscribers (as of today).

✅ I finally wrote a new article for the blog! It's a book review of The Right It by Alberto Savoia.

✅ Sent out a new issue of the newsletter this morning.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • Start new newsletter for in 2 weeks

  • Brainstorm a bit about new ways to easily promote the newsletter / get additional subscribers (without costing too much time)

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August 17, 2020 Update 5: Found new subscribers through a partner

In relation to my previous update (it's hard to find time to write), I didn't get to write a new newsletter this week. But, I did do the following:

What did I work on last week?

✅ Mostly thanks to @AndrewKamphey's Virtual Mall and his ProductHunt launch, I got 7 new subscribers! Currently the reader base consists of 173 people. Thanks Andrew!

✅ Implemented a feedback feature in my newsletter used by @simonblogs and also used by @jesswebster01. Basically, it's asking readers for quick feedback. I had around 12 people clicking the links, and 9 of those were very positive, so I'm happy that I'm going in the right direction!

✅ I put a halt to a freelancer I'm working with to promote my newsletter. It had cost quite a bit of money, and the amount of new subscribers we got was low. I hope to start working with her again in the future though (once I acquire more revenue).

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • Write new newsletter

  • I've been thinking about including a way to make a little bit of revenue in this project. So I want to either set up an advertisement or include a 'buy me a coffee' link.

1 Comment

  1. 2

    If you can't write, try curating and reacting.

August 10, 2020 Update 4: Finding time to write is hard

Here's my weekly update.

1) What did I work on last week?

✅ Considered how to best use the time I have in any given week. This is difficult, because writing costs a lot of time but it doesn't lead to a lot (of revenue or subscribers).

❌ As such, I didn't get to write my new book review

❌ Got just 3 more subscribers (instead of the 11 I wanted), grew to 165.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • Finish a new book review for the blog.

  • Grow to 175 readers.

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August 3, 2020 Update 3: 11 new subscribers for my newsletter

Here's my weekly update.

1) What did I work on last week?

✅ Wrote a new newsletter on how to increase your productivity as a founder — and how to stop context switching (i.e. engaging in multitasking). I think I improved the subject line, so I'm curious to see what that will do with the open rate.

✅ I wanted at least 7 more subscribers, but got 11 more! Growth seems to slowly but surely pick up, and this has led to 162 readers in total.

❌ I haven't been able to do much promotion on Twitter and elsewhere. I should find more time for this, this week.

❌ I didn't have enough time to write a new book review.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • Get started and finish a new book review for the blog.

  • Promoting the newsletter on Twitter, LinkedIn

  • Get at least 11 more subscribers and grow to 173 readers.

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July 27, 2020 Update 2: Boost in Traffic & 7 New Subscribers

Last week was quite a good week for Unrestricted! A number of new readers, and quite some new traffic from different sources (see the screenshot below).

Let's start with the weekly update.

1) What did I work on last week?

✅ Published a new blog article (on 7 reasons to offer a product or service for free), and promoted it on Reddit, Hacker News, IndieHackers and elsewhere. I didn't see much traction on IH, but got a good conversation going on Reddit. You really see spikes of traffic from the Hacker News submission and the Reddit post.

Google Analytics

✅ I wanted at least 2 more subscribers, but instead got 7 more! That's a great feeling, to get 7 new subscribers in just one week.

❌ My open rate of the last campaign wasn't great; 38.5%. I tried to use an enticing email subject ("How to find meaning in entrepreneurship"), but apparently this didn't help.

2) What am I working on this week, and what are my goals?

  • I'll be writing a new article for the blog (a book review). That means I have to decide on the book I'm reviewing, and actually write it.

  • Writing the new newsletter, to be sent out at the start of next week. The goal is to send it Monday morning.

  • Keep engaging on IH, Reddit, LinkedIn to send more traffic to my website and acquiring more subscribers — the goal is to get as many new subscribers as this week (7 or more).

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About

I always wanted people to read my writing — now I'm writing insightful articles and book reviews on and related to entrepreneurship. Every 2 weeks, I send out my newsletter to 200+ curious entrepreneurs.