The Benefits of Journaling, an announcement and a request

🚀 Updates from The Indie Creator | Issue #37

Author

Ayush Chaturvedi
June 07, 2022

Hey there 👋

Hope you're good.

An important announcement and a request 📢

In the past, many people have asked me about what's the right way to grow on Twitter, and how can they build an engaged Twitter audience in a sustainable manner.

So I've started work on a crisp, short actionable guide.

No fluff - simple but effective tips that you can apply immediately.

But I don't want to build the guide in my own vision. I would love to get your inputs to make it useful for you.

So I have a request for you.

I would appreciate it if you can fill out the form below.

Also, once it's read you will get the guide for free 🤗

🙋‍♂️1 Question Interview

This week's 1 question interview is about journaling. I've benefited from it a lot over the years and I truly believe journaling every day is the secret to top quality writing.

My guest today is the prolific creator-entrepreneur Jason Leow.

Jason is a fellow lover of Journaling and even runs a community of daily writers called Lifelog.

So let's get into it.

Jason Leow

My Question:

"What's the best way to get started with Journaling? Do we need any templates or frameworks?"

Jason's Answer:

"Just set aside 10min. Anyone has 10min in a day. It can be anytime. No need to get up at 5am. Or stay up after the kids are in bed. 10min while on your commute home. 10min during lunchtime.

Think about one question, concern or worry you might have for the day. It doesn't have to be a huge life problem. It can be something tiny, mundane, like "I'm feeling anxious for my work presentation later" small.

And just write it down.

Brain dump everything into whatever medium you have. It doesn't have to be a fancy, beautiful notebook. It doesn't have to be a serious note-taking app with bi-directional linking and networked thoughts.

Your phone, a text message to yourself, a napkin, or a scrap of receipt paper will do. Just start."

"And one last thing... do you need templates or frameworks? I think you would be able t guess it by now. No. Just start. 10min. Whenever. On whatever. Simple."

Final Word:

Yes yes yes...

This is exactly how I started journaling. Just taking a brain dump on a simple white screen.

Over the year I made a more formal arrangement and even used various apps. But it doesn't have to be complicated.

And as I teach in my writing course, journaling is one of the best ways to find your unique writing voice.

I think everyone should do it. There's no reason not to.

Just get started today. Listen to Jason.

PS: Do let me know of what you think of such 1 - question interviews, if you have someone in mind, feel free to let me know, I will do my best to reach out to them and interview them.

PPS: Check out Jason's daily writing community Lifelog

💎 Interesting Nuggets

Twitter is not just about audience building, it's also about building a support group.

Andrea knows:

You don't need a degree to be an entrepreneur.

Yes, thanks for saying that Arvid 🙏

BTW, this philosophy is at the heart of why I started Indie MBA events.

And our next event is with Arvid himself.

It's a free but private event, there are limited seats, book your slot here.

How companies got their first users.

This one's good 😀

On a related note, last week I wrote about the story of how Zapier got it's first paying user:

💸 How Zapier got it's first paying user, and how you can get your first 100

You are not the hero of your startup (Your user is!) Getting paying customers for a product is tough. Building something worth paying for comes down to solving burning problems for users. And then going out and spreading word about the solution you built. In beginning, every strategy to get

https://www.listenupih.com/how-to-get-your-first-100-users/

✍️ Pro Tip of the week

Be clear about who your target user.

Be it on Twitter or a newsletter or a blog.

Always know WHO your ideal audience is. Always know your purpose.

At the start of this month, I compressed the purpose of my Twitter account in a single tweet:

Recommendations

15 Bad habits holding you back | Sahil Bloom

The Psychology behind Netflix thumbnails | Trung Phan

The psychology behind Netflix thumbnails - Trung T. Phan

Thumbnails are the biggest driver of Netflix engagement. Here's how Netflix optimizes them. [...]

https://trungtphan.com/how-netflix-thumbnails-work/

A message for graduates | Austin Kleon

A valuable lesson for all of us.

A message for graduates

Use your obscurity while it lasts.

https://austinkleon.com/2022/06/02/a-message-for-graduates-2/

You can also watch this 2 minute YouTube video from Austin.

Bottomline

My top 3 tweets of last week:

That's it for this week. See you next week 👋

Important note:

if you’ve not been having fun here, please consider unsubscribing.

I don’t mind.

No hard feelings.

I’d rather you unsubscribe than not open the newsletter.

But if you do enjoy it.

Please do me a favor, please ask one of your friends to subscribe.

It would mean a lot to me🙏

Cheers,

Ayush