Welcome New Readers!
As many of you know, I hate social media and have always looked for ways to talk freely to my community that isn’t so cursed by the algorithm.
When I first started building tech, I read a book called Hooked by Nir Eyal, or as I like to call it - Devils Making Features For Idle Hands. In this book, he outlines every trick, strategy and tool to get users addicted to your app. Likes for social validation, network effects to grow your platform etc and yet even when we KNOW these things are happening to us, we still remain glued to our phones…
Which is one of the reasons why I avoided being on Substack. I didn’t want to add to the noise and the sign up and recommendations flow felt really intrusive. I am following so many people who I felt forced to during the onboarding flow that is necessary for the company to scale. I don’t want a feed that isn’t chronological (I really miss the simplicity of an RSS Feed like Google Reader) and I don’t want to be in a rabbit hole of content in my phone. Plus, I wanted a nice website all of my own… One of my fave blogs of all time was Kevin Kelly's blog. It felt very basic and clear. This is the goal.
I started my online career on www.blogspot.com (acquired by Google) almost twenty years ago and I want a world where sites are still Web 2.0. Here is my first ever "blog style" online post in 2006. It's very cute.
From there I jumped to Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo) and from there I took the leap to Instagram (acquired by Facebook). Substack will too get acquired because it’s great but eventually, like the rest, it will add to the mental health decline of women seeking validation. So now I'm getting off the treadmill.
All of the exciting, independent publishing platforms I have been an early adopter of, eventually get swallowed up by Big Tech and then become about ads and noise. If, like me, you're interested in tech ethics and how to build apps that don't steal our attention, then watch ex-Googler, Tristan Harris discuss his Centre For Human Technology at TED.
You should also read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, which reminds you of all the things you intrinsically know about tech, but need swift and well researched reminding of.
I still believe in the power of technology but can we build it so you get what you need and then get off your phone? With Stack World, we actively designed it so that you’d RSVP to something and then meet someone and connect with them IRL. We made Messaging and Posts and Feeds purposely a bit sparse so that you wouldn’t spend all day starting at a blue screen. But the Stack club emails were almost too sparse for my newsletter. I needed multimedia, embeds, images etc and we are not adding new features to the Stack App right now, so I needed another channel.
As ever, I am always driven to create when I have beautiful tools to do so, so I am so excited to have found this platform, Ghost Publishing. This is a tech company that is NOT VC BACKED, is open source, transparent and from what I can see, has a British founder with a similar decentralised ethos.
As well as loving the vision for the platform, it’s a bloody gorgeous product to use. You can listen to an interview with the Founder and CEO of Ghost in conversation with another leader of a favourite product of mine, Flipboard below. Hopefully these platforms and publications can prove to you that there is another way. You don't need to be an addict and you don't need to be embroiled in Big Tech.
I’ve managed to get set up on Ghost in a few hours and I love the design and simplicity. Most of all, I like that you Dear Readers, can sign up really easily without being bombarded with people to follow.
And did I mention I love the design?
Another reason I’m reigniting this newsletter is that my publisher and agents are expecting me to continually promote my book New Methods For Women.
The problem is, I spent like 10 years thinking about it, three years writing it and it's a chapter of my life (Season 1/Busy Era/Girlboss Life) that I consider firmly closed. I'm 40 years old now. Recreating content around something my brain is just not thinking about is not my vibe. I'm also very Gemini so I'm like - okay that's done, Thank you, NEXT! However I also understand that I want to sell out of my first print run and I will have a paperback coming out at some point so this newsletter will remind you about the book with reflections and Reader Replies of people who have made the Methods work for them, as well as new content and just plain old life. Have you bought the book yet? If not, make my editor happy as do now now plz. It's got some good reviews...
I also read the audiobook myself if you want my dulcet Wolvo tones in your ears...
What to Expect
So now that I have myself all set up, what will I write about?! Well first and foremost, you ought to know I’m going to phase off Instagram and all other forms of social media and make this my main channel. So sign up for any tier to stay in touch and get my posts straight in your inbox.
My main topics are:
1 - Business 2.0
How to do business on your own terms. I'm burnout but not dead y'know...
2 - Existential Musings
How to design the life you want and the philosophical reasons for that.
3 - Cultural Recommendations
Everything I'm reading, watching, wearing, listening to...
4 - The Process
How I take ideas, references and inspiration and use them to create something new.
Also, City Living/Countryside living and possibly some parenting...
These will mainly be for Premium Subscribers with a few free posts each month.
The Tiers
Free Members
For Free members, I’ll share my life musings, expansions of my book, New Methods For Women and free events and talks I’ll be giving.
Premium Members
For Premium Members you’ll my BUSINESS 2.0 reflections, and a BTS on my PROCESS. 'll also send Spotify playlists and a visual book from my library to keep you inspired. Short stuff like the kind of thing I would have posted in IG stories. Like this...
But the real treasure is a mammoth list of recommendations once a month because if there’s one thing I love, it’s sharing what I’m consuming. This will be mainly Books, Beauty Products, Restaurants, TV and Film, Podcasts etc. it will be a weird peep into my brain. I hope you like it there. In addition, if you’re not already a Stack Member, you’ll have access to my Sunday Night Zoom which runs until January 5th 2025.
VIP Member
If you wanna go the whole hog and be a VIP Member, you’ll get a monthly 1:1 call with me where we discuss your business issues and ambitions.
I’m particularly adept at fundraising and giving you feedback on your pitch deck along with helping you define your business strategy and long term vision. During our call, I’ll take you through various thought experiments and exercises to achieve your goals. For VIP Members, I’ll also send you a dedicated long form private podcast of how I would build a business differently. I will not have more than 10 VIPs at a time so I can give you the attention you need!
Outro
Even though I like to write and connect on Sundays, it will take me a moment to get into a rhythm and see what I like to write and what resonates. Please do keep sending me feedback as knowing that I’m having an impact on women’s lives is the single most motivating reason to continue.
Hopefully this Welcome post has given you a peek inside what to expect. A lot of opinions, links, recommendations and more. It feel good to be writing again.
