Today marks the 100th edition of 💡 The Lightbulb! To commemorate, I thought I’d share a few insights from behind the curtain.

But first, I’ll say that writing a daily email is a calculated risk:

• You put yourself on the hook to write every. single. day.
• You put raw ideas out in the open, without the luxury of a long editing process
• You risk that the cadence will drive away the lovely people who were curious enough to sign up

So why do it?

• It’s forced me to codify my own thinking in my domain
• It’s switched on a generator in my mind of concepts to explore more deeply to better coach my clients, and you!
• It’s enabled me to curate this inspiring cadre of engaged readers, each of you seeking to monetize your expertise and help others
• It’s opened up incredible 1:1 dialogues with readers who reply when a particular day’s email really hits home
• And most importantly, I have quantitative and qualitative data that show the content has been helpful to you in your solopreneur journeys

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Some insights from 100 days:

Writing & Reception

• I do my best writing in the mornings and block 7-8am each day for this
• Each email takes me between 15 minutes and 1 hour, including graphics — many factors are involved, and this is trending lower over time
• Writer’s block happens, so it’s helpful to have a repository of ‘baby lightbulbs’ that come to me throughout my week that I can pick and run with on a slow creative day
• I literally felt nauseous pressing 'Publish' for the first ~10 days, but that has since subsided
• You never know which email will land well - I just have to keep writing authentically
• The lack of a comment/like feature keeps me writing honestly vs. fishing for engagement and validation
• I'm not some infallible oracle, my content is simply my current POV - your thoughtful replies help me push the concepts further along

Metrics

• Organic subscriber growth is a slow, long game - a good day is 2-3 new subscribers.
• Unsubscribes sting a bit, but the sting lessens with time, and it’s not personal
  • I don't have an exit survey, but I suspect the reason is likely either content relevance or delivery cadence
• Daily open rates are not very telling, as they’re significantly impacted by the ‘hook-iness’ of the subject line
  • Note: I seek to entice you into opening, but not ‘trick’ you
• Click rates are also not very helpful - they’re swayed by how many links I include
• The 7-day trend of open rates is much more indicative that I'm holding the audience’s attention
• My avg. open rate in July has leveled out to ~60-65%, which I'm proud of and grateful to you for
  • Bonus insight: interestingly, your open rates are typically higher on the weekends vs. Mondays & Fridays

Business & Personal Impact

• Plain and simple, email replies make my day! It's my pleasure to reply to each one I receive
• In cases where The Lightbulb has led to live Zoom conversations with readers, those conversations have been so much more productive, as we have a common starting point and shared language
• IP & concepts developed for The Lightbulb have played a central role in every coaching/consulting sale I’ve made since I started in April
• I’ve witnessed several readers implement concepts from The Lightbulb in their businesses, without any further help from me, and it’s a truly beautiful feeling 🥹

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With that, I’ll keep writing. Every day.

You’re welcome to stay as long as it’s helpful to you.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. 🙏

💡

-Wes

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P.S. If you think a daily email might be a good move for your business, I highly recommend Jonathan Stark’s 5-day E365 workshop. It’s easily one of the highest ROI investments I’ve made in my business. His next cohort starts August 12th. (I am not compensated for referrals.)