If you’re not changing, you’re not growing.

News

Jan 9

Written By Mike LaValley

A SideNotes State of the Union, 2023

A new year. A time for change.

January is notorious for new goals, new ideas, and new takes on old ones.

Today is an unconventional issue of SideNotes.

Let’s call it a “SideNotes State of the Union”, 2023 Edition.

It’s time to take a deep dive into what I’ve learned from the past year of content and where I see the newsletter heading in the year to come.

It’s a look behind-the-scenes at my newsletter creative process.
It’s an opportunity for transparency about the changes

This is for all you creative nerds out there. 🤓

Setting the Stage

A few notes before we get started

Data - First, these projected updates were made based on the basic data I can see from the email provider I use. This is very generic info. Email open rates, when links are clicked, and which ones. I also get some great feedback throughout the year directly from the community. Any time you have an idea about how to make the newsletter better, you can email me by replying from your dispatch.
Goals - Since the start of this newsletter, it’s always been my goal to do the following each week:
1. Share an idea that provides value to your life
2. Express myself through writing
3. Build an audience of creative pros striving for better in their lives

Change 1 - New Format

This has been the typical format for the majority of issues to date:

Main essay / idea
TL; DR
Recent Finds
Quote of the Week

Starting next week, the format will change to:

Main essay / idea
TL; DR
Further Reading / Recommendation (Related to the Main Topic)
Quote I’m Pondering
SideNotes News (When applicable)

Let's break down what this means.

Essay In the Email or a Link

The newsletter started as a way for me to convey a single idea. I’ve gone back and forth though on how to do that. Some newsletters are formatted like RSS bulletins that notify you when a new blog post is live. They give you a link to read the actual post somewhere else.

Others are more like SideNotes with a mini-essay written directly in the email. Over time, I’ve settled on keeping the essay directly in the email itself.

This is the one item that didn’t change.

Recent Finds

Depending on when you started reading SideNotes, you may or may not have experienced features such as the “Recent Finds” or “Quote of the Week.”

I’m generally a curious learner, looking for ideas that I can implement in my own life. The difference as a content creator is that I also need to bring those ideas back to you.

As I found these interesting ideas out in the world, I realized that there were almost too many to adequately showcase from week to week.

Thus, “Recent Finds” was born.

That said, “Recent Finds” can sometimes feel like a bit too much for many of the readers. Behind the scenes, I can see that an average of 1-2% of the audience clicks on those links week.

Now we’re changing it up a bit.

The new version will focus the “extra” resource into a single recommendation that you can get my take on. My hope here is that it won’t feel overwhelming for you to dive deeper into an extra idea if there’s only one of them.

When possible, I’ll focus the resource on something relevant to the essay topic at hand.

Email Provider

A deep cut for anyone who wants to know–I recently switched email providers.

For the lifetime of the newsletter to date, I’ve been using a service called MailerLite. I recently switched to ConvertKit as a way to improve some of the back end admin. The change will also let me do some cool things with products I plan to launch later this year. It should also simplify my writing process and email scheduling.

If you’re in the market for a newsletter service, MailChimp and MailerLite are great to get you started. I’d recommend ConvertKit once you get some traction because of its advanced features. I’ve tested them all and they get the job done.

Change 2 - New Schedule

Speaking of scheduling…

SideNotes has been issued every Sunday for over a year.

At first I thought, “Sunday SideNotes” sounds catchy. Yes, sometimes it’s that simple of a decision.

Over time though, I’ve realized that most of the community is actually opening their email on Monday. (I can tell this because the open rate sharply increases on Monday.)

This makes sense. Most of the readers here are creative professionals. You’re probably reading this email before work, on a break, at lunch, or whenever you have a spare moment of down time.

So, while “Monday SideNotes” doesn’t have the same catchy ring to it, SideNotes is moving to Mondays for the foreseeable future.

This does two things:

It gives you a boost of inspiration to take into the new week.
It gives me more flexibility on the weekends when I do my heaviest amount of writing/creating. I’ll be able to catch up on content creation and plan the week ahead.

Win-win.
Monday it is.

Change 3 - New Logo / Mascot / Branding

You may have noticed our fine fellow on the top of the page.

His name is Felix.

And yes, he’s a blue cartoon cat sporting a classy monocle and a top hat. What a curious little gentleman indeed.

Over the past year, I’ve been exploring a past love of mine—designing cartoon characters.

Fun fact: Cartoons were 90% of what I submitted in my design portfolio to get into the Syracuse University School of Architecture Undergrad Program.

Felix is the result of making the newsletter a bit more lighthearted and to sharing that love of cartoons.

Felix is a curious cat. He represents our community of creative pros looking for better in our lives. As we move into the new year, I’m refining the focus of the writing to match.

—

The mission: Help busy, creative pros build balance in their lives through personal and professional growth.

—

Harmony between the pieces of our lives (e.g. work, family, friends, faith, etc.) takes resilience. I strongly believe that the unlock to a resilient life is through curious growth.

Felix represents that. Also, he’s adorable.

You’ll see him around more this year on the newsletter and in social media.

Change 4 - New Rating System

One of the most difficult things for me to quantify as a content creator is exactly what our community wants from the content I publish.

As discussed above, sometimes it’s easy because someone will reach out to me directly. But for the most part, all I have to go on is basic open rates and clicks.

I recently stumbled upon a better solution.

Ratings.

Moving forward, I’m going to include a rating system at the bottom of every email.

If you’d like to share feedback, but don’t want to send me an email, you can effectively vote on how you enjoyed the week’s newsletter.

Note: This will only be available as a function in the email version, not on the website.

It will look something like this (emojis / descriptions in progress):

🚀 Epic. Need More!
🔥 I like this
🤦‍♂️ Could be better
👎 I don’t like this

Change 5 - Tip Jar

I’ve done my best over the years to keep my content free or as low cost to the community as possible.

When I started my writing journey, it was mostly a hobby. To be honest, I’ve also never been good at asking for money.

In order to keep this newsletter at little to no cost to you, I humbly ask for your support via the new tip jar when possible.

The money raised will go straight to supporting the costs of the newsletter, the website, and resources to build new products and services.

Here is a link to the tip jar below if you’d like to support my work. It will be at the bottom of every newsletter moving forward.

Tip Jar Link

Thank you very much for your support! 🙏

Change 6 - Article Archive

Something I’ve neglected over the past year is a way for subscribers (or anyone really) to find past articles.

My older process didn’t give me many opportunities to do this easily. So I’ve opted to recreate the issues on my website directly at www.mikelavalley.com

Which, to be fair, I probably should have been doing all along. 🤦‍♂️

C’est la vie.

I’ve started the process, but it will take some time to get all of the issues up and running.

I’ll give you a heads up when it’s done. For now, several of the latest issues can be found at www.mikelavalley.com/sidenotes

You’ll also find a link on every issue moving forward to review that issue online instead of in your email itself.

—

Lots of exciting new content planned for this year already.

I’m excited to help you improve your life through self-development!

TL; DR

It’s time for some changes to the newsletter.
Some changes will go into effect now, some in the coming month or so.
Change #1 - New Format
Change #2 - New Schedule
Change #3 - New Logo / Mascot
Change #4 - Rating System
Change #5 - Tip Jar
Change #6 - Article Archive

Quote of the Week

Motivation for the days ahead of you.