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TLDR: I’m Facing 2x Fears Directly in This Post
I’m terrified of launching our new product
I’m terrified of putting up a paywall for this newsletter
Building in public is painful, but I have to know if I have what it takes to become a paid professional for my writing.
Read on to learn about these fears and join me on the journey to launch something new.
In startups, ‘pivoting’ is when you adjust course to tackle an adjacent problem.
The initial stage of entrepreneurship is about casting a wide net - you try to solve different problems until you hit the magical combination of solving the right problem for the right customer with the right solution and a great price point.
Our time, effort, and attention are limited, so prioritizing and focusing are essential.
One problem I’ve always struggled with is knowing when to double down on what’s working vs taking additional shots on adjacent goals.
I struggled with this in my first startup, Paintru, and I struggle with it now.
👉 The truth is that we have a business model that works and clients that love our service, which makes it even tougher to consider diverting resources into other initiatives.
That said, our model is very labor intensive, and while I don’t have questions about whether it can scale past 7 figures, I have questions about whether it can scale to 8 figures.
I’m wrestling with these two mutually exclusive points of view -
Don’t be stupid - get the bag! Do what works and do more of it!
Roll out a scalable product. Even if it’s hard to launch, it’s worth the additional pain now.
What do you do when you’re unsure which path to take in business?
Minimum Viable Product
The Minimum Viable Product is an attempt to solve a customer problem as simply as possible. You invest minimal resources into solving a problem as possible and measure the results.
Over the course of the next 8-weeks, I’ll be taking you on a journey to launch a new product for TheMilVet.
This product is designed for military veteran working professionals early in their civilian business careers. The product helps them build a new tribe in business and learn the skills required to succeed in their new careers.
A significant gamble of this new endeavor is to answer a critical question -
What will people pay for premium content and access?
With that in mind, the time has finally come for me to test another hypothesis - a paywall for this newsletter.
Why the Paywall?
For a few years now, I’ve had dreams of building the product I describe below.
I’ve wanted to start this project for 18 months.
If I’m being honest, I’m terrified it won’t work.
I can’t stress the word TERRIFIED enough.
👉 It’s much easier to say, “I want to build [new product], but I can’t make the time” than it is to say, “I gave it my all, and I couldn’t make it work.”
The same is true of this newsletter.
I have aspirations of making it a paid newsletter and a robust fear of failure.
It’s time for me to confront both of these fears head-on.
I’m betting -
Many of you will be so curious about what we’re building and how we do it that you’ll pay to access that content.
The content will be good enough to be worth the cash.
My Promises For Those of You Who Pay -
If you pay for an annual subscription, I promise you I will -
Publish 8 paid-only posts with the why, what, and how to show you how to launch a product in 90-days. I will continue publishing paid only posts 2-3x per month after this initial batch.
You’ll have exclusive access to what we’re building. You’ll be invited to trial the beta of the product for free.
I’ll be much more open with details about the bad and ugly - not just the good parts of building a new product & launching.
Here are the posts you’ll get for paying:
What we’re building & why (this post)
Timeline, Roadmap, and Strategy (next week - 8/29)
Picking the essential tools & building (9/5)
Designing a new user onboarding (9/12)
Soft Launch (9/19)
Hypothesis Testing & Adoption Rates (9/26)
Measuring User Feedback (10/3)
Full Launch (10/10)
After this initial series, I will continue to publish paid posts, so feel free to purchase a full year subscription (monthly works too) below!
This is a big gamble for us, and I’m asking you to put some skin in the game if you want to support it by paying for a subscription to this newsletter.
So what are we building?
I’m glad you asked…
Here’s What We’re Building & Why -
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