Letter 53: A New Direction

Big changes coming to this Newsletter + a limited time offer

Hey everyone, got a bit of a different post here today about the future of this Newsletter. In my traditional style, I am probably going to be saying in 1000 words what could be said in 100, but hey, if you didn’t like reading my stuff then you probably wouldn’t be here anyway - you all know what you’ve gotten yourself into! But here’s a brief TLDR anyway:

I’m launching a premium version of this newsletter with a goal of delivering 10x the value back to readers that they pay on the subscription. There will be weekly newsletters plus a deep dive on something topical included every month. The cost is $33/month with a 50% discount for anyone that signs up early. Read on for the long version…

Okay so I’ve just spent two weeks almost entirely disconnected from crypto — for my wedding & mini-honeymoon — and while I didn’t spend too much time thinking about this space, one thought that kept recurring to me was: I miss writing.

Of all the things I have done in my life, the closest I have ever felt to having a “calling”, is writing. I love to read, I love to think about writing, and I love to write. I always have for as long as I can remember.

When I started this Newsletter back in 2021, it was out of that pure love of writing and of wanting to talk about the space I spent so much time in. I made several posts a week and was very regularly working on growing the readership and pouring everything into this.

Then something happened which always happens with me: I got burned out, bored, tired, unmotivated, and moved on to the next exciting thing. ADHD brain at it’s finest (who can relate?) — even things I love struggle to hold a candle to the hot new shiny thing enticing me in.

So over the subsequent years, and as I got busier and busier with other things in crypto, and in life, this Newsletter took a back seat. Still, I would come back and post here, but it went from several times a week to several times a year. Seriously.

From June 2021 to the end of 2021, I published 23 times.

In 3+ years since then, I have only published an additional 29 times - and only three times since the start of 2024, wtf.

Part of it was indeed being busy with other things, but the other part was simply a lack of motivation. I’ve always struggled with motivation — as a kid in school I would leave all my assignments to the last minute, finishing (and starting!) them the night before they were due. I’d only study for exams the night before taking them. Only when faced with the pressure of a deadline do I tend to get my work done.

So it’s in that spirit and with the hopes that having a strict deadline each week to publish will make me write more (which in turn will help me write better quality stuff), that I am launching a premium subscription version of this Newsletter.

For premium subscribers, I’m committing to publishing one post per week, including one deep dive a month. It’s also going to be a goal of mine to deliver far more value to the readers than the monthly subscription fee - it’ll be up for you all to decide how well I do on that front, but that’s my goal from the outset.

A part of me always wanted my newsletter to be 100% free, but i’d be lying if I didn’t admit to how much it has fizzled out over the last couple of years. I think with the knowledge that people are paying my content, I will (rightfully) feel obligated to deliever weekly and high quality content. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work, and I refund everyone’s money 🤷‍♂️.

I don’t know exactly what i’ll be writing about each week. I do know that it’ll largely be in the same spirit as what this Newsletter has been to date: deep dives on crypto related projects and topics, musings on trading and lessons learned, plus I think I’ll start adding updates about my personal portfolio breakdown/allocations. I’d also like to share areas I am focusing on where I think there is potential/opportunity to make money in the space. Beyond that it will evolve and take on a life of it’s own like any Newsletter.

I understand that not everyone can afford, or justify, paying for a Newsletter. I hope to occasionally make posts that are free and public in additional to my premium posts, and I will of course keep all existing posts free forever for anyone to go back and read.

Price wise, I decided on $33 a month, because 33 has always been a special number to me and it just seemed reasonable enough. But I wanted to launch with a special offer for all long time readers and subscribers, so anyone who signs up in the next few weeks will receive a 50% discount.

I’d love for this Newsletter to land in everyone’s inbox and be one of those “must read every week” things. There’s infinite information in the crypto space and I know how busy people are, so I hope to help curate a good chunk of that information and share what I am focusing on and what I think is cool / interesting / fun / relevant / profitable, and have that be of value to people.

Hell, I hope to make this the best and most valuable Newsletter in crypto.

So on that note, i’ll end — and see you all on Monday, when my next Newsletter will go out. And then every Monday after that, because for better or worse, by sending this, I am signing myself up to a long future of weekly writing.

I’m a little weary, and a little afraid, but definitely excited for what the future holds.