One of the hardest things that has come out of starting Top of Mind is figuring out its role and tone — basically figuring out its personal brand. Like what do I want people to think about when they subscribe to Top of Mind or even when they happen to stumble across.
I will be the first to admit that month 1 has been a bit of a rollercoaster.
A lot of the editions missed the mark — first, there was figuring out the timing of it all. Ideally, I would want to be posting three times a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). Maybe I would only be email blasting subscribing one of those days, but I truly think that having a three times a week of content is a type of standard that would be nice to have. In reality, it’s unrealistic at this time. I think I discovered that after week 1…once I used up my backlog of writing. So now it’s going to be a weekly newsletter — Tuesday 9am. Meaning that the post is scheduled at least by Monday night.
Second, there was the content and at the same time the tone. You see I really wanted to write things that were snappy and useful— truly things that were top of my mind that I thought would be helpful (at the very least interesting to readers). I think a lot of the stuff that I have on my list that I want to write about cover that criteria but I think there is a lot of improvement on my delivery.
I have found that while I enjoy the pieces I have been writing — long form will always have a special place in my heart. I have accidentally putting pressure on myself by thinking I need to be producing weekly long form content. I think some of the topics that I have been focusing on have been very experimental. And I don’t know if that is what Top of Mind needs right now. Don’t get me wrong, this will not prevent me from writing this type of content but rather the sharing of it may become more special.
Sometimes my personality gets lost in long form — and that really is the opposite intention of Top of Mind.
With that reflection, there are certainly some tweaks I am making for February 2024. We’re focusing more on sharing ideas and experiences that provide guidance and act as a resource. A lot of the things I have experienced and I constantly think about are things that I wish others talked more about in an honest way.
As an exercise of accountability, some of the areas I want to focus on include:
- An honest reflection of landlording (as someone helping their parents with it)
- Tech layoffs 2024 and updating your resume
- Types of shows I want to watch (this one should be a fun one!)
Life Long Learning (LLL)
I plan on diving more into this one in a dedicated post but listing out some of this upcoming monthly LLL goals with the expectation that next month’s update will have some actual updates on these.
- Developing technical writing and business documentation skills
- Tax preparation and small business ownership