The Weekly Newsletter at the 100 Subscriber Milestone
“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”
Big-ish News!
I launched the One Beautiful Planet website, and my weekly email newsletter on June 27th, 2023.
Initially I had about 10 email subscribers, made up of family, close friends (that I arm-twisted into signing up), and a handful of old FaceBook friends who took my “official” launch seriously.
So it is with gratitude and humble excitement that I share a milestone, now five months later, that I have been able to grow my newsletter subscribers to 100+ folks!
Below is the chart showing number of subscribers, together with the email open rate and click rate. These are typical statistics meant to assess and measure the effectiveness of email newsletter campaigns.
While it’s not much to celebrate (compared to where I am going !!!), it is important to pause a bit, take stock, and write a little reminder for everyone why this newsletter exists in the first place – and to thank existing subscribers, the folks who agreed to be emailed by me on a weekly basis.
Where is this Coming from?
I have had a journalistic, entrepreneurial and strategic marketing impulse for a long time, and my newsletter is reconnecting with those deep instincts: I just can’t help not sharing what I am doing and learning if I believe the efforts are truly worthwhile.
I am no Stephen Pressfield, but I have always enjoyed creative writing. As an elementary school kid in Bucharest, Romania, probably in fourth grade, I vaguely remember writing a little story, inspired by a couple of James Bond and Indiana Jones movies. It made an impression on me, and I remember thinking “I am a writer!”.
Later on, while in middle school (April 1991) at Scoala Generala No. 150, together with three other friends, including Alex Penescu, we started a bi-weekly magazine called “ZIP-TIC”, which ran for all of two issues with the tagline “săptămânal independent mereu pe fază”, i.e. “weekly independent magazine always on the ball” (!).
A bit of a gossip pamphlet, filled with satire about school happenings and random scientific facts, ZIP-TIC was an entrepreneurial effort as much as a journalistic one: we were in 6th grade and I had the good fortune to have access to a computer. So without any software processor like Word or MS Write (who remembers that?), I coded in GW-Basic on my dad’s Sinclair ZX Spectrum the entire newspaper software program: a long list of sequentially numbered LPRINT “” commands.
We produced and sold about 30 copies, largely due to limitations of our little printing operation. Here’s the first page of the first issue:
First Issue of the weekly school newspaper ZIP-TIC: Bucharest, Romania - 1991
Later on, as I wrote in the About section of the website, I began pursuing an education and career in finance, and maintained an interest in writing, primarily on business and financial markets topics. Throughout my professional career I wrote, or contributed to several technical articles, white papers, and occasional career-focused blog posts on LinkedIn.
Then in 2023 I embarked on a journey of gaining knowledge and taking action on the environmental front. While it is a part-time, volunteer effort, I do I feel compelled to write about what I am doing and what I think is worth sharing.
As much as my litter cleanups and environmental education are efforts to reconnect with my curiosity regarding the natural world, and interest in protecting it, writing about it and growing an audience are an additional and important effort to spread the word: We have one beautiful planet, and it helps to learn about it, and protect it.
“The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work. He knows that any job, whether it’s a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. . . [he] steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-yard dash. He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul.”
OK, So What Is in The Weekly Newsletter?
For those who are new or considering subscribing, here’s a synopsis of what the One Beautiful Planet weekly newsletter is all about:
A Blend of Inspiration and Action
Every week, the newsletter begins by spotlighting an animal or a notable figure who's made significant contributions to the environmental cause. Researching and sharing information about these stories can ignite our passion and inspire action.
Whether it's Sylvia Earl’s dedication to ocean conservation, the amazing philanthropy of MacKenzie Scott, or the resilience of pollinators, or lawyer and environmental activist Afroz Shah, who started a movement to clean up the horribly trashed Versova beach in Mumbai, India, or the amazing bird the albatross, who can fly for thousands of miles and weeks at a time – and who is the inspiration for the website logo, these narratives motivate us to do our part.
Cultivating the Right Mindset
In our 'Mindset' section, I share a quote or thought that resonates with me and reflects the driving force behind our efforts.
It's a reminder that change begins with us and the mindset we adopt towards the environment.
And sometimes much of the wisdom that comes from role models and changemakers can be conveyed in short quotes, sometimes in longer ones.
Here’s one of my absolute favorite such longer quotes, which I included in newsletter #20: The work of Derek Sivers, who has a short TED Talk on “How to start a movement”, discussing the viral 2009 Sasquatch music festival dance party video:
“First, a leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed. But what he is doing is so easy to follow.
Here’s his first follower with a crucial role; he’s going to show everyone else how to follow. Now, notice that the leader embraces him as an equal, so now it’s not about the leader anymore, it’s about them, plural.
Then the first follower is an underestimated form of leadership in itself: it takes guts to stand out. The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader. And here comes the second follower. Now it’s not a lone nut, it’s not two nuts, three is a crowd and the crowd is news. So a movement must be public. It’s important to show not just the leader, but the followers because you find the new followers emulate the followers, not the leader. Now here come two more people, and immediately after, three more people. Now we’ve got momentum. This is the tipping point. Now we’ve got a movement.”
Here’s the full, 3-minute video:
Tracking Progress and Results
Finally, the last part of the newsletter is where I track learning progress and action on the environmental front, from week to week.
I showcase the impact through photos and statistics, underscoring my ongoing effort to making a positive difference. From articles I've written, to courses I've taken, and the cleanups I've led, each newsletter highlights tangible actions taken and progress made in various geographical areas. Even if it’s small, like picking up litter while on a quick jog in the middle of a busy work week, I still include it, and view it as a positive step worth sharing.
Reporting results and lessons learned is a way to stay in touch with the wider world, with other people who care, and hopefully provide an example and inspiration.
In addition, the weekly report to my readers provides an element of accountability, which is absolutely key to any entrepreneurial endeavor. And my work here is entrepreneurial, since it is a part time, volunteer effort, and I am trying to create something new: a platform for education and action on the environmental front accompanied by a strong and active online presence linking community members who care.
As such, I must follow the four pillars of entrepreneurship: specificity, measurement, deadlines, and accountability, a framework I adopted after participating in the Commit Action coaching program. The program launched by Peter Shallard includes weekly calls with a coach, covering the pillar of accountability. There is something important and symbolically meaningful not just about external accountability, but about the weekly cadence and ritual of carrying out committed tasks that move one closer to key milestones and an inspiring long term vision.
“On writing ‘A Character Smarter Than I Am’: I realized something I had already known: The part of our psyche that does the writing . . . is far deeper than our personal ego. That part is tapped into a course whose wisdom far exceeds our own. All we have to do is trust it.”
In Closing
Nowadays, newsletters are mainly used as a marketing tactic: to get people to click, and buy.
However, according to https://www.campaignmonitor.com/, which I fully agree with, “newsletters are better suited to educating and entertaining subscribers than they are for making a sale. Receiving a newsletter should feel like getting an update from an interesting and helpful friend rather than a hard sell from a pushy salesperson.”
Yes!
By joining our newsletter, you're not just subscribing to updates. You're becoming an integral part of a movement striving for a cleaner, healthier future.
Thank you once again to all our subscribers for your support, enthusiasm, and commitment. Your engagement fuels this initiative and serves as a catalyst for positive change.
Let's continue to learn, grow, and act together! And of course, please don’t forget subscribe using the link below ;-)
Smiling,
Razvan
