Please excuse this unexpected and somewhat introspective email on a Sunday, but I wanted to send a quick note to celebrate a few things.
One year to this day, I launched A Media Operator. It was an evening on a Friday after work that I just decided to get over any paralysis I might feel and just launch. I didn’t tell anyone. I just wrote.
It’s the exact opposite way I’ve ever done any project before in my life. Normally, I plan every detail out before doing something. Not to mention, I spend weeks and months questioning whether I even should do something. The impostor syndrome is real. And 99% of the time, I talk myself out of doing something.
But I love to write. And, more importantly, I love everything there is about media. I also have such a deep respect for so many of the operators out there who show up every day and just do an amazing job.
That’s why I launched A Media Operator. I wanted to meet people smarter than I am. I thought if I wrote about media, I’d have a chance to do that. And it worked.
Since launching, A Media Operator has grown to just about 2,000 people with 170 people paying. If you do the math, that means I have convinced approximately 8.5% of you to become paying subscribers.
To each and every of you, thank you. Whether we’ve had a one-on-one conversation or not, please know I appreciate you. I am only an email away if you ever have a thought or question.
And to everyone else, I invite you to become a premium member of A Media Operator. You’ll get double the content, access to the comments and we can chat more often. As I think about how to expand the community, the benefits of being a member will only grow.
But what comes next?
To start, you can depend on me to continue delivering week after week. A critical part of being successful at anything is showing up and putting the work in.
Since launching, I’ve also done some consulting work. It’s really fun to dig into a business and see how things work and offer actionable advice. If you are looking for some help, don’t hesitate to let me know.
But the real reason for today’s message… I am also excited to announce the launch of a podcast to expand on the brand of A Media Operator. The premise of the podcast is very straight forward.
The best way to learn about what does and doesn’t work in media is to talk about it with the people practicing day after day. So, each week, I’ll interview a different person in media. We’ll discuss their strategies and tactics for growing, what worked and what didn’t and, ultimately, what went into building their businesses.
Not every interview will be with the owner of the business. Sometimes, we’ll talk to mid-to-senior level executives of specific departments. I want to hear from the people that are focused on audience development, new product development, retention—you name it, I’m curious.
The goal with the podcast is simple: you should learn new ideas for your business from other experts in the field. Whether you’re a seasoned media operator or just getting started, this podcast should be actionable. If it’s not, I’m not doing a good job.
If you are a company looking to do business with media operators and want to sponsor the podcast, hit reply. I have no downloads right now, but hey, launch partners are still fun!
In the next few days, I’ll be releasing the first episode with an incredibly bright operator who built a digital health media company and sold it. He’s now building his second media company, which is a blend of market research and newsletter. Be on the look out! If there are people you think I should interview, let me know that as well.
I’m still getting all the submissions approved, but here are a few places where you can listen:
Google Podcasts is coming
If there are other podcast players that you want to see the podcast on, let me know and I will submit it there as well. Please subscribe on your podcast player of choice and if you like the interviews, leave a rating.
I am excited to see this next step of A Media Operator. It’s been an incredible first year. If you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know. And thank for joining me on this journey.
Thanks!
Jacob
