Yo, what's up!

Let's talk about growth.

A lot of my readers, in some way or another have some sort of "thing" they're doing. "Thing" as in project, side-hustle, startup, bootstrapped business or whatever you want to call it, but growing that thing isn't easy.

It's funny, because with this newsletter, I really don't do a lot of promotion and you'd be surprised to know that I get a lot of my subscribers through word of mouth and referrals. Here is what I don't use, I dont use SEO, I dont do ads and I dont use lead magnets (yuck).

As you may know by now, I hate fluff. That shit can get fucked. If there's nothing tangible and actionable in your value, then it not value, its fluff. I read this post over a year ago, and its still as relevant now as it was then. It's on creating your own snowball effect by sharing content effectively and will help you grow!!

Here a is a tl;dr in picture form.

Wanted to keep the intro on the short side this week as I've had a lot going on irl, and it's currently a few hours before this is issue is meant to go out and yet I'm still writing but I vowed never miss a week. Need to keep my streak up! 

In other news....

Apple Pay officially released in South Africa (for my bank at least) this week. I know....7 years late to the party but better late than never I guess. 

Went to the local grocer to get a drink and decided that I'm going to give this a try, tapped my iPhone on the card machine and the cashier quite literally almost fainted. You need to understand that I live in a developing country, so shit like this is quite uncommon which is what made this whole experience even more wholesome.

Apple products are very common here, but in terms of payment gateways, the best we have is PayPal, so Apple Pay is kinda big news. Who knows, maybe we'll get Stripe here one day as well. 

- Nic 

Notice: 

I still have a lot $15 classified slots open. If you're interested, book here

When was the last time your push notifications saw CTRs that made you go 'Wow'? CustomerGlu clients do it every time by using games to communicate. Check it out  

Week is a task management tool where calendar is the main part of the app.

Skiff helps you collaborate on documents and notes with complete privacy. Share anonymous links, work with end-to-end encryption, and expiring links.

Segro is an app that stops bad habits with calendar insights and helps you maintain the lifestyle that you want.  

Quest is a tool that helps convert Figma designs into HTML using no-code. 

This weeks newsletter of the week is FontDiscovery , a weekly visual newsletter on all things design, like font tips, design ideas and other color inspirations for your projects or marketing. 

This newsletter is packed with visual examples, short explanations, use-cases, do's, and don'ts for a specific font and introduce to you design concepts and actionable creative prompts. 

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"Should I quit my job to start my business?" I asked myself that question a lot back when I was gainfully employed.

Roughly five years ago, I quit a pretty solid job because I felt unfulfilled and wanted to build my own thing. I'd already teamed up with a group of people and we were excited to bring a cool concept to fruition. We had it mapped out, but that was about it. I quit, moved, and started up. Read More

The internet is rotting.
Sixty years ago the futurist Arthur C. Clarke observed that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The internet—how we both communicate with one another and together preserve the intellectual products of human civilization—fits Clarke’s observation well. Read more

Skip the boring parts.
You don't have writer's block. You're just bored. Read more

An essay about life before smartphones.
I used to get lost all the time. I’d ask for directions, look for landmarks, fold maps, carry a guidebook, and keep an atlas in the glove compartment. I never knew when the next train was coming. I waited around a lot.

I memorized phone numbers, jotted things down in notebooks, had conversations with taxi drivers, talked to random people at bars, wrote checks, went to the bank, and daydreamed. Read more

How to Cold Email Your Way into Your Dream Job
Cold email is still king. Yes, even in 2021 with the endless amount of job boards and other "barriers" as other people might say into the job market. Here is an anecdote of how Toby Howell emailed his way into getting a job at Morning Brew. Check it out

Product Hunt case studies. 
I visit PH daily to scope out new tools I can add the newsletter each week, but getting top 3 of PH for the day isn't an easy task, so here is a collection of case studies that could help you with your launch and getting that top spot. Check it out

Carrd - A one page site builder. Whether it's a personal profile, a landing page to capture emails, or something a bit more elaborate, Carrd has you covered. Simple, responsive, and totally free.

NewsletterOS - NewsletterOS is a Notion dashboard that helps anybody, new and veteran to the newsletter space create, manage and grow an email newsletter.

EmailOctopus - Email marketing made easy. Simple, powerful tools to grow your business. Easy to use, quick to master and all at an affordable price.