Can you believe I’ve been writing this newsletter for 200 FUCKING WEEKS? I haven’t skipped an issue yet, and I don’t plan to anytime soon.

Writing Strategic AF is still one of my favorite things to do and the business asset responsible for most of my sales, directly and indirectly.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s all milk and toast and honey. Nothing is. So today, I want to take you behind the scenes of what it means to write a newsletter for almost 4 damn years — without an editorial team.

First, a look at the numbers

I recently told you that ​I have no problem with being consistent​, with the very important caveat that it helps if it’s something I enjoy. And I truly enjoy writing.

The two questions I get asked most frequently about Strategic AF are:

  1. How can I stay consistent for so long? The answer is above – I’m sorry; I have no weird trick or morning routine to share with you (more on that below). I truly enjoy writing this newsletter AND the fact that it’s responsible for almost all my income definitely helps.
  2. How long does it take me to write each issue? Between 1 hour and 18 hours. I write like a speed demon on crack, so if I have a mental outline, I can write a very decent first draft in less than an hour. If, on the other hand, it’s a topic that requires more research, I’ll spend ±18 hours on it, spread over a few weeks as I collect and analyze data. It’s usually a combination, so, on average, I spend 2-3 hours per week on it.

More numbers for your viewing pleasure

  • The average Strategic AF issue is around 1,750+ words
  • In total, I’ve written over 500,000 words for this newsletter alone. That’s 8 non-fiction books!
  • The average open rate is 40%, but I started seeing it trend lower, which does NOT make me happy.
  • According to ​Kit​, the average lifetime of a subscriber on my list is 1.2 years. This number does make me happy, especially since I know many people unsubscribe after they download a lead magnet, so the lifetime of real subscribers has to be much higher.
  • This is what my Kit dashboard says (BUT it also cautions me that the numbers before April 2024 may be bonkers).
  • Either way, 10k subscribers in total sounds about right. The entire list would likely be around 6-7k subscribers if I hadn’t started deleting inactive users some time ago.

A walk down memory lane

If you’ve been on my list for a while, you may remember that this newsletter was initially called Ideas to Power Your Future, a serious contender for the world’s least inspired name.

I chose this name because:

  1. In the early days, the newsletter had a heavier focus on trend analysis and futurism. I gradually moved away from that angle, but I never let go of it completely.
  2. I suck at naming. Ideas to Power Your Future was supposed to be a tagline but, since I couldn’t come up with anything better, I used it as a name too.

A few landmarks:

And a few of the issues that got the best feedback:

What I built on the back of 200 newsletter issues

When I first started writing, this was just an editorial project, without a clear monetary roadmap. I was still running my agency, so making money fast was not a necessity.

This is probably why the best thing this newsletter gave me was a real community, with real friends. While building it up was hard in the beginning, people started showing up eventually — they replied, we chatted, and we became friends.

To this day, when I write a new issue, I think about who among these friends is going to love it and who’s going to be completely unimpressed.

Other than that:

  • I built several digital products, with varying degrees of success.
  • I led close to 100 ​strategy sessions​, which means I helped dozens of talented entrepreneurs get the clarity they needed
  • I built ​The Council​, my proudest achievement and my favorite place on the internet. All its members had been readers of Strategic AF before joining.

Overall, Strategic AF became an evergreen asset and, more importantly, it helped me shape my worldview and conceptualize it. I could stop writing it and still have content to reuse, repurpose, and republish for at least two years from now.

The bad and the ugly

When I say that I love writing this newsletter, I don’t mean that I love it every week. I’m not always inspired and it sometimes feels like a chore.

But it’s become almost like brushing your teeth: I don’t even think about; I just sit down and write, the same way I grab my toothbrush before bed and early in the morning. It’s my one non-negotiable.

Almost is an important word. I don’t love everything I write, and I often feel guilty for not having the time and the mental space to produce something I can be proud of.

In the ugly department, I tend to default to being a writer rather than a business owner. As I look back on my past issues, I realize that I’m almost always doing something I strongly advise my clients not to do: I put editorial quality above business goals.

Sure, I may have links to my products in every email, but I don’t always make a hard sale, even though I know I should.

When consistency isn’t that consistent.

I told you that I frequently get asked for my secret to staying this consistent. The truth is Strategic AF has never been linear.

I started with a different topic, and I circled through so many formats that I don’t even remember half of them. In a way, I think it’s what helped me publish every week, even though, internally, it doesn’t feel that consistent.

I do know that a set format and predictability are great business-wise. But I also know I’d burn out in a couple of months if I imposed such strict editorial guidelines.

A recurring format can help, but I’ve learned to keep the promise to readers steadier than the packaging. You may get a trend analysis one week and a personal essay the next. You should still leave with a clearer way to think about growing your business.

This is why Strategic AF may feel like a box of unlabeled assorted candy: you don’t always know what you’re going to get and you may hate some of the “treats”. Still, it’s what keeps the candy factory going ;).

Thank YOU!

And to everyone who has read, replied, forwarded an issue, bought something, disagreed with me, or simply kept opening these emails: thank you. Writing every week is much easier when I know there are actual people on the other end, occasionally wondering what the hell I’m going to say next.

Some of you have been here since Ideas to Power Your Future. Some arrived this morning. You’ve all helped make these 200 issues worth writing, and I’m grateful you’ve let me into your inbox.