22 Comments

Creation burnout is frustrating but I also regularly experience content burnout, which leaves dozens of articles (including those I've paid for) unread. There's a rhythm to this which I interpret as our brains reminding us that there's more to this life than information noise.

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This is a very solid point. I experience content burnout too, and that's one reason why I want to keep producing this newsletter at a reasonable pace. I don't want to overwhelm myself and my audience.

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Hey David, you forgot to include chop life as one of the ideas to eliminate burnout hahaha. I love to read the newsletter whenever I see it I feel restless until I read it. I know Communique will evolve into something hooge pretty soon. Amazing insight as always. Big ups to you and the team.

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Haha! Yes o. Never forget to chop life :-D

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Getting to this late. Sweet stuff as always. Regarding content creators evolving into investors, you mentioned you wished you saw more of that in Africa. Its sometimes easy to forget that Mr Eazi has set out a template for this with Empawa (seed funding and mentorship in exchange for a piece of returns). Looking at the music industry as a whole, it seems its done a lot in other instances, albeit informally. Case in point, D'Prince transitioning into an A&R/Exec and scouting Rema, Ruger etc. Either way, digital creators have a lot of relatively proven and succesful models to glean from. Lastly, there's definitely a case to be made for Communique to become a host network for newsletters (and any other type of digital content tbh). You scout, mentor, seedfund and share your garnered audience with them in exchange for a share of any possible future advertising or subscription returns. Conde Nast with a tinge of digital disruption.

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Thanks, Nnamdi! How could I have forgotten Mr Eazi. Definitely a lot to learn from him. As for Communique, that's a part of the plan, to be honest. Perhaps I should just fast track it.

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Thanks David! It’s these amazing insights and your witty but conventional style and more that keep me coming back. Interesting to also see the new NFT trends. What a time to be alive and creating.

I do hope you find your Ikigai to continue.

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My guy, thank you so much for these kind words! I look forward to doing more for you with this newsletter.

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Writing at its finest. I love reading thud newsletter and I hope that you find the inspiration and strength to keep creating. Thanks for all the insights and knowledge I've gained through Communiqué. I look forward to reading some more in 2022; see you there!

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Thank you, Nancy! You make writing this newsletter worth it.

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I’ve thought about this a lot too, but I think there is another end to consider. Even before Substack, I wrote a once a month blog just for fun. So I imagine that once I reach a certain level of Substack success, I can just maintain at that leisurely pace. Like Dear Sugar! She has a devoted (paid) following even though she only writes once a month. I don’t imagine my newsletter will be my full time job, or even a part time job, that I have to keep up with—rather, I see it as a way to stay connected to my readers as I write articles, books, etc.

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I looked up "Dear Sugar!" and it's so interesting to see how it evolved. Maybe that's the thing we all need: that ability and freedom to evolve when we need to without feeling pressured to stay one way forever.

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Exactly. And Cheryl has thousands of paying subscribers for that one email a month!

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Now I'm even more curious to learn about her. What other perks does she offer her subscribers? I'm trying to find that, but the information is so overwhelming.

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I’m pretty sure it’s just the one email. No other perks. But the one email a month is an answer to one of her reader’s questions. So all of her readers send her questions all the time that they want her to answer!

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That's amazing. I'm definitely going to experiment with this! Thank you!

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I can imagine how much work you put into the Communique. Thank you so much David and I am hopeful that next year would bring more insights on sustainability.

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It's a lot of work, but people like you make it worth it. Thank you so much!

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You are welcome boss.

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I hope you come out of the other side of this with clarity of vision and purpose. See you in 2022!

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I hope so too. Thank you for everything!

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This is probably the article I've connected with the most. Thank you for the tips and thank you for what you do.

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