Everything is an experiment

Starting a Substack, experimenting and one year-ish reflections.

I’m not great with milestones. I intended to write a recap celebrating one year of this Substack, but when I dug through my archives, I realized that date had long passed (whoops!)

In my very first Substack, published on June 9^th, 2023, I wrote about how I was feeling stuck in my career and having trouble envisioning a path forward. I know it sounds dramatic and I cringe now reading it back, but at that time, I had been working as a freelance copywriter for four years and I clearly underestimated what I thought it was going to be like.

Having previously worked at a bank, most of my clients were in the financial services industry, with a few smaller businesses mixed in. I felt so fortunate (and still do) to have those clients, but I also had expectations of having more freedom in freelance life to sink my teeth into what I wanted to write about and the things that interested me.

The problem was I had been doing the same thing for so long that I didn’t know what those things were. So, I made a commitment to myself to just start experimenting—right here, on Substack.

I found that approaching it as an experiment kept the stakes low. I opened myself up to writing about anything, even if it was a topic I had zero experience in. I’ve always loved clothes and shopping (sometimes a little too much) so I knew I wanted to write pieces on personal style. As someone beyond the ‘new mom’ stage, I wanted to explore some of the parenting experiences I was going through raising bigger kids because it often feels like a whole different ball game. I wanted to write about random things. Fun things. But also, meaningful things.

When I had the idea for starting a series highlighting Asian women I admire in the fashion and lifestyle space, I’d find myself getting too far ahead with the details and overwhelmed. Would it be interesting enough? Would people want to participate? Would people even care? I was making it harder on myself than it had to be and kept putting it off. I decided the easiest thing I could do was approach it as an experiment—I simply brought up my observations about the lack of Asian voices being amplified on Substack in one of my posts… then, waited to see what kind of response it would get. To my surprise, others expressed the same sentiments, and this gave me the validation (and courage) I needed to finally launch What’s In.

I’ve found that having this kind of “let’s see what happens” mindset has been helpful for other aspects of creating this newsletter, beyond just writing, like taking photos, making collages and using affiliate links. These are all things that intimidated me at first, but I tried to take the pressure off by approaching them as little experiments that weren’t tied to any metrics of success, only learnings.

For instance, I learned that I don’t like taking photos in public—I feel incredibly self-conscious and awkward—which is why most of mine are mirror selfies in the comfort of my own home. I learned that I do enjoy curating photos and making collages. And that affiliate links are actually a ton of work. I know people assume that content creators just link to products and brands with the highest commission rate, but I think it’s easy to spot those vs. the ones who are thoughtful in their recommendations. The latter takes research and time (can be hours, sometimes days) to curate the right products (taking into account style, quality and relevancy) for an idea.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I never paid attention to the results. There have been times when I thought a post would do really well—and it didn’t. And then there were posts I had low expectations for that ended up getting a lot of engagement. What I’ve learned is that, while I can’t completely ignore the results, it’s easier for me to move on from something that does poorly when I remind myself it’s all just trial and error. I don’t need to obsess over the outcome.

Had I not been willing to experiment more than a year ago, sparking that initial post, I think I would still be in a rut today and not here, writing to you, 37 newsletters later. Trying something new is always easier said than done, so I find reframing it as an experiment can help make it less scary and heavy.

Substack has given me an outlet for experimenting but it doesn’t have to be the only way. I may have overstated it with the title because, of course, not everything can be an experiment. But, if you’re feeling stuck, is there some way to introduce a bit of experimentation into your life? Could you experiment with your style? Routine? Hobbies?

What would happen if we set our expectations aside and stopped obsessing over outcomes and approached more things as experiments? What would we learn about ourselves? I think the answer could surprise you.

Source

What else

Since this was meant to be a milestone newsletter celebrating one year on Substack, it seems only right to thank you all for subscribing and reading these newsletters! I never imagined anyone would read these outside of my family and friends, so I appreciate you being here!

In the spirit of this newsletter, I wanted to update you on a few other things I’m experimenting with.

• In addition to affiliate links, I’ve decided to turn on paid subscriptions as a way to support the work that goes into creating these newsletters and helping it grow. BUT, I’m not planning on using the paywall feature anytime soon. This is mostly to test those rumours about Substack prioritizing newsletters with a paid subscription option. We’ll see where this experiment lands, and if there’s a significant increase in visibility with this newsletter, I’ll have my answer. ;) That said, if you do find value in these newsletters and want to support my work, you can consider upgrading to a paid subscription (FYI, Substack sets the minimum at US$5/month and takes a 10% cut.)

• Would love to hear from you on what you like reading about most in these newsletters. I usually approach the topics I cover based on what interests me and what I think might resonate—I know it can be heavy on the style/shopping content but I hope they’re somewhat helpful? I love reading newsletters that cover various topics, so I’ll occasionally drop in with something else that I feel inspired by (like my thoughts on experimenting), but curious to see what you like to read.

• I just opened the Essential Reads chat, which you can join via the app. I kept going back and forth on this as I have a love-hate relationship with the chat function. I’m in a bunch of different ones from other Substacks I subscribe to, and while they can be a great place for connecting with other like-minded people, building community and sharing (whether it’s outfits, recommendations, shopping finds, etc.,) I know they can get to be too much sometimes.

  I wanted to have some sort of purpose with mine before I jumped in, and I think I found it. I consider one of my strengths to be finding good deals. I always plan to share my finds in my newsletters, but there’s not always enough time to write and get them out (sometimes things sell out quickly or sales expire.) So, I’m hoping to use this space as a way to quickly share finds I love and that I think would be relevant to subscribers. Aside from this, I want it to be a fun community, like many other great Substacks have, where we can share outfits, things we love, recommendations, etc. I hope you’ll join!

These newsletters have been a real labour of love over the past year. I spend days (and sometimes nights) putting them together. I admit it’s taken me away from focusing on getting more client work. There are times I’ve been less patient with my husband and kids because what I’m writing about occupies so much space in my head. And sometimes (ok, a lot of times), dinner is late because I always have one more last thought to finish. But—I really do love this work.

Thank you again for being here! x

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