Thorborg's newsletter is dead, hooray!

Short newsletters are the way forward for me. My old newsletter takes so long to write that it almost never comes out. After a talk on social media, I therefore decide to kill off the long version. From now on, I will write less at a time and send more often, with at least as much inspiration.

I have just come from the Growth 2.0 conference in Miami in January 2010. It is organised by Entrepreneur, which I have just started subscribing to. I think it is a fantastic magazine. I do not know whether you can get it in Denmark or Europe, but it is the sort of thing I would like us to do at Amino too.

What do I get from a conference with lots of familiar material?

Much of what I have heard during the day has been basic stuff. There are lots of beginners attending, and the speakers spend time explaining what Twitter and the various other things are. You can find yourself thinking: What the hell am I actually getting out of this?

First, I get ideas for Aminotastic, including how we can run workshops. That is pretty cool. But something else also makes conferences interesting to me.

Almost every time, I think much of the material is trivial and I already know it. Yet there is often one thing that hits the spot. It happened this time too. I got so excited about the idea that I had to leave and tell you about it immediately.

My newsletter takes most of a working day

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you know it does not come very often. Sorry about that. The reason is that I am so bloody ambitious when I write it.

I want the content to be good, and afterwards another hour or so goes on the technical side and all sorts of other things. In total, it actually takes me most of an ordinary working day.

It is rare for me to find an entire day. At the same time, I need to feel inspired and know exactly what I want to say. I do not want to send out crap. Either you give people something worthwhile and good quality, or you should keep your mouth shut.

That ambition is what has made publication so infrequent. I want to write something good, but the format makes the task so big that it is hard to get done.

Short newsletters make room for more regular inspiration

At the conference, I hear a capable woman talk about social media. The level is low compared with what I work on myself, and I already know almost everything. But then she says something that hits me.

I translate her point into Danish in the video: If you are still writing long newsletters, go and stand in the corner and be ashamed of yourself.

Ouch. That stung. I felt bloody old. As if I were 200. Because she had a point: People do not have time to read a whole long newsletter, and I do not have time to write it.

The point is to write a little more often, for example every week or fortnight, and provide good value. But do not put out too much at once. That is exactly the change I want to make. Also read E-pusher about my experiences with online sales and marketing.

The long version is dead

So Thorborg’s newsletter has passed away as of today, I say in the video. I no longer want to write the long version.

But that means the newsletter should come out more often and be much smaller in future. It should still be at least as inspiring. A little less, something good and a little more often. I am really looking forward to putting that decision into practice.

At the end, I am waiting at a raised bridge and interrupt myself with a blunt comment about being charged money for just about anything these days. But I am in a good mood. I look forward to getting out there and writing a short newsletter.

At the time of this video, I promise the new, short version in the next few days. That is my decision here in January 2010: Make the task smaller, keep the quality and get the inspiration out a little more often.

So my newsletter died…

Location:NE 15th St,Miami,USA