Entry #2: sponsored content, finding peace, and app and grandma update
Good morning!
I'm currently typing this up at a local coworking space. While it's convenient to work from home, I need to get out of the apartment most days. Changing my environment has a big impact on my motivation and inspiration. Going to a coworking space or a new coffee shop is a quick way for me to find some energy.
What I'm thinking about
I'm mulling over if I want to do sponsored content*. These are my raw thoughts. I haven't decided anything and want to get your feedback before I do.
My case against sponsored content
📹 I do not want content to be my livelihood
🙏🏻 I am mindful of the asks I make
💵 Sponsored content often feels icky to me
📹 I do not want content to be my livelihood. My goal with social is to get feedback and users for the products I build, connect with others, and share my journey. I want social to support my life and business, not to be my life and business. Sponsored content can be a slippery slope because it's a convenient way to make money. However, in the long run there are some perverse incentives that I want to avoid. How much a brand is willing to pay depends, in part, on the creator's engagement rate**. The higher the engagement rate, the more the brand pays. This incentivizes creators to increase their engagement rate which can lead to low quality, inauthentic content.
🙏🏻 I am mindful of the asks that I make. I do not take your time for granted. There is an endless list of things you could be doing. If you do want to support me, I would much, much rather have you try out one of my apps than buy someone else's product.
💵 Sponsored content often feels icky to me. We're inundated with ads in our lives, and I find there is something particularly jarring about seeing an unexpected ad. We're used to seeing ads on billboards, during commercial breaks, or on the side of webpages. That sets our expectations (and makes the ads easier to tune out). Sponsored content appears more randomly. I'm watching a video of a creator I like, and it slowly transforms into an ad. I often find myself frustrated.
My case for sponsored content
👨🏻💻 Sponsored content would help fund my business
🤝🏻 I think sponsored content can be done in a way that preserves trust
📱 Sponsored content is trivial to skip
👨🏻💻 The reason I'm considering sponsored content is that that money could fund my business. Building a product (and business) takes money and human labor. Unless someone has the money themselves, the three common ways to fund a business are 1) raise money from investors 2) take out debt 3) do it all yourself. Raising money from investors is the typical tech route, but the trade off is you give up some ownership and therefore some control in your business. Debt allows you to retain control but is higher risk because that debt needs to be paid back. Doing it all yourself is lower risk, allows you to retain control, but the tradeoff is things move slowly and you are spending your own money.
I'm currently taking path 3 because I want to have control over my business. I want to have control over my work and time so I can show up for people in my life and work on ideas that are meaningful to me. Sponsored content potentially opens up a 4th option for me. I could use that money to bootstrap the business: pay for infrastructure costs, hire a contract designer, developer, or video editor, etc. This would enable me to test ideas faster while spending my savings more slowly.
🤝🏻 I think sponsored content can be done in a way that preserves trust. Trust is the cornerstone of any relationship and that extends to social media. Sponsored content can hurt trust, but I don't think it has to. I don't think sponsored content, and ads in general, are inherently bad. No one is forced to buy a product. The "ickiness" comes from the deception that some products rely on to sell (e.g. you aren't X enough, buy our product and you will be). However, many products are genuinely valuable to the right people. Sponsored content is one way to get valuable products in front of the right people.
📱Sponsored content is trivial to skip. While I do find it jarring at times, it literally takes a tap or swipe for me to skip sponsored content. No one is forcing me to watch the content let alone buy the product.
* Sponsored content ("sponcon") is the content that a creator is paid to post on their own socials by a brand (i.e. company). It's just another name for an ad. Brands can also pay Instagram / TikTok / etc. to show their content to more people. Those are the ads that Instagram / TikTok / etc. inject into our feeds and are separate from the sponsored content I'm talking about.
** A creator's engagement rate is often calculated by averaging the number of comments and likes across their last 16 posts and dividing that by their follower count. So an account with 100k followers and an average of 3k likes + comments has an engagement rate of 3%.
What I'm working on
Getting the initial version of Let Me Cook ready for testing is my top priority.
What's done
✅ The core functionality: take a picture of a recipe, ask a question, and get a response
✅ Authentication: sign up, log in, and sign out
✅ Designs (mostly): the designs for the app are almost fully implemented
What's next
➡️ Setup the production version of the app
➡️ Add all the necessary details for the App Store: icon, description, screenshots, privacy policy, contact info, etc.
➡️ Add a feedback screen: after a user finishes with a recipe, they will be prompted to give some simple feedback
➡️ Start testing!
What I'm feeling
I've been finding more peace in my life recently. I dare say I'm the happiest I've been in a long time. Not in a "everything is fantastic" sort of way, but in a "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else or doing anything else" sort of way. There are still parts of my life that are uncertain, scary, and unhappy. At the same time, I'm living a life that is more closely aligned with my values and goals. That has quieted many of the "should" questions that ran through my mind for much of the last decade. Who would have thought?
While living a life more closely aligned with my values and goals is part of the peace, it isn't all of it. I've been living with my grandma and working on my own company for 6 months, and have only felt this level peace recently. I continue to work on self compassion and have been cultivating it more recently. It's helped me to realize that everything I do is self serving including the things that I criticize myself for like procrastination. That has helped me look at those behaviors with more curiosity and less criticism.
I also just had a productive week last week and that has a large impact on how I'm feeling. I've been anxious about how slowly the app is coming along.
Finally, a lot of little things helped me feel that peace: connecting with family and friends, reading, exercising, eating healthy, sleeping well.
Speaking of peace, here is a picture from a cabin in Alaska last winter that embodies a type of peace for me.
What I'm enjoying
👨🏻🍳 I'm making chili this week. I love chili. It's easy to make, is high in protein, and only gets better with age. I put my recipe below.
🎧 I've been putting on The Eras Tour in the background while I work recently. I'm envious of those of you in Europe who are attending the shows.
📖 I finished The Personal MBA today. It's structured as a reference book, and is packed with information. My favorite non-fiction books are information dense, yet easy to read. The Personal MBA is that. I'm also about 25% of the way through Jane Eyre. I'm not sold on it yet. We'll see where it goes.
🏃🏻 I ran 45 miles this week for the first time. I set that goal in February and am proud I got here. My plan is to plateau the next few weeks to let the body recover and then start adding some speed work. My goal is to increase my 5k time.
Grandma updates
Two weeks ago my grandma and I took a trip to Missoula where one of her sisters lives. We had a nice time with her. Her sister likes martinis so we went out to her favorite martini joint. Last week we had family in town which my grandma always enjoys. All of her kids moved out of LA so it's special when any of them are in town.
- Grant