?? The Madness Begins (STIMY #45)

???? STIMIES,

There are 5,725 of you now subscribed to this newsletter! My mind is blown. ??

These are crazy times - I'll be recording 10 interviews in 6 weeks on top of everything else. The fourth interview was completed 2 days ago & next week, I'll be doing 3 interviews in one day!

Sometimes, I wonder why I do this to myself. ??

Some quick reflections:

(1) Lighting Matters

I never understood the importance of proper lighting until I did in-person interviews with & without proper lighting.

It's the difference between an interview that looks like it was shot with a wobbly iPhone 5 camera versus a photo like the above! (Isn't it gorgeous? I think I'll found the STIMY 'aesthetic'.)

(2) You need a team

I value independence. The freedom to do things on my own without waiting for anyone.

So the concept of needing someone to man the camera every time I was in the studio was a struggle to wrap around at first but... every professional I met was emphatic & united in their advice:

"Ling Yah, you need at least one person behind that camera!"

They were right, of course.

I've lost count of the number of times that my very much valued video assistant, Lydia, has paused us because:

• My hair was making scrapping noises against my microphone;
• The video battery had died;
• The camera memory was full; and
• We were speaking too softly.

All of which would've been a disaster if we'd recorded without someone keeping a close eye - on all 3 cameras! - at all times.

(3) YouTube is huge!

The So This Is My Why Podcast YouTube channel has experienced exponential growth:

• 2021 - 2023: 1,000 subscribers
• 2023 - 2024: 4,850 subscribers!

It took me 2 years to cross the golden 1,000 subscriber mark.

Tomorrow (25 August 2024) marks exactly 1 year since that milestone, and we're already at 4,850 subscribers.

An almost x5 growth!

This has translated to a notable increase in episode downloads/listens (now averaging 45k/monthly) which is wonderful. ??

It's small proof that YouTube is the future when it comes to growing a podcast channel.

Almost no one can find you on Spotify/Apple Podcast, but if enough people watch, like, comment, share and/or subscribe on YouTube, then YouTube will push it out to even more people to see.

THEREFORE: If you'd like to support STIMY, please do watch future episodes on the STIMY YouTube channel & leave a comment there.

Your watch time might just convince YouTube to push it out to 1,000 other people!

(4) It's all LIES

My most recent interview - with Nat Eliason - still makes me chuckle.

I'd brought up an article I'd seen written about him. The exact title was "How This 26-Year-Old Writer Generates $1.94 Million Per Year".

Boy, did that light a ?? under him!

In essence, he hates the article.

It's CLICKBAIT.

FAKE NEWS.

Not reflective of his actual take-home pay (it was $200k instead) and most importantly...

We should never ever believe any crazy numbers touted in the media.

No one ever makes that amount.

And if they did, they won't go shouting about it. Or try to be an influencer & sell you a course teaching you how to be 'just like them'.

All things that had me nodding furiously because well, it's true.

We can't believe everything that's written out there.

We have to do our own homework.

And speaking of homework, it's time for me to sign off. There's 3 interviews to prep & too little time to get ready!

Since you're a STIMY Newsletter subscriber, I'll let you in on who these 3 people are:

• Venon Tian , COO of ZUS Coffee
• Hui Jing Lee , Founder of BilaBila Retail
• Shi Han , Founder of Human Edition (now 77.1k on IG!)

We're gonna be talking about coffee, distribution, regional expansion, future IPO, local SMEs, racing, being a rebel, motherhood, storytelling, passion and so much more.

Hit REPLY if you have a question for any of them!

I'll see you next week.

P/S: A client just told me today that her LinkedIn post was featured by LinkedIn News Asia. Yay! ??

Want to grow your personal brand?

Join the Build Your Why course to learn how to tell your story in simple, practical steps.

This is a beta launch so if you join now, you get a 50% discount as thanks for believing in a product that doesn't yet exist ??

You also get to build BYW with me!

Click HERE to learn more.

Interesting Discoveries

I spend hours on LinkedIn & love finding posts that inspire thought and teach me how to be a better writer on the platform. Here are some that caught my eye recently:

1. Kicked out thanks to a baby at YC?! by Elena Brandt
2. I, as a founder, pay full price by ?? Sherry Jiang
3. OK, nobody asked, but just for fun... by Alex M H Smith
4. I met an AI founder who just closed a $100M Series C— but he had to bootstrap for 20 years. His #1 regret? Trusting conventional wisdom—not his gut by Pablo Srugo
5. I've never been fired
6. "You ask really good questions"

Quick Thoughts

These posts all have one thing in common: Their personal story.

Their experience, their perspective, their emotions.

The first one - of the mother being kicked out of VC - ohhh, that one was spicy! I imagine it must have ruffled quite a few feathers.

Not everyone will be comfortable with that level of transparency but to each their own. The reach of that post is proof that we all have a platform to share our thoughts and that often, we aren't alone in our thoughts.

If you share it with the world, you will likely attract others who believe, think and feel the same way that you do.

Aka your tribe.

Aka the 2024 way of making new friends as adults?!

P/S: If you want to get the next edition of the STIMY Newsletter in your inbox and/or read past editions, CLICK HERE.

Ling Yah

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