Side Project Update
Over the years I have tried a lot of different side projects. I’ve tried blogging, a podcast with a friend, selling digital goods online, and a bunch of small business ideas that never took off. My side projects often start off as a way for me to learn something. By attaching a clear goal and launch date to a project I can start building structure and process around learning and give myself clear guidance on how to go deeper into a subject.
Recently, I’ve tried to limit the amount of pressure I put on myself to work on side projects. I’ve leaned into note taking as a structured way to produce measurable outcomes with learning and have felt confident in the approach. (Shout out to Obsidian!)
With that being said, two projects continue to stick around as ideas worth pursuing. The first is PUSH, my personal training practice and newsletter about fitness. As someone dedicated to fitness and coaching, this has been an invaluable tool for me to put my thoughts into words and share my experimentation with training. The readership is 200+ and continues to grows.
The other project is Design Managers, a Slack community for design management. After launching, the membership took off to 143 members, but recently activity has been sleepy. With such a great group of folks in one place, I’m hoping to kick things off again and utilize the potential of the Slack. If there is anything I’ve learned in quarantine its that there is a hunger and proven model to connect communities online, and this is a community worth connecting.
Keep an eye out for more to come on this topic! I’m hoping to share more about these projects as I continue to work on them. And please reach out if you have any advice on how to make more impact with side projects!