What is your motivation for starting your newsletter?
The concept of the 4-day work week has been gaining traction in recent years, with more companies and employees embracing the idea of having more time to enjoy life outside of work. For software developer and data scientist Phil, it is more than just an idea. It’s a passion. “I hate my job,” Phil admits. “It’s a 9 to 5 grind, and I’m over it. I want to advocate for jobs that are only 4 days a week.” That’s why Phil created 4dayweek, a newsletter that advocates for and promotes the 4-day work week. Through his newsletter, Phil is on a mission to make the 4-day work week dream a reality.
What are the challenges/ roadblocks to grow the newsletter?
One of the biggest challenges Phil faces is getting the right people to subscribe. After all, the 4-day work week is only relevant to those who work in the tech industry. “I’m trying to get the right people to subscribe,” Phil explains. “That means software developers, data scientists, and other tech professionals. He still hasn’t figured out a way to address this issue but there is no stopping Phil from working on his mission. Phil is confident that the 4-day work week revolution is coming, and he’s determined to be at the forefront of the movement. “It’s just a matter of time before the 4-day work week becomes a reality,” he says. “I want to be part of the process, and I want to help make it happen.”
There is always a plan to expand the job listings, hopefully get job listings from other countries outside the US and reach the asian markets but the sourcing or finding the companies with a 4-day work week policy is very manual. “I need to go to LinkedIn and manually find those companies.” One thing that could make an impact at the moment is if he finds a way to automate this process.
Not having a background in sales is also one of the issues Phil is facing because despite how good his intentions are, he needs to sell his website and newsletter to those companies. “I could have started the sales process early on but I’m not a salesperson so I’ve been really struggling in this area”.
How do you write the content?
“I don’t write all the content. I learned that there is a way to automate this process by writing a code to automatically write the content every week. The content is the same each week, it is just the job listings that get updated. I hired an agency to do some of the content for my websites”.
How do you monetize your newsletter?
“Two ways actually - one is by promoting the job listing and two is through the adverts”.
What are your thoughts about integrating native ads to your newsletter?
“It’s good but the issue I have with those native ads is that a lot of times, they just don’t blend with the newsletter. You look at it and it looks different. This is why I still do some coding on the side so those ads will achieve the “native” look it needs to have.
Any regrets or things you could have done differently when starting the newsletter?
“I could have started the sales process early in the journey. I just did not realize how important it is until I had to do it and since I don’t like sales this is proving to be a challenge right now.” When it comes to quality over quantity, Phil is still trying to find the right balance between the two. “I have 50,000 subscribers but not all of them are active. However, I cannot just delete all those who are not active because then my advertisers will be like “I thought you had 50,000 subscribers?”
Any tips for those creators who are just starting to build their content?
“Never spend too much time planning about the product and later knowing that nobody wants what you are trying to build. I spent one day building my landing page and it all went from there”.
