Hello and welcome to the 12 new members of The Digital Weekend Trybe who have joined us since last Sunday. Join the 238 Trybers who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single weekend. In case you missed it, TDWT is an inclusive community of inspired individuals who are committed to learning, relearning, and unlearning. Our newsletter is about revolutionizing popular opinions because what you think you know might not be so. Become a member of this Trybe by just putting in your email address here:
If you missed the last newsletter, catch up here.
"So, we are just two months old!", I exclaimed. Honestly. I thought we clocked three months already until my partner brought me back to the reality. What made me felt that way? Maybe I was just way in over my head or maybe, just maybe, you guys gave me enough reasons to think so. Let's see. By the way, I am currently typing this aboard a commercial bus going to Ibadan from where I will board another one to Oshogbo for a five-day seminar. Not that you asked, but what are we family for?
Back to the realm of reality now, we just clocked two months last week with about 250 subscribers. For two people who were initially worried about what exactly they would be writing and where the inspiration to feed their audience on weekly basis will come from, I say this is one massive progress for us. Now, don't get me wrong. We weren't exactly newbies to the art of writing, but I, for example, only wrote when I wanted to and that's usually when prizes were attached. As for my partner, have you met any of those people who are just so good and committed that they do well in their crafts always? Yes, that's the kind of person my partner is. It appeared we made quite a team (we still very much do) and the timing was just right for us, so we decided to give it a shot and learn along the line. That's exactly what we did and are still doing. We love it so much, courtesy of you guys.
We haven't gotten to where we are going—I still have no idea where that actually is. I am pretty convinced now that there is no such destination; everything lies in the process and the transformation that keeps coming with it. Our article goes out by 7:00 am every Sunday, we hold an elaborate meeting every Saturday evening to discuss things, and we have been committed to this schedule religiously since the very beginning. I thought it would be hard at first, and it really could have been hard, but the truth? It isn't. I'm writing this in a commercial bus. Just imagine that!
In explaining the phases that lead to Mastery, the ultimate power, Robert Greene explained: "In the process leading to this ultimate form of power, we can identify three distinct phases or levels. The first is the Apprenticeship; the second is the Creative-Active; the third, Mastery. In the first phase, we stand on the outside of our field, learning as much as we can of the basic elements and rules. We have only a partial picture of the field and so our powers are limited. In the second phase, through much practice and immersion, we see into the inside of the machinery, how things connect with one another, and thus gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. With this comes a new power—the ability to experiment and creatively play with the elements involved. In the third phase, our degree of knowledge, experience, and focus is so deep that we can now see the whole picture with complete clarity."¹ We haven't gained complete clarity yet, but we definitely are no longer outsiders to this craft. Cheers!
Fun fact: I actually thought we would reach five hundred subscribers within the first week of commencement. If you ask me now, I honestly still think that's not so large a number. But here we are two months down the line and we are still yet to hit 500. What do you think we can do better? What do you think we should avoid doing?
At the end, we still have couple of issues we are trying to sort out such as:
1. Having lesser engagements. The little we get, however, are very meaningful and keeps us going. I still have people calling my number just to appreciate the weekly articles and probably strike off elaborate discussions, others, like Qareebat, Roqeebat, Mahmuud and co. do voluntary shout out for us here on their various digital spaces. But, I still think we can do better with the Substack engagements too.
2. Fewer people opening up the articles. We think this is due to the fact that Substack sends the articles to our subscribers' Promotions inbox instead of the main inbox. We try to mitigate this by asking subscribers to move us to their main inbox manually or respond to the Welcome Message with "Hi" so that can be done automatically. Above all that, we are obedient to the chosen time. Just check your email around 7:00am every Sunday and you'll meet us there.
In response to these and prospective issues, we are planning to:
1. Put together a team of content writers/social media managers who will be in charge of our social pages as soon as we launch them. You can either wait till we put out an official request for applications or take this early advantage and send us your CV coupled with a freestyle motivation letter stating why you want to work with us (no word limit or specific format. Just communicate your reasons, clearly) at thedigitalweekendtrybe@gmail.com.
2. Unveil the faces behind the initiative. Well, you already knew me by now, and I have a pretty good feeling you know my partner too. So, that's pretty much it. No cake. No champagne. Just Trybers.
Another fun fact I discovered: people hardly subscribe to personal development stuff, even when it's free. And when they do, they are barely committed. However, those few that do, they always go ahead to pull extraordinary strings. Let's see which side you belong to.
This entire project was inspired by Margaret Mead's statement: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed youths can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” So...
Hi, I write a newsletter on Substack where we present curiosity-inducing contents that are targeted towards personal development. I guess you'll love it. If my guess is right, read more about us here: https://thedigitalweekendtrybe.substack.com/about
1. I started reading Mastery by Robert Greene recently, a very good book if you asked me. On a personal note, after three years of reading self-helps, human psychology, and spiritual philosophy, I'm now better off reading denser books—that I used to avoid. For start, I'm reading Robert Greene's, Jordan B. Peterson's and Yuval Noah Harari's books after watching a substantial amount of their videos on YouTube.
Congratulations to us 🥳 It seems longer than 2 months to me too. But anyways, we've been doing great.
Congratulations to the amazing brains behind the trybe.🎉
Looking forward to more insights from here. Don’t stop writing!