Happy Sunday! This is the final ever Sunday Letter.
It reminds me of the challenges of stopping a thing that you create. Almost ten years ago, I made a decision to sell off a publication I’d built and worked in for full-time-plus. It was a necessary decision; but its necessity didn’t mean that there wasn’t a whole lot of grief attached to it.
In this particular case, I’m excited still to be producing work, but it’s simply in other forms. Here’s what I mean:
The daily tips email is the 100% free list (well, you pay by putting up with my aggressive sales pitches every day) that teaches you how to rock business publishing for customer loyalty, marketing, and growth. You can add yourself at https://bit.ly/daily-tips-email
The Next Five Years traces the experience of building a company from its fifth birthday to its tenth. I launched this 30 weeks ago, and did so because there is a lot of attention for early-stage business, lots for those that hit the big-time after 15 years, and a gigantic black hole in the middle. What happens after 5 years? Add yourself to find out, at https://thenextfive.substack.com.
One 1 July 2019, Brutal Pixie is launching Publishing Pros, which contains all the secrets of business publishing in their nitty-gritty, here’s-how-to-do-it glory. The Daily tips tell you what to do; Publishing Pros tells you how to do it. It’ll be a monthly, printed publication - and as such it is not free. Learn more about it and register your interest at https://brutalpixie.com/publishing-pros. So you know, registration for the first edition will be cut off on 20 June 2019.
Thank you for joining me on this amazing ride. In the past five-and-a-half-years, the Sunday Letter did all kinds of amazing things for me personally, and for Brutal Pixie.
If you decide to stay in touch, join me for one of the above, subscribe to the Pixie Podcast, or follow us on Twitter @brutalpixie.
Much love,
Leticia
HRH Queen Pixie
The Final Ever Tip of the Week
If you only ever remember one rule, remember this: Subtract the obvious, and add the meaningful.
The Final Ever Sunday Five
Because this is the last ever Sunday Five, I have gone back through the archives. Instead of throwing you some fascinating stories from the past 7 days, here are five that we have read, read again, printed, dog-eared, loved, and used, here at Brutal Pixie, at some point in the past six years. Enjoy!
1. Get started with the Discipline habit
This was published by the super-amazing Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits, way back in 2015. In a frantic, insane-paced life, with so much to change, how do you effect change? By starting with just one little thing. It’s so simple you won’t believe it. Read it at https://zenhabits.net/start-discipline/
2. Some practical thoughts on Suicide
The happy-go-lucky, mega-famous author and podcaster Tim Ferriss, almost destroyed himself in 1999. When, years later, a fan at a signing for the 4-hour Work Week commented that he thought Tim’s influence meant he could really help people, it inspired Tim to write this raw and meaningful work about his own travels in the darkness. As an entrepreneur who, in the first couple of years years of the business, spent an entire day in bed, cancelling meetings and unable to face the entire world—every six to eight weeks—when I found this I was like whoaaa I’m not alone being weird like this! Go read it, it’s brilliant: https://tim.blog/2015/05/06/how-to-commit-suicide/
3. If your customers are “satisfied” why are they leaving?
In truth, I wanted to link you to Jeffrey Gitomer’s book, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless but it isn’t something you can read today. Here’s a teaser for that book, then. To understand his perspective, think of it the way Gitomer himself puts it: Would you prefer your spouse to be satisfied or loyal? Right, so why would you think about your customers any differently? He’s the king of sales, and sales is what keeps you alive, so go read this at https://www.gitomer.com/if-your-customers-are-satisfied-why-are-they-leaving/
4. Ryan Holiday exposes the media racket
Ok so this is another one that was actually a book, but you can read this today. In this article, Ryan Holiday shows you the tactics that allowed him to prove that blogs will print anything in order to get pageviews. This is really the backbone of his book Trust Me, I’m Lying - which was about leveraging the feeding-up methodology that results in mass media coverage. This is years and years before “fake news” was even a phrase. It’s some of the most valuable reading you’ll find, and you’ll start at https://observer.com/2013/07/exposing-the-racket-a-simple-stunt-reveals-how-blogs-will-print-anything-for-pageviews/
5. No audience, no problem. Really.
This has been a go-to reference for Pixie’s clients for the past six years. We have taught it, built it into presentations, sent it to clients and prospects. It’s basically your go-to reference, with a framework, for content marketing as a ‘thing’. No, you don’t need an agency to tell you what they will do. You can simply understand the framework and do it yourself or get a junior to do it. Seth Godin’s work goes a level beyond this, but honestly - if you don’t have an audience? This is where you start. Read it at http://jayacunzo.com/blog/content-marketing-wheel
Thank you, Pixie fan!
This Sunday Letter has been sent at 11:55 am every single Sunday for nearly six years. I want to share with you my deep, heartfelt appreciation for your attention, your feedback, and your commentary in that time. Please consider joining me over at The Next Five Years, or in the Daily Tips, as Brutal Pixie continues to help people like you get a foothold in business publishing for growth.
It’s been a wild ride, and I love you.
Mwah!
x Leticia Mooney
Queen Pixie (CEO) at Brutal Pixie.