Hey friends–
After 117 editions of Snail Mail we’ve reached the bittersweet end.
We started this newsletter because we wanted to give you consistent and actionable advice every week. And over the past month we’ve received so many amazing messages from you all about how it’s made a positive impact in your lives. It honestly got us choked up 🥺.
I wanted to personally write you this last newsletter to impart the three biggest lessons I learned making it and to share what comes next.
First, I want to talk about what I learned.
🧈 Systems make everything move like butter: At one point, our Snail Mail team grew pretty darn big. We had a few writers, a designer, a couple producers, and an editor. For everything to run smoothly we had to create a tight system on Asana for keeping track of tasks, projects and reviews. The first few months were rocky but once we put together a structure for how to work together, everything started to fall into place.
💰 Quality is key for content creators: You can’t compete in volume anymore. If you’re a content creator looking to break through the noise, making one extra newsletter or video per week isn’t going to make a difference. Why? Because there’s already so much content being produced that another newsletter or video won’t make a difference. The only way to stand out is by focusing on quality and originality.
👋 It’s okay to let go: Pulling the plug on Snail Mail was a difficult decision. Our subscription numbers were strong, nearly half of all readers opened the newsletter each week and we got nothing but positive feedback. But there were other things I felt more excited to put my energy into and Snail Mail was no longer a “hell yes”. Saying goodbye has been difficult– but it’s making room for something new to grow in its place.
And that brings me to what comes next…
🥁🥁🥁
Matt’s New Awesome Newsletter™️
Okay, the name is still a work in progress, but here's what to expect:
I'll be transitioning this newsletter into a new monthly email where I'll share insights on productivity, content creation, and solopreneurship. Each month, I’ll share something I learned that month and I’ll package it up into an actionable lesson for you.
I can't wait to share what I learn with you but if you'd prefer not to receive these updates, you can unsubscribe here.
One last thing.
Before I sign off, I want to express some gratitude for those who have contributed to Snail Mail over the past couple years.
I want to thank Alice Lemée & Stephen Wise for helping kick off the newsletter back in 2021. Alice helped us nail our voice early on and wrote over 50 newsletters since the beginning.
We couldn’t have made it past 100 editions without Ashley Martin’s brilliant writing. Thanks for bringing your creative energy and originality to every piece that you wrote (all 40+ of them)!
Thanks to my brother, Mark D’Avella, for managing this project from the beginning. We couldn’t have made it this far without his dedication and attention to detail (he’s the one that fine-tuned our system like 🧈).
I want to thank all of the contributors over the past couple years who helped write, edit and design Snail Mail including: Kerstin Sheppard, Maddie Wiggins, Shawn Forno, Emma Norris, Rochi Zalani, Becky Carruthers, Erin Nystrom & Nicole Tabak.
Lastly, I want to thank you. I know that you don’t subscribe to any ol’ newsletter and it means so much that you trusted us.
Cue Award Show Play Off Music
Okay, okay that’s it for now.
Until next time,
Matt
