Because I’ve received feedback that others got value when I shared the struggles from my current personal project, I’ve decided to build this project in public and share my ups and downs openly.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Podcast

What I struggled with:

• Frustration – Sunday I relistened to everything I created this week about Wayne Huizenga. The content quality isn’t where I want it to be or what I’m capable of. That frustrated me because I’ve put a lot of energy into this over the last three months. I went back and listened to episodes from early May—and cringed at how bad they were. It dawned on me that I’m making progress, but it’s hard for me to see it because I’m doing this every day. I’m in the weeds. I need to focus on improving each day. Over time, small improvements should compound.

What I learned:

• When I meet with entrepreneurs, I listen to their current situation and struggles. If applicable, I share journeys and lessons learned from books I’ve read that apply to their situation. This tailored feedback excites them about the book and my project, and they want to learn more. Not sure how to replicate this broadly, but I’m seeing a pattern.
• I did a five-part series on Wayne Huizenga. I could have stopped at four, but I did a fifth episode focused on my insights and takeaways from the entire book. In the other four episodes, I shared parts of his journey related to specific book sections (e.g., pages 0–100). Creating the fifth episode forced me to zoom out, think about his entire journey, and answer the questions I wanted answers to when I began reading the book.
• Publishing a five-part series on a book Monday through Friday and publishing reflections about it on Saturday and Sunday felt like a good, sustainable pace.
• Adjusting my reading schedule to finish a book in five days instead of seven was beneficial. It gives me two buffer days in case life happens. If I finish on plan, I can get a jump start on the next book and get ahead, which gives me more processing time before I start writing or recording.
• Creating outlines from book highlights and notes is helpful in the distillation process. It takes more time than I’d like, but it improved my distillation process and helped me discover insights.
• Podcasts spread more easily by word of mouth. A childhood friend texted me asking for a link to my pod. I’ve had this podcast for three months and my blog for four years. I never had that happen with my blog.
• I stayed up late one night working on this project. When I woke up early the next morning to start reading, it was a struggle. My reading comprehension and pace were significantly diminished compared to the day before. I didn’t read as much as I’d planned and fell behind on my plan for the week. Being mentally fresh every day is important for this project. I can’t pull all-nighters to catch up.
• Amazon affiliate links on iPhones have a known glitch. For whatever reason, users can't stay in the Amazon mobile app after clicking the link. Linking to product pages opens the mobile app, but the user is quickly redirected to the Safari web browser, which breaks the data tracking of the affiliate link. I learned to get around this by linking to the search result page (example), not the product pages (example). It’s not 100% foolproof, but it’s a good enough hack.

Those are my struggles and learnings from this week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

This is my two-hundred-twenty-first weekly reflection or update.

Four weeks ago, I changed my weekly reflection to a weekly update on a current project. For more on why I made this change, see here.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

Metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 63 (+7)
• Total blog posts published: 84 (+8)
• Average recording: roughly 13 minutes (+1) for a biography or autobiography

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read a biography of James Dyson
• Had two additional feedback sessions—I missed my target by three; it was the fourth straight week I’ve missed this goal
• Compiled and sorted feedback from sessions completed the week of 6/10/24
• Implemented hack for Amazon affiliate links to resolve data-tracking issues when iPhone jumps from mobile app to Safari web browser
• Finished editing Jim Simons series using Descript
• Published a blog post explaining my decision to use Amazon affiliate links

Content:

• Audio content changes: Continued testing doing five episodes for Wayne Huizenga  
• Tweaked podcast titles and descriptions of older episodes

What I’ll do next week:

• Read one biography or autobiography
• Create a draft of questions I want answered about each book
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio posts
• Compile feedback from sessions completed the week of 6/17/24 and identify insights
• Complete three feedback sessions (reduced from five)

Asks:

• Please test the links in my podcast and blog. Please let me know if the link takes you directly to the book in the Amazon app or web browser
• Listen to my most recent audio recordings and provide feedback on how I can improve them

Week two hundred twenty-one was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

FYI: I’m still playing with the format for this weekly update. I’ll add and remove stuff until I settle on a format I like.

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

My current personal project is to read books about entrepreneurs and share what I learn from them via blog posts and audio podcasts. By sharing the journeys and wisdom of some of the most successful entrepreneurs, I aim to help entrepreneurs increase their chances of succeeding.

Why Did I Start Thinking about Amazon’s Affiliate Program?

I’ve conducted weekly feedback sessions with listeners as part of my feedback loop. A few weeks ago, one listener told me she purchased an autobiography on Amazon after listening to one of my podcast episodes. This was good because my post was valuable enough to her that she took action to purchase the book. It was also bad because I would have never known about the purchase if it hadn’t been mentioned during our conversation.

I wondered how I could get data on purchases that were prompted by my blog or podcasts. This led me to Amazon Associates, Amazon’s affiliate-marketing program.

What Were My Concerns about Using Amazon’s Affiliate Marketing?

I didn't like the idea of adding affiliate-marketing links. It felt tacky, and I thought people would think I was doing it only to make money off book sales. That would make them suspicious and defeat my purpose. I decided the only way to know for sure was to ask.

During my feedback sessions, I asked about the perception of affiliate-marketing links. To my surprise, listeners shared two important insights. First, it’s fair to include them because my blog or podcast might help them discover and purchase a book. Second, it’s such a common practice now that people don’t look down on it. They expect it. People are appreciative when someone helps them discover new things; it adds value for them.

That feedback proved I was thinking about this the wrong way. I decided to move forward and become an Amazon Affiliate.

Have I Implemented Amazon Affiliate Marketing Links?

Yes. I signed up last week. Friends purchased books so I could test the flow of data. I encountered an issue with links on iPhones initially routing to the Amazon mobile app but then quickly jumping to the Safari web browser. That was annoying because the data tracking was broken when the jump between the mobile app and Safari occurred. If I couldn’t fix this, there was no point in moving forward because a high percentage of people listen and read on iPhones. After spending more time on this than I had planned (and being annoyed), I figured out a hack that appears to be working. Fingers crossed!

I started updating links on my blog and podcast. Over the next week or two, most links to books will be updated to affiliate links.

What Should Blog Readers and Listeners Know?

• I’m doing this only for books and Amazon. I don’t plan on using affiliate links for any other products or websites.
• Any purchase you make via affiliate links doesn’t cost you anything extra. Amazon sells the item for the same price and shares part (a very small share) of the purchase price with me as a commission.
• My objective is to get data, not money. From a monetary perspective, this isn’t a great use of my time. On a $10 book purchase, the affiliate commission is maybe $0.50 if I’m lucky. But from an insights perspective, it’s extremely valuable. Understanding what books are being purchased helps me understand what’s valuable to listeners and readers. Knowing this helps me double down on what’s working and focus my efforts on reading books from the type of entrepreneurs listeners and readers are interested in.

I hope this gives you insight into my thinking. If you want to share your thoughts on this decision, I’m all ears. Feel free to reach out!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Because I’ve received feedback that others got value when I shared the struggles from my current personal project, I’ve decided to build this project in public and share my ups and downs openly.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

What I struggled with:

• Distillation – I shared my thoughts in this post a few days ago. Identifying the most valuable wisdom and formulating insights is the key to providing maximum value per minute to entrepreneurs who read my blog posts or listen to my audio recordings.
• Editing – Editing makes a recording concise, increasing the value per minute to the listener. Editing one recording per week—I’d be OK with that. Editing one recording a day was frustrating and required more time than I wanted to allocate to this task. It slowed me down in other areas of this project; specifically, distillation.

What I learned:

• I read the biography of Wayne Huizenga last week, and this week I’ll create blog posts and recordings about it. It helped to remove the pressure to write and record about what I read the same day I read it. It gives me more time to process and a buffer for the unexpected.
• Kirk Kerkorian’s journey as told in the biography was complex. Three blog posts or recordings wouldn’t have done it justice. Some books won’t fit into a three-part series, and that’s okay as long as I stay focused on providing as much value per minute as possible to entrepreneurs who read my blog or listening to my recordings.
• I’m now editing as the last task of the day. It’s mindless work. It doesn’t make sense to do it earlier, which wastes the time of the day when I’m mentally sharpest.

Those are my struggles and learnings from this week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Weekly Update (a New Format): Week Two Hundred Twenty

This is my two-hundred-twentieth weekly reflection or update.

Three weeks ago, I changed my weekly reflection to a weekly update on a current project. For more on why I made this change, see here.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

Metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 56 (+7)
• Total blog posts published: 76 (+7)
• Average recording: roughly 12 minutes (+0) for a biography or autobiography

What I completed this week:

• Read the biography of Wayne Huizenga
• Had three additional feedback sessions—I missed my target by two; it’s the third straight week I’ve missed this goal
• Compiled and sorted feedback from sessions completed the week of 6/3/24
• Began implementing Amazon affiliate links for books
• Partially edited one of the Jim Simons series using Descript—I missed my target by five

Content:

• Audio content changes: Tested doing five episodes for Kirk Kerkorian instead of three

What I’ll do next week:

• Read one biography or autobiography
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio posts
• Compile feedback from sessions completed the week of 6/10/24 and identify insights
• Finish editing Jim Simons series using Descript
• Complete five feedback sessions
• Update links in podcast and blog with Amazon affiliate link
• Write a blog post explaining my decision to use Amazon affiliate links

Asks:

• Listen to my most recent audio recordings and provide feedback on how I can improve them

Week two hundred twenty was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

FYI: I’m still playing with the format for this weekly update. I’ll add and remove stuff until I settle on a format I like.

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

My current project is reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned via blog posts and audio recordings I distribute via a podcast. I started in April, and as of now, the following are the major steps in my process:

• Read, notate, and highlight a book
• Distill my notes and highlights
• Write and publish a blog post
• Record an audio post
• Edit the audio recording
• Publish the recording via podcast

I did a survey (basically customer discovery) earlier this year and learned that many entrepreneurs don’t read physical books because reading doesn’t fit their hectic lifestyle. However, they want to learn, and they consume a large amount of audio while they’re multitasking. I figured I could read for them and share what I learned via audio.

When I started this project, I thought reading was the most important thing, given that most people weren’t doing it. I figured reading two hours or so a day would position me to share my learnings at an accelerated rate. The reading is important, but the last few weeks have highlighted something else.

Let’s say a 300-page book takes someone 10 to 12 hours to read. I could easily share everything in the book in a two-hour recording. But entrepreneurs won’t listen for two hours, even knowing it would take them much longer to read the book.

The value per minute spent listening to a two-hour recording about a book is higher than that of reading the book. But it’s not high enough. Entrepreneurs want maximum value per minute of their time if they give you their attention. I suspect they want a value per minute that’s 15x to 20x that of reading a book.

Now that I understand this, I see the distillation process as a key step in my project. Identifying the most valuable wisdom from books and formulating insights are key to providing maximum value per minute.

It’s easier said than done. This past week, I began testing approaches to distilling what I’ve read. I’m still not where I want to be, and I’m going to keep trying to improve. My goal is for people who listen to one of my recordings to feel that the value they receive significantly exceeds their time cost. I think that indications of this are people thinking deeply about something in the recording or being motivated to keep persevering on their journey, whatever it may be.

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Because I’ve received feedback that others got value when I shared the struggles from my current personal project, I’ve decided to build this project in public and share my ups and downs openly.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

What I struggled with:

• I added editing twelve recordings to my workload. That, combined with reading two books, writing seven blog posts, and recording seven audio posts to distribute via podcast, was too much. I was behind and pushing hard this past weekend to hit my goals. The quality of the blog posts and recordings started declining late in the week.

What I learned:

• People’s time is valuable. My goal is to provide as much value per minute as possible when someone reads or listens to what I share about books. I learned that I need to keep this top of mind and find the right balance of reading, distilling, writing, recording, and editing. This week I was too heavy on reading because of my two-book goal and editing because I had a new toy to play with.
• A few weeks back, I stopped editing recordings and focused on getting reps by publishing unedited recordings. Then, researching successful YouTubers and podcasters highlighted that editing is key to making content concise. The editing tool also makes a difference. I was using GarageBand and hated it. A few people mentioned Descript. I started using Descript this week, and it made a material difference. This software makes editing audio as easy as editing a Word doc.
• Knowing I can edit recordings has decreased my frustration. Before, I would get frustrated when I made an error because I knew I had to start from scratch and rerecord.
• I listened to the early episodes of a few popular podcasts. They weren’t great. This was a good reminder that even the greats started on shaky ground and worked to continually improve. Comparing myself to the latest episode of a seasoned provider of audio content isn’t realistic.
• When I set reading goals, I need to consider the length of books and my available bandwidth. All books aren’t equal. One of the books I read this week was 400 pages, and I shouldn’t have read it in the same week as another book.
• My concerns about Amazon affiliate links being perceived as tacky were unfounded. I don't want the commission; I want the data on purchases. During feedback sessions, people said they thought a commission (that doesn’t cost them anything extra) would be fair if I helped them discover the book they purchased. They also highlighted it as a common practice that people expect now.
• When I’m face-to-face with entrepreneurs, my project resonates well, and they get excited about listening. I also learn a lot about their reading habits and pain points. I need to lean into more face-to-face interactions to discuss my project.
• The quality of my insights is greatest when I’m mentally fresh. On the days I was tired, my insights weren’t of the quality I know I’m capable of.

Those are my struggles and learnings from this week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

This is my two-hundred-nineteenth weekly reflection or update.

Two weeks ago, I changed my weekly reflection to a weekly update on a current project. For more on why I made this change, see here.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

Metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 49 (+7)
• Total blog posts published: 69 (+7)

What I completed this week:

• Read a book written by Felix Dennis and the biography of Kirk Kerkorian (see here and here)
• Had four additional feedback sessions—I missed my target by one for the second straight week
• Compiled and sorted feedback from sessions completed the week of 5/27/24
• Tweaked podcast titles
• Crystallized my “why” for this project in writing
• Decided to move forward with Amazon affiliate links for books I’ve read
• Identified two YouTube channels focused on sharing insights from non-entrepreneurial books and studied what makes these channels appeal to listeners
• Began testing Descript for recording and editing audio

Content:

• Audio content changes: Sharing how I discovered a book, referencing other recordings in the series, and highlighting what questions I’m seeking to answer as I read the book
• Edited episodes 37 through 48 using Descript to make them more concise
• The average recording length is still roughly 12 minutes

What I’ll do next week:

• Read one biography or autobiography
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio posts
• Compile feedback from sessions completed the week of 6/3/24 and identify insights
• Make changes to audio content based on feedback
• Edit Jim Simons series using Descript
• Complete five feedback sessions
• Implement Amazon affiliate links for books

Asks:

• Listen to my most recent audio recordings and provide feedback on how I can improve them

Week two hundred nineteen was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

FYI: I’m still playing with the format for this weekly update. I’ll add and remove stuff until I settle on a format I like.

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Because I’ve received feedback that others got value when I shared the struggles from my current personal project, I’ve decided to build this project in public and share my ups and downs openly.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

What I struggled with:

• Reading two books, writing seven blog posts, and recording eight audio posts to distribute via podcast is a lot. I hit a wall toward the end of the week. Finishing out the week was tough.
• This week felt harder than last week. The above weekly goals I’ve set have me in a state of discomfort. I recognize this because I experienced this feeling when I started blogging daily in 2020. My brain feels overloaded, and I’m mentally tired some days. I’m pushing my limits and expanding them each consecutive day I do this. Said differently, the discomfort I’m feeling is likely growth. Hopefully this will get easier as my brain realizes this is our new normal.
• I’m still not as concise as I want to be in communicating insights from books. The series on Ed Thorp highlighted this for me. Even though I’ve read this book twice, I struggled to balance getting the recordings done and communicating my points clearly. “Done is better than perfect” won. But I did record a bonus episode for Thorp because it bothered me that much and this is one of my favorite books.

What I learned:

• The difficult part right now is what I do between reading a book and sharing what I learn by writing and recording—that is, distilling a large amount of information down to what I want to convey.
• Sumner Redstone’s autobiography was hard to write and record about. I didn’t describe the wisdom from it clearly at first, so I needed to think about it more. I ended up thinking about what I had read for a day before recording (I’d already written my post), and that was helpful. More time to process helped me connect the dots on insights that weren’t obvious and draw parallels to my experiences as an entrepreneur. I want more buffer time between reading and recording to process. I think what I share will be more valuable if I have it.
• There’s no consistency in the format of my recordings. It’s early, and I’m experimenting, so this makes sense now. But I’m not a freestyle-it-every-time kind of person. A consistent format could help me prepare to record (I’ve decided to work toward this), increase the likelihood that each recording is valuable to listeners, and set listeners’ expectations.
• During a feedback session this week, I learned that someone purchased a biography because I’d recorded about it. I would never have known that without that conversation. Someone purchasing a book is the ultimate sign I’ve given them value, but I don’t have any insight into this. I want data! Amazon’s affiliate program seems like the best (and only) way to see this data.
• Google NotebookLM is an impressive AI tool. I’m really excited about it. I can see lots of value in using the power of AI to search specific documents and your own notes. If it would allow users to query the documents and notes of others (with their permission, of course), that would be game changing. I’ll be watching closely to see how this product evolves.
• Extracting my highlights from books I’ve read is something I’m excited about, but it’s a lower priority right now. I believe I’ve found a good partner for this when the time is right to tackle it.

Those are my struggles and learnings from this week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

This is my two-hundred-eighteenth weekly reflection or update.

Last week, I changed my weekly reflection to a weekly update on a current project. For more on why I made this change, see here.

Current Personal Project: Reading Books about Entrepreneurs and Sharing What I Learned from Them via Blog Posts and Audio Recordings Distributed as a Podcast

Metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 42 (+8)
• Total blog posts published: 62 (+7)

What I completed this week (a holiday week):

• Read autobiographies of Ed Thorp and Sumner Redstone (see here and here)
• Published eight recordings—one was a bonus episode on Ed Thorp (#40 Ed Thorp Part 4)
• Had four additional feedback sessions—I missed my target by one
• Compiled and sorted feedback from five sessions completed the week of 5/20/24
• Tested Google NotebookLM
• Evaluated a candidate for extracting my highlights from books
• Updated podcast titles—added series number (e.g., “Part 2”) and other tweaks
• Researched metrics for podcasts

Content:

• Audio content changes: I now include the series number, how I discovered the book, an intro including what the recording will be about, more context throughout, personal insights and takeaways, and a closing.
• The average recording length increased from roughly 5 minutes to 12 minutes
• My current goal for each book is a three-part series

What I’ll do next week:

• Read two biographies or autobiographies
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio blogs
• Adjust podcast titles
• Compile feedback from sessions completed the week of 5/29/24 and identify insights
• Make changes to audio content based on feedback
• Complete five feedback sessions
• Identify two people to study who has successfully shared book insights via solo podcasts or YouTube channels (the books can’t be about entrepreneurs)
• Make a decision on whether to use Amazon affiliate links for books
• Crystallize, in writing, my “why” for doing this project

Asks:

• Listen to my most recent audio recordings and provide feedback on how I can improve them. The more candid the better! Email me at hello [at] jermainebrown.org.

This week was hard. In my post tomorrow, I’ll share more about what I struggled with and what I learned.

Week two hundred eighteen was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

FYI: I’m still playing with the format for this weekly update. I’ll add and remove stuff until I settle on a format I like.

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!