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Hey Launch Key 🚀 community!

I hope you all enjoyed Memorial Day 🇺🇸 weekend. It has always been my favorite.

1. Solemn remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

2. The official beginning of Summer.

3. And for me personally, it falls on or near my birthday.

No red, white and blue cake this year, but I gratefully celebrate another trip around the sun and remind you that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Our 60’s are the new 40’s.

Comment below and let me know if we’re on the right track.

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • Nothing Down

  • A Soft Close

• Modern Tools

• Old School Wisdom

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Thank you.

Launch Key has grown from 32 to 3000+ subscribers in 8 months.

I launched this weekly newsletter targeting late-career professionals who should be leveraging expertise to create their own products.

Because – I just don’t think the 20-somethings should collect all the spoils.

As you know, Goldman Sachs says the Creator Economy is going to be half-a-trillion dollars.

And I had a hunch that my network might need a little more info before diving in to create products.

I talked to friends prior to launch – experienced professionals all over 55 – and shared the idea that our generation should still be ‘creating’ new stuff.

• 2 of them had written books.

• A few were consulting.

• The corporate guys wanted a side hustle or something else.

All agreed that I would find an audience for a tech newsletter aimed at us.

The initial October 2nd issue went out to just 32 friends and family subscribers.

I had a couple of decades of experience with both enterprise and personal email platforms, but I chose something new to me – Beehiiv.

And I couldn’t have chosen a better platform. Not just because they recently raised a $33m investment round as a result of meteoric growth.

Its simply a great tool.

Not only does the Beehiiv platform start free and have elegant design features, but it has a robust network and excellent help.

Plus it allows you to get real feedback from Day 1.

I created a welcome page poll asking new subscribers what content they were looking for.

Then I started running it at the bottom of weekly issues to make sure I’m delivering what you want.

I’ve had over 1300 responses to date that have helped me sharpen my focus.

I added monthly case studies of Launch Key subscribers with interesting career portfolios.

And I have shared far more recommendations and resources.

Sadly – the memes are like dad jokes. Funnier to me than you.

But the poll results confirm that my hunch was correct.

Ask your customers what they want and then deliver.

Launch Key #36 rolled out this morning to 3000+ subscribers.

It’s growing by word-of-mouth, Beehiiv recommendations and paid boosts. I’ve even taken in a little ad revenue, and created a couple of my own products.

Stay tuned.

Nothing Down

Every week Launch Key shares other resources and inspiration about how you too can start something new.

If you’re a new subscriber, dig into the archives of a few recent examples:

• Lifestyle Business

• Slowly … then all at once

• Age is an advantage

Teenagers, stay-at-home moms and retirees are all using modern tools to create their way to improved lives.

Experienced professionals have far more to contribute.

The best part? It costs nothing to get started.

Almost all of the modern tools are freemium.

Plus, you can keep your data and discard the tool if you find something even better next month.

Here’s a free PDF of 12 examples of freemium tools you might employ.

A Soft Close

I’m not going to convince anyone to leave their corporate 9-5 to seek fortune and fame in the Creator Economy.

But you could – building courses, podcasts, eBooks, newsletters or a host of other products that only you can create.

Who knows, maybe you are good looking enough to be an Instagram Influencer.

But factually, I know this: You can find new ways to leverage modern technology and gin up a little side hustle.

Just imagine where that idea might be in 36 weeks …

Get off the porch.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

With Summer officially launched, this week’s modern tool is a free app for your next outdoor trek.

This iPhone App of the Year winner has 400,000 trails and more than 65 million fellow explorers.

Guides to national parks, secret local trails and crowd-sourced highly rated hikes. There is something for everyone.

Put down the laptop and opt outside.

A Newsletter You’ll Love: Stay Ahead on the Business of AI

Need ONE newsletter to stay on top of everything?

Prompts daily has only the most important AI news, insights, tools and workflows.

The newsletter is known to:

• Make you more productive at work

• Introduce you to valuable and useful AI tools/workflows

• Help you look smarter in front of your friends (seriously!)

It’s also free to sign up!

In just ONE click, you can sign up to the FREE newsletter.

Old School Wisdom

What is the core challenge of any business idea?

Creating compelling products and services customers want to buy.

The book will help you understand the patterns of great value propositions, get closer to customers, and avoid wasting time with ideas that won’t work.

Free Knowledge

Big Desk Energy delivers excellent startup insights every week.

But it gets better.

It’s written by Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk who was also instrumental in massive growth of Morning Brew. Denk includes interesting backstory of Beehiiv’s investor journey, their seed deck and corporate values.

He also shares what looks like a fantastic mastermind in Costa Rica later this summer.

Recommendations

Visual Crapshoot