It’s unconventional. But my mind has expanded, thanks to different ideas and perspectives on 300th.
There isn’t a “publish” button on 300th. There is a “send for review” button. This simple feature, has exposed me to different life, business, and finance lessons. It’s like having a personal mentor, but it’s free. And they don’t know you exist.
Gaining perspective
I’m partly responsible for growing 300th. On this writing platform (focused on APAC), I spend my days as an editor, making sure that articles are published at a high standard.
Grammar aside, I also look at the readability and structure of ideas. Being a 6-year copywriter makes my job much easier. I know what to look for.
I learn a lot from writers on this platform. And given the subject matter, any other reader can learn too. (Obviously, you don’t need to be an editor to read articles on 300th)
Reaching out to potential writers
Honestly, I haven’t had much success here. Communicating with potential writers to get on 300th, so far, has been one-sided. Can’t learn much. I’d send them a message, and would never hear from them.
But it’s part of the bootstrapping process. Sending out cold DMs and emails is a super cheap way to get noticed. And if there’s anything to learn from this exercise, it would be to have grit.
Most successful people I’ve studied had grit. They could take a thousand No’s to get to that one Yes.
Building empathy
Copywriting has taught me to be sensitive to consumer needs. I know what to look for.
Applying the same sensitivity to users on 300th has been an interesting learning curve. In APAC, users have a high threshold for inconvenience. So long as your core promise is met, users will tolerate you. And this behaviour works against my deep need to improve the platform.
Feedback, let alone quality feedback is rarely given. So I’ve had to do a lot of tedious work, to understand in detail, what users are going through.
And I will proudly risk sounding like a nerd. It has been a fun experience.
Aspirations for 300th
To date, 6 major writing platforms offer monetisation. 2 out of 6 are favoured by writers. Those 2 are Medium and Linkedin.
This space isn’t saturated and the future looks bright. Both platforms are now giving more incentives (either by algorithm or marketing user success) for new users to come and write. X (formerly Twitter) is also making feature updates to allow writers to do more than micro-blog. By consensus, blogging is still a viable way to earn a living, in 2024 and beyond.
That said, the team and I at 300th hope to build a writing platform where ideas from the minds in APAC can spread free and gain the attention it deserves.
