Build diary: Week 4 (100 hours, 1 big change 🙀)

Y’all…. This week was wild 🤠

First, my fiancé and I decided to do a 100-hour workweek (no, that wasn’t a typo.) This wasn’t cruel and unusual punishment — it was, as most silly things, inspired by a YouTube rabbit hole.

There’s this guy, Jordan Peterson, who apparently works 14-hour days every day, which turns out to be a 100-hour workweek. As YouTubers do, a bunch of them started trying out the 100-hour workweek, and while they looked like dead-faced zombies, they claimed to have gotten a lot done.

So, I put us up the challenge 💪

The result? By my estimations, 60% drop in productivity, 10% more accomplished. More isn’t always better.

That said, it did lead to some interesting (and exciting) revelations related to what I’m building 🔮 Here’s my brain dump:

1. When I started this build diary, my goal was to launch a coaching community/career-launching membership of sorts (“The Launchpad,”) but to do that, I need some course content to guide people.
2. Ok, so my first plan of action was to start building course content, starting with teaching UX writing in a stupid-simple way.
3. I realized I don’t think in decks, I think in words, so I decided to make a written course, kind of like an interactive book.
4. I spent 3 weeks writing this “interactive book,” only to realize that’s not a thing, and when people think of course content, they think of video content.
5. Meanwhile, our friend shared this site with me and my fiancé, and I thought it was a mind-blowing way to democratize education through a learning subscription.
6. So, I have ~60,000 words of new written content — why don’t I do a similar model (learning subscription) as that site? And I’ll offer the subscription free in The Launchpad when it’s ready to launch, instead of this “interactive book” thing that’s not actually a thing.

🙏 End of brain dump 🙏

So, that’s my big, wacky, 100-hour workweek revelation. Instead of including course content in The Launchpad, it’ll come with a free learning subscription to learn everything you need to know to master UX writing, land a UX writing job, and go freelance.

The very cool thing is, while The Launchpad is still in the words, I can launch this learning subscription… soon. Like in the next couple of weeks.

Hold up — what’s a learning subscription?

I realize I’m talking in jargon here. A learning subscription is what it sounds like — it’s a subscription to educational content. It’s kinda like a course, but instead, it’s written content, hosted on thegiggal.com, and there’s new content added every week.

You might be thinking “subscription” implies paid content. And you’re right. So there’s a bit of a change coming to The Gig Gal…

A LOT of content will remain free. But, with this new learning subscription, I’ll be introducing paid content that offers extra, advanced context to take your learning further. The paid articles (I’m thinking of moving to the term “lessons”) will include more step-by-step, how-to content, exercises that, depending on what tier you choose, come with feedback from me, a ton more examples, and generally even richer content.

I made it fun, and all paid content will be labeled “🖋️ Architect’s Edition.” More upbeat than “paid.”

Once The Launchpad is live, if you join The Launchpad, your subscription will become free.

What else is new?

Well, to create the most user-friendly experience for the learning subscription, my site needs a fresh, new format.

I’M STILL IN BUILDING MODE… but here’s a sneak peek:

Something goofy and fun I can’t wait to share 🥰

I’ve been trying to think of a fun, relatable way to explain what “voice” (of voice and tone) means… Then I thought of Michael Scott.

So, here’s a quick excerpt I find super fun from the product voice & tone lesson coming to the learning subscription:

If you haven’t seen The Office and aren’t familiar with the intricacies of Michael Scott, he’s the manager of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of a paper company called Dunder Mifflin. And his management tactics are… goofy.

The kind of goofy where you feed the ducks full pieces of bread and make rap videos for your employees.

If I was to describe Michael Scott’s personality, I’d describe him as:

• Goofy
• Blunt
• Caring
• Devoted
• Optimistic

These are characteristics of Michael Scott’s voice. A voice is someone, or a company’s, personality and embodies how they talk. It’s what makes every person, and company, sound and feel unique.

Stay tuned for next week’s diary 🖖

If you’re as excited as I am, get ahead of the curve, and join The Launchpad waitlist now 🤗