Six months of Apartamento 710
Six months of Apartamento 710
What I've learned having my own Substack newsletter
This letter is long and you might need to open it on your desktop to read the full version.
Today I am reflecting on the 6 months post launching a project I dreamt about for so long, my baby newsletter, Apartamento 710. Since starting, I’ve managed to share bi-monthly letters that now land in the inbox of 600 people. I did a quick search and an audience this big will need a theater to fit all of you in!
Although I am so happy to have reached that number (and still in disbelief), performance metrics are not important to me now as I am focused on having a lot of fun and creative freedom.
With that being said, this letter is not a how-to guide on ‘growing your newsletter in 30 days’, or one where I will share witchy tips to improve your open rate. I am here to tell you how having this project has changed my life and one or two lessons and tools that have helped me along the way. Let’s get into it!
A little story of creative freedom and fulfillment
Last summer I was burnt out from my corporate job and down deep on my social media addiction. I craved a different life, a more creative path that would bring me the fulfillment and joy I was missing. I remember so clearly being in the shower once and desperately asking God to please, please, please give me a sign that would help me know what to do with my life. That was the beginning of a self-discovery journey that lasted over a year.
During that period the universe did its work and sent me books I needed to read, people I needed to meet, and experiences that made me realize that you don’t have to go to school to be an artist, you don’t need to have expensive supplies to produce art, or being born in a family of artists to appreciate it.
One of the biggest myths of creativity is that it is an endless fountain that can always be accessed ONLY by a reduced group, the lucky ones, who received the gift when they were born.
That is not how creativity works at all.
Creativity is a muscle that you exercise every day. You have to make a conscious decision to live and breathe creativity, and that is what I have been doing since then (or at least trying).
I started having real fun, looking for patterns in my everyday life, and consciously embarking on new experiences that would get my creativity flowing. I stopped waiting for a savior to tell me I was allowed to create stuff and just freaking did it.
That my friends, is how and why Apartamento 710 was born.
After a lot of unconscious resistance, I am finally coming to terms with my gift of effortlessly seeing beauty everywhere I go. I am learning to channel it into things that bring me joy and fulfillment. The next step now is to learn how to manage this gift, be responsible with it, and do the work I am due.
1 — Discipline is pleasure, and consistency over perfectionism is a more compassionate way of creating.
I am someone who has always struggled with consistency and discipline. Those things don’t come to me naturally. This year though, I’ve finally hacked my mind into reframing discipline as a way of self-love and pleasure. I know, I rolled my eyes as well when I first encountered this concept. Still, now I strongly believe that it has been key to me achieving my biggest dreams this year such as the launch of Apartamento 710, running my first half-marathon, and landing a high-paying job that is helping sustain the creative life I want. If you are interested in learning more about the concept of discipline as pleasure, the right person to learn from is Yumi Sakugama.
Remember always that consistency beats talent and discipline will take you places beyond your wildest imagination!
2 — Build in small steps, and remember that you already have everything you need to get started.
In Product Design, there is the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) which refers to releasing ideas into the world quickly and before investing a lot of energy and resources into developing something bigger that hasn’t received a lot of consumer feedback. In almost 6 years of working in Tech, this is one of the main things that I’ve carried with me as I start a new creative project. This has helped tremendously because I used to be all like —ok I want to get into photography I need the most expensive equipment in the market to start. Well, what if you start with your iPhone that by the way, has a great camera? Or I want to get into writing! I need to go back to school and study for it. Mmmm what if you go to your local library and join a free writing workshop? Or start writing and sharing the work with your friends for feedback?
One of the main reasons behind launching this newsletter was getting to practice writing in English more. That puts me out of my comfort zone big time because this is not my first language and writing in English and sharing it with all of you is one of the most vulnerable things I have ever done. I think in two languages, I feel things in two languages, and sometimes putting into words what is in my heart and soul is challenging but that is one of the main reasons I want to keep going. I didn’t want to wait until I felt like my English was perfect to start sharing, or until I had enough money to buy a fancy writing course. I knew that what I write comes from the heart and it’s filled with honesty and that is all I needed to start sharing my stories with the world.
Create ‘bad’ things, and also things you are proud of, share them with the world, or keep them for yourself, but bring them to life. How many projects or ideas we haven’t even started because we think we don’t have enough skills or resources to do them? Build in small steps!
3 — Algorithms reward superficial ways of connecting. I’ve built some of my best relationships in life by directly messaging people online.
Some of the closest friends I have in my life are ones that I made on the Internet because either they or myself dared to reach out and say, hey I think you are cool, let’s hang out! If you admire someone and enjoy their work, let them know via Direct message or leave them a comment!
One of the best things about creating my newsletter has been all the connections and friends I am making here. Last month
4 — Be your biggest fan, and don’t forget to re-share your old work
I recently saw this interview where Tyler comments on how we would spend days, months, or years working so hard on something only to promote it once or twice via a few Instagram stories. Is it that we are afraid of being perceived as desperate or cringe for trying hard and promoting our work? Maybe. But all great things happen when you forget about cringe. Who has time to be cool anyway? I want to see passion! Nothing makes me happier than seeing people proudly sharing what they have created.
I want us to promote our new work relentlessly (and also our old work), for days, months, and years after launching. People forget and we need to remind them.
, one of my favorite people here in Substack has this great piece on the topic!
In the spirit of sharing old work, here are some of my favorite essays I’ve published:
Thanks so much for reading!
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Im so prouuuud bbsita <3 thank u for inspiring me so muuuuch!!! te amoooo
finally found the time to read this one! as a new writer and new person to substack this made me feel very seen! i’ve had a bit of a block with writing for a public audience lately but this is a good reminder that i just need to stretch the muscle a bit more regularly 🫶✨