What It Actually Takes to Run Brainwaves (Q1’Y3 Review)
Brainwaves Quarterly Update
Hello!
I built Brainwaves on a promise of radical transparency, and Q1 really put that to the test. It wasn’t all wins and milestones—we hit some significant speed bumps that forced us to rethink how we grow. In this update, I’m pulling back the curtain on the hard lessons we’ve learned, the numbers we’ve hit (and missed), and the roadmap guiding us through the rest of Year 3.
A Key Insight into Producing Content: PINK!
It was a nice, sunny morning on January 17th. I got the opportunity to sleep in a bit, but finally decided to get out of bed. One of my coworkers had told me about a local donut shop I needed to visit, so I put on my shoes and walked over. Insert Voodoo Doughnuts.
Besides making fantastic donuts (I can confirm I ate way too many), one of their main features is that everything is pink. It’s a bit aggressive in all honesty, but it definitely made an impression on yours truly.
I was pretty set on the rebrand in Y1’Q4 and the color addition (yellow), but I had never thought about pink as a new color. I think it complements the blues and yellow very well. And so… pink Brainwaves was born. Don’t worry, I won’t go all crazy pink on you, but you’ll start to see it as an accent here and there.
The moral of this story is that as a content creator, the most random of things can spark inspiration, from trying new bakeries to conversations with friends to ads you see on TV, and so much more.
There’s not a prescriptive formula for success in this business; it’s all about being scrappy and enjoying the journey. If you’re looking for inspiration, you’re much more likely to find it.
Thanks for listening to my short monologue, and with that, let’s get into the quarterly update.
Brainwaves: What Happened This Quarter?
This quarter focused heavily on optimizing content delivery, making it easier for people to get their hands on Brainwaves with a high-quality experience. I hope these efforts have established a good baseline that will propel us to new heights.
I’m very excited about the articles released this quarter, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming. There were many exciting Brainwaves updates and new releases this quarter. We also met many new people this quarter across a range of exciting subsectors and experiences.
Articles You May Have Missed From This Quarter:
Dream Big Dreams - Brainwaves year two in review, learn about the progress we’ve made, and see what’s to come!
Hi Me in 1 Year - A letter from my past self
Introducing the Brainwaves Referral Program 🚀 - We started a referral program! Get rewards for sharing with your friends
Special Edition: Interview with Max Lopez - An interview with the owner of Apartment D, discussing the animation industry
What Superforecasters Know That You Don’t - A long-form deep dive into Futures Thinking series tenet #6
Special Edition: Interview with Kelleigh Stewart - An interview with the owner of Big Island Coffee Roasters, discussing the specialty coffee industry
Special Edition: Interview with Nita Akoh - An interview with the owner of MyAltas Health, discussing the mental health prevention industry
Revisiting Value Creation & Capture - Revisiting a new perspective on an old subject, how we can create and capture value in businesses
Reincarnation in the Age of Reason - A cautious dive into a complicated subject to learn more, showcase conflicts, and provide new perspectives
The Saturday Morning Newsletter: What Happened This Quarter?
This has been a quarter full of late nights and tired eyes, but I’ve made sure to be consistent in producing the content you faithfully read every week. Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed it, and it helps you stay up to date on the happenings in these subsectors.
Articles You May Have Missed:
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #66 - Big Bets on The Future of Running, Bill Gates’ Views on Climate, $1B to Restart Three Mile Island
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #67 - $17M for Pea-Based Milk, Electric Boating Fads, Lessons to Make You Stronger
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #68 - A New Development In Bird Strikes, 8 Classroom Teaching Practices, and 500,000 Satellites by 2040
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #69 - Next-Gen Nozzle Technology, Energy Givers and Takers, and $400M+ for Micro Nuclear Companies
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #70 - Bullish on 2026, Miracle Black Fungus, and Decoupling From China
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #71 - New Year’s Eve Shows Time Matters, 2026 Is The Year of Space, and The Return of Supersonic Jets
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #72 - How to Think, The Supreme Court Favors the Rich, and 10cm Earth Photo Resolution
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #73 - Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, The Gamification of Life, and Hidden Solar Issues
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #74 - No Buy January, Nuclear on the Moon, and Whether Life is All a Game
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #75 - Doomsday Clock Ticks Closer, Amazing Ocean Cleanup Project Results, and A Moon Landing Soon
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #76 - Make Bees Great Again, What’s Tomorrow, The Biggest Industry Might Be Full of Grifters
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #77 - Genetics Determine Life Expectancy, El Niño Coming Back, and EPA Rejecting Climate Change
The Saturday Morning Newsletter #78 - Unicorns and Soonicorns, Optimizing Waste Cleanup, and $70M+ for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Brainwaves: By The Numbers
This quarter continued the progress of Q4’Y2; in the grand scheme of things, it signals a slowdown in growth to more long-term levels. I have some thoughts on initiatives to improve performance going forward, but at this point, everything is a series of trial and error, so hopefully something pays off. Nevertheless, having more subscribers increases the likelihood that someone benefits from my content each week, which is my ultimate goal.
After a breakout performance with a couple of articles this quarter, I’m looking forward to what’s to come this year. A large portion of this volume is due to increased website views as we continue to sort out the indexing and SEO practice. There are enough consistent readers that are pushing the numbers up each week, which is crazy to even think about. It’s always fun to see what content you like the most.
The Saturday Morning Newsletter is incredibly consistent with its performance. There were a couple of standout articles, all (besides the last one) with over 100 views each, which is a great milestone for continued growth. I only hope this trend continues.
We’ve been working on revamping the website for optimum performance this quarter and last, with success seen in the numbers. My favorite metric is scroll depth, which is best-in-class for newsletters (it will likely decrease over time).
Last Quarter Goal Execution
1) Dive into my unique brainwaves each day, write about them, and publish my in-progress views each week, hopefully making a positive impact on someone’s life each week
Success.
As I’ve already touched on, this quarter has been a very exciting time for learning, discovery, and growth. I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned in the upcoming quarters.
2) Curate an experience that readers enjoy, one that makes them want to return for more
Success.
I think readers have enjoyed the experience this quarter, with the introduction of the referral program and more of the content you know and love. Obviously, there is always room for improvement, but hopefully I’m doing a good job overall.
3) Subscriber Goal In 3 Months: 280
Fail.
As you probably saw, we’re up to 255 subscribers, falling short of our goal. It’s been a tough quarter to find time to launch new initiatives and drive growth, but I hope to have more time to devote to it.
4) Continue building on our social media success
Success (ish).
Social media is doing better now that we’ve brought Jasmine onto the team. It’s beginning to drive some subscribers, and I only hope to increase the conversion rate this quarter.
5) Drive subscribers through the referral program
Fail.
So, we launched the referral program (here) with the expectation that it would help drive growth, but so far it hasn’t (officially) driven one subscription, which isn’t great. I’m doing some research (and, frankly, some soul-searching) on what more I can do here, so I’ll keep you updated.
6) Read more books associated with subjects I’m interested in
Success (ish).
I’ve read a bit this quarter, but with work starting back up, it’s been hard to find free time to chip away at the books I’m trying to get through. I’m hoping to continue spending time here, but it’s going to be a more muted success here in the future.
7) Get 3 more interviews completed and published
Success.
I’m finally able to say I’ve accomplished this goal, and I’ve met awesome people along the way. I hope you’ve loved the interview content. I know I have, and I hope to continue providing more to you in future quarters.
Goals For This Quarter
1) Dive into my unique brainwaves each day, write about them, and publish my in-progress views each week, hopefully making a positive impact on someone’s life each week
This is the first and most important goal of this platform, and the reason I started this journey. I view this platform as a great excuse to share my unique perspectives on some of my favorite topics, trying to understand and continually refine my viewpoint on each subject.
I subscribe to the mantra that you learn more about a subject when you have to teach someone else. Through the Brainwaves platform, I’ve created an artificial obligation to produce content each week, which means I’m carving out time in my schedule to learn about new topics I might not have prioritized before.
This platform also allows me to publish my in-progress views on each subject I learn about each week. This is a great opportunity to get feedback from readers who may know more about these subjects than I do or have a unique viewpoint I haven’t considered.
Surrounding this entire process is the pursuit of making a positive impact on someone’s life each week.
2) Curate an experience that readers enjoy, one that makes them want to return for more
The goal of this platform is to create an experience readers enjoy so much that they keep coming back each week for more and more content. Now, that’s an incredibly lofty goal, but one I continue to strive towards each week.
I hope you enjoy the content each and every week!
3) Subscriber Goal In 3 Months: 285
I hate asking people for help, so I normally keep my “ask” to share/subscribe to this publication very short, and usually, most people just brush right past it.
Today, I’m putting it front and center.
If you enjoy and/or get any value from the Brainwaves platform, help me get to 285 subscribers by the end of February by doing any of the following:
Forward this email to friends and tell them to subscribe,
Share on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook with a short note,
Share within your existing community or your company Slack channel.
Getting to 285 people shouldn’t be hard. To put it into perspective, with 255 of you currently subscribed, we just need a referral rate of 0.12 (~1 in 8 people sharing) to reach 285. I’d really appreciate it if you could spend a couple of minutes helping me broaden this platform’s reach and impact.
To reiterate, the goal of this platform is not to become famous or generate an income stream; it is purely to educate people like you about critical factors in our future. So, the goal to increase subscribers is not to grow larger (although that is a nice economies-of-scale byproduct); it is simply to reach a broader audience consistently, and an audience that I will hopefully have a positive impact on every single week.
In addition, more subscribers mean more views and a greater likelihood that one of my readers knows more about a subject than I do, creating more opportunities for me to learn and grow through this process.
4) Continue building on our social media success
We’ve had a ton of success on social media this quarter. My goal is to continue pushing content and creating a measurable impact on our subscriber base via the social media efforts this quarter. That’s a lofty challenge that requires tons of views, interactions, and engagement, along with a decent conversion rate.
I think it’s an ambitious goal, but well within reach.
5) Drive subscribers through the referral program
If you missed it, we launched a referral program this quarter! There are some exciting rewards (in my opinion), so feel free to send this to a friend or two and get them to sign up. Read more here.
I hope this drives a large portion of subscriber growth (and helps me get rid of some of this swag) this quarter and quarters to come. Go make it happen!
6) Read more books associated with subjects I’m interested in
I’ve started reading books on subjects that interest me, and they’ve definitely helped round out my thinking, offer new perspectives, and deepen my knowledge of the niche subsegments within each sector.
I’ve already got some exciting books lined up for some segments I’m interested in. Hopefully, you’ll get to see a couple of insights here and there.
Thank You + Bonus Content
Thank you for sticking around. For anyone new here: thank you too! I hope you’ve enjoyed your time and will continue to return for more content each week.
I’m excited to see what happens this next quarter. This passion project continues to grow and develop, astounding me every single day. Like always, this is purely for fun and learning, and so far it’s been great.
As a little thank you, here’s a little hint at what’s coming down the pipeline:
Circles Are the Key to Our Future?
A Futures Thinking Tenet?
A Not Lame But Boring Article?
….and more
With that, thank you again for your support! As is customary, here’s a Kardashian + friends quote to brighten your week:
“Baker-Miller Pink is the only color scientifically proven to calm you AND suppress your appetite. I was like, ‘I NEED this color in my house!’”
- Kendall Jenner
Thank you again for another great quarter!
Drew Jackson
Twitter: @brainwavesdotme
Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com
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