✨ the SPARK 213 ~ Tired of Forcing Yourself onto 'Essential' Platforms?

There's a Better Way

When my kids were little (both under 10), like most siblings, they’d have their moments of bickering which would inevitably lead to one of them saying (er, yelling), “stooooppppp!”

To which I would do my best Stuart impression (Stuart from MadTV - I know I’m dating myself), say “Stop” the way Stuart did, and they would quickly shift gears (most of the time, this worked, but not always).

Maybe this is a glimpse into my parenting I shouldn’t share (they laughed about Stuart, so I wasn’t being totally heartless)… but listening to pissing matches makes my skin crawl (This is one of the many reasons I can’t stomach reality TV - beyond HGTV).

So when I saw an email from beehiiv about all the reasons Substack isn’t serving people, it felt like, “Here we go again” (it’s probably published on the beehiiv blog if you want to read it).

Were there some valid points?

Sure.

Is Substack starting to feel a bit like a social platform? (The original goal of Substack was to support writers).

Yep.

Do I care?

Nope.

It would be great if the platforms we used could remain true to their altruistic plans (if they ever had them in the first place), but when you have investors and raise millions of dollars, they have to find a way to monetize.

Substack and Bluesky feel like the early days of social right now, and people love it.

That being said, your priority needs to be to YOU.

All of these platforms are simply tools (traffic sources) where you can:

• Create and share content.

• Connect with real people to create genuine connections and relationships.

• Drive the right people to your email list (where you can foster the relationship).

• Offer solutions to people’s problems via your products and services.

And when one traffic source stops working the way it used to?

Find another one.

We all have a platform (or two or three) that makes us cringe a bit.

For example, many people have succeeded with LinkedIn and swear by it, but every time I log into LinkedIn, I just want to log off.

I get more cold DMs and cheesy requests than anywhere else.

Does this mean it doesn’t work?

Of course not.

If I hunkered down, focused on it, and gave it a solid effort, I’d probably get good results.

But it’s kind of like continuing to go to a restaurant where you don’t like the food- even though everyone else loves it.

Could you take a course where you learn about that type of food and are taught how to acquire a taste for that particular food?

Probably.

But why would you bother?

There are plenty of other restaurants to eat at.

It comes down to one simple thing: “I don’t want to.”
(Maybe my inner petulant child needed to take over the newsletter this week 😂).

Maybe you’re one of those people who are successful at “being everywhere.” Hats off to you - none of this is about judging any particular platform or social media methodology.

You do you, boo.

It’s about learning to trust what you want to do and where you want to be.

We’re fortunate enough to be able to automate and schedule things on most platforms, but outside of that - start having fun again.

A dear friend of mine recently struggled with sleep. No matter what she did, she never had the energy to work more than a few hours a day.

There was no apparent reason for her exhaustion. She wasn’t sick, the temperature in her house was great, and she was content.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and she tapped into something that ignited a spark with her (get it? SPARK?), and she has more energy than time in the day.

Nothing else changed for her.

Here’s the thing…

Starting, growing, and running a business is hard - why on earth would you make it harder on yourself by forcing yourself to do something you know in your gut you’re never going to enjoy?

I’m not referring to simple business tasks we don’t enjoy - that’s par for the course.

You get to choose how you want to run and grow your business.

And I can guarantee if it’s good for you, it will be good for your customers, too.

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SPARK Spotlight 🔥

I’ve used Claude before, but my default has always been ChatGPT. Well… Claude has been blowing my MIND! 🤯

The custom styles are amazing (It named mine ‘Mindful Storyteller’), and after watching what my friend Jason did with projects… OMG!

I love how the prompt and output panes display side-by-side (I read that ChatGPT will be doing this, too) - it’s such a great experience.

I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried or used it in a while.

Also… here’s how to set up integrations for Claude with Google Docs.

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A Little Brainpower 🧠

Did you know you can share social media posts from Notion? Here’s how to use Notion’s webhooks to automate your social media workflows.

Create a video with Open AI’s Sora… soon (didn’t they say this months ago?). Apparently, it’s going to start rolling out for everyone. Read about Sora here.

You know how much I love Growth.design case studies - this one is no different! I’d never heard of Sniper links until I read this. Read “How To Increase Sign Up Confirmation Links With Sniper Links.” (you’ll have to create a free account, but it’s so worth it! These guys are brilliant!).

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Tool Time 🛠

• Claude: This is great if you’re going to use Claude Projects. Upload entire folders while maintaining structure. Get the Claude Folder extension here.

• AI Spreadsheets: I’ve never been a fan of Excel (or Google Sheets), but this spreadsheet tool + AI is a whole different ballgame! Try Bricks free here.

• Adobe Alternative: Say bye-bye to Adobe’s subscription with this tool to replace Photoshop, Illustrator, and In-Design. Try Pixelmator Pro free here.

• E-commerce: An alternative to Shopify. A simple, fast, and customizable platform for selling your products. Try Picksale free here.

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Totally my dog 😂

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Even though this time of year is busy, I’m thoroughly enjoying every moment.

This is when I try to remind myself that even if my sleep is off (it is), or I end up with a painful stye in my right eye (it’s gross), that because I chose to bet on myself (by working for myself), there are a lot of things I don’t “have” to do (wake up to an alarm, commute, etc.).

All of the “busyness” is a “get to” - not a “have to.”

One of the things I “get to” do is take full advantage of the week between Christmas and New Year’s to check out, sleep, get outside, watch movies, read a book… or follow whatever inspiration strikes with zero judgment or expectation.

So, whatever you choose to do as the year winds down, I hope you can do it with zero judgment or expectation. 😊

Have a wonderful day,
Kim

p.s. Have you gotten a copy of “The Visual Guide to Substack?”