
## Growing feels great

It feels a little wild to say this, but I'm a few days away from hitting 400 Subscribers to my weekly newsletter, [Tiny Improvements](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter). I started writing to share my expertise with the world, and to try to pay forward some of my luck and privilege to anyone who might benefit from it.

I've been writing about startups, building products, design, and React for a few years now, and it feels like the newsletter has really hit its stride lately.

In the past 6 months, I've grown by 350%, and landed about half a dozen sponsored newsletters. It's been really encouraging to see people enjoying what I have to say - and I have gotten some amazing feedback along the way.

## The basics: what I've learned so far

For my friends who may be interested in doing something like this, here's my advice: write on a dependable, regular cadence, publish your newsletters for SEO-driven growth, and don't be afraid to share your work.

## Growth comes in phases

<Image
  publicId="posts/building-in-public-growth-report-400-readers/growth-chart"
  alt="a chart showing the growth of Tiny Improvements since its launch in May of 2020"
/>

This chart shows a few important milestones in the story behind Tiny Improvements:

- **0-34** readers: May 2020, when I first announced I was writing
- **34-50** readers: December 2020, months later, after I sent my second dispatch
- **88-143** readers: July - Nov 2022, I started writing weekly
- **143-215** readers: November 9th - Dec 1 2022, I [Got laid off from my Job @ Stripe, and went viral](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/leaving-stripe-going-viral)
- **215-215** readers: December 2022 - Jan 2023: Flatlined! Turns out I introduced a bug to my site that prevented anyone from subscribing. lol.
- **215-394** readers: This brings us to today! Steady growth from steady writing, half a dozen sponsorships, and some promising deals coming my way.

## What's next?

I'll be writing more about my [experience as a founder](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/building-a-startup-in-2023-90-day-report), and sharing the lessons and challenges I will no-doubt run into as we grow. I've also got some ideas for short multi-segment posts/tutorials that I'd like to share, like more about [design for developers](https://mikebifulco.com/tags/design), and [networked note-taking](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/unlock-productivity-with-networked-note-taking).

Finally, on the business front, I'm hoping I'll be able to start working with sponsors who I think will really connect with my readers - I'm hoping to build relationships with some of the devtools companies which I really love, to see if there are opportunities to work together. I want to really come through for the people who have supported me (if you're reading this, that's you!), and I want to make sure that I'm only working with companies that I think will really benefit my readers.

By the way - if you're interested in [sponsoring Tiny Improvements](https://mikebifulco.com/sponsor), let's talk!

And of course, I'm looking forward to 400, and then 500 readers, and then anything to come after that!

## You should probably subscribe to Tiny Improvements

If you're interested in startups, building products, design, or React, I think you might really like [💌 Tiny Improvements](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter).


Building in public: 400 subscriber milestone report for my newsletter

You should probably subscribe to Tiny Improvements


On my walk this morning, I found myself wondering what it's going to be like when things go back to normal.

If you've ever read the book Hatchet, there is a boy in the book named Brian who is stranded alone in the wilderness with only a hatchet for survival. I read it when I was in middle school - the main plot line in the book illustrates is how difficult solo survival can be. At the very end of the book is about Brian's experience going the grocery store for the first time after he's rescued, and what it feels like when he's thrust back into a world where the food at his fingertips is endlessly plentiful.

He suddenly sees the grocery store as a fruitful oasis of fresh produce, and snacks, and meat, and all the things he could ever want — thing that he just straight up didn't have while he was stranded alone.

What it's going to be like when the world comes back together? What are going to be the things that I have back in my life that I'll have missed?

I'm looking forward to finding out what my grocery store is. I'm looking forward to having something-like-normal back, and I'm looking forward to being able to appreciate those things.

Lately I’ve been trying to center myself on that.

I’d like to encourage you to center yourself on some of those things, as well as the things that you have right now that are going well (no matter how small they might be!). Hopefully, some things in your life are working out still.

For me, at least those things are the things that keep me going right now.

## There’s still great work being done

These are a few things I’ve found useful this week from far and wide

- 📉 [HealthData.org](https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections) has a frequently updated view of how each of the 50 states + DC are flattening the curve, as compared to hospital capacity. A remarkably well-done data visualization, but a sobering reminder of where we’re at.
- 🎨 [Dracula](https://draculatheme.com/visual-studio-code/) is a color theme made for VS Code (and many other editors) which is based on great color theory, and is frequently and lovingly updated.
- 🌲 [Ecologi](https://ecologi.com/irreverentmike?r=5d386c6667bad5001010ffae) is a wonderful service which will let you donate a couple bucks a month to offsetting your carbon footprint by funding the planting of new trees and other Gold Standard approved projects.

I hope you have a great day.

Talk soon!


On normalcy, daily routines, and the pandemic


Hey there - I’m [Mike Bifulco](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike). I’m a programmer, designer, entrepreneur, author, and podcaster… and I’ve been working remotely as the Technical Director for [Gymnasium](https://thegymnasium.com) (an online code school) since 2015, contributor to [Workfrom](https://workfrom.co) since 2016, and cofounder of [smpl](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/smpl-llc) (software for independent coworking companies) since 2017.

My guess is that if you’re reading this, you’re a newly remote worker, due to the rapid and terrifying expansion of the COVID19 Pandemic. I’m not here share medical advice; if that’s what you’re after, there’s far better places to look.

This publication is meant to help all of us who are suddenly tasked with doing our job from somewhere uncomfortable. Let’s talk about working from home.

I’ll be sending out periodic updates with some stream-of-consciousness thoughts on working remotely, or living in the world in 2020, or being human… whatever feels like it makes sense.

Primarily, I’ll share a few things which might be helpful to you right now.

Stuffing work-life into your home-life
As I see it, making remote work work isn’t easy. It took me quite a while to get used to. Save yourself some trouble, and do these things first:

- 🖥 Separate work from home. When you’re working, you should feel like you’re working. Don’t set up in front of the TV with Netflix on. Give yourself a nice, clean place to work from, and situate yourself there only when you’re working. If you live in a small space, this may mean transforming your coffee table or dining table to work-mode during your working hours.
- ⏲ Give yourself a schedule. Do you normally work from 9-5? Make it so, at least to start! Remote working can mean an extremely flexible lifestyle, for sure, but it will probably also cause a massive dive in your productivity, at least at first. Do yourself a favor and stick to your normal work hours for a few days, until you get into the swing of things.
- 🗣 Communicate with your people. If you share your living space with other people, it’s best to be extremely forthcoming about what you need to get work done. Don’t do well with distractions? Explain that to them. Do you need to be sure your kids won’t barge in on video calls? Tell them! Communicating is fun and nice, and you’re going to need to do a whole lot of it.

That’s all for now. If there’s anything I can do to help you or the people that matter to you figure this all out, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line [@irreverentmike](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike).

(If this was helpful, I’d love it if you’d share it with someone who might also like it!)

This post is a sample from one of my weekly newsletters. If you liked it, you can also subscribe to my newsletter Tiny Improvements here 👇🏼


#tiny-improvements: 3 posts tagged

Building in public: 400 subscriber milestone report for my newsletter

On normalcy, daily routines, and the pandemic

Are you suddenly a remote worker? Let's figure it out together.