Today marks 138 weekly posts in a row of this website. (Okay, I might have missed one. But still.)
I don’t have many streaks like this in my life, and I’m still excited to keep going.
When I started back in September 2022, I just wanted to get ideas out of my head. Stuff I kept repeating in conference talks and client calls, like how to ask better questions, get useful feedback, or say yes without burning out.
I thought I’d eventually run out of things to say. Turns out the opposite happened. Writing begets more ideas. (Even drafting this post sparked two more topics I want to write about.)
I sent out the first issue on September 9, 2022. That was around the time I was starting to commit to an idea that had been nagging me for months: to wind down the agency I had run for the previous decade, which I eventually did two months later. I knew what I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t yet know what I wanted to do, and an excuse to write it out every week—in public, no less—seemed useful.
I eventually picked a name for my newsletter: “Dan Mall Teaches,” which then became the handle I used on other platforms. It felt close enough to what I was doing. But, if I’m honest, it wasn’t entirely accurate. One of the characteristics about myself I was able to put a name to—largely due to joining my friend Shawn Blanc’s excellent Focus Like a Boss program—was that I’m a sharer. I always have been, even as a little kid. If I have something, I like splitting it in half and giving a piece to someone else. If you’ve ever gone out to eat with me, you already know that I love ordering a lot of little plates that we can pass around so everyone gets a taste of everything.
I rarely think of myself as teaching anything; I much more view it at sharing what I’ve learned so others can have it too. Admittedly though, @danmallteaches feels to me like it has better marketability than @danmallshares.
Over the last 138 posts, I’ve heard from a lot of you about the things you’d like me to share more about; I’m so grateful for that. That has led to everything from writing new newsletter issues to starting a whole new business with my Make More Money group coaching program. And yet there’s so much more I’d like to share with so many more people.
I’ve loved working with clients. But agencies are built for going deep with a few people, not wide with many.
In SuperFriendly’s first year, I worked with 8 clients. In Design System University’s first year, over 10,000 students signed up. (Both years had similar revenue.)
After writing 138 posts over 2½ years, I’m now hitting the edges of what “going wide” allows. There are things I’d love to share—tools, rants, behind-the-scenes stuff—that don’t feel like they belong in a public newsletter that hits inboxes around the world. Not because they’re secret, but because they’re not for everyone. They’re too niche, too messy, too contextual, or too personal to share with a massive list.
So I want to create something in the middle. Not totally public. Broader than 1:1.
A medium-sized group—private by default—where I can share more freely and more usefully.
I have some ideas, and I’d love to know if you’d be interested in being part of that medium-sized audience.
Some examples of things I’d love to do more of, in no particular order:
There are things I do for friends regularly that I’d love to do more for a larger group. Last week, a marketing agency CEO friend who speaks at conferences a lot was stumped on how to make their slides look better, so I made a 15-minute Loom giving them a few simple graphic design techniques that could help and also telling them why I think their corporate typeface limits how unique the slides can look. Two weeks ago, an entrepreneur friend asked me about hiring a team in a profitable way, so I made a 9-minute Loom, walking them through the highly detail spreadsheet—we called them “Project Value Sheets”—we used at my agency to assemble teams affordably. I’d love to do these kinds of walkthroughs more regularly for a larger group of people. It’s not right as a YouTube video that anyone could watch because there’s too much context needed, but it feels like a better fit to send it to a private subset of my audience who are hungry for that level of detail.
A common question I get often is, “What do you do every day?” The answer is complicated. I do a lot, so I do a lot. And it’s pretty varied. I’d love to give people a look into that. I imagine it’ll be inconsequential to some and enthralling to others. Yesterday, I workshopped with one of my students and came up with a simple plan for them to 4× their revenue. I wouldn’t share their details, but I’d do a quick overview of the exercise we did to unlock the opportunity. This morning, I made a one-page PDF to pitch a dream sponsor for an event I’m running. I wouldn’t be comfortable posting that publicly, but I’d gladly show it to a private group and link the ChatGPT conversation that helped me get it to a final state. Heck, if I had a private group to show it to, I’d probably just hit record from the beginning and share the entire screencast from start to finish. From my conversations with a lot of you, I think this the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff that could unlock a lot for you. It’s the stuff I learned working in offices and peeking over my creative directors’ shoulders early in my career. I’d like to replicate that for folks who don’t have that opportunity today.
If there’s enough of you, we could do monthly open Q&As.
Maybe there’s a Slack channel where you can connect with others. Maybe I can tell some of you who I think you should connect with. I’m really good at that; that skill allowed me to run a network-based agency for a decade. My network is broad
It doesn’t just have to be online events. Maybe I can organize some more in-person events. A fancy dinner in Philly? Or other cities? Renting a cabin on an island somewhere and co-working for a few days? Photo trips? Basketball games?
I’ll show and send you files and templates I’ve found, made, and used to help me in my work somehow.
I might send you a mid-week rant. I’m not a rant-y guy, especially in public, but boy do I have opinions about design Twitter.
Maybe I’ll have an hour a week where I hop on Zoom and do some coworking with anyone here who wants to join. Maybe I’ll have some open office hours available only to this group.
I could send you some stickers. Or t-shirts. Or other things. I hear that people like things. Maybe I make you a small gift box once or twice a year of my favorite things.
(Many thanks to my friend Lex Roman for a recent conversation that unlocked a lot of these ideas.)
I don’t know what I’m promising yet, and I’m very cautious to not bite off more than I can chew. Still though, one of my favorite side effects of this newsletter is finding more of my tribe who I want to spend more time with and share more of what I have.
In the spirit of taking my own advice, here’s what’s in it for you.
If you’ve ever gotten value from what I’ve shared—whether it helped you land a client, raise your rates, or just feel seen—this is your chance to get more, or even just say thanks.
If you’re like most of my readers, you’re one of the 99% of designers who are neither beginners nor top corporate executives. You’re a mid- to senior-level competent practitioner who have your own venture of some kind, whether its your own company or significant autonomy, responsibility, and authority at your job. You’re an ambitious designer who aspires to grow, and you’re looking for support to excel further in your career in a way that’s authentic to your personal values.
Having more access to my work, brain, archive, network, and me will help you earn more, learn more, and be part of a tribe that propels you toward your professional goal.
Now I’m gonna ask you for money.
I want you to have skin in the game. Putting up some moolah signals that you’re willing to separate yourselves from the rest of my readers and want to join a more exclusive group.
I also want skin in the game. My opportunity profit is high. I want to be on the hook to make this worthwhile for you. I want the incentive and the space to spend time doing this, and I know I won’t if I’m preoccupied doing other things to pay the bills.
It’ll probably be somewhere from $99/year to $199/year. Maybe I’ll have a lifetime option at $499 or $599 or something like that. (39.8% of my audience has been following my content already for 5 years or more, so maybe that’s something you’ve been wanting/waiting for anyway.)
A few ideas as to how that could be worth it for you:
How does all that sound?
Seriously, I’d love to know how this sounds to you. I’ve said a lot of things to you in this issue; would you please say a lot of things back to me?
This idea only works if it’s mutually beneficial.
I’ll read every reply and respond personally.
And if enough of you are in, I’ll build it.
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