Jason Leow

What does compounding work look like?

t’s hard to identify compounding work because it’s hard to measure if the increase/growth is “interest on interest”. I can imagine some good habits like reading, writing, exercise, diet as potentially compounding, but I can also recall reading many books which didn’t amount to much at all. So how we do it seems to be key – it has to somehow build an “interest on interest” increase, not just an incremental increase.

compounding work would have these attributes:

• Recurring, unsexy habits (or even boring)
• Aligned to your existing store of knowledge, assets or skills
• Has an “interest on interest” amplification to the returns on your time/effort
• Actually moves the needle, give measurable, tangible progress
• Only things that you are uniquely capable of doing
• Scalable, beyond yourself and your time

What if I prioritized only that which compounds? What if I only did things that has a compounding effect? What would happen if I ignored non-compounding work completely?

Wow today was on busy day on Twitter... what happened there??

• Twitter thread on production-first and distribution-first really hit a spot. I guess some degree of controversy really does help huh..
• 4am posts started getting more attn too...people seem to just vibe with it, not sure what to make of it
• sent out another thread on personal acc based on Lifelog post

Been learning a lot about rich vs poor money mindsets, and here’s some I’m working on right now:

• Make money work for me, not me working for money
• Buys time, not wastes time
• Multiple income streams instead of one
• Net worth-driven, not income-driven
• You can be rich and be ethical

What other important mindsets did I miss?

• tweeted a thread based off a Lifelog post on personal acc
• chatted with more folks about finding distribution channel
• organic engagement and sent out links to "making time to write" tweet via Lifelog acc
• review content strat

There’s a phrase going around on Twitter that I hear a lot. That first-time founders focus on product, second-time founders focus on distribution. I wonder if I’m going through that now, the hard way.

So what gives?

What if I went distribution-first for a product?

Find a growing market and a reliable and sustainable distribution channel first, before even making the product?

For an existing product, how about finding a distribution channel and then shaping the marketing and product around it instead?

What are the conditions that might favour a product-first approach? When should I use distribution-first approach instead?

I don’t know. I have more questions than answers now.

• Scheduled a tweet on Lifelog acc
• Tweeted out a thread of a Lifelog post on my personal acc
• Asked more qns on Twitter about finding the right distribution channel
• More thinking and plotting

How to say no:

"Great to hear from you. Taking a break from networking in person because I’m focusing time on new priorities. Sincerely wishing you the best on your new project."
- Simple. To the point. Asserting boundaries by giving an reason. Yet polite and positive.

Even better:
"Thanks for the invite. Apologies I’m not available for speaking at this event. All the best for your proceedings."
- Don't have to explain yourself or give a reason for saying no

Saying no is much easier than it feels.

• DMed some indie hacker folks to learn about how they manage personal vs brand Twitter accounts
• Scheduled tweets for Lifelog - reusing organic replies as standalone tweets scheduled for future publishing
• Trying out Naval-esque style tweets - just 1-2 lines, succinct, punchy, inspiring, useful
• Started another week of Twitter ad campaign, with improvements to key words and follower look-alikes
• Tweeted a thread from one of my Lifelog posts on personal acc

“There’s magic in what you did before 10 years of age.” ~ Scott Adams.

I'm constantly confused if I should use my personal acc to engage or the Lifelog one. When should I use what? Use Lifelog acc when promoting? Use personal when chatting?

What's the pros and cons over each?

Maybe I should have just stuck to personal since it's simpler, and I can accrue social capital via my personal brand rather than a faceless 'corporate' acc?

It’s always Day One at Amazon, said Jeff Bezos. That’s an aspiration for Amazon, that it will always act like a startup, no matter its size. To Bezos, Day Two is stasis, which leads to irrelevance and decline.

Always be in Day One, he said.

• My best tweets so far are the threads I wrote in April! It shouldn't be surprising, but I was. It didn't seem to do that well in April, but they are clearly in the front now with constant retweets and sharing. Makes complete sense.

• Ad audience were overwhelmingly majority from India - wuttt? Like, how, why? I always thought my target was US folks... I wonder if it's a one-off thing. Interesting insight.

More analysis to come...

There are only 3 strategies…
• Try again
• Try harder
• Try something else
~ @julia_saxena via @joshskaja

This really helps in clarifying my thinking, and making my approach to marketing for Lifelog a bit more methodical. I don’t think I’m at the stage of trying something else yet. Need more data. Let’s start from the top of the list, and go down in sequence.

I need to do something different. Organic engagement is great and all, but not working as well as I would like it.

What else can I do? The more automated the better.

• Trying Twitter ads now.
• More long form content?
• Posting site on directories?
• Engineering-as-marketing?
• Reddit?

BUT before throwing spaghetti on the wall, I need more real-world data. Which kinds of tweets are working, which ones isn't. Which platforms work better.