Random Musings 😏, Part-13
Soul Letter #42
Hello👋 folks, Shubham here.
I am back with another edition of Random Musings.
Cold-Emailing Isn’t Cold 🥶
We all are wary of Cold-Emailing as clickbait stuff regularly bombards our inboxes.
I believed people didn’t like receiving messages from strangers promoting their content, however, my bias has altered considerably.
Last Saturday, out of boredom (Yup, it wasn’t planned) I pinged random people on LinkedIn talking about Soul Letter. The message was simple and authentic (since I truly believe in my cause) asking them to check out my work and subscribe if they like the vibe.
In the back of my mind, I was scared to shit knowing people might block or worse report me, but I decided to take a leap of faith.
Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much traction however the response was astonishing.
Several people complimented me saying my writing was honest, witty, and highly relatable. Some said they already planned to subscribe but forgot.
A fellow writer said my message sparked him to revive his dormant blog. I couldn’t have imagined my Cold-Emailing could inspire someone else to work on their creative projects.
In the end, the day’s effort was worth it.
Cold-Emailing works, you just need to be genuine. In a world full of plagiarized things people value original content.
Another thing I realized during the impetuous stint is I still possessed my creator’s entitlement(I guess every creator has an alter ego). I wanted others to follow my writings, and didn’t want to replicate the favor.
But I tamed this irrational muse. In response to the people who subscribed, I followed their blogs and YouTube channels.
Going a step further, I went through their work and provided sincere feedbacks.
Page Turners – Our Bookclub
If there was an event in the Olympics for the number of times someone recommends others to read, I would have secured multiple golds.
The day before yesterday, I outdid myself. In my longing to encourage people to read I pondered to start a WhatsApp group where members can talk about the books and share recommendations to stir each other’s reading passion.
The thought was warmly welcomed with close to 25 people signing up.
I was over the moon but little did I know it was just the beginning. Soon, I will be blustered far away in the galaxy like a brawny satellite.
Thanks to a LinkedIn post by Shreya who shares the same love for reading, the idea went viral. Last evening, strangers were pinging me appreciating the initiative along with the permission to join. They have sent personalized messages claiming they were looking for something like this. It’s humbling.
People from top MNCs and colleges want to sign up. I feel like Tyler Durden making recruitments for my Fight Club (that’s the dream, isn’t it).
The group has already crossed 80 people which is freaking insane.
It’s funny because I never read books as a kid. Starting a start-up had a higher probability than a book club. The 10-year-old nerd with murky glasses wouldn’t have believed in his wildest imagination that he will end up with a book club.
Just to give a sense of how badly I wanted to be a part of a book club.
A few months back, I had created a book club page on Instagram, posted for a month or so, but closed it eventually because of lack of engagement.
I have also been pinging people on Goodreads to start a book club yet no success.
For years I assumed I would be lucky to be a part of a book club but now I started one, it’s called Page Turners.
I don’t have any clue what’s next, but let’s push some people to read more books.
The vibe of the group is awesome if any of the readers want to join (especially my Goodreads pals), just drop a word. Mind you the group is always buzzing with messages so it might become a bit overwhelming.
My Recent Trip
I went to Jodhpur recently for a marriage (it seems like everyone is getting hooked these days) due to which I couldn’t publish last week.
Not a fan of solo traveling, I booked the tickets solely for the marriage with no extra buffer.
However, everyone kept pestering me by saying I should have kept a day to explore Jodhpur. Their suggestions made me feel like I missed out on a tempting opportunity.
Fortunately, a week before traveling the timings of my return flight got changed due to which I was able to book the new flight on the next day (thanks to my guardian angel😇).
I got my 1-day solo trip and made the most out of it, considering how exhausted the previous days were (Indian marriages are equivalent to college fests).
I am not an adventure enthusiast but did try zip line at Mehrangarh Fort, it was awesome.
Hope you enjoyed this edition.
If you haven’t already, go and watch Spider-Man🕸
Merry Christmas 🎄 everyone. I’ll probably watch Home Alone tonight.
Signing off for today :) Until next time, Houdoe! 🙋♂️
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