NeildaVerse Notes #34

Ice sculptures, addictive small wins, and getting banned from messaging on Facebook

Happy Friday, friends!

It’s been quite an odd winter in Ottawa this year. One day it’s 11°F, giving me hope that the Rideau Canal will finally be open for ice skating, and a few days later, it’s 47°F melting all my ice skating hopes away. Locals have been saying this is the first time ever the Rideau Canal has been closed. Climate change…

At least I was able to see the ice sculptured during Winterlude!

---

🖋️ Quote of the week

“Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes.”

- Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

🏆 Wins

Launched my first Notion template on Gumroad

Last Friday, I took the plunge with no expectation other than to pat myself on the back to say that I am officially a Notion creator by sharing my Notion template with the public. I felt nervous and excited as I moved my cursor to the “Publish” button at the top right corner of my Gumroad dashboard. One click away…

Small win #1 - Publish my first Notion template on Gumroad.

It’s like finally reaching the first real summit of an overwhelming climb. I was proud of myself but was celebrating alone. But what’s the point of having my work out there without no one to see it? So I shared the link to a small group of supportive creator girlfriends I met through Write of Passage. At the very least, I’d get some feedback from a friendly crowd to identify ways to improve it.

Small win #2 - Getting my first download.

I made my Notion template free, but little did I know that someone would find it valuable enough to support my work and pay for it voluntarily. It was a surprising validation.

Small win #3 - Getting my first sale.

The feeling of momentum and confidence was starting to build. “Wow!” I thought. “People are really liking the style and how this Notion template works! Let’s see if even more people might like it. I jumped into some of the Facebook groups I found to be supportive and potentially interested in my template. I wrote my post, ended it with a “Comment “Goal Digger” and I will send it to you!” and waited anxiously for it to be approved by the admins.

“Is it good enough to be approved?”

A few hours later, my notifications started going off. “Goal Digger!!!!”

Small win #4 - Getting 50 downloads.

Validation was growing, and I was getting more excited with every notification coming in. It was like a drug. A validation drug. A “great work!” drug.

Small win #5 & 6 - Getting 100+ downloads and 20+ 5-star ratings.

I’m officially a Notion creator, and I have something to show.

With this win, I learned there is a market for beautifully-designed, easy-to-use, and useful Notion templates.

👩🏾‍💻 What I learned

You can get blocked from sending Facebook messages to non-contacts if you send too many in a short span of time.

Unsurprisingly, the pursuit of wins also comes with lessons learned. Whenever someone responded “Goal digger” to my Facebook post, I responded with a private message to the commenter sharing the link and thanking them for their interest. To be as efficient, I waited until I got almost 100 comments before sending my messages. Unfortunately, Facebook thought I was a spammer, which prevented me from messaging more people who wanted the link. Now I hope the ban gets lifted by the time I publish and share my next template.

🖼️ AI-Generated Image(s) of the week

Text description: “Climbing a summit, one line drawing”
AI system used: DALL·E 2 by OpenAI

🤔 My question for you

Have you ever been banned or partially banned from social media? If so, what happened?

---

👋🏽 That's all for now

I’d love to hear from you, whether it’s feedback on what you enjoyed about this newsletter, what needs work, and what you want to hear more about. Just hit reply.

Till next time!

Cheers,
Neilda