Work – HELLO, I'M SETH WERKHEISER

BENCH AND BUTTONDOWN

Well, Bench is back. Bought by another company, apparently.

I didn’t want to just download my data from them, because I heard it’s not a very “transportable” format, so I’m hooked back up with Bench at least until I can get my 2024 books settled and my taxes filed, then I’m out.

Also spoke with Buttondown today about moving Social Media Escape Club. I just wanna send emails, you know? Yes, I love the ability to embed video right to the site, and the audio functions, but Substack is very much social media these days, and it doesn’t make send to have Social Media Escape Club to exist on a social media platform.

BENCH GOES DARK

I used Bench to manage my books and take care of my taxes the last few years. They charged about $430/mo, too. Not cheap. And then I see they charged me $528 on December 24th, and today, three days later, they completely shut down.

Apparently I can download my data on Monday. Gee, thanks.

I swear, these online platforms are poison. Today I clicked around and talked to some people, and signed up for Wave. We’ll see how that goes.

Around the web:
Vancouver fintech company Bench Accounting announces sudden shutdown

“They still haven’t finished my books for the year. And I paid in advance.”

Long-time local tech startup, Bench, shuts down and lays off all its employees.

THE RIGHT PEOPLE

A client who has worked with some big names wanted to build their email list, and I gave them this idea:

Think of the amazing people you worked with throughout the years, and think of all those stories you shared, and the memories you’ve made. They’ve got to have dozens of those stories to write, right?

So write that post, with that one person in mind. Then email that person a link to the piece.

This gets you around sending a boring email to “all your contacts” saying, “hey, I have a newsletter now, you should subscribe.”

Write a post that will resonate with the person you’re emailing. Yes, even if it’s just that one person. Email the person the link. Maybe they subscribe, or at least reply and you two catch up, and who knows where that leads?

It’s not always about striking it rich and getting 100 new sign ups. Sometimes the right message to the right person at the right time is all you need.

THE INNER GAME

Love this bit from Derek Sivers:

Making money depends on other people, so it’s harder. It’s not entirely under your control. It’s an outer game.

Reducing what you “need” to be happy is easier. It’s entirely under your control. It’s an inner game.

Would I like to replace my car from 2015 with over 100,000 miles? Sure. But that means a car payment and higher insurance premiums.

I don’t need that new car, which helps me be a little more rich.

KEEP IT GOING

This is from Cassidy Frost’s latest, How to Dedicate Your Life to Music When You’re Fucking Scared:

“You don’t need to believe in yourself, you just need to act in service of whatever thing you do believe in, no matter how small.”

Stack up Small Acts daily and weekly. They don’t need to be heavy, cost a lot of money, or take up a lot of time.

As time passes, these Small Acts will create a mountain built on all the cool things you’re doing.

Then I saw this is Lauren’s latest newsletter a day later:

“If you keep swimming, shooting your shot, putting in the reps, things are bound to look different or at least pleasantly more weird a year later.”

Heck yes, “pleasantly more weird.”

The work doesn’t guarantee you’ll achieve some new level of success. But the cliche “it’s the journey, not the destination” rings true for a reason.

Act in service of yourself. It has to start there. Yes, help may come, but you must work towards something for someone to believe that helping out is worth the effort.

LIFE IS TENSION

To be alive is fraught with tension – a delicate balance of having your shit together and being moments away from everything falling over the rails.

People talk about the “hot new thing” because of tension. Taylor Swift has a big tour. Great! I’d love to go. Tickets are $1000, and the nearest tour stop is five hours away. That’s tension.

There’s no tension in posting a song on Spotify or uploading a video to YouTube. That’s the easy part. Telling someone, “I posted a new single on Spotify,” is easy. An AI bot could write that. No tension.

Time to up the ante. Send the link to only ten people, and then see what happens. Show your next film or gallery with only a cryptic map to a secret underground venue under the local college water tower. Limit the number of people that can attend your next Zoom meeting.

When everything is available for everyone, there’s little incentive to pay attention; it’ll be here tomorrow, digitally or available to purchase on Amazon.

FRIENDS SHARE

Great bit from Looking Sideways:

Let’s face it, being an independent creative person amid this onslaught of algorithms and homogenous content is bloody hard and endlessly soul-destroying. Sharing your friends’ work is good for the soul, hugely encouraging for them, and a vote for the type of creative world we actually want to live in.

HOLIDAY SELLING

Photo by Seth Werkheiser

Recently I did a Klaviyo “check-up” for a record label and found they had two abandoned cart flows going at the same time (which meant every user got TWO emails to remind them of items in their cart – ooops).

I’ve been using Klaviyo since 2020 for music labels (including Death Row Records).

The holidays are coming up – if you need a second set of eyes on your email marketing setup (Klaviyo mainly, but I work in Mailchimp a bit, too), let’s connect: hey@sethw.xyz