Behind the Scenes of Running the Brainwaves Platform - Q2’Y2

Quarterly Update

Drew Jackson

May 27, 2025

Hello!

Welcome to the quarterly update for the Brainwaves platform. As another quarter draws to a close, I’m pleased to present our comprehensive update. In the following, I’ll walk through quarterly highlights, discussing successes, obstacles overcome, and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. I built this platform based on the value of transparency, so I’ve compiled this piece to give you a clear picture of where we currently stand and where we’re headed.

A Key Insight into Producing Content: Observation

How often do you stop and just look?

When we were all young, we did that all the time. Look over there at that bird in that tree. Instead of spending minutes or even hours watching it, now we simply acknowledge the bird is there for a couple of seconds, then move on to the next thing.

In one of my classes, we’ve been meeting often at the museum on campus, where we take almost an hour to go around and slowly look at art, taking 5-10 minutes on each piece to really take in what’s there.

There is so much to see around us. No matter where you are, there are things to be seen, things you can observe, things you can take in.

Writing and producing content harmonizes with this view of the world. Often, writers talk about the way they see the world.

Even within the most basic of writing, there is much to observe, much to see. For instance, take some Haikus, one of the simplest storytelling devices. Within them, there is much to see:

Storm clouds crack the sky

Mountains tremble, rivers roar—

Silence after rage

Each line contains an observation about the world, yet simultaneously encompasses the entire depth of the world.

Something as simple as stopping to look at what’s around me—even if it has no relation to what I’m writing or thinking about—has dramatically increased the depth of my content. It’s an interesting phenomenon where I observe the world, and somehow, that translates to new and improved thoughts.

To write better, stop writing and simply observe.

Brainwaves: What Happened This Quarter?

I’m super excited about the articles released this quarter, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming ahead. These articles were some of the longest articles I’ve written to date, comprising many niche subtopics that build into the larger sector. As such, some of the other articles have been a bit shorter than normal to adjust for the total time it takes me to write the longer articles.

Articles You May Have Missed:

The Saturday Morning Newsletter: What Happened This Quarter?

I’ve done a bit of traveling this quarter and had a couple of close calls, but I was able to continue to produce consistent weekly content discussing current events relating to each of the subsectors I cover regularly. Throughout this quarter, there have been more unique stories shared, but a lot of the same news has been happening.

Articles You May Have Missed:

Brainwaves: By The Numbers

This quarter has continued the expansion and heightened growth curve I’ve been on. Hopefully, that means the only way is up. Having more subscribers helps increase the chances that someone benefits positively from my content each week. Probably the biggest success in relation to the platform was the successful expansion of my new series.

We’ve had some standout articles this quarter, receiving high levels of views and interactions. The open rates continue to decline, but overall continued growth and performance. I hope the following quarters continue this great performance.

Views continue to increase, averaging around 80-100 views a newsletter, with great engagement on each post. Open rates are slightly down due to the increase in subscribers, but overall, the growth and consistency here have been great. I’m excited to see how this project grows in the coming quarters.

The website continues to slowly putter along as we build the rebrand. We’re continuing to average 80-100 views a week, which is decent numbers in my opinion. We’re getting close to the dead period from organic Google search, which will hopefully boost numbers in the future.

Last Quarter Goal Execution

1) Dive into my unique brainwaves each day, write about them, and publish my in-progress views each week, hopefully making a positive impact on someone’s life each week

Success.

As I’ve already touched on, this quarter has been a very exciting time for learning, discovery, and growth. I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned in the upcoming quarters.

2) Curate an experience that readers enjoy, one that makes them want to return for more

Success (ish).

I think readers have enjoyed the experience this quarter, but I think that I still have lots of room for improvement in this department, specifically with email courses and a new website that’s much more interactive and approachable from a reader’s standpoint.

3) Subscriber Goal In 3 Months: 175

Fail.

We peaked at 167 subscribers this quarter, falling just short of breaking the ambitious goal I set for growth. This was a quarter of admirable growth, but there’s still more effort I can put into growing the subscriber base—I’ll work on that this upcoming quarter.

4) Finish the new website design, and have users love it

Fail.

The website is taking some time to develop the way I wish for it, although there should be some developments shortly. I’m wishing to build it exactly the way I want it to be, and that’s taking time. One day it’ll be ready.

5) Fully develop and publish the email course

Neutral.

Technically, the email course does not exist, so in many regards, this goal is a failure. However, I have figured out most of the structure of the course and am currently working on writing the content to best fit an email course. Hopefully this quarter, something actually materializes—you’ll be the first to know.

6) Read more books associated with subjects I’m interested in

Success.

I’ve read a bunch of new books on related subjects this quarter, and I’ve definitely seen their effects in the breadth of content produced. I’m able to go deeper into each subject they relate to, discuss and argue against their positions on the subjects, and come to a more refined conclusion on my key points.

7) Get 3 more interviews completed and published

Fail.

I’ve done one more interview and have a couple lined up, but we’re still waiting for some success here. It might be that outreach isn’t optimized or that the pitch isn’t what founders are looking for. I’m still working on fine-tuning the backend.

Goals For This Quarter

1) Dive into my unique brainwaves each day, write about them, and publish my in-progress views each week, hopefully making a positive impact on someone’s life each week

This goal is the first and most important goal of this platform and the reason that I started this journey. I view this platform as a great excuse to dive into my unique views on some of my favorite topics, trying to understand and constantly improve my viewpoint on each subject.

I subscribe to the mantra that you learn more about a subject when you have to teach someone else about it. Through the Brainwaves platform, I’ve created an artificial obligation to produce content each week, meaning I’m building time in my schedule to learn about new topics that I might not have made a priority before now.

This platform also allows me to publish my in-progress views on each subject I learn about each week. This is a great opportunity to get feedback from readers who may know more about these subjects than I do or who may have a unique viewpoint that I haven’t considered.

Surrounding this entire process is the pursuit of making a positive impact on someone’s life each week.

2) Curate an experience that readers enjoy, one that makes them want to return for more

The goal of this platform is to create an experience that readers enjoy so much that they want to continue coming back each week for more and more content. Now, that’s an incredibly lofty goal, but one I continue to strive towards each week.

If you have come to this platform but haven’t enjoyed your experience thus far, please let me know (brainwaves.me@gmail.com). I’d love to learn about your situation and hopefully provide a better experience.

I hope you enjoy the content each and every week!

3) Subscriber Goal In 3 Months: 210

I hate asking people for help, so I normally keep my “ask” to share/subscribe to this publication very short, and usually most people just brush right past it.

Today, I’m putting it front and center.

If you enjoy and/or get any value from the Brainwaves platform, help me get to 210 subscribers by the end of February by doing any of the following:

  • Forward this email to friends and tell them to subscribe,
  • Share on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook with a short note,
  • Share within your existing community or your company Slack channel.

Getting to 210 people shouldn’t be hard. To put it into perspective, with 167 of you currently subscribed, we just need a referral rate of 0.25 to get to 210. I’d really appreciate it if you could spend a couple of minutes helping me broaden the reach and impact of this platform.

To reiterate, the goal of this platform is not to become famous or to generate an income stream, it is purely to educate people, like yourself, about things I believe are critical factors to our future lives. So, the goal to increase subscribers is not to grow larger (although that is a nice economies of scale byproduct), it is simply a goal to reach a broader audience consistently, and an audience that I will hopefully have a positive impact on every single week.

In addition, more people subscribing means more views and a greater likelihood that one of my readers knows more about a subject than I do, meaning there are more opportunities for me to learn and grow through this process.

4) Build the tech for the email course and publish the course for subscribers

I’ve finally written all of the articles for the email course. I’m beginning to work through them to update them for an email course and to do any further editing.

Once the content is ready, I’ll work on getting the tech set up to send out the newsletters on time when someone signs up.

5) Start up a Medium account to post updated articles and reach a new audience

I’m going to start reposting articles with any updates and consistent formatting on Medium, soliciting and reaching a new audience of subscribers there, too.

Nothing too needed on your part, you may see a callout here and there about the Medium account, just letting you know what’s happening.

6) Read more books associated with subjects I’m interested in

I’ve started to read some books on subjects that I’ve been interested in, and they’ve definitely helped round out my thinking, provide new perspectives, and deepen my knowledge of the niche subsegments of each sector.

I’ve already got some exciting books lined up for some segments I’m interested in. Hopefully you’ll get to see a couple of insights here and there.

7) Get 3 more interviews completed and published

I’ve been reaching out to many small business owners to see if they would feel comfortable being interviewed for a content piece in the newsletter, mainly to show how small business owners face many of the challenges and decisions I’ve previously talked about and dissect how they’ve chosen to address them.

I’ve already performed a couple of interviews, they are still in the compiling and editing phases, and you’ll see them shortly (if you haven’t already started seeing them).

I hope they provide a valuable, down-to-earth approach to my content by offering real-world examples of topics discussed.

Thank You + Bonus Content

Thank you for sticking around. For anyone new here: thank you too! I hope you’ve enjoyed your time and will continue to return for more content each week.

I’m excited to see what happens this next quarter. This passion project continues to grow and develop, astounding me every single day. Like always, this is purely for fun and learning, and so far it’s been great.

As a little thank you, here’s a little hint at what’s coming down the pipeline:

Graduation (One of the Most Iconic Albums of All Time)?

Climate Problems?

Linearities In Our Lives?

Intersections of Faith, Doubt, Curiosity, and Impossibility?

….and more

With that, thank you again for your support! As is customary, here’s a Kardashian + friends quote to brighten your week:

“After my daughter was born, I made a promise to myself to live in the moment.”

- Kourtney Kardashian



Thank you again for another great quarter!

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

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