This was the most painful thing I've ever experienced
Navigating the creative world with wide open eyes
This month did not go as planned, and I’m about to share a side of me that I haven’t shared with anyone outside of a few family members. Buckle up!
The Wake-Up Call I Needed
It was a Saturday morning, and I awoke to a strange tingling in my left eye. I didn’t know what it was but shrugged it off. Later that day, the tingle moved over my forehead and scalp. I’d never felt anything like it, but wrote it off as a symptom of getting old.
Sunday morning, I woke up with a similar feeling, but this time, I had what felt like acne on my eyebrow. Then that moved to my forehead and also to my scalp. I’d never had acne like that, which was a little concerning.
I started researching my way to a self-diagnosis. I told my wife that I might have Shingles. She looked at me and said, “Oh yeah, I bet that’s what it is!”
Monday morning came, and my head developed significant blistering, which felt like a bad sunburn. I drove to the walk-in clinic, and while waiting to be seen by a doctor, the nurse checked my vitals. They had to check my blood pressure twice because it was significantly higher than I had ever recorded in the past.
I saw the doctor, and she prescribed medicine for the Shingles, a blood test, and a follow-up with my primary care doctor about the blood pressure. The blood test came by high for glucose, which again is not something I’ve ever had a problem with.
I’m now taking meds for all the conditions. I’m also back in the gym, going for regular walks, and doing my best to eat better as I track my blood sugar. Meanwhile, the Shingles blisters have disappeared, but the most aggravating and painful nerve condition remains, which sometimes feels like I’m being tickled with a feather and, other times, being burned by a blow torch.
One day, while working on a deadline for The Hungry, I had an attack that I can honestly say was the most painful experience of my life. The entire left side of my head felt like it was on fire. I got dizzy and had to sit down, and while it progressed, I started to hyperventilate. My wife was in the other room on a business call and couldn’t hear me call out to her, so I sat there hoping I didn’t need to call 911 myself.
The pain finally subsided after about 90 seconds. It still burned for some time, but not nearly to that degree. I never wanted to feel that situation again, but that was wishful thinking. I had a similar attack a few days later, a 3rd one a day after that, and then a 4th that was almost as bad as the first a couple of days after. Thankfully, that was the last of it, and my doctor prescribed some nerve pain medication that helped me sleep through the more minor attacks.
Another fun symptom of the Shingles is that they physically changed the shape of the astigmatism in my left eye, making it difficult to see with my then-current eye prescription. I struggled to read or write without getting frustrated, which was causing me stress, which also exacerbated the pain attacks.
I’ve since gotten new glasses, but the pain still exists, and I’m trying my best to destress to reduce the pain, hopefully. The scariest part of all this is that the nerve pain doesn’t have a cure other than time, and some people never get rid of it, which terrifies me.
All that to say, that’s why you haven’t seen me write much here lately, and it’s why I finally decided to take a break from The Hungry until mid-July. That also means I don’t have much to report this month, but there’s a little bit below, and I hope next month will be much improved.
It's not the update you might expect, but perhaps the one that reminds you to get your Shingles vaccine when you are eligible. I don’t wish this pain on anyone.
The Recap
Not a lot here, but maybe this is all you need.
Crank the wheel—win big prizes (last month’s recap)
The Breakdown
As much as I’d love to run a business that grows passively even when I don’t show up to work for weeks, that isn’t the situation. These numbers aren’t impressive, but there are a couple of surprises.
The Dave
The number of monthly posts has decreased dramatically for the reasons described above. Somehow, I’ve gained a few new people, which is fantastic. 41 subscribers in 6 months with very little outside promotion is a decent number, and I’m happy to have all the new readers I can get.
I started using Beehiiv’s internal advertising promotion, and last month, it brought it a whopping $3. Considering the percentage of clicks needed compared to my following, that’s impressive. Now I need you to tell the world about The Dave so I can 100x that amount.
April
May
June
Subscribers
28
38
41
Increase
8%
36%
8%
Posts
7
4
3
Emails
3
2
2
The Hungry
Ouch! This was a rough month. I struggled with growth despite launching a new lead magnet to help people start a newsletter (started in May). This graph shows that even though I gained a few subs a day, I lost almost as many this month. It’s not The Hungry’s finest moment, and I think I know why.
One benefit of the time off from posting is that I’ve thought a lot about the messaging of The Hungry, and one thing has become clear to me. I can discuss side hustle opportunities, social media strategy, business news, and insights. Still, if people don’t know how to speak to their audience, there’s almost no point in discussing those other topics.
On the other hand, if proper branding and messaging are mastered, the other things are much easier to accomplish. It’s easier to start a new side hustle when you know what to say to the interested parties.
So, I’m spending the next few weeks thinking about reframing the content on The Hungry to focus on storytelling for the audience and the psychology of selling. The former is something I’ve talked a lot about, and the latter is an area I’m studying and sharing as I go.
Stay tuned for those changes.
April
May
June
Subscribers
1410
1525
1539
Increase
7%
8%
< 1%
Posts
2
1
2
Emails
4
4
2
YouTube
I legitimately don’t feel good even talking about YouTube this month. I made all these claims of getting back to it, but because of my condition, I was both physically and mentally uninspired to film myself.
I also wasn’t sure what direction to head with the channel, but as I think about how The Hungry will change, I believe it will help lend some focus to the channel. At least, that’s how I hope it goes.
On the other hand, I was surprised to find that the channel grew, and I can only assume it was from my Affinity Creative Suite content after Adobe made some terms of service changes that scared a lot of creatives. Although I’m not making Affinity content, I embrace the new people, and perhaps they'll stick around with the latest changes I’m making.
April
May
June
Subscribers
12,454
12461
12541
Increase
.5%
< .1%
.65%
Videos
2
1
0
Although this isn’t the most exciting update, sometimes we need a plateau to plan and strategize the next leg of the journey. Between daily writing and focused energy toward more specific topics, I believe the future will bring more impressive numbers.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Dave
Hey, this is a referral program. Refer just one friend, and I’ll give you a shout-out in a future edition of the newsletter (more perks coming soon).