3 builders who never spoke to each other

Defend the publishing slot with a scheduled deadline

Create the empty post and schedule it before it is written, so the threat of publishing something visibly unfinished does the enforcing. On a week when nothing flows, time-box the piece rather than skipping it, and set the target as a weekly count with permitted misses rather than an unbroken streak, because a single bad week otherwise ends the habit.

The method

1. 01

   Create the empty post and schedule it to publish at a fixed time next week before you have written it, so the deadline is enforced by the threat of publishing something visibly unfinished.

2. 02

   On a week when nothing flows, protect the publishing cadence by time-boxing the piece rather than skipping it.

3. 03

   Set a publishing target as a weekly count you are allowed to miss part of, not a daily streak, so one bad week does not end the habit.

4. 04

   Publish on a steady cadence whether or not you have something to sell, and split the writing so each founder covers the audience they can reach.

5. 05

   Six months of genuinely regular publishing is enough to build real reach from a standing start; the volume matters more than the runway.

What it returned

• 9

  Six consecutive weeks of publishing every Tuesday, scheduled for 9:15 AM, after several failed attempts at consistency

• Two hours were set aside early one morning to get the weekly post and newsletter out during a week the author almost skipped.

• The reframe was from hitting a habit five times a week to being permitted two misses a week, tracked in a template with goal, achieved, and a pass or fail column.

• Jack Ellis writes technical posts aimed at developers while Paul Jarvis writes the business ones, on a daily or weekly rhythm.

Sources

• How to Never Miss a Blog PostNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 2011-08-23
• What I Learned From 250 Podcast Episodes – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Pivot Towards Connection · 2023-09-15
• SaaS lessons shared on the Framework podcast - Fathom AnalyticsPaul Jarvis · usefathom.com · Fathom’s marketing strategy is a constant not a finite point · 2020-07-20
• A Tale of Two Years: The Struggle between Freelancing and EntrepreneurshipCory Zue · coryzue.com · So what did I lose by prioritizing working for others? · 2018-12-26
• 2020 Year in ReviewPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · Writing on preetamnath.com for 89,571 readers · 2020-12-27
• Flexible Consistency: Combining Contrasting ValuesPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · How I write on my blog · 2020-10-18