Everything I learned from starting (and shutting down) a side project
Saying goodbye to Good Trip
Today I published the last story in Issue 1 of
, and with that, am officially sunsetting the project:
Good Trip started as a side project for me in the middle of 2020, with ambitions of publishing a print magazine. It went through many variations over the years, and I’m now at the point where I have other priorities.
If you’re like me and a big project person, we get all 😍 at the thought of new projects, but then have a hard time balancing them all or seeing them through all the way.
I’ve learned a lot from Good Trip about approaching side projects, so I wanted to take time today to reflect back and sum up some of those learnings:
Do an MVP (Minimum Viable Project)
Don’t get too formal before you need to
Your motivations will change depending on life season
Collaboration when no one is paid is great but hard!
It’s ok to stop
Special shout-out to:
Felipe Nuno for Good Trip's visual identity that I'm still in love with!
Natalie Filkoski, Ash Pattison-Scott, and Amy Siripunyo for your writing, editing, creativity and collaboration
Sarah Taylor, Stephanie Mitchell, Sophie Everhard and Kirtika Challa for advising
Tchau, Good Trip!
Other brand bits and bobs:
“Everyone’s a sellout now” Endlessly fascinated by personal branding and self-promotion, and how to make it all feel less icky.
“I Just Arrived in London. Can I Come to Dinner?” about London’s rise in supper clubs. I applaud any new experiences! Kind of reminds me when I moved to NYC and there were, like, secret parties in water towers.
Really admire how Paynter is building their business.
I want to see more success stories like Vinted - products that make it easier and more desirable to shop secondhand.
My friend Libby Connolly’s Year in Review is out, and it’s great as ever! Her format is what inspired mine this past year.
Love this piece from
on activity-oriented names (some actually oriented around activities, others co-opting social health to… sell products):
How to hire low experience, high potential people by
. From what I’ve heard from friends and work networks, everyone now wants to hire people who were tailor-made for the job, aiming to reduce as much risk as possible. It’s a shame, since I don’t think any of us got here today without someone taking a risk on us. I loved this piece:
Kudos to
and the Sublime team for a really cool zine exploring ideas that are important to them. A lot of early stage startups shy away from anything related to brand and content because they want to figure out product first. Sublime has figured out how to talk about the big ideas and what’s on their mind before they have the product 100% figured out — a great example of how to still prioritize ‘brand’ in early days, helping customers and potential customers see what Sublime is (and could be!) all about.
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You're the best, ty for the s/o!