The Rule of 99% Effort

The Rule of 99% Effort

Hi there! I'm Wenting. I'm building Typogram, a beginner friendly logo design tool! ✨ Will I fail or succeed? Sign-up for my build-up-public newsletter to get the latest updates!


I shared a few screencasts for the workshop kit on the website. The newsletter format won't allow me to embed videos. 

I was initially planning to launch the Notion workshop kit today. I want to put it out in the world to see the responses: is there an appetite from startup founders to workshop their brand this way? I am eager to see. However, a new problem comes up: marketing.

I took a look at Gumroad and search for Notion Templates. There is more work: I need to put together a good marketing page! I check out some competitions; every product is presented with a well-written sales pitch and a detailed description of what buyers will get. Then it hits me: I never did this part before. I usually offer things for free, and I would just share the link with the world. Whoever needs it will take it. But selling things are different; even for $1, the game is fundamentally changed.

I could hush together a few paragraphs to put it on Gumroad, so I can check the checkbox of launching a product today. I decided against it. I thought of how many people will see the product page vs. how many people will see this Notion workshop kit I made; the ratio is probably 100:1! For every 100 people who visited the product page, only the few who paid $1 will see the Notion workshop kit. I have spent almost a week on the workshop kit. Do I really want to under-represent my effort? The disproportional effort I put on the 1% won’t be worth it if I don’t work hard for the 99%.

That is the lesson I learned today. I need to know how to sell! I can’t put 99% of my effort into something that only 1% of site visitors will see and 1% of effort into something 99% of visitors will see. It is disproportion. 

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