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my museum of successes & failures
an inside look to between the buzz from the past 6 months
Sneha Rampalli
December 10, 2024
hi lil bees! Can you believe that there are only 23 days are left in 2024... I know I’m still processing that too. It’s been one hell of a year.
I’m spending December recalibrating & setting my 2025 OKRs. In that process, I’ve reflected a lot on the last 6 months of building between the buzz. This year has been about practicing radical vulnerability as a founder, so here’s my museum of successes and failures.
Table of Contents
Rewind to May 2024, a month before I launched my first newsletter.
By this point, I read a multitude of books on personal finance, politics, psychology, history, etc. I created a personal website to write about climate change & global poverty. I crafted a work-in-progress, 25-page thesis about the micro-aggressions prevalent in caste systems and how we can systemically mitigate this.
As a listener and observer of the world, I was hoarding one too many synthesized thoughts. I didn’t want to wait for years to have my work reach people. I wanted the reach and impact now. So I decided to write a newsletter. It began as “sneh’s thought piece central”, where I would write on career, relationships, social impact, money, based on my personal experiences. But within my first few pieces, I realized how badly I wanted to focus on the psychology of money, specifically a space where money & emotions can co-exist.
here’s what I’ve learned
TL:DR
Don’t fixate on a single solution; if something’s not working, take power in pivoting and going back to the drawing board. Focus on the problem.
Having a strong “why” will always help you in bouncing back from low moments.
Build for one person who will be your evangelist. It’s better to target one person rather than a multitude of personas. Which can help create clearer brand identity.
Define clear metrics for traction, which means clearly identifying what gap in the market you’re solving for. This was difficult to do, especially when my main metric was to “increase conversation around money.”
Longer version
Platform | Successes | Failures |
|---|---|---|
Beehiiv Newsletter | I have subscribers: 101 subscribers from scratch! Concise long-form writing: I learned the importance in longer form writing but not too long that dissuades folks from reading Storytelling is a muscle: I got better at storytelling and shared personal stories on the Internet Support: I got a lot of personal notes from newsletter subscribers (compliments, feedback, thoughts, beautiful conversations). | Focus on the problem, don’t fixate on one solution: When I first started, I hypothesized this newsletter would be one way to bring more women into the conversation around money. And to start and consistently work on this project with a full-time job meant I really loved it. I love writing, but writing 1-2 pieces a week on a personal story for which I was pouring my heart and soul into, truly felt like I was leading myself to burnout. Also, quite frankly, it was hard to know that I was really solving the problem at hand. I asked 15-20 subscribers to ask about the impact of the newsletter in their life, and it seems like it really did! But, I didn’t feel like I had tangible progress or traction. And, more importantly, I wasn’t reaching more people. And that was deeply frustrating, especially for a data-driven girly. However, even having impact on one human through this newsletter is empowering and has sparked so many more ideas for how I want to change the narrative around money. Including the two big projects coming up next year 👀 More conviction: This is my baby! I told myself multiple times this year to hold strength in my dedication, my storytelling, and my deep passion for solving this problem and building out my dream. |
Tiktok for Between the Buzz | I tried Tiktok even though I hated it and shifted to focusing on content I found valuable, not content that felt vain and purposeless. I feel more confident speaking in front of a camera. You best believe the first 50 videos were a struggle bus for me. I learned the importance of creating hooks and communicating in ultra-short form content vs. newsletter content. It took me awhile to learn this, given my deep skepticism of Tiktok, but I slowly came around to this when I realized I was avoiding the app because of my fear of speaking to a public platform. | Focus more on increasing brand awareness than subscriber growth. That top of funnel is what builds your credibility, leading folks to the long-form newsletter. It also provides more room for creativity on content ideas, rather than having to stick to just newsletter content. Create clear brand identity: I was confused half the time on what content I should be posting, especially because between the buzz stands for a space where money & emotions can co-exist, but www.betweenthebuzz.com linked straight to my newsletter, so I felt limited to only creating content around the newsletter content. Create a personal account instead of a business Tiktok account: Again, because I was prioritizing subscriber-led growth and wanted a website in the bio, but this seemed to limit my reach because I only had access to commercial sounds. Create original content by understanding the one user who will be your evangelist: I noticed my videos staying at 200 views, which probably meant I wasn't creating original-enough or relevant content. This could be due to not optimizing hooks, not consistent pillars of content, not great videography, etc. |
Tiktok for Sneha | Used a personal account instead of a business account, even though no link is allowed in the bio. Clearer messaging: I felt like I had a clearer theme of things I’d talk about, like financial shame, money & emotions, founder content, etc. | More behind-the-scenes content: I didn’t do enough behind-the-scenes content of how I’m building between the buzz. This is okay because 1) I had to get over the hump of using my phone to record myself and 2) I feel like I’m only gaining clarity around what I’m building in the past month. So stay tuned. Keep up with more pop culture news around money & emotions: I noticed the videos that focused on current events and how they related to money & emotions did a lot better. For example, I did a video about Alex Cooper on the Forbes cover video, and that had good engagement. |
Instagram for Between the Buzz | I talked to 15 subscribers and each person found that the content sparked conversation. It was clear & effective and had a clear visual identity. | Look into analytics and take it seriously: rather than posting morning and evening, looking at when your followers are engaging. Clarity on who you’re speaking to: a lot of times, the goal is just to grow. But you need to know who you’re connecting with. It is a lot easier to talk to one person and small group rather than be a people pleaser. |
Focuses for next year
The main question I want to answer next year is: how can more women participate in the conversation around money with tangible metrics? Specifically, how can we get more women to care about their financial health beyond the financial benefits?
After six months, I concretely know the problem I’m solving for with two potential solutions, and I’m ready to pivot.
The newsletter will no longer be the main focus of between the buzz: I will no longer post on a fixed cadence of every Tuesday morning. However, I will share more about my founder journey and behind-the-scenes content of the two big projects I’m launching next year 👀 I’ll still write thought pieces and interviews with founders that I meet. You’ll definitely hear from me once a month (if not more) so stay tuned 💛
Once again, I got to talk to a lot of you individually. The support, the constructive feedback, the love, you all are amazing beings. Thank you for being the first followers in my journey of building between the buzz, and we’re just getting started. I’m so relentless in changing the conversation around money, so you will just have to stay tuned on how I go about doing it.
until the next 🐝 and with 💛 ,
Sneha
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