Mind of a Maker
A daily blog inspired by Matthew Dicks
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”
To become better at something, you have to practice. What better way to become a better writer and storyteller than to practice by making a habit of writing daily?
In this daily blog, we’ll discuss Maker-related topics as well as what inspires projects, including YouTube videos, Movies, TV Shows, Disney, Star Wars, LEGO, Books, and more. Everything is on the table, and nothing is off-limits.
Disclaimer: The thumbnail images featured on this blog are often AI-generated. See Disclosure page for more information.
Why Most Makers Never Start a Newsletter (Even Though They Know They Should)
You've got great ideas.
You share them on social media.
You help people every week.
But when it comes to starting a newsletter, which you know would grow your audience, you freeze. Why?
Notification & CTA-Only Newsletters Are Dead
Most people fundamentally don't like email newsletters.
Our email inboxes are already crammed full of bills, orders delayed in shipping, the 3 themed days for our kid's school this week, and updated terms and conditions for some streaming platform. Why would we consciously add even more things to sift through till we get to the emails we actually care about? And that's just our personal inboxes.
3 Maker Business Topics I am Exploring Right Now
There are 3 topics I am actively thinking about a lot these days:
• Effective Email Marketing
• Creator Small Business Growth
• AI
3 Mistakes Makers Starting Newsletters Should Avoid
You've taken the plunge into creating a brand around your Maker content and a newsletter seems like the best next fit.
You probably started by subscribing to other Maker newsletters (if you weren't already) and tried to emulate what they did. The issue is that most newsletters are terrible and you're just repeating the same mistakes they do. Ultimately, you don't get any traction, the newsletter takes a backseat (if you keep sending at all), and you wonder why you wasted your time and effort.
3 Reasons Articles & Newsletters Could Skyrocket in 2026
Visual content is more accessible than ever, so why would written content like articles and newsletters be on my radar for 2026?
2 Reasons You Shouldn't Discount Email Marketing For Makers
Your email inbox is already overflowing, so why should you even think about keeping up with your own newsletter?
Every website you go to has an annoying pop-up or "subscribe for news and updates" form buried at the bottom of the webpage. So if it's already so saturated (and usually annoying), should you even try?
The Top 5 Mistakes That Will Sink Your Maker-Related Newsletter Before Year-End (And What To Do Instead)
Since the mid 2000's, people have said that email is dead and they are partially correct.
Email lists can be amazingly powerful and provide leverage to get your message in front of more people without going through algorithms. However, you're almost certainly in the ~85% of newsletters that ultimately fail. Instead of wasting all the time and effort you've already put in, let's make a few tweaks to get into the ~15% of successful newsletters.
Is AI The Death Of Your Maker Newsletter?
We're all constantly bombarded with headlines about what AI is going to kill next, so will it be your newsletter?
AI is becoming more accessible to more people every day. Updates come faster than ever, whether it's updates to Chat-GPT having access to real-time internet or Claude updating how it creates documents.
3 Reasons Your Maker Businesses Won’t Grow As Well Without A Newsletter
Taken the leap and are trying to turn your Maker side hustle into a business, but it’s not growing how you want?
Don’t worry, every entrepreneur has run into this and Maker businesses are no different.