Since we started the project in 2023, we had a very simple process to apply to join the Outside Perspective community:
Enter your email address and a few profile details into a form
This data would go into an airtable (where we can see the profile details, like your location, capabilities, experience, etc), and into buttondown - a tool for sending emails.
I’d review applications, and let a handful of people into our slack group each month, so we could grow the community carefully.
However, this has meant two things:
A. The list has grown to about 3000 people, and I’d love to better connect and support those who are on the waitlist, but not in the slack community, who I don’t feel like I’m doing anything of value for.
B. Running buttondown has cost me £500+ and counting
So …
Firstly, we’re migrating our email list to substack from buttondown.
This means we unlock the features of being able to comment, chat, connect, and share more easily here. Substack also supports better discoverability, so fellow freelancers can find us more easily.
Secondly, we’ll be using the substack to share more of what’s happening, from our weekly digest of roles found and shared by the community, to our curiousitystream of lovely things people have found each week, to opening up the doors for comments and chat from everyone who has signed up - not just those in the slack.
It also means that you’re more able to share too - through comments, messages, and we’ll be profiling and featuring things you’ve found, work you’ve done, ideas you want to share with us.
It means there's a place for all of us to connect, share, ask questions, and I can engage this wider group, (which a has been a frustration that I'm not able to do anything for the people who are not 'inside' the slack).
I'm hoping it might turn into something interesting in its own right.
Don't worry - it's not going to be a newsletter of sorts, i'm not going to be spamming your inbox, and obviously anyone can opt-out of that platform if its not for you, and it doesn't change anything here.
If you don’t want to see the weekly digest of jobs - you can opt-out of just that section, but still get access to the rest of what we’re posting.
You can leave our substack, and it won’t affect being on the waitlist for the community - we will still review every single profile. If you want in quicker, feel free to nudge me.
If you’re already a slack member, this doesn’t change anything
And it also means you can join the substack, follow the conversation and gigs - even if you don’t want to be part of the community.
It also means, there's a donation/paid option now, should people want to support the project, because they see the value in it.
I'm sort of excited by substack at the moment, it feels like an interesting space to share ideas, collect thoughts, feels a bit like instagram or tumblr used to feel like in the very early days of those platforms - and right now, there's not so much AI/bot/algorithmic filtering, it's feels more personally curated.
mk
Got questions? Leave a comment, and I’ll get back to you.
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