From: Calvin from Simplero <calvin@simplero.com>
Subject: News from Simplero: Growth, hiring, blogging, infusing, and the VAT mess (or was it moss?)

Dear Lovely Simplerista,

God, do I love my life! I'm so grateful to all of you for letting me support you on your journey. I love the work that we do together, I love serving you, I love answering your questions, love coming up with new ways to make it work even better. I'm so grateful that I get to do this with you. Thank you!

In this past week, something shifted in me. I've always liked my calendar sparse. It allows me plenty of time to work on projects of my own choosing, to be creative, be in "maker mode", and to allow myself to follow the flow. That's great. I still love that.

But while it used to easily stress me out if I had but one thing on my calendar for any given day, this past week, it hasn't bothered me at all. And, I noticed I've had way more energy to do marketing, onboarding, and other not-feature-related work on Simplero. Something that I've had as a "should" or "ought to" for a very long time is suddenly something I find myself joyfully and organically doing.

I think they are related. I think the underlying cause is that my core belief that I'm not worthy of being here, of taking up space on this planet, of breathing the air, and that I constantly have to do something to make up for actually being here, despite, is starting to shift and wane. I've been doing a lot of healing work around it, and now I'm starting to feel it, so that I can really choose to be here, really feel like I belong, like I deserve to be here, like I matter, that my needs and desires and opinions matter. That I'm wanted.

It's so fascinating when these deep core beliefs start to shift. It's like getting a new lease on life. Everything changes, both profoundly and subtly. It's like you can't even remember what it was like before.

Simplero is growing

Simplero has been enjoying a long, steady growth since the beginning. I started dabbling with software for info products in 2008, and by April 2009 I was already on my third iteration, which became Simplero. In the 5+ years since, I've been aggressive about making sure we'd stay nimble. And nimble we are.

I've done almost zero marketing, preferring instead to build the best product I know how to, and take as good care of my customers as I am able to, and rely on their organic word of mouth - we haven't even had an affiliate program.

It was only 12-18 months ago that I started to get serious about hiring people and getting help. Kristine started around September last year, and Swanand joined in February of this year. So Simplero has been run be me and me alone for most of its life, and now it is again: Kristine and Swanand have both decided to move on to other things. It's an amicable split, it's just that their futures lie elsewhere, as does mine. 

If that makes you worried about the future of Simplero, don't be. I see it as a natural consequence of the growth we're all experiencing right now. We're in an incredibly strong position to take our next growth step.

Personally, I'm as committed as always. Simplero is profitable, and I personally own 100% of the business, so no-one can force my hand to sell or otherwise compromise my vision for Simplero. And I know that most of you depend on Simplero for your livelihood, and many of you have even become friends. I will never ever let you down by pulling that out from under you. That's a promise.

If you're worried if I can I handle it, the answer is yes, easily. Simplero is a well-oiled machine. It runs really smoothly. It's only when I tinker with it that things break. Leave it alone, and it just runs. The customer service load too is very manageable for me. 

As a practical matter, it does mean that customers in Europe and Asia will have to wait for me to wake up in the morning to get answers to your support questions. But that's about all the consequence you should feel. And I'll probably hire customer service personnel both in Denmark and the US in the near future.

If you're worried that something bad should happen to me, yes, that could happen, and that would suck. But Swanand still has access to servers and code base and can take over. Kristine still has access. My wife has access. We're in no worse position in that regard today than we were yesterday. And I've made arrangements, to the best of my ability, so Simplero can continue without me. And like I said, as long as I'm not messing with it, it just runs. It's not like it requires someone to babysit it and crank the engine. More details here under Frequently Asked Questions.

We're hiring

What that means is that we have several positions now open. I'm not necessarily going to hire all at once, but all of these are people I want to add to the team. If you're interested, check them out. I'm in on rush. I love things the way they are now. We're not under any duress. But with the right additions to the team, things can get even more interesting. And please do forward if you know someone who'd be interested. 

I'd prefer for all of these to be US-based, mostly because it helps with our visa renewal in 2016 - except for the Country Manager for Denmark, for obvious reasons. But an extraordinary Customer Service Angel in Australia, for example, could obviously cover some time zones I can't.

Check out the jobs and see. And please do share if you think of someone who's relevant. Maybe you have a great VA that would fit, or a great friend from some online marketing course like B-School. Please hook us up. You'll be doing the world a favor.

Come guest blog for us!

I want to open the blog up to some of the brilliant voices we have out there in the community. I would love to have more really great info, such as:

  • marketing information
  • detailed how-to guides, either generic or specifically for Simplero
  • walk-throughs of successful launches you've done with detailed strategies and results
  • legal advice
  • and whatever else is relevant to our audience

You won't be paid, but it's a great way for you to raise your own visibility to potential clients, by demonstrating the value you can provide. 

I'm going to feature the blog more in future newsletters and in general invest more in that space.

If you're interested, get in touch!

New From the Simplero Blog

So on that topic, I interviewed Tracy Raftl yesterday. She helps adults cure acne through natural means, and she shares a bit about hear journey to being a successful infopreneur. Also turns out she was on the brink of using Ontraport when she discovered Simplero. Check out the interview.

And here's an interview I did last year with Robin Green, the acupuncturist with a specialty in children who made over $60,000 on her first launch. 

New Features in Simplero

Simplero is now as VAT MOSS ready as we can be at this point. More about that on the blog.

We're still translating Simplero. Spanish is coming along really nicely. You can help out if you want Simplero in your language. That too is written up on the blog.

Purchases now has a "statement" view in the Charges & Payments box. See the right side of the header. This view makes it easier to troublehsoot when things don't seem to be the way they're supposed to be. Try it out.

Simplero now automatically detects the country of the customer on the checkout form and preselects it. A little less friction during the checkout process.

We're now hiding the "Read more" link in your catalog in there is no sales page for the product.

The emails containing login information and gift notification have been overhauled. The gift notification now has a link to where the content is (if the product has content).

You can now hide the section for "Subpages" within the main content area in spaces and rely on the navigation in the sidebar or the menu bar.

We're now ignoring invitations from LinkedIn so they don't spam your forums. Damn LinkedIn!

Made it possible to make the left part of the landing page editor bigger so it's easier to edit your body copy.

Random Links from Around the Interwebs

This video with Woz illustrates beautifully that design is about way more than what it looks like on the outside.

Haven't read the whole thing, but this story about everything that goes into making Google Maps is super fascinating. This is precisely the type of thing that Google is so great at.

Here's why oil prices are falling. TL;DR: A lot more is being produced, and consumption is not growing along with it. And the only country that could conceivably curb production is Saudi Arabia, and the only thing they'd gain would be to help their enemies make more money. Hence the falling oil prices. Macro and geo economics are fascinating.

And finally, the complete guide to infuse your booze and the best limoncello you've ever had. I'm working on a few infusions myself at the moment, as you can see on the right.

That's it for this week. Stay warm, wherever you are!

With love,
-Calvin