Paying It Forward With My Winnings, Should I Win The Challenge
In response to Coffee Challenge: Promotional article to my newsletter
A writer writes for the sheer joy of the written word.
A singer sings for the auditory satisfaction of the expressed voice.
A dancer dances for the exuberance of the moving body.
What most of these creatives do not enjoy is the marketing of their works because sometimes it feels more coerced than natural. Yet in this day of social media and NFTs, anyone who has successfully cultivated a practice or a mindset to market themselves seems to stand a better chance of succeeding, whatever that may mean.
I struggled for years with online marketing and promotion of what I do or create. Many had encouraged me to just go for it as most of us want to read real stories and struggles of how one goes from zero to hero(ine). No one wants to read a 10–10 perfect life story.
When I was battling cancer at 23, I started a WordPress blog. It was mostly to document my experiences, thoughts, and interests. Even though I did not share it with my family and friends, I secretly wished that the blog would go viral. After all, writing to yourself can be pretty lonely sometimes.
But as the years went by, life events shaped and matured me. The years also taught me that most of the time, how our day turned out was dependent on our choices.
So instead of focusing on my fears, I mustered tiny steps to create content on my public social media channels, such as YouTube, Medium, and recently, on my newsletter, using my real name.
I will be the first to admit, over the last 3 months, my motivation to write my newsletter has plunged like the current market. I wasn’t sure if the newsletter is of any value anymore, especially, when I wasn’t making basic income or having any responses.
But I remembered the very day when I came up with the name The3Min Club.
To be honest, I cringed on the name.
The word, “Club” sounds so cliquey, and I hate to be stereotyped in a clique. I do not like gossip. Because if people can talk about others in front of you, it also means they can talk about you behind your back!
Besides, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Small minds discuss people. Average minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.”
I know who I want to be.
But instead of mulling over the name obsessively, I decided to just start the newsletter. After all, I am always a work-in-progress, as do some creative artists describe themselves.
Birth Of The3MinClub
I wanted to create a newsletter where readers can get practical ideas on how to stay active, healthy, and positive in just 3 minutes a day or a week.
This was inspired by my time as a personal trainer, cancer survivor, and entrepreneur, realizing how so many people led such busy lives that they neglected their own health, only when it was too late.
Sometimes, it’s also the unexpected life changes, that took them off guard, and without the right skills or support to manage these unexpected changes, most of us tend to neglect our health, myself included!
Format of The3MinClub
I am still experimenting with the best format for the newsletter.
I write raw personal stories or my personal thoughts on certain world events that may be of relevance to our health and well-being.
I also started experimenting with cross-collaboration with other Substack writers. As long as there’s mutual interest with both newsletters, we would make a mention in our post.
Just to be clear, I am NOT up for the follow-for-follow, or shout-for-shout thing on Substack. I do prefer to collaborate with other writers with unique perspectives on positive mindset, health, and well-being.
Lately, I went one step further with the newsletter.
With each post, I would record fitness movements and recreated them as giphys since Substack has a limit to the uploaded video size per post.
I thought perhaps instead of writing a bunch of text to explain how a movement is done, why not go visual? Most of us are visual creatures anyway.
Now, did this help with my subscribers and reading time?
I can’t be exactly sure either. No one has given me any feedback on the quality or usefulness of giphys. Perhaps you can check out one of my earlier posts and let me know.
Things Move In Your Favor When You Least Expected It
“We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.” — Paulo Coehlo, “Warrior of The Light”
I did not intend to join the CoffeeTimes Challenge 3, but I received an email invite from who encouraged me to participate. It came as an unexpected surprise since I have not written any posts for The3Min Club since October 2021.
Call it burnout or not, I just wasn’t feeling it. In fact, for most of 2021, my energy levels on most days were just a 1/10. I chose to step aside from The3Min Club indefinitely until I mustered enough inspiration to write again.
I guessed Paulo Coehlo had a revelation about what being a warrior of the light is. I supposed I am a warrior of the light and the Universe is telling me not to give up and keep writing for The3MinClub.
So here I am writing my first promotional article, requesting any kind souls who can help my article on CT Substack to hit 100 hearts.
Paying It Forward Should I Win
I have decided that should I win any of the 3 prizes, I will give all of my winnings to several writers that I truly admire for their writing or what they stand for.
This is my entry piece on CT Substack — hit “heart”, leave a comment or simply share. 100 hearts is the target number.
And here is my Substack — The 3Min Club — a free newsletter (for now) with bite-sized actions you can do in 3 minutes a day on active living, writing, and entrepreneurship.
Written with perspectives as a cancer survivor at 23, a certified health and fitness coach, and an Asian woman living in Singapore.
If you like to pay it forward for my writing, please consider gifting cups of tea on my ko-fi page. https://ko-fi.com/yuyanhuang 🍵🍵🍵
Spotlights to my 17 fellow CT writers on this challenge
- : I Write Things
- : From Melancholy Malarkey to Sacred Foolishness
- : Undo Your Learning and Live from Knowing Instead
- : A Golden Ticket Towards Destiny
- : This Newsletter is Going On An Adventure and You’re Invited
- : Finally an Introduction, Self-Discovery, and Becoming the Writer I Always Dreamed I Could Be
- : Sugar and Spice, it’s free — there’s no price.
- : Mind+Craft: Grow Your Mind and Improve Your Writing Craft
- : Welcome To “Word for Woman” — Letters on Sexuality, Shadow Work and Conscious Relating
- : Your Soul Can Lead You To Happiness
- : How To Hack Your Writer Life
- : The Passion I follow
- : Tired of Not Knowing What to Write?
- : Come On In & Write Awhile
- : “Read All About It!” Writer Throws Hat in the Ring With the Big Guns!
- : How Reading A Book Inspired Me To Start My Newsletter
- : I Write Things
- : Imagine That
And a million thanks to the editors of for organizing this unique writing challenge.
