This one is a slight change of pace. We’re not focusing on one particular app, but on a theme. This will include a few apps you’ve already seen but will help you put them in context and explore new ways of using them.

In other news: We covered 30+ apps last month. And we know it can be a lot. So, today we’ve also launched a personalized app recommender on 😻 Product Hunt to help you pick your next favorite app for 2022. You can get it here (Feel free to show some love 💜)

We are more connected today than ever before. And Web3 is only going to further blur boundaries. However, a frequent question asked in many forums is about building meaningful relationships. Whether you are a founder, PM, marketer, or creator, building meaningful relationships is key to your growth.

Yet most of us are not thoughtful. We are reactive. We only reach out to people only when we need them most.

That’s not ideal. We have a lot of experiences to share. And a lot to learn. And this can happen only if we are proactive in building relationships.

During my 2 months of the inaugural OnDeck PM cohort, I interacted with 60+ classmates from around the world. I quickly realized what I was missing out on. (Yes, it's true, no one in the real world sends Calendly links with as much confidence as On Deck fellows)

It’s difficult to maintain healthy relationships in today’s world. Especially during the pandemic when our serendipitous meetings have reduced considerably. But it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few ways you can build relationships better:

A. Reach out to new people

• 🤩 Curated people to follow and connect with: Following the right people is the most underrated growth hack. Start with a collection of the best Twitter lists OR find the best writers in your topic of interest on Substack

• 🧙 LinkedIn cold DM customization: Generate 1000s of personalized emails that get you 8x more replies within minutes using AI with SmartWriter

• 🚀 Find exceptional people to collaborate with on Polywork - a new invite-only professional social network. Think LinkedIn x Twitter reimagined for 2022 and beyond.

  • Polywork realizes that people are multi-faceted: apart from their daily job, they write, teach, share thoughts via videos and podcasts, invest in companies, buy NFTs and start communities.

  • And it lets them showcase their multi-dimensionality. Acknowledging that they are more than their designation. And this proof of work sets up an ideal place for people to meet, connect, and collaborate in a more genuine manner. Polywork is currently invite-only. You can use my VIP code to start today 👇
    

    Join Polywork with a VIP code 🤩

• 🔍 Twitter Advanced Search: It is a superpower. One of the most underutilized tools. Use it to find: Who are the best writers in x field? What are the best content topics to write about? [adjusting for likes/RTs] or How your favorite accounts got started? [adjusting date range]

  

B. Nurture existing relationships

• 💜 Personal CRM: Move on from maintaining professional contacts in notes apps and Excel files, DMs, and texts. Deepen and care for the relationships in your life that aren’t just about a sales cycle or a transaction. Try Clay or Dex.

  

• 🧠 Knowledge base: You can even go one step further. And maintain a connected repository of all your notes, tasks, meetings, and relationships in one place. A second-brain of sorts. This way you’ll always know which friend had recommended you that book. And gift them something they like next time. Try Mem or Anytype.

• 💬 Unified messaging: You receive multiple messages across WhatsApp, iMessage, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack, Signal, and whatnot. One inbox for all messages is a game-changer. You’ll never miss a DM again. Try Texts.

  

C. Share your knowledge

Subscription media has recently made significant progress, with Substack becoming the most popular business model for online writing.

However, the paid newsletter business model only works for a certain sort of author — one that wishes to focus primarily on sharing their thoughts online 🎙️.

It doesn’t work for the inspired one-timer, a busy PM, a multitasking creator, or a founder who doesn’t want to feel compelled to publish all of the time 🤷. But is happy to share a one-time anecdote or learning.

So, what can you do?

Start tiny. Write a 250-word piece on something you found interesting recently. Writing changes your life. Your ideas are out in the wild for anyone and everyone to explore. Get some inspiration and writing basics by signing up for David Perell’s free newsletter.

More serendipity. More connection. More learning ⚡

You become a magnet for opportunities.

Here are a few ideas to get started:

• 🗓️ Reflect at the end of the day about interesting things that happened

• 🤔 Things that you found hard to understand

• 💬 Interesting insights while speaking with others

• 💡 Big ideas from making complex decisions

• 🔄 Reposting with new context — Steal like an artist

• 🙌 Join founders, builders, and operators in virtual co-working sessions designed to drop you into a state of flow at Flow Club

And remember, good ideas will take time. But you can only improve if you get started.

As Steven Johnson says in his bestseller, Where Good Ideas Come From:

Good ideas are not conjured out of thin air; they are built out of a collection of existing parts, the composition of which expands (and, occasionally, contracts) over time.

The trick is to figure out ways to explore the edges of possibility that surround you. This can be as simple as changing the physical environment you work in, or cultivating a specific kind of social network, or maintaining certain habits in the way you seek out and store information.

But once you get started, here are a few tools that can help you get over your writer’s block: Copy.ai and Jarvis. Not convinced? AI (GPT-3) wrote this entire article for The Guardian.

That’s it for today.

What’s your secret to building thoughtful relationships?