Why?

Why build this site? What does it matter?

Back in 2007, I built a popular site around the concept of “get what you want out of what you do online.” I was in the hundreds of thousands of views per month, sitting at a PR6 within 2 weeks of launch. That’s probably super nerdy for some people.

Anyway, I let that all burn down a few years later just because I loathed copywriting that much. Not for any moral stance – I just felt dragged down doing it. Even when I loved my clients and the topics, I found myself dragging my feet to do what I’m good at, what I once loved, what I was paid very well to do after a 16-year career thinking if only I could get good clients with interesting topics I would love writing again.

By the sheer volume you see me put out on a regular basis now, you would be correct to surmise I’ve since overcome that “writer’s block.” I figured it out.

You’re not supposed to sell the things that are effortless for you.

That is not your gift to others.

You learn more when you fail. So it stands to reason if it comes naturally to you, then you’ve encountered fewer failures and therefore cannot guide another in a rounded manner. You would have no perspective on their difficulties and preferences with the subject, and therefore, no reliable ability to address them. You yourself take it for granted because it is so easy for you, which therefore compels others to devalue what you do as well. You yourself do not fully understand the magic that is your natural talent, so your confidence is easily shaken – and everyone can sense it.

But if at one point a thing seemed impossible, and you did it anyway: the more impossible it seemed = the more rounded your understanding, all the better to guide another, reliably.

That thing you find effortless? That’s actually your tool, the vehicle for your gift to others.

I was on the right track making a website, I just did it for the wrong reasons. Careful what you wish.

Expression is my first core value.

It was ‘Speaking’ up until last year when I achieved some lifelong dreams that seemed pretty impossible when I was 10 and still mute. Now, I not only understand it’s more than just worded expression that nourishes our soul – I can also finally glance away from that golden idol of an obsession that was ‘to be a speaker’ to accept a more rounded perspective.

We can wordlessly dance and be just as moved. We can witness a painting and feel like our eyes are open for the first time, especially if it is coming from our own brush. And more than this – expression is a core human driver. We NEED to create.

This is why we so often try to sell what’s easy for us, then find ourselves lamenting it. We don’t need to create for others. We have a need to create in order to see ourselves. If we ourselves are not literally reflected in our work, we are offended.

I write this because it is what is sacred to me.

Sacred meaning “abiding by my natural law” – I am first a writer. This is what is effortless for me. This is the vehicle for my gift. That is no longer what I offer as my gift. Because I have no real innovative solutions there. I never can. In addition to the notion stated above about natural talents – writing, really creation of any kind, is a completely personal process that everyone benefits from doing themselves. I cannot in good conscience rob you of the autonomy to become you.

And that’s why this website exists. That’s why my entire business exists.

I am using expression as a tool to demonstrate discernment, resourcefulness, and other inherent and distinctly human value in a new light. To provide a new model of thinking, so you can begin to see for yourself how else you might be valuable in this world.

Basically: I’ve done a lot of things for the wrong reasons, and seeing as I’m turning 40 in precisely 2 months, I’ve had a while to think about what went wrong, what went right, and make more mistakes. The biggest difference between the me that struggled with everything, and the me now that has overcome once-crippling fears of speaking, and heights, and sits comfortably on camera – now, I make mistakes on purpose.

Or at least, I purposefully look for opportunities to fuck up and grow. And I’m EXCITED when I get to learn something.

So, do I think I can make a big splash online with such a “dense” topic? Terrible question.

I do what is necessary, until I succeed.

It’s not like I just dreamed up this whole concept last night and bought a domain and threw up some AI pages. Rest assured, AI wrote 0% of the words on this site, so far. I do plan to use it later to touch up my best previous works and see how that goes, but no promises.

As I said, I billed my last site as “get what you want out of what you do online.” The catch? I was actually teaching media literacy. I discussed how NLP works, how scams work, how all the psychological mechanisms of learning and unlearning are tied to shock and things like that. The nitty gritty of how whitespace, color, and density impact the way you want to move your eye through a page – something I called Psychological Information Architecture back in the 90s because it didn’t have a name yet.

This is very much the same, I’m just teaching … human literacy. Writing an owner’s manual for this meat suit, if you will.

So now, if I take off just one word – I can describe this latest iteration of my writing very simply.

Get what you want out of what you do.