The Journey to 10,000 Posts Begins

No. 1 | Why I'm doing this, what's with the title, and what to expect—at least for now.

Hello? Is this thing on? Wait… never mind… this isn’t my not-yet-started podcast.

Thanks to some (very strong) nudging by my friend

Joseph Rueter

, I’m getting back to writing on the internet.

Some of you may remember I used to have a blog where I shared my thoughts on marketing, advertising, design, technology, etc. It began based on a suggestion from a colleague at Integer to take what I was sharing in emails to the Molson Coors team and post them on a blog instead. While it existed, it was one of the best things to ever (unintentionally) happen to my career. It led to speaking at conferences and events in the U.S. and Europe, features and mentions in prominent business, technology, and ad industry magazines and blogs, some incredible job opportunities that I never took very far for various reasons at the time, and most importantly, relationships with people I probably would never have connected with otherwise.

I won’t go into why I stopped writing and deleted that blog right now, but it was what I needed to do when I did it. However, I’ve always felt a pull to write again. With that, here we go.

So, what’s with the headline? Why ten thousand posts? Well, ten thousand seems to be a number people like to use as a guide. There’s the “ten-thousand-hour rule” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in the book “Outliers.” Then there’s the idea that ten thousand steps is what we need to achieve in a day for optimal health. And I live in the land of ten thousand lakes, so there’s that.

I wrote my original blog between November of 2006 and the summer of 2013. For a short window, I wrote almost every day. Then, there were some periods where I didn’t write for several months. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit ten thousand posts, so this seems like a good goal to pursue and eventually pass with this Substack newsletter.

For a while, the content will be a bit of an experiment. Some posts may be short. Some may be long. Topics will primarily be around leadership, business, brand building, and creativity, but it could occasionally flow into other areas. I’ll try to stay away from telling you what I had for lunch, but no promises. Frequency is also a bit up in the air. I’ll get at least one post out a week to start. Maybe more.

As with my blog, I’m not setting out to do anything other than share what I think about things I believe are interesting, inspiring, or possibly alarming. I hope any subscribers who follow me here find them interesting or inspiring, too, and they make you think as well.

If you have something you think I should write about, let me know, and I’ll give it some serious thought. For now, click the subscribe button to keep up with my posts here, and if you’re feeling generous, tell a friend or two to do the same.

Oh, and I am just getting started so if you click around and things look odd or unfinished, it’s because I haven’t gotten around to them yet. I truly am just getting started.