This is my 434th post since I launched this blog in January 2020.
And I'm proud to say I haven't missed a single issue, which is particularly relevant for my newsletter subscribers; I promised I'd deliver something to their inboxes three times a week, and they had something in their inboxes three times a week, without exception.
For the most part, I've enjoyed writing these posts and sharing my thoughts in this forum.
Observing the business world using the marketing lenses I've collected over the years.
Writing the occasional deep dive into business strategies I saw as particularly smart, interesting, innovative, or foolish.
Commenting about advertising I liked (for various reasons) in my ADdicted features.
Interviewing interesting people via text message for my text-talk interviews.
Sharing stories.
I've tried to keep things interesting, entertaining, and relevant.
Even "actionable" every so often.
But I'm tired.
Don't get me wrong, I love to write.
And based on what people have told me, I'm fairly good at it.
But over the last few weeks, I've found it increasingly difficult to write on demand.
And I've been thinking a lot about how much time I spend every week publishing "random thoughts" (for free) and whether I could realize a greater benefit by doing things differently.
For instance, perhaps my newsletter would benefit from some greater focus. What would happen if I began to write about marketing theories, strategies, tactics... and nothing else? That type of content streamlining would likely disappoint some readers who come for the funny stories and cute pictures of my kids, but a stronger marketing focus would almost certainly help me generate new business opportunities... so would the trade-off be worth it?
What if I were to take a page from the brilliant Stratechery playbook and "go deep" on marketing issues that matter to the industry? I could write two or three in-depth analyses per week and put them behind a paywall, and the revenue generated from subscribers would help to justify all the time and effort involved to publish them. (As an aside, Stratechery author Ben Thompson reportedly makes over $3 million a year using this approach.)
I have four book outlines completed in my copy of Scrivener... should I be using some of my weekly "blog time" to write those chapters? A published book, well-received, could lead to speaking opportunities, consulting engagements, and maybe even an interesting job offer. Plus, "published author" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
I wrote a children's book a few years back. It's a cute story based on a bedtime routine I had with my kids when they were younger, but it's gone unpublished because I can't draw (at all) and had nobody to illustrate the book for me. A few months ago, though, I met someone through LinkedIn who's a marketer and an illustrator, and when I told her about the theme of the book, she expressed some genuine interest in a collaboration. Instead of taking a page from Ben Thompson, should I instead take an (illustrated) page from Robert Munsch?
Or perhaps I shouldn't be "writing" at all. I've given serious thought to starting a marketing podcast... that sounds like it could be fun, right? And I wonder what type of interesting opportunities could come from something like that?
I've also thought about building online marketing courses, creating a community for aspiring and established marketers, writing a screenplay...
You see the problem, right?
I have so many ideas and aspirations... but I'm spending almost all of my available "creative time" writing this blog, and I can't help but think it might be time to try something new.
So I've decided to take a short vacation and figure things out.
Dear subscribers, this will be my last "scheduled post" for a while.
(Until September, to be precise.)
That's not to say you won't hear from me. If I have an interesting thought (or if a company does something so outrageous that I can't help but write about it), I'll publish it, I promise.
That means in August, you might hear from me three times a week... or not at all.
But I'll be back in September, in one form or another.
And I hope you'll decide to stick around a while longer and see what happens next.
P.S. If you read one of the ideas I outlined above and got particularly excited, or if you have any other interesting ideas or opportunities you think I should consider, I'd love to know that... send me a note! (For newsletter subscribers, just hit "reply" to your email.)
P.P.S. If in the unlikely circumstance you think you're going to miss your tri-weekly fix of dpthoughts, I'd encourage you to go back and review the archive using this special link I set up to quickly find posts with specific tags. Click a tag, and you'll see every post related to that particular name, brand, or subject. Enjoy the rabbit hole!
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