Founder of the Social Media Escape Club
I know Gary Vee gets a lot of flack, but man, he’s inspiring people right where they’re at, so what else is there? I mean, look at that scene. Evening time, probably on his way to like 30 different things, took the time to encourage someone.
Sure, there’s a camera there. But man, he’s been doing this for YEARS, and I think it’s great.
The LG enV VX9900 was the most notable phone I owned before the iPhone in 2007 or 2008.
The Qwerty keyboard was great for texting, but my goodness, can you believe we used screens that small? The resolution was pretty good, but still, the screen was so small, yet the phone was so bulky.
Given the chance I definitely wouldn’t go back to using this phone.
Got this old rotary phone at a local antique market for $10.
50 years old.
25 years since I started Buzzgrinder (music blog).
20 years since I had a full time job.
18 years since I started Noisecreep (for AOL Music).
15 years since I started Skull Toaster (metal trivia).
10 years of Metal Bandcamp Gift Club (buying albums for strangers).
10 years since I started running.
8 years since I started working with MNRK Music Group.
5 years of Social Media Escape Club.
Tom Williams from the band Stray From The Path:
No-one gives a fuck about first-week numbers anymore, anyway. People care more about finding the record at your merch desk for the first time and buying it right then. I clearly remember asking (our label, SharpTone Records), ‘Why do people pre-order records?’ and being met with a minute of silence.
Love this from Jen Mayer of Makeist.
I’m not looking for a job. I’m not waiting to be hired. I’m not leaving it to luck.
I’m making the connections. I’m connecting the dots.
I am actively and intentionally creating my calling: a career I never want to retire from, and a life I don’t need a vacation from.
This is the work: building Makeist into something that’s not just a business, but a life.
Here’s to not looking for a job in 2026.
My friend and her dad hiked here earlier in the day. Hours later, he called and said he lost his glasses, so we went looking for them before it got too dark. We didn’t find them, but we got in a good walk at least.
Love this from Henrik Karlsson’s “Advice for a friend who wants to start a blog:”
Your contradictions are an asset. You’re a lover of classical English architecture and you’re also a dirty little punk—expressing both at the same time is more interesting than sharing just cute pictures of English gardens or just wild trashy stuff. The more you incorporate everything that you love and that comes easily for you, your interests, your sense of humor, your grammatical tics, etc, the more your style emerges.
This quote from Bobby Lee sums it up:
“Let’s talk about Theo’s podcast. What TV shows do better numbers than his podcast? Not many.”
Theo’s shows get lots of views on YouTube, and probably at a fraction of the cost of most big name TV shows. I mean, it doesn’t matter if that’s good or bad, it’s just the way it is. The gatekeepers used to be the TV networks, but now it’s the YouTube algorithm. Build an audience, though, and you’re good. Like Bobby Lee goes on to say, when asked to play a part in a TV show:
“Two days, $1,500 a day… agents and managers take 40%… with taxes I come away with a couple hundred bucks. I’ll just do my thing.”
This concept is easy to dismiss, to think that only people with millions of subscribers / views can do this.
Like everyone chasing 1,000 True Fans, try thinking of how to manage 100, or 10, or even one person who likes / shares / reaches out and say they like your work.
We all start somewhere.
It’s amazing how much data these companies have, the ones we pay $70+ a month for, and yet when it comes time to really “connect,” they just send out these plain, “for everyone” sorts of email marketing messages.
