Founder of the Social Media Escape Club
Just Gabrielle Judge, telling it like it is:
The truth is, corporations struggle to keep up with the speed at which ambitious people evolve. Promotions are slow. Raises take forever. But everything else is somehow urgent.
Read more at “I Got a Lazy Girl Job Because I Was Too Ambitious.”
As always, Ash Ambirge bringing the gems:
If you’ve ever been like, ugh, HOW AM I EVEN SUPPOSED TO MARKET MYSELF, why not ask yourself a new question: how can I show up & just answer my customer’s questions?????
In the early days of my Social Media Escape Club I’d just answer people’s questions on Substack’s Office Hours threads. I’d even link them to Substack help docs. I did this so well someone from Substack noticed and reached out and asked if I had any interest in joining their help team (no, thank you).
Even for the bigger picture questions, like “how will I live without social media?” I don’t have the full answer for anyone, but I have bits and pieces that I’ve learned from my experience, and how other people have done it.
Sometimes you don’t need the full answer, you just need to the experience of reading and talking to a bunch of people on the same journey.
Town is quiet now. The college kids left, and everything is still and quiet. There’s a sense of ease about town again.
From my People & Blogs interview with Manuel Moreale:
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
Honestly, no. WordPress and the hosting and such works fine for me. I don’t care much about the name, or the theme, or whatever. The blog is 100% for me.
“I write to remember,” as the lyrics go in ‘One Armed Scissor’ by At the Drive In.
Read the rest here.
It was my 49th birthday, and I treated myself to some place fancy. That is, the 110 State Game Lands access road, on a chilly rainy evening here in PA.
There’s a gate at the entrance, then a gate near the “top,” which is about 1.5 miles, and about 500′ of climbing. This is one of the only hilly routes where I can run the whole thing, and by run I mean shuffle and slightly jog, but hey, I couldn’t do that a few months ago, so I’m stoked.
Also, I used to do just one lap. Up and down, and call it night. Last night I did it twice, so just over 1000′ of climbing, six miles total, and felt great.
This is the last year in my 40s I guess, might as well keep things moving.
Just passed over 100 hours running in 2025, and almost 52,000′ of climbing.
Running about 30 miles a week the last five weeks, and over 5,000′ of elevation. Flirting with 6,000′ of climbing the last few weeks now, too.
I’m starting to double up some hills. Before I’d just go up and run back down, now I’m doing them twice in one session. Two ups. Two downs. Thighs of steel, baby.
Shuffling and jogging up some sections that I used to have to walk. Getting strong, fitting back into shirts and jackets I couldn’t wear earlier this year.
Damn, feels good to be hitting 49 tomorrow.
Your next big break is probably right under your nose. Your next sale, job, whatever.
“Marketers face a choice every day: hustle for new people or serve the ones who care. Activation is much more productive than persuasion.” Seth Godin
The most frequent question I get with my Email Guidance offering is “how do I get more subscribers,” and I never answer it. Instead, we dig deeper into their existing audience, asking “are you 100% that everyone on your current email list knows about your thing?”
And if so – is your website set up in a way that makes it easy for them to support your work?
There’s the saying to increase the surface area for luck, but I’m telling you… meeting new folks increases the surface area for COOL STUFF.
I just got off a Zoom call with some great folks and met Andrew White and I want him to take photos of me running up the hills I try to run up (just kidding, I’d look awful), and also discovered Andrew(?) Byrd who is running an analog recording competition – making and recording music with no computers!
I know, I know… the surface area thing… for networking, for finding jobs, yes, sure. Of course. But wow, there are just so many amazing people out there doing great work.
Wise words from Kel Rakowski, from her post “How to Start Over When You Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore.”
“But clarity doesn’t usually come from thinking. It comes from doing—writing, sharing, experimenting, publishing something small.
The longer you wait to feel certain, the harder it becomes to move at all.”
For one, I can’t believe I still have this. But two, yes, that’s not just a typo on the business card, it was the logo on the music blog for probably a year or two, as well.
