HONOR YOUR OLDER WORK

The work we create doesn’t has an expiration date. The photo books we make, or the poetry chapbook, the music video, the demo tape, the essay, the course, the piece of art. Most of our work is timeless yet we let it expire, starving it of attention as we move onto the next thing.

“Well, the last thing didn’t take off, might as well work on the new thing,” we say, even though maybe 100 people saw it the first time.

What happens when 25 more people see it?

GOING FIRST IS A RISK

People want proof because they don’t want risk.

When I dare suggest that maybe we can exist without social media, or musicians can take their music off streaming platforms, I basically hear this: “give me 25 examples of people doing it that are successful.”

As in, prove that other people have done it and maybe I’ll entertain the idea.

And really, eh, I’m not trying to convince anyone. If you wanna use something, use it. I ain’t your dad.

But if using a particular product or service pains you, if it’s triggering, it’s harmful to your mental health, or your sobriety, ummm… yeah, I think it’s okay to entertain the idea of not using that particular product.

If you’re a recovering addict, it’s okay if you don’t wanna play in bars.

Hell, if you just hate the bar scene, I’d say it’s okay to not play in bars.

Going first, without evidence, is hard. Which is maybe why so few do it.

SEASONS

We’re definitely in between seasons here in PA. Yesterday it was 75F, then on my morning walk it’s in the low 40s. I don’t know if it’s just getting older, or being more in tune with my feelings, but it’s taken me for a ride this year.

I haven’t written as much. I eased up on booking so many Zoom call interviews. Sent less newsletters.

Trying to put my energy into the bigger things (like a Zoom class I hosted this week where we built HTML pages from plain text files and uploaded them to a web host), and then conserve energy in other places, like this constant nag of publishing.

Seth Godin publishes everyday. Gary Vee posts 900 times a day. It’s like you have to pick one or other, and days off aren’t encouraged.

A friend said they feel like they have to have a monthly offering or else they’ll go broke.

It doesn’t help that gas is nearing $4/gallon here. Or that just 50 years ago people could work regular jobs and buy a house, and now lawyers and people with degrees and “grown up” jobs can’t seem to make it work.

This is America.

IT HAPPENS WHEN IT HAPPENS

I haven’t been running as much.
I haven’t been making music as much.
I haven’t been writing here as much.
I haven’t been walking as much.

We are humans, living through seasons, under the weight of the ambient doom that most of us have been feeling for years.

But today I got out for a run.
Today I streamed my music for about an hour.
Today I wrote this post.

DNS SETTINGS ARE NOT A VIBE

Vibe coding is fun and all (here’s my new Hunterthen site), but the behind the scenes work is not.

Updating DNS settings, SSL certificates, troubleshooting your router to not block FTP traffic? SHEESH.

Social media won because it was easy; upload a photo, write a quick bio, and you can upload a video all within 10 minutes.

But if we can’t set up a website in less that 15 minutes then it’s just not worth it.

It’s not that it’s hard, it just takes a bit to figure stuff out. We can do hard things!

I’ve been fiddling around with DNS stuff since the mid 2000s and I’m glad I have Claude to ask about my CNAME settings to properly authenticate my SSL cert.

Then again, this is why everyone doesn’t write a book either. It takes time and patience. Plenty of hurdles.

Either you want to do the thing, and will do whatever it takes, or you won’t.

WHO ARE YOU?

It amazes me how many times I see people’s websites with a BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL button, and not a single photo or video or snippet of audio.

Some are even paid. Pay $150 or $200 or $500 to hop on a Zoom call.

You want me to jump onto a call with a complete stranger?
After just reading some text and nice graphics?
In 2026, in the age if AI, show your humanity?!?

Give me evidence that you’re a sane, rational person who knows how to hold a conversation. Prove you’re not a total creep.

Here’s my “book a 1:1 call with me” page, the one that you have to pay for. With video.

Otherwise, here’s my free 15 minute offer. No video, but hey, if you make it to this page; you probably already know who I am.

I’m not saying you need a 4K camera and a $500 microphone – but building trust is an exchange.

MAKING MORE MUSIC

Communal Sound Choir

I met Nikki Lerner back in 2019, from Seth Godin’s Freelancer’s Workshops. We’ve been talking almost every Monday on Zoom ever since.

We originally connected over work. She had just left an office job to strike out on her own, I was trying to make my “helping busy music publicists with their digital dirty work” thing work better.

We used to over think the tiny bits, now we seek alignment in our work.

Last summer Nikki (a life long musician) wanted to work more in music, and wasn’t sure how it’d pay any bills, but just knew she had to do it.

So she formed a choir, and that led to a job offer (and more time working in music).

Sometimes we need to push into the work we want to be doing, even without any clear path of anything working out. Dare to start building ways to create tiny moments of fulfillment.