Early writing

My February 2020 essay on decision fatigue as a founder: why I held off big decisions when exhausted, and how cutting commitments and checklists helped.

My February 2020 essay on Dan Sullivan's Unique Ability process: what it showed about my strengths, and how I rebuilt my role at Lead Cookie around it.

My April 2020 view of cold email and LinkedIn outreach: why results were falling, where outbound was heading, and options for outbound agencies.

My May 2020 essay from early in the pandemic: when a business decision feels unclear, you lack facts, and taking action, not overthinking, gets them.

My January 2019 plan for launching Content Allies: a $60k collected-revenue target for the quarter, three marketing channels and a March pre-sale offer.

My January 2019 essay on the flaw in Lead Cookie: built on LinkedIn and technically against its terms, and three risk questions to ask before you build.

My January 2019 essay on the question my mentor asked when I started Lead Cookie: if the business succeeds, why build it? And my answer for Content Allies.

My January 2019 Lead Cookie playbook: make a lead magnet the best resource on its topic, publish it free on the blog, and offer an eBook copy for sign-ups.

My February 2019 account of shutting down the first Content Allies, a content support service run at a loss, and the seven lessons I took from it.

How my team ran Workshop in 2019: a weekly 60-minute meeting with a shared board of problems, a facilitator and action steps, an idea from Chet Holmes.

My February 2019 essay on six months of advisory calls with Alex McClafferty, co-founder of WP Curve, as I started Lead Cookie: hiring, process, mindset.

My April 2019 essay on the mistake I made at Outbound Creative and Lead Cookie, delivering the service myself, and why I argued for hiring from day one.

My May 2019 essay on an adviser's reminder that I was in the driver's seat: Lead Cookie's growth at all costs, and a 20-hour-week limit for Content Allies.

My 2019 essay on the Content Snowball: from one weak first post in 2011 to weekly articles, a podcast and a daily post, built one habit at a time.

My 2019 essay on coaching my leadership team at Lead Cookie and Content Allies: how three people grew into their roles, and the weekly one-on-ones I ran.

My 2019 correction of my six-month Lead Cookie headline: the 15 years of ventures, consulting and mistakes behind it, and the case for the long view.

My 2019 essay on the 30-day, any-reason money-back guarantee at Lead Cookie and Content Allies: how often clients took it and how it changed sales calls.

My 2018 essay on building Lead Cookie from borrowed frameworks and competitor research, with a five-step framework for stealing a business idea.

My September 2015 essay: why my freelance marketing director role failed, how I handled it, and how an outreach service got paying clients in about a week.

My 2014 essay: marketing is storytelling, not tactics, and everyone markets themselves. A Nashville coffee shop shows how a story lets you charge more.

My 2014 essay on the Nashville video company I started at 19, why I left it, and why I told creatives not to hire employees but to raise their rates.

My 2014 essay on direct outreach for freelancers: why relevance separates it from spam, with a designer's hand-delivered letters and my association emails.

My 2013 essay on trying: a recording studio, show promotion, design for artists and artist management all failed before video production worked.

My December 2013 essay on closing Telehealth PT despite prospects and signed letters of intent: no passion for what I built, and accepting that I failed.