i love spring in phx

3 leadership lessons i wish at knew at 25 (when i was managing a team of 14):

1. cut the fluff

your team is smart. so treat them that way. they can sniff bullshit from a mile away.

be direct and tell them like it is. you don’t always have to follow the “company playbook.” it’s important...

not all MVPs last...

unless you keep reiterating.

for Wittier it took me nearly 2 years to define what my flagship products looked like.

tons of trial and error. a lot of missteps. but the most important thing was that I kept trying to polish.

sought feedback from clients constantly (even if...

i’ll never forget landing my first legit client.

i had just quit a high paying job. knew I couldn’t work for anyone for the rest of my career.

looked at my best skills, spun up a website around those skills.

came up with a business plan, bought all the software in the world. bought a new laptop..

i once worked for a publicly traded company.

totally thought i was going to climb the corporate ladder...
become the best middle manager, and make my name there.

and for a moment, I did. I had a top group, producing goddy revenue numbers, all while managing a team of 14.

at the age of 25.

...

how can you get better at writing?

i think it’s an easy question to ask yourself but even tougher to put into practice.

where do you start? what tools do you need? what goes into an actual practice?

if you’re thinking about this, the first two places to start should be:

i used to be obsessed with Charlie Chaplin (still am).

read his biography front to back. watched a bunch of his movies.

here’s 7 lessons i took from him:

are you providing enough value to potential advertisers before asking for their business?

leverage your existing audience to create a pool of potential advertisers.

but when i wake up every morning, i’m reminded by these two that i need to be grateful :)

real example:

• asked about nostalgic content preferences
• audience requested photo galleries
• wasn't in our original plan
• created it anyway
• instant success

simple formula:

ask + listen + execute = win

stop assuming.
start asking.

can’t wait to see what the rest of season 1 and season 2 will bring :)

p.s. you can subscribe here if you love nostalgia: www.parlour.fm

but it teaches you something profound:

control what you can.
let go of what you can't.

(pink fairy duster pictured)

this is why i enjoy doing what I do

Earthfolk.com is such a great newsletter.

a bit over-designed, but with over 200k subscribers, I'm surprised more folks aren't talking about it.

it shows me things I NEVER see.

some folks think newsletters are "dead", but I find myself opening this ASAP as soon as I get it.

p.s. i'll also share personal things I love, like film photos, my Dalmatian (her name is Dolly), design, tips on copywriting, and occasionally about native plants in Arizona.

📸: Fujifilm X-4