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This year I am celebrating 10 years of running WeGrowMedia. Starting this company was a huge risk for me and my family. It was founded just as our first son was born, and I had left a corporate job that had a good salary and benefits. In many ways, it felt like a leap into the unknown.

In that decade, I have worked with thousands of writers and creators, filling my days with the people who inspire me most. It has just been amazing.

As I look to the next 10 years, I have been re-committing myself to the mission behind WeGrowMedia.On January 1, I made some major updates to my website, including a new About page which shares my vision and background with writing and the arts. It also includes this childhood photo of the time I met Muhammad Ali (I’m on the left, and that’s my brother in the back):

For 2020, I have been working with my team on a lot of plans. Here is what you can expect

1. I want to be radically helpful to writers. This is the core of what I do, and I want to double-down on this. More training, workshops, advice, resources, and simply showing up where writers are.
2. I’m planning on publishing my second book in June. For years, I’ve been developing two books, and in the past few months I mashed them together (“mashed” is an editorial term you may be unfamiliar with) so that the next book is as good as it can be. I’m not holding anything back. The revised outline is now super-solid, and the 75,000 words I’ve written are going to spend months (and months) going through revisions and edits.
3. For the latter part of the year, I’m developing a big crazy project that scares me. Something brand new for WeGrowMedia that 100% aligns to my mission, but that I have never tried before. I’ll talk more about this later in the year.

I also made a big change to how I offer the programs where I work directly with writers on marketing, platform, and creative habits. Last year I developed a series of monthlong programs where I would provide personalized feedback to each writer every single week. They went well.

But… (and I’ve been thinking about this for quite awhile)

Maybe you have noticed that when people release online programs and courses, they tend to have these big launches with deadlines. You are inundated with emails telling you about the day the doors close. The emails offer bonus after bonus, reason after reason, that you don’t want to miss out.

Many of these launches rely on “the fear of missing out.” Basically, it is pressuring you to sign up before the opportunity goes away. In reality, this is a highly effective marketing tactic.

But in reviewing my mission for WeGrowMedia, I challenged myself to consider “If my mission is to help writers, wouldn’t I offer that help every single day?”

So I completely revised the way I offer my programs. You can sign up for nearly all of them anytime you want. Here is my brand new programs page, and what I offer:

In every one of these programs, I provide direct feedback to you at every step of the process. I answer all of your questions directly, offer direction and support. If you need help in any of these areas, please considering checking out the programs.

One final thing for today…

Earlier this week I shared my refections on what I have learned from 10 years of running a full-time creative business. You can watch a video of me talking through all of this here:

Or listen to on my podcast.

The truth is that creative work and entrepreneurship can be filled with confusion and doubt. The one thing I have learned is that you simply have to keep showing up. To keep creating. Keep honing your work. Keep bringing new ideas to the table. Keep connecting with like-minded people who are inspired by the same things you are.

Thank you for showing up for me in the last 10 years. I cannot possibly express how much it means to me and my family.

Have you set your intentions for 2020? I’d love to hear them, email me back and let me know. Thanks!
-Dan

Today I want to discuss how you can find more time to write and create next year. This is a topic I obsess about, so I want to dig right in…

Challenge Your Own Assumptions

I spend the last quarter of every “year going back to the well” — reconnecting with my creative vision and making strategic plans to make it a reality. (Here is a podcast I recorded talking about that process.)

To find more time to create amidst your otherwise busy life, I want to encourage you to challenge your own assumptions about the time, energy, and process of writing.

Why?

Because all I do every day is talk to writers. They are my clients, members of my mastermind, I interview them, I connect with them via phone, Skype, Zoom, email, text, in-person, and on social media. In these connections, I focus more on the deep conversations than I do on the retweet.

When I ask about their writing process, the answers are always inspiring. These are people who create amidst the cacophony of sounds in their kitchen as kids roam in and out, and 100 other responsibilities beckon. They write in their cars. On their phones. Very early and very late. They write on vacation, in small bouts, and often with interruption.

No one writer does all of those things. What I mean is that writers who actually write have challenged the assumptions of what they need to get it done.

Many writers insist that they need total silence. Unbroken hours. Solitude. A specific writing chair. A well-organized manuscript. Research material at the ready. And perhaps some other mental and physical rituals to properly orient themselves.

If you have that, I genuinely admire that you are able to do so.

But most writers I speak to rarely have that situation. So what they have done is challenge their assumptions about their own creative process.

This is one of the walls in my studio, it is filled with creators who inspire me:

In studying their stories what you find is that each and every one of them created in less-than-ideal scenarios. They created masterful work amidst intense pressure, unbelievable deadlines, with constant distraction, and without the proper resources.

How can you challenge your own assumptions to create 10% more in the new year?

Focus on Craft and Connection

So many writers I speak to are overwhelmed with all they are told they “have to do.” All the “best practices” of writing, publishing, and marketing.

What if you ignored it all. And instead you focused on two things:

1. Craft: writing more.
2. Connection: finding meaningful ways to connect your writing to real people.

Instead of looking at the new year and asking “what else can I add?” — you instead see what you can remove. What you do less of. What you ignore. What you get rid of. And you put all of those resources of time and energy into craft and connection.

You become a student of how to fit writing into your life. On how to explore the stories you want to tell. How you can get even better and writing and publishing them. And then… how you can insure that people actually read and connect with them. Change the idea of marketing from something you avoid until you absolutely have to, and instead replace it with a sense of shared purpose.

In the same way that I like to imagine a little village centuries ago… people in town simply know you as ‘the writer.’ The one who creates and shares. And you engage with them as someone who cares about connecting others with story or information.

Too many writers hide their craft, and in doing so, hide their voice.

What if next year, you did the opposite?

Double-Down on Your Creative Vision

Above I mentioned having the goal of writing and connecting 10% more. But what if you wanted to go bolder with your creative vision?

Could you double how much you create next year? Could you double how often you connect with readers next year?

I want to encourage you to really consider what this would look like. I’m sure your daily life is incredibly busy. You likely end the day feeling that you barely had a moment to just stop and breathe and think. But what would your week look like if you found a way to create and connect twice as often?

When could you do it? Where? For how long? What tools would you need?

Then consider, could you do a weeklong test of this process? One week where you create and connect twice as often as all other weeks? Could you try on that investment in your creative vision?

Then, if that isn’t enough, I would encourage you to consider, what would 10x look like? Meaning: creating and connecting 10 times as much as you do now. I totally understand that this isn’t feasible for you in reality, but I find the thought-process to be useful.

What would it take to write 10 times the number of words each week? Or to connect with readers, other authors, booksellers, librarians and the like 10 times more often?

Even if this scenario isn’t likely, it is not entirely impossible. I have friends who suddenly at mid-life decide that they are going to run their first marathon. Or train for their first Ironman. These people have busy day jobs, young kids, and all the responsibilities that come with it. Yet someone, I watch them find 10x more time and energy to train for these massive goals.

And it makes me wonder: what does that look like for a writer?

The Best Way to Ensure Success

The best way to ensure success with any of this? Don’t go it alone.

The writers and artists I speak to who seem to create more often, more consistently, and connect their work to real people in meaningful ways — they don’t struggle alone.

Instead, they have collaborators, colleagues, and a support system of other people.

A lot of writers have this romantic vision of the lone creator, alone in their writing studio. I will admit, I kind of like that vision too, because it is a reminder that one person — one writer — conjures an entire universe. An entire story. An entire book. It’s just so inspiring to consider what one writer can create.

But…

I have spoken with too many writers who struggle alone. If you want to create and connect more in 2020, I strongly encourage you to not go it alone. Find ways of engaging with others who can guide you, help you stay accountable to your creative vision, and inspire you when you need it most.

In our non-writing lives, this is common. For instance, this week I began working with a new trainer for my workouts. Why? Because without a trainer, it’s been like 2 years since I’ve properly worked out.

In the past week that has changed. My trainer has assessed my goals, my schedule, and my health.

He’s written up a clear set of workouts and nutrition plan.

He’s answered my questions, sent me custom instructional videos, and has made himself available anytime to help. He was even texting me on Dec 24 and 25th to check-in.

I mean, imagine that kind of support with your creative goals.

This week I recorded another podcast exploring why you should join a mastermind group. There are so many benefits, all aligned with creating and connecting more.

If you want immediate assistance with all of this, please check out the Creative Shift Mastermind group that I run. We begin January 1, you will spend three months with me directly helping you find more time and energy to write and create.

I share my best advice, answer all of your questions, and provide a support system for your creative process.

Full details are here.

Thanks!
-Dan

A couple months back, I took this photo of myself here in the studio:

I collect vintage things, and it was fun to setup my desk without a computer at the center of it. Present in the photo are many of the communication tools that someone would use to before the internet.

It reminds me of this visualization of “The Evolution of the Desk” from the 1980s to today. This was created by the Harvard Innovation Lab:

Day in and day out, I help writers share their work with readers, and ensure that it truly connects to other human-beings. Of course, many of the tools that we can use to do this involve the internet and social media. While the screens of our phones and laptops represent one way to connect other people with your creative work, they are not the only way.

I hear from many writers who are apprehensive about social media. Who don’t want to start a newsletter. Or a blog. Or a podcast. In fact, they are concerned about being seen at all.

Today, I want to discuss methods for a writer to connect with readers that don’t rely on today’s “standard” methods of doing so: posting to social media, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, videos, and the like.

A few questions I will explore as we dig into this:

• What would you do to reach readers?
• How can you identify “influencers” who have access to your potential readers?
• What are meaningful ways to connect with your ideal audience?
• How would you keep in touch with those who support your creative work?

In other words: how can you use offline means to replace what social media does? And do so in a manner that feels authentic to who you are. I want to be clear: the goal isn’t to hire a publicist or marketing firm to “pitch” you to the media. A core part of what I am exploring here is how do you have a fulfilling and meaningful connection to other people as a writer? How do you grow a readership and stay connected to them? How do you have colleagues with other writers who love the kind of work you create?

Let’s look at some realistic options of what you may need to do so without social media and digital tools:

• A System to Organize Your Contacts
  Buy a Rolodex! Okay, even I was surprised to learn that they still make these! There are many varieties on Amazon (and other retailers), and vintage versions are plentiful on eBay. If you want to stay connected with those who already support you and your work, and if you want to reach out to potential readers and those who reach them, you should organize this process. Nowadays we use contacts in our phones, the contact list in your email, friends on Facebook, subscribers for your email newsletter, and the like. Without those things, a physical Rolodex is one good option.

• Set Up In-Person Meetings
  Human beings are hard-wired to develop trust in a variety of ways, and an in-person conversation is an amazing way to do so. Why not fill your life with coffee with readers, with conversations with other writers, with visiting organizations who support the connection between writers and readers? This would be in place of digital means of doing so: Tweets that may not be as deep, but likely more frequent than an in-person meeting. Or texts you send to those you know, or virtual meetings on Skype, Facetime, or Zoom.

• Organize Your Time and Attention
  Get a big wall calendar, or a physical planner. There has been a renaissance in the planner market, so you have lots of options here. This is physical workbook where you can organize your time and attention, help set clear goals for each year/month/week/day in terms of how you will create and connect your work to others. This would be instead of using a digital calendar, or the many online tools such as spreadsheets or services such as Airtable which help you organize complex projects.

• Pitch Articles or Speaking Events
  One way for people to become aware of you and what you create is to be featured in media that other people own. You can pitch articles to magazines and newspapers, and reach out to conferences, organizations, and bookstores to do in-person speaking or workshops. I have worked with plenty of writers who do this. It is a different way to connect beyond posting your own blogs, running your own podcast, sharing videos on your own website, or sharing longer social media updates to Twitter (via series of Tweets), Facebook, or Instagram.

• Build Rapport With Communities That Support Writers and Readers
  Spend time building a network of people that you know at bookstores, writing programs, reading groups, and other places that support readers and writers. This will likely involve frequent travel, whether it is local, regional, national, or even beyond. This takes the place of following a bookstore on social media and engaging with them that way, or via email an online event of some sort. Likewise, it would mean sidestepping any online communication channels that these organizations have setup, such as a Facebook page or online events.

• Stay Informed: Read Industry News With Intention
  Many writers I speak to are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information coming at them. An endless stream of blogs, articles, forums, podcasts, newsletters, social media updates, videos, webinars and the like which is all pitched as “must-know” information! Alternatives to this are the journals, magazines, newspapers, nonfiction books, and other media that do still exist which shares useful information. These resources may be (at times) more limited in frequency, timeliness, or even even depth than online tools. And they may provide less of direct access to others who are engaging in the content. But it is possible to stay informed without feeling like you are drinking from a firehose.

• Buy Books Similar to What You Write, and Read!
  This is a great way to get to know the market for your books! Read lots of books in the same genre/topic you write in to get a sense of the marketplace. Of course, if we are keeping this mostly offline, that means you may do this by going to physical bookstores or libraries, and relying on the recommendations of the person behind the counter. So you wouldn’t be reading Goodreads and Amazon reviews, or getting book recommendations from friends and colleagues on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

• Be Remarkably Generous
  If you use the means above, don’t just barely show up in other people’s lives. Make an impression. If you want to build a network of people who are aware of your writing, it matters that people remember you. It’s easy to say “be generous!” or “be authentic,” but in our busy every day lives, what truly makes an impression on other people? Well, here is one example I saw this week. You see, I follow a lot of different channels on YouTube including an electrician in Scotland, a carpet cleaning repair service in Georgia, a mason in California, and this guy Steve in Virginia who repairs shoes. Well, Steve’s channel has more than 50,000 subscribers. Amazing, right? This week he received a package from a fan who painted two portraits of Steve, and sent a card and t-shirt. If you watch the video, you can see how moved he is by this. Then there are 300 comments below the video of celebrating with him, saying “You deserve it Steve, it just shows how many people you’ve impacted in a positive way.” My point is: to make an impression, you have to show up to truly connect with someone in a meaningful manner. You will find other examples of this in my podcast interviews, where authors like Jessica Lahey send out hundreds of books as gifts, one-by-one, to individual people who they feel may like it.

As I consider each of these tactics, they feel very grounded in real human connections. But there is a downside as well. They feel resources intensive. Doing them well will take a lot of your time, energy, and money.

It’s hard to not conclude that the tools which sometimes overwhelm us (social media, newsletters, email, etc) begin to feel very powerful and accessible in comparison with offline options. In truth, I think a mix of online and offline tools can be very powerful for any writer. And of course, each writer gets to decide this path for themselves.

One thing I think a lot about in this process are the resources that a writer needs regardless of how they connect with their audience and develop their platform.

They need total clarity on their goals as a writer. They need habits to create and connect amidst an otherwise busy life. They need accountability and support to make this all sustainable. These are things that I work with writers on in my Creative Shift Mastermind every single day.

Thanks!
-Dan

In my work with writers, I talk a lot about the power of focusing on one person. Why? Because the best marketing in sharing your writing and books is when you truly make a human-connection with someone. It has meaning, impact, and lasts beyond a transaction of a follow, subscribe, or purchase

This is why we create. Why we share. Why we grow as writers and readers.
Because your writing truly opens up someone’s world.

Today I want to live this message. I want to tell you about one person.

In doing so, I hope to convince you of critically important things you need to do to succeed in connecting your writing to readers:

• You need colleagues.
• You need direct connection to readers.
• You need to approach your career with intention, not relying on trends.
• You need to reach out to people early and consistently if you want to truly connect your work to others.

Because people are the fabric of your career as a writer. They support your work. They keep buying and reading your books. They create word of mouth marketing.

And it takes time to create these connections.

The Most Powerful Collaboration I Have in my Creative Business Life.

Next year I celebrate the 10 year anniversary of my company, WeGrowMedia. Who is the most important person who made this happen? Well… okay, that is my wife and family.

But who is the next most important person? The one who has guided me, brainstormed with me, celebrated with me, and week by week, helped me with the parts of running a business that are super complex?

It’s Jennie Nash.

She is a book coach and runs her own company called Author Accelerator.

For the past five and a half years, she and I have had weekly mastermind calls. What is that? Well, each week we get on the phone and discuss creative and business challenges and goals. We offer advice and strategic support to each other. We split the call 50/50 and pretty much the first words when we get on the phone are: “Do you want to go first?” Then one of us spends 30-45 minutes talking about specific creative and business challenges that we are working on this week. At the end of the 30 or 45 minutes, we switch and the other person talks about their challenges. We brainstorm, share ideas, make decisions, and do strategic planning.

I have this huge folder of notes from our calls, each filled with ideas and actions that moved my creative work and my business forward:

Through this collaboration, this single person has had a profound effect on my business and creative life. It was a very powerful thing for me to sit and write this essay, and realize just how much she has helped create for me, for WeGrowMedia, and through that, my family.

It’s staggering really. The number of ideas. The number of recommendations. The strategy. The support.

I feel like there is so much to learn from the way we have structured this collaboration, and how you can leverage concepts from it in your own career as a writer or creator. Let me take you behind the scenes…

It All Started With a “No.” Then, Another “No.”

When I tell people about my collaboration with Jennie, they ask me how we met in order to determine ways they can find a “Jennie” for their own creative goals.

I spent some time this week going back through my calendar and email to see how this really started. To my surprise, the first thing I ever said to her was “No” to an idea she pitched me. The second thing I said to her was “No” to another idea she pitched me.

Oops.

August 4, 2012: Jennie signed up for my email newsletter. At the time, when someone signed up I asked about their biggest creative challenge. She replied back and I then sent her a note in return. That was our first communication. Thank goodness for my newsletter!

July 5, 2013: It was nearly an entire year later before our next communication. She wrote to me pitching herself as a speaker for an online conference I was running. This is how the email started:

“Hi Dan, I’m a stealth fan of yours, and just read your newsletter about all the projects you have going on. It made me laugh, because it sounds so much like me — a thousand irons in the fire and loving it all. I was particularly intrigued by the online conference you are planning, and wanted to throw my hat in the ring as a speaker.”

This was huge. Like a lot of us, we “follow” people online quietly. But she took this action to tell me how much she appreciated my work, and then connect it to her own. She then shared two specific pitches for sessions she could run at my online conference. In doing so she said something that would be a staple of how Jennie operates:

“If these ideas are intriguing, I’d love to talk more about how I could hep make your first online conference a hit.”

In other words, she was helping immediately. She considered my goals, and what I hoped for when hearing from someone about the event. I mean, don’t we all dreams of hearing this from someone: “I can help make your creative idea a hit.”

What happened next? I turned her down.

The reason was that the event was all about connecting with readers, and I think her ideas focused more on her specialty of actually writing books.

I ended with: “But clearly – we should know each other regardless!”
And she replied back: “Now we DO know each other. Keep up all the inspiring work. It’s fun to watch it unfold.”

A few months later, she signed up for the paid portion of the conference. Then I received this email from a writer: “Hi Dan- I am glad that I discovered you (through Jennie Nash)…”

I see so many people “pitch” someone in their field, and then if they are turned down, they shy away from that person. They stop supporting their work. Which, of course, is a mistake. Jennie did the opposite. She was supporting me and the conference anyway.

November 2013: A few speakers dropped out of my conference at the last minute, and I received another email from Jennie, with her offering to jump in and fill one of their slots. She shared two brand new ideas for presentations.

What did I say to Jennie? “No” a second time.

Sometimes we can’t see opportunity staring us in the face. I was too focused on the tasks at hand, and had decided that adding more speakers at the last minute added unneeded complexity to an already overwhelming event I was running.

Her reply? Total support, and yet another supportive offer:

“Probably a smart decision. The event will be fantastic without any additional speakers. I’d like to ask you about contributing a piece (or Q&A) to Compose literary journal. I’m the features editor and I think our readers would love to hear from you.”

Luckily, this time I said “yes.” We hopped on the phone that day and it was the first time we spoke.

Connection Happens Across Channels, Not Just Online or Offline

In the months that followed, we slowly connected across different channels. We worked on the essay for Compose literary journal.

• My first Tweet mentioning her was December 27, 2013. A day later, she began following me on Twitter.
• We spoke on the phone. Then on Dec 31: I pitched her ideas for the essay and we spent January through March working on that via email.
• On January 6, 2014, we connected on LinkedIn.

What followed this Spring was lots of connection on social media. The professional connection really took hold.

It’s worth noting how this extended across many channels: email, newsletter, online conference, writing an essay, a speaking pitch, a phone call. We have only met in person one time, a really brief chat on the streets of New York City. I was rushing to make a train, so I think we only talked for a few minutes:

This is how true connection works. Across channels, and slowly over time. When authors talk about their “Facebook strategy” or their “newsletter strategy” I worry that they are missing the forest for the trees. They are judging a single specific action in a tiny period of time, and then trying to judge “return on investment.” But to engage with your readers and those who will support your work, you have to think bigger. Connect more consistently, across more channels, with different types of communication.

It was in May of 2014 that Jennie and I began talking about the challenges of running a creative business. This is what she and I speak about each week on our calls to this day, and it started here.

On July, 13 2014 our weekly Mastermind began.

Look at everything above. It took two full years for this professional collaboration to come together. It took Jennie ideating all of these ideas. It took her being generous, even when I said “No” twice. It took me taking a big risk in asking her to do the Mastermind that July. I can remember the call where I pitched it to her, and she was skeptical at first.

It also took a true collaboration to develop trust and a process of knowing how we could help each other.

Taking Your Writing Career to the Next Level

How has Jennie helped me? Immensely.

When I consider all of the areas she has offered specific assistance, it includes:

• Discerning creative ideas from business strategy, and where the two connect.
• The 101, 201, and 301 of running a business. She shares in the trenches experience that would be nearly impossible to find elsewhere.
• A laser-focus on what it means to truly help a writer. Yes, I know this from my daily work with writers, but she infused my worldview with an even deeper perspective since she is a book coach.
• How to navigate the risk of running a business, and the process to make smart decisions when your emotions may sometimes be giving confusing signals.
• In my decade of running a business, I find that people are reticent to discuss the financial aspect of how to run a business. Jennie did the opposite, talking in hard numbers whenever possible to demystify business theory from business reality.
• Jennie is one of the most creative people I have ever met. She is always sharing outside-of-the-box ideas that are totally genius.
• The importance of systems and structure to truly take an idea from “Oooh, this sounds cool” to a fully functioning business product or service. Jennie is all about taking things to the next level.

For the past 6 months or so, Jennie has been spending a lot of time on our calls talking about this event she is kicking off 2020 with. I have watched this idea grow from, “I have this crazy idea I want your take on…” to absolute reality.

It’s called The Business of Book Coaching Summit. In it, Jennie is helping writers consider ways that they can start or grow their business as a book coach. This is how she describes the value:

“We’re putting together an incredible lineup of business and coaching leaders who will show you how to run a successful, sustainable, soulful book coaching business. Join us for 5 days of in-depth classes and workshops with advice you need to see your business thrive and connect with coaches just like you.”

It’s funny, all of it aligns to the incredible advice and expertise she has given to me over the years.

It all happens January 20-24, and is entirely online. How much does this cost? In typical Jennie style, she is leading with generosity. The Summit is free.

The lineup of speakers is incredible too:

It goes without saying that I highly recommend this Summit for any writer who is intrigued with the concept of book coaching.

It’s taken me more than 2,000 words to try to express how much Jennie Nash has positively impacted my creative business. If you want her help and wisdom, I highly recommend you sign up for The Business of Book Coaching Summit.

Thanks!
-Dan

Many writers feel lost in an ocean of resources that are meant to help them write more, and ensure their writing reaches readers. They are drowning in an endless amount of courses, webinars, podcasts, blog posts, books, and other resources that are meant to tell them what works.

But I find that the one thing that truly works in helping writers accomplish these things is to show up and lend a helping hand.

One way I have worked hard to do this is by recording videos that are meant for tiny audiences. In many cases, I record a video that is meant to offer my advice, my ideas, my personalized strategies to an audience of 1 person. Sometimes the video is for a small group of 10-15 people.

As so many people have tried to go “viral” with what they share, reaching as many people as possible, I’ve been working hard to do the opposite. I want to show up to help one person at a time. Because honestly, I think that can be the powerful difference between someone struggling alone, and someone actually writing, actually publishing, actually having their work read. Not giving them a viral video, but giving them my attention and highly personalized advice.

I just added up how many of these videos I created this year, 5-15 minute videos each meant for a tiny audience. It was way more than I thought, 750+ videos! Here is a sampling of what that looks like:

In reflecting on what I have accomplished in 2019, and what I hope to do in 2020, I’m realizing that I don’t want to scale up. I want to scale down. I am not trying to find massive success where I reach ever-growing numbers of “followers.”

Instead, I truly want to help one person. One writer at at time. In a direct manner — actually engaging with them. Understanding their challenges, their goals. Then working with them to come up with solutions and be a partner in making that process a reality.

Someone recently asked me how many downloads my podcast has. I honestly have no idea. How much traffic does my website get? I couldn’t even begin to tell you. What is the growth rate of my email newsletter? After nearly 15 years of sending it, I don’t have a clue.

I don’t want to fall into that trap. The trap of seeing my work as a series of numbers. Numbers that must grow in order to show “success.” Numbers that obfuscate my true goal of not “reaching” people, but truly helping writers.

One of the ways I do this that I am most proud of is my Creative Shift Mastermind group. This is where 10-15 writers join me for a quarter and we collaborate on how to make creativity and writing a priority in their lives. I have been running this group every quarter for more than four years now. What that means is that every morning, I show up to this group. I respond to their questions, brainstorm strategies specific to their lives, and yes, I record a brand new video for this group each and every weekday.

In my planning for 2020, I’ve been reviewing how people’s lives have been impacted by the Mastermind, and I’m not going to lie, I got emotional. Not because of some fancy number I can show off, but because these people are showing up to ensure their writing has an impact. It is truly an honor to be able to show up with them. This is a glimpse at what a few of those people have had to say:

“Dan is truly expert at understanding the creative process. I was amazed at his ability to encourage and challenge writers and artists in many different genres to grow and transform their work. I recommend the Mastermind to anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of their own creative process and developing the tools to become more productive and more confident.”
– Ruth Franklin

“Before I joined the Mastermind, I struggled to find time to write, I yearned for a creative community, and I felt like I was at a crossroads in my career. Through the Mastermind, I now have firmly established writing habits, I’m close to finishing my novel, and I have a plan in place to grow my writing career. Dan Blank is a sherpa for the creative explorer inside all of us. “
— Tony Bonds

“I was in a tough place and knew I needed the right kind of support and education to come out of it. The Creative Shift Mastermind provided that. Dan addresses the challenging aspects of creative work – self-doubt, the curveballs that life throws, the “daily grind” stuff – and he helps you come out on top. After taking this Mastermind my whole life has changed: I am healthier, I am happier in my life, and I am succeeding at reaching my creative goals.”
– Karen Lock Kolp

“Dan’s style is gentle, kind, but also very honest. He shared such clear wisdom with the group or even individually. It was so refreshing to receive feedback based on his decades of experience working with creative professionals. Dan is a true mentor and I felt, under his apprenticeship, that I finally had the freedom and permission to be who I have been as a writer all along.”
– Jeannie Ewing

Thank you so much!
-Dan