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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
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