Now what?

My mom and my bosses asked me this question. It's time I answered it.

Why paid-only? I figure if you were interested in how an article was created, that might be worth something? Subscribers will be free forever if signed up before October 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM (Mountain Time).

---

When I was a kid, my mom would often ask me, “Now what?” As if I did something terrible and I knew what I’d be doing next.

Almost daring me to answer the question with anything other than the right answer. And sometimes, when I stood there stunned, I’d often think, “What am I supposed to do now?”

Not like I was lost or anything.

Rather, was there a playbook I was missing out on? Did they share this playbook in school, and I slept through it?

What was the path forward?

(Most times, I’d just clean up my mess and move on.)

When I’d hear the question from a boss, it’d be more in the sense of “That’s great, now what?”

As if there was some expectation that what I accomplished was good, not great. That there was something more.

Something I wasn’t seeing, yet something else.

This question, coming from these roles, made me a better person. A better professional.

Even though it’s me who continues asking the question: Now what?

2008: Pivot 1

We moved to New York City from San Francisco in 2007, and I quickly got caught up in the New York buzz. I felt energized, wanting to do more, going beyond my corporate 9-5.

I started a monthly meetup called the Work From Home Meeting, where more than 150 members signed up and joined us at The Dead Poet every month.

In order to start that meeting, I set up my first (of many) websites, and my internet writing career was born.

---

---

While my internet writing career ebbed and flowed based on my corporate career, it was a refreshing outlet.

It didn’t answer the “now what?” question, although it did open my eyes that there was more out there.

2023: Pivot 2

Fifteen years later, and I’ve made a few more changes.

I left the corporate world, and I’ve found my writing voice and, um, niche.

Not a niche, mind you. Rather, my niche.

While I’ve been thinking a lot about writing about what I’m good at, career-wise, a few recent outlets made me realize I should use that expertise to tell stories I find interesting.

• Outlet 1 : Search Party (link), a new independent video journalism project that will investigate and decode the most important and complicated news around geopolitics and global sports.

• Outlet 2 : Search Engine with PJ Vogt (link), a newsletter for a podcast that tries to answer every question.

• Outlet 3 : Johnny Harris (link), an independent journalist making videos that help you better understand the world.

What do these outlets have in common?

They are all independent, and they are all using rich media to complement the written word to tell their stories.

So, um, now what?

I’m creating stories similar to those outlets noted above, with my own imprint (or niche):

• All articles are free and can be found here on my website.

  • My first article can be found here.

• A behind-the-scenes-like look into how I created each article can be found here on Substack.

  • Yes, this is a paid member site. I figure if you were more interested in how an article was created than others, that might be worth something?

  • Subscribers will be free forever if signed up before October 6, 2023 (5:00 AM Mountain Time).

Why two different sites?

• Articles : WordPress gives me more flexibility when designing multi-rich articles.

• Audio commentary : Substack offers an easy method for you and me to manage our subscriptions.

I hope you’ll join me in discovering my “now what.”