Tag: blogging

11 Things I Have Learned From Publishing 1,100 Blog Posts.

10 years ago, in the fall of 2015, when Donald Trump was still best known as the star of The Apprentice, I began publishing the Adam Albrecht Blog.

I had just read a book by Jeffrey Gitomer called Little Black Book of Connections, where Gitomer wrote about the importance of having a platform to broadcast your ideas. By doing so, you can share your experience and perspective with many people at once. Which is a far more effective and efficient way of connecting and staying in touch with people than communicating one-on-one. Like Hall & Oates.

At the time, I was planning the launch of The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency I have led for the past 9.5 years. I had already dabbled with 6 different blog attempts at that point. In each case, I stopped writing almost as quickly as I started. I simply didn’t have the motivation or the habit to keep them going.

But The Adam Albrecht Blog stuck. Like bubble gum in hair. I spend as much time writing each week as I do eating food or exercising. I spend as much time writing as I do commuting to and from work each week.

All this writing has changed my life. The blogging has led to writing books, which have led to amazing speaking opportunities all over the country. (I would also be happy to speak in any of the other 135 countries where my blog has been read.)

The writing keeps my thinking sharp, like aged cheddar. It creates something of value to contribute to the world 2-3 times each week. Remember, your value to others is directly related to your contribution.

Additionally, because I share all of this writing on broadly visited platforms, I am often top of mind when other people have relevant opportunities. Which means I get more than my fair share of great opportunities. Which is the whole point of advertising.

The Math

This is my 1,100th blog post. It’s a crazy big number to think about. But it’s a simple example of small, consistent efforts compounding over time. 1,100 published blog posts over 10 years equals 110 posts per year. That means, on average, I have published a new blog post every 3.3 days. Or 2 blog posts per week, consistently for 10 years.

If all this math talk sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown to you, just know that I have written a lot over the past decade. And while I have shared a pile of ideas, lessons and insights with the blog-accessing world, the person who has learned the most through this process is me. Because if you don’t learn a great deal from writing that much, you probably aren’t all that smart to begin with.

11 things I have learned from publishing 1,100 blog posts.

You can’t get to 1,100 without the first step.

1. Get started.

While a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, a blog of 1100 stories begins with a single post. I started with a post titled The Perfect Agency Project, which I published on November 9th, 2015. (That was also the name of the blog for the first few years.) Two days later, I followed up with a post titled The perfect agency could be like the DMV. On November 17th, 2015, I published the seminal work, The A-holes Rule. And I was off and writing.

Those first 3 posts gave me a taste for what could be. Just like Neil Armstrong said, it was the first small step that mattered most. If you want to create a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, newsletter, column or any other knowledge share, don’t overthink it. Just get started. That is the pass/fail of any undertaking. Action is the best teacher. You can figure out the rest as you go. Need more help here? Try reading Why you should be an Imperfectionist, like me.

This is my blogging in-action shot.

2. Write About Things You Really Care About.

This makes all the difference. Don’t just write about things you think you should write about. Choose things you really care about, and really think about. It will mean you have a deep well of inspiration. I write regularly about advertising, entrepreneurship, business, creativity, and self-improvement and human relationships.

Unlike a magazine, newspaper or professional blog, the beautiful thing about a personal blog is that you don’t have anyone telling you what you can and can’t write about. I have developed a rule not to complain in my blog posts. But other than that, anything goes. Including these random posts about the fly that landed in my ranch dressing and a strange encounter I had at my local Piggly Wiggly.

3. Create A Strong Writing Habit.

I quickly realized that the best time for me to write is first thing in the morning. I wake up at 6 am and write for an hour, Sunday through Thursday. I don’t think about it. I just do it, automatically. Like Nike.

My writing habit was created in the first year, and it made everything easier. Find a time that works for you every day, or every weekday, or every weekend day, and make it happen. Then watch the production pour in. As Will Durant (not Aristotle) wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” If you consistently write, you are a writer. And as Matthew McConaughey said, “All write, all write, all write!”

4. Don’t Worry About Readership.

I would love it if every blog post was read by millions of people. But I learned early on that even when you write really good posts on really important topics, you never know what is going to be read and what won’t. You’re blog relies on a series of algorithms to get in front of people. Whether you are posting it on WordPress, sharing on Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium or other platforms, the algorithms play gatekeeper. So write to positively impact just one person, and you have created real value. I also learned that it is valuable to create your own newsletter so that you control the channel. So write good posts that offer value. That is all you should ever care about. Well, that and human rights. 

I’ve never heard this guy sing, but I can tell he has a distinct voice. Or he couldn’t rock that hat.

5. Create Your Own Voice.

I have discovered that my favorite writing style mirrors my speaking style. So I write the way I talk. Which is full of random asides and pop culture references. Because that’s the way my mental machine works.

But I have also landed on a recipe that creates a distinct flavor for my writing. I want everyone who reads my work to learn a little, laugh a little and lift a little. Which means my writings should be educational, humorous and optimistic. Most non-fiction writing is educational. It’s the addition of humor and optimism that makes my writings more Rocky Road than vanilla. Find your own flavor. Blogging is great for helping you find it. Just keep writing and experimenting until you find a style that suits you. Like a business suit, jumpsuit or birthday suit.

6. Start A Draft Whenever You Have An Idea.  

Inspiration for posts can come from anywhere. When inspiration strikes, write the basic idea into a quick draft on your phone, computer or notebook. I currently have hundreds of unpublished drafts. In fact, my blog is so drafty I am regularly served ads for weather-stripping. Your ideas are likely to disappear if you don’t write them down. Having several drafts started gives you plenty of options to work with on days when you are less inspired to write something new.

7.  Posting Brings Good Things.  

Every time I publish a post something good happens. I get an opportunity or an introduction. I hear from a friend or family member. Or I get a kind, thankful or supportive comment from a reader. And sometimes, I get asked to emcee a charitable luncheon by my friend Stacy Sollenberger (second from right), where I meet a future employee who helps bring great new opportunities to The Weaponry. Or my friend Tim McKercher forwards a post to Vanilla Ice, who tweets the post out to the world. You know, that kinda stuff.

 8. There Is Always Something To Fix.

When I look back at my published posts I feel like Michael Jackson looking at his face. Because there is always something I want to change. Always. I would add another example, smooth a transition, insert another joke. (Or take out a joke I would no longer make.) But the blog posts must get published. Published is better than perfect. It’s a blog. Not a book. You get a round of writing. A round of improving. And then you have to push that post out of the nest to fly or flop.

9.  The Real Impact Is Not Measured In Views, Follows, Likes Or Comments.

Let me address measurement one more time. After having published 1,100 posts, I am certain that you can not measure the impact of a blog in views, followers, likes or comments. The true impact of a blog is in how it impacts a life. It is in how the story, insights, information, motivation or inspiration you share improve the lives of your readers.

Blog posts are meant to help in some way. That help is not measured in likes and comments. It is measured in things like confidence, reassurance, life lessons learned, successful actions taken, and opportunities seized. Never lose sight of this. The real impact of your blog may not be recognized for years, or even decades. Be patient. And just keep writing.

10.  The Blogger Learns More Than The Reader.

When I first began writing my blog I expected to teach others a bit about the things I write about. But I learn more than anyone else. Regular writing forces a lot of self reflection, and analysis. You start viewing everything in life as lessons and insights worth sharing. The writing and editing process teaches you to clarify and refine your thinking. You draw scores of new connections and aha’s along the way. #takeonme  So regardless of whether or not anyone ever reads your writings, you will profit from the writing itself.

11. You Can Create A Massive Library Of Knowledge.

My regular blogging habit over the past decade has resulted in an estimated 550,000 words published. That is the equivalent of 11 full-sized, 50,000 word books. That means I have written a shelf worth of books for your home library. It is my contribution to the compounding pile of human knowledge. And it would take you a long time to read it all. The quantity of information, insights and experiences I have shared is almost beyond my own comprehension. But, like Sonny Bono, I am glad I have shared so much. It has provided as least one more perspective for others to consider as they navigate their own adventure.

Key Takeaway

Blogging pays off. But it pays off slowly. You have to be patient. And persistent. When you are, the cumulative effect of writing and sharing good work regularly increases your value to others. Which in turn becomes valuable to you in ways that are both monetary and life-i-tary. Blogging keeps your voice and your viewpoint top of mind for others. Which means that you are both recently and relevantly recalled when opportunities surface. It works for me. It can work for you too. And despite all the tips it really comes down to this:

Think, Write, Review, Publish, Repeat.

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate your time.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. And consider subscribing to Adam’s Good Newsletter.

Collecting Dots: A Valuable Life Lesson from Slumdog Millionaire.

Back in 2008, the movie Slumdog Millionaire hit the big screens. This smash hit was about a young boy in India, growing up on the streets of Mumbai. Through a series of fortunate events, he becomes a contestant on the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. And apparently he wanted to be a millionaire.

The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2009, winning a remarkable 8 OSCARS, including Best Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won an Adam Albrecht Award for Most Badass Type Of Millionaire.

The thing I loved most about the movie was that every question our hero, Jamal (Mr Slumdog), is asked triggers a flashback to the moment or event where Jamal learned the answer to that question.

I have been thinking a lot about this movie lately, even though I only saw it once, nearly two decades ago. I am thinking about the movie now, because I am recognizing the same flashback effect in my own life. It’s kinda like the flashback scenes from Wayne’s World, but without the wavy lines and sound effects.

Today, as I am digging into my ever-larger collection of knowledge, I often experience flashbacks to the moment I acquired the now-useful knowledge. It is as if I am playing an epic game of connect the dots, and as I connect dots, I am not just drawing a line between the dots; I am understanding the origin story of each dot. Which I recognize is getting pretty deep for dots.

This is happening for 2 reasons.

First, I am thinking about the original knowledge-gain experience as I am dippin’ into my dots. I am not mindlessly accessing the answers. I am watching it happen in my head, as if I were the third person, observing the story.

Essentially, the things I could be doing involuntarily, I am performing voluntarily or consciously, which creates a deeper level of insights and understanding.

Second, I am actively trying to collect more dots. Like a knowledge farmer. Or maybe a knowledge hunter and gatherer. I read books with the purpose of collecting dots, which include facts, trivia and history. I am actively collecting tips, tricks, best practices, insights, study results, good news, quotes and positive examples. I ask a lot of questions. I listen closely to details in my conversations. And I am mindful of the knowledge harvest as it happens. It enables me to sort, label and store the knowledge harvest more effectively. Which means that a great reason I am easily accessing my dots is that I am cataloging them on arrival. Like a nerdy librarian. Which may be the only kind of librarian.

The natural question is, ‘Why am I consciously labeling and sorting the new dots I am collecting?’ I believe that this is a result of blogging and writing books. It is rewiring the way my brain works. (Which is good, because my brain has always had pretty wonky wiring.)

As a writer, it is useful to file, organize and label my dots for future use. But the same approach is also beneficial as an advertising professional, strategist, creative thinker and entrepreneur. In fact, creative thinking is nothing more than connecting dots in new and novel ways.

The Insight

We are as wise and worldly as the dots we collect and the dots we can connect. To become a better thinker, more insightful, more creative, more strategic and more empathetic, collect more dots. As you collect, consider the lessons, insights and knowledge you are gaining as you gain them. This helps you store them more effectively and access them more easily. When you have a greater collection of valuable dots, well cataloged, like spice jars stored alphabetically in your spice rack, you can access them when you need them, and create a greater range of outputs with deliberately nuanced flavors. This is a valuable skill and asset. It improves your thinking, and your value to others.

Key Takeaway

Collect more dots so you can connect more dots. Recognize the value of your dots as you amass them. Think like a prospector, and learn to recognize gems when you see them. When you understand what you have collected, whether it is the results of a scientific study, or a broken heart, it becomes more valuable to your human experience. Because you never know when you will need that information again. But when you can easily access your knowledge, you can profit from it greatly, just like the Slumdog Millionaire.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to build your personal brand, even without TikTok.

A good friend called me this week to tell me he had started a new business. Because his new entrepreneurial adventure would require him to sell himself to others, he asked me for my best advice on how to build a personal brand. I’m not sure if he asked me because I have spent my entire career building brands, because he admired my personal brand, or because he wanted to understand where I went wrong. I was afraid to ask. After a moment of reflection, I shared my best advice on building a personal brand. And here it is for you.

Influencers know something that other people don’t:

It is not about who you know. It really is about who knows you. 

The more people who know about you, what you know, and what you are doing, the better. The Kardashians have built an empire on this simple principle. And the fact that so many people can actually spell Kardashian is proof that it works.

The first thing you should consider when building your personal brand is to start a blog, vlog, podcast, newsletter, social media feed, or other regularly published knowledge. (Which would include having your own TV show like the Kardashians.)

When I first started The Weaponry, I also started The Adam Albrecht Blog. It has been an amazing vehicle to share my thoughts, ideas, successes, and learnings with the world. Literally. My blog has been read in over 150 countries. Who knew there were over 150 countries? (Geographers and cartographers knew. There are actually 195 countries.)

A regular commitment to sharing your knowledge and experience through blogging helps build your personal brand and reputation. For the past 9 years, I have shared my thoughts, experiences and perspectives two to three times per week. This creates a steady stream of value-adding content that I can then share on various other channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Medium, Reddit, Instagram and Threads. However, as of this morning, we Americans can no longer share our expertise or best dance moves and lip-syncing skillz on TikTok. Because apparently national security is more important.

As of this publishing, I have written and published 1,045 blog posts that I can share across my social media ecosystem. As a result, my business and I are both top of mind when people have relevant opportunities. I regularly hear from people that I haven’t seen in a long time who tell me that they think of me often. This is what sharing your content does for you. This makes it great for building your brand but terrible if you are in the witness protection program.

Podcasts, newsletters, vlogs, columns, and social media channels all work too. The key is to share information and value with the world broadly so that more people than you could reach through individual messages know about you, your skills, experience, philosophies, and your business offering.

While you may create your platform to help support your business, you never know where your platform may lead. My blog readers encouraged me to write a book. Which sounded crazy-hard, until 2020, when I suddenly had plenty of time on my over-sanitized hands to do crazy-hard things. I published my first book in 2021, building on the content I had first created for my blog. 

My first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?, created amazing new opportunities for me as a paid speaker, and as a guest on TV shows and podcasts. Those opportunities helped raise my profile, and enabled me to share more about my business and my personal perspective on a wide range of topics. 

In 2024 I also started publishing Adam’s Good Newsletter. The reach of the newsletter now exceeds the reach of my blog. And the newsletter is a great vehicle to share good news and information about all of my activities, interests and offerings. 

Having your own newsletter also means that you own a media channel. While Facebook, LinkedIn and X continue to modify their algorithm to their own advantage, making it harder and harder for you to share your message without paying for exposure, like at those clubs, you control everything about the way your message is shared in a newsletter. And the audience you develop for your newsletter becomes one of your greatest assets. 

What’s more, a newsletter created through a newsletter service provider like Mailchimp (which I use), Substack or others, enables you to see when readers have opened your newsletter, and which links interested them enough to click on them. This feedback enables you to create an even more valuable offering, both for your readers and for yourself and your business.

Key Takeaway 

Always remember, it’s not about who you know. It’s who knows you. Develop a platform to share what you know and what you are experiencing with others. This not only creates value for your audience, it raises your profile. It means that people will think of you more often, even when you are not thinking of them. As a result, you won’t just seek out your own new opportunities, the dynamic flips, and both people and opportunities find their way to you. Which changes everything. Kinda like a TikTok ban.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

I have started Adam’s Good Newsletter to share more positivity.

Hey Readers! I have started a newsletter called Adam’s Good Newsletter. You can cheat code to the newsletter right here, right now, like that arena hype song says. But if you want the backstory first, and who doesn’t like a good backstory, you can find it below.

The Backstory

The spring of 2020 was a dark time in America. COVID-19 was creeping across the country like a lung-infecting fog. Race-related issues were boiling over. And our presidential election was unfolding as one of the ugliest in American history.

The events of that spring scared the crap out of Americans. Which helped turn toilet paper into gold. During that dark and stormy time I recognized that we could all use more good news. So I committed to sharing only good, positive, uplifting stories, ideas and perspectives here in my blog.

As a result, I saw a surge in readership. People called, emailed and texted me telling me how much they appreciated the positive outlook I was sharing here. They told me they looked forward to my posts as a bright spot in their day. And they asked if I knew where they could find toilet paper.

Then, without telling anyone what I was doing, I started writing my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? I was committed to writing a book that would help readers learn a little, laugh a little, and lift a little.

18 months later the book was published and my life changed for the better. Suddenly I had speaking opportunities, TV and podcast interviews, and more interesting things to talk about at career day at my kids’ school. Readers sent me pictures of my book all over the world. Well not in North Korea. Or Antarctica. Or the Gulag. #BookGoals

Now, I had a blog and a book. But I became obsessed with a third vehicle for sharing positivity. Because somewhere between the simplicity of a blog post and the intensity of a book lies the newsletter. For years I wanted to create a fun newsletter to spread good news, ideas, recommendations, motivational quotes, photos, and a little more humor.

But I couldn’t find the time in my schedule to start the newsletter until June of this year, when I finally started publishing Adam’s Good Newsletter.

I just published the 4th edition. And If you have read this far you will like the newsletter. You can check it out by giving this link the old click-a-roo. You can also sign up to receive it fresh in your inbox, and check out past issues.

Please message me at adam@theweaponry if you would like to be added to the mailing list. (Also message me if you have found The Fountain of Youth or a Wonka Bar with the golden ticket.)

Additional Note:

I just created the literary equivalent of a Turducken. Because I stuffed both my book and my newsletter inside my blog. Boom!

This is my 1000th blog post! Here’s how I did it.

In 2015 I read a book titled The Little Black Book of Connections by the self-proclaimed King of Sales, Jeffery Gitomer. One of the important tenets of the book is, Success is not about who you know, but who knows you. (Who knew?)

Gitomer goes on to share that the best way to have more people know you is to share your knowledge, expertise, ideas and experiences broadly. Which is what Kim Kardashian did with her first home movie back in 2007. And look how well that worked out for her.

Gitomer points out that platforms like blogs, vlogs, podcasts, editorial columns and books enable you to share your ideas with many people at once. In fact, it allows people you would never meet face to face to discover your ideas and be positively impacted by your knowledge and expertise.

What started with a single blog post has gone farther than I ever imagined.

Gettin’ Bloggy With It

In the fall of 2015, I began planning to launch a new advertising agency. So I decided to take Gitomer’s advice and start blogging to share my ideas about advertising, branding, and creativity. I also wanted to share what I was learning about entrepreneurship. Success leaves clues. And I wanted to share breadcrumbs for other entrepreneurs to follow. (It seems I failed to learn the downside of leaving breadcrumbs from Hansel and Gretel.)

I wasn’t sure how the whole blogging thing would go. I had tried it before. In fact, I had started 5 or 6 different blogs and quickly stopped. But this time I felt more inspired. I had Gitomer’s encouragement. I had a strong desire to succeed as an entrepreneur. (And I wanted to be able to feed my family.) I believed that writing a blog would be a great way to share my expertise, let people know I was starting The Weaponry, and share our growth and success.

I have always enjoyed writing. I started my career as a copywriter. So I figured that writing a blog would be fun. It would enable me to tap into my strengths. And most importantly, it would allow me to write funny things without a client or editor telling me no.

So I began writing in November of 2015. And like Forrest Gump, I just kept going, and people started to follow. I began slowly, with a blog post every week. Then I moved to 2 posts per week. And finally, I developed a 3 post-per-week habit, writing 5 days a week, and publishing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, when Chick-fil-A was closed.

Today, less than 9 years later, I have published 1000 blog posts!

My writings have generally fallen into 3 buckets:

  1. Marketing: This covers the topics of marketing, advertising, branding, creativity, design, writing and yes, blogging. Which is totally meta. (Non-Zuckerberg meta.)
  2. Business: This includes entrepreneurship, startups, sales, network development, professional development, and my personal favorite, funny business.
  3. Self-Improvement: This was unintentional. But I have written a lot about personal development and motivation. I have learned so much over the past 9 years about how to do better and be better (through trial and error) that I felt I had to share these lessons.
These are all the countries where my blog has been read. North Korea, Iran and the croissant in Africa are holding out on me.

What Do 1000 blog posts look like?

  • 111 blog posts every year.
  • More than 2 new blog posts every week.
  • The equivalent of 10 full length 50,000 word books
  • A minimum of 2000 hours of writing time.
  • The equivalent of one full year of 40-hour work weeks spent writing blog posts.
  • The equivalent word count of writing The Old Testament of The Bible. (Truly I say to you, this fact hath blown my mind.)
Blogging created a pathway to publishing books. And holding books I published.

5 Benefits Of Blogging

  1. It provides original content I can share on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Medium and Reddit (Although Reddit readers hate everything, like Mikey.)
  2. It provides a great collection of well-considered and well-organized ideas and stories that are ready to be adapted to books. The hardest work of writing my books happens in the blog stage. The easiest work is collecting blog posts with related themes to create chapters and books.
  3. Blogging created a path to professional speaking. The blog posts led to a book. The book led to speaking opportunities. The speaking opportunities have created the best source of income in my Information Creation + Communication Ecosystem.
  4. Blogging organizes great ideas, lessons and stories to share as a professional speaker.
  5. The blogs have allowed me to share far more jokes and humorous asides than I would be able to share any other way. This is really the thing that keeps me writing.
I was excited to hit 200 posts back in 2018 when I was just a baby blogger.

6 Things I Want Everyone To Know About Writing 1000 Blog Posts

  1. Anyone can do it.
  2. There are no barriers.
  3. There are tons of tools and templates that make it easy. (I use WordPress to write and publish my blog.)
  4. The 2 key steps are: 1. Get Started 2. Don’t Stop.
  5. To sustain a blog you have to create a regular writing habit. Write at the same time for a set duration every day, or every weekday, or every Friday or whatever works for you. The habit is how it happens. (Which is also how you know someone is a nun.)
  6. Don’t do it for huge numbers of readers. You can’t predict who will read your posts, or how many people will read what you write. If you are like most people, including me, your reach and readership will always be lower than you would want. And my blog has been read in over 160 countries. But you can create good information that can have a huge impact on one reader. That’s the real win of blogging.

Key Takeaway

As the saying goes, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. And the best way to write 1000 blog posts is one post at a time. Find a topic or topics that you are really interested in. Get started. And just don’t stop. Write at a regular time each day or each week. And when people tell you they enjoy reading your posts, or somehow benefited from your writings, use that as fuel to keep going. The world needs more good ideas, lessons, and stories. You have them. So start sharing. You’ll be surprised by how many lives you can positively impact. And that is the real benefit.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why I’m launching my good newsletter, and how to sign up.

In 2015 I began writing a blog to share what I was learning as I started the new advertising and ideas agency The Weaponry. I wrote about entrepreneurship, startups, advertising and marketing. But I also shared lessons I was learning about self-improvement, professional development and positivity. Because if you have a blog you can write about anything you want. Even the strange people you meet at Piggly Wiggly.

People seemed to like what I was writing. And my blog readers encouraged me to write a book. So in 2021, I published my first book titled What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Which lead to speaking opportunities across the country. The whole experience was a good reminder, as Michael Jackson said, that you wanna be startin somethin. (You gotta be startin somethin.)

I have been blogging for more than 8 years now. In fact, this is the 987th post I have published. According to WordPress, my blog has been read in 187 countries. Including almost all the countries you’ve ever heard of except North Korea. Clearly, I am no Dennis Rodman.

Sharing the insights and ideas I have discovered with the world is my way of paying forward all the knowledge and good fortune that has come my way. But today I have a problem. And it goes beyond North Korea.

The Problem

Most people discover my writings through a social media distribution channel. These channels include Facebook, TwiXter, WordPress and LinkedIn. The problem is that I don’t own any of those platforms. Which means that Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jimmy WordPress and ‘Linky’ Linkenstein decide whether or not to share my posts with you to read and benefit from. In fact, if you are not reading this post it is likely because those gatekeepers are keeping us apart. (And while obviously, you are reading this post, there are billions on this planet who are not.)

The best way around this challenge is to create a newsletter that enables me to share worthwhile lessons, stories and positive thoughts directly with you and the billions of literate humans on Earth.

I have been thinking about this for several years. I have even crafted examples of the newsletter and gathered an initial email distribution list. But I have never sent out a newsletter.

It’s Go Time

I recently had another birthday. (Yay me!) This spurred significant self-reflection. And one of the things that I reflected on was my unborn newsletter. I resolved to begin publishing it right away.

So that is what I am doing.

Adam’s Good Newsletter

I am excited to announce the introduction of Adam’s Good Newsletter. It will contain the articles I write each week. Plus it will include a range of other fun and quick elements like:

  • Book reviews and recommendations
  • Pictures
  • Stories
  • Quotes I find helpful
  • Things I’m digging
  • My personal book writing updates and previews
  • Other things I don’t know I am going to share

The goal of writing this newsletter remains the same as all of my other writings:

To help people learn a little, laugh a little, and lift a little.

To sign up for this email newsletter please send your email to adam@theweaponry.com with the subject: Newsletter. Or just respond wherever you read this post. I’ll get the message. And as long as I also get an email address, you are in like Flynn.

I plan to share one new issue each week. Although it may be every other week or monthly as I figure out a sustainable rhythm.

As with the blog, the books, and the business, I am excited to see where this goes.

Thanks for reading. I always appreciate your time.

-AA

Why you can’t wait for creative lightning to strike.

I have spent my entire career as a professional creative. I started my career in advertising as a junior copywriter and worked my way up to Chief Creative Officer. Then I Rumpelstiltskined an advertising and idea agency called The Weaponry out of paper clips, bubble gum, and Real Red by Benjamin Moore.

Away from work, I do more creating. I have written 954 blog posts at The Adam Albrecht Blog. I wrote another hundred posts at a humor blog titled You Call That Work? I’ve authored a book titled What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? I co-authored a book called The Culture Turnaround. I’ve co-created a comic strip called Kirky. And I have written and recorded several songs. One song I wrote when I was 16 was the first dance at my co-writers wedding reception. Think Always and Forever by Kip Dynamite.

I know a lot about creativity and the creative process. And I have found that most people wait for inspirational lightning to strike before they create. But Baby, I, I, I can’t wait.

What I Do Instead

I hunt the lightning every day. I put up lightning rods. I tie keys to my kite and fly it to the clouds. I erect an aluminum extension ladder to the heavens. I lasso the lightning and ride it. Like Metallica.

Clockwork Inspiration 

What that really means is that I sit down to write every morning by 6:10 am. And when I sit down to work, the inspiration comes. Every day. Without fail.

Because I have created a creative habit, the universe knows it has to deliver the electricity to my desk. Just like nature’s paperboy throwing the morning edition on the porch. (Or like Paperboy throwing Ditty my way in 1993.) And like clockwork, the electricity starts flowing my way.

I go through each day attracting bolts of inspiration the way mobile home parks attract tornadoes. My mind is always tuned for inspiration. Whatever the universe is serving, I can use. My eyes and ears are always open and taking in sparks, flickers and bolts. And because I’m always receptive, I always receive. Like Taylor Swift’s boyfriend. Or OBJ.

To be creative you have to be actively curious. Which means you are actively consuming inputs. Looking. Listening. Reading. Considering. Every day I am collecting more dots. Because creativity is nothing more than collecting dots, and then connecting your dots in new and novel ways.

Key Takeaway

Don’t wait for inspiration to strike you. Go strike the inspiration. Force it to pay attention to you every day by simply sitting down and doing the work. That’s what professional creatives do. And the juice just keeps flowing.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

I finally reached Greenland! Now things get harder.

When I first started this blog back in 2015 I was a writer with no readers. But I wrote anyway. I shared personal and professional lessons I was learning so that other people could learn them faster than I did. It was my way of paying it forward, even when I was getting things backward.

I slowly started accumulating readers. I would check my WordPress stats every day to see how many people read my posts. But I became even more fascinated with where the readers were. I soon noticed that this little publishing platform I wrote my posts on could deliver my thoughts all over the world. Like Santa.

I kept writing, and my WordPress world map began turning pink as I reached readers in more and more countries. I couldn’t believe how far the interwebs could fling my writings. I found that so much of my map had turned pink that I started focusing on the countries I hadn’t reached. I realize that I had a map-half-empty perspective. But those were my growth opportunities. Like you hear about in your performance reviews.

Greenland

For years, the biggest emptiest space on my readership map was Greenland. Cartographically speaking, Greenland looks more important than it is. It appears on most maps to be the size of South America or Africa. It looks much bigger than the United States. Which is why being rejected from Greenland was so hurtful. And because it is centrally located between North America and Europe on most of the maps we use in the US, an obviously empty Greenland on my map was like a big zit on the middle of my forehead. Pass the blog post Proactiv.

Look at Greenland now looking all like Pinkland on my readership map.

But 2023 was a milestone year for me. I finally did it. Like Erik The Red, I made it to Greenland! Not once, but twice. It felt like a major mapial accomplishment. Now my readership map looks much more impressive. But it took a lot of work. By the end of 2023, I had published 944 blog post malones.

In 2023 I also added Cuba. And not the Goodling Jr version. The real, cigar making, Elián Gonzálezy, Castro-y Cuba. While Cuba is not nearly as big as Greenland, it is just 90 miles from the United States. Since I felt as if I could kayak there with a printed copy of my blog posts, not reaching Cuba by internet felt like my Bay of Pigs moment.

What’s Next

Now I set new, harder goals. Next, I need to reach Iran and North Korea. Yikes… I also have yet to reach Haiti. Which I hatey. In Africa, I still have to crack Western Sahara and the croissant-looking area that includes Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo and Equatorial Guinea. Then there is Eritrea, which sounds like a medication they advertise on TV.

I also need to add The Fualkan Islands (What the Fualk guys?) Plus, the ever-unpopular Tajikistan. Svalbard remains the white dandruff on the top of my map. It’s part of Norway. (Come on, Svalbard, I’m 25% Norwegian.) I also have yet to reach the Soloman Islands and New Caledonia, just east and northeast of Australia. So let’s make that happen in 2024 too.

Key Takeaway

Think big. But start small. Then just keep taking small steps. You accomplish your goals little by little. By plugging away every day it is amazing how much you can accomplish over time.

Some Greenland Perspective

While Greenland looks huge on most of our common maps, it is a maptical illusion. The United States is actually 4.5 times larger than Greenland. The total population of G-Land is 56,000 people. For a Green comparison, Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, has a capacity of 81,000.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

What I have learned from writing 850 blog posts.

It’s hard to believe that I have been writing this blog for over 7 years now. This is my 850th post. (The headline out front should have told you.)

When I first started blogging I was a new entrepreneur and wanted to share my experiences with the world. I wanted other people to benefit from both my failures and successes. Plus, I loved the idea of writing with no client, editor or teacher telling me what I could or couldn’t include. #boogerpoopbutt

I thought that blogging was a simple undertaking where I just sat down to type out my thoughts, learnings, and experiences 5 days a week. But now it is starting to feel like blogging was never just blogging. It was building a bridge to something else. Although I am not sure what. Maybe Terabithia.

Not long after I started writing the blog I was encouraged by readers to start a podcast. Or a vlog. Neither of which I have done. So if that was my thing, I’m not picking up the hint. Kinda like when that girl in 8th grade kept asking me to go for a walk in the woods behind the library.

But readers also encouraged me to write a book. I never thought I would find the time to write something so significant. But then covid happened. Which was bad. But it did cough free time all over me. Which was good.

I used that free time to write my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Readers have offered such a positive response to the book that I thought maybe blogging was setting me up to become an author. Maybe I was supposed to Twain myself up with an alias. Perhaps I was supposed to move to Paris. Or become a recluse in Cornish, New Hampshire. Or shoot my remains out of cannon in Aspen. So I began working on more books. In December I published another book I co-authored with Jeff Hilimire titled The Culture Turnaround.

But the book writing led to speaking opportunities. Not 1. Not 2 or 3. But many. And they keep coming. I don’t advertise that I give talks. But the requests keep coming anyway. Plus, they pay. Which means there must be value in what I am doing. In fact, I have made more money from speaking than from book sales. And no one ever paid me to blog. But then again, I like the control I have as Kenny Bloggins.

So, is the speaking the thing? I have no idea. I have grown and shed my skin enough times now that I am resigned to the fact that I don’t know where this is going. And I’m not sure it matters.

What I have learned

  • I learned that by starting a blog I gave myself a platform to create from.
  • I learned that by writing 5 days a week I developed my own writing style. Which is exactly like my speaking style. Only quieter.
  • I learned that sharing positivity gets positive responses. (Well mostly. Cuz grouches gonna grouch.)
  • I learned that if you always drop funny lines in your writings people will read anything you write just for the funny parts.
  • I learned that authors have much greater credibility than bloggers.
  • I have learned that speaking opportunities are great because they let you see people’s reactions to your stories.
  • I learned that the writer learns more than the reader.
  • I learned that the 2 great keys to success are getting started and not stopping.

Key Takeaway

Start doing that thing that really interests you. When you are excited about what you are doing you will pour a lot of time and energy into it. When you do that you will become really good at it. And people will notice. And it will open more doors to more opportunities. You never know how far it will take you. Which is part of the fun.

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+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to share your best ideas all over the world.

In the fall of 2015, I decided to create a new blog. I had tried writing blogs several times before. Most of them didn’t go anywhere. I hoped that this new blog would be different. Like Nuprin. Or Zima.

Starting At Zero

I started at zero. Zero posts. Zero readers. Zero subscribers. Zero requests for me to write anything. It was just me and my computer, creating new blog posts out of cursors and keystrokes, the way Doogie Howzer used to do it before he met your mother.

I write to help readers learn a little, laugh a little and lift a little.

Adding Value

I just started writing lessons and learnings I found valuable and that I thought would be valuable to others. I shared what I was learning about entrepreneurship as I launched the advertising and ideas agency The Weaponry in 2016. I wrote about marketing and creativity. I wrote about positive thinking and self-improvement. And I wrote a story about a woman who tried to save me from salmonella poisoning and plane crashes at a Piggly Wiggly.

Developing The Habit

I felt like the Time-To-Make-The Donuts Guy from the Dunkin Donuts commercials of my youth. That guy got up every day, without fail, and would make donuts, day after day, because the world needed donuts. He had created a donut-making habit. I created a similar habit at 6 am every day. Only I was writing, not baking, glazing, sprinkling, and holing.

The Compounding Effect

The compounding effect of a habit repeated over time is remarkable. It often sneaks up on you, like the way you catch a unique rabbit. At the start of 2023, I looked at the statistics page on this little blog project and I noticed 3 things that surprised me.

Adam Albrecht Blog Surprises

  1. I have now been writing the Adam Albrecht Blog for 8 years. I determined this through rigorous data analytics where I took the current year (2023) and subtracted the original year of publication (2015).
  2. I have published 828 blog posts.
  3. I saw the world map of where my blog has been read.

Here’s the map.

By writing day after day for years the blog has been read around the world. In fact, it has been read in 170 Countries or territories. According to Google and The United Nations (of Benneton), there are 195 sovereign nations. (And one seven-nation army.) One of my favorite statistics is that there are 38 countries that have at least triple-digit reads.

Notable countries that are boycotting this boy’s blog:

  1. Iran (So far away)
  2. Cuba (Gooding Jr.)
  3. North Korea (De Janeiro)

I get that those countries don’t allow people like me to just wi-fi into their countries, spreading positivity and pop culture references. So I am not hurt.

But then there is Greenland. That large landmass in the north apparently wants nothing to do with me. This has been a source of frustration for me for years. I just can’t seem to crack the Greenland market.

French Guiana is the only other area in the Americas that is not down with the AAB (Adam Albrect Blog). I don’t know if it is their Frenchness or their Guiananess that is to blame.

The Lesson

I started this blog at zero. I have never done any paid promotion of this blog. Yet, the ideas I have shared here have been read by people all over the world, thanks to the power of the internet and the WordPress platform.

By writing at least 5 days each week for years I also developed habits, ideas, and stories that enabled me to write my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? In the book, I shared 80 of the best life lessons I have learned. But it never would have happened if I hadn’t first started this blog.

I have now published 2 books, thanks to the writing and publishing habit I developed through this blog.

Key Takeaway

The key to long-term success is to get started. First comes the action. Then comes the accumulation. Studying doesn’t get you success. Planning doesn’t. Goals don’t. Actions do. Habits do. Simply not stopping does. So get started today. And just keep going.

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