My Plans
We're building the spaceship
I wrote this post on the Bird just now and wanted to share it over here as well…
Here is a glimpse inside the hanger.
https://twitter.com/Theo_TJ_Jordan/status/1764304838442021122
I want to share some thoughts about what I'm doing with these audio projects. I realize I drop links or references to project names and have never really broken down on here what my vision is with this all, especially where I have a paywall and why.
I've had a few people ask me recently if I'll be doing a wider audience podcast-like show on main channels like YT. The answer is, not really. Ever since Benjamin Boyce invited me on his show, I've had a burning passion for being on this mic I bought! I enjoy the audio medium much more than writing - though I enjoy and see value in both. But for example, I turned on that Shure mic Friday night and ripped off the below without any script or planning. I talked for 40mins straight. Lol but I enjoy spitballing these issues out loud that much. I could be on that mic every day and enjoy the heck out of it, which is pointing to what I want to share here...
I feel like I've found my calling. It's a blend of mid-life crisis, mid-life refocus, realizing what my skillset is best meant to do, a sense of the stars aligning. That popped for me a while back now and it's a fire I cannot tame at all. Quite the contrary! I'll post a link below fleshing that sentiment out further. But my point is, I could write and speak forever it feels. My daily routine, just absorbing the experiences and senses around me, is producing endless mental grinding and thoughts I want to share. I feel like there's a reason for that. We're talking daily for over three years now. And yet I enjoy it so much! From being in the weeds with heavy culture war stuff (this is why I came, what drives me, chopping the tree) to sitting by a lake with my dog when a burst of ideas come to mind about life that want out (this now drives me more and more).
But I do this all as a side gig. Granted, a really wild and quite consuming one! It hit me at the right time of life. I'm home with my wife and kids anyway and we now have digital media inserted in our minds like an IV. But the path of juggling multiple lives like this is not sustainable long-term. I simply have too many balls in the air. So how I do I resolve that tension? Walk away from my new sense of purpose and drive? I don't want to do that. I'd regret it for life ("I had to be able to tell my kids I did something."). Go hardcore on paywalling and lock off my content and hope enough people support me? I don't want to do that either. That's the other tension that's maybe even more difficult to resolve.
And so I landed where I am now. I've given my vision (the spaceship) a lot of thought. I created a framework that will allow me to continue accomplishing the primary objective of spreading awareness (this is why I don't and never will wall-off my writings) while also building a pathway that gives me a shot at my new life dream. I've set it up in a way that greatly decreases the chances of it working (but I've already achieved the success I sought here even if it never becomes something for my off-the-screen life... it already has in so many ways) but if it does, it will be cemented for the long-term. Not a flash in the pan because a YT clip did big numbers. I want to take the energy, the Brain Trust, the Conversation from here and light my own fire that lives outside this umbrella.
Enter my audio projects. In my dream world, I'd be doing them daily and spreading them as far and wide as possible all for free. But that isn't a pathway at all and I'll burn out on this track eventually (soon). Remember, the crazy grind I do on here doesn't monetarily benefit my life, and I'm the sole breadearner. This is why I've created this plan; this is why I'm giving this a shot so hard this year.
It's also why my audio work is paywalled. It's the only work of mine that is paywalled and it's going to remain that way. I always leave clips outside of it and sometimes I'll leave entire recordings. But the point of this arrangement is to try and grow the Substack base. I have a # there that if I hit, I'm switching from law full-time with media on the side to this full-time with my firm on the side. I already have a corporate plan in place there should it work. But I cannot begin that transition until I hit that #. Therein lies the rub and why I said I've created a structure that works against my own success. All good. It fits my modus operandi perfectly.
I cannot tell you how much support like this at the groundfloor means to me. Jennifer and I have gotten to know each other over the last year or two and I admire her greatly for her work. Quintessential example of this incredible web I feel so honored to be part of. I absolutely would like to chat with Jennifer and involve her in my projects. I have several directions I want to push out that she would be such an asset for. Paramount example of the type of value I see that we can build and germinate from here. I worry we're largely saturated here and convincing the same audience over and over every day. I don't see my vision as fitting neatly inside anyone else's. My "Conversations" project reflects this. I want that to become a daily fire; an energy I can take and use in a bunch of other directions I have in mind. I don't see it as "episodes". People like Jennifer have supported me at a time when I don't have much to offer in return beyond what the public can access. I'll never forget that. I got this message from Amanda out of the blue back when I first started actually using Substack beyond a backup email list...
She has no clue how much that meant to me. What a spark it lit. It's what led to creating all of this I'm hinting about right now. That era is when I realized there was something bigger here than tweets. And I say "hinting" because I have some big things coming. I'm taking all of this energy over to my own landing page. Not quite ready to share it, but the framework is now done. We're playing heavily with it now and I hope to launch it as early as next week. It will basically just be a visual center for everything I'm already doing. A landing place for my work; my own digital home. I'm super pumped about it! My legal assistant has been working wonders behind closed doors. I hope she is soon my media assistant instead. She's a gem!
In my perfect vision, I'm offering what I want to share for free and am able to build an energy beneath it that sustains. But I don't ever get there from my current posture. Instead, I just burn out eventually and pull the plug. The way I'm walling off my audio stuff is the balance I've found between these competing forces. A way to stay true to why I'm here while giving a genuine effort at seeing if I can bridge this to where I now think it's meant to go.
I can't tell you how geeked I get at the thought of being able to work on this content M-F 9-5. Everything I've pushed out has been done on the side. I have a dozen articles in my head; a half dozen projects I've already begun; so many different directions I want to drive audio projects and panel discussions, etc. I could be killing content if I could pour everything into it! What if I could build a team for it? And that's what this is all about. If I can get the kindling lit enough to reach that # I mentioned, then I make the swap and I already have everything ready to do it. I also have some plans for when the site is out to try and spark it all! I'm excited about what the future holds.
Anyhow, sorry for the marathon read. But I wanted you to know what this is all about. You have become like a digital family to me, some of you now bridges beyond the screen. More importantly, YOU are the magic I've found here. My words would burn out on their own. The Brain Trust we have here is special! And I believe I see a way to do something special with it.
I want to end by saying this is not a plea for you to join or an attempt to guilt-pressure you for not. Every one of you who takes the time to read my stuff and particularly the many who participate in the daily conversation have already rewarded me in ways you'll never know. You already support and stand in my corner 100%. You don't have to pay for my content for me to feel that way. This isn't about me getting rich either. I run a law firm, we aren't mega rich but we live well. I could pull this plug and walk away tomorrow to a life I loved before digital-me existed. This is the continuation for a sense of purpose for me now. And I think I've barely gotten started. The time is now, the iron is hot, and I'm going to strike it!
If you want to help me fuel this quest, the way to do it is to become a paid member of my Substack for $8/month. Again, the only difference paid vs not is access to the full audio projects. All my writings remain free. When I port this over to my own site, the membership there will stem from my Substack accounts. So those who have paid on Substack will have access to everything over there, and I'm going to figure out a way to reward these 'foundational' members long-term. Without you, this dream never takes wings. And I'll surely never forget that.
Cheers, my friends! Thank you again for all of the support and love you've shown. It's hard to even process; pinch-me stuff. You are simply amazing! Whether this personal flame of mine ever lights or not, this experience has changed my life forever. May we one day look back at this as merely the first few chapters!
Jennifer's great, I met her in Denver.
Sounds great!!