It probably goes without saying that having a boss is one of the worst things you can do for our budding social media career.

Back in the day when I first started running Rain City Guide (in March 2005!), it was incredibly helpful to be an outsider without any ties to the industry as I could write with fearless abandon… However, it quickly became apparent to me when I started working for a realtor.com that there were tons of opinions I just couldn’t share any more.

Eventually, my daily blog posts turned into weekly blog posts and then annual blog posts… and now I see the last time I updated this site was in 2013.

I often think back often to a conversation I had with Lockhart Steele at an Inman Connect event (probably around 2009), when he asked why I had stopped blogging as much… I couldn’t give him a great answer and he warned me that if I stopped publishing, I’d love my voice.

Long-story short, I’ve had an awesome career outside of blogging. I’ve had a chance to run marketing for interesting consumer companies, b2b companies and marketing agencies. In the process, I’ve learned an incredibly amount about data-driven marketing strategies, how to successfully build marketing/sales processes… and most importantly, I’ve been able to be part of (and often build!) some truly amazing teams!

However, Lockhart was spot-on with his prediction and I also lost my online voice in the process…

Interestingly, I’m not even sure I want a large voice anymore. I’m in a different part of my life and super happy to have great adventures, share lots of stories with friends, cook lots of great food, etc. But the idea of getting on stage and being at the front-and-center at events just doesn’t interest me anymore.

Nonetheless, I feel like I’ve completely given into becoming a “consumer” of online media and not always sure when and where I should jump into the conversations.

With that in mind, over the next few weeks, I’m going to try blogging again. Not so much because I think blogs are the future (I’m well aware we live in a TikTok World), but because I’m tired of being a passive consumer of online content and want to get back to creating stuff online again…

Whether you’re just finding me or a long time friend, say hi and welcome to the adventure.