Today, April 14, 2016, I?m posting my ceremonial blog post #400.
- On November 5, 2009, I wrote my first blog
- On November 1, 2010, I posted my 100th blog
- On October 20, 2011, I posted my 200th blog
- On October 11, 2012, I posted my 300th blog
Because of of a numbering error, this is technically post #409. I believed today’s post would be blog #400. But as it turns out, #400 posted last month on March 14, 2016. Oh well – stupid is as stupid does. This review process helped me catch the error in my numbering system. It’s been corrected. So we’re calling this – and celebrating – #400! Yippee!
You may have noticed the 3-1/2 year gap between posts #300 and 400. Prior to that, every 100 posts were coming at a rate of about 100 per year. Let me explain.
In the spring of 2013, I took a six-month, full-time work assignment as interim General Manager at Lakeland Feed. It was during this time that my regular writing stopped.
When that assignment came to an end, I initially thought I’d restart my writing in the fall of 2013. I rationalized giving myself a few weeks break and then regularly writing again after Labor Day.
In the mean time, I enrolled in several WordPress classes with the intention of launching my new website in a few months. I told myself I’ll resume writing with the launch of my new SpeakingGump 3.0 website. It turned out I was 100% correct about resuming my writing when the new website launched. The problem was I missed the launch date by about fifteen months. So two years ensued between blog posts #348 & #349.
I did post regularly from April to June of last year (2015) … but from July through October – I again went silent. Starting on November 9, 2015, I finally re-committed to regular writing. Since then, I’ve been posting on Mondays and Thursdays to this SpeakingGump blog.
Here are eight good things that occurred during my blogging hiatus.
- Major upgrade of my technology skills: WordPress; PHP & HTML programming basics; CRM & automation.
- Four additional websites launched shortly after the re-launch of SpeakingGump. All sites connected by the top nav and all complementary to SpeakingGump and the overall Steve Weber brand.
- Twenty-five blogs posted on GumptionExperience website since last fall. On that site I post every Tuesday.
- 160 Daily Inspirations posted on Montana-Speaker website since last fall. I post seven days a week.
- StudentGumption & StandPoint websites are live, fully-functional, and poised to become a regular part of my overall brand in the future despite not currently being actively worked.
- The five websites represent the whole of and foundation for the Steve Weber brand for the next five to ten to twenty years.
- I did a lot of writing in 2014. This work has not yet been published. Maybe it will be part of a future blog series or maybe it will be a book … Time will tell. How I’m supposed to share that writing has yet to be revealed.
- I decided to go guilt-free. There was a time during 2013 and 2014 when I felt guilt about not writing. I accepted it as part of my journey to not currently be publicly writing. Learning and accepting that was huge.
In the prior century reviews, I listed my Top 10 posts from the previous 100. Initially, I wasn’t going to do that this time. But when I looked closely at the forty-eight posts that appeared from Oct 2012 through April 2013 … and then the twenty-one posts from April to June 2015 … and then the last forty posts since I relaunched last November – I decided to go for it.
Here in chronological order of their posting are ten of my favorite (or significant) blogs I’ve written since SpeakingGump blog #300 posted on October 11, 2012. I’ve also included a brief explanation of why they are important to me.
- Live a Gump-like Life (# 302) The pre-cursor to Live Your Life with Gumption – which has become the universal tagline for all 5 websites.
- Front Porch Thoughts: Why I’ll Vote for Mitt Romney (# 307). I took a stand and went public with my thoughts. I’ve since decided to host a special, separate forum for taking a stand on current events and issues. SteveWeberStandPoint.com is that forum for my future commentary.
- The Evil Eye (# 315). A line I regularly use in my keynote: “If you give the evil eye once during the heat of the moment, you?re human. If you come back the next day and give the evil eye again, you?re evil.”
- Montana Student Gumption Tour (# 324). The pre-curser to StudentGumption.com website that launched in 2015. I’m still seeking my primary sponsor that I expect to find in 2016.
- Front Porch Thoughts: Consulting (# 340). The pre-cursor to taking the temporary job at Lakeland. The consulting portion of my business is now part of GumptionExperience.com under Messenger.
- SpeakingGump 3.0 (# 349). The official launch of SpeakingGump 3.0 website and my first blog post in 2 years.
- Show Up in a Good Mood (# 355). The hardest part of being Forrest Gump from years 6 to 15 for Bubba Gump Shrimp. This is a story I regularly include in my keynote.
- Modern Day Factory Workers (# 357). The continued evolution of my thought leadership in terms of what’s wrong with too many jobs today and a recurring theme in my keynotes.
- Restart the Relaunch (# 370). After the launch in the Spring of 2015 fizzled, this was the restart that finally stuck after several years of re-tooling.
- Life Lessons from the movie Forrest Gump: 01 – Opportunities (# 377). The start of the Life Lessons series. I envision this series to be the foundation of a future book. The series currently has twenty-four life lessons with another forty to seventy-five in the works. The book will be fifty or seventy-five or 100 Life Lessons from the Movie when it’s complete.
Thank you, readers, for being patent with me these last 100 posts and past few years … it’s been a journey … see you at 500! And twice a week (or so) between now and then.
SpeakingGump blog #500 should post in March of 2017. I’m back in the saddle again. Giddy-up!