One day I noticed Vanessa Hudgens follows The Dad. Oh. Wow. In true dad fashion, my first thought was, âWho is Vanessa Hudgens?â (Her 45.6 million Instagram followers would like a word with me.)
It was around this time that I also noticed that author, stoic philosopher, bookstore owner (and personal hero of mine) Ryan Holiday follows The Dad. (Ryan is actually an OG fan of The Dad and has followed for a while.)
Guess which I was more impressed by?
Each week The Dadâs parent company sends out highlights. At the top it listed this beautiful nugget.
Vanessa Hudgens and Ryan Holiday, together at last. (And shout out to brand ambassador Adam Clements. What up!)
I thought this was hilarious so I decided to reach out to Ryan to thank him for his work and show him this. We chatted by phone and commiserated on social media, dad stuff, and books. (Dadvocates: please follow Ryanâs excellent dad account Daily Dad, a true gem.)
I told him I was interested in writing a social media how-to book, mixed with memoir-esque personal stories and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about how The Dad was created.
His advice was basically, âThatâs several genresâŠ. and youâre not famous enough.â Iâm paraphrasing of course. Ryan is the nicest and his literary expertise is unrivaled. He made great points.
Ryan suggested I start a Substack. Here we are.
So this Substack will be that âbook.â Drafted live, in real time, with all its flaws.
Topics
My Background: my unique childhood, personality quirks... how (and why) I escaped a soul-crushing (yet safe and comfortable) cubicle job to pursue a passion.
The Dad History: How The Dad was created and run. Spotlighting the amazing team. Lots of surprising stories about media from someone who went from zero media experience to media executive.
Social Media How To: How to build social community explained with stories and examples.Â
Whatâs next: Iâll also unveil whatâs next for me and the reasoning behind it.
Why these topics?
I've found that people think the story of leaving a corporate job to start a media brand for dads is interesting. More than once it has inspired people to make a career change and pursue a possibly risky passion.
I get asked a lot for advice on how to build a digital media brand. Sometimes it's from people who want to grow "meme accounts" or sometimes it's nonprofits or small businesses... or large businesses. I have a lot to say about this.Â
I've been asked to give talks to younger people about how to get a job "making memes and funny videos."Â Obviously there's more to it than that and I tell them so. Like anything else, it's all about hard work.Â
Most of all, I talk about the power of community. And why the sentimental, celebratory content on The Dad is important and affects people's lives in tangible ways.Â
Motivation
This is something I want (nay, NEED) to write. So I'm gonna do it, even if it doesnât make a penny. I want to get this period of my life written down. But it's also about closure as I move on to the next thing.
Most importantly, it's for my children. I want them to know what this period of our lives was like and inspire them to be willing to take risks and pursue their passions while hopefully helping people.
âThe Dad Eraâ for me was ages 34 to 39. For my kids it was 8 to 13 and 5 to 10. Formative years, to say the least. When theyâre older, what will they think of the memes I created making fun of them? Will they remember the time they dressed in cargo shorts and mustaches to shoot a video for the childrenâs book we made?
One day on the way to school, my daughter and I were laughing about some ridiculousness we just did for The Dad. I told her, âI hope you realize how lucky I am to have this job. Iâm so grateful. Itâs a special thing. Even if you work really really hard, thereâs no guarantee that you can get a job like this. I had a lot of jobs before this that were pretty grueling. I hope when youâre older you donât expect to have a job making memes with your best friends. I hope you remember what it was like when I had a ârealâ jobâŠâ
She said, âDad I barely remember that now.â
So why create this Substack? Most of all itâs for my kids. So they can remember this wild and crazy period of their lives. So they know how appreciative I am to the people who believed in me and allowed me to have this opportunity.
So they know that to do anything fulfilling in life, it takes a team of talented people working together. (And that anything fulfilling in life is extremely difficult, but worth it.)
So they know that despite the stress, turmoil, and heartbreaking tragedy in the world, thereâs still positivity worth celebrating.
Oh by the way, if you have any questions or topics youâd like me to cover, please let me know in the comments, or email/text/message me.
See you guys on the internet.