🎮 UPDATE: What I'm doing next

That feeling when the suspense is terrible

Last week I released a list of 26 potential things that I might do next and asked you to guess. I am trash at blogging.

I’m gonna keep up the charade and address all of the options that were guessed. If anyone guessed correctly, you will find out what I am doing next.

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A. Take a break and spend more time with my family

My stepmom guessed this one. LOL. Adorable!

Truth is as someone who has worked from home for 5 years, I do spend quite a lot of time with my family. Evenings from 5p-9p are exclusively family time.

But since I decided to move on from The Dad, I’ve been waking up at 6am every day (even weekends) and working non-stop, other than the dedicated family time, of course.

Sorry kids, this new venture is gonna be brutally time consuming.

B. Go back to work at GE

“There is no way you are coming back to GE (B), unless it's in some super creative role with no budget...“ - Dan Poole

True.

When I started at GE (2006) I proposed they get into the electric car business. They have a sub-business in power gen, so that’s just good biz. Plus electric cars make sense. (Centralizing power generation at the plants, where things can become more efficient over time, rather than having mini power generators (internal combustion engines) driving around all over the place.)

I was nobody then (and nobody now), so obviously it didn’t happen. Timing would’ve been amazing tho. Tesla who???

“The best time to plant a tree was 16 years ago. The second best time is now.” - Confucius, probably

No I’m not going back to GE, but maybe some day to run their electric car business.

K. Start a non-profit, providing social media marketing consulting to charities

Last year Laura and I completed training so we could serve on the board of directors for a non-profit.

(I am the guy dressed as Mario. This makes me laugh so much.)

She is now on the board at a great organization called Building Blocks for Kids. I chatted with several orgs but ultimately didn’t find a great fit. I am highly interested in philanthropy, but I want to make the most impact possible and didn’t think serving on the board was best for me.

I considered creating a shared service non-profit to help other charities. For now, I am not going to do that either.

Instead, my next thing will have a huge charitable aspect to it. Benefiting many charities but especially some I love: BB4k, A Kid Again, The Cure Starts Now, Hand to Hold, First Tee, more…

M. Run for political office

I am soooo not a political person. Tragically, I think that’s exactly the type of person we need in government leadership positions.

“I just can't see you wanting to deal with the politics in being a politician!” - Dan Poole

Yeahhhhh now more than ever, it’s like my girl Olivia Rodrigo says:

N. Start a financial advisory firm focusing on extreme early retirement

Okay I am obsessed with this little niche internet sub-culture known as F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early). I’ll discuss more later, but even if we have no hope of retiring early, the philosophy of it (minimalism, frugality, focusing on what means the most to you) has literally changed my life and made this risky next move possible.

I am a huge personal finance nerd. I highly recommend Your Money or Your Life, or Mr Money Mustache.

I actually designed one of the first versions of his site banner back in 2013.

For now, that’s where the financial nerdery ends (in this category anyway).

R. Run a comedy club

“R would be a fun spinoff set in a new town - maybe St. Louis or Chicago, and would allow old The Dad regular characters to come back for special appearances during sweeps week!“ - Jared Warner

I appreciate the sentiment, but I can’t move out of Cincinnati until my son graduates high school in 2030 (yikes!!!).

I’ve been to many comedy clubs and my all time fav is Go Bananas here in Cincinnati. They’re crushing it and are in no need of new ownership. Keep doin your thing, Go Bananas. You the best.

T. Start a meme-focused digital ad agency

When people discuss “memes”, especially in traditional media environments, the tone is patronizing and the implication is that memes are “less than” compared to other forms of content. “They’re JUST memes” etc.

The truth is memes are powerful pieces of content. The reach can be incredible, the cultural impact significant.

And they’re way harder than they look.

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” - Mark Twain

I’m a huge meme fan. This substack will discuss that ad nauseum.

But ads and ad agencies? Not so much.

U. Write a collection of short stories (fiction) anchored in fatherhood

I really want to do this one. I’m just not a good enough long form writer yet. Stick around. We’ll get there, together. 🥰

Z. Hire Coach Jsu and attempt to go pro in Rocket League

I bought Rocket League for my son’s birthday 2 years ago.

I’ve been HOOKED since. He rarely plays it.

So now in my fam if anyone gives somebody a gift that’s really for themselves (like my wife gave my daughter a hoodie that she’ll inevitably end up stealing and wearing all the time), we say “That’s so Rocket League.”

Rocket League is my favorite video game of all time. And Coach Jsu is the best in the biz. But with the average age of pro Rocket League players down in the teens, I just don’t think I have what it takes.

“It's a trick, you're hiring JSU to help you run for office.“ - Dan Tucker

Now we’re talkin.

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That’s it. No announcement today. The terrible suspense lives on. And then there were 17…

C. Go back to work at 84.51

D. Go back to work at McDonalds

E. Develop a location-based media platform called Cold Spot

F. Create a tech startup making Fitbit-like activity trackers for kids called "Joules"

G. Start a woodworking business

H. Go back to school for a PhD in Artificial Intelligence

I. Get a job at Nintendo building gaming communities

J. Partner with my friend Ally Probst to write a novel

L. Work a different job each month, documenting the experience, for a video/text career guidebook

O. Create a wholesome positive brand with good news stories, interviews, wholesome memes, etc

P. Acquire the film rights to Apathy by Paul Neilan and adapt it into a screenplay that I will direct

Q. Rewrite and publish the dark comedy novel I wrote in 2015

S. Go back to teaching at the University of Cincinnati

V. Create a social network for gamers

W. Partner with my friend Aileen Merciel on her brand Surfing Corporate

X. Write a social media business book with stories from behind the scenes at The Dad

Y. Manage rental properties