More about this site…

When I created this site in 2015, it was exactly two years before I began writing on Quora and long before Substack existed. There were few places outside of Medium where I could express my ideas. A personal website seemed like a good solution at the time. There is already enough about me on LinkedIn.

I wanted to build a site to share my thoughts on entrepreneurship and other topics and still have the feel of a scrapbook. It was another way of paying it forward for those interested in entrepreneurship. However, I needed two things. First, I had to provide some credibility milestones—things that demonstrate that my ideas are more than just that, with documented results that were put into practice—and second, I’d needed a platform. Facebook is fine for some things, but it never felt like home or a focused brand. Social media wasn’t the right platform for me. I was shooting for authenticity.

When I discovered Quora at the end of 2017, it turned into a whole new outlet where I could answer specific questions about topics in which I had some knowledge as a way of helping others. Quora is full of opinions, but I didn't want to say anything that I didn't know to be either, effective or accurate. It was the one place my experience and work would be scrutinized, and challenged, as it should be. Quora created real-time debate, and I’ve loved all of it, and still do. What I enjoyed were the respectful differences of opinion and, most of all, the friendships that started to form. However, the participation in Quora made this site even less relevant, but I still needed an anchor somewhere as a place to put things. I still needed a website to call home and a place to write that was mine. Large Language Models have made their way into Quora with a whole new set of challenges.

The more I was writing everywhere else, the less this site mattered to me as a form of expression. It morphed into something more like the guest book you sometimes find at an old lodge where guests write ideas, except, I’m the only guest. Now that I live at Moose Lodge, it has become just that, a place to put things.

Moose Lodge

I acquired Moose Lodge in December 2021 as a place to both live and work and as a professional retreat for co-workers and collaborators, and a place that was central to my clients in all parts of the US and the globe. To my colleagues and clients in other countries it was a glimpse into life here in the US. I’m an easy flight to most major cities and the time zone makes it much more workable than the Pacific Northwest where I lived for 43 years. I moved here to be closer to family and I wanted to find a place that was more conducive to the kind of work I do and this odd combination of writing and consulting.

The lodge itself is just a name for a home named after my old dog whose nickname was “Moose.” The home was designed and built by Tom Jowett, the VP of Architecture for Bass Pro for 32 years who’s distinct style can be seen in all stores as well as Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, Missouri. This house is known as the “Bass Pro House” to many locals.

Navigating This Site

The "Journey 1, 2 and 3" and “Moose Lodge” pages are password protected because they tell the story of the daily adventure of finding Moose Lodge, and it was written specifically for my close friends, so they knew where I was and what I was doing. That journey began in mid 2021 and continues every day, even now. The “Journey” was the punchline to an even longer story. I wanted to share my experiences with those who already knew me well and wanted to keep up with this unusual idea.

The writings seem far too personal for the general public and it served as a way of keeping my friends up to date now that I’m living far from all of them. Like any good movie or book, you need context, and the Journey pages without context wouldn't make much sense to the general public. There was nothing more complicated, other than my desire to maintain a private life as I was living the story of finding and adapting to life at Moose Lodge.

Quora

As for my Quora Stats, because they matter to some; over 23+ million content views, 2,200+ answers, 159,700+ followers, 7,500+ personal followers, 117,584,000+ Quora Digest (email recipients) with 630+ answers making the Digest as of this last edit.

My E@RTC weekly Blog has 75,000+ unique visitors annually and I never sign my name. You’d think it was a different person, but nope. It’s me. I also write a humor blog under a pen name.