By LOYAL READERS of this blog — I think there are a couple of you out there — may have wondered why I haven’t published for the last few weeks.
My apologies for that, but there are a number of reasons for me going radio silent.
The big one is that my family has been struggling with major health issues with my in-laws, who were both hospitalized at the same time. This has been going on for most of the summer but took on more urgency with the passing of my father-in-law, Terry Itnyre, a few weeks ago. He had just celebrated his 90th birthday on September 2.
Terry had a huge impact on my life. We all miss him very much.
As you might imagine, there are family issues now in the wake of my father-in-law’s death, and it may take some time to sort them all out.
Question: Just what should this blog be?
THE OTHER REASON for the blog going radio silent is that I’ve been struggling about just what this blog should be.
I restarted The Skeptical Guy in late May 2023 after a four-year hiatus. I won’t get into the “why” behind my long break other than point to what I wrote about that in Yes, The Skeptical Guy is back … but what happened over the last four years?
But one thing I mentioned in that post has turned out to be a bigger issue than I expected — losing my job as Managing Editor at the New Zealand-based HR Technology company Fuel50.
I never expected to work there very long because I was brought in as a part-time contractor working in Marketing (a first for me). In fact, I told my wife that it was a month-to-month deal that could end at any time.
It was a good mindset to have, but the more months of contract work you string together, the more comfortable you get. About 18 months in I started thinking, “Hey! This is a pretty good gig that might take me all the way to retirement!”
I was probably better off when I had the month-to-month mindset, but Fuel50 was never happier with me than they were the last six months I was there. I felt I had a good job that would last until I wanted to retire, but when an organization hits a financial bump in the road, people get cut.
And contractors are low-hanging fruit when the cuts come. No matter how much Fuel50 loved what I was doing, I know that letting me go was an easy call.
Good vibes are nice but they rarely last
SO HOW DOES me losing my marketing job impact The Skeptical Guy?
It’s a good question that has to do with what I was working on my last five months at Fuel50 — authoring a weekly newsletter about the HR technology space. This “Weekly Wrap” was designed as a combination of curated news and insights into the current HR tech issues my Fuel50 marketing colleagues needed to know about.
I’ve written a version of this newsletter for more than 20 years for workforce.com, TLNT.com, and a few other places. It’s something that comes naturally to me and leverages my strengths — solid analytical skills and an editor’s eye for what is newsworthy.
I put together a sample “Weekly Wrap” and the Marketing Brand Manager sent a copy of it to Fuel50 CEO Anne Fulton. She loved it but felt that it shouldn’t just go to the Marketing team but was something everyone in the company needed to be be reading every week.
Almost immediately, I got positive vibes about the “Weekly Wrap” from all over Fuel50. People I had never met sent me compliments and kudos. Others forwarded it to customers, and many of those customers liked it so much that they asked if they could share it with their employees.
I’ve gotten positive feedback during my career, but NEVER had I ever gotten feedback like this.
For five months during the winter and spring of 2023, I got a stream of positive weekly comments and kudos. For the first time in a long time, I felt that I was doing something meaningful that really mattered. That rejuvenated me at a stage of life where that doesn’t usually happen.
Plus, the good vibes kept growing.
Yes, good things can end in an instant
ONE DAY IN EARLY MAY, I got the go ahead to work up a version of “Weekly Wrap” that we could send beyond Fuel50 to the larger HR tech audience. This was growing beyond anything I thought possible, and my experience and expertise seemed to be driving it. Plus, I couldn’t help but think that it was sure to be an even bigger hit if the Fuel50 staff had customers already clamoring for it
We were on a roll, I thought, and this newsletter seemed to be something that would last a while — and maybe roll me all the way to retirement.
It felt good, but sometimes, good things can abruptly end
On May 23, 2023, I had a spur-of-the-moment Zoom call with the Chief Marketing Officer where he told me about company-wide cutbacks that seemed to come out of nowhere. The message was short and sweet — the company had to cut costs and I was among a number of people who had to go. It turned out to be my last week at Fuel50.
In an instant, the “Weekly Wrap” was no more.
I immediately started looking for another job — and you can guess how that’s going — and last Fall I started another version of the Weekly Wrap here on The Skeptical Guy. It seemed like a good idea, and I hoped that perhaps someone somewhere would see it and want to pay me to write and compile it for them.
That hasn’t happened, and The Skeptical Guy version of the Weekly Wrap has never gotten a fraction of the reaction I got over at Fuel50.
There are some good reasons for that, but the bottom line is that it just isn’t working as well over here. Given the incredible feedback for it I got at Fuel50, and the lack of it here, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep it going.
Knowing when you need a change
THE EDITOR IN ME knows when it’s time for a change. I’ve been thinking about what that might be, and the possibilities seem to come down to this:
- End the Weekly Wrap here at The Skeptical Guy and just go back to writing a regular blog again. I’ve got some ideas percolating that might lead to some intriguing blog posts, and a little less structure may lead to some more interesting topics.
- Try to make some changes to the Weekly Wrap and make another go of it. I’m not convinced this will work, but I am willing to give it a try if I get some positive reader feedback for it. What would YOU like to see in a Weekly Wrap? Do you want to read it at all?
- Or, try to do a regular blog AND a pared down Weekly Wrap every week. This is possible, of course, but that’s a lot more work and I’m not sure I would be able to do it every single week. Again, some suggestions on what might go into a pared down Weekly Wrap would be helpful.
So that’s where it stands. I’ll post another, more general blog post next week, but I’m always open to doing something else.
That’s where you come in. I’d love some feedback about all this, so please, feel free to send me a note — at johnhollon@yahoo.com or (of course) johnhollon@theskepticalguy.com.
Life goes on and things change, but for the time being, The Skeptical Guy is sticking around.
Loyal Readers: I’ve been compiling this weekly wrap-up for over 20 years — from Workforce.com to TLNT.com to Fuel50 and here at The Skeptical Guy. I’d appreciate knowing what you think, so email comments to me at johnhollon@yahoo.com.
