Lone Wolf
Nine years ago, I posted to the World Pie Domination blog for the very first time. Blogging was THE THING TO DO in 2013 and I had a list of popular blogs that I would read daily. With limited exception, those blogs don’t exist today - most gave up along the way or turned to podcasting or purely social media. Anyone else remember reading Young House Love way back then? I waited for regular updates on their Ikea adventures, but then they eventually moved to podcasting only. And then they gave up the podcast and now they only do Instastories that are 92% affiliate links.
But here I still am, which is surprising because the only other things I’ve committed nine years to is marriage, motherhood, and select friendships. And I guess if I don’t carve out an active space on the Internet to discuss all things PJP, then where does all that go? It can’t just happen and not be discussed, there’s simply too much interesting in every day. Typing it all out gives our experiences a bit of gravitas - sharing our days makes me think through them objectively and then share them in ways that are relatable. And honestly, sometimes it makes me think about whatever I’m discussing in a new or different way. Basically, I’m just journaling and letting thousands of people read it.
By estimate, I’ve written around 2,340 posts in nine years. And I bet if we printed it all out, we would have HUNDREDS of pages. I’ve always wanted to write a book and now I’ve probably written three books, just in posts over nine years. If there is an indirect path to any goal, I will 100% pick that path. Charming.
At any rate, I do use the blog quite often to refresh my recollection about who we were in various stages of PJP. Before each Thanksgiving, I read every post-Thanksgiving round up and make notes about what worked and what didn’t. And usually I’m astounded by the goofy stuff we’ve done and how we are still here, irregardless on how much we got into our own way as we grew our business. I’ve been sad, mad, happy, confused, and determined in our posts…which is to say that we’ve pretty much always been ourselves, no matter what the situation.
My draw to post that very first time on September 25, 2013 - besides being low-key jealous of the fame Young House Love was experiencing - was that nothing really honest about starting a small business existed on the 2013 Internet. Most content promised entrepreneurship to be easy, lucrative, and fun. And while it can be fun, it isn’t as lucrative as most assume and it is literally never easy. I needed to find a space to talk about the truth of it all. So I created what I wanted to read. And here we are all these years later with no plans to stop, though blogging is becoming the lone wolf of social media. I can’t even care because if anyone reads these and enjoys them, my work here is done. And when we have 50 stores and Thanksgiving rolls around, you bet I’ll be pulling up the Thanksgiving posts and taking notes.
