A 1-sentence version of who I am:
I’m a content strategist who can help you get more clients from your content.
A brief history of my adventures in content strategy:
2016 to present:
• I help hundreds of clients generate millions of dollars in revenue from their content and do the same for my own.
• My newsletter, podcast, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube channel attract more than 100,000 followers and become the engine of my entire business.
2011 – 2016:
• I’m hired as the first ever Managing Director of Digital Media and Marketing for the 97-year-old Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences where I oversee all social and digital marketing for The Oscars.
• I lead the team behind the legendary Ellen selfie that broke Twitter, oversee digital marketing for the highest-rated Oscars telecast in 20 years, and grow the Academy’s social media following from 400,000 to more than 10 million followers in just five years.
• Variety names me one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders” and The Hollywood Reporter calls me a “digital guru.” No one else calls me either of those things.
2009 – 2011:
• I launch Connected Comedy, a blog and consulting company focused on showing comedians how to use content to grow their audience.
• It all starts with a PDF of “99 Places To Promote Your Comedy Content” that I sell for $10 – this is the first money I ever made online.
2007 – 2009:
• I’m hired as the Senior VP of Content and Marketing for Comedy.com, a startup comedy website.
• As part of the deal, the site acquires my own popular comedy blog – so maybe this is actually the first dollar I made online?
• I produce a series of branded niche standup comedy shows including monthly residencies at The Hollywood Improv and national tours.
2005 – 2007
• As a marketing writer at New Line Cinema I craft campaigns for hit films like Wedding Crashers.
• While at New Line, I launch my own production company as a side hustle with someone else who works at the studio.
• We name our company Take The Stairs Productions because we’d take the stairs to sneak out to meetings without getting caught during our day jobs.
2001 – 2005
• As a film journalist at The Hollywood Reporter, I regularly publish as many as five articles a day about the happenings at studios like Disney, Sony, and Paramount.
• I “do lunch” with heads of studios, big-time producers, and other Hollywood hot shots every week and they give me a better education about the film business than I ever could have gotten at film school.
1999 – 2000
• I cover the film industry as the Assistant Film Editor at Inside.com, an industry news publication designed to be an internet competitor to the Hollywood trade magazines.
• Part of my job entails writing a blog highlighting the news of the day which could only be done at midnight because mainstream publications didn’t update their websites during the day!
1998 – 1999
• I work as a Content Producer for Celebrity Sightings, a startup company building official websites for celebrities who at this time have no idea why they would want a website.
• Most of the clients are kid celebrities like Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jessica Biel.
1997 – 1998
• I get my first job out of college as a receptionist at a boutique Hollywood PR agency that reps shows like Ally McBeal.
• I’m given the chance to write a press release for the Game Show Network’s new slate and what I come up with is so good I’m pulled off the reception desk immediately and a week later become the office’s sole PR writer.
1993 – 1997
• I major in journalism and skipping class at The University of Maryland.
• I start school planning to become a sports reporter, never write a single sports article while I’m there, shift into covering politics until I get an internship covering the Supreme Court and Congress and realize I DON’T want to do that. So I shift to entertainment.
• I move to Los Angeles after graduation without a job and without knowing anyone other than my Mom’s cousins who let me stay with them. I get a job in a week because a person’s green card didn’t come through and they had an opening.
What I do when I’m not getting clients from content:
I live in Los Angeles with my wife (who’s a MUCH better sales person than me) and my 2-year-old daughter (who’s a MUCH better sales person than both of us).