The truth is, I kind of lost my way.

It was a slow kind of losing.

Not the kind where you’re walking down the street, you take a couple of wrong turns, you realize your mistake and then boom … your GPS gets you back on track.

More like the kind where by the time you realize that something’s off, the best thing to do is to sit down on the curb, pull out one of those huge, cumbersome, old-fashioned paper maps and spend some time taking a good, long look at the big picture.

As it happens, I’ve spent a lot of time on that curb over the last few weeks and in the process, I came to an important realization.

I’ve been using someone else’s map

Which was a pretty shocking realization given that I’m the one who’s usually telling other folks (including you) that you don’t need to do things the way they’ve always been done.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s no harm in checking out (or in my case, obsessively analyzing) how the best-of-the-best do everything from opt-ins and online courses to webinars and websites.

That’s just good business practice.

But as I was painfully reminded a few weeks ago, (as in ‘walking into a brick wall at full speed’ painfully reminded), it’s WAY too easy to lose yourself in everyone else’s noise about how things absolutely need to be done.

And I mean literally lose your SELF.

Lose your SENSE of SELF.

Lose what makes you unique, special and different.

Lose that drive that gets you up in the morning, carries you through the day and sends you peacefully off to sleep at night.

That drive that comes from knowing that you’re doing WHAT you’re here to do in the WAY you’re here to do it.

Yes… it would be crazy to ignore what’s out there working and getting results.

But it would also be crazy to sell your soul to someone else’s sense of direction.

And that’s what I realized when I hit that wall.

And that means that some things need to change.

One of those things is our approach to our online course (coming soon so stay tuned) and another one of those things is our newsletter.

Because one of the many realizations that I had on that curb is that this has become a lot less of a News-Letter and a lot more of a ‘click-here-to-go-consume-this-content-on-my-website-because-that’s-what-everyone-says-is-important’ weekly update.

Again, don’t get me wrong. If driving traffic to your site is the strategic motivation for sending out a weekly communication to YOUR list, then go for it.

But that’s not me. That’s not why I do this.

I do this to provide value to you in a way that not only builds a relationship of trust between us but that also makes me feel like ME.

I do it for the quality of the content as opposed to the quantity of the click-through rates.

I am more interested in two-way conversations and long-lasting connections than I am in one-sided comments and quick-fix conversions.

I do it because I believe in you and I want you to believe in ME.

Many of you have been on my email list for years so you may remember the ‘good ol’ days’ of my Innovation Insights newsletter which really was a News-Letter. Personally, I miss it. And I want to go back to the way it was.

So, what can you expect moving forward?

Every second Sunday you’ll receive an actual News-Letter dedicated to innovation, marketing, customer experience and entrepreneurship. (Yup. Sunday. A day when hopefully you can grab a cuppa and take more than ‘2-minutes-or-less’ to explore everything that I’ll be sending your way.)

In addition to my own content that you can read, watch and listen to at your leisure, I’ll be going back to providing links to exciting and provocative examples and perspectives that I come across during my research. (So much for those who say it’s not a good idea to link to someone else’s content.)

There will be tips, tools and techniques that you can put into action right away along with ideas, insights and inspiration that you can linger over like a long overdue conversation with a good friend.

And, of course, There Will Be Fun.

But best of all, we’re giving it a new name. So, say good-bye to ‘The Insider Report’ and…

Say hello to ‘The Full Monty.’ 

Which, just in case your imagination might be running a little wild right now, also  means “the most or best that you can have, do, or get, all that you want or need, everything, the full treatment, the lot, the whole shooting match, the whole (kit and) caboodle, the whole shebang, the whole nine yards, the whole ball of wax … “

Well… you see where I’m going here, right?

Consider this my way of letting you know that I will be working hard to continue to be worthy of showing up in your inbox.

And speaking of your inbox, you can expect your first issue of The Full Monty to show up on Sunday, March 17.

PS. Whose map are you following?

Imagine the Possibilities!