Online Writing: The Doorway to New Possibilities

How my decision to write online redefined my life and my world.

11 years ago, I published one of my very first long-form pieces of online writing.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the decision to write online would completely change my life.

I didn’t have much of an audience back then, and I remember publishing a piece that I felt extremely proud about. It magically went viral, got re-published on Slate, and eventually gathered over a million views.

This was back in the days of my engineering career. People responded with such encouraging feedback. Someone even commented, “Amazingly well done. You should write a book.“

Something deep inside me shifted that day. I felt excited and championed. My dream of what was possible in my life and career expanded.

A few years later, I quit my job to write The Effective Engineer. And that gave me the confidence to become an entrepreneur, which then gave me the freedom to travel the world, which helped me find the sense of home in myself to leave my first marriage, which opened the doors to the love of my life.

It’s wild to trace the origins back to my decision to write online.

The string of events reminds me of what Steve Jobs said in his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

In many ways, writing online is a uniquely powerful serendipity and possibility generator — one that has opened so many doors for me.

It helped me to hone my voice and my craft — and got me much-needed feedback to iterate on what valued and what I stood for in the world.

It connected me with people on the Internet who actually resonated with my message — and that created the trust and support I needed to keep leaning in.

It gave me a sense of freedom — a way to creatively express my soul and what I wanted to offer.

It empowered me — showing me that I could create something of value that people would want to read and buy.

Most importantly, writing online connected me with dreams that I didn’t know was possible for myself.

Back then, I didn’t really have a framework for how to structure my writing or grow an online audience or understand how my writing would feed into my professional journey.

And so amidst the successes, there were also many dark moments.

Moments of struggling with imposter syndrome — who am I to write a book?

Moments of hitting publish and getting no traction — and wondering if all my creative writing energy was worth it.

Moments of painful trial and error — as I tried to figure out what to do on my own.

And sadly, even though I know that so many people would benefit from writing online — I know the dark moments stop many from getting started.

I wished I had mentorship and guidance on how to leverage my online writing to create the life I wanted — and a community to celebrate the wins and support me through the hard times.

It would have saved me so much time and energy. And it would have made the rough emotional experiences more bearable, perhaps even leading to connection to people on similar journeys.

It wasn’t until two years ago, that I realized such something like this existed — it was a course called Write of Passage.

The Missing Initiation into Online Writing

The first time I met the founder of Write of Passage, David Perell, online — I was floored.

I was sitting in the first lecture of Write of Passage, and this guy from Austin, Texas shows up in a cowboy hat “woo-hoo-ing” with some of the most infectious and genuine energy I’ve seen in an instructor.

I’ve never met anyone more enthusiastic about empowering people to write online. And I was shocked to hear students share that they were taking the class for their sixth, seventh, or even eighth time.

What was going on here?!?

In the past 7 years, I’ve invested $300K+ in personal development programs all over the world — over a college tuition’s worth. And that’s because I hold deeply the belief that the highest-ROI investment we can make is in ourselves.

I’ll be the first to admit — over the years, I’ve developed a refined taste for programs and what’s worth spending time, energy, and money on. Yes, I’m a bit of a personal development snob.

More than once, I’ve walked out of programs and retreats — sometimes after investing multiple thousands of dollars — when I realized the facilitators couldn’t lead well or when the content didn’t resonate. I didn’t want to waste my time.

As a result, I have a high quality bar and don’t really share or promote many of the programs I’ve taken.

But Write of Passage stands out. I’ve taken the course three times, and I plan to take it again this fall — and for good reason.

What is Write of Passage?

Write of Passage is an exceptionally well-designed personal transformation journey disguised as a writing course.

It’s a journey of discovering your voice, of tapping into your soul’s unique expression in the world, through the art of writing.

It’s a vibrant community of growth-minded people — all dedicated to finding their own tribe of people who resonate with their ideas.

It’s a course that teaches powerful mindsets and frameworks — and that continues to innovate every cohort (they run twice per year). The last cohort was a massive upgrade over the first time I took it.

Perell and his team have already led thousands of students through their program and know the best solutions to almost any obstacle — how to confront the blank page, how to start when you don’t have an audience, how to transform writing into professional and life opportunities, and more.

I love using the course and leaning into the community for major professional and life transitions. The first time, it was announcing that I was leaving engineering to pursue a new adventure. More recently, it was sharing that I’d be building a business to teach about partnership with my wife.

The encouragement from other students in the course meant that I didn’t need to go through either transition alone.

Every time I go through the course, my understanding of myself and my life purpose deepens.

I get the opportunity to get intimate with vulnerable parts of myself that I didn’t know were there — and then explore them through writing with a very supportive community.

My craft improves — I get deep and rapid feedback from a team of editors and fellow classmates on five pieces of writing that I publish during the course.

And I get to experience the serendipity of new connections — with fellow writers and with new people I meet online.

The course is a big investment, of both time and money (thousands of dollars), and so it’s not for everyone.

But if you have a burning sense that you were made for more than the life you’re living and ready to open the doors to more possibility, it’s well worth it.

They have two free workshops coming up to help you decide if the journey is right for you.

How to Start Writing Online — September 12 at 7 pm ET
You’ll learn some of the core principles behind what makes online writing so transformative and get some powerful tools to help kickstart your writing journey.

Test Drive Write of Passage — September 21 at 12 pm ET
You’ll get a taste test of two of the powerful frameworks that they teach in Write of Passage.

Both will give you an experience of what it could feel like to publish quality ideas and find lifelong friends online while doing it. And through that journey, you’l get closer to the person who want to be.