Thoughts on Jason Calacanis and Walking Away From It All


Jason Calacanis, a colleague in blogging with whom I very much respect, announced last week his retirement from blogging. Many others around the way snickered and assumed it was a joke. I never thought it was a joke – mainly because I could sympathize with his sentiments.

In his “retirement speech”, an overly dramatic event that certainly added to the speculation of a practical joke, he says:

This was an extremely difficult decision, and I haven’t made it lightly. After five years I’m not sure I know any other way of being but the blog, but at some point you have to hang it up. I know that I had made the right decision for me and my family. I am very proud of the success that we have had in blogging and I leave the game with few regrets.

He later goes on to make the statement, “Blogging is dead.”

While I certainly disagree with the latter statement, I can sympathize with the feeling. I think every day that I get up, I go through the same routine in addition to the rest of my responsibilities:

  1. Ok, what’s on my mind today? (Note I’m not asking what’s in the news today)
  2. How does what’s on my mind affect my audience
  3. What were yesterdays stats?
  4. Are my ads making money for me?
  5. Any posts pending review from one of the other editors?
  6. Ok, anyone talking about me? (Looking at Google Reader)
  7. Big story breaking now… does it apply?

Honestly, when there’s things happening in all of those points of thought, then it gets extremely tiring. Not to mention the bitchmemes that pop up on FriendFeed and Twitter that boil my blood. Then the question is, do I respond or censor myself for the sake of my business?

I have long been an antagonist of Jason’s. I hope he knows it has always been good natured, from my perspective, and not the “hating” of which he refers. I think he does.

There comes a time when an early adopter (and Jason was an early adopter of blogging) bows out to early adopt elsewhere. From my perspective, not a day goes by where I don’t think about an exit strategy. Should I sell? Should I play for an acquisition? Should I just mothball the thing, leave the archives, and start over?

Obviously, I’ve done none of this though I have attempted a sale on the site before. Something tells me I’d be a whole lot more successful with such an attempt should I try it again, but I have a job to do for awhile longer at least and so I keep plugging away (Hope you like the content!).

So Jason, thanks for being an inspiration to many. You’re still around – you only quit blogging, not social media altogether. So we’ll certainly continue to rub shoulders. See ya around the tubes!