Today marks issue #260 of this little newsletter — which, if you do some loose math, makes it The Friday Chaser’s 5th birthday.
If it weren’t for taking Christmas Eve 2021 off, it would be five straight years without missing a week. That one week will always haunt me 🤣
When I told my 12-year-old daughter I’d been sending it for 5 years, I was kind of hoping for a “Wow, that’s amazing, Dad!”
Instead, she squinted at me and said, “Wait… people sign up to get emails?” 😅
Thanks for keeping me humble, kid. And honestly, she’s not wrong — it is a little silly.
But as I’ve learned over the past five years, silly things can still be meaningful.
When I started this thing, it was just a way to help people in TAB catch up on the best conversations in the group. A simple weekly recap.
But it’s turned into a living archive of our community — thousands of posts, hundreds of resources, and a long novel’s worth of stories, ideas, wins, and struggles shared along the way.
It’s become a part of my rhythm. Every week, I’m constantly bookmarking threads, jotting down notes, coordinating with sponsors, and trying my best to capture a small snapshot of what it feels like to be part of this niche little corner of the internet we’ve created together.
Because at its heart, that’s what this whole thing — the group, the newsletter, the events, all of it — is really about: giving us a place to belong. A place where you can ask the “dumb” questions (that aren’t dumb at all), share a win that no one else in your life would quite get, or admit you’re stuck and instantly have a dozen people reaching out to help.
Running a web business can be lonely. But inside this community, none of us are alone.
Week after week, you all remind me that we’re better — and braver — when we do this together.
This five-year milestone doesn’t feel like mine — it feels like ours. And I just want to take the opportunity to say thank you.
To everyone who opens this email every Friday. To the people that reply to share their thoughts (some in agreement, and some in opposition). To my TABLE members who are a constant source of inspiration. To the Barfly members for all the ongoing support. And to the sponsors who make sure it’s sustainable.
None of this could happen without you.
My daughter might still think it’s weird that people sign up to get emails, but if she could see what I see… the friendships, the generosity, the encouragement that shows up here every single week, I’d like to think she’d get it.
Here’s to the wonderful, silly thing we’ve built together 🍻
