September 18, 2025: I didn’t send a newsletter last week, because of everything I talk about this week, below. I’m still untangling how to have a job and pursue all of the everything I still want to do. It’s seasonal. Sometimes my calendar and brain is packed, sometimes Lucia slows me down and I’m able to do nothing. This is just one of those seasons where life is packed and I’m still running back to the buffet.

​About: Writing about living a great story: mostly personal stories, adventure recaps, links to coolness and analog photos that most likely have nothing to do with what you’re reading. They are random, but I love shooting film, so the photos are snippets of my photography craft.

Quote for the Week: “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” – Russian Proverb

Read time: 5 min

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Hard Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Entrepreneur lessons are hard to learn. Not hard, like chemistry, hard like heartbreak. They hurt. They’re emotionally taxing, ego-damaging, and, sometimes, but hopefully not like heartbreak, expensive. Business lessons are part of business. Completely inevitable and ever-present. That’s part of the reason starting a business will make you a better human: it’s a masterclass in main-veining important life lessons.

One of the hardest lessons I will learn forever: Businesses don’t die from starvation. They die from indigestion. Too much, not too little. Too complicated, not too simple. Too much new, not enough the same. This hard fact has killed and continues to kill me, not just in business but in life, too. 

As an Enneagram 7, I’m all about more. More events, more people, more activities, more locations, more more more. Luckily, I’m mostly a minimalist, so that curbs more things (except for plants and photos). My more shows up heavy while traveling. I’m an Energizer Bunny when it comes to adventures, go mode full speed engaged. I just don’t stop (72 Hours in East Java video from Indonesia).

Sometimes my velocity means breaking an important travel rule: spend longer in fewer places. For example: on a 10-day Europe trip, don’t go to four countries. Limit it to two. This hard travel truth is almost always the rule because it’s better to slow down, take your time, drop in deeper than to just check off the Top 10 landmark sites. However, even though I know this, on our recent trip to Tanzania, I overextended our menu. Lucia and I spent the last four days solo in Zanzibar after two weeks on the mainland. Not in one place, maybe two, like I knew was best, but instead racing around the island on a scooter, spending almost each night in a new place. Almost. We caught ourselves in the act of disobeying the rule, so we chopped a stop and extended to stay one more night on the north coast in Nungwi. Sometimes, often, less is more. A hard lesson for a 7.

I’m starving but I’m biting off more than I can chew. It’s not just one big bite that’s overloading my jaw muscles. Bite after bite I’m continuously adding more and more to my meal, even though I know that the indigestion is killing me.

But damnit, I have to eat it all.

Here’s what's on my menu:

• October 3rd, I’m sharing a pivotal moment story at Vivid Parlor about this really cool new word I learned: “demarcation” (story next week).

• November 7th is the gallery opening for my first-ever photography exhibition, kicking off two weekends of the Austin Studio Tour. Exhibited to finally share yet-to-be-seen Mt. Kilimanjaro film photos that I’ve been reluctant to post on Instagram’s small screen. Now I get to blow them up in their full glory.

• The LIVE A GREAT STORY website rebirth is in the works, which means cranking up all the moving pieces of a long-dormant machine stashed way back in a dusty warehouse, metaphorically. In reality, the entire machine is stuffed in my closet. The site is live but I need to restock almost all of the products to prepare for the holiday season.

• This newsletter is feeding my soul, but it’s a big meal to which I’m deeply committed to continued feasting. Trying to stick to weekly but some weeks I just can’t.

• I’m snacking on hundreds, maybe over a thousand, individual 3.5"x 5" film photos scattered around our apartment. There are dozens of rolls, from Colombia, Guatemala, Tanzania and Austin, and I want to share them, but it’s a full seven-course, mouthwatering meal, and I’ve barely picked up my fork. The first course is my first attempt at a photobook organized from the 936 Kilimanjaro/Tanzania photos.

• I started a five-week dark room class to take the next steps in expanding my photography craft. I’ve only developed film once so this is a new experience. Look forward to printing large photos from my exhibit using the methods learned.

• Videos from the Serengeti, Colombia, and Mt. Kilimanjaro are sitting on a hard drive waiting to be chopped up. Next week: “Sights and Sounds of Serengeti” on my Youtube.

Each of these bullet points has a list of sub-bullet points that have even more bullet points. 

Each another bite.

Looking at my plate, there’s so much to eat. 

But there’s always room for dessert.

-z