Why I Wanted to Stop Traveling and Get Back to Building

People would hear that I was traveling with a laptop and assume the arrangement was ideal. I could say it was cool, but I did not enjoy the travel, and I wanted to get back to producing work at my desk. At the desk, I could spend the day producing work with substance.

A day at the desk could be the day I actually wanted

I had spent Thanksgiving with my family. On Black Friday, I was back at the computer working on offers, with two monitors in front of me. From the outside, spending the day there might have looked unpleasant. I was having a good time because I could produce work with substance.

What I wanted to make was specific: ads, video sales letters and funnels. I enjoyed arranging the words and the screen into something that could sell. That was the work I wanted more time for, rather than another change of location.

I wanted the writing to contain something of the person making it

I called that substance “essence.” I was frustrated by posts about using ChatGPT to produce content and by generic replies to my own writing. Copying a post into a tool and returning a bland compliment did not feel like contributing a thought to the conversation.

My criticism was aimed at the output I was seeing: writing that removed the person’s own point of view. I wanted to put something into the market that carried an idea, rather than turn participation into a polished sentence with nothing particular to say.

The travel schedule was competing with the work

I had an event, travel to another state and then a trip to Europe. Another trip was coming up, and I was not looking forward to it. I wanted to stay at the desk and write. The contrast for me was between moving again and spending more time producing the offers and creative I enjoyed making.

The argument I was making was to stop changing the backdrop and put work into the world. In that period, I wanted less travel and more focused creation. My own preference was to stay in one place long enough to make the things I kept saying I wanted to make.

Client Ascension related reading: the marketing-inputs article examines Daniel’s separate historical process for content, creative production, useful email and offers. It gives a more detailed operating example alongside this personal reflection.

Show up where the work and the conversations happen

I connected output with participation. In a community, I meant showing up to coaching calls, engaging in Slack and actually talking with people. Publishing work and participating gave other people more opportunities to encounter what I was doing.

I described that as increasing the surface area for opportunity: a bigger net created by putting something out and engaging with others. It was the connection I wanted between making the work and being present around it, rather than simply moving to another place.

Client Ascension related reading: the organic content and email guide explains how useful teaching connects with an audience and relevant offers. It is a separate strategy to explore after deciding what useful work to publish.

Adapted by Client Ascension with AI assistance from Daniel Fazio's lesson. The first-person narrative follows the source speaker’s account. Watch the original video