Hey Reader,
I hope you're doing well. Today I want to share what I've been into this week. I have some thoughts about my web design project and Kevin Geary's latest hype cycle. Followed by some cool things I'm reading and listening to. Let's get into it.
Kevin Geary's latest hype cycle
I gotta be honest, I have been fading on my interest in web design and falling out of the Kevin Geary orbit of influence. As you know from the last few months, I've posted a lot about WordPress and web design. Part of that has been my decision to go with Bricks, ACSS, and Frames as my "stack" for my website rebuild project. Kevin Geary is the creator of AutomaticCSS and Frames, and a big part of my reason for going that route was his outstanding Page Building 101 Course on YouTube. I really admire his passion for best practices and raising the quality bar for web design.
This passion has been expressed in lots of podcast appearances and live streams where he's discussing the future of WordPress. He's been one of the most vocal critics and continues to hammer home the problems WordPress is facing in relation to its competitors like Wix and Webflow. He's inspired several others to also begin speaking up in what appears to be a new cadre of WordPress content creators on YouTube.
I sensed there are some exciting new developments on the horizon for the WordPress community. I personally got a little burned out on WordPress content and decided to take a step back and focus on other things. I joked that I was watching way too much WordPress content and not getting any actual work done. So I needed a break.
In my time "away" from my web design rabbit hole, I had some realizations. I felt like I was in Kevin's orbit of influence as a content creator and marketer. I knew I was from the get-go, but I was fine because I was inspired and getting a lot out of his content. But I started to get this hunch that all of this talk about the problems of WordPress was leading to a new solution that Kevin was preparing his audience for. I was right.
A month ago, he quietly dropped a landing page for Etch. A new product. Nobody knew what it was. Just that he and his team were working on it behind the scenes. Everyone started asking about it and trying to predict what it would be. A new page builder? A fork of WordPress?
Kevin smartly wouldn't reveal any info, just that it was going to be big. Not just big, but the BIGGEST announcement in the history of WordPress. Saying it's going to revolutionize the way we all work with WordPress. A bold claim!
He wrote a long post in his Inner Circle about Etch and told his audience that they should earmark around $1,000 for this new product. At this point, I felt like I was out. There was no way I was going to drop $1,000 - but I'm not really his target audience. I'm not an agency owner building websites for clients. I saw comment after comment of excited followers chime in, "I'm in! Take my money!"
It was that post that I started to feel I was being warmed up for his big launch that I'm sure would net him six or seven figures. As much as Kevin is a great eductor and advocate for raising the bar in web design, he's a business guy at heart. A saavy marketer who knows what he's doing.
I figured that I would see a lot more content about the problems with WordPress and the dire implications if we don't heed his warnings. And sure enough, he dropped a new video this week titled Dear WordPress which was exactly that. It was a scripted video that premiered on YouTube with over 500 live viewers all eagerly anticipating some new info about Etch. Was Kevin going to finally let us all in on the big secret?
No, it was just more priming the pump. More warming up and massaging of the message. In the chat, a few people were kinda disappointed and started to feel marketed to. Like they're realizing they're rubes for falling for Kevin's latest hype cycle.
I admit, it's very good. The products he creates are great, and I'm sure Etch will be a banger once it's released. In past videos, Kevin has been transparent about his marketing philosophies. He knows he has a bunch of people ready to hand over cash without even knowing what the product is. He's been able to create that with consistently creating great products and great educational content about them. This isn't a knock on Kevin, I respect his hustle. I'm just not about that lifestyle anymore.
As one of my readers aptly reminded me, "It's all marketing. All the time."
I'm very curious to see how it lands. How it will "fundamentally change the landscape of WordPress development." He claims it will be the biggest launch in the history of WordPress. We'll see. The official release comes next month.
What Else I've Been Into:
BBoy Music. I put together this playlist of some of my favorite breaking tracks that were played by DJ Fleg at the Olympics. Check out his explanations for why he chose the music he did. Some amazing classics in there.
Reading Change Me Prayers by Tosha Silver. A bit simplistic and airy-fairy at times, but it resonate with my desire to surrender my ego's will to the divine and be of service to my higher Self. To "let the divine take the lead." I also picked up her Oracle deck for some quick daily reminders.
Reading The Sacred Prostitute by Nancy Qualls-Corbett. I felt inspired to research writings on the spiritual dimensions of lust. This book came up and I appreciate it's sections on the Anima and Animus from Jungian psyschology.
I remember this podcast hosted by a woman I've followed for awhile now. She's going through an awakening of sorts about men in her life. Realizing how she's given her power away in various attempts to please men or be what they want her to be. She generalized by saying, "Men don't see you as a person, they see you as an archetype." While I don't agree with her blanket statements that have a tinge of resentment in them, I do think there's truth that. The Sacred Prostitute explores these archetypes and both men's and women's relationship with it. Fascinating.
More Raygun content: Last week I shared my thoughts on Raygun (Australia's "cringe" b-girl). She's a PhD in Cultral Studies and wrote a 355 page thesis on breakdancing. I was curious and wanted to read it.
I downloaded the PDF but it was too long to read on my phone. I used Speechify to turn it into an audiobook using AI voices so I listen to it on my walk. (use my link to get $60 off and one month free.) I could only get through half of it because I can't bear the overly academic writing style. But I did appreciate her insights and observations. It's about her experience as a b-girl trying to fit into a very masculine subculture. If it was written in a more relatable style, I think I would have enjoyed it more.
But here are some other interesting links about Raygun this week.
Let's end with something I'm excited about.
EZ Mix 3 came out. Speaking of great marketing and great products... Toontrack does it again. I pre-ordered EZ Mix 3 when it was announced last month and it was finally released this week. I downloaded it and played around with it. I'm impressed and look forward to digging into it. Tons of great sounding presets for any instrument and a bunch of mastering presets. Might it replace Ozone?
I'm gonna use this to tinker with some new tracks and make some music this week.
That's about all for this week. Thanks for reading.
Have a good weekend ✌️
Jeff
The Official Newsletter of Jeff Finley
Designer, Author, Mystic
view in browser | past newsletters
You received this email because you signed up on my website or purchased something from my shop. If you no longer want to receive these emails, you may unsubscribe or update your preferences.
113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
