A Story About Adaptation, Unfolding in Real Time

This is a story with some bad news, some good news, and a brief anecdote about adaptation.

First, the bad news.

Seven years ago, I realized that I didn’t like to write alone and that there might be other writers like me. So I put out some wine and laid out some extension cords and got some writers together and started a thing called Writers Blok.

For a long time, Writers Blok existed as a part-time enterprise that was run out of a sandwich shop, a bagel place, and a church, respectively. Then, two years ago, we took the proverbial leap and got our own, permanent space. I likened that move to a successful taco truck opening a restaurant. We knew people liked what we were selling, but we couldn’t be sure it would function on a full-time basis.

Then, it did! We grew and grew and, at the beginning of this year, I felt like things were really humming. We’d figured out our pricing structure, our methodology, and the ways we acquired customers. I was SO optimistic about this spring. We had several events planned that I thought would finally get us to the magical financial land of breaking even.

And then, WHAMMO.

Below, Writers Blok’s monthly revenue, from April of 2018 through April of 2020.

Ruh-roh.

So that hasn’t been great. But it’s only the bad news.

Here’s the good news:

Back in the fall, at a breakfast in Culver City, my friend Mike slapped his forehead and said, “Oh man, this has to exist online — that’s where you can really help people get writing done.”

So I started a second company, which would focus entirely on creating an online version of what we do at Writers Blok. The plan, though, was to take things slow. We would test this online version and then seek equity investment for this new endeavor. (I’d put all of my remaining money into Writers Blok…and had taken out several loans to get it going.)

And then, WHAMMO.

Scrambling, we rolled out Writers Blok Online.

At first, our audience was limited to our standard, physical-space membership, especially as we learned what worked. Then we opened the “doors” to Writers Blok Online to people from everywhere. We found our very first online-only customers. We built a system. And then we started raising money.

And here are some bullet points on all that:

• Since March 23, we’ve had 2,441 Online Sprint participations.
• We’ve introduced weekly progress reports that tell our members how much writing they got done in the previous week.
• We’ve introduced a streak counter that tells members how many days in a row they’ve written.
• We’ve added a reading room, a critique group, a buddy system, and other ways for our members to get to know each other.
• We’ve built a Creative Council, each of whom does a monthly Q&A with our members. Our Creative Council features bestselling authors Meghan Daum and Amy Meyerson, Emmy-winner Sheila Lawrence, and two-time Moth Grand Slam champion Matteson Perry.
• For this separate online company, we closed our first round of equity funding in just 25 days.

It’s all been very exciting! While simultaneously terrifying! When I put out that wine and those extension cords at Earl’s Gourmet Grub in Mar Vista for the first Writers Blok, I did not plan on becoming Startup Guy.

But here we are.

Now, I can’t be sure that Writers Blok Online will be the thing that finally pulls me onto solid financial ground. I can, though, be sure that it’s going to help, whether that’s because it becomes profitable on its own or because it re-teaches me the lesson I keep learning (and sometimes forgetting):

The world doesn’t care about my plans. It only cares if I’m ready to change them.

If you’d like to add some structure and accountability to your life, you can try Writers Blok Online for two weeks for free.

(NOTE: this doesn’t have to be for writing. My mom uses Writers Blok Online to finish work at her day job.)

Also, in this odd time, writing groups are often looking for ways to activate and engage their members. Writers Blok has already partnered with several writing groups from all over the world to provide their members a discount to Writers Blok Online AND send these groups a portion of their members’ recurring revenue each month.

If you know of any organizations that could use a boost, we’d love to be in touch. You can reach us at writersblok.online@gmail.com.

And last: for any longtime Writers Blok members, we’ll be back in the physical space just as soon as it’s allowed.

Although with some adaptation, to be sure.