In my previous posts on starting a new website and using mind maps to define your website’s purpose, I’ve talked about the importance of thorough planning to the success of the project. Using mind maps, I was able to sketch out the possibilities for the focus – or multiple focuses – for my site.

While the jury is deliberating on the ultimate purpose of my site, now is a good time to look at where I am in the overall process of creating a sustainable and scalable personal website. To this end, it’s time to embrace flow charts.

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Are you struggling with existential questions as you develop your online presence? You are not alone.  In my previous post about starting a new website, I shared a bullet list of the key milestones involved in getting a new website up and running. I know many people, myself included, who start things they don’t finish because there is not a sufficient plan or developed concept to see through to conclusion. This post will cover a little bit of website concepting and strategy.

As I’ve grown more responsible in my professional career and have read more business books, I came across a gem of a strategic concept from Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen in his excellent How Will You Measure Your Life? The concept splits strategy into two types: deliberate strategy and emergent strategy.

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Welcome to a new chapter in the web life of me, Scott Walldren. At one time, I had an “empire” of loosely connected presences across blogger, livejournal, tumblr, instagram, facebook, and even ello. Truthfully, they were all too much to maintain and did not provide me with the control and creative freedom I want to express myself digitally. Then about two months ago, I finished reading Austin Kleon‘s Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work and got excited about carting out my past artistic creations and developing new ones.

An invitation to ride along for the first time blogger

Much less nefarious than Ethan Hawke’s ride-along with Denzel Washington in Training Day, stay tuned as I begin to log the journey of getting this website up and running. As I go along, I’ll be sure to link to helpful resources for the first time blogger and hopefully spread a little of the enthusiasm that reading Mr. Kleon’s books rekindled in me.

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