I hadn’t planned on founding Data Revelations in 2011. It was thrust upon me by a layoff.

Out of work, I put a web site together and started blogging about visualizing survey data using Tableau. My hope was that these posts would help me land a consulting gig.

As I waited for the phone to ring, I realized I couldn’t keep producing content in a vacuum.

I needed validation. I needed someone to tell me what I was doing was helpful.

Shortly thereafter, two “someones” emailed me to tell me that they thought I had written something useful.

This was the fuel I needed to keep writing.

There’s a lot of noise on social media platforms. People starting out in a field have a hard time being seen and heard.

If you come across a newcomer who is producing something good, let them know. This might be the fuel they need to continue.

“Newcomer” doesn’t mean young. It means someone who is attempting something new or is entering a new field.

And if you are curious about the two people who gave me what I needed when I needed it, it was Joe Mako and Michael Cristiani.