Post #100: Time to Build

After 44 weeks of steady publishing, I'm taking a pause to build infrastructure that serves you better

This is my 100th post on this Substack, and today marks 44 straight weeks of publishing.

Now it’s time to break the weekly rhythm in order to focus on better systems.

AI image for “building organizational and movement infrastructure”

You read for different reasons

Different readers want different things from Timeless Leadership.

Some of you want organizational leadership insights from my work with startups. Others want business growth tactics.

Some of you want quick philosophical reflections, some of you love my long form essays, and there’s a wide range of reactions when we broach power, politics, and social commentary.

Importantly many of you read mainly because I directly invited you to read at some point, and you're interested in my journey, what I'm learning, where I'm headed.

This doesn’t even get into the range of interest you have in following along vs taking action with what you read.

All of this matters, but right now it’s very hard to tailor the experience so you get the most value from being on my list and spending time with me.

We need better infrastructure

Right now, if you want to go deeper with Timeless Leadership—join a community, work on something together, access advanced resources or training, or get more involved—the only option I can extend you is an upgraded subscription and access to Basecamp.

On the other hand, if you mainly want to read posts and occassional updates, it’s hard to avoid getting every announcement, offer, and call-to-action.

Everyone gets the same broadcast. Nobody gets exactly what they need.

I've tested what Substack offers for personalization. Their "Sections" feature requires you to manage your own settings in the app or browser (hard to find, not worth the effort). The paid tiers max out at three levels. This is all fine for a simple newsletter, but it's insufficient for building a real business, let alone a movement.

Substack is best understood today as a social media site. It’s a valuable channel like LinkedIn, Youtube, or Instagram and I’ll continue to use it, but I can’t depend on it solely for achieving what I envision with this project:

To build tailored experiences, create some separation between personal, business, and movement communications and resources, and be able to scale my audience, I need real infrastructure: CRM, marketing automation, differentiated landing pages, course builders and more.

If you want to participate actively you can find your best way in.

If you just want to follow along, you can do that without noise.

Going into building mode

I'm working full-time as a Chief of Staff, so this is happening in the margins—early mornings, late evenings, weekends when I can.

For the next 1-2 months, I use the limited time I have to work on Timeless Leader(ship) to stand up better infrastructure instead of creating more content.

That means no weekly posts while I build.

Once I’ve got some better systems in place, the content will come back but with a much better method to get the right communication to the right people at the right time.

What you can expect

• By early December I’ll send an update on progress

• When this infrastructure is in place, you'll have more control and options for how to stay engaged

• The content returns, with a great 2026 roadmap

• The community will start growing faster than ever, because we can turn on marketing and support new joiners with customized onboarding experiences

I'm excited about what this will unlock.

Whether you’ve been reading for two days or two years, thanks for being here.

Stay tuned for more updates, coming soon!

-Joe

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P.S. Thursday’s Basecamp call was 🔥. 8 people showed up for a deep conversation on infrastructure (personal, business, and movement). This is exactly the kind of engaged community I’ve been hoping to build, and it’s working. Next month we’ll talk about annual planning—sign up now if you’d like to join, or reach out if you have questions!