I’m Taking A Week Off Starting Sunday And I Have Some Thoughts About Turtleboy’s Recent Growth

On Sunday I’m going on vacation with the fam to Truro for a week and I’m going to try not to publish any blogs while I’m gone. There will also be no live shows next Tuesday or Saturday, and on Turtle Club on Thursday. I think it’s healthy for everyone to take time completely off from their work and just enjoy life, because although I love what I do for work, what’s the point of working hard if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor with your kids? I just need a week to sit on a beach and hang out with them before returning to the action. If something insane happens like Jen McCabe being indicted I will obviously have something to say, but besides that I’m just gonna chill. We all need a break.

I used to have a team of writers back in 2017 who could publish blogs while I was gone so the site would always have new content. But I haven’t had any other bloggers since early 2020 so there won’t be anything new this week. For a while I even wrote under former bloggers’ names after they quit because I was demoralized and didn’t want to make it look like Turtleboy was the sinking ship that I feared it was becoming. Things have changed since then.

Maybe some day I’ll find someone who I trust, who has “the voice,” and can run the ship while I’m away, but today is not that day. This is a drawback of being the sole face of the brand. Usually during vacation week what I do is re-publish old blogs from Turtleboysports.com before we started publishing exclusively on TBDailyNews.com. It gives newer turtle riders a chance to catch up and read some of the Turtleboy classics that got us to where we are today.

With that said, this vacation is coming at a time of unprecedented growth that I was not prepared for. Turtleboy is at a crossroads and is ready to go to the next level. However, I am just one man, and although I get help from many people drastic changes to my business model need to be made in order to keep up with that growth. Here are some issues I’m dealing with:

• The inbox is insane. Every day I get hundreds of messages. Some are people thanking us and exchanging pleasantries, while others are story tips and ideas. Every morning I have to wade through a sea of messages on my email, Twitter, Clarence Woods Emerson, and Turtleboy accounts. If you have a story idea that you want us to write about I recommend keeping it brief, get to the point, and send evidence. If it takes me more than 3 minutes to read or doesn’t grab my attention immediately then I’m not reading it.
• Sometimes it takes hours just to read all the messages, and I do not have time to respond to most of them. If I or an admin reads your message but do not respond it doesn’t mean we didn’t read it. If you message again with, “are you gonna write about this?”, I will almost definitely not write about it. I read every message and I get to the stories that I have time to get to. Don’t take it personally if I don’t get back to you.
• Canton has taken priority over everything for the last 3 months because it’s the biggest story I’ve ever written about, and will continue to be the central focus until it’s resolved. That doesn’t mean I won’t get to other stories, but the long investigative story ideas that people send I will be less likely to look into.
• The volume of traffic on the website has tripled in the last 3 months. A lot of you have gotten 504 errors and other things, which is a bi-product of this growth. This has required serious upgrades to the hosting that is a constant challenge. I have a very qualified web developer who I contract with and is very attentive to fix the issues when they arise. But again, this growth is unprecedented and unexpected, so I am learning as I go along. After a while I will have this mastered.
• Memberships in turtle club have increased five fold in the last 3 months. I offer free t-shirts to all who join, but it’s been difficult to get them all processed due to the volume of new members. I am looking into a way to streamline the free t-shirts into the membership package that doesn’t involve me manually sending members a t-shirt.
• I am having to speak with lawyers a lot, but not the kind of lawyers I used to speak with. In the past I needed them because I was being sued or had to fight bogus harassment prevention orders from disturbed ratchets. But now I need attorneys for good reasons – to look out for the best interests of Turtleboy as I get offers that I never imagined getting before.
• Eventually I will hire people once I get the business more streamlined and organized. I have to figure out exactly what I need most and what I’d have potential employees do before making any decisions like that. Certainly I would be looking for bloggers, but also potentially interns.
• A lot of people ask to mail me things, so I’m looking into getting a PO Box as well.
• I am looking into renting an office or a studio to work out of and broadcast the live show so you don’t have to hear my boiler when it comes on.
• I will have a family member staying at my house for a week to feed the fish, we have cameras everywhere, and I have a great relationship with the Holden Police Department, so don’t even think about any shenanigans.

I know that I may seem cocky at times, but I’m really quite humble. Ten years ago I was teaching high school history, and now I have millions of readers, followers, and subscribers, eager to read my next breaking story. I’m not used to people letting me stay in their beach front homes on the outer cape. I’m not used to people cheering for me in Stop & Shop parking lots, asking to take selfies with them, or sign their books. I’m still just a high school teacher from Worcester in my mind, and I always will be. I am honored and humbled to have you as a reader, and can’t express enough in words how good it makes me feel to have the support of so many people.

There have been many times when I wanted to give up Turtleboy because it was too overwhelming, but you all keep me going. There have been low points in my life personally that you’ve all helped me get through. I was open about some struggles I had mentally a couple years ago, and can honestly say that the outpouring of support I received in response helped me cope. It’s a great feeling to wake up every day and love what you do for work, knowing  that people are waiting to hear what you have to say next.

Saturday night will be the last show for 10 days. Hope to see you then.