Every morning when I’m not in a workshop, I draw a quote, illustrated on a post-it note.

Then, I take a picture of it and text it to about 250 people. One-by-one. One phone number after another until I get through my list.

This isn’t through a bulk SMS service, and it’s definitely not automated. Just going into my contacts and hitting send.

Takes about an hour to draw and edit the image. Another 20-30 minutes to send them all out. Going on 5 years now.

Megan’s oft-asked question is some version of: “Um, are we (but really - you) still doing this?”

The Algorithm Problem

I’d post these quotes on LinkedIn, and each one used to get 3,000-4,000 views per post.

The numbers are much different now. The algorithm doesn’t like me as much. Sometimes it’s 96 views. I’m still posting them though.

The algorithm decided this content doesn’t matter as much. Or it doesn’t match whatever engagement formula they’re optimizing for this week.

I really don’t want to rely on these platforms to have people interact with my art.

The most important thing to me is that I have the discipline to create another Post-it sized illustration. What can’t be the most important thing is whether the 1s and 0s of the data agree.

This is why I think sending the texts each day (still) matters. It’s something close to a direct connection.

And honestly, this is also why we started this email newsletter each week. It falls under the same principle. You’re reading this because you chose to open it, not because a platform decided to put it in your feed.

People Text Back

If you send out 250 texts a day with quotes and art, you’re going to get messages back. Funny how that works.

Sometimes it’s just a love or a like, a “Thanks!” or “Nice!” or “I love that quote!”

Sometimes it’s something like, “I’ve been divorced for 33 minutes. I’m eating cheese puffs in my house. And I feel more alive than I have in 25 years. This is exactly what I needed.” (Yes, this is a real response).

There’s other kinds of messages that come through, too. Through these exchanges, I’ve recently become aware of approximately 15 deaths and many job losses among people in my network.

But I’ve also heard the positive outcomes. People starting therapy. Getting off the couch to work on their health. Starting businesses. Recovering from injuries. Moving forward when they felt stuck.

Sending out quotes is just part of how I want to move through the world. I’ve written before about drawing on napkins for servers, flight attendants, bartenders. This is an extension of that same way of being.

Somebody who gets these quotes might need it today, and I want to make sure I get it to them.

The Scaling Problem

There is a reality to this though. Sending texts like this doesn’t scale well. Let me explain…

iPhone and Android have different protocols. About 60 iPhone users on any given day get kickbacks where the texts don’t go through properly (I have an Adroid, my wif has an iPhone). Even she doesn’t get my texts sometimes. The new SMS standards were supposed to fix this. They haven’t.

I looked into different options for SMS services in 2023. Sending 5,000 picture texts per month cost about $500/ month then, because images count as 4 units each. It’s cheaper now, but still not cheap. And honestly, it doesn’t feel personal enough anyway.

So Megan’s question is completely valid. This act of texting takes an hour and a half every single day. I can’t keep adding phone numbers manually and maintain this pace.

I would like to text more people, but I simply can’t. I’d love for you to shoot me over your digits and I add you to the list, but I don’t think that would be good for my marriage. (Kidding, kind of).

Right now, the best way to get these daily quotes is on Instagram where I try to find cool music to complete the vibe.

I’m looking into better solutions for the texting. Something that feels personal but doesn’t require me to manually send 250 individual messages every morning.

But for now, I’m being honest about the limitation.

The practice continues because I think it matters. What do you think?

People need these some days more than others. I just don’t know which days those are, so I send them every day.

Grateful you are here,

Wade

P.S. Oh, and one more reminder to follow the daily quotes on Instagram:

​https://www.instagram.com/wadeforbes/​

And stay tuned, we might have some exciting news to share about how these are going to go out in the future.