Since starting a protein powder blog in 2016, I’ve tried hundreds of protein supplements. This curiosity has become a quest for the best protein powder (or at least a few I can consume regularly with confidence.)

Taste and palatability are major factors that are important in defining “the best.” Choking down a chalky protein powder is simply not sustainable long-term, no matter how healthy it may be. 

Beyond taste, a product’s ingredients are the most critical consideration. Unfortunately, most protein powders contain artificial ingredients and other non-food substances that our bodies don’t know what to do with.

While I am used to building websites and marketing programs, this year my focus has taken a different aim: building a new house.

In April of 2024, my fiance and I broke ground on our property located just outside of Frankfort in Benzie County. We couldn’t be more excited.

I was introduced to Jack Gyr sometime around 2010-2011 through a colleague who connected us over a discussion to help with Jack’s business, BookWear. 

Since then, I’ve worked with Jack and BookWear on and off, and lately, we’ve teamed up again to go all-in on BookWear’s website re-design and SEO.

One of the biggest challenges with local SEO is getting a business to show up in cities where it’s not truly located. Here’s an example/case study.

My good friend Jack has a business called Field Crafts that’s based in Honor, a small Michigan town that’s 25 miles west of Traverse City.

As part of a new content strategy for my website Better Triathlete, I’ve started developing resourceful content all about the Ironman triathlon. 

More than just the name for the world-renowned long-distance triathlon, IRONMAN® is also a brand that organizes such triathlon events (as well as half-Ironman events which they call 70.3 races).

In turn, Ironman.com owns most of the search real estate for certain types of terms, like “Ironman triathlon” and “Ironman race”. But interestingly enough, the brand’s website is poorly optimized and its content strategy is non-existent.

Through the growing coaching network of Better Triathlete (my website that offers a coach match program to athletes), I have been able to make meaningful connections with some of the coaches I work with.

Of those connections, William Ritter of Fly Tri Racing based in Tyler, Texas has been one of the latest projects I’ve been working on. 

Over the last year, I have been fixated on bike wheels. But not just any bike wheels. Performance-minded carbon wheels for racing. 

In the summer of 2022, I upgraded the wheels on my gravel bike to the ENVE SES 3.4 carbon wheelset. While it was no drop in the bucket financially, the upgrade provided the greatest ROI that I could ever imagine.

When I started Better Triathlete back in 2014, the idea was to create a blog-like platform where I could share interesting training insights and cool triathlon-related resources that I stumbled across. 

I also thought it would be cool to build a section dedicated to triathlon coaching, where I could attract the interest of athletes looking for a coach. This was all driven by the idea that one day I might become a triathlon coach, and Better Triathlete would help me grow my coaching business.

One of my latest projects revolves around the fast-growing eBike trend. Electric bikes are becoming incredibly popular for good reasons. Not only do eBikes allow older people, disabled individuals, or injured athletes to get out on a bicycle, but they even make sense as an active recovery tool for elite cyclists.

I was very skeptical about electric bikes when they first started getting popular. Perhaps I was a little sour about getting dropped by eBikers on the local commuter trail. But now I am all for it and I have embraced the eBike trend with open arms. And I think it’s awesome to see older folks (who might not be riding otherwise) ripping around on their electric bike.

Having spent the vast majority of my winters riding outdoors, I’ve been highly skeptical and hesitant to buy a smart bike trainer for riding indoors. I thought an indoor bike trainer would make me less tough, less adventurous, and more bored. 

This year, I took the plunge and bought a Wahoo Kickr v5, one of the better smart bike trainers on the market. (See more smart trainer options in a blog post I wrote for Better Triathlete.) I’ve been using it with the indoor cycling app Rouvy for the past few months, and I am happy to report that I am glad I took the leap to ride indoors.