🎉 It’s Friday! 🎉
Welcome to Red Threads
A community of thoughtful builders just like you, gaining an edge each week.
💌 Know someone who should be growing with us? Forward this their way.
Was this forwarded to you? → Sign Up Free.
“The path is made by walking.” — Antonio Machado
The Red Thread This Week
On Building a Practice
This is the last issue of Red Threads for 2025.
And before anything else, I just want to say thank you.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for being on the other end of this thing, whether you’ve been here since the very beginning, or you joined somewhere in the middle.
Thank you for the replies, the forwards, the questions, the notes that started with “this got me thinking…”
A newsletter doesn’t really exist without someone reading it. And I don’t take that lightly. At all.
This is the 60th issue of Red Threads.
That feels really strange to type.
When I sent the first one back in February, it went to 11 people.
No plan or expectations. Just a decision to start thinking in public and see what happened if I actually stuck with it.
Honestly, I didn’t know if I would.
What happened surprised me.
This newsletter grew from 11 readers to a little over 1,200.
It led to conversations with small business owners, musicians, podcasters, teachers, nonprofit leaders, founders, VCs, and builders across media, education, radio, film, and beyond.
People I would have never met otherwise.
It opened doors to new coaching and consulting work.
Podcast projects. Speaking opportunities.
Work I was energized to do.
And most importantly, I think it’s helped people work through real problems and make progress on things that mattered to them.
But the biggest thing it’s given back to me is focus.
Writing every week forced me to slow down and actually examine ideas I’d been carrying around half-formed for years—about strategy, storytelling, media, attention, status, AI, culture.
It sharpened my thinking and exposed my blind spots.
It kept me learning.
Some things you do not because they "scale," or because you've got a shot at "winning," but because they keep you in the game.
Like playing catch with your kids.
You don’t win catch.
You don’t finish it.
The point is just to keep playing.
That idea kept coming back to me over, and over, all year.
And it matters, especially right now.
Because as messy and uncertain as things feel sometimes, I genuinely believe this is one of the most opportunity-dense moments in history for creators and builders.
Not because it’s easy.
But because the tools have nearly caught up to our endless curiosity.
Take AI, for example. When used thoughtfully, it's not a shortcut machine, it's a thinking partner.
A way to explore faster, test ideas, and reduce friction so you can spend more time on the things machines can't do: judgment, taste, meaning. Having a point of view.
Which means the constraint isn’t access to the means of production anymore.
It’s willingness and initiative.
A lot of people are waiting.
For better timing.
More confidence.
Permission to lead in a new direction, or start something new.
Leaders and builders don’t wait.
They try things.
They publish imperfect work.
They learn while they’re in motion.
That’s what this newsletter has reinforced for me, over and over again.
You don’t need a lightning-bolt idea.
You need a repeatable practice.
A place to think.
A regular cadence to create.
A system that lets momentum build over time.
So as you think about 2026, I hope you give yourself permission to play a longer game.
To take a risk on work that might not work.
To follow a question before you know where it leads.
To build a practice instead of waiting for a plan.
You don’t need certainty.
You don’t need permission.
You don’t need to see the exact way through the maze.
You just need a thread you’re willing to follow.
The goal isn’t to win 2026.
It’s to build something that lets you keep playing into 2027, and ‘28, and ‘29.
And if you do that—if you build a practice instead of chasing a finish line—you don’t just make better work.
You become an artist.
In whatever medium you choose to share your expertise and your ideas.
And Artists change the world.
Thank you for being here.
I’m genuinely grateful you’re on the other end of this.
~ Jaime
P.S. As we close the year, here’s a roundup of the most popular Red Threads issues in case you missed them.
These led the way both in unique opens (the number of people who opened the email), total opens (the number of times the email was opened), and direct replies.
I also want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the newsletter survey.
That feedback is already shaping how Red Threads will evolve in 2026.
You took time to help me think more clearly, and I’m grateful.
Looking ahead, you can expect:
More on finding clients and building an audience
More practical tools and templates
More honest conversations around “Should I have a podcast?”
Lastly, a few free resources you may find useful:
AI Prompt Library for Breakthrough 2026 Strategy, a free set of prompts designed to help you think more clearly about what you’re building next.
The 7-Day Podcast Playbook, a daily workbook with episode templates, equipment lists, and best practices to help you go from zero to podcast in one week.
And an open-handed ask if you’re in the mood to share:
If Red Threads has been useful this year and you know someone who’d benefit, forward this email with a short note about why you’re sharing it. That’s how this community has grown—quietly, person to person.
If you’ve found value here, I’d deeply appreciate a short testimonial. A sentence or two about how this newsletter helped you think, build, or move forward goes a long way.
And if you’ve never replied before, hit ‘reply’ and say hello. I love hearing from you.
Happy holidays and Happy New Year!
Cheers to 2026 :)
~ Jaime
Want Audio?