Updated May 15, 2026
An annual practice · 13 years running
Naming My Year
in Advance
For over a decade I've given each year a title before it begins. A word, a direction, a way to live it on purpose.
Every year, named- 2026The Renaissance
- 2025LMNOP
- 2024Verses
- 2023Ukiyo
Updated May 13, 2026
TEDx · On the red dot
Discover Your
Incredible Future
My TEDx talk: name your year in advance, then let a vivid picture of your future pull you toward it. The fifteen minutes that turned into a ten-year practice.
Step insideUpdated May 10, 2026
My company. I make high-quality websites, and offer the consulting to grow, for all kinds of tour operators. Food tours, ghost tours, boat tours, and everything in between.
Step insideUpdated Jul 4, 2026
The mobile guidebook I built for tour operators. Fifteen years in the making, and finally live with paying customers.
Step insideUpdated Jul 4, 2026
A running log
Status
Jul 4, 2026
Since COVID, we've hosted a bags tournament for my mom's birthday. My sister works for days to get her house ready, then we play the All-In version in a 32-person single-elimination bracket. I finally made it to a championship match once. Last year, my uncle knocked me out in the first round.
Jul 3, 2026
I used AI to scan a folder of 30+ interviews, transcribe the audio, then merge each "Joe track + their track" into one giant file, so I can drop all 30 into NotebookLM and keep them searchable.
Updated Jul 4, 2026
A two-minute habit
Toothbrush
Workouts
Every time I brush my teeth, I do a workout. It started as squats to get a little faster on the ice, and grew into full-body sets, a couple minutes at a time, everywhere I go.
Step insideUpdated Apr 28, 2026
The app I keep starting, keep almost-finishing, keep dreaming about. A simpler way to gather the people you love. Fifteen years of false starts, and I still believe the next attempt is the one.
Step insideUpdated Apr 15, 2026
10 years
6-Week Cycles
A personal experiment in time, business, and happiness, in leaving more room for the people I love. Written up and talked about.
Six weeks on. Two weeks off.
Repeat. Ten years.
Updated Jun 26, 2026
Keynote speaker · Presenter · Emcee
Speaking
Keynotes, workshops, and the occasional TEDx. I've spoken on stages across the country and internationally, and I still love a microphone and a room of people.
See the talksUpdated Jun 26, 2026
Updated Feb 28, 2026
Born & raised
Chicagoan
The lakefront, the neighborhoods, and the Blue Line to and from the airport, which might be my favorite ride in the whole city. This is the place I keep choosing.
Step insideUpdated Feb 14, 2026
Excuses to get people in a room
Game Designer
- Anything Bingo2027 · in progress
- National Bag Players2024 · live
- Q Cards2020 · shipped
- Super Bowl Squares2018 · annual
- Drinking Jengacollege · cult
- Rocks & Metal5th grade
Updated Feb 12, 2026
A real card game · qcards.co
Q Cards
A trivia card game I launched during COVID, really just an excuse to get a table laughing and arguing about Chicago. The Kickstarter didn't fund, so I made it the simple way: buy a copy, cover shipping, and I mail it to you myself.
qcards.coTap the card to see the year
Updated Feb 8, 2026
National Bag Players
Cornhole is fun, but it's not the only way to play. I've made up a handful of backyard games of my own, rules and all, and I hope you'll round up some friends and give them a try.
nationalbagplayers.comUpdated Aug 12, 2025
With Matt Pittman · Real estate
Sellin' Homes
A collaboration with my longtime friend and real estate agent, Matt Pittman. I should be clear: I don't have a real estate license. Matt is the one actually sellin' homes.
Step insideUpdated Jun 26, 2026
On the ice
Ice Hockey
I didn't start playing ice hockey until I was an adult. A few state championships and a division title up in Toronto later, I still lace up every week at Johnny's Icehouse.
See the photosUpdated Jun 20, 2025
A standing ovation for my people
Cool things from
cool friends
The people I get to know make remarkable things. This is a wall for theirs, swipe through and go support them.
Updated Jun 27, 2026
An original
A better
birthday song
Some friends and I rewrote the birthday song, and every year we keep sharing it, with each other and with anyone who'll listen. Join the birthday song revolution.
See more songsUpdated Apr 15, 2025
The Chocolate
Milk Gallery
A running, lovingly photographed collection of every chocolate milk worth remembering. Rated, ranked, and never watered down.
Updated Mar 20, 2025
Photography
Trying to catch magical views from around the world.
Updated Jun 26, 2026
An eight-year experiment
The Kanye
Music Project
Taking a complex, overproduced rap album and stripping it down to one man and one acoustic guitar. Eight years. Still going.
Step insideUpdated Jun 27, 2026
Passport stamps
Global Travel
We sailed to the bottom of the world, and it still doesn't quite feel real. Just one of a few trip recaps we've cut together.
Watch the recapsUpdated Dec 15, 2025
/* @joe */
Website Designer
Words that work, pages that load, designs you'd print. A few I've built lately, swipe through.
See the work
Updated Jun 26, 2026
Officiant · Friend · Believer
A love for love
I've never been married, but I've developed a definitive philosophy on weddings after officiating for my friends. I even built my own ceremony format.
See the formula in actionUpdated Oct 10, 2025
2020 · For Mom
COVID Open Mic
When my mom was sick during COVID, we built an American-Idol-style competition for her to watch from home. Ryan Seacrest made a guest appearance. She loved every minute.
Read the storyUpdated Dec 26, 2025
A 23-year tradition
40DoX
The 40 Days of Christmas
Christmas begins November 16. Christmas ends, abruptly, fully, every ornament boxed, December 26. Forty days of glee. Then the new year begins clean.
- Nov 16The decorations rise
- Dec 25Peak
- Dec 26It all comes down
Updated Jun 24, 2026
As seen in my TEDx
It would be
cool to…
Step inside for the whole list, and tell me how to pull off the rest.
See the whole listUpdated Nov 8, 2025
The band years · Warped Tour
The Fold
Years after my first band PGS fell apart, my friend Matt Pittman asked me to join The Fold on tour and help dream up videos and ideas. Think push-up contests at the booth and the "Can't Stop Twitterin'" music video.
Updated Jun 1, 2026
A lifelong fascination
Time Travel
Hooked since I was a kid. I gave a whole TEDx on it, and I can trace the obsession back to the exact cartoons that started it.
Step inside
Updated Jun 27, 2026
Amanda & me, around the world
One minute,
everywhere
A growing collection of one-minute videos from wherever we land. Tap one, or sort the whole set by continent and country.
Updated Jun 25, 2026
On TV and in your ears
Appearances
The times someone handed me a mic on their show. Chicago TV news and a growing list of podcasts.
See them allUpdated Jun 26, 2026
The Art Institute · Commencement keynote, 2017
Art School.
I learned to make things at The Art Institute. Years after I left, they invited me back to give the commencement keynote. Full circle, cap and gown and all.
Step Back in TimeUpdated Jun 27, 2026
Pictures of Joe
Updated Jun 26, 2026
The book I'm writing
Redefine work. Reclaim the time that's rightfully ours.
A practical toolkit, built on ten years of research, for redesigning how we work so it serves people and families, not just the bottom line.
Updated Jun 26, 2026
My first band · 1997 to 2005
Pale Green Stars
I had the chance to record a few albums, tour across the US, and headline the Metro. Seeing it all come together in this music video is a nice little visit home for me.
Step inside