While consolidating all of my work and personal web projects for my work with VAUX digital, I realized that I have grossly neglected my personal website and blog here at zacknewsome.com. My last blog post, a post about having not blogged for the 3 prior years, was posted in 2013. Effectively, I hadn’t contributed anything to this site for over 12 years.

If I’m honest, during the past decade or so, maintaining a personal blog (especially one named after myself) seemed too vain and self-focused to put time and energy into. As it does for most of us, my life has changed drastically since my posts in 2010. Back then, I was busy running Communitas – a faith collective in Phoenix experimenting on the edges of Christian practice and community development. Since that time, we shut down the efforts of communitas and moved homes into a nearby part of Phoenix. At the time, I was working at MethodLab – the design and branding studio I had founded in 2006. Now MethodLab has evolved into VAUX digital and I’ve refocused our work around website design & digital marketing. During the past decade of my silence, my kids have grown through the adolescent and teenage years and are readying to head off to college shortly.

In 2010, I was a different person. For the past 12 years, I have been trying to re-discover myself, my convictions, and my passions.  During this time, my family, my close friends, and my work occupied all of my attention.  Being involved in ministry work as a pastor and a community leader carries a public responsibility.  Back then, I believed that it was my job to be the center of attention. After all, a “leader” must always be at the front and must be loud, right?  But as I shed the role of a public leader, I enjoyed being in the background and my family and I appreciated the return to life focused on us – and not others.

As I stumbled across all of my old posts recently, I realized that while I am a VERY different person now – that’s its important to reflect on my journey and where I’ve been.  I’m not one to take photos to document memories and my iPhone camera roll has more reference photos (broken stuff that needed replacement) than memories. I have been awful at documenting anything for the past 10 years.

So I made the decision to move towards documentation once again – not for anyone else, but for me. This site (zacknewsome.com) was long overdue for a redesign and I’ve begun that process.  As this is a purely personal project, I will take my time to get things right around here, but I wanted to keep the documentation alive.

In 2022, I’m also launching some exciting new projects that I’m really proud of.  I’ve launched a new outdoor apparel and accessories brand, hoping I can help others discover the joy of the outdoors.  With Outward, I hope to inspire others around the mental health and environmental benefits of more deeply connecting with wild spaces.  The adventure of getting beyond the city has helped me in my path of rediscovery and is a experience of reflection on what is truly important.  I’m excited about how Outward will grow and evolve in the coming years. Along with an online store filled with outdoor clothing and accessories, I’m also launching a blog, Outward Spaces, to share stories of adventure and reviews on outdoor gear.

Last year, we purchased a small rental cabin in Greer, AZ – one of my favorite small towns in Arizona.  When we purchased this 2bed/1bath/650sf foot cabin, it was much unchanged from its 1983 build date and we’ve been working tirelessly to update and renovate it for the past year.  It’s a cozy little place in a beautiful mountain town and is the perfect basecamp for nearby adventure.  We’re excited to offer it for rent for others.  If interested, you can view availability and rates here.

I’ve also been hard at work developing VAUX digital to continue to do work I am proud of with clients I enjoy working with.  I love working with underdogs and a renewed focus on small businesses and nonprofits will help these organizations level the playing field with larger and more established competitors.  VAUX still specializes in the

web, with web design and development being at the forefront of our service offerings, but we are also offering digital marketing services to help our clients’ websites work harder at meeting business goals. You can view all of VAUX’s services offerings here.

I’ve also been involved in some cool projects through the years that I hope to add to this website – to give me a place to store the stops along the journey.

With 10 years of silence behind me, this site doesn’t get much traffic, but in case you happen to see these words, thanks for stopping by and I’d love to hear from you.  Leave a comment below or reach out via my contact page.