20 Years Ago, ScottMcKelvey.com Went Live
As creative director for a group of New Jersey radio stations, advertisers were asking me to do a bunch of side projects. Websites, video scripts, brochures.
I figured, “What the hell, I’ll throw up a website and see if I can make a little extra money.”
That happened on St. Patrick’s Day of 2006.
The next year, I made the jump to New York as creative director for a new national online audio advertising network. That went off the rails a few years later around the same time my daughter, Caitlin, was born. A brief return to New Jersey radio went worse.
So I started taking steps to elevate my side gig to a full-time business.
In June of 2013, right after my daughter, Cassidy, was born, I made the leap. I walked away from a part-time consulting role to become my own boss.
Despite the pandemic, a healthy dose of AI sampling, and uncertainty and pulling back across the board in 2025, I never pivoted. I believed in what I was doing.
If you read my blogs from 10 years ago, you’ll see that I followed the same approach back then that I do today.
- Write for humans first and everything else second.
- Focus on the needs, wants, and aspirations of the audience, not sales pitches and self-promotion.
- Do the heavy lifting before the writing happens to make sure the message is meaningful and relevant.
- Write the way people talk in everyday conversation.
- Show people what you stand for so they don’t just believe you – they believe in you.
Ultimately, I chose to stay the course. That can be just as hard as changing direction.
The website and logo have changed a few times, but who I am and what I believe have not. I’m proud of that.
This St. Patrick’s Day, I’m raising a pint at the palatial estates of SM C&M with my wife, Kelly, and getting mocktails for Caitlin and Cassidy, now 15 and 13, to celebrate 20 years.
I appreciate your support and hope you’ll join us for the next chapter.
