I can count my breakthrough moments on one hand

Three moments. Maybe fewer.

I got back from camping yesterday morning on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Today, I turn 45.

I've been in this industry since my early twenties. Websites, digital marketing, measurement. More than half my life. There have been high points, slow stretches, periods where the work felt more like an obligation than curiosity.

I had an interesting conversation during last week's MeasureSummit with my co-host Fred Pike.

Most of you probably know Fred. He's been in the analytics and measurement space for a long time. He started out as a student of mine back around 2016, learned Google Analytics, and ended up helping me stress-test my first online analytics course. We've stayed close ever since.

At the Summit, Fred said there have been three periods in his career when he was genuinely ecstatic about the work. Three times when he just couldn't wait to get out of bed. Once in the mid-to-late 1990s. Once in the mid-2000s. And now, with AI.

I started doing the math on my own.

Era one for me was around 2004. I picked up an SEO book and something just unlocked. The idea that you could deliberately send traffic to a website, and then actually measure what happened next, felt like someone handing me a key. I went deep. Measuring everything, running ads, building systems around all of it. There's a thread from that moment to everything I do now.

My second era was when I started teaching online and an Appsumo deal for my PPC and Analytics courses put me in front of over 10,000 entrepreneurs and helped this business get off the ground.

Era three is right now.

Using Claude Code. Watching things happen that would have seemed impossible to me six months ago. That exact feeling is back. The one that goes, wait, you can actually do that? I haven't felt it in a long time.

Fred's framing stuck because it's honest about scarcity. Three moments. Maybe fewer. These windows aren't constantly available.

Which makes me curious about where you are.

Have you had yours? A book, a tool, a conversation. Some moment when everything came into focus and you were genuinely excited about the direction things were heading?

Are you in the middle of one right now?

Hit reply and tell me. Past breakthrough moments, or whether you think the AI shift is going to be yours. I'll read every response.

To Your Measured Success!

–Jeff Sauer
CEO of MeasureU

Coming Up This Week at MeasureU

Roundtable: How are you using Claude?

Thursday, May 21, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

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