Why I Still Write Handwritten Letters (and Why It Matters)

Call me old-fashioned, but I love writing handwritten notes.

If you've ever partnered with me on an event or trade show, there's a good chance you’ve received one. If I have the time, I’ll go all-in—wax seal and all. I use a calligraphy pen, hand-melt the wax, and carefully seal the envelope. No fancy machines, no shortcuts. Just something thoughtful and real.

There’s a reason I do it: it feels true to who I am.

When I was building Haunted Castle Gaming, everyone had an opinion. Be on more platforms. Be on fewer platforms. Use this tech. No, switch to that. Everyone had advice—some of it useful, some of it noise.

What worked? Doing things that felt genuine to me.

Writing letters is part of that. It’s formal, a bit quirky, and deeply personal. It fits right alongside the cufflinks I love to wear, or the Batman, Nintendo, and Ninja Turtle belt buckles I rotate through. These small touches aren’t random. They’re part of how I stay grounded—how I bring my personality into my work.

That became especially important when I shifted from QA to running a company to focusing on sales. I remember reading a Reddit post once that started with, “So how many people here are on something today?” and it honestly scared me. Was I stepping into a space where the pressure to perform meant people were burning themselves out just to hit numbers?

That wasn’t going to be me. I didn’t want to lose who I was just to chase a metric.

In sales—like in life—there’s often this pressure to perform, to “fake it ‘til you make it,” to push yourself into spaces that don’t feel like you. And yes, sometimes that’s necessary. Growth requires discomfort. But if you spend 100% of your time pretending to be someone else, you lose your ability to connect. To be trusted. To enjoy the process.

Writing letters reminds me to be myself. To stay weird. To dress up even when everyone else is in jeans. To lead with kindness and creativity, not just KPIs.

And that mindset? It’s helped me build lasting relationships—ones built on trust and authenticity.

💡 Lesson Learned:

The best results come when you stop trying to fit in and start leaning into who you are. Being professional doesn’t mean being generic. In fact, the more you bring yourself into the process, the stronger the connections—and the outcomes.