Blog | Sam Vander Wielen LLC - DIY Legal Templates

How to Know When It’s Time to Go for It in Business

August 11, 2026

How to Know When It’s Time to Go for It in Business For years, my coworkers at the law firm knew me for one thing, and it wasn’t my legal work. It was the fresh fettuccine I’d bring in, the...

How My Productivity Killed My Creativity [Summer Read-Aloud]

August 10, 2026

Listen on Apple | Spotify | YouTube Listen Now: We’ve lost the plot when it comes to creating content. In this week’s summer read-aloud, I share a personal essay on how my own productivity systems, batching, optimizing, and keeping up...

How to Protect Your Privacy While Growing an Online Business

August 4, 2026

How to Protect Your Privacy While Growing an Online Business A few years ago, I posted a sunset photo from my backyard on Instagram. Nothing dramatic, just a pretty sky and a caption about how lucky I felt to live...

Sam Vander Wielen smiling and wearing a blue denim shirt. Text overlay reading “I Declared a Gap Year. Then I Turned It Into a Full-Time Job. [Summer Read-Aloud]"

I Declared a Gap Year. Then I Turned It Into a Full-Time Job. [Summer Read-Aloud]

August 3, 2026

Listen on Apple | Spotify | YouTube Listen Now: What happens when you give yourself an entire year off and can’t actually take it? That’s the question I’m sitting with in this week’s essay. I declared 2026 my entrepreneurial gap...

Sam Vander Wielen sitting on the beach and smiling. Text overlay reading "What I Do When I Hit a Breaking Point in Business"

What I Do When I Hit a Breaking Point in Business (and What’s Coming in August)

July 28, 2026

What I Do When I Hit a Breaking Point in Business I popped up out of the wave, skidding across the shell-filled sand on my tush. Gasping for air, I wiped the salty water away from my eyes and realized...

Sam Vander Wielen sitting, smiling and holding a microphone. Text overlay reading "How I Stopped Letting the Algorithm Decide What I Like"

How I Stopped Letting the Algorithm Decide What I Like [Summer Read-Aloud]

July 27, 2026

Listen on Apple | Spotify | YouTube Listen Now: I recently stood in a long line for pancakes I wasn’t even sure I wanted. And it made me realize how much of what I consume, eat, buy, watch, isn’t actually...

Sam Vander Wielen sitting indoors and smiling. Text overlay reads "What to Do in a Slow Season in Business"

What to Do in a Slow Season in Business (Without Freaking Out)

July 21, 2026

What to Do in a Slow Season in Business The year was 2012. I’d just graduated from law school and taken the Bar Exam, yet I wasn’t in a courtroom screaming “OBJECTION!” I was unemployed and crying into my iced...

Sam Vander Wielen sitting on the beach and smiling. Text overlay reading "15 Habits that Rebuilt Me After I Lost Everything"

15 Habits that Rebuilt Me After I Lost Everything [Summer Read-Aloud]

July 20, 2026

Listen on Apple | Spotify | YouTube Listen Now: One of the strange gifts of your life completely burning to the ground is the fertile soil it leaves behind for you to begin again. That’s where I found myself after...