RIP TapTapKaboom: A Man Has a New Name
Splitting TapTapKaboom from Rich Armstrong. Rich shares how he came to the decision to rebirth TapTapKaboom as an online tech school, and what he’s going to call himself now.
Hey!
In one of several moments of clarity I knew I had to let go of the TapTapKaboom name.
I’d been looking back—into my past. Which is not something I do very often.
But the future is better when the past is considered (so I’m learning).
There’s stuff in my past that’s golden. And in your past too. Good things. Bad things. Rough diamonds. Missed opportunities. And opportunities and ideas still waiting for you. All of them containing lessons.
One of the things I saw in my past is that my most successful online class—the one that students continue to enrol in—is the first one I created. It’s the one that defined my teaching style. It’s the one that I can help students with super easily. It’s the one that comes most naturally. It’s the one thing I’ve been doing over and over again. This one thing is making websites. It also happens to blend subjectivity with objectivity really well.
But instead of gripping onto it and running with it 9 years ago, I got onto new things. I learned and taught new things. Animation. Creativity. Design. Art. Illustration. I made apps, wrote books, became an artist—all while building and designing websites professionally. I love learning. And I love teaching. Recently I’ve been reading marketing and business books. My butt has felt like a marshmallow over hot coals. It’s felt like these books were written directly at me and for me. Which prompted me to look back. And it gave me my first moment of clarity.
Teaching people how to hand-code their first website in a fun and approachable way is my superpower. I was teaching technical stuff and making it fun. My personality, and mix of skills, made this doable—and fun—for students. But every time I tried to teach something like this again (UX, UI, JavaScript) I got stuck—it was like I knew too much, and it was all too intuitive. I over-thought things. I procrastinated. And invariably something new and shiny would pop up and shout for my attention—very loudly.
But remember! I had this moment-of-clarity-revelation. There was this 9 year old idea and opportunity waiting for me. So I decided to revisit this concept: teaching tech stuff in a fun and approachable way. As a business. As a brand. That could scale. Where all communications and content would be about tech, web, code, design—not animation, illustration, creativity, and whatever else Rich the ADHD learner wanted to learn and teach about.
But this thing needed a name.
After weeks, and even after disregarding my wife’s suggestion of it, it finally clicked. Tap. Tap. Kaboom. Another moment of clarity. It’s the perfect name for a brand that makes teaching people how to code and design websites (and other tech stuff) fun and approachable.
And let’s be honest, TapTapKaboom is a terrible name for an artist. Sure it sounds cool, but it doesn’t make sense. And people often called me TapTap or just Tap. It was weird.
So, I let TapTapKaboom go. It needs to grow up. It’s now a brand that teaches tech-stuff in a fun and approachable way.
But who am I then? And what am I?
Well, when I began delving into NFTs at the end of 2021, one of my desires was to be authentic. That’s still my desire today. So, the plan is to continue my journey as an entrepreneurial artist and teach from this personal and authentic point of view.
I’m going by Rich Armstrong now. And the idea of teaching people tech stuff in a fun and approachable way is going by TapTapKaboom (which I’ll be heading up of course).
Besides the name change I don’t think much will change in this newsletter. I’ve found it to be a space where I can authentically share my thoughts, feelings, and learnings.
So, some things may be broken—websites, links, social media accounts (please let me know if you find something that’s broken). This is the price you pay when you make a change like this. But the mental clarity it’s given me is worth it.
New links
I’m @richarmstr_ong on Instagram.
I’m @richarmstr_ong on X (formerly Twitter).
Here’s the updated Rich Armstrong mailing list.
My new website is richarmstrong.net
If you want to learn tech stuff, join the TapTapKaboom mailing list.
You can read slightly more about the change on richarmstrong.net
What have you discovered when looking back? Or are you also past-averse?
Other news
I was live on Adobe 2 weeks ago creating a hoodie design that will drop at the end of May.
I’m broadcasting on Adobe Live on Wednesday at 5pm UTC again. This time I’ll be showing you how I use clipping masks in Photoshop.
❤️ Big loves as always!
– Rich