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THE Pizza Recipe

My wife and I were with out-of-town friends last week and the subject of pizza came up. If you know me, you know how important a topic like pizza is.

I then told the shortened story of my Grandma Pulizzi’s famous pizza recipe, imported from Marsala, Sicily.

Our friends didn’t have to leave for the airport until the next afternoon … so … we invited them over to try the recipe for themselves.

It was, of course, amazing. To this point in my life, it’s still the best pizza on the planet.

Now, I’m probably committing some sort of serious Sicilian crime here, but I’ve decided to give you all the recipe to try for yourselves. Much of this description is how I make it, and not from the “old-world” recipe. That said, here you go.

Grandma Pulizzi’s Pizza

Sauce
2 Large Cans of Whole Tomatoes
1 Large Can Tomato Sauce
1-2 Tablespoons of Oregano
1/2 Cup Sugar (minimum)
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Other Ingredients
3 Large Onions, Minced
2 Boxes of Original Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix (not in the original recipe)
1 Package Shredded Pizza Cheese
2 Packages of Pepperoni, minced
Parmesan Grated Cheese

Add all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer in a large pot with a lid until thick. During this time use a wire masher to mash up the whole tomatoes. I’d recommend at least two hours to cook the sauce, adding more oregano or sugar if needed.

Cook the minced onions in a skillet until soft (right before browning). The finer you can mince them the better.

Mix the hot roll mix and prepare two pans following instructions for pizza. I recommend putting them in the oven for five minutes (glazed in the olive oil mix as recommended) and then remove before putting on the rest of the toppings.

Then, spread sauce on the dough, then the onions (all of them), then Parmesan cheese, then pepperoni (be sure to mince almost to a paste), and then add the pizza cheese.

Put back in the oven (400-425 degrees) for another 10 to 15 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

If you decide to try this recipe please take pictures and let me know what you think.

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Preparing for a Recession

It feels a bit like whiplash, doesn’t it?

After the COVID-19 market correction in early 2020…when everything just stopped…consumers went on a two-year spending binge. Money was everywhere. Much of that spending was with content creators…from buying online courses and training to creator/brand sponsorship deals.

Now it seems we are heading into a recession…or at minimum, significantly less spending.

A close friend sent me an article a few weeks back on the impending venture capital doom. The TLDR was advice to startups telling them to prepare for the worst.

It says:

“No one can predict how bad the economy will get, but things don’t look good.
The safe move is to plan for the worst.  If the current situation is as bad as the last two economic downturns, the best way to prepare is to cut costs and extend your runway within the next 30 days.”

I’m seeing it everywhere now. Some discussions in The Tilt’s discord group have been talking about preparing for a recession and it seems creators are becoming more concerned as the days go on.

I feel like I’ve been here before. In 2007 I left corporate America to start a content business. At the time it seemed like the worst idea in the world, but for small content creators, this is a huge opportunity. Why? Because much of your competition will stop investing in the areas you are building out. In 2009, during the heart of that recession, we were building an education company around the practice of content marketing. By 2010 we had built a very loyal audience. In 2011, Content Marketing World was launched. I’ve told many, and still believe, that what we did would not have been possible were it not for the recession. Large marketing event and media companies, who should have been creating content marketing education and events, stopped all new projects during the recession, including anything in content marketing. That left us as the only game in town, and a huge success.

If times were good, someone else would have created and succeeded with content marketing.

So, this could be good for you. But here’s some advice to further your runway as a content creator.

Number 1 – Get really focused. Who is your core audience? What is the niche you can dominate at? Make sure you are not distracted from what’s most important.

Number 2 – Diversify revenue streams. It is right now where you will find the revenue pieces that will make the future of your business. This is the time to contact partners with crazy ideas. In 2007 we had two revenue lines, consulting, and advertising. By 2011 we added sponsorship, multiple conferences – including exhibit sponsors and registration revenue, and launched several sponsored research reports. Five years later the event revenues grew to 70 percent of the entire company revenues.

Number 3 – Stay the course and don’t stop. I know this is obvious, but most of your competition will quit over the next few years if we do go into a recession. If you simply find a way to keep going you will come out on the other side in amazing position. Cut costs where it makes sense. My wife calls 2007-2010 the ramen noodle years for us…we cut back expenses significantly. Went to one car. Held back on the pricey vacations, for us to just keep going. So, while you are heavily investing in your audience and your content and your audience building, looking to diversify revenue along the way, you may be cutting back on your streaming subscriptions and other non-essentials.

My final advice…it’s difficult, but this could be an amazing time for you. Do what it takes now to stay in the game.