Everyone who knows anything about online content will tell you the same thing.

Pick a niche.

I know this because I've been in online business since 1998 and I have absolutely given this advice to other people. Confidently. With slides, probably. The logic is sound: find your corner, own it, stop confusing people. If you read my courses, you'll get that exact advice and laugh. It's still true.

The problem is I am several different people and none of them agreed on a topic.

There's the one who builds companies and talks about marketing. The one who ran a nightlife operation in San Diego for more than a decade and has stories he's only recently allowed himself to tell out loud. The one who travels whenever possible, fishes for trout when he needs to think, and plays chess specifically to lose gracefully. The one who makes art under a completely different name and will explain that later when the moment feels right.

Picking one of those people and telling the rest to wait in the car seemed unkind.

So. This is The Ramblings of The Chief Rainmaker. No niche. Wide open. If you're the kind of person who needs a content calendar and consistent brand pillars, I respect that deeply. Stay here long enough and you'll figure that out.

I'm Gil Ortega. San Diego born. Internet entrepreneur since 1998, which means I watched the first dot-com bubble from the front row, learned almost nothing from it, and kept going anyway. I've built companies, had exits, written a book (planning more), created online courses, and somewhere in the middle of all that started making art under a completely different name. Also: blow-up mattress in Las Vegas. I'll explain when I'm emotionally ready.

That name is Rick Bliss. He makes paintings, sculptures, fiber art. He's better dressed than I am, more patient, and creative. I'm not entirely sure we'd get along at a party.

I travel whenever I can. I fish for trout when I need to think. I play chess when I want to lose gracefully, which is more often than you'd hope.

Here's what you'll find when you dig around my blog:

My Travels — 30 states, 11 countries, and one unofficial Zambia I'll tell you about someday. The scoreboard, the trips, and the stories that would never survive an Instagram caption.

CHILI Productions — From 1985 to 2001 I ran one of the most active nightlife and entertainment operations in San Diego. I am finally writing the full story. It involves celebrity appearances, extremely questionable decisions made with complete confidence, and at least one situation I am still not entirely comfortable describing in public. We'll see how brave I feel by chapter three.

BusinessXLR — Online business, affiliate marketing, systems that compound instead of grind you into a fine powder. The practical side of what I've built and what I teach inside the RainRoom. Less glamorous than the nightlife years. Significantly better sleep.

AI & Tools — What I'm actually using and building with right now. No hype. I am constitutionally suspicious of hype, which I recognize is rich coming from someone who spent so many years in event promotion.

The Un-Retired Life — Why I have no intention of stopping. I wrote an eighteen-page manifesto about this. It's free. I am unreasonably proud of it.

Do Anything With Nothing — This is the weird section. Quantum thinking, consciousness, AI, and what any of it might have to do with how we build a life. Notes toward a book I'm writing in which I am completely unqualified to reach the conclusions I'm reaching. I do it anyway. My AI and I have genuinely strange conversations and it feels wrong to keep them to myself.

Art & Creating — This is where Rick Bliss shows up. Paintings, sculptures, body art, the whole creative situation. I'll let him speak for himself.

Ramblings — Trout fishing, chess, half-baked theories. No rules. You've been warned.

If you want the online business side of things, the free RainRoom App is where to start. Two full courses inside and it's where most of the real work happens.

Either way, glad you're here. Don't expect consistency, but I will be trying. Do expect honesty.

That's basically the deal.

— Gil