wow

If was a content creator who’s business was about helping content creators, my “how I got 10,000 subs!” note post would be: “I had fuck loads of followers elsewhere and worked at this space consistently for five years especially when it wasn’t making me any money. The End.

Over half a decade ago I decided to come over to Substack because I was disillusioned with social media. Call-out culture – in particular a pile-on I was dragged into which led to 5,000+ messages of hate a day and panic attacks – was the final straw. The insatiable appetite for people’s trauma but not their informed ideas was getting to me, and a constant flattening of information into something marketable was warping my understanding of seminal and foundational work I had read. It was probably all my algorithm, but there was also a broader media cultural boom I was part of during the time, which felt hollow.

I was a year on from trying influencing and that boom was now influencing me. I could feel it in the wrestle with my work, role and public identity.

The idea was not to abandon the platforms I’d been afforded elsewhere, but to also create a more intimate space where things were slower and more considered, where there were less people, but more meaningful content and engagement.

I still am on traditional socials, but I don’t use them the same way I used to, and I put most of my online effort into this space, which is also much better for my wellbeing and health.

This week, my total subscribers passed 10,000+ which is a maaaaad number for a “more intimate space”, but it is still almost 27x smaller than my combined social media following and I can feel that difference.

I hope you’ll stay here, and enjoy the content, which I work on around my other roles. This is not a churn out consistency newsletter but a steady, living and breathing one, and I put a lot of thought into what I want to bring to you (sometimes too much because… just post it!).

For my paid subscribers, I want to be transparent and tell you that this newsletter has made me around £12,000 a year (before tax in two countries however) for the last two years, and that money has literally (!!) been the buffer that allowed me to follow my integrity career-wise, say no to big money, leave jobs. This has been a huge part of what has made me better at what I do.

So, just know, that even in quiet periods (like now the lung infection that plagues me! big life stuff! normal work! the campaign I’m working on with GetUp around smart glasses in a family store!) –

wait! sign it actually if you haven't :)

– I am always cooking something up for you. And I am always glad you’re here.

🫶🏻