I’ve never been good at strategy.
Historically I have an idea, decide to do it and then take action and repeat.
I’m terrible at online marketing and to be honest find a lot of what people use to reel followers/subscribers in disingenuous.
But it’s earning them money and growing audiences, so fair play to them.
Substack was started as a platform for writers as an antidote to social media, but now includes, video, audio and something called notes. Notes is basically the equivalent of Twitter. Substackers writer pithy and concise notes that are all about motivating others to start writing.
Most of these writers are selling online courses and writing newsletters about how to write and creating a successful Substack newsletter. The aim is for these notes to go viral, achieve Substack fame and sell aforementioned courses/newsletters.
I could write notes everyday encouraging people to breathe. But I don’t. I either forget to, or when it comes round to it, instead write something cynical and sarcastic to counteract all the “life doesn’t start till you start writing” generic posts. Also there’s only so many times you can remind people to breathe, before they start wishing that you weren’t breathing.
If I didn’t have a comedy gremlin running the subconscious show, I would try and do the writing motivational thing consistently. But that wouldn’t be a true reflection of who I am, because sometimes I feel motivated to do the things that are necessary to succeed. But other times I have an urge to parody the shine and sheen of the self help movement and grumble about all the people that are doing it successfully.
As someone who is marketing themselves as a breathwork coach, this is not ideal. But what can I do? Look, I’m writing and my life started many years ago! I was living before I was writing and most likely I’ll live after I write. All the motivational quotes in the world are only going to help so much.
And trying to be something we are not is counterintuitive to finding meaning and fulfilling ones potential. Don’t just do it, do you bro! How’s that for a pithy one liner? That one is going straight on notes. I’ll report back if it goes viral and sell out my next online course.
Part of the reason I started on Substack was because I was fed up of the waiting. I’d spent the previous four years in a first look development deal with a TV production company. On paper it sounds like I hit the creative jackpot and in some ways I did.
The deal arose as a result of a short film I wrote, directed and starred in called Swiped. It was released online via an established short film YouTube channel and actually went viral! The film received over one million views across social media. It wasn’t long before Channel 4 offered me a deal to commission a pilot script. Game on.
Subsequently a renown company called Hat Trick Productions offered me a first look deal to write and produce scripted TV sitcoms, which was on paper my dream come true. This happened at the start of lockdown, so financially it was perfect timing and gave me focus on how to spend those lonely and isolating months/years.
But after a year of developing the pilot script for Swiped, Channel 4 turned it down. I then went on to develop other show ideas both as a producer and a writer, none of which so far have been commissioned. In March, the deal finally came to an end and whilst I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity, I can’t help but feel it was a failure because ultimately, my end goal was to create my own TV show. Don’t ask me why. Some people dream of finding a cure to cancer, I dreamt of being a showrunner.
At the start of last year I felt it was time to do something else. I had spent the previous ten years running amok as an actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. Whilst at times it was fun and creatively fulfilling, my income had been unpredictable and I was becoming frustrated at the lack of autonomy and the archaic nature of TV.
I wanted to feel in control of my destiny. For many years I had harboured dreams of opening my own retreat centre to help others unlock their creative potential. But my thought process was to wait until I had reached a certain level of success in the entertainment industry and then leverage that to get the retreat biz off the ground. But alas so far I have not reached the dizzying heights of success that my ego and I had in mind.
And so I made the decision in January 2023 to qualify as a mindfulness coach and subsequently a breathwork and icebath facilitator, which led me to launching breathe with adhd, facilitating workshops and committing to writing weekly newsletters to you all. However this was not a random pivot, as for the previous eight years I had been immersed in buddhism, even living in a mens buddhist community. But I reached a point where I wanted to share some of what I had learned with others. So there you have it, my origin story of why I am writing this newsletter #authenticity.
Now I need to figure out how to be strategic to grow whatever this is. But to do it in an authentic way, that doesn’t result in me merging into another bland wellness/writing motivational guru. So this post is basically me thinking/writing out loud, but I would welcome any suggestions!
Questions for you:
Is there anyone in the online space that you think is good at building their business whilst also maintaining authenticity?
What unfulfilled dreams do you harbour and what is stopping you doing them?
What do you like about this newsletter and is there anything you would like me to focus on more?
Am I asking you too many questions?
A music video I created in character as urban poet Wisebowm, motivating others to start writing.