Ready to stop building your creator empire on rented digital land? In the latest episode of the Independent Creator podcast, I dive into why relying solely on platforms like Substack, Medium, or social media puts your entire content foundation at risk. Remember those AOL email addresses on business cards? That's essentially what you're doing when you don't own your digital space. Sure, platforms offer distribution and simplicity, but at what cost to your brand identity? When algorithms change ov
So I just finished posting EP.028 of Independent Creator Podcast, and I'm honestly conflicted about what I found out. The numbers are pretty clear – Spotify now owns more than half of Gen Z's podcast listening attention. YouTube's gaining ground at 21%, and Apple's been pushed down to a surprising 10%. But what does this actually mean for those of us who create and love podcasts? Remember when podcasting was this wild west of independent media? Anyone with a microphone and something to say could
Last week, something happened that's been gnawing at me. A friend—let's call her Sarah—tried installing Linux for the first time. Sarah isn't a programmer, but she's tech-savvy enough to manage her small business website and was interested in greater privacy and control over her computing. Three days later, she was back on Windows. Not because Linux failed her technically, but because the community did. "I felt like I walked into a club where everyone already knew the secret handshake," she told
