Once upon a time I saw a perfect example that shows the importance of owning, creating, and/or controlling your own media empire in a New York Times article.
It was about a 15-year old snot nose who had 1.2 million Instagram subscribers, pulled in some $10k per month with it, and he was full of piss & vinegar (who wouldn’t be?), ready to conquer and pillage.
But then… Instagram shut him down without warning.
The reason:
Violating rules, etc.
His entire business gone — with the push of some button somewhere.
And of course, like a lot of influencer types, he could not replicate his massive success, because he was simply all intelligence and no wisdom.
The worst part for him though:
“A lot of my friends think I’ve become depressed, and I think that’s right,” Rowan said. “I’ve been feeling insecure about a lot of things, like how I look and act and talk. I talk a lot less than I used to. I’m a lot less confident. Losing my account is the main reason I feel like this. With @ Zuccccccccccc, it felt like I had a purpose and was doing something that benefited a lot of people, and now I kind of just feel — I feel lost.”
Such is the spooky fate of being high on intelligence but low on wisdom.
I also daresay it’s the fate of many-a-business in the not-too-distant future. Especially anyone naive enough to rely completely on a platform they don’t own or at least control and export their audience/list from.
And it all starts with having strong email game.
From there, you can apply it to other media.
(Social media, mobile apps, whatever it is).
To learn my email ways go here:
Ben Settle
