how to lose everything

and live with regret

This week The Onion founder Scott Dikkers wrote a very generous newsletter post about me and the power of having a strong brand. I woke up to an inbox full of notifications. Downloads, subscriber alerts, emails.

What the what! Here’s a video that captures my surprise.

It was in that moment that I was thankful I had 3 foundational assets to point people to:

• A website for my services - UribeCreative.com

• A high-value freebie - The 5 Brand Assets Guide

• A newsletter to subscribe to - The Sillypreneur

What would have happened if those weren’t in place?

Where would Scott have pointed them to? An instagram page? PSHHHHHH. One swipe to watch a cat video and the momentum is gone. Poof.

In my podcast conversation with Comedian Nazareth, I shared how comedians and business owners leave so much money on the table by relying solely on the social media platforms for brand building.

Social platforms are great for discoverability, but lousy for long-term audience building. Our attention spans are fickle and the algorithms are changing daily.

Social Media is shaky ground. It’s rented land at best. Zuck and his competitors can ban you, boot you, throttle and derail you.

Take TikTok for instance.

At the moment of writing this, TikTok is scheduled to be removed from all US phones on January 19, 2025.

If that happens, imagine the regret you will feel on January 20th after building up an audience and losing them in a single day.

There’s only one place you want your fans and prospects to exist. In your email list.

Other than your text messages, email is one of the most intimate forms of communication.

Nobody is threatening to take that away from you. It’s yours. You own it.

But how do you build a list? I’m a fan of starting a newsletter.

A newsletter is a fantastic way to keep your followers engaged, announce specials, produce offers, make them aware of upcoming gigs.

It’s your way of staying top-of-mind and building trust over years and years.

This is your sign: Build your email list. Today. Right now. While you have a chance. Or risk losing your hard-earned followers with the next social media ban.

If you want help building a breakout brand system that turns followers into loyal fans, let’s talk.

I’ve got a few 15-minute spots available this coming week.

Stay Silly.