I’ve been writing online for the past five years, but a little over a year ago I committed to publishing weekly. This single decision completely changed my life.
What started out as a way to document my curiosities, learnings, and insights quickly opened a floodgate of opportunities, improved my confidence, and became another revenue stream.
In an era of TikToks, Reels, and AI-generated content, you may feel like text-based content is dead, but that’s exactly what big social media companies want you to believe and it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Writing online is one of the best — if not the best — uses of your intellectual, emotional, and creative energy.
The power of writing online
The person who can put together words that evoke emotion, facilitate insight, and entertain an audience has a huge competitive advantage in today’s digital marketplace for writing is the simplest yet most impactful way to share ideas. It is persuasion at scale. But writing is more than a tool for sharing ideas. It’s also a powerful tool for generating them — the more you write, the more ideas you produce.
And we’re just scratching the surface.
If you’re thinking about getting started or are experiencing self-doubt, here are 10 damn good reasons why you should start writing online today.
Writing online is free. You don’t need to spend a ton of money on fancy gear or software. You don’t even need a computer. You can start publishing from your phone.
Writing is portable. You can literally write anywhere — on your phone, laptop, or even a napkin. Writing gives you the ultimate creative freedom.
Writing online connects. It links your thinking with others’, allowing your thoughts to become a part of the world wide web of ideas. It also makes your ideas discoverable in niche communities, helping you connect with like-minded people — friends, colleagues, business partners, clients, employers. Where social platforms connect you with people from your past, writing online connects you with people from your future.
Writing online is perfect for introverts looking to build a brand or establish authority. You don’t have to show your face or talk in front of a camera. Or if you’re hot like me, it’s a way to make sure people like you for your ideas, not your looks.
Writing helps you think better. Writing is thinking on paper. When you write you create the distance you need to think clearly about an argument or what you think you know. Writing forces you to slow down and think deeply. You don’t know what you know until you write about it.
Build a direct connection with your audience. If you’re building an audience by simply posting on social media, you’re at risk. Social media algorithms can be unpredictable, and you’re always at the mercy of the platform. Writing online, through a newsletter or a blog, helps you cut through the noise and lets you nurture a genuine relationship with your readers. You have a direct line to them, ensuring your message reaches them consistently. This fosters a deeper connection and allows you to build trust over time.
Writing online is a perfect feedback loop. Online writers are rewarded with instant feedback in the form of shares and replies. These fast feedback loops are powerful ways to accelerate your learning (and improve your writing).
Writing is a skill multiplier. Like I mentioned before, writing helps you think and learn better. It can also help you craft better emails, presentations, and documentation. Not to mention, it builds credibility and expertise.
Writing creates focus in a distracted world. In a time of shortened attention spans, we’ve gone from reasoned thinkers to reactive thinkers. Writing gives you the time and space you need to play with ideas, think about your problems, and engage with them long enough to develop a deeper understanding.
Writing is good for your mental health and personal development. Writing is more than a tool for self-expression; it’s also a tool for self-discovery. The secret to good writing is to strip each sentence to its essence. Similarly, writing can help you strip away parts of you that aren’t you or no longer serve you. It can also help you uncover parts of yourself you didn’t know existed, heal invisible wounds, and accelerate your healing and growth.
“If you wish you would take something more seriously, do it publicly… Social pressure forces you to up your game.” — James Clear
Publishing a solid piece of writing can change your life because the internet rewards people who think well. Each post is an advertisement for the kinds of people and opportunities you want to attract. Think about it. By jotting down your ideas and hitting publish, you can build your network, improve your thinking, and create opportunities for yourself. Name another creative act that offers a better return on investment.
Writing is good, but writing online is better. It’s like having people over. You have to clean and make sure you have enough food, snacks, and drinks for everyone to feel comfortable and enjoy themselves. Writing online is no different. You have to write and re-write to make sure your ideas are clear and concise and if writing is thinking, then rewriting is rethinking. This process of crafting and refining not only makes you a better writer, but it encourages deeper inquiry, self-reflection, and ultimately, personal growth.
On January 01, 2024, I decided to start building my online presence. Up until then, I had avoided sharing my ideas because I found the whole content creator thing mad cringey. I couldn’t deal with the silly dances, weird challenges, and constant self-promotion. But one day, I came across an insight that turned my whole life around.
The idea came from Adam Grant, who, in an interview with Jay Shetty, explained that instead of promoting yourself, which is an act of vanity, you should be promoting your ideas, which is an act of service.
My mind was blown. It turns out the best self-promoters aren’t self-promoters at all. They’re people dying to help.
I was sold.
Around the same time, Threads, Meta’s new text-based social media platform, started making waves. Growing up, way before Elon took over and things got weird, I was a huge Twitter fan. It was my micro blog, a digital diary, and the perfect way to stay connected with friends. Threads seemed to offer a similar experience, but without the negativity, noise, and racism that had taken over Twitter. With Adam’s advice in mind, I dove in head first into Threads and started promoting my ideas freely, unaware of the challenges that lay ahead.
The Dark Side of Social Media
My growth on Threads this past year has been incredible. My thoughts reached over 20 million people. I had the opportunity to work with notable brands in the content space and I even started making some digital cash. However, I also experienced the dark side of social media. I fell victim to endless comparison, the need for validation, and was crushed by the pressure to present a perfect persona. It all took a huge toll on my mental health.
I also witnessed the manipulative nature of social media. People using people to get a few likes, lying and scheming to make a couple bucks, posting ridiculous claims and pumping out clickbait — all in a desperate effort to get one more follower, one more comment, one more hit of dopamine. It seemed like a constant race to the bottom, with no regard for authenticity, creativity, or genuine connection.
I fell in love with creating and publishing content, but started to despise the social media game. I thought, maybe social media is merely a reflection or amplification of human behavior. I guess the pursuit of fame leads some people to compromise their values and stretch their morals. Either way, this type of environment wasn’t aligned with my values or the type of energy I wanted to be around. I had to do something.
Taking Back My Life
My social media addiction coupled with my deep dissatisfaction with the manipulative tactics of other creators forced me to reevaluate my relationship with these platforms and approach to brand building. I deleted all apps from my phone, scheduled my content ahead of time, and only engaged from my laptop — with friends and ideas that inspired me. I also began to question my screen-time’s impact on my creativity, productivity, and mental health.
Let me be clear: THECLUB isn’t about hating on social media or completely unplugging. It’s more about taking a step back, slowing down, and re-evaluating our relationships with these platforms to find a more balanced approach that emphasizes authentic connections, meaningful work, and real-life experiences.
Digital Minimalism
The ANTISOCIALMEDIACLUB was heavily inspired by Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, which encourages us to intentionally reduce digital noise and tune into what truly matters. Cal’s philosophy helped me gain a deeper understanding of my relationship with technology, and equipped me with the tools and insights I needed to achieve a better screen-life balance. As a result, my focus, creativity, and mental health improved.
The Social Dilemma
By this point, the negative effects of social media have been drilled into us. We don’t need a book to tell us we need better screen-life balance. We know there is a strong correlation between high social media usage and an increased risk of depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. So why are we still sitting there, losing ourselves in our screens?
“There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software.”
— Edward Tufte
This chilling quote perfectly captures the addictive nature of social media. These platforms are designed to keep us hooked. Features like infinite scrolling, likes, comments, and notifications trigger the release of dopamine in our brains, creating a feel-good sensation that keeps us coming back for more. Social media platforms are no different than some of the most addictive illegal drugs.
The Impact on Creativity
As a creative, I used to justify my social media use. I’d tell myself that I needed it for inspiration, learning, exposure to diverse perspectives and ideas, sharing my work, connecting with a wider audience, and growing my business.
Bullshit.
Social media wasn’t enriching my creativity; it was watering it down.
It was a constant distraction. The endless notifications and infinite content made it difficult to focus on my creative work.
Social media also created a constant pressure to conform. I felt like I had to chase every new trend and seekl validation, which often led to creative blocks. I stopped taking risks and exploring new ideas out of fear about what others would think and whether my work would please the algorithm. This fear of judgment stifled my creativity and diluted my truth.
I felt the creative energy leaking out of me, leaving me exhausted and unable to create. I experienced ego depletion, a state of mental exhaustion that impairs your ability to think creatively. The endless stream of content drained my cognitive resources. I was on the edge of burnout. The digital world had my creative spirit in a chokehold.
The Impact on Productivity
Social media also destroyed my productivity. It made me an even worse procrastinator. Whenever I faced a challenging task, I’d turn to social media as a form of escape, losing myself in the infinite sea of content. This cycle of procrastination and decreased productivity became a constant struggle, and a source of shame and negative self talk.
The Impact on Business
I knew I needed to quit, but I kept worrying about my brand, business, and goals.
As a copywriter and strategist, I’ll be the first to admit it: the benefits of social media for businesses are incredible. Social media can be a cost-effective way to drive traffic, generate leads, and increase sales. Social media can also help brands reach a wider audience, build brand awareness and customer loyalty, which ultimately increases customer satisfaction and repeat business.
Despite its benefits, social media also presents unique challenges, especially for solopreneurs and small businesses. Keeping up with the ever-evolving platforms, features, and trends can be overwhelming. This dynamic landscape makes it difficult to stay current and create quality content while also managing all the other aspects of running a business (and a healthy personal life).
The demands of social media can also lead to feelings of isolation. In my pursuit of social media growth, I found myself neglecting real-life relationships. Instead of calling my family or meeting friends for coffee, I’d spend my time engaging, drafting posts, and obsessing over metrics. This constant focus on the digital world left me feeling disconnected from the people I cared about the most. Sure, my numbers grew, but so did my loneliness.
My Social Media Detox
So I took a break. I deleted the apps, adjusted my strategy, and updated my systems. To my surprise, my audience kept growing, the money kept coming, and my well-being improved dramatically. I felt less anxious and more focused, my sleep improved, and I had more time to see friends and family. I picked up new hobbies and reconnected with old ones. My curiosity and creativity were reawakened, and my productivity peaked. I had been reborn.
Introducing the ANTISOCIALMEDIACLUB
The ANTISOCIALMEDIACLUB is not about rejecting social media or completely unplugging from technology. Instead, we’re a community of ambitious creatives who want a healthier relationship with technology, crave more intentionality in our lives, and give a damn about our personal and creative development. At THECLUB, we prioritize genuine connections, creating remarkable work, and finding joy in real-life experiences.
I don’t claim to have the answers. But my hope is to use my platform to start important conversations, foster a sense of community, and amplify creative voices that often get drowned in the algorithmic noise. By embracing a more intentional relationship with our technology, exploring alternative ways to connect, and deepening our creative practice, we can reclaim our time and attention, and build a business and life we truly love.
Join the ANTISOCIALMEDIACLUB and receive insights, tools, and resources to help you build a thriving audience, business, and life without becoming a slave to social media algorithms.
Yes, even the best of them — especially the best of them.
I have this theory.
All creatives are insecure, but that self-doubt is a good thing. It is a sign of untapped creative genius.
You’re probably a little insecure yourself. Maybe from time to time, you doubt your skills, experience, and work.
But have you ever considered that your self-doubt might be a sign of your creative potential?
You probably haven’t.
Here’s the thing: All creative people are a little insecure because of their constant exposure to great creative work.
And Ira Glass, the creative mind behind some of the most popular podcasts of all time, like This American Life, Serial, and S-Town, fully agrees.
This is what Ira had to say about creativity:
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your
ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
This “gap” Ira describes is the reason for the creative insecurities of many.
It’s tough to feel good about your writing after reading Hemingway or your acting after watching Kate Winslet.
Ironically, the only way to become great at your craft is to study the greats so you can recognize great work when you make it.
Now, you know. Your insecurities are simply an indicator of your great taste and untapped creative potential.
Get to work, put yourself on a deadline, and keep going.
Luckily, he’s a devout Catholic, so he would never.
But that hasn’t stopped him from selling millions of dollars worth of software, and last week, I asked him for his secret.
“Psychology.” He replied, “I understand how human needs influence consumer behavior.”
This answer got me thinking about the way we, as creative entrepreneurs, market our products and services. It’s not enough to make cool designs, write creative copy, or cook delicious meals. If you want people to pay you for your work, you need to understand why people buy. You need to understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes the fundamental motivations of human beings, prioritizing them into categories. It shows that people work to fulfill their needs, starting with the most basic and progressively moving towards more complex desires.
Once individuals can provide themselves with basic needs, they begin to climb the pyramid, fulfilling each category of needs until they reach the top layer: self-actualization.
Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by a failure to meet lower-level needs. Life experiences, including divorce and the loss of a job, may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy. Therefore, not everyone will move through the hierarchy in a uni-directional manner but may move back and forth between the different types of needs. Also, not everyone will reach the top, but understanding these layers can transform your marketing approach.
Here’s the breakdown:
Basic or physiological needs: Food, water, shelter, warmth
Safety needs: Security, stability, freedom from fear
My friend doesn’t sell products. He sells safety, belonging, status, transformation. He identifies the buyer’s needs and positions his offering in a way that clearly addresses those deeper motivations.
And if you want to thrive in the digital marketplace, you need to do the same.
How to Use Maslow’s Pyramid?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Hinge turned a single insight into a $400M business. Hinge speaks to our need for love, which is why they’re the fastest-growing dating app.
For you to understand how to use the pyramid, you must understand how your product or service serves your customers at each stage.
Effective messaging speaks to real human needs. When you use Maslow’s Hierarchy, you make your content, concept, or story much more compelling.
A person buying whitening toothpaste isn’t interested in brushing away discoloration. They’re interested in brushing away self-consciousness.
A man buying a hair regrowth treatment isn’t buying a handful of hair. He’s buying confidence.
A mom buying a Volvo isn’t buying a car. She’s buying safety.
You get the idea.
Next time you market your work, dig deeper. Target the emotional and psychological reasons behind wanting your product or service. Use words and images that:
Illustrate the transformative results your customer will experience
Show the positive change your offering brings to their life (or the life without it)
Highlight how you solve a need, not just a problem
Take a moment to map your current offering against Maslow’s hierarchy. At which level are you truly serving your customers?
Marketing isn’t just about selling—it’s about understanding and serving human needs. Master this, and (if you’re not a Catholic) you might sell dope to the Pope.
In 2010, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules For Writing, The Guardian reached out to some of today’s greatest pens and asked them to share their rules for the craft.
Of all the responses, Zadie Smith’s is my favorite.
If you don’t know Zadie, she’s a critically acclaimed British novelist and essayist with witty, intelligent, and deeply observant prose. Her debut novel, White Teeth, published when she was only 24 years old, was an immediate hit. Since then, she’s published a number of successful fiction and non-fiction works and happens to teach creative writing at NYU, so if anyone knows a thing or two about writing, it’s her.
Zadie’s rules combine philosophy, poetry, and practicality, turning a how-to guide into a manifesto for approaching writing as both an art and a discipline.
This list you’re about to read is one I return to often, and I recommend you do the same.
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This is Zadie typing
1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
2. When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
3. Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation.’ You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle.’ All that matters is what you leave on the page.
4. Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with contempt.
5. Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
6. Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
7. Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
8. Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
9. Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
10. Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand — but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.
For more tips on crafting and piecing together better sentences, check out this post and this one.
Hunter S. Thompson was a writer whose daily routine included liters of whiskey, packs of cigarettes, and cocaine — lots of cocaine
When Thompson was just 22 years old, he wrote a letter to his buddy Hume in which he gave the type of life advice your heart desires, but no self-help guru in their right mind would ever share — mostly because good advice doesn’t sell.
What follows is one of the most honest and profound pieces of advice my wandering soul has ever found.
So, if you’re also feeling a little lost, here’s some sobering life advice from a writer who was never sober.
This is Hunter typing…
Dear Hume,
You ask advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do! For to give advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close to egomania. To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal— to point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is something only a fool would take upon himself.
I am not a fool, but I respect your sincerity in asking my advice. I ask you though, in listening to what I say, to remember that all advice can only be a product of the man who gives it. What is truth to one may be disaster to another. I do not see life through your eyes, nor you through mine. If I were to attempt to give you specific advice, it would be too much like the blind leading the blind.
“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles …” (Shakespeare)
And indeed, that IS the question: whether to float with the tide, or to swim for a goal. It is a choice we must all make consciously or unconsciously at one time in our lives. So few people understand this! Think of any decision you’ve ever made which had a bearing on your future: I may be wrong, but I don’t see how it could have been anything but a choice however indirect— between the two things I’ve mentioned: the floating or the swimming.
But why not float if you have no goal? That is another question. It is unquestionably better to enjoy the floating than to swim in uncertainty. So how does a man find a goal? Not a castle in the stars, but a real and tangible thing. How can a man be sure he’s not after the “big rock candy mountain,” the enticing sugar-candy goal that has little taste and no substance?
The answer— and, in a sense, the tragedy of life— is that we seek to understand the goal and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you. Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.
So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything other than galloping neurosis?
The answer, then, must not deal with goals at all, or not with tangible goals, anyway. It would take reams of paper to develop this subject to fulfillment. God only knows how many books have been written on “the meaning of man” and that sort of thing, and god only knows how many people have pondered the subject. (I use the term “god only knows” purely as an expression.) There’s very little sense in my trying to give it up to you in the proverbial nutshell, because I’m the first to admit my absolute lack of qualifications for reducing the meaning of life to one or two paragraphs. I’m going to steer clear of the word “existentialism,” but you might keep it in mind as a key of sorts. You might also try something called Being and Nothingnessby Jean-Paul Sartre, and another little
thing calledExistentialism: From Dostoyevsky to Sartre. These are merely suggestions. If you’re genuinely satisfied with what you are and what you’re doing, then give those books a wide berth. (Let sleeping dogs lie.) But back to the answer. As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. WESTRIVETOBEOURSELVES.
But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors— but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires— including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be MEANINGFUL. A man has to BE something; he has to matter. As I see it then, the formula runs something like this: a man must choose a path which will let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his DESIRES.
In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires). In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing; for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life— the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual.
Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN— and here is the essence of all I’ve said— you MUSTFIND A NINTHPATH.
Naturally, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.
So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life. But you say, “I don’t know where to look; I don’t know what to look for.”
And there’s the crux. Is it worth giving up what I have to look for something better? I don’t know— is it? Who can make that decision but you? But even by DECIDINGTOLOOK, you go a long way toward making the choice. If I don’t call this to a halt, I’m going to find myself writing a book. I hope it’s not as confusing as it looks at first glance. Keep in mind, of course, that this is MYWAY of looking at things. I happen to think that it’s pretty generally applicable, but you may not. Each of us has to create our own credo— this merely happens to be mine.
If any part of it doesn’t seem to make sense, by all means call it to my attention. I’m not trying to send you out “on the road” in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that— no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll have lots of company.
And that’s it for now. Until I hear from you again, I remain,
SANTI VILLANUEVA
