Screaming into the void

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The early stages of being an online creator are tough. It doesn’t matter if you make Youtube videos, craft newsletters or write dumb tweets — you always must face screaming into The Void.

Your journey started with such enthusiasm! The internet is a big place, right? It won’t take long to find like-minded people who value your work! You’re talented, different, and special. People are bound to see that soon enough. Heck, the stuff you’re creating will be so good you’ll probably go viral!

But then the days turn to weeks, turn to months…and nothing. Nobody is paying attention. Maybe you have a follower or two (one is almost certainly a bot), but neither man nor machine engages with your stuff. You ask desperately open-ended questions (who likes pineapple on a pizza?!?) on Twitter. You beg for someone to reply to your newsletter. There’s despair in your eyes as you yell, “Remember to smash that subscribe button!” at the start of your videos. You just want a response from somebody…anybody!

But…nada.

You’re screaming into The Void, and it’s staring back with indifference.

The internet has democratised many ways to create, communicate and make money. It’s frickin’ great that we don’t have to beg the gatekeepers to let us publish our novels, sell our art or make our movies anymore. But this democratisation has created a hell of a lot of noise.

Now anybody can do it — everybody is!

You’re competing in the same realm as a 14-year-old kid and his weirdly sexual Minecraft videos. You’re creating art next to some old man in some forest in Japan who makes badass wood carvings that should be in the Louvre. You’re fighting for attention against the 123,0000,0000,000 bros trying to sell you their marketing course (hey, what are you staring at me for?!)

There’s a lot of…everything now. You’re another toddler banging his spoon against the pots and pans of the internet. And guess what? Nobody gives a fuck. Mommy and Daddy are too busy with their own stuff to pay you attention. This crushing realisation is where many creators quit. The lack of feedback can be soul-crushing — maybe you’re not so special after all…

Here’s the problem: you’re focusing on external validation rather than the craft. If you’re looking to find joy by building an audience, it ain’t gonna end too well. Audiences can be fickle, judgemental and straight-up wrong. Think how many crowds gathered for witch burnings, royal executions and The Late Late Show with James Cordon.

Creators have gotten confused. We think that fast audience growth = doing something right. But audience growth can be hacked with platitudes, marketing and manipulation. Using these tactics is tempting because the dopamine hit from each ‘like’ or ‘follow’ is addictive. But all they do is turn your unique content into bland shit in an attempt to conform.

Look at this (old) dumbass tweet:

You can almost smell the desperation. Wow, dude. So profound! I hadn’t thought about doing stuff. All this tweet is doing is parroting everyone else in a sad attempt to get likes.

paaaathetic.

We’ll do anything to avoid the pain of being ignored. You end up saying and doing things that inherently aren’t you. It’s a strategy that only provides you with unsustainable short-term gains. You can’t keep this up without sacrificing your joy and soul.

We must accept that screaming into The Void means we don’t get the validation you crave from external parties — not at the beginning. It’s a lonely place, and I’ve given up many times.

How do we find the energy and confidence to keep on creating in the face of The Void?

Here’s my solution: allow yourself to be an audience of one. Validate yourself and your ideas. Each time you post write down how it resonated with you:

• How did writing/painting/filming that project make you feel inside?

• Give it a number from 0 - 10 to create a scale (this will help in the future when you look back at your work and see which ones felt the most like you).

Ask yourself questions:

• Did you get across what you wanted to say?

• If not, what could you change for next time?

• Is this potentially part of a bigger ethos for you?

• How could you explore the subject further?

• Do you even want to?

This process gives you internal validation and helps you discover what you want to get out of your creativity. It’s profoundly more satisfying than someone giving you a quick thumbs up. In the end, the only person you need to impress is yourself. The closer you can be to your authentic self (a completely overused phrase but still has a seed of truth), the more joy you can self-generate.

And a cool thing happens when you start focusing on what you want to say…

Your little radio station of creativity starts to cut through the static. The music you’re spinning sounds WILDLY different to all the other stations. Other brilliant, unique people start to take notice of your stuff…

And these people share your ideals (not just a shared goal of building audiences/making lots of money), so they’re awesome folks you want to spend time with! You build a genuine connection with them. It’s less of an audience and more of a community! Now you’re being fulfilled internally AND externally! It’s beautiful.

I’m not going to lie to you: this takes time. I’m screaming into the void myself. But since I deicded to focusing on internal validation, every newsletter I send now feels energised with aliveness that my old stuff lacked — maybe you’ve felt it too?

And when the void does give you the occasional smile, it feels all the more profound because your true self feels seen. You haven’t tricked anybody. They like you for you:

Thanks, Ozan 🙂 

And thank you for reading and sticking with me through this. It’s been a wild ride, but we’re just getting started!

Peace,

—Jacob

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