🫥 The fight against sameness
Hey Reader,
I keep hearing versions of the same complaint from very serious people who know they need media and would also rather chew glass than become a Personal Brand™.
I'm trying to run a company, I have real work to do, I don't want to perform for strangers on the internet... why can't I just be good at what I do?
Fair. 🤷🏻♀️ But I think we've collapsed two completely different things into one deeply annoying word: visibility.
Being visible is not the same thing as being performative. But refusing to participate doesn't make you more serious, it makes you harder to find, understand, remember, and hire.
And here's where this gets weird... While a whole lot of smart professionals are desperately trying not to become influencers, the people who are making content have developed the opposite problem.
They're all starting to look the fucking same.
⚙️ Welcome to the beige content factory.
The Verge reporter Mia Sato recently spent months following two successful Amazon influencers whose content had become eerily similar, with the same products, aesthetics, formats, and relentless optimization toward whatever the platforms rewarded.
Eventually, after watching enough of their videos, Sato struggled to remember their names, faces, or distinct ways of speaking. 😵 Oof.
This isn't because these women aren't talented. It's what happens when you let what's working replace your own judgment. The platform tells you what's trending, somebody sells you the hooks that convert, you save the creator you admire, download the template, ask AI what to say, and optimize the shit out of everything until everybody has learned how to make “good content”... and nobody can remember who the fuck made it.
😬 Which is exactly what you're afraid of.
This is where the snake starts eating its own beige tail.
I found another video from founder Hannah Zhang arguing that building a business now requires founders to participate in the marketing, and then I read the comments.
Holy focus group, Batman!
People were “battling the whole vanity thing,” worried about “performing for an audience,” failing publicly, finding the time, and why they couldn't just “shine in our fields” without having to become everything at once.
I hear versions of this ALL THE TIME, from CEOs, Dojo members, prospective talent, and even political candidates who are trying to do important work and do not particularly give a shit about going viral on Facebook. The resistance usually circles around the same things:
- I don't want to become an influencer,
- I don't want people judging me,
- I don't have time for another fucking job, and
- how do I know any of this will make me money?
All reasonable. ➡️ But look at the trap.
You're afraid visibility will turn you into one of those interchangeable internet personalities, so you look around for the safest possible way to become visible. You copy what works, follow the best practices, use the proven hook, ask AI what to say, follow the template...
And congratulations!
You've built the exact fucking thing you were afraid of becoming.
📣 Your business doesn't need a personal brand.
There. I said it.
“Build your personal brand” is having another moment right now, but for a lot of people, that's an absolutely useless instruction.
What your business needs is a recognizable point of view.
- What do you notice?
- What do you know because you've spent twenty years doing this?
- What does your industry keep getting wrong?
- What can you explain differently?
- What do you care enough about to keep saying when nobody gives you a gold star? 👈 THIS ONE
That's the raw material.
Sometimes your face belongs in the media, sometimes your voice does, sometimes you need a podcast, YouTube show, interview, case study, demonstration, or something else entirely.
The format is not the personality. The format carries your point of view far enough that the right people can recognize it.
🎥 And no, you should not have to do everything yourself.
One of my favorite comments under Hannah's video asked, “Why can't we shine in our fields without having to be everything all at once?”
YOU SHOULDN'T.
You do not have to become a strategist, producer, host, camera operator, sound engineer, editor, copywriter, distribution team, and social media manager just to prove you're authentic.
A member of my Dojo told me this week that after bootstrapping her own podcast, she's becoming the poster child for “just hire the help.”
I laughed because... yeah.
You can learn all of this yourself. You can also churn your own butter. 🧈 The question is whether butter production is where your particular expertise is most profitably deployed.
Meanwhile, I occasionally stare at my very professionally equipped studio and want to shake some of you lovingly by the shoulders:
YOU COULD HAVE SIMPLY HIRED THE HELP AND THIS WOULD BE DONE BY NOW. 😂
🎬 That's what a producer is for.
I can't manufacture your personality because you bought a production package, and I can't siphon some of mine into you because you joined the Dojo. Frankly, you shouldn't want me to.
My job is *not* to give you a personality. It's to make sure *yours* survives production.
I can help you find the strongest idea, ask the question underneath the question, challenge the boring shit, develop the format, coach your delivery, figure out what only you can contribute, and get the rest off your plate.
Because the goal isn't to make more content.
The goal is to become recognizable for something worth recognizing.
So no, you don't need to become an influencer, get louder, manufacture a more outrageous personality, or turn your private life into intellectual property.
But you do have to participate.
🌟 Being visible is not the same thing as being performative.
And being very fucking good at what you do doesn't help nearly as much as you think it does... especially if nobody knows you exist.
It's weird until it works. Let's connect as humans when you join me in the studio this week... ⤵️
🔮 Apparently we're having a séance.
The studio is haunted. I think. Probably. 👀 I mean, I've had some... experiences happen in there. No, I'm not joking.
On Friday, October 30, I'm opening the doors from 10am–3pm so we can investigate this extremely scientific claim together. 😂
I have nifty new spirit communication equipment, a 106-year-old building with STORIES, and enough curiosity to make this either delightful or an absolutely terrible idea. Come cowork, hang out, talk to the ghosts... whatever feels right.
And because a bunch of you have been asking me to bring back Tarot Time, we're taking advantage of the Samhain vibes from 11am–1pm for guided Tarot + lunch. Bring your own lunch and deck (or borrow one of mine), and I'll teach you some of my favorite ways to read, practice, and channel with your cards.
No networking agenda. No pitch. Just a weird little Friday at the studio with Tarot cards, ghosts, coffee, and interesting humans.
Honestly... what else did you expect from a place called Sasquatch Media Grounds?
🗞️ Gossip from the creator trenches...
🤳🏽 Enshittification: Meta edition
Have you recently been personally victimized by Meta's AI policies? You may be entitled to compensation via wine o'clock. The internet lost its mind over Meta's published (and then clarified) plans for using AI with business-account content, and a LOT of videos got the details wrong along the way. So before you panic-delete everything, know what's real. My practical takeaway remains boring but undefeated: don't build your entire business on rented land. Hello, sexy email list.
Honestly not surprised →
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💻 The apocalypse is super nerdy
Raise your hand if PHP was on your tech-apocalypse bingo card. Researchers found AI agents probing an obscure weakness in the plumbing underneath huge chunks of the web... the kind of fiddly technical shit humans historically haven't bothered exploiting at scale. Enter stage right: the robots. If you run a WordPress site, this one is worth understanding, and for the rest of us, consider it another loving reminder to turn on 2FA wherever you can.
Protect your nerdy little kingdom →
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💰 Apparently YOU can be acquired
Forget buying the company... the big money machines are increasingly interested in the creator. See how talent, audiences, and the businesses built around them are becoming valuable assets in their own right. Which puts all this annoying conversation about visibility and personality marketing into a rather different perspective: the thing you've been building to attract customers might eventually have value because it's attached specifically to you.
Pay me now →
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Something For Sale
No, I have not quit readings entirely... I just need to figure out how to do them without sacrificing myself to the astrology gods. 😂 My 90-minute Astrology + Tarot forecast for July–December 2026 is $47 and walks you through the big energetic shifts, what I'm watching, and how I'd work with the weather instead of screaming at the sky about it. If the second half of 2026 has had you asking WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!... start here.
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Something For Free
You probably don't need another microphone, camera, or piece of software. You need to know what the hell you're building. My free white paper, You Don't Have a Production Problem, breaks down what creator studios sell, what creators actually need, and why those are frequently two very different things. There's also a self-audit to help you figure out whether you're ready to launch... or whether you need to build the infrastructure first. 👉 Download the white paper for FREE.
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