The all-seeing algorithms, more like a bargain-bin knockoff of Sauron from Lord of the Rings. As scapegoats go, they’re almost too easy. They’re constantly changing, updating, retargeting, and throttling your reach in ways that feel personally designed to ruin your Tuesday. And yet, here we are, building entire businesses on platforms we don’t own, for audiences we can’t actually reach.

Let’s talk about that.

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What Happens When the App Goes Dark?

If Instagram or TikTok disappeared tomorrow, what would you have to show for it? How would you reach your ideal audience? Do those followers even hear from you outside of an app they may or may not open that day?

This isn’t just a hypothetical. It’s a reality some of you will face, or maybe already have. Getting locked out of your account. Getting banned without explanation. Getting hacked. And if an online audience through a third-party app is the only thing you’ve ever built, then what? Start from scratch and hope the algorithm gods are feeling generous? Maybe some of you have a backup account ready to go. Statistically, most of you don’t.

Yes, these are first-world problems. But if you’re self-employed and social media is the tool you use to feed your family, pay your rent, and keep the lights on, this is a terrifying reality, not a hypothetical.

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Diversifying Platforms Isn’t Enough

Sure, you can spread yourself across multiple platforms. Most creators do. But then you’re just at the mercy of multiple algorithms instead of one. You’re not free, you’re just more occupied building more content.

Financial advisors always say to diversify your portfolio. I’d argue your digital presence works the same way. Don’t throw all your eggs in one basket, because that basket can be knocked over in a single afternoon, by a policy update, a Terms of Service change, or just an algorithm having a bad day.

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The One Thing Every Creator and Business Owner Needs: An Email List

I say this to everyone building something in the digital space: build your email list. Not someday. Now.

An email list is something you own. These are real contacts, people already familiar with your brand, already warm to what you do, already in your corner. The best part? They opted in. They raised their hand and said yes, I want to hear more from you. That’s an incredibly powerful thing.

Here’s what that means in practice:

You control the cadence. No longer are you at the mercy of an algorithm that punishes you for not posting daily, not responding to DMs fast enough, or — I wish I were joking — not using more than three words in a comment. With email, you show up when you have something worth saying, and your audience actually sees it.

You control the relationship. Social media is a landlord-tenant situation. You build something beautiful in a space you’re renting, and the landlord can change the terms or sell the building at any time. Email is the house you own. Nobody can take your list away from you.

You control the conversation. Reply rates, click-throughs, open rates: these are real signals from a real audience engaging with your actual content, not a curated feed designed to keep them scrolling past you.

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Where to Start

If you’re ready to stop renting your audience and start owning it, I personally recommend beehiiv. It’s the platform I use and genuinely love, built specifically for creators and newsletters, with tools that make growing and monetizing your list feel less like a chore and more like, well, a business. The interface is clean, the analytics are actually useful, and the growth features are built in from day one.

Check out the perks of using beehiiv here.

Your social media can still be part of the strategy. But let it be the top of the funnel, not the whole foundation. The goal is to meet people on the apps and bring them home to something you own.

Start the list. Send the email. Own the relationship.

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