I’ve been wanting to record voiceovers for these posts for awhile and just haven’t had the little bit of extra time to do so. But here it is! If you so choose to consume this content that way. It was recorded in one take and there will be stumbles and other mistakes included.
This is a topic I’ve wanted to write about for some time now. Ever since I created this Substack I’ve felt a little insecure about my chaotic tendencies in topics and post types.
You really get a little bit of everything here.
And I keep looking at that as if it’s a bad thing. Because we’re told to niche down. To be specific so we can capture our target audience. To have a name that matches that niche and to brand it as well.
In my day job I’m a graphic designer. Mostly brands and websites, a few other things, too. And I always talk to my clients about the importance of a strong, cohesive brand.
Even with websites, there’s the importance of SEO. You don’t want to get too cute with your copy. People search for specific key words and you have to hit those somehow.
But here, in this space I’ve created, I don’t follow any of that advice.
I don’t have a niche. I don’t have a name that talks about what I do. I’m a little all over the place.
Because that’s who I am. I’m not a sellable entity created to appease the masses. I’m a human. I’m a person. I have multiple interests and hobbies. I have good days and bad. I don’t always dress in my brand colors. I change and I morph.
And that’s a good thing. Isn’t it?
Somehow we have collectively, as a society, almost turned it into a bad thing.
If you don’t have a personal brand, who are you? Do you even exist? If you’re not branded how are we supposed to know who you are?
If I can’t reduce myself down to a tagline or an image, how are people going to know me? Do I even want them to know me?
The reality of it all is, we’re all more like novels than we are like TikToks or Reels. We take time to know and understand. We have chapters and sections and details that can’t be absorbed in thirty seconds. But so much of our information sharing and our social performance is being warped into this tiny little timeframe.
And so I’m worried that if someone lands here and they see poetry alongside stream of conscious journal entries and parodied Taylor Swift songs and Magic card collages and other random bits and pieces of art that they’re going to get overwhelmed or confused and not be sure what they’re signing up for.
If all I did was post my poetry I feel like I could brand this space better and grow faster. I’d know my audience: people who enjoy reading poetry. Simple.
But instead I’m chaotic. But I need to stop using that word because it’s not chaos, it’s human. I’m a human being. I have more interests than just poetry. We’re allowed to have multiple hobbies and passions no matter what the world wants us to feel.
So why does that feel wrong in an online space?
I’ve gone back and forth between feeling like I need separate Substacks to accurately reflect my interests. Or to section everything off and make people subscribe to only the topics they’re interested in. But that just feels so complicated and exhausting to deal with.
It makes me feel like I need to put on a front for who I’m speaking to. You know like how there’s certain friends or family that you only talk about one specific part of your life with and you can’t be truly honest with them? It makes me feel like that when I think about sectioning everything off.
And I hate that.
I do not exist to be marketed or marketable. I do not exist to reduce myself into a branded, polished image. I do not exist to even get the approval of others.
And I think that’s what this whole thing comes down to: I’m terrified of over-stepping my bounds, of being “too much.” What a crime it would be to send an email to someone that they’re not interested in. Such an intrusion.
I judge myself more harshly than I judge others. Even if I niched down to just poetry, I’d still send poems people didn’t like. There is no way to guarantee anything will resonate with those who are subscribed here.
And I genuinely appreciate each and every one of you. But also it’s your right to leave if you so choose and I will not be offended. Maybe a little sad but my sadness is not your responsibility.
I also need to keep in perspective my original reason for starting this Substack. It started as a place for me. I talked endlessly about wanting to do it, not knowing how, and then one day feeling so compelled to because I had thoughts in my brain I needed to get out.
So I dove in.
And that’s really how I’ve been trying to treat this space: as a place to get thoughts down that I just need to get out of my brain. Or as a place to share what I’ve created that I’m just too excited about to keep to myself.
It’s all easier said than done because our brains like seeing that subscribe number go up. We like when people like or comment on our posts. We like feeling seen.
But that’s not as important to me as creating and getting my thoughts and ideas down. Even if I had 0 subscribers and had no likes, I’d still want to keep this up as a place for myself.
And that’s what I need to hold onto. Fulfilling myself and not caring how the rest of the world will react.
Side note: For the record, there’s nothing wrong with niching down either. I know plenty of people use Substack to help their businesses (I’m one of them on my other Substack) or as a way to make a living just from their writing and creations. And in those cases, yes, niching down is helpful. But if all we’re aiming for is joy, niching down isn’t the only way to get there.
Thank you so much for reading In the Clouds! This is a personal outlet I created to nurture my own creativity and to connect with other artsy people out in the world.
If you enjoyed reading this entry, I’d love if you subscribed and dropped a comment below to say hi. All are welcome in this billow <3
Friends or family only talking to you about One Thing is like a NIGHTMARE. Also can you imagine if everyone actually dressed in their brand colours ☠️