Why I Write

Why I Write Online

Discovering the power of writing and content creation in a quest for a more meaningful life.

Growing up as a kid all I wanted to do was have fun, either playing with friends, exploring or playing games.

Fast forward to my now mid-30s nothing has changed much.

I remember when I was 18 about to graduate from high-school, everyone around me was talking about what they wanted to study, which career path they were choosing and when they’d start to enter the work force.

I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t understand why everyone was so accepting of the fact we need to commit to sitting in an office for 8 hours a day working.

That doesn’t sound fun. Wouldn’t you agree?

I just wanted to play the drums and play music for a living, or travel the world with friends and seek out new experiences.

Sadly there wasn’t really a clear career path to work towards that had that outcome. Nor is it a very good paying career. Being a musician is a rough road.

I was however, good with tech, constantly on the comptuer figuring out how things work, opening it, putting it back to gether and playing around with all the settings.

Although I was very relunctant in the beginning I’m thankful my Father noticed my tech skills and guided me along a path towards IT. There is money and stability in IT.

I enrolled into college, got my diploma and within 2 years had entered the work force in IT Tech Support.

Fast forward 15 years and here I am, still in IT have a stable career, moved to the other side of the world (from Australia to The Netherlands), married to an amazing woman and have a house.

Life is good.

But…

Those desires for fun, freedom and exploration have not disappeared. I love technology, my job has had some fun times, but corporate life is not living.

I mean, why do humans need to spend copius amounts of dollars and petrol navigating to an indoor destination full of other people that don’t really want to be there, bodies in a seated position for most of the day, slowly deteriorating, burning our eyeballs with bright blue light pannels, exchanging information with an electronic system all while being told we need to do better, tell other people to be or do better all in exchange for a currency that pays for our luxuries to recharge from this system?

It’s a never ending maze with no real prize or goal at the end.

How did we get here?

In the last 15 years, I’ve explored many creative perusits in hopes to make a break free of the 9 to 5.

I was in a band in high-school and we continued after graduation for a few years, we all wanted to make it but life happened, some of us got married and had kids and the vision wasn’t there. I joined another band, we had awesome momentum, recorded and released albums, played gigs around Sydney, but ultimately like I said ealier, the path of a musician is a rough road, we eventually went our separate ways.

I tried my hand in business, getting into digital marketing with a friend (singer of the last band), we generated some cash, sold digital products, but it ultimately wasn’t sustainable, we both had different creative ideas and it didn’t work out.

That was around the time of moving to The Netherlands with my now Wife. 2020 in the middle of COVID.

It was difficult, but It was a fun. It was a new adventure and there was lots of new experiences. We settled into the country, found jobs and bought a house after 2 years.

After settling I started getting into Content Creation, because I always thought that was a life I could live, make a living while making content I love. I was quite successful, it was COVID times so there was a lot more free time to create (less commute time). TikTok was booming so I rode the wave and managed to amass 30k followers between Instagram and TikTok all from giving my Aussie perspective in a Dutch world. I was excited, I thought this could lead to a full time content creation journey.

All I had to do was be consistent, and so I did. I spent an hour a day going over ideas and just jotting down basic scripts and prompts and then by the evening I had some time to bang out a quick video. It was fun and the growth was very motivating.

But ultimately I realised, you don’t get paid for the ammount of followers you have especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. They don’t pay you to create and I was stuck in the vanity metric bubble, I felt like a monkey having to constantly entertain so the numbers would keep going up.

I was on Instagram every day responding to comments and messages, constantly checking how many views my videos were getting, not realising that I was causing my anxiety to skyrocket, especially if I put a lot effort into a video and it didn’t perform well. I would keep trying to pump out content that I thought was funny or what people wanted.

I had no strategy.

So I slowed down in order to rethink.

It’s been 15 years, I am still working for a corporate job un-satisfied that I’ve not been successful in finding a life of fun, freedom an exploration, it’s time to focus and work towards this dream.

After getting Married in Australia ( October 2023) and having the best time of our lives, during the honey moon period we had time, time to think. I pondered over a broader content creation strategy, asked myself questions like what are all these creators doing, how are they generating income. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on the creative process and learned about what they doing that makes them consistent and successful.

That’s when I realised everything comes down to writing and strategy.

The strategy being repurposing: YouTube videos are scripted, that script is usually designed for a blog or newsletter, that newsletter get’s sliced up into tweets or used for shorter form videos like Reels and TikToks.

I started researching the best blogging platforms. I’m good with tech so I thought about setting up my own website or blog, but then I came across an excellent YouTuber or should I say Writer, named Zulie Rane. She opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Medium, the awesome community that lives here, the fact that Medium pay their writers from the get go and all the SEO is done for you.

It’s a no brainer, right? Especially if you’re just starting out.

I got excited about it, so excited that my Wife also wants to try her hand at writing. She’s started a Medium account and is an expert on travel and tourism, I’ll put her username in the comments.

This is the beginning, the begininng of a long term Journey and I’m resposible for no one but myself.

I am in creative control and I am committed to improving my skills on writing so I can share my passions. Explore further interests. Share knowledge with the others, share opionins with others and gain perspective from others.

Live a true human experience.

At the end of the day, everyone has a story to tell, we’re all on different journeys and every single person has a unique perspective on the world. Writing is the best way we can collectively share and understand this thing called life.

My goal is build a following across all social platforms, redistributing my content from my writing and scale myself out of full time work. I want to help people be successful, I want to help people find purpose and I want to network with likeminded individuals who share this same drive.

This is why I write.