Why Keeping It Simple Online Is the Only Answer
The Quality Not Quantity Approach
My beautiful Substack people! Hello and welcome to the end of the week.
I’m yet again writing to you with haste the night before my newsletter goes live which I don’t recommend but alas, it has just been one of those weeks…again.
This week I want to talk about doing less online and making what you do online count. Important topic in our modern world so keep reading.
I also want to say a big thank you to those of you who booked in for a photography review last week. March is fully booked but my calendar is open for April (can you believe it will be April soon?) If you feel like you are needing some direction or feedback then this service is something to consider. Click the button below to read more about it.
Less really is more, especially when it comes to being online
So Lux and I have been on a bit of journey since the beginning of 2025.
It was spurred on by a number of things, one being chronic stress and anxiety all of 2024 from a full roster of client work, our first year in full swing of running our business, and also trying to have a life of our own whilst bringing up a child too.
I mean this is just the regular stuff right? No woe is me at all cause so many of us juggle all of these things and more all the time!
The holiday period was slow for us in terms of work and we just threw ourselves into the things we love, which is YouTube. This paid dividends big time as we secured a contract for 2025 sponsors and were suddenly in a position to give so much more time to our first love and second baby YT!
The temptation when doing anything online though, is to always add more
A new platform
Another chat group
More posts
Another vertical to keep up with and feed…
It just seems to creep in like all that stuff that accumulates on your kitchen bench that really has no business being there. IYKYK.
This happens digitally too and if you are like me a self confessed content queen it can seem like a great idea to try and tackle all the platforms or be everywhere - especially if you are trying to “do” something online.
For me to be offline is just absurd, it would be like Ryan Holiday giving up Stoicism, and you know what, I wouldn’t even want to not be online. I enjoy being online and sharing, I just need to keep it all in check otherwise it takes over, like an internet monster eating up my life one bite/post at a time.
I already shared a guide here on how to be happy on the internet and that covered things like auditing your usage and consumption, who and where you hang out and monitoring how you feel after using certain platforms.
This weeks newsletter is more about how and where you create online. So if you are someone who posts with intent or you are starting a YouTube channel, building up an audience for your writing, or anything else that requires consistency and you taking time out to produce this, I have some valuable advice…
Consider saving your energy for that one platform you want to grow!!!
It sounds oddly simple and kind of obvious but really if you want to grow your readership here on Substack the best place to put all your attention is…Substack.
If you want to build a YouTube channel then well, focus on YouTube, don’t start making reels and putting them on TikTok and then sharing them on notes and then trying to also make and edit YouTube videos. It’s madness and it will get you nowhere.
Obviously at a point it’s great to start branching out and looking at getting synergy but tbh I try this regularly and one ball always drops.
I’m not Gary V I don’t have a team of people uploading and captioning my content and then analysing it.
We are all people, not machines and we should approach our main platform with the attention it takes to learn and grow anything else in our life we would try and concur.
This goes for those of you who want to do things offline too - if you want to take more photos or read more books just focus on that and that alone.
We all bite off more than we can chew these days because there are so many shiny options flying around and everyone makes out like things are way easier than they really are.
I have fallen victim to piling up so much on my plate I end up seeing no impact anywhere and wanting to give up.
2025 is all about YouTube and Substack and that is more than ENOUGH!
Extra things don’t have a place and anything I do has to make me happy, bring in an income that is something that makes a difference to my families life or feed my soul in a meaningful way. Ideally all three at once though!
Basically if you want to achieve something in life something else will likely have to go, pause or be reduced.
So what do you choose to stay and what do you choose to go?
This is your sign to overhaul and really take a look at how much time your phone is sucking you away from other more worthy things. Maybe you need to ditch IG and TikTok and just focus on YouTube or whatever it is you are passionate about and truly enjoy. Just make the call and focus in on what your actual goal is - not the fifty different other 1% things that won’t really get you there.
Speaking of YouTube if you need some Substack tips and ideas or just a brush up on the platform watch the video below for my deep dive.
See you next week Substackers and don’t forget to be intentional with your online time today and everyday!
Next week I’ll be back with some book + movie recs to help you nourish the creative mind and soul!
Love Lucy xx
Yes yes YES! I've shut down and deleted all social channels, and I just have this Substack, and my website. I used to play the game of posting on Twitter and Instagram to GET PEOPLE TO SUBSCRIBE to my Substack, but finally I was just like, eh... I just didn't have the energy for all that work with so little results!
Honestly this just makes sense. Splitting oneself across so many platforms just becomes exhausting and makes you want to stop it all and go live on a mountaintop in a cave or something.
I've been trying for months now to figure this out, all while juggling my photography hobby, day job, home life and finding myself increasingly interested in making video content related to my photography, and damn, it gets old in a hurry.
Posting to my website and then posting to several social platforms to try to drive traffic to where I want it to go seemed like a sane idea back in January. But I've ended up dropping *all* the balls instead.
I enjoy creating stuff. I don't enjoy the part where I figure out where to post it. I still feel like my website should be primary, with Substack and possibly YouTube creeping in as appropriate if the whole video thing gets some momentum. I just want to create things, dammit!