On today’s Escape Pod Zoom call, I talked with Frederick Woodruff about his book, I Love You, Jeffrey Dahmer, and about what it takes to get the word out without social media, or with only a toe still in those waters.

One idea keeps coming up in my world comes from Michelle Warner, in an interview I heard her do with Jay Acunzo, another marketing person doing great work. She talked about getting awareness off your plate and onto other platforms.

What she meant is this: rather than posting on Substack Notes or Instagram, put yourself into someone else’s platform. That could be a popular podcast in the world you work in, or a YouTube channel that’s the right fit, one talking to an audience that would probably vibe with what you’re doing.

A recent Dense Discovery newsletter came my way with a subject line that made my heart sing: “Breaking up with Gmail,” which is a familiar topic around here!

“I went with Fastmail, a small Melbourne company (represent!) with a solid reputation. Its migration tool pulled everything across via IMAP in a few hours and mirrored my Gmail labels. On my laptop I use the web interface and don’t miss a single feature. On my iPhone, I can still use the native Calendar and Contacts apps, and Fastmail’s own app for email (it’s good). When I made a mistake during my custom domain setup, an actual human replied to my support request within a day with an answer that helped. I’d forgotten that was possible.”

Yes, there’s definitely some friction to leaving an email platform that maybe you’ve used for decades. But if using a tool just doesn’t sit right with you anymore, it’s worth the effort.

And as Kai explains, it’s not always going to be a clean cut, saying “too many clients and collaborators live in Docs and Sheets.” I’m in the same boat. But the act of moving our main email inbox to another company that values privacy and actually providing customer support feels good.

Tired of Gmail?
Try Fastmail.
Try Proton (50% off deal right now for Black Friday).

So, “Google makes a privacy policy exception to use your Gmail and Photos data for ads,” according to Android Authority:

“This doesn’t mean Google automatically scans your private emails and photos to serve ads. The exception concerns information users choose to share with eligible services. Google also maintains that it doesn’t disclose personally identifying details, such as your name or email address, to advertisers without your permission.”

Everything is seemingly a grey-area when it comes to what Google is doing these days with AI and your beloved email. Oh, and Google cutting down 250,000 trees for a data center. Sure, why not?

As we’ve talked about on multiple member calls, you don’t need to leave Gmail and shut down your account tomorrow, it’s a process. Decoupling from Gmail also means figuring out how to decouple from Google Drive, Calendar, and so much more.

The biggest thing; start small. Sign up and try Fastmail or Proton (get 60% off a 12 month plan, affiliate link), and give is a test drive. Subscribe to a few newsletters and FWD some emails from your Gmail account into your new inbox.

Explore alternatives to Drive with Infomaniak’s kDrive or Proton Drive (affiliate link). There are many options out there!

Again, I’m not telling you which service is the best. You need to start an account with some of these services and see what feels right to you. If you’ve been using Gmail for 15+ years, a lot of these new services are going to feel alien, so remember to break up with Gmail at your own pace.

David Sparks writes about the Apple ecosystem at MacSparky. He posts videos from time to time on YouTube, and recently had one hit a million views.

“I can tell you that after my big successful video, there was a part of me … just for a minute … that thought, “Hey Sparky, how can you make every video a million-view video?” The answer is to start letting the algorithm drive and planning content around views rather than whatever it is I actually want to say.

Fortunately, I didn’t think about that too long.”

David makes the videos he wants to make. He’s not trying to win YouTube, he’s just making videos and well, hey – hosting is expensive, may as well put them on YouTube!

That’s what we’re gonna talk about in our upcoming “Finding Your Cozy Corner on YouTube” Escape Pod Zoom calls in November. See the full schedule here.

I know two people who’ve sold offers with a Google Doc and a PayPal link.

No amount of automations or sales page H1 text will make up for trust, and that’s how those two people did it. People trusted them, there was an offer that fit, and sales were made.

So don’t worry too much about which email platform you’re using, or if you’re using the right CRM – are you building trust every day? Does your website build trust? Do people get to hear you and see you enough to trust you enough to give you money?

Meta One, huh? The Meta subscription thing, where you pay a monthly fee. It’s not available for everyone yet, but some people are starting to see it: you have to pay Meta a monthly subscription to include links in your posts and in your reels. Supposedly they’re also starting to delink the links people put in comments. It’s only a matter of time before they come for the link in bio.

So what do we do? If you rely on Instagram, if you rely on Facebook, if all of that is the driver to the things that you do, if that’s the only way to get the word out, what do you do if you don’t want to pay $8 a month or $20 a month for two or four or five links?

The best time to have gotten away from these platforms was five years ago, three, two. The second best time is now.

Instead of working so hard on trying to get people from social media to your newsletter, just send a newsletter.

Instead of starting a YouTube channel, a new social media account, or whatever else is the hot marketing tip of the day, send a newsletter.

The people who subscribed said two things when they gave you their email address:

1. I trust you.
2. Tell me more.

If those people aren’t already telling all their friends about your work, fix that first.