Category: InterviewCategory: Interview
Angela Hollowell (Please Hustle Responsibly) and I talk about stepping back from algorithm-driven platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram to build slower, calmer, more sustainable creative practices.
Angela on her reason to spend less time on LinkedIn:
“I’m not tempted to leave LinkedIn because my LinkedIn reach has gone down. I’m tempted to leave LinkedIn and posting on any social media platform regularly because of the time that it takes for me to do that when I could be spending more time writing a better long-form article
Me on websites:
“I think curation is the big part of of like you came to my website and this is someone asked me like oh well why doesn’t my website my website doesn’t get the same engagement as as say a LinkedIn. Well yeah cuz LinkedIn is built for engagement. There’s all these things to click and do and this whereas your most websites are just like here’s a big picture here’s eight links here. What do you want me to engage with?”
Angela on doing the work, rather than writing everyday on LinkedIn:
“The thing I’m most known for now, and where I’m getting a lot more recognition as a writer, producer, and film director—is from (my documentary). Way more than I did in four years of writing every day on social media. Yeah, that project took me six months to make, and then another year basically doing a film festival circuit. But it has paid off exponentially. I try to remind myself of that when I start thinking, “Oh, I should post this on LinkedIn.” It’s like—no, I shouldn’t, actually. I should let it cook.
And this is me, talking about spending less time on social media, and seeing where that can lead:
“I started doing my my weekly Zoom calls with my paid members like a year and a half ago and let me say, when I started them I was scared out of my mind. Like, “who who am I to like host Zoom calls?” Now I get like 10 to 15 people. I had six or seven this morning at the last minute. It’s amazing. But like, that work and not being on social media and doing that kind of quiet ,behind the scenes thing… now I’m ready for whatever.”
I hope you get something from this chat! If you have questions, please get in touch: seth@socialmediaescape.club
Recorded live on Substack, July 28 2025.
I first saw Kareem Rahma doing Keep the Meter Runnin on Instagram. Then Subway Takes a bit later. Absolutely fascinating talk about his journey, and just how much work and effort goes into putting these sorts of projects together.
I love this part so much:
I had bet on myself so many times that I accumulated so much junk that was useful. Junk knowledge, junk information, junk intangibles. Like, that’s a lot of stuff too—the intangibles. Like, saying “100% agree” or “100% disagree” was not a part of the plan. It’s just what came out of me.
The biggest hook in the show wasn’t planned, it just happened. But it “just happened” because of the many years of accumulated “junk.” It’s easy to think of things that didn’t quiet make it as failures, but maybe it’s best to reframe those as “junk knowledge!”
(more…)I had a great chat with Brie-Anna Willey of Business for Nerds today, where we agreed that it’s okay to not be good at social media, that maybe we should make our websites more like IKEA instead of a grocery store, how your old work is new to someone, and lots more.
Here’s a bit from my interview with Rusty Pilgrim:
Q. I have to be honest —my opinion of marketing is pretty close to that old Bill Hicks joke where he says, “Are there any marketing people here? You? Great. Kill yourself. Seriously —kill yourself.” That’s more or less how I’ve always felt.
But your approach is completely different. In fact, it’s so different that I wouldn’t even call it marketing. Was there a specific moment or event that led you to take this path?
A. Lots of Seth Godin books, starting with Purple Cow. Make something remarkable, and people will make remarks. It five people like it, maybe they tell five more. If they don’t, start again. Either re-work everything, or play to the crowd, or double down and find the right five people who might enjoy what you’re doing.
Not everyone is going to love what we do, and that’s okay. Even the most famous people on the internet are complete unknowns to most of the world. So to me it’s all about making a thing that you can make, making friends, having fun, building community. If that leads to paying some bills, great. If not, at least you’ve enriched the lives of those around you.
How do you get more subscribers? Pitch yourself. Get awareness off your plate and go do fun stuff with other people.
Jason Mantzoukas loved the UK show Taskmaster so much he pitched himself to be on the show.
Everyone should just know how hilarious Jason Mantzoukas is, right? Instead of sitting around and hoping to picked to be on the show, he reached out. He put the ball in motion.
Jason could have posted every day on social media hoping that the executive producers would see how serious he was. Or, he could tell his manager. Send some emails. Get things into motion. We can do the same.
I help creative people quit social media, promote their work in sustainable ways, and rethink how a website and newsletter can work together. Find out more here. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
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Email me: seth@socialmediaescape.club
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