Hey there.

Well, TikTok is banned.

No wait, it’s back.

Ok, it’s back but maybe not for long?

For what it’s worth, I despised the app.

(“But Kevin, it has a smart algorithm, people make loads of money, and it’s fun…”)

Well for me, it was none of those things.

I say “was” because I had a TikTok account.

3 times.

And every time, it served me junk and extremely sexual content from day one.

For me, the 3rd time wasn’t a charm so I deleted my account and said “later” to it.

However you may feel about TikTok and a possible ban (again), there are 2 takeaways you need to think about.

Social Media is rented land.

When you start a social media account, you sign up to use their service. You agree to their rules. You actually play with their tools.

Am I against social media?

Nope, even though I’ve been off it since last November…(more on that at a later time).

The reality of social media is this. If you build your brand or business totally on social media, you run the risk of one day that platform going “bye, bye” for good. Then what?

Control what you can.

Since I’ve been a solo creator - probably even before then - I’ve been a believer, an advocate for having your own website.

And when I say website, I mean like an actual starts with https and ends with a dot com or some variation.

Why?

Because you decide what it looks like. You decide what’s on it (or not on it). It’s your site for whatever reason you need - business, non-profit, personal, or just to show off to your friends.

Think of a website, no scratch that, think of your website as a digital card you can share with anyone at any time anywhere in the world.

It can be packed with info or a simple bio page.

And it can be crazy easy to set-up and afford too. My site is currently on Payhip.

Is it the best? No but it’s free (at least the plan I’m on) and gives me a lot of options like having digital downloads and (eventually) online courses.

Look I’m sure there are a ton of other reasons, but the possibility that TikTok does indeed finally go dark should be a wake up call to anyone banking solely on social media or an app.

Creating content is hard enough. Don’t make your life that much harder by putting all your digital eggs into something you have zero control or say in.

If you haven’t already, start your website today. Again I recommend Payhip.

Start a newsletter, like this one on Kit.

Keep copies of what you create.

Take control of what you can and keep creating.

Kevin