You Have A Brand in Your Pocket $
Personal brand, Digital networking and writing.
Hello, before we begin;
I want to discuss why I decided to start this newsletter, which may have been better off as an introductory newsletter, but this is also fitting. These three points can break down my reasoning,
We are learning in public. This newsletter is an idea to curate my thoughts and give them an excellent platform to share with other people, and ultimately create a space where I value thinking critically about our lives and the future of our lives. What I mean by “learning in public” is that I’m sharing my writing process and thinking publically to encourage others to put out their projects and get away from the idea that our content and opinions have to be perfectly curated. Essentially, I’m thinking about how I and all of us can create a safe presence online and allow us to be creative, intellectual, and take a step towards our passions.
Another reason is writing accountability. First, this writing accountability is essential to me as being a good writer is personally meaningful. Writing has always fascinated me, and words cannot undervalue. Yet, beyond my writing, I think the newsletter can serve as a way of writing in public. It’s cliche (I’m also finding that most of my life I’ve been trying to avoid cliches; only to find they are for a reason), yet this idea of public writing helps accountability because I now feel a sense of obligation to write because you all at the very least expect some email or notification about my writing; regardless if you read it or not. Yet I’m also trying to become a better writer, and the only way I know how to do that is through reading and writing extensively.
Possibly one of the most important reasons I’ve started this newsletter is content creation and what the contents of this newsletter will contain. To put this in context, when I think about content creation, I’m not necessarily thinking about being an influencer on social media or becoming a Youtube star. Still, I also could be talking about those things. I want to use the newsletter as an opportunity to create an identity online for myself that can be completely different from my identity in person to some degree.
These three reasons are important because I think they serve a purpose regardless of what you’re doing in your professional and social life. Through learning in public, writing, and content creation, all of us can learn how to create lives for ourselves outside of institutions and 9-5 jobs. This is not to say that these three things are revolutionary or abolish our ideas of professionalism or how we obtain a ‘career’ in our society, though it is a start.
I want to make a broader, more general connection between my three reasonings of logic through a list that should be easier to read for folks and increase my reading engagement ;)
Learning in Public
Learning in public means sharing what you’re doing.
Learning in public is better than learning in isolation. This applies to anything you’re doing in your life. The internet has created a fantastic opportunity for us to do what we enjoy or find interesting and then share that with other people, which makes way for us to help one another and curate ideas.
Learning in public can come in many different forms and mediums, one of them being a newsletter or a blog and could be in the form of a youtube video or a Twitter thread, which are all valid and essential forms of writing. (You can begin to see how this correlates to content creation and writing).
If this interests you, learning in public can also increase your network. Some people may read this and think they’re not attractive or don’t have anything worth sharing; these are not reasonable concerns. Every interest has a niche; know your audience and write to them. If you like to bake, write about your baking to people interested in baking. This goes for all interests; write towards an audience and several audiences if you have several interests. The critical thing to remember here is that this applies to anything; if you’re writing to increase your network, communicate and share different ideas within your profession/career.
Although it is a long shot, it’s important to remember that at the very least, when you’re learning in public, you’re curating writing skills, revision, and editing skills, and at the most, you can get paid to talk about your ideas and interests.
Writing
Although writing has its connection for me, I’m learning that it has its outstanding value in the world. Knowing how to write and write well is crucial, as not knowing how to do so can be detrimental to one’s career. I get this idea from a good friends tweet in which he says,
Also, as a future English educator, I’m constantly thinking about writing. How to write, what is considered writing, the connection between reading and writing, writing to learn, and so much more. Through an educational lens, writing doesn’t have to be so intimidating because it can take the form of Twitter threads, captions on Instagram posts, texting; all of these are necessary and valid forms of writing. If we take these forms of writing seriously, we inherently hone writing skills while also learning in public.
Writing forces you to think about your thoughts and then craft and tweak them in ways you couldn’t have imagined before writing them down.
Writing in public is similar to learning in public because it’s a medium to get information to people to open up opportunities for productive and intellectual discourse within any realm of interest.
Writing in public creates accountability; or a sort of conviction that forces you to write and clarify your thinking.
Content Creation
I’m thinking about content creation in conjunction with learning in public and writing to redefine our notions of professionalism and entrepreneurship. You can turn yourself into a brand online, separate from who you are offline.
The internet is constantly at our disposable, and we often find ourselves as consumers on the internet, constantly taking in different videos and information. Creating your content in conjunction with my logic mentioned above, you can hone real-life/marketable skills and essentially create a business without the financial risk of losing.
With so much at our disposal, particularly our phones that hold so much power, we can do what we find exciting and market ourselves with no risk other than the irrational fear of feeling anxious or embarrassed to put ourselves out there.
Lastly, the idea of content creation is to make the internet work for you.
This is all to say,
All these things are in conjunction with attempting to work for yourself while creating marketable skills and marketing towards people in your realm of interest.
I’m an aspiring teacher, so in turn, I hope to write about different educational theories, issues within educational institutions, innovative education practices, and more. I choose to write about this because it interests me. Still, I’m also hoping to expose you all to different ideas and thoughts to create some political and social commentary to re-imagine the way we live and educate, respectively.
Also, this newsletter works in conjunction with an affirmation of some educational theories that I’m currently learning in university. I hope to write more about those correlations in later editions.
Learn in public; share what you’re doing. This is our opportunity to prioritize our projects and have the ability to create things for ourselves that can exist outside of institutions or temporal relations of power.
This is all about taking autonomy over the way we exist concerning power and deciding to move forward in our professional social lives. If we do it right, we can create unique opportunities for political education to get out of this wretched capitalism.
I’m not an expert on digital content creation and the digital age, there are so many more knowledgeable people on the topic but I hope this newsletter is a catalyst for you all to start thinking about how to integrate ourselves into a digital age that fast approaching.
My name is Savon Rodgers. I’m a writer/educator.
Writing to help us all give truth to the world.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RodgersSavon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savon_rod/
I have exciting news to share: You can now read Savon’s Newsletter in the new Substack app for iPhone.
You’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my Substack and any others you subscribe to with the app. New posts will never get lost in your email filters or stuck in spam. Your email app will never cut off longer posts. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a significant upgrade to the reading experience.
The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can join the Android waitlist.