How I Quit My Life as a Digital Nomad to Become a Writing Tribesperson

Here’s why we need to focus on creating a more inclusive digital ecosystem for creators.

Two metalheads sat across from me at a table in the summer of 2010. A web designer and a photographer with a similar vision. They knew how a picture is worth a thousand words, but they still required the services of a middleman.

The photographer’s wife was an old friend of mine, so she knew my reputation as the go-to guy in high school.

As he showed me their new blog, the web designer talked loudly and waved his hands. I took a look at the website, and it appeared dull, amateurish, and out of date.

To complete the project triumvirate, they needed an editor who could bring order to chaos and get the wheels turning. Furthermore, they required someone with a more diverse musical taste and a way with words.

They believed I was the right person for the job.

I wasn’t sold on the initial design or the brand. When beginning any project of this nature, the first thing you must consider is branding.

Still, I bought the idea.

The all-encompassing concept drew me in, but I wasn’t sold on the format. When they were finished explaining, I cut the chase. I told them that to make it work. We had to start from the bottom and work our way up by employing what I believe to be the three pillars of successful business marketing: rebranding, refurbishing, and revamping.

Pillar #1: Rebranding

In 2010, all alternative music magazines focused on heavier sounds looked identical. They followed the same design leitmotivs as modern metal album layouts, so they were expressive but hard to decipher.

The logos were based on hand-lettering practices, and even if they got the boldness and symmetry right, the brand couldn’t be read from a mile away. Furthermore, the entire visual layout and backdrop were primarily black and white.

I don’t mind neutral color palettes, but we needed a bit of dissonance to stand out from the crowd. There was a design snowclone that guided my marketing experience back then:

“Pink is the new black!”

Gloria Vanderbilt is credited with coining the phrase after noticing the prevalence of pink in Indian clothing during a visit to India in the 1960s, implying that the color pink seemed to be the foundation of most outfits there, similar to how black was the foundation of most garments in New York.

From that insight, I got the idea to make the name sound like Rock n’ Roll, but with a flickering electric pink middle “n,.’”

Pillar #2: Refurbishing.

Understanding how the internet has changed the way we work and communicate was as important back then as it is now. Writing platforms, blogs, and online magazines have become more popular than ever in the last few years.

Our team was made up of people who shared the same dream of working from home and creating content for a living. There are numerous ways for people to work online, but one thing they all have in common is the need for a website.

The website they showed me was unprofessional and would not suffice. It was built on a free platform and couldn’t scale to what I envisioned. As a result, we needed to step up our game, which meant finding a flexible platform that would allow us to build a team within a community-based framework. Finally, we needed a suitable host and domain provider.

I was already aware that if you want to be successful on the internet, you should keep the following three things in mind:

• Your website needs to be user-friendly (on mobile and desktop);
• You need to post a wide variety of high-quality content regularly;
• Your website should be community-friendly from the creators’ point of view.

Pillar #3: Revamping

Online creators are the new generation of workers. They are among the ones who have the potential to aspire to achieve great things and change the world. However, we often face barriers to success because we lack resources and opportunities.

This last pillar is of utmost importance for the topic we have at hand, as it will provide you with actionable tips on how to build a more inclusive digital ecosystem for online creators.

If you’re a creator working in digital media, your work must reflect diversity. This is for two reasons:

First, it’s undoubtedly a sound business strategy. As you establish yourself, you’ll notice that if you want to develop a strong presence in the content creator economy and scale your business, you’ll need to exponentially grow your audience. The best way to do that is to become as inclusive and diversity-focused as possible, even if you started from a secluded niche like heavy metal, as I did.

Second, diversity of perspectives will deepen the experience that you provide your audience. This is why writing platforms have become a huge success online. They thrive on bringing together a melting pot of multiple idiosyncrasies, cultural ethnicities, and visions of the world we all live in.

This was my vision, and it was based on these principles that we made it work. The webzine went from a team of three to becoming a digital tribe composed of dozens of people from all corners of the country, with different tastes in music and various cultural backgrounds working together with a common goal of producing unbiased content for everyone.

Concluding Remarks

The creator economy is one of the fastest-growing businesses classes in today’s world, and it is not slowing down anytime soon.

We’ve all watched the digital content industry booming during the pandemic, with new creators joining every day.

In the post-modern era, many still look at online creators as digital nomads wandering the blogosphere and navel-gazing while sipping cocktails on a dreamy beach in Turks & Caicos.

I believe we have to move forward from the age of the rogue influencer to a new digital era focused on adamant creator communities based on the pillars of diversity and equality as we work our way up to a better world for us all.

Moreover, there is still a great deal of inequality in this ecosystem. Men still dominate the online industry. Thus women and people of color often have a hard time finding their voice in this space.

The digital economy should work for everyone, not just those with privileges. To make sure that we have an inclusive digital economy, we need to ensure that everyone has access to the resources they need to succeed.

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