You Are The Media (YATM) is the home for marketing misfits. It started in 2013 at the seaside, in England 🌊 The community is built around creativity, interdependence, visibility, experimentation and co-learning.
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Hi YATMers! I'm René Hjetting and I am a copywriter with a passion for AI. After more than 20 years of writing copy for clients, I decided earlier this year that I wanted to share all my knowledge and experience, and that was the starting point for The Writing Club. It's a club where I teach my members to write better with AI without losing their own personal voice. I support my members in achieving freedom by selling enough to live the life they want. I live in Copenhagen and have a lot of friends in the UK. I should be British because I watch the BBC and love English humour. Outside of work, I love cycling on country roads, not to compete, but to go for a ride and recharge my batteries. Over the last 10 years, I've cycled some of the mountains featured in the Tour De France. I'm not one to admit it, but in my relationship with my wife, I'm more romantic than she is, and one of my favourite TV series on Netflix is Emily in Paris, so now you know...
Building your idea and space comes with moments when it throws you off kilter.
Bringing people together around an idea that you have drive for can be the most rewarding work you do. However, when you are responsible for your own efforts, it’s going to test you in ways you might not expect.
For instance, it could be a new business idea, the space that you want people to gather around, or a new side project where you know it can progress into your living.
All of it represents stepping away from someone else’s rules and being ready to build success on your own terms.
The path isn’t smooth. You may decide to throw in the towel, you may see anxiety levels peak, you’ll make your judgments that what you started is going to fall to pieces.
If you are building something that you know takes time, but you know is worthy of the role it serves and the people you are doing it for, this is for you.
From my own journey with You Are The Media (YATM), I’ve come to recognise three parts of the journey that question everything. These are the stages where happiness can feel sapped, confidence wavers, and you start asking if you’re deluding yourself.
These are the questions of insecurity that will happen as you progress:
“Am I wasting my time?”
“If I can’t explain this simply, do I even know what I’m doing?”
“Am I deluding myself? Maybe they sceptics are right?”
You create, you build, you gather. This is what is going to make you feel unsteady at three different points of your journey.
If it feels wobbly, you’re on the right track, it means you decided to not stand still.
The Lonely Vacuum(Wobble 1)
This is when you’re continually picking yourself, but no one else is.
Too often, we look around and see others proudly flying their subscriber numbers, or announcing huge audience growth. In the early days, it’s slim pickings. When you start, no one knows about you.
The wobble here comes down to one question: “Am I wasting my time?”
The number of new people coming on board is far smaller than the few who are with you.
When I began YATM in 2013, it was just me, writing every week. Growth was slow. Looking back, I was regurgitating what was already available. It took me a long time to find my voice. There were no applause, no instant validation.
This stage relies entirely on your own drive and self-belief, rather than feedback or analytics. When things are quiet, you ask yourself, ‘how much longer?’
What worked for me was to increase my own visibility. I wrote a book, I stepped up to present at events and I worked at being seen by others. This meant I could then ask people to subscribe to the YATM newsletter.
When you’re invisible, if you believe in what you want to say, you have to keep showing up and find ways to elevate yoru presence.
Clarity Is Missing (Wobble 2)
People don’t resist because they don’t care, they stop because they’re unsure of what they are being asked to do.
This second wobble hits when you’re gaining traction. People are showing up, subscribing and are joining in, but you can’t quite explain why it matters in a way that sticks.
My biggest problem was that everything was in my head, but I didn’t have clarity about the role YATM served for people.
The live events worked because they were unlike work events people were used to. They were upbeat, raw, haphazard in the best way and people loved it. They decided to come back. This is what helped to build familiarity amongst each other. However, enthusiasm alone can’t fill in for clarity.
I would ask yourself, “If I can’t explain this simply, do I even know what I’m doing?”
YATM now fits part of a path that gives people status and affiliation.
When people understand what something is for and has meaning to them, they join in. I didn’t want to create something that was the novelty act in the business space, I could see the role it played for people, where people could show up, experiment and grow together. I just wasn’t clear on the role it played.
You have to make people feel safe so they can step in confidently.
If people don’t get it, they won’t go with it. When they do get it, when the message feels familiar, relevant, clear they go further than you ever expected.
The Sceptics Step Up (Wobble 3)
When you stick with an initiative long enough that feels right, the value builds.
The persistence isn't just from you anymore, it's from the people who show up with you and then vouch for it to others.
What also starts to happen is that the sceptics show up and boubters make digs. People dismiss what you’re doing. Some mock it outright.
In 2025 YATM leaned more into identity embracing the message that you don’t have to fit in. Being a ‘misfit’ in the business space is a strength. That helped people feel they belonged. At the same time, negativity surfaced. People outside the community made remarks.
I know it’s easy to be told to just ignore and walk away. It still stings when someone casually mocks the work you’ve poured into.
The wobble happens when you think, “Am I deluding myself? Maybe they’re right?”
It’s taken some time for me to realise that scepticism often reflects someone else’s discomfort, not your insecurities. Success attracts commentary, progress makes people feel uneasy, but it still feels spiteful.
The way to switch it around is that when you can see momentum with other people, it means you put less focus on the non-believers and you lean into the people who are up for it.
The sceptics then stay in their corner, it was never for them.
Let’s Round-Up
Every idea worth building comes with turbulence.
The wobble isn’t failure, it’s that you’re looking at create something that didn’t exist before and you are forming your own path.
The vacuum tests your patience. The lack of clarity tests your focus. The skeptics test your resilience.
Each stage is proof you’re moving. If you can recognise where you are, and keep going, your idea has the best chance to grow into something others want to stand with.
You don’t have to wait for it to feel smooth. You just have to be clear and name the wobble. Then you keep going.
What gets you there, to the version of work and life that truly fits, is confidence, context and the courage to refine.
We’re built to be with others. We’re not meant to do this alone. What really shapes our future isn’t tech or the next big leap forward, it’s how we show up for each other.
It’s knowing we matter, that someone has our back, and that we can share the highs and carry the lows together.
YATM is all about making brave steps with our creative endeavours. Michelle Haslam is from this parish and on the November Lunch Club panel on 'confidence' (in Poole).
'Woman, Unravelled' is for women who feel like they're holding it all together, but inside tells a different story. New shows every Wednesday and to listen here.
Lunch Club Returns Next Thursday
Lunch Club started way back in 2016 and it's taken so many twists and turns.
I love it as it has become our way for people to come together.
It gives people status (either hosting or being on a panel) and it gives people affiliation (knowing they are part of a wider space).
It starts next Thursday (4th Sep) in London. We're at The Alma, in Wandsworth. Come and join the start to the new term here.
We're then in Poole on 11th September and you can join in here.
You Are The Media (YATM) is the home for marketing misfits. It started in 2013 at the seaside, in England 🌊 The community is built around creativity, interdependence, visibility, experimentation and co-learning.
