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 Lincoln New. Last year I sold the business, I co-founded in 2009.
Like a lot of founders, I thought I'd reach the finish line, put my feet up and open a good vintage.
The other side is not what I imagined. For starters, I'm now cold-water swimming with the YATM bunch!
I miss the challenge. The conversations, the problem solving, the deals, the wins, the setbacks and even the sleepless nights.
These days I work with growing brands, helping them find new opportunities, build relationships and navigate the challenges that come with growth.
I'm currently reading Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, the story of Pixar. A business that respected everyone’s opinion without judgement, leading to some of the most successful films ever made.
There is pressure to arrive with the finished thought, already shaped so it makes sense to others.
It’s something we live with every day now. Answers arrive quickly from our prompts, we get sharper responses and we repeat the process.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s useful and gives us time back and can help us see structure and make a starting point feel less intimidating.
There is a difference between finding an answer and gaining a better understanding.
I Thought You Look For Better Words
Over the past six weeks, I have been trying to explain what You Are The Media means now.
It hadn’t lost its way, but it needed clarity as it has grown. In terms of subscribers, event attendees and location coverage.
YATM started in 2013 as a weekly newsletter built on a simple belief: you don’t have to wait to be chosen.
You don’t need someone else to publish you, promote you, validate you or tell you it’s your turn. You can build your own voice, audience and relationships through the trust you create over time.
That still matters, probably more than ever.
Over the years, YATM became more than a newsletter. There are Lunch Clubs, Creator Day and YATM Club. There are friendships, collaborations, shared tables, sea swims, ongoing conversations and moments where people feel more confident because they are not alone.
I knew what it felt like when so much is on your shoulders, when you want to start something new or step up, no one else is there for you.
What I was missing was not the feeling. It was the explanation.
When The Words Stop Fitting
There is a point in any piece of work where the words you have used for years start to feel too small, or maybe they just don’t fit anymore.
Maybe the people around it have changed, or the value has become clearer than the explanation.
That doesn’t mean your work is broken, it just means the old language can no longer carry the full weight of what it has become.
That is where I found myself. The words I used to describe did not fully explain the role YATM provides for people.
When you are close to your own work, meaning can feel obvious before it is obvious to anyone else. You are the person who puts in the work, who knows the people and can talk about the back story.
Other people only have the words you give them. If those words are unclear, they can’t see what you see.
I have learned that if people have to experience before they understand it, then you are not clear enough.
The Questions Were Not Obstacles
What helped most was not treating this as a solo challenge or trying to force a stronger sentence.
I had to let people into the problem. For instance, we have a monthly session called Sense Check in YATM Club and the first session after Creator Day I shared that YATM doesn’t feel like a place for misfits anymore. People were there for each other and everyone made the occasion special. It was the wrong terminology.
From there, it meant I could keep asking questions. You can read more from last week’s article.
This part was uncomfortable for me because I had ideas that didn’t always match what other people heard. When someone questions your language, it can feel like they are questioning the work itself. No one enjoys hearing, “I don’t understand.”
A good question doesn’t always give you the answer, but it can show you where the answer is hiding.
What Became Clear
For years, I have said that You Are The Media is about not waiting to be chosen. I now see another layer.
You don’t have to build your voice, your ideas, your audience, your confidence on your own. You don’t have to build a business with no one on your side.
That is what I hadn’t explained clearly enough. Our strongest work is often shaped by the people around it.
People help you see what you are too close to see. They ask questions you would not ask yourself and they help you stay with your efforts long enough for it to become clear.
The people around your work become part of the work.
It is easy to see other people as the audience, the customers, the subscribers, the members or the people you hope will pay attention.
But when people are close enough to question, encourage, reflect and participate, they do more than receive the work. They help shape it.
The Message Was Also The Method
Eventually, the words that came through were simple, More Together.
It helped to explain why the newsletter, Lunch Clubs, Creator Day and the Club all felt like parts of the same thing.
At first, I thought that phrase was a way to explain YATM. It’s a well-worn path to invent a positioning statement that makes sense, where you do the majority of the work.
More Together emerged from the work in the build-up and the questions and discussions with other people. It took over a month to get there, and in today’s standards, that is at a snail’s pace.
The clearest ideas rarely arrive fully formed. They often emerge through conversation, challenges, tweaking, trust and shared experience.
Let’s Round-Up
You might be trying to rewrite your About page, explain your offer, name a new project or describe what your business has become.
It is tempting to think the answer is to stay with it alone for longer.
Sometimes what you are trying to understand cannot be found only by looking inward. Or if all your answers come from a tool, your work becomes a version of what already exists.
You may need other people to show you what they see. You have to ask what feels unclear, what they notice or what you work on gives them.
Looking back, I don’t think I was trying to find a better way to explain You Are The Media.
I was trying to understand what it had become. The understanding didn’t arrive because I thought harder. It arrived because other people thought with me. You can’t ignore the people around you. They may be the ones helping your work become clearer.
Identity is not what you say it is. It is what people experience when they feel they belong.
Sometimes you start with a word that helps people find you.
If you keep listening, the people will show you the words that explain why they stay.
We leaned into new and safe with Phill Agnew on Tuesday....
Nudge Podcast's Phill Agnew led a session in YATM Club this week to explain why people are drawn to work that feels both new and safe.
Too familiar and people switch off. Too new and they don’t know where they stand. Find your familiar frame first, then add a fresh difference that makes people care.
Proof for you. In 2022, I made sure Creator Day wasn’t referred to as a conference, but about togetherness, few people turned up. When I leaned into a ‘conference’ people showed up, then I could add the ‘togetherness’ side.
It's all about positioning so the right people get you and you work.
If you're a YATM Club member, watch the one hour session here.
If you're now ready to join the Club, join us. I'll greet you in the DM, join here.
YATM in two sentences...
For the past month or so, I have been figuring out what YATM represents.
It is different today from what it was a year or so ago.
Let me know how this sits with you, can you reply to this email and really hope this has meaning with you?
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.
