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Happy happy Wednesday peeps,

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and 99.9% of you are checked out. You don’t have to lie to ya boy; I’m right there with you. ‘Tis the season of unanswered emails, after all.

As mentioned in the last issue, I’m thankful for a lot of things, but I’m especially thankful for you readers this year. My more personable approach in my writing seems to resonate, and I can’t believe I have a growing audience to yap to. Seriously, the cliche of “don’t create for an audience, create for yourself” is legitimately true.

I won’t go on another heartfelt tangent because I know you guys want to close your laptops already, but I wanted to thank you again. If you’re reading this right now, you are the reason I keep going. You’re at the heart of Cmd+Shift+Create, and I couldn’t do this without you. ❤️ 

Now, before you go pour that Bailey’s in your coffee (go off my cozy Queen/King), I have a favor to ask you. This week’s newsletter is supported by Branded Bills, and if you guys click the link below, I get some dolla dolla bills.

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Another big thank you to those who support me and click those links when I have ‘em — it seriously makes a big difference.

Enjoy the holiday peeps!

-Luke

Platform Letdown / When to Quit

If you know me personally, you’ll know I’ve had some serious beef with LinkedIn recently. Especially with LinkedIn’s newsletters.

Now, my newsletter didn’t start off too hot. Whether it was LinkedIn, email, or beyond, I just didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t find my voice, so I was just regurgitating news and happenings in the creator space; I wasn’t optimizing, so each issue would be thousands of words; and most importantly, I was focusing more on consistency than content.

But, as you all know, that’s changed for me recently. As mentioned, the switch up to more personable is working for me, and while the email version of my newsletter is the strongest it has ever been, my performance on LinkedIn has never been worse.

The craziest part of the terrible engagement and reach on LI? I have almost double the amount of newsletter subscribers on there than I do on the email version (what you’re reading now).

This has driven me to LOATHE LinkedIn. Clearly, my content is stronger than it has been in the past, but the views are worse than ever before. I believe this is because LinkedIn’s algorithm has stopped prioritizing my content, and honestly, it’s made me stop prioritizing the platform that I once loved.

So, on to the big question: when do you quit a certain platform after it continuously lets you down?

For me, I’m essentially “quiet quitting” LinkedIn. I’ve stopped posting every newsletter issue, I’ve stopped posting daily, and I hardly engage like I used to. And I can already hear some of you say “that’s why your posts are flopping!” and you might be right, but the burnout and stress that this platform has caused me is the exact reason I need to step back.

When you become a slave to the content you create or the platform you post on, your creativity often takes a massive hit. It can make you think your content isn’t as good as the AI-generated posts that plague the platform; it can make you believe your thoughts aren’t as valued as those paying for a premium version of the app; and even worse, it can make you feel like quitting completely.

So what’s the solution? There’s not going to be a fix-all solution for this, but for me, stepping back from the platform just might be the move.

From consuming less content on the platform to not posting my own, I’ve removed myself a good amount, and it honestly feels great. But that energy didn’t just disappear; it got pushed over to the email version because I truly feel supported here.

Being in an ecosystem that uplifts you and supports you (even if silently) can make your creator journey feel much more fruitful. Always remember, these platforms legitimately only care about money and time/attention from users, so don’t take it personally.

Go to where you’re getting love, and avoid the places you’re not.

I might return to LinkedIn someday, but for now, I’m focusing on spaces that support me. And that’s more than okay—it’s necessary.

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Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️