10 Steps: Rented Land → Indie Ops

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I’ve been online since the mid-90s.

I’ve watched platforms shut down overnight. I’ve been banned for reasons nobody could explain. I’ve had earnings killed by algorithm updates and shareholder decisions. Every single time, I thought “this platform is different.”

They weren’t.

Here’s what I learned: It’s not about abandoning corporate platforms.

It’s about using them before they use you. The digital jungle will eat you alive in the name of corporate profit if you don’t have an exit strategy.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Use corporate platforms to build, not to live. They have the audience. You need the audience. But you’re building a relationship with people, not with the platform. Never forget that.

2. Back up everything. Weekly minimum. Your subscriber list. Your content. Your engagement data. If they ban you tomorrow, what do you have? Make sure the answer isn’t “nothing.”

3. Find your indie platform early. Something you can self-host. Something you control. Ghost, WordPress, whatever. Set it up before you need it. I use hosting.nicheof.one because I sell what I use.

4. Build two exit strategies. Plan A: You hit your number and migrate on your terms. Plan B: They ban you or change the rules overnight. Both plans end the same way, you own your future.

5. Set your survival number. Mine’s 5,000 subscribers. That’s when I can support my indie operation. What’s yours? Be honest. Build to that number.

6. Start cross-posting before you need to. Get your indie site live while you’re still building on corporate land. Let people discover both. Don’t announce it, just do it.

7. Train your audience gradually. Drop your indie URL in bios, sign-offs, casual mentions. When the time comes to move, they’ll already know where to find you.

8. Flip the script at your number. Once you hit your exit threshold, corporate platforms become secondary. Your indie operation is home. They’re just outposts.

9. Keep corporate accounts active but minimal. Use them for discovery and building, not for living. Post enough to stay visible. Direct everything to your owned platform.

10. Own your future, or someone else will. This isn’t about platform ownership. It’s about survival. You control your IP, your brand, your relationship with your audience. Or you rent everything and pray they don’t change the rules.

Remember, you must own your outcomes, good or bad.

I’m dumping Medium soon. Substack’s next when the writing on the wall becomes a billboard. You probably see the same signs I do.

What’s your exit number?