Stop Building Their Platforms. Start Building Yours.

Rich Washburn
Sep 30
3 min read

Start Building Yours

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Jack Dorsey recently said the quiet part out loud: every time you post, like, share, or retweet on social media, you’re not just engaging—you’re working for free.

You’re training algorithms and padding ad revenues for companies that don’t pay you, don’t protect you, and can change the rules anytime they want.

And here’s the thing: he’s right.

I’ve been saying this for years—long before AI made it easy—but most people running a business, side hustle, or creative pursuit are doing social media all wrong. They think they’re promoting themselves, but really, they’re just bricklayers building someone else’s empire.

The Subscription Problem

We live in the age of endless subscriptions: Netflix, Prime, Spotify, and a dozen apps you forgot you signed up for. Most of them are designed to keep us in consumer mode—scrolling, watching, binging, and paying.

Here’s a radical thought: what if you traded in one or two of those subscriptions this year for something that actually builds equity in you?

Instead of $15 a month for Netflix, put that toward your own website. For under $200 a year, you can own a professional-grade platform that works while you sleep. Unlike binge-watching, this one pays you back.

Why Build Your Own Platform?

Because every time you pour effort into Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or X, you’re enriching their platform, not yours. They own the data, the reach, and the upside. You get… a dopamine hit.

But when you build your own site, you own:

The audience. Emails, subscribers, analytics—they’re yours.
The rules. No algorithm decides whether your followers see your content.
The brand. You can sell merch, post blogs, launch a podcast—without permission from a third party.

Social media should be an outpost, not your headquarters. Use it to pull people back to your site, not as the endgame.

Why Wix? (And Why Not the Others?)

Disclosure: I’m a Wix partner. But here’s the truth—I’ve used them all.

WordPress? From a forensic and security standpoint, it’s a nightmare I won’t touch.
Squarespace? Fine, but clunky.
Wix? They’re integrating AI directly into the build process, automating design, SEO, and content flow. In my experience, it’s the only one that actually lets you focus on your ideas instead of fighting the machinery.

The point isn’t to argue platforms. The point is to pick one, plant your flag, and start publishing.

“But What Do I Even Post?”

Anything. Seriously. Whatever lights you up.

Tech analysis
Local community updates
Photography or goldfish breeding (yes, really)
A podcast about politics, the environment, or the latest in your industry

It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stop giving your creativity away to companies that profit from it, and instead invest that same effort into your own digital real estate.

One Year From Now

Here’s the challenge: give yourself a year.

Cancel one subscription.
Launch your own site.
Post consistently—words, photos, podcasts, whatever.
Share it out to social, but pull people back in.

Then, look up in twelve months. You’ll have more than just a trail of posts on a rented platform. You’ll have a living archive of your voice, your work, your brand—something that compounds in value over time.