The Unremarkable Entrepreneur

Hosted by Dan Dowman

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Aug 2026

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This is entrepreneurship for everybody else. For the burnt-out coaches and consultants, the employee with a dream, the redundancy survivor. The ones who are trying to build a life, not scale to an exit. The Unremarkable Entrepreneur explores what it means to build a practice, not a performance - slower, deeper, designed for the other 1% building for decades, not the next quarter. Hosted by Dan Dowman, founder of The Authority Lab and creator of the PEACE Practice. www.unremarkable.co

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August 23, 202612 min

The Great Leveller

“Community doesn’t instruct from a distance; it wades into the flood with you, creating space in the moment you feel stranded.” We often treat community as a luxury, a reward we earn only after achieving a certain level of status or success. We build our projects in isolation, convinced that we are meant to be tortured geniuses facing the world alone. But this approach ignores a fundamental truth about sustainable work: you were never meant to carry the weight by yourself. The success stories we see are rarely the result of pure strategy; they are often the result of pre-existing context, safety nets, and connections that the rest of us lack. When we build in a vacuum, we stop serving the work and start serving our own fears. We trade genuine connection for the safety of playbooks that promise results but offer no real depth. This episode suggests a different path. It is not about finding a cheerleading squad or a comfort blanket, but about finding a shared table. It is about allowing others to hold the compass with you, providing the friction and the fellowship necessary to see your work clearly. When you stop building alone, you find the proof that you are not crazy, and you are not alone. 00:00 - The Great Leveller: Finding a Seat03:00 - Why We Strive in Isolation04:11 - The Illusion of Strategy05:21 - The Trap of Echo Chambers07:10 - The Proof That You Are Not Alone09:22 - Choosing to Allow Others to Hold the Compass What we cover in this episode: * The Myth of the Tortured Genius: Why building in isolation is a structural failure rather than a conscious choice for most creators. * The Problem with Curated Brands: How many success stories rely on pre-existing advantages and how this renders most advice useless for the average practitioner. * Fellowship and Friction: Why a genuine community must challenge your direction as much as it provides warmth and support. * The Danger of Playbooks: How paying for frameworks and answers often treats the symptoms of surface-level stress while ignoring the source of your fear. * The Power of Witness: How simply being seen and known by peers provides the undeniable evidence required to keep going on a Tuesday morning. Notable Quotes: * “It doesn’t instruct from a distance. It wades into the flood with you, creating space in the moment you feel stranded.” * “Without witness, you stop serving the work and start serving your fear about the work.” * “The proof community supplies isn’t a guarantee of success. It is the hard, undeniable evidence that you’re not crazy, and you’re not alone.” Questions for the Campfire: * In what areas of your work have you been serving your own fear instead of the actual project? * Does your current circle provide both the fellowship of being known and the friction of being challenged, or are you in an echo chamber? * What is one piece of ‘evidence’ or proof you have received from a peer that helped you navigate a difficult moment? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: https://youtu.be/ri6bnJuoAKk ------ An invitation If you’re already in the work, building with intention, and hard work doesn’t scare you - I’d love to have a conversation. The Order of Unremarkable Creators exists to offer the fellowship, friction, and context many artists, creators, and solo-operators are missing. It’s not something you can simply join, and membership is currently capped at 20 members (this is not a tactic, it’s about foundations before growth).If you’re curious to know more, or if this stanza has raised questions for you, please reach out to me on dan@unremarkable.co ------ Where We Are: This is Week 22 of a year-long practice. Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power genuine connection. * Your Loneliness is a Business Model * I Forgive, Therefore I Am * Dance Then, Wherever You May Be * Congratulations, You’re A Cult Leader * The Power of AND * The Great Leveller ← You are here * Think Like an Artist * You Can’t See the View When You’re in the View Click here to read the Overture and Movement 1. #CommunityBuilding #SoloFounder #CreativePractice #TheGreatLeveler #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

August 16, 202611 min

The Power of AND

“Your worth is not dictated by your ability to feel it in any given moment; it is always present, in the middle of the struggle, the anger, the jealousy, and the tension you currently face.” We spend our days trapped in the Isolation Economy, constantly measuring our progress against the curated lives of others. We feel wounded, we feel lost, and we feel inadequate. The business world encourages us to fix these feelings with more performance or hollow affirmations, but that only keeps us tethered to the surface. The power of “and” is a simple, structural necessity. It is the skeleton key that reminds your of your worth. By holding two opposing truths, like being exhausted and still full of potential, you stop the surface level circumstances from having the final word. You move from a state of reactive stress to a place of grounded, quiet truth. This chapter is an invitation to stop battling your own complexity. Instead of chasing external validation to fill the gaps, you will learn how to use this simple tool to release your worth. It’s time to stop getting lost in your own horror story and start building a life that holds the tension of who you are and who you are becoming. 00:00 - The Skeleton Key of “And”03:02 - The “And What?” Deflection03:46 - Using “And” for Self-Regulation04:36 - The Necessity of Community07:24 - The Trap of the Internal Dialogue What we cover in this episode: * The Power of “And”: Why acknowledging two conflicting truths allows you to move beyond surface-level struggles and reconnect with your intrinsic worth. * Surviving the Isolation Economy: How to use the simple question “And what?” to protect your peace when comparison and jealousy start to creep in. * The Geometry of Empathy: Why iron empathy, which holds complexity without flinching, is a better foundation for work than the soft, cheerleading version we often see. * Why Community is Architectural: How to build a circle that sees the majesty you cannot reach on your own, especially when you are stuck in your own horror story. * The Living Tension: How to view your life not as a fixed narrative of failure, but as a mosaic that honours everything you have survived and everything you are reaching for. Notable Quotes: * “Your worth is not dictated by your ability to feel it in any given moment; it is always present, in the middle of the struggle, the anger, the jealousy, and the tension you currently face.” * “Not soft empathy that finds excuses; iron empathy that holds complexity without flinching.” * “The wake doesn’t decide the direction of the boat.” Questions for the Campfire: Take a moment today and ask yourself these three things: * When you feel the sting of comparison this week, what is the “and” you need to hold to regain your perspective? * Who are the people in your life who have the wisdom to hold your complexity without trying to fix or change you? * What is one struggle you are currently facing that you need to stop letting have the “final word” in your personal narrative? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Start from the beginning: Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur #IntrinsicWorth #CommunityBuilding #Identity #MentalHealth ------ What did you feel? If today’s Stanza has helped you name something, resonated in some way, or made you feel like you want to belong, you might be ready to join a fellowship of practice I lead. If you’re curious to know more, drop me a reply and we’ll talk. ------ Where We Are: This is Week 21 of a year-long practice. Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power genuine connection. * Your Loneliness is a Business Model * I Forgive, Therefore I Am * Dance Then, Wherever You May Be * Congratulations, You’re A Cult Leader * The Power of AND ← You are here * Community is the Great Leveller * Think Like an Artist * You Can’t See the View When You’re in the View Click here to read the Overture and Movement 1. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

August 9, 202614 min

Congratulations, You’re A Cult Leader

“You become the undisputed king of your own prison empire, trapped by a story you must maintain and enslaved by the idea that if you can just cling on long enough, grind hard enough, and be consistent enough, eventually they’ll recognise your magnificence.” We are told to define ourselves, project a consistent persona, and dominate a niche. It is the advice of the shortcut sellers, designed to turn human lives into predictable, marketable assets. But when you squeeze your messy reality into a rigid template, you stop being a person and start being an act. You become the loudest voice in your own cage. Personal branding is often a lottery disguised as a meritocracy. It demands that you discard your quirks and silence your contradictions to satisfy an algorithm. When the formula fails to deliver the promised salvation, the blame is placed solely on your lack of hustle. It is an exhausting way to exist, trading your humanity for the safety of a professional silhouette. The alternative is to embrace your life as a mosaic. You are not a static brand to be protected or a monument to be carved. You are a collection of fragments. The failures, the false starts, and the weirdness tell a much deeper and more interesting evolving story. It is time to walk out of the temple and give yourself permission to be a moving target. 00:00 - Congratulations, You’re A Cult Leader02:30 - The Insidious Invitation of Personal Brand06:56 - The Geometry of Your Life on Parker’s Piece09:30 - Brand as Monument vs. You as Mosaic12:12 - Three Questions to Illuminate the Mosaic What we cover in this episode: * The Cult of the Guru: How trending frameworks and aesthetic templates sacrifice your authentic voice for the sake of empty engagement. * The Lottery of Meritocracy: Why the promise of visibility and revenue is often a rigged game designed to extract your time and security. * The Myth of the Silhouetted Creator: The danger of carving yourself down to fit an algorithm and the exhaustion of maintaining a curated avatar. * Life as a Mosaic: Shifting from a fixed, brittle narrative to an evolving interpretation of your history where every fragment finds its place. * The Three Questions: Moving away from sanitised business labels toward the heart, the history, and the service that define your actual mythos. Notable Quotes: * “When the formula inevitably fails to capture the nuance of your actual life, the cult doesn’t take the blame; it simply tells you that you didn’t grind hard enough.” * “You are not a brand; you’re a mosaic, still placing the pieces.” * “The full story? The grief, the resilience, the apparent chaos? It’s not a liability. It is the thing.” Questions for the Campfire: * What parts of your own story have you been hiding or silencing because they do not fit into the professional template you think you need to maintain? * If you stood on your own version of Parker’s Piece and spoke to your future self, what would that version of you say about the work you are choosing to do today? * How would your practice change if you stopped trying to build a ‘monument’ and started treating your life as a living, moving mosaic? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Start from the beginning: Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: https://youtu.be/ri6bnJuoAKk #Authenticity #PersonalBrand #CreativePractice #Humanity #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur ------ What did you feel? If today’s Stanza has helped you name something, resonated in some way, or made you feel like you want to belong, you might be ready to join a fellowship of practice I lead. If you’re curious to know more, drop me a reply and we’ll talk. ------ Where We Are: This is Week 20 of a year-long practice. Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power genuine connection. * Your Loneliness is a Business Model * I Forgive, Therefore I Am * Dance Then, Wherever You May Be * Congratulations, You’re A Cult Leader ← You are here * The Power of And * Community is the Great Leveller * Think Like an Artist * You Can’t See the View When You’re in the View Click here to read the Overture and Movement 1. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

August 2, 202613 min

Dance Then, Wherever You May Be

“The rougher edge is not your disqualification. It’s your resonance. Your invitation.” We often spend our lives mourning the versions of ourselves we expected to become. We grieve the power, the clarity, the career path we were promised, believing that unless we can recover some former state, we have nothing left to offer. This obsession with what has been lost acts as a wall, separating us from the reality of the work that is waiting right in front of us. The business world pressures us to seek external validation and wait for perfect conditions before we take our next step. It tells us that if we cannot fill the cathedral, we should remain silent. This is a lie. When we stop trying to reclaim a past that will not return, we discover that our current circumstances, no matter how rough or broken, have granted us a new, more authoritative voice. This episode is an invitation to stop waiting for restitution. Your purpose is not found in the rear-view mirror of what you have lost or the hypothetical future you were told to chase. It is found in the simple, honest act of serving the person in front of you. You do not need to be perfect to begin; you only need to notice that you can. 00:00 - The Silence of the Lost Instrument02:22 - Finding Beauty in the Gravel03:01 - The Myth of Waiting for Restitution04:29 - The Fierce Defiance of the Dance06:41 - The Founder’s Dilemma: Who Am I Now?12:01 - Three Reflections for the Week What we cover in this episode: * The Myth of Recovery: Why waiting for your old confidence or career to return is a trap that keeps you from your actual work. * The Anatomy of the New Instrument: How your scars and failures provide a unique, gravelly resonance that technical perfection can never replicate. * The Architecture of Defiance: How to ignore the need for external validation and choose to serve others right in the middle of your mess. * The Identity Crisis of Success: How to navigate the silence after an exit or a major change, and why your next step is likely something quiet and real. * The Servant’s Call: A reminder that your best work is found by looking at the person in front of you, rather than the crowd you hope to impress. Notable Quotes: * “The tide will not return what’s been washed away. It won’t repair what’s been broken, fulfill the prophecy, or restore lost confidence.” * “The rougher edge is not your disqualification. It’s your resonance. Your invitation.” * “You do not need to wait for the old soaring clarity to return. You do not need to claw back what you deserved or make up for what’s been lost before you are allowed to serve.” Questions for the Campfire: * What old version of your career or identity are you still mourning that keeps you from starting today? * Looking at your current, imperfect circumstances, what unique texture or depth has your history added to your work? * If you stopped looking at the imaginary auditorium, who is the one person right in front of you who needs your help this week? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Start from the beginning: Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: https://youtu.be/ri6bnJuoAKk #Purpose #Authenticity #CreativeGrief #Service #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur ------ What did you feel? If today’s Stanza has helped you name something, resonated in some way, or made you feel like you want to belong, you might be ready to join a fellowship of practice I lead. If you’re curious to know more, drop me a reply and we’ll talk. ------ Where We Are: This is Week 19 of a year-long practice. Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power of genuine connection. * Your Loneliness is a Business Model * I Forgive, Therefore I Am * Dance Then, Wherever You May Be ← You are here * Personal Brand is a Cult * The Power of And * Community is the Great Leveller * Think Like an Artist * You Can’t See the View When You’re in the View Click here to read the Overture and Movement 1. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

July 26, 202614 min

I Forgive, Therefore I Am

“A calling isn’t a destination you miss; it’s a direction of travel that starts right where you’re standing.” Many of us carry the weight of broken promises and exploited longings. We are told our scars make us stronger, yet we often find ourselves stuck in their shadow. When your work becomes an extension of your wounds, you stop creating and start performing. You look for validation in the numbers and the applause, hoping to balance a ledger that never settles. The Isolation Economy thrives on this hunger, pushing you to beat the people who caused your pain, rather than finding the peace that actually sets you free. The solution is not more effort or greater hustle. It is the quiet, daily, and often difficult decision to forgive. By choosing to put down the need to win and the desire for fair treatment, you stop the cycle of bitterness that drives your behaviour. You reclaim your story from the system and start building something that actually reflects who you are. 00:00 - The Trap of the Evangelist02:36 - The Failed Experiment and the False Promise06:29 - Why Bitterness Remains on Standby09:48 - The Founder’s Noose and Your Lust for Fairness11:25 - I Forgive, Therefore I Am What we cover in this episode: * The System: How your deepest longings are used to keep you compliant and working against your own best interests. * The Paradox of Scars: Why turning your wounds into symbols of strength is a daily, intentional act of the heart rather than a result of sheer will. * The Cost of Bitterness: How holding onto the need for justice compromises your creative voice and keeps you trapped in a cycle of competition. * Redefining Calling: Why a calling is not a missed destination, but a direction of travel that begins exactly where you are standing right now. * The Practice of Forgiveness: How to move from a place of score-keeping to a posture of freedom, even when the past refuses to offer an apology. Notable Quotes: * “When your work is an extension of what you lack, or the wounds you bear, no amount of effort will bring you meaning.” * “If you’ve spent time, money, and faithfulness in pursuit of an outcome that didn’t arrive, forgive the other person’s role in it, and forgive yourself for choosing it.” * “Forgiveness isn’t about feeling better, though you will. It’s about accepting that none of us can undo what’s been done, and choosing to tear down the wall between who you are and who the work needs you to become.” Questions for the Campfire: * What is one specific, painful professional experience you are still using to drive your current work, even though it causes you to feel bitter? * How does your need for success or validation change if you stop trying to “beat” the people or systems that once let you down? * What does it look like for you to adopt forgiveness as a daily posture today, rather than a one-time event? Join the conversation:Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Start from the beginning:Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: https://youtu.be/ri6bnJuoAKk #Forgiveness #Healing #Authenticity #CareerGrowth #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur What did you feel? If today’s Stanza has helped you name something, resonated in some way, or made you feel like you want to belong, you might be ready to join a fellowship of practice I lead. If you’re curious to know more, drop me a reply and we’ll talk. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

July 19, 202610 min

Your Loneliness is a Business Model

“The planet-size superstore we’ve built requires your isolation to fuel its growth.” We open our phones expecting connection, yet we are met with a digital landscape designed to keep us exhausted. The system does not want you content; it wants you searching for shortcuts to satisfy the feeling of being incomplete. One that it manufactured and then monetised. By keeping us anxious and disconnected, the modern economy turns human beings into predictable consumers of its own cures. This episode explores the mechanics of Isolation Economics. We look at how gurus, monopolies, and even civic discourse leverage your feelings of scarcity to sell you status and belonging. You are being nudged to view your neighbours as competition and your own life as a metric to be improved, all while the system profits from the very wounds it keeps open The way out is not another digital strategy or life hack. It is a quiet rebellion. By reclaiming your presence and refusing to participate in the game of scarcity, you find that the world is abundant. It is time to move past the marketing noise and recognise that your value is not a commodity to be traded, sold, or exploited. 00:00 - Welcome to the Loneliness Economy01:52 - The Architecture of Presence vs. The Enemy02:40 - The True Cost of Isolation Economics04:04 - From Guru Playbooks to Algorithmic Battlegrounds06:11 - Practising Abundance in a Scarcity Climate07:15 - A Rebellion of the Other 1% What we cover in this episode: * The Myth of Being Incomplete: How systems profit by convincing you that you are falling behind so they can sell you the solution. * The Mechanics of Isolation: Why the current economy requires you to feel disconnected from your neighbours to ensure you remain a predictable consumer. * The Erosion of Shared Spaces: How hobbies, quiet moments, and human interactions are mined for return on investment. * Iron Empathy: Learning to see the system for what it is and refusing to participate in the cycle of competition. * Civic Rebellion: Why simply noticing the person across from you is a radical act in a world designed to keep you staring at a screen. Notable Quotes: * “The planet-size superstore we’ve built requires your isolation to fuel its growth.” * “Not soft empathy that finds excuses; iron empathy that sees the system, refuses to participate in it, and helps others climb out of it.” * “You can be the rebel in a world that settled for less.” Questions for the Campfire: * When you pick up your phone and feel an immediate sense of anxiety or inadequacy, whose agenda are you currently serving? * In what ways have you been treating your own creative work as a commodity rather than a form of human connection? * What is one way you can commit to a “civic rebellion” this week by choosing human presence over digital performance? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co Start from the beginning: Watch Chapter 1 of the series here: #IsolationEconomy #DigitalBurnout #HumanConnection #RebelPractice #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur ------ What did you feel? If today’s Stanza has helped you name something, resonated in some way, or made you feel like you want to belong, you might be ready to join a fellowship of practice I lead. If you’re curious to know more, drop me a reply and we’ll talk. ------ Where We Are: This is Week 17 of a year-long practice. Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power of genuine connection. * Your Loneliness is a Business Model ← You are here * Dance Then, Wherever You May Be * I Forgive, Therefore I Am * Personal Brand is a Cult * The Power of And * Community is the Great Leveller * Think Like an Artist * You Can’t See the View When You’re in the View Click here to read the Overture and Movement 1. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

June 20, 20266 min

Kill Your Creative Tourist

Today we continue our series of short Dispatches from the Workbench: updates on decisions, things I’m trying, and invitations I’m sharing. I’ve found the process of thinking out loud with you really useful because it brings me to a different workbench. It’s not easy to write each week; it costs a lot of time and creative energy. The risk is that I spend so long on the craft that I fail to meaningfully invite people to be part of it. These Dispatches help to address that balance, so I can be of genuine service to others. Anyway, in today’s Dispatch: * Are you a creative tourist? * Five questions to ask yourself. * An invitation to practitioners. Look at your bookshelf. The evidence of the Founder’s Noose in your life is probably just a few feet from where you’re sitting: the graveyard of unfinished books and untested wisdom. The repeated decision to buy the next solution before you’ve even read past chapter three of the last one. That’s a lift from Saviour / Servant , where I explored how I responded to a period of professional insecurity by frantically joining courses, downloading playbooks, and spending what little I had on training. I became a creative tourist. I was dipping in and out of ideas looking for a solution for how I was feeling, whilst simultaneously not committing to anything for long enough to find out if it actually worked. Like someone looking for their lost keys, I kept expanding the search instead of digging deeper in the room I was already in. It might not be fear that fuels your inner creative tourist. It might be the subtle, ambient backdrop of professional dissatisfaction, or simply creative boredom. But if you’re a practitioner, artist, or creator, I want to encourage you to start digging and stop browsing. There’s a book on my shelf called Three Feet from Gold . Of course, I haven’t read it. But the central metaphor, as shared with me, is that many people toil and dig, only to turn back when they are three feet from the treasure they seek. I’m not advocating for a blind, endless march toward a pre-determined outcome. Sometimes we discover we need to adjust our direction, and we all need to be discerning about when enough is enough. But I think many of us (me included) could be more disciplined about finishing the read, committing to the experiment, and paying attention to what we’ve learned, even if it isn’t what we wanted. Five Questions to Ask Yourself These questions are completely open to interpretation. Your tourist might want you to jump to immediate specifics and answers, but I encourage you to hold them as tensions until you need them. Take question 3 as an example: ‘If the tourist wants shortcuts, what unremarkable step can you commit to even if it doesn’t offer immediate relief?’ Look for the spark of energy you feel when you spot a shortcut or an unmissable offer, and then challenge yourself to do something else instead. * If the tourist wants to be seen, what un-celebrated grunt work will you serve today when absolutely no one is watching? * If the tourist wants inspiration, what boring rhythm will you maintain this week to deepen your work? * If the tourist wants shortcuts, what unremarkable step can you commit to even if it doesn’t offer immediate relief? * If the tourist wants to expand the search, what piece of raw material right in front of you will you mine instead? * If the tourist wants results, what unvarnished, messy first attempt will you make with the imperfect tools you already have? In the age of infinite access, it’s all too easy to treat our creative pursuits like tourists on a bus tour: we hop off, take a quick photo of the summit (buy a course, try a new framework, launch a new handle), and the second it gets difficult or requires deep, unglamorous work, we hop right back on the bus and drive to the next shiny destination. Trust me, the answers you seek aren’t around the next bend. They’re in you, waiting to be noticed. If you are ready to stop simply visiting your ideas and actually live them out, you might want to swap the blueprint for a practice ground. It’s why I’ve started The Order of Unremarkable Creators : a small, quiet fellowship of makers and independent operators who are choosing to dig deeper in good company. Take a look, because there’s a warm welcome waiting: https://join.unremarkable.co/ouc That’s a wrap for today’s Dispatch. You won’t be hearing from me over the next week or two as Sonny, Laura, and I are taking our first vacation as a family. I will check my messages from time to time, so if you need anything or you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always here if you need me, but I might just be a little slower for now. Your inner tourist is gonna hate it :) Be well my friends, speak again soon. Dan Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

June 13, 20265 min

The Social Bait and Switch

Each time we finish a section of the book, I’m going to send you a handful of short Dispatches from the Workbench: updates on decisions, things I’m trying, and invitations I’m sharing that I hope will be useful to you and inform how the work evolves. In today’s Dispatch: * The social bait and switch * What you can do about it Bait and switch In the last Dispatch, I told you I was breaking up with traditional marketing and social platforms. Look, I’m not making a lifestyle choice here. I’m not slipping away into the mountains to lead a monastic lifestyle of peace and raw presence. I’ll still be online, but with the right amount of effort. Any content that doesn’t flow naturally from The Unremarkable Entrepreneur (my artistic expression) or invite people to join the Order of Unremarkable Creators (how I serve others), simply doesn’t get made. Here’s why: * Platforms are now pay-to-play * They demand absolute clarity * Or they demand ‘attention slop’ Social platforms hooked us on the promise of connection and opportunity. Anyone with an internet connection could be economically mobile, because anyone could be seen, heard, and known. The trade was clear. We build their platform, they help us find our people. So we gave our creative labour willingly, only to be rewarded with a massive bait and switch. Today, the choice is stark: pay to boost your posts (something every platform is begging me to do) or work for them for free, creating attention slop that keeps people locked in so the platform can sell more ad space. Someone up there is flying first class because they conditioned us to care about scratching out a handful of likes. Make no mistake, the platforms know your fiscal value to them, and in order to squeeze it from you, they’ve built a toll booth between you and your audience. Refuse to pay with money or creative energy, and you’ll just have to take a 60% drop in organic reach on the chin. By the way, the slop works on me too! I frequently find myself absent-mindedly scrolling for no reason other than habit. Can these 20 people really fit into a tiny smart car for $10,000? I better stick around to find out. Another challenge is that the modern algorithm doesn’t understand human discovery; it only understands categorisation. To post outside the narrow bucket of how the platform has categorised you is like throwing a brick in a washing machine. The algorithm breaks. It doesn’t know who to show your work to, so your distribution flatlines. There’s a bizarre split personality in play here. The system demands absolute clarity from you (which most of us don’t have because we’re evolving humans), but then demands you create cheap slop that keeps people on the platform. Which is it, guys: clarity or crap? I can’t do both! The Honest Tension I am left with one realistic option: pay-to-play. I want to say I’ll refuse that too. But here’s the honest tension: how do I reach the person who actually needs my work, knowing that my organic posts will never reach them? One day I might accept that my work doesn’t need to travel. But right now, I know there’s someone sitting on the other side of the world waiting for permission to be unremarkable. So I’ll dance with the devil on my own terms, even if that means working with imperfect systems that are actively working against me and then putting a price tag on the solution. And if I have to pay-to-play, I’ll suck it up to reach the other 1%. My promise to you is this: I’ll be mindful of the compromises I’m willing to make, if any. And I’ll always be honest about it. So what can you do about it? I’m in it with you, so I can’t give you answers, but I’ve started the Order of Unremarkable Creators for those who are frustrated by building in the shadows and pressing against a rigged system. It is a space to practise and shape your craft in good company. We meet virtually on a Monday, amplify each other’s work on Wednesday, and share observations on Friday (Wednesday and Friday are entirely chat-based, by the way). We are a small group for now, but it’s a place to truly be seen, heard, and known. If you know anyone who would benefit from joining us, please introduce us or share this link with them: https://join.unremarkable.co/ouc That’s a wrap for today’s Dispatch. If you need anything or you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always here if you need me. Dan Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

June 6, 20264 min

I’m looking to meet someone

Each time we finish a section of the book, I’m going to pause and step away from the manuscript and send you a handful of short Dispatches from the workbench. Short updates on decisions, things I’m trying, and invitations I’m sharing that I hope will be useful to you and inform how the work evolves. In today’s Dispatch: * I’m breaking up with marketing and what I’m doing instead * Introducing the Order of Unremarkable Creators I’m done with traditional marketing and social platforms. In the next Dispatch we’ll talk about why, but for now I’m pulling back the curtain on my commitments and the rules I’m setting for myself to ensure I never treat people as targets. Marketing has been abused. Some people do it really well, with heart and purpose. But for most of us, it implies a target, a funnel, and a transaction. Feasting on scarcity, hijacking emotions, and deliberately propagating the fear of missing out. People are sick of it. It doesn’t help. I’m out. In the final chapter of Movement 1, I reckoned with the idea of abundance. It challenged me to entirely reconsider how I talk about my work publicly. So as of now, I’m switching my focus from marketing to inviting. There are many thousands of people out there who already need my work. The same is true for you, too. But I’m not going to attempt to reach the masses. Even if I could, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Instead I’m going to focus on the abundance of one. It boils down to this statement: My only job is to extend an invitation to the people who are already looking for me. I don’t sell, pitch, or provoke because they are not targets. They are peers and collaborators. All content I create helps clarify who I’m looking for, so they can extend the invitation too, if they choose. To help me remain true to this commitment, I’ve listed what I’m against, what I refuse, what I actually do, and the things I talk about below. You’re welcome to read it and take what you need. Today I make this real, and this is where you come in. If you choose to. I’m starting a small private community of practice for 20 makers, artists, and practitioners who are tired of building alone and would benefit from the wisdom, feedback, and challenge of others. It’s not a $10k mastermind. There’s no curriculum, no 90-day sprints, no leaderboards, and no hacks. There are no guarantees, no pre-determined outcomes, no goals to measure yourself by, and no one telling you what to do. It’s fellowship. Where we serve the work, not the outcome. But this is not your invitation. I am not pitching this to you. You are my peer, a potential collaborator, and I’d like your help to find someone. Do you know someone working harder than ever, but feeling completely defeated because they are stretched thin? Maybe they’re really good at showing up, but they are exhausted by the performance of it all. I can’t promise them an answer. But I can offer creative energy, people to bounce ideas off, a safe space for the real questions, and an end to the isolation. If you know who they are, extend the invitation in any way that feels right. Some suggestions: * Forward this Dispatch to them * Send me a DM, or introduce us over email (I’m at dan@unremarkable.co ) * Or simply send them this link: https://join.unremarkable.co/ouc And that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for spending a little time with me. I’ll send the next Dispatch as soon as it’s ready. Dan ------ My commitments What I’m against * Attention scalping: the media culture that puts a price tag on your insecurities and demands constant, loud performance just to be seen. * Being sold to: the fear-of-failure ecosystem that treats human beings as targets, and emotions as something to exploit. * The tech oligarchy: the platforms that rely on your creative labour to serve their ad-based business models. You work for them for free. * The tyranny of measurement: The soul-crushing chase for impressions, likes, and reach. As of today, vanity metrics can officially do one. What I refuse to do * Zero effort for the feed: I refuse to give platforms my creative energy. No clickbait, no pressure, no force. * Zero effort for the algorithm: I won’t try to appease a self-serving multi-billion-parameter AI that refuses to promote my work. * No pitching: I refuse to try and sell people another thing. No broadcasts, no product breakdowns, or sales copy. * No convincing: I will not try to persuade the masses. If someone doesn’t get it, we let them scroll. I am leaving the 99 to find the other 1%. What I actually do * I post what exists: I clip shorts from my podcast and post native Substack assets. Anything unique is always an invitation, not a declaration. * I leave the light on: I use social media for ‘signs of life’. A simple noticeboard with trail markers for anyone actively searching. * I ask for help: I don’t create invitation posts for the reader. I create them so they know who to look out for. Followers are collaborators, not targets. What I talk about * The Unremarkable Entrepreneur: my book that helps makers, creators, and artists take action and build a sustainable practice around their calling. * Dispatches from the workbench: balancing my workload, creating space to talk about other things, and welcoming you behind the scenes. * The Order of Unremarkable Creators: the private community of practice I’ve launched for those ready to deepen their practice in good company. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe

May 31, 202615 min

The World is Abundant

“The world is abundant. Money, attention, and opportunity are not in short supply.” The world of the entrepreneur or creator can feel like barren void, especially when facing redundancy or a global crisis. This scarcity mindset drives us to scramble for attention and validation, believing success is a finite resource, but it’s not the reality of our creative landscape. This episode challenges the notion that we must constantly hustle and compete for limited opportunities. Instead, it invites us to recognise our inherent worth and the abundance that exists when we start there, rather than external validation. The true path to a fulfilling practice isn’t about achieving more, but about noticing and leaning into the plentiful resources already available. It’s about understanding that our unique gifts are not diminished by sharing, but amplified when we operate from a place of generous presence. 00:00 - Welcome to The World Is Abundant 01:58 - Finding Opportunity Amidst Devastation 03:05 - The Foundation of Your Life: Rock or Sand? 06:04 - Embracing the Artist Within 07:21 - The Illusion of Scarcity vs. True Abundance 09:14 - Voyeurs of other people’s success 11:47 - Abundance is a Reality, Not a Mindset 13.04 - The world spins at 1,000 miles per hour What we cover in this episode: * The Void of Scarcity: How redundancy and crises can create a feeling of emptiness, making us believe opportunities are scarce. * The Masterpiece in the Wings: Recognising that success is often built on decades of quiet, compounding work, not just visible triumphs. * Building on Solid Ground: Understanding that true resilience comes from intrinsic worth and self-knowledge, not just relentless effort. * The Artist’s Invitation: How creating from who you are, rather than what you’ve achieved, unlocks authentic connection and opportunity. * The Ocean of Abundance: Shifting from a scarcity mindset to recognising that money, attention, and opportunity are not rationed. Notable Quotes: * “The rain will fall. It always does. And whilst you can’t stop it or plan your way out of getting wet, you can face the storm from solid ground.” * “The rock is not a metaphor for grueling effort. It is the return to your worth, your unearned, unshakable, intrinsic majesty.” * “Abundance isn’t a mindset shift; it’s just a reality. And just like Your Majesty, it isn’t diminished just because you don’t happen to feel it in any given moment.” Questions for the Campfire: * What would you ask for if you weren’t afraid of the answer? * Who would you reach out to if rejection didn’t sting? * What conversation would you start if you didn’t need to control where it went? Join the conversation: Read the full written version and gather around the campfire on Substack: https://www.unremarkable.co #Abundance #ScarcityMindset #CreativePractice #InnerWorth #TheUnremarkableEntrepreneur ------ Where We Are: This is Week 13 of a year-long practice. Movement 1: Presence - eight weeks, eight stanzas, exploring how to show up as yourself. * The Weight We Carry * What Presence Requires * The Majesty * Saviour / Servant * Start with WHO * The Increment is the Way * Invite Like an Artist * The World is Abundant ← You are here From there we’ll explore Movement 2: Empathy - eight weeks exploring kindness and respect for self and the power genuine connection. Get full access to The Unremarkable Entrepreneur at www.unremarkable.co/subscribe