A Field Note on Patience and Planting Seeds

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, consumed by the energy of a major camera launch. It’s the kind of busy that can easily make you lose sight of the bigger picture. But as the dust settles, I find myself looking up and realising I am now entering my seventh year as a creator on this journey.

Seven years. It’s long enough to have seen my own work evolve, to have made mistakes, and to have found a different way of being. For the longest time, the path felt like a hamster wheel defined by others: chasing watch time, optimising for AdSense, trying to please an algorithm that felt unknowable.

The turning point came when I made a quiet, conscious decision to stop.

I decided to make the content that I felt was valuable, trusting that it would find the right audience. More than that, I started creating with a new person in mind: the kind of brand partner I would be proud to work with.

A perfect example of this new strategy landed in my inbox this week, though the story started two years ago.

Back then, a new AI travel concierge launched. I was fascinated by the technology. I made a detailed walkthrough video, knowing it wouldn't be a "banger" video. The company was new, the topic was niche. But it was a strategic bet. The goal wasn't views; it was to plant a flag, to establish authority at the intersection of travel and tech.

I wanted the right people to see it.

A few days after I published it, one of the founders left a comment. For me, that was validation enough. The seed was planted.

For two years, that video simply sat there, quietly doing its job. Then this week, the email arrived. It was from the company's digital marketing strategist. They remembered the original video and now want to partner on a paid collaboration to create an updated version, with a view to building a longer-term relationship.

This is the result of that quiet decision years ago. It's the same path that led to my keystone sponsor, and to other brands who reach out not because I fit a marketing brief, but because they value the community we've built.

It’s a fascinating, and at times unnerving, adventure into a new way of working. It's a world away from the structured life I knew before. That’s not to say it isn’t still precarious; the ground beneath a creator’s feet is never entirely solid.

But today, seeing a seed planted two years ago finally bloom, it feels more solid than it did six months ago. And for that, more than anything, I feel a quiet and profound sense of gratitude.

The journey continues.