André Chaperon

Tiny Digital Worlds: The Art and Philosophy of Attracting and Cultivating the Right People

I write about how Sovereign Creators can build a digital "World" around their novel idea, theme, skill, or expertise. This shifts focus from chasing audiences to attracting them, thus establishing credibility, building trust, and earning attention. Welcome to the art of building a Tiny Digital World.

Hello.

The Beginning

At the end of 2022, I published a very personal essay — in it, I wanted to explore why a person with dyslexia would choose to write for a living, as I expressed at the end of section one:

On the surface the question is perplexing, a paradox. Why would a dyslexic choose to write for a living, in much the same way a one-armed man would choose to become a professional boxer? It makes no sense. Until it does.

Researching and writing that essay was an incredible journey, discovering stuff I never knew, perhaps only sensing.

The Past

I’ve been earning a full-time living online since 2003.

Well, technically, from October 23rd. The day earlier, I had been laid off, the fallout from two companies merging. Employees knew months before we all got put out to pasture — the rumor mill in full swing.

While my colleagues and friends worked on their CVs (resumes), I worked on an exit strategy from traditional employment. October 23, 2003, marked the start of a new journey.

That feels like a lifetime ago now.

The Present

While my (personal) website has been through many iterations over the past twenty years, the 2023 version is the one I’m most excited about, which I explain more about on my home page.

If you’re a creator serving an audience, you may feel disheartened by the formulaic and overly aggressive nature of the current state of online marketing.

I grew sick of the cohesion tactics and overly-engineered funnels a decade and a half ago, so I decided to do something about it.

In an N-of-1 journey, mainly led by intuition, I started to create a new playbook for myself — an expression of marketing inspired by storytelling and world-building and informed by systems thinking (to the degree I understood those concepts).

It was a slower, calmer expression of modern marketing, led by empathy, emphasizing building relationships before transactions. It was marketing that intuitively “felt right,” and that feeling guided me forward.

A calmer, slower marketing approach demonstrated that direct-response marketing could look and feel different. It was a privilege to attract and serve tens of thousands of customers.

All of which led me to this point in my life.

As I celebrated my 50th birthday on March 7th, 2023, I came to grips with a renewed sense of purpose, a fresh and vibrant drive to find a deeper, more profound meaning in life’s second half.

To that end, I wrote a manifesto to frame this next chapter, as much to myself as the new segment of people I seek to serve.

It’s a call to arms for sovereign creators like us in how we seek to attract and grow audiences that matter — Tiny Worlds: A Manifesto for Sovereign Creators & Writers.

Please reach out anytime. I read every email.

André