Connection and authenticity are two things I practice to future-proof my online business. In this essay, I’ll share the experience that showed me their value.
Subscribe!
Join my newsletter and download my wisdom sheet for content creation. It’s packed with the most valuable lessons from top writers and digital entrepreneurs.
Beginning
For two and a half years, I threw myself into building my niche site, WanderInEurope.
I loved working on it. Writing articles about the old continent’s cities and places of interest was fun, and it’s something I could keep writing about without ever getting tired.
I can’t help but get fascinated by Western architecture—from eye-catching trompe-l’œil frescoes in Austrian churches to the spectacular blended styles of the Venetian palaces.
I read about figures like Ludwig II of Bavaria and Charlemagne, and each story intrigued me.
Making maps and planning DIY walking tours of historic European city centers is what I love most. Turning those plans into guides and sharing them with the world fills me with excitement to do more.
But even with all the fun of building the project and the thrill of following my passion for the old continent, I couldn’t shake a deep feeling of something missing.
I only began to understand that thing I was missing when reality hit hard.
That was after Google unleashed its “Helpful Content” updates that:
- squashed my website traffic,
- vaporized my income stream, and
- shook my confidence in creating content.
Yep, it was truly disheartening. And in the first few months after the blow, I felt completely lost.
If you were there with me every time I checked my analytics, you’d hear me say this over and over again: “I hadn’t done anything wrong. But suddenly, I was being punished without any clear reason. Wtf, Google, why?”
As I dragged myself through a frustrating site audit and design overhaul, which, by the way, lasted for months, an unexpected realization took hold.
It was the human connection—that’s what I had been missing all along! I need a companion. I need a community. A space where I can let out my frustrations and share my thoughts without holding back. A place to grow alongside others—people who get my passion for travel, who see what I’m striving for, who understand my journey as a content creator. Maybe even people who get my life as a whole.
I can’t fully explain how that realization snapped in. Sometimes my mind just works in really strange ways.
But my guess is this: somehow, being at another low point and not focused on creating content cleared my mind enough to notice what I’d been missing.
Wondering why I long for connection?
Here’s a bit of background about me. Throughout the project, I mostly published articles and left them to be found through search engines. My goal was simple—earn passive income doing something that genuinely excites me. The only real effort I made to share my work was on Pinterest, which, to be honest, felt just as hands-off as relying on search engines. I’d create the pins, schedule them, and that was it. I barely interacted with anyone online. And in real life, it wasn’t any better. I worked alone almost all the time. Alone? Well, I’m a content creator—that probably says enough.
But of course, I’m not totally alone. I still talk to people and hang out sometimes—mostly my family, a few cousins, a couple of friends, and maybe the barista at the coffee shop where I usually write my articles.
Connections
Going back… yes, it was the connection with more people that had been missing all those years. But that realization was just the beginning.
Those Google updates also made me realize how important it is to have another kind of connection. The kind you have with your audience, fans, and subscribers.
If you run an online business like mine, they’re what will keep it going when things get rough. This is especially true if you run your business on rented territory. If you rely on Google, Facebook, or even Pinterest, you really need those connections.
Believe me. I speak from experience.
Anyhow, even though I haven’t built an audience I truly own, in a way, I’m not completely alone in this content creation journey.
On X, there was a community of content creators, SEOs, and website owners I joined when I started building my niche site. They talked about a lot of stuff, from case studies on growing traffic to issues with Google and other search engines.
However, I wasn’t very active, at least not in the early days after I joined the community.
It wasn’t that I didn’t relate. I was new and felt like I didn’t have much to offer yet. I also didn’t want to embarrass myself with my sometimes awkward and definitely imperfect English. LOL.
Yeah, I was more of a lurker. I liked posts, retweeted sometimes, and only joined conversations if something really triggered me. Quiet and low profile.
At this point, as you can probably tell, the connection I had there—though it was a community—was not really what I needed. Frankly, I was mostly just reading and reacting to tweets. When I posted something, it felt like I was shouting into the void.
Fast forward to the months after Google unleashed its Helpful Content Update. The vibe in the community shifted completely.
As someone caught in the fallout, I changed too. I got more active and felt the weight of every story—people losing income fast, some dropping from 10K a month to barely 100 in just a few months.
The results were shocking. Businesses and blogs built over years, even decades, crumbled overnight or in mere months.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just watching from the sidelines. I was right there, scrambling for answers with everyone else. Countless messages of sympathy were being posted. I shared mine too. It almost felt like a funeral.
Even months after the update finished rolling out, no one had any real success figuring out what happened. The community was in chaos. Arguments, theories, and dramatic posts showed up every day. Some were desperate for advice. Others were selling snake oil fixes. Many still had no idea what had gone wrong with their sites.
Yet, among all that noise, a few site owners, also hit hard, weren’t freaking out. They were vocal but calm, asking Google representatives why their websites were penalized.
I was curious why they weren’t enraged or cursing at Googlers. So I followed them and started watching what they shared in the community.
And then it clicked.
They had what I and a lot of us didn’t. A community. A real audience. Loyal followers. Subscribers who stuck around. Fans who knew where to find them without relying on search. That was the lifeline keeping their business alive and keeping them chill while the rest of us panicked.
Jake Boly of That Fit Friend—I’ve always looked up to him for this. Solid example.
In time, the challenges brought by those Google updates pushed me to accept some facts.
- First, I can’t succeed by doing this all on my own.
- Second, it’s not enough to rely only on technology to build a sustainable business. I have to put in the manual work of connecting with other people if I want that success to last.
- Third, I’m human. As a social being, I have a natural need to connect with others for support, understanding, and encouragement during a journey like building an online business.
- Lastly, I have to act fast to expand my network and build my audience if I want to keep my content creator lifestyle. No more working in isolation. It’s time to get my work in front of people.
Authenticity
As I absorbed those truths, I set out to find the best way to grow my network and build my audience. I wanted to avoid costly mistakes, so I started by watching and learning.
For months, I studied accounts with thousands of followers. I signed up for newsletters from top businessmen, writers, and influencers. I soaked up their advice on building a personal brand and influence.
The lesson? Authenticity and vulnerability are the real keys to making connections and growing a following.
It’s a message repeated again and again—from Taylin John to Kieran Drew, Dakota Robertson, Dan Koe, Sahil Bloom, and yes, even Naval. Naval—the mind many call one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time.
These people don’t just preach that authenticity builds real connections and a loyal audience—they actually show it. And that’s why they’re damn inspiring.
They talk about where they started, the failures they went through, and the tough moments they had to push through. Not just the wins or the money. That honesty hits different. And I think it’s a big reason why hundreds of thousands follow them.
What makes authenticity so powerful right now is that it’s only going to matter more as time goes on.
The internet is drowning in repulsing AI slop, and people are already getting tired of it. They’re starting to crave something real. They want content that feels human—something with empathy, depth, and actual value. Not just another soulless post created to chase clicks or cash.
The more this digital noise grows, the more people will seek out voices that are honest, raw, and worth their time.
You don’t believe people are hating on AI content?
Think about how you feel when you see something clearly whipped up with zero effort.
Like those AI-generated fake personal stories that have no heart. Or a YouTube video showing some dreamy place that doesn’t even exist. Or that cringe comment that just rephrases what you said in your post like it’s doing you a favor.
Frustrating, right?
It is frustrating because people sharing this kind of content only want one thing—your engagement. They don’t care about you. They’re just chasing money from ads, clicks, or the platform’s monetization program.
From what I’ve seen, these AI content creators treat people like nothing but sources of money to exploit without a shred of shame. They don’t care about helping because they won’t put in the work to create anything truly valuable.
I hope more people wake up to this—and fast.
Here’s the deal: whether people see how bad AI content really is or not, I’m committed to staying real, writing and living authentically. If no one notices my content, that’s fine. I’m doing it for myself, and that’s what counts.
Listen to what enlightened people say about being authentic and embracing vulnerability.
When you do, you stop burning energy trying to impress, perform, or shape how others see you. You just show up as yourself. No pretending. No people-pleasing. No chasing approval.
Being authentic is freeing, and that’s what I believe and what I want.
I know the ‘freedom’ is real because when I started Explore to Thrive and began sharing my failures, experiences, feelings, wins, and beliefs, I felt this huge sense of relief—like a weight I didn’t even know I was carrying just dropped. I felt free.
And it doesn’t end there. Authenticity helps grow your network. Friends, fans, or subscribers—it applies to all of them. Vulnerability is what actually sparks a conversation. Right? Yes. And it’s what can turn a simple interaction into a real connection.
That’s how friendships begin: You open up. You let someone in.
And really, who doesn’t feel more drawn to someone real? Authentic people are easier to trust. Way more than those who seem too good to be true.
When someone looks perfect on paper, it just feels off. You start to wonder what they’re hiding—and most of the time, there’s a selfish agenda behind that polished image.
I remember when I was just getting started with blogging. I came across this video on YouTube where some guy was hyping up how easy it is to make money with affiliate marketing.
He’s waving around a money-printing gun, going on about his passive income system. Said he can make thousands in one night from it.
After the intro, he jumps right into teaching affiliate marketing. He throws around terms like commissions, A/B testing, and funnels. Talks like he’s cracked the whole code.
The video pulls you in fast. Cash shoots out of his money gun, charts flash across the screen showing thousands in monthly earnings, and there are ClickBank paychecks to top it off. He knows exactly how to hit every weak spot of someone just getting into affiliate marketing.
Then before you know it, he’s offering you a free ebook with a step-by-step guide to copy his system in exchange for your email address.
And that’s where it gets sneaky. Almost every single link in that ebook is an affiliate link. From hosting to the WordPress theme. Unreal.
The worst part? He picked the most overpriced, low-quality services. I still remember—it was Bluehost.
His ebook might be a textbook example of affiliate marketing, but the way he pulled it off was straight-up deceptive. If I remember right, not once did he mention that affiliate marketing is actually hard and far from an overnight success.
I wish I could share the video with you, but I could not find the exact one anymore. Still, it’s not hard to find others like it on YouTube. Just search “how to earn money online with affiliate marketing” and you’ll see a ton of them.
Apparently, that is the experience that taught me to never trust someone who seems too good to be true, reminding me to be authentic so people trust me more than others.
That experience had another important takeaway. If you’re a creator, the quickest way to ruin your career and destroy everything you’ve built is to operate with the wrong intentions.
You saw how fast I lost trust in that guy on YouTube—after realizing I was being tricked into buying the most expensive and worst product—even though there were much better options out there, right? That says everything.
Any bad intention toward your audience or connections, no matter how well you try to hide it, will always be exposed. And once trust is gone, you can’t get it back.
Lastly, that experience made me realize I need to be authentic and lead with good intentions from the start. Because, the beginning sets the tone for everything that follows.
People remember how you introduced yourself to them. If that first impression is fake, it’s hard to fix later. Worse, it could make people question everything you share.
Remember, starting with authenticity means you don’t have to clean up a mess later. It means you are not constantly trying to maintain a version of yourself that isn’t real.
If you want to learn more about authenticity, you can start with an article from berkeley.edu.