Ep 3 - TikTok "Bans," Email Musts, and Building Resilience for the Inevitable Storm

Hello, friends. This is Tyler Gardner welcoming you to another episode of Your Money Guide on the Side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what seems simple, and learn from and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance, and investing.
So let's get started and get you one step closer to where you need to be. Welcome back to another episode of Your Money Guide on the side.
Today, we're diving into a topic that's dominated headlines, at least the ones I've seen in early 2025, for better or worse. And that's the banning or saving or buying or merging, call it what you will, of the social platform TikTok.
Whether you're a creator, a business owner, or just one of the 170 million casual users of the app here in the US, this story serves as a critical reminder of why diversification of income, communication, and investments is and always will be absolutely essential. This episode will explore what's happening with TikTok, why it matters to more than just social media influencers, and the broader lessons we can all learn.
I'll be breaking this into three key points. First, I'll touch on the importance of taking control of our social and business communications.
Next, I'll move to the importance of diversifying our income streams. And finally, I'll reflect on the benefits of having a balanced portfolio, even though it certainly might not seem as sexy at times.
Plus, I'll share additional insights from some of my favorite writers and thinkers to help add some depth to this exploration. The first lesson that I want to touch on today has to do with how we control our communication channels, whether for social or business reasons, and that that control is paramount.
TikTok's looming or perspective ban highlights just how risky it can be to rely on a single platform to reach your audience.

For creators, businesses, and even educators, this is a massive wake-up call. And bluntly, I'm kind of glad that it's happening and that the platform went dark for all of 16 hours on January 18th and 19th of 2025.
Essentially, whether it was a political stunt or not, anyone who had too much of their respective income stream or brand recognition tied to that platform was offered a get-out-of-jail-free card. Hey, this is actually something that could happen.
Now don't make the same mistake twice and expand your reach today. Surprisingly, a number of finance creators, many of whom I respect greatly and many of whom offer the guidance daily to diversify your assets, had seemingly missed something through all of this, the importance of diversifying their digital assets and thinking about our collective brands and our businesses as part of our overall portfolios.
I'm shocked that some of the mega influencers among us were shocked that this was actually happening and they hadn't started to diversify back when this was announced as a potential outcome.

You know, back in Trump's first presidency. Again, hopefully for all, lesson learned.
And everyone can head into 2025 knowing that they've been given a lifeline to get their eggs in multiple baskets. But for some reason, and I don't think it's necessarily cynicism that makes me say this,

maybe just having lived long enough to know that people still won't always act in their own best interest, I'm sure that many businesses and creators will continue to tie their main interest to TikTok's presence. So if TikTok were to disappear tomorrow, many of these same creators and small businesses would indeed lose their primary connection to hundreds of thousands, to millions of followers.
Businesses that rely on TikTok ads or influencers that rely on recurring revenue from their views will once again face disruptions and maybe this time for more than 16 hours. My point being that this lesson transcends TikTok.
This was an expensive lesson cheaply learned. So to anyone relying on a single social media platform, website, or tool to communicate with their audience, I might suggest we turn to some of the brightest minds in the game to learn a thing or two about how we can maintain control over our own respective audiences.
Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and someone I refer to frequently, has long emphasized the importance of building an email list. When I first read his book back in 2018, I, like many, shrugged off the advice, mostly because I hadn't really established any type of brand yet, so I didn't really need an email list.
Why is Ferris so adamant about collecting emails, I thought. Well, because once collected, you own the list.
Ferris says, if you're relying on a single platform to reach your audience, you're building your house on someone else's land. Although his text predated our current political considerations, yes, many Americans are currently literally building their digital house on China's land.
But beyond platforms like TikTok, including Instagram or YouTube, can also change their algorithms, ban accounts, or disappear entirely overnight. Every time I receive a notification from TikTok or Instagram, I have to ask myself if this is the moment that they will arbitrarily tell me I've somehow violated a community code and will need to start again from zero if they even allow me to do that.
So even though I took Ferris's advice way too late in my own digital creator journey, since I did, I have felt far more in control over my brand, my business, and I have felt far less vulnerable to a single political decision or lack thereof. So I would encourage you all to start building direct and diverse communication channels today, whether it's an email list, a website, or yes, my friends, a podcast, having control over how you reach your audience ensures you are not at the mercy of external forces.
The second lesson that I take from this scenario is the importance of diversifying our income streams. Yes, I absolutely feel on a human level for those who would have lost recurring revenue if a platform went dark.
But, and this is directed primarily to the finance creators among us, if we know theoretically to never rely on one source of income as an investment, why would we ever choose to do so for our primary stream of income? Whether it's our jobs, our side hustles, our investments, etc., the more we seek to diversify our income streams again, the more we take control of our financial future. Diversifying income streams is not just a buzzword.
It's a survival strategy, and the potential TikTok ban underscores this point for creators and businesses alike. According to recent studies, almost 50% of small businesses in the US are generating part of their revenue from social media.
For TikTok-specific businesses, that number is even higher. And I'm not sure how many of these businesses had written contingency plans in the event of an overnight loss of this income or free marketing potential.
Here's something I want you to consider about those who have reached millionaire status in the US. And sorry, honestly, I hate the word status too.
But the average millionaire has seven income streams. Seven.
These often include, but obviously aren't limited to, earned income from a job or a business, investment income from stocks, bonds, etc. Real estate income, not my thing, but trust me, on a tax-advantaged level, oh, I get it.
Passive income, like royalties or affiliate marketing, and you guessed it, side hustles that tend to be associated with these types of social platforms. The key takeaway is not that millionaires necessarily have something figured out that you don't.
It's that if you have more than one income stream, odds are you'll wind up in the millionaire club sooner than if you don't, because you have mitigated risk from your own power of earnings. Take TikTok creators who earn money through the creator fund, brand deals, and or live streams.
That's three potential streams of income for a creator, but it's all tied directly to one channel that is, again, not in their control. If TikTok disappears, those income streams vanish too.
Diversifying to platforms like YouTube, Patreon, or even offering digital products through a website ensures they're not entirely dependent on one app. So beyond the email list, I would also highly encourage you to think of your digital brand and assets as an ecosystem that all exists together to circulate potential leads from one platform or landing page to the next.
At this point, I've developed an email list, a website, presence on four social channels, a forthcoming book that I am thrilled to tell you all about soon, and now, thankfully, this podcast. And every single platform links back to another platform.
And you do not have to do this overnight. And honestly, you wouldn't be able to.
It's a lot of work. And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you or trying to sell you something.
But here are a few ideas if you have a few free hours and a creative mindset. Number one, what services or digital products might you provide? Courses, ebooks.
If there's one thing I've learned from creating, it's that most people do have something of value to offer. So why not try offering it? Number two, monetizing on multiple platforms.
Now, I don't love this approach, honestly, because I never want to charge anybody anything to have access to my digital content. But many creators do establish subscription groups that can also achieve an additional income stream to supplement your ordinary income.
And number three, investing in assets like stocks or real estate. It's never too early to start learning about this stuff, and there's no greater lesson I've learned than to simply invest a little here, a little there, and remain consistent over time.
It really does add up. Diversification doesn't just protect you, it opens up new opportunities for growth.
And finally, the third lesson, shifting purely to an investing consideration. We need to appreciate the importance of this diversification

effect as it pertains to your own personal investing. Just as I fear for any creators who are solely on one platform, I also fear for any investors who are solely invested in one business, one sector, or one asset class.
Let's take a quick look at the data. During the 2008 financial crisis, portfolios got destroyed.
They got less destroyed if they were diversified across stock, bonds, real estate, commodities, etc. All different asset classes.
Those portfolios saw significantly smaller losses compared to the portfolios that were heavily weighted in stocks alone. According to Morningstar, diversification did reduce the volatility and helped investors recover way faster.
And I get it. Diversification can and

often is pretty boring. Nobody wants to invest in bonds as a 30-year-old and very few 40-year-olds

I know have real estate holdings beyond their primary residence. But if we take these lessons

from TikTok and relate them to our investments, it's the same concept. Each investment is a risk in and of itself.
And the more we can spread that risk to different types of assets that all behave differently under various macroeconomic circumstances, the better. So what does this diversification actually look like in practice? A well-diversified portfolio might include stocks spread across different sectors and geographies, bonds spread government, corporate, municipal.
Real estate spread across real estate investment trusts or physical holdings. And alternative investments, crypto, commodities, etc.
The goal is simple. Reduce risk by spreading out the investments.
If one area underperforms, others can, and sometimes do, balance that area out. That's the goal.
Create balance and mitigate the downside risk, even if it's boring. The TikTok situation is a reminder that external forces, whether it's government regulations or market downturns, can and often do disrupt your plans.
I always love the line, diversification acts as a safeguard against these uncertainties. Finally, and I touched on this in my first podcast, but I want to reiterate it as it pertains to this idea.
Remember that everyone learns differently. And when we're building an audience and brand recognition, the platform or content that resonates with one demographic might not resonate at all with another.
By diversifying our content and business across different forms of media and different modes of communication, we increase our chances of adding value to more people's lives in ways that work for them and meet them where they are. Because people consume information differently.
While some love short-form video, others prefer long-form podcasts or written blogs. If you couldn't tell already, I owe most of my thoughts around these topics to Tim Ferriss.

And his podcast is a perfect example of diversifying communication.

He's certainly active on social media, but he uses his podcast to offer long-form, nuanced conversation that cannot be captured in a tweet or a TikTok. And if you take some time to look at the ways in which he takes the same ideas and communicates them in different ways to different subsets of consumers based on where and how he might best meet them, you'll learn a great deal about the importance of diversifying not just your content, but your mode of communicating that content.
Many listeners, myself included, prefer taking some time away from this instantaneous culture to slow down and appreciate a long-form conversation that we can listen to on a Sunday morning with a cup of coffee. If TikTok does get banned, or even if it doesn't, the top creators and businesses all have this one thing in common.
Diversified communication channels. Blogs, newsletters, social media, print, podcasts, and surprise, those are the businesses that will still be able to reach their customer base if and when one platform says it's time to blackout for 16 hours.
This approach not only builds resilience, but also deepens relationships with followers. And I know I said the last point was my last point, but because no episode will ever be complete without touching on mindset and psychology, let's see what we can take from this scenario to better understand our thoughts and our habits of mind.
Diversification is not just about finance or communication. It's about how we approach uncertainty and change.
This is a direct opportunity for us to consider the power of resilience. Building this resilience means accepting that change is inevitable.
Whether it's a TikTok ban, a market crash, or personal setback, diversification gives you the tools to adapt and thrive. As the Stoics all practice daily, picture the worst case scenarios, and by preparing for them long before they occur, at the very least we won't find ourselves waking up one day and saying, well, heck, I never thought something like this could actually happen to me.
As Seneca noted in his letters to Lucilius, it is in times of security that the spirit should be preparing itself for difficult times. While fortune is bestowing favors on it, then is the time for it to be strengthened against her rebuffs.
I find strength daily in reading excerpts from these letters, as the more we prepare for and anticipate said change, the more we can be mentally prepared to face whatever happens. And if a platform goes under, well, good thing we already spent the time committing to developing six others so we could stay in touch with our audience.
In closing, few practical tips for you to consider putting into action this week. Number one, stay curious, continuously learn new skills and explore new platforms.
I am loving the endeavor of exploring the podcast platform, and I will always remember when I decided to start creating on TikTok back in 2022, and it took me months to produce even one video that wasn't absurdly cringeworthy and awkward. But it was ultimately incredibly fulfilling to engage in genuine endeavor of curiosity without just hiring someone else to do it for me.
Number two, embrace change. View challenges as opportunities to grow.
When I heard TikTok might be banned, it provided me the sense of urgency I very badly needed to get on Instagram, YouTube, to start writing a book, to create a newsletter that now has over 10,000 subscribers,

and to develop a podcast. All five of these initiatives are directly tied to one warning.
Your current project might, and often does, fail. So have another ready to go.
And finally, number three, think long term. I will most likely repeat this guidance in every single episode, as it also correlates to my favorite definition of success.

None of this is going to happen overnight. And again, anyone who tells you it will is lying to you and trying to sell you something.
The true definition of success is in staying consistent and achieving the small things every day that are all pointed in the same ultimate direction. That is success.
And even though it might not seem like a lot on any given day, ultimately, all adds up, whether it's your digital assets or any professional or personal endeavor in which you have to put in the short flights to achieve something truly remarkable. And as should come as no surprise, the reason that most of us quit and do not achieve these long-term goals is that we simply do not see results as quickly as we would like.
So stay focused on the fact that if you achieved one thing today, and it is directed towards one long-term goal, trust me when I tell you that it ultimately will add up. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode.
I hope you found this discussion insightful and actionable. If you enjoyed it, please share it with someone who might benefit.
And until next time, take care and never stop learning. Thanks for tuning in to your money guide on the side.
If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to visit my website at tylergardner.com for even more helpful resources and insights. And if you're interested in receiving some quick and actionable guidance each week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter where each Sunday I share three actionable financial ideas to help you take control of your money and investments.
You can find the signup link on my website, tylergardner.com, or on any of my socials at Social Cap Official. Until next time, I'm Tyler Gardner, your money guide

on the side. And I truly hope this episode got you one step closer to where you need to be.