The Power of Making It Your Own: Why the Most Valuable Content is the Kind Only You Can Create

When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an architect.

I was obsessed with buildings. Design. Structure. Space. Whenever we traveled as a family, I’d spend most of the trip craning my neck upward - taking in the skyline, admiring hotel lobbies, and marveling at the details others might overlook.

One of our favorite destinations was Las Vegas. And Vegas, for a kid like me, was nothing short of magical.

The Mirage. Mandalay Bay. The Bellagio. The Venetian. Every hotel had its own theme, its own story. I’d walk up and down the Strip, Canon digital camera in hand, snapping picture after picture. But here’s the thing: I wasn’t interested in capturing people. Just the architecture. Just the design. People, in my opinion, got in the way.

And for years, that’s what I did - shot hundreds of photos of immaculate, inanimate objects. Facades. Lobbies. Hallways. Chandeliers. Ceilings.

Until one day, my father noticed what I was doing. Or more specifically, what I wasn’t doing.

“Why don’t you put people in the picture?” he asked.

I brushed it off. “They’re not the subject. They just distract from the design.”

He let it go. But his suggestion stuck with me.

Fast-Forward A Decade or Two...

One day, I was flipping through my old photo archives, and something surprising happened. All those carefully composed photos of empty hotel lobbies and ornate facades? They blended together. As stunning as they were at the time, they felt…forgettable.

But the few photos that did include my family - my parents, my siblings, even myself - stood out.

Those were the pictures that transported me back. That told a story. That held meaning.

I realized something important that day: the architecture wasn’t what mattered most. The people did. They were what gave those moments life.

And here’s what’s wild: at the time, I thought I was preserving the essence of a place. But in reality, I was stripping it of what made it matter. I had missed the story in favor of the structure.

How This Applies To Your Content

We live in an age of infinite content. Scroll any social feed and you’ll see a tidal wave of AI-generated posts, generic insights, and templated visuals. Most of it looks polished. Some of it even sounds smart.

But very little of it is memorable.

Why? Because anyone could’ve written it.

It’s the digital equivalent of snapping a photo of a hotel you can Google anytime. It might be pretty, but it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t make you feel. It doesn’t tell a story. It doesn’t stand out.

Here’s the test I like to use for any piece of content I create: Could anyone else have posted this? If the answer is yes, then it’s weak sauce.

Strong content - the kind that grabs attention, builds trust, and actually resonates - isn’t about how “perfect” or “professional” it looks. It’s about whether you made it your own.

It’s about including the people in the picture. It’s about inserting you into the post.

Because when you share a story from your life, a lesson you actually lived, or a perspective that only you could have, now you’re giving your audience something they can’t find anywhere else.

You're making it human. And in a sea of sameness, that’s what cuts through.

The Life Lesson

Most of us underestimate the value of our perspective. We think we need to show up as experts, or post what's expected, or say what sounds "right."

But what we actually need is to show up as ourselves.

Your lived experience - what you’ve seen, felt, struggled with, overcome - is the most powerful creative asset you have. And the moment you inject that into your message, your post, your video, your business… you elevate it from generic to unforgettable.

That’s the difference between “just another post” and something that makes someone stop scrolling.

So the next time you’re about to hit publish on a piece of content, pause and ask:

“Is this just a picture of a building?” Or… “Have I put people in the frame? Have I made it my own?”

Because the content that matters most isn’t the kind everyone can make.

It’s the kind only you would make.

Action Steps:

1. Audit Your Content Scroll back through your last 5–10 posts. Are they unique to you, or could they have come from anyone?

2. Add a Personal Lens Take one of your recent insights or ideas and rewrite it from a personal angle. What experience led you to that insight? What did it feel like?

3. Use the “Only I Could Have Said This” Test Before hitting publish on your next post or piece of content, ask: “Could someone else have written this?” If yes - go one layer deeper.

When you make your content your own, it stops being just content.

It becomes a conversation. It becomes connection. It becomes you, sharing something real.

That’s the good stuff. That’s the architecture worth building.

Until next time,

Elliot