The Moat
Never Build Your House on Rented Land.
If a platform can switch you off, it owns you, not the other way around.
It is tempting to build your whole business on someone else's doorway - all your sales through one platform, all your leads from one source, all your customers reachable only through a channel you don't control. It works beautifully right up until the day the landlord changes the rules, raises the rent, or shuts your door. Then you discover you never had a business; you had a tenancy.
Own your land. Own the customer relationship directly - their contact, their trust, the ability to reach them without permission. Use platforms, but never depend on a single one for survival. The middleman who builds on rented land is one policy change away from zero, no matter how big he got.
Own your customer access directly. Don't let one platform hold your survival.
This is one of 48 laws from MIDDLEMAN - The 48 Laws of the Money in the Middle. Read it in full to climb the whole building, floor by floor.