When a door closes

What do you do when the door in front of you slams shut? And then another, and another one closes soon after? Where do you go? Starting from that empty corridor, how do you even orientate yourself? How do you take the first step towards walking around, beside, underneath, or outside the place you thought was your destination.

Welcome to Unmarked Bounty.

You might be standing in that quiet, empty corridor after a redundancy, a failed business, or in my case, family harm. I write under a pseudonym because it's not safe for me to be myself online.

For several years I have wanted to join the creator economy by publishing online courses and offering Zoom masterclasses, alongside a free or paid newsletter series. I have decades of experience in higher education, a PhD, and I have worked as a researcher and academic at top-tier universities. I was proud of the things on my CV, and I was even starting to enjoy spending time on LinkedIn (I know, I've probably lost you now!) but it was because of the fascinating people I had started to connect with, from all over the world.

Under different circumstances, my personal LinkedIn page would have been a great jumping-off point to build a newsletter audience. However, due to a relentless individual who continues to create fake accounts across 15+ platforms, send people to my home, and make intrusive unwanted contact with colleagues across six of my workplaces over many years, I have given up.

I haven't given up on everything, but I have given up on exposing my real name, my face, and my general location in order to build a larger online presence.

Riley McKenna is a pseudonym, chosen because I have Irish ancestry, and because I love the connection with the phrase 'The Life of Riley'. That's what I am dreaming of with this new business venture. A life of peace, ease, and eventually an independent income. A life on my own terms.

If you're also out there listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, or even paying for courses to help you to create an online business - you might be feeling similar to the way I often do when the received wisdom tells you that "insecurity is stopping you from posting." (Gary Vaynerchuk Keynote Speech, published on YouTube on 29 Oct 2025 ). I am indeed insecure about posting videos of my real face online, with my real name attached. But not for the reasons that Vaynerchuk suggests.

My professional background is in qualitative research and education, not business coaching, marketing, or online media. I'm not selling a quick fix or an easy journey towards success.

What I am offering is a transparent, real-time laboratory mapping out what actually works in text-based, pseudonymous publishing today.

I am passionate about people, communities (online and offline), and deeply curious about what is working right now in the world of online newsletter publishing. Because it's about bringing ideas and information, bringing content that we are passionate about, to a wider audience of amazing readers. I will be sharing my tiny wins along the way and showing you how I did it.

Whether this experiment reaches 100 readers or tens of thousands, we are going to learn a tremendous amount together as we chart a course towards financial freedom through text-based, anonymous newsletter publishing.

Wishing you every success if you're on a similar path!

Yours,

Riley McKenna

(A pen name, for safety reasons)

Next Step Log:

My next task is building a 2-minute diagnostic quiz, 'What Kind of Treasure Hunter Are You?' to serve as a central lead magnet to gather subscribers.

The questions will match you to one of five archetypes, distilling primary strategies and common reasons for building anonymously. The mysterious ship's passenger at the top of this post is archetype #2, The Wayfinder.