Here’s a question that’s been on my mind for the past couple of weeks.
Can you be genuine and make money?
This seems like a silly question to ask but after spending enough time on Twitter it’s amazing to see the difference between those that are being genuine with what they say and those that umm, let’s say tweak reality.
Because they are just words on the screen, you can craft them in such a way that they can seem perfect to the audience.
“I write just 5 hours a day and make 6 figures.”
I like this. This seems like the ideal life. But when I look around, the only content I see are Tweets, LinkedIn Posts, and a newsletter.
25 hours a week (let’s take weekends off), 100 hours a month, should produce a lot more content than that.
But, “...5 hours a day” seems realistic to the audience and aspirational. It might not be far off. Maybe they sit at the computer for 5 hours a day and do get some writing done.
The point is, when things are tweaked, you can massage any narrative to be what you want it to be. But what if you don’t want to do that? Do you stand a chance?
When I write that down it seems like a silly question. Of course, you should stand a chance because if you can help people then they should listen.
So then what is the problem that so many people are having?
I think it’s either one problem or a combination of two problems.
- They are boring
- They need time
The first one is hard to swallow. The issue is that when we write, our thoughts are more entertaining to us than the words we put on screen. It’s different than talking in person. In person, you can be a little bit boring but you have body movement and other things to help the communication move along.
On Twitter and LinkedIn you just have words and when people don’t know you, they get to interpret them any way that they want. For better or worse.
You know in the corporate world when you’re around the big bosses and you decide to speak in a certain way so that you appear professional? That’s a filter you put on yourself to water everything down. But what happens when you go home to your partner or sit with your friends at the bar? You talk just a little bit different.
But I understand how it can be scary to show your personality on these social platforms when you’re trying to come off as a professional that can help people. The problem is not enough people are standing out because of it. And does personality really help you grow?
Isn’t it about creating certain types of content? Kind of.
In the Customer Content Blueprint, I show you the 5 different content categories that you must address to move people along the Customer Journey and make money. But that’s the Science part of the content. Anyone can follow that.
It’s the Art part of the content that is missing. The part where your content feels like it has a soul. Where you seem just as human as the person reading your stuff.
When you’re able to combine Art with Science, I think you can do more with less.
But I also mentioned how people need time and that’s the tricky part because I see 3 types of growth:
- Growth with a network. This is how the big people get big. 100,000 followers on a platform like Twitter or LinkedIn in a short period of time requires your own personal network. (On TikTok it’s different because their algo has a different philosophy).
- Growth through brute force. Those that stick around, unfortunately, this is what they’re doing. If you’re consistent for a number of years you’re bound to get people to follow you. As long as there are more people that follow you than leave, then you’re good. This is not a fun way to grow.
- Growth with earnings. This is where I land and what I teach. I don’t have an in with the big dogs to accelerate my follower count and fill it with people that don’t care about me. I also make sure I’m opinionated on things that draw a line in the sand so my audience segments itself before they even get to my site.
#3 is where you don’t have to compromise yourself. I think if you’re reading this email this is where you want to land. But it does require a wonderful combination of Art and Science and that’s why so many people are falling short.
If you can apply the Art and Science long enough then you have no choice but to win. I think that’s how you can get by without the network.
But of course, a network helps.
And that’s what is going to be my goal with Odd Noodle. Teaching you Art and Science while also combining the Network Effects. But a Network doesn’t work efficiently if you aren’t getting in front of the right people.
If this was just a game of follower growth then we could all go on Fiverr and make that happen. But there is a large group of people out there that want what we have to offer and I might not hit them first. Maybe one of you is able to collect a pocket of them while I collect another.
When we work together then these pockets start to intermingle and we have a network with purpose.
We do this for a year, I can’t even imagine where we will be.
Your Marketing Tip
Write a Tweet that makes you uncomfortable. The one where you honestly feel like you’re going to get shit for but it’s something that you believe in.
The point of this isn’t to make noise but to see where your boundaries are. Not with your audience or with Twitter, but with yourself. Maybe that thing that makes you uncomfortable isn’t so uncomfortable after you tweet it.
Maybe you realize that dark space with no light in the cave doesn’t have a monster. It’s just more space.
