How Justin Welsh built a $2M solo business on LinkedIn

Bootstrapped Stories
6 Oct 202249:40

Summary

TLDRIn this episode of Bootstrap Stories, host interviews Justin Welsh, a former SAS executive turned online educator known as the 'King of LinkedIn'. They delve into content creation strategies, discussing the importance of a pillar piece of content to grow an audience. Welsh shares his journey from sales to building a one-person business with multiple revenue streams, emphasizing the value of engagement and relationship-building on social media. He outlines his content creation process, from idea capture to newsletter crafting, and his approach to finding and expanding his niche based on audience feedback and personal interests.

Takeaways

  • 📈 **Content Creation Growth**: Justin Welsh emphasizes the importance of creating a pillar piece of content that can be repurposed to continually grow your audience on the same topic.
  • 🎙️ **Podcast Introduction**: The Bootstrap Stories podcast features founders, marketers, and leaders sharing actionable tips for building a successful business, focusing on providing keys to success without fluff.
  • 🔍 **Expertise Transition**: Justin's transition from sales in the SAS industry to a content creator was a result of identifying, developing, and monetizing skills he already had, rather than seeking a niche.
  • 📚 **Digital Courses**: Digital courses are a significant part of Justin's revenue, with two flagship courses focusing on LinkedIn audience growth and scalable content creation systems.
  • 🤝 **Building Trust**: Trust is built through long-form content like newsletters, podcasts, or YouTube channels, which allow deeper insights into the creator's thought process.
  • 💼 **Revenue Streams**: Justin has diversified revenue streams including digital courses, advising, coaching, subscription products, and a private community.
  • 🔄 **Continuous Learning**: Justin's approach to his business involves continuous learning and adapting, as he moved from focusing on SAS to helping people build online businesses.
  • 💬 **Engagement is Key**: Engaging with the audience by responding to comments and fostering relationships is a practice that Justin maintains for audience connection and growth.
  • 🌐 **Cross-Platform Presence**: Expanding to multiple platforms like Twitter and Instagram helps in reaching a broader audience and building social proof.
  • 🎯 **Targeted Content**: Justin focuses on creating content that resonates with his ideal customer profile (ICP), which revolves around people looking to build a side project or online business.
  • 💼 **Business Freedom**: The goal of Justin's business is time freedom, allowing him to enjoy life while making good money without managing a team.
  • 🚀 **Strategic Partnerships**: Forming organic relationships with other creators and engaging with their content has led to partnerships that benefit both parties.
  • 🗓️ **Organization and Systems**: Justin has developed a robust system for creating content, which includes a nine-step process for generating various content pieces from a single newsletter.
  • 💡 **Idea Generation**: Ideas for content come from personal experiences, audience interactions, and the process of giving credit to others who have inspired or contributed to the topic.
  • 🌟 **Favorite Resources**: Justin recommends 'Factfulness' by Hans Rosling for its optimistic view of global progress and mentions Harry Mack as a favorite content creator for his skill in freestyle rapping.
  • 🧘 **Self-Care**: To regain energy, Justin enjoys activities like long walks, swimming, and traveling, which also serve as sources of inspiration and relaxation.

Q & A

  • What is the main focus of the Bootstrap Stories podcast?

    -The Bootstrap Stories podcast focuses on sharing actionable tips from founders, marketers, and subtle leaders to help grow successful businesses, providing keys to succeed at every stage with tested strategies for overcoming business struggles.

  • How did Justin Welsh describe his transition from working in sales to becoming a content creator?

    -Justin Welsh transitioned from a 17-year career in sales, primarily in SAS technology, to becoming a content creator by starting on LinkedIn in 2019, sharing his thoughts, and eventually moving to other platforms like Twitter and Instagram. He built courses, offered coaching, and created a private community.

  • What are the two flagship courses Justin Welsh offers, and what do they teach?

    -Justin Welsh offers 'The Operating System' which teaches people how to use LinkedIn to grow an audience and business, and 'The Content Operating System', a primer on developing a scalable system for creating high-quality content at scale.

  • What is the approximate revenue breakdown for Justin Welsh's business?

    -Justin Welsh's revenue is roughly 70-75% from digital courses, 6-8% from advising early-stage SAS companies, 4-5% from coaching, 7-8% from a subscription product, and 3-4% from a private community, with the remainder from sponsorships and affiliate products.

  • What is Justin Welsh's strategy for pricing his courses affordably?

    -Justin Welsh prices his courses affordably to help as many people as possible and to encourage impulse buying. He aims to provide such value that customers feel they received much more than they paid for, which can lead to positive word-of-mouth and increased sales.

  • How does Justin Welsh approach growing his audience on social media platforms?

    -Justin Welsh focuses on creating noise and looking for signal by posting content consistently, observing what resonates with his audience, and honing in on those topics. He also emphasizes the importance of building trust and relationships with his audience through various content formats.

  • What is the structure of Justin Welsh's content creation system?

    -Justin Welsh's content creation system involves nine steps: idea capture, research, writing a newsletter, editing, pre-newsletter call to action, post-newsletter call to action, creating additional content from the newsletter, turning the newsletter into a Twitter thread, and using a publishing system to distribute content.

  • How does Justin Welsh engage with his audience on social media?

    -Justin Welsh spends the first 45 minutes of each morning engaging with almost every person who comments on his posts. He also turns on notifications for select individuals on LinkedIn and Twitter to ensure he engages with their content, fostering deeper relationships and exposing himself to new audiences.

  • What is Justin Welsh's approach to finding his niche as a content creator?

    -Justin Welsh believes that niches find you based on the skills you have and develop. He suggests being aware of your skills, developing them, and writing about topics related to those skills. Over time, as you grow your audience and receive feedback, your niche will become clearer.

  • How does Justin Welsh maintain a balance between creating original content and crediting other creators?

    -Justin Welsh aims to create original ideas based on his experiences but also credits other creators when he incorporates their ideas or quotes into his content. He believes in giving credit where it's due and sees it as a way to build relationships and provide additional value to his audience.

  • What are some of the challenges Justin Welsh faced when starting his online content creation journey?

    -Justin Welsh faced challenges such as consistency in posting content, finding his niche, and developing his writing skill. He overcame these by being persistent, observing audience feedback, and refining his skills over time.

Outlines

00:00

📰 The Art of Content Creation and Business Growth

In this segment, the host emphasizes the simplicity of extracting content from a newsletter and the importance of having a pillar piece of content to grow an audience. The host introduces the Bootstrap Stories podcast, aimed at sharing actionable business advice with founders, marketers, and leaders. Justin Welsh, known as the 'King of LinkedIn,' is introduced as a guest with a background in sales and a current focus on helping people monetize their skills online. Welsh discusses his journey from sales to content creation and his various revenue streams, including digital courses, advising, coaching, and a private community.

05:02

🔍 Dissecting Justin Welsh's Revenue Streams and Strategies

This paragraph delves into the specifics of Justin Welsh's revenue streams, highlighting that digital courses constitute the majority of his income. Welsh shares his long-term strategy for expanding his audience and enriching his top-funnel to attract more customers. He also expresses interest in creating new courses and cohort-based coaching programs. The discussion touches on Welsh's target audience, which includes people looking to start an online business or side hustle, and his straightforward sales funnel designed to build trust and relationships.

10:03

🎯 Pricing Strategies and Expanding Audience Reach

Welsh explains his decision to keep his courses affordable to help as many people as possible, fostering positive word-of-mouth and increasing sales. He discusses his content creation process, which includes writing daily on LinkedIn and Twitter, and his strategy for expanding to new platforms like Instagram to reach broader audiences. The host and Welsh also discuss the importance of social proof across multiple platforms and the benefits of driving traffic between them.

15:06

🚀 Growth and Monetization Insights from Justin Welsh

In this segment, Welsh shares his business's financial growth, doubling his revenue year over year despite economic challenges. He emphasizes his focus on making 'good money' and maintaining a work-life balance. Welsh outlines his business structure, which is currently a one-person operation with a virtual assistant, and his reluctance to manage a team. He also discusses his coaching packages and the importance of audience growth in his clients' success.

20:06

🌟 Building a Content System and Engaging Audience

Welsh details his content creation system, which involves idea capture, research, writing, editing, and publishing across multiple platforms. He explains how he transforms his weekly newsletter into various social media posts and the importance of giving credit to other creators. The paragraph also covers Welsh's approach to engaging with his audience and the significance of responding to comments to build relationships.

25:08

🤝 The Power of Relationships and Networking in Content Creation

The host and Welsh discuss the importance of building relationships with other content creators and the benefits of co-creating and supporting each other's work. Welsh shares how he has developed relationships with influential creators and how these connections have enriched his understanding of the creator space. The conversation highlights the organic growth of these relationships and the mutual benefits of collaboration.

30:11

🛠 Finding Your Niche and Content Creation Tips

Welsh explains how he believes niches find people rather than people finding niches. He shares his personal journey of how his niche evolved from healthcare technology to writing and growing on LinkedIn, and finally to building a one-person business. The paragraph includes advice on identifying and developing skills, engaging with the audience through comments, and pivoting content based on audience interest.

35:12

🌐 The Role of Consistent Engagement and Networking

This segment focuses on the importance of consistent audience engagement and selective networking on social media platforms. Welsh discusses his method of engaging with his audience and other creators to foster relationships and expose his content to new audiences. He also shares his process for identifying relevant content to engage with and the value of thoughtful contributions to conversations.

40:14

📚 Personal Growth and Favorite Resources

Welsh shares his favorite book, 'Factfulness' by Hans Rosling, and its message of global progress despite perceived chaos. He admits to not listening to many podcasts, preferring music during his free time. The host and Welsh also discuss their favorite content creators, with Welsh expressing admiration for Harry Mack's ability to improvise rap, which motivates and inspires him.

45:15

💪 Regaining Energy and Sign-Off

The final paragraph covers Welsh's methods for regaining energy, including morning walks, swimming, and traveling with his wife. He also invites listeners to subscribe to his newsletter, 'The Saturday Solopreneur,' for weekly actionable tips on growing an audience and business. The host thanks Welsh for his valuable insights and wraps up the episode, inviting listeners to join the Bootstrap Community and follow the podcast on YouTube.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Content Creator

A content creator is an individual who produces original content, often for online platforms. In the video, Justin Welsh discusses his journey and strategies as a content creator, emphasizing the importance of creating valuable content to grow an audience. He mentions that his transition from sales to content creation involved building new skills, such as writing and growing a presence on LinkedIn.

💡Pillar Content

Pillar content refers to a main piece of content that serves as the foundation for an individual's or brand's content strategy. It is typically in-depth, high-quality, and serves to establish authority on a subject. In the script, the concept is introduced as a recommendation for new content creators to focus on creating substantial content that can be repurposed or built upon to grow their audience.

💡Monetization

Monetization is the process of generating revenue from a business, service, or asset. In the context of the video, Justin Welsh talks about helping people identify, develop, and monetize their skills online. He discusses various revenue streams, such as digital courses, advising, coaching, and community building, which contribute to his business's income.

💡LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform often used for business development and content marketing. The speaker, Justin Welsh, is referred to as the 'king of LinkedIn,' highlighting his success in growing his audience and monetizing his presence on the platform. He shares his strategies for using LinkedIn to grow an audience and business.

💡Audience Growth

Audience growth is the expansion of a creator's or business's reach or following. It is a key focus for content creators and is discussed by Justin Welsh as a central part of his coaching services. He emphasizes the importance of gaining traction on social media and attracting the ideal customer as a prerequisite for successful digital course sales or online business.

💡Digital Courses

Digital courses are educational programs delivered online, often as a series of video lectures, readings, and assignments. In the script, digital courses constitute the primary revenue stream for Justin Welsh's business, making up 70-75% of his income. He offers courses that teach people how to use LinkedIn for audience growth and develop scalable content creation systems.

💡Newsletter

A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication that provides information or updates to subscribers. Justin Welsh emphasizes the importance of his newsletter as a pillar content piece and a tool for audience growth. He describes his process for creating and distributing his newsletter, 'The Saturday Solopreneur,' which offers actionable tips for growing one's audience and business.

💡Engagement

Engagement, in the context of social media and content creation, refers to the interaction between content creators and their audience, such as comments, likes, shares, and replies. The script mentions that Justin Welsh spends the first part of his day engaging with his audience on his posts, which helps build relationships and foster a sense of community.

💡Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are the various sources through which a business earns income. Justin Welsh discusses diversifying revenue streams as a strategy for his business, which includes digital courses, advising, coaching, subscription products, and a private community. This diversification helps support his one-person business and contributes to its stability and growth.

💡Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of correct behavior. In the script, Justin Welsh talks about the importance of social proof in building his business, mentioning how having a large following on multiple platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can increase confidence in his content and expertise.

💡Creator Funnel

The creator funnel is a concept that outlines the stages a potential customer goes through, from discovering a creator's content to becoming a paying customer. In the video, Justin Welsh describes his version of the creator funnel, which includes getting discovered, building trust through deeper content, forming relationships, and finally, monetization through courses or other offerings.

Highlights

Creating a newsletter is a valuable method for content creators to grow their audience with easily digestible content.

Bootstrap Stories podcast features actionable tips from founders, marketers, and leaders for building a successful business.

Justin Welsh, known as the king of LinkedIn, shares his exponential growth strategy on the platform and content creation.

Justin's background in sales and SaaS technology led to his success in building and monetizing online skills.

His revenue streams include digital courses, advising, coaching, a subscription product, and a private community.

Justin's long-term strategy involves expanding his audience for existing courses and potentially creating cohort-based coaching programs.

His focus is on helping people with full-time jobs to identify and monetize their skills outside of traditional work.

Justin's content creation funnel includes discovery, trust-building, relationship development, and monetization.

He emphasizes the importance of creating noise and showing deeper thought processes to build trust with the audience.

Justin's approach to pricing courses affordably is to help as many people as possible and leverage positive word-of-mouth.

Expanding to Twitter and Instagram after mastering LinkedIn helps reach new audiences and build social proof.

Justin's yearly revenue has grown significantly, doubling from the previous year despite market challenges.

He operates as a one-person business with a virtual assistant, focusing on time freedom and not managing a team.

Coaching focuses on audience growth, digital product growth, and service business improvement.

Building an audience on LinkedIn involves creating noise, seeking signal, and focusing on resonating topics.

Justin has developed a nine-step system for creating and distributing content efficiently.

Engaging with the audience and other creators on social media is a key strategy for relationship building and audience growth.

Finding one's niche is a process of being aware of one's skills and allowing the niche to emerge based on audience interest.

Consistent engagement with audience comments helps build relationships and is a differentiating factor.

Favorite book recommendation is 'Factfulness' by Hans Rosling, which offers a positive perspective on global progress.

Favorite content creator is Harry Mack for his exceptional ability to improvise and create in his hip-hop freestyle niche.

To regain energy, Justin enjoys morning walks, physical exercise, and traveling with his wife to experience new cultures.

Transcripts

play00:00

I'm telling you nothing is easier than

play00:02

writing a newsletter and then looking

play00:04

back at the newsletter and easily inside

play00:06

of it seeing five or seven pieces of

play00:08

content like you just see them you

play00:09

scroll through and you're like oh this

play00:10

paragraph is a piece of content this

play00:12

sentence is a piece of content and then

play00:13

just pull it out of those things so I

play00:15

recommend like if you're learning how to

play00:16

be a content creator nothing better than

play00:18

having a pillar piece of content that

play00:20

you can use to continue to grow your

play00:21

audience related to the same topic hey

play00:24

hey welcome to bootstrap Stories the

play00:27

podcast where Founders marketers and

play00:29

subtle leaders share the most actionable

play00:31

tips on building a successful business

play00:38

after meeting with hundreds of

play00:39

bootstrappers in the past years I

play00:41

figured out that we all struggle to grow

play00:43

our businesses but the truth is that

play00:46

most of us don't know where to ask for

play00:47

help or advice that's why I decided to

play00:50

start this podcast

play00:52

give you all the keys to succeed at

play00:54

every stage of your business all the

play00:56

tested strategies for solving your

play00:58

struggles and taking your business to a

play01:00

new level no fluff no bullshits only a

play01:04

real talk between friends

play01:06

that help each other succeed

play01:08

today my guest for this episode is

play01:10

Justin Welsh also known as the king of

play01:14

LinkedIn Justin welcome to the bootstrap

play01:17

stories hey thank you so much for having

play01:19

me I I appreciate it and appreciate the

play01:21

uh the fun nickname so thank you yeah I

play01:24

mean I've been following you for like a

play01:26

couple of years and it's really

play01:28

impressive how you've grew exponentially

play01:30

on LinkedIn I've also uh bought your

play01:33

course uh several courses actually and

play01:36

uh asking what you're doing is uh is

play01:37

really awesome when it comes to content

play01:39

creation but for people who might have

play01:42

been living under a rock and don't know

play01:45

you would you mind introducing yourself

play01:47

and tell us a little bit more about what

play01:49

you do sure my name is Justin Welsh and

play01:52

what I really do is I help people

play01:54

identify develop and then monetize

play01:57

skills they already have online and you

play02:00

know I got started in this my

play02:02

background's a little bit different than

play02:03

maybe other creators

play02:04

um I spent 17 years in the sales world

play02:09

mostly in SAS technology

play02:12

um you know started at the bottom

play02:13

working as a field salesperson and then

play02:16

kind of worked my way up into manager

play02:19

director and then eventually as a vice

play02:21

president of sales for a company called

play02:22

patient pop in Los Angeles

play02:24

um I got my first swing as an executive

play02:27

there built that business from its very

play02:28

first dollar in Revenue up to about 51

play02:31

million and recurring took a sabbatical

play02:33

came back as the chief Revenue officer

play02:35

during covid took it to 75 million and

play02:37

recurring and then for the last really

play02:39

three and a half years sort of on and

play02:40

off you know outside of that second

play02:42

stint with patient pop I've been

play02:44

creating started on LinkedIn

play02:47

um back in 2019 just writing my thoughts

play02:49

and recently moved to Twitter and

play02:50

Instagram and you know I've been

play02:52

building courses and doing coaching and

play02:54

uh building a private Community for the

play02:56

last three years and now I run

play02:58

anywhere from four to five different

play03:00

revenue streams that support my

play03:01

one-person business

play03:02

that's really awesome can you maybe like

play03:05

let us know a bit more about the the

play03:07

revenue stream and what the percentage

play03:10

of each

play03:11

yeah yeah I don't know that I can mail

play03:13

the exact percentage but here's here's

play03:15

sort of it roughly it's roughly 75

play03:17

digital courses so I have

play03:20

um two Flagship courses uh the operating

play03:22

system which teaches people how to use

play03:24

LinkedIn to grow an audience in business

play03:26

and then the content operating system

play03:28

which is basically a primer on

play03:30

developing a scalable system for

play03:32

creating content high quality content

play03:34

you know at scale

play03:35

um that that makes between 70 to 75 of

play03:39

my my Revenue

play03:41

um really you know I work towards that

play03:42

that passive stream of courses uh

play03:45

outside of that I do some advising for

play03:46

early stage SAS companies so that's

play03:48

probably six to eight percent of my

play03:50

Revenue I do coaching which is probably

play03:52

roughly four or five percent of my

play03:54

revenue and coaching is for for creators

play03:56

I have a subscription product that makes

play03:58

up maybe another seven or eight percent

play04:01

and then I have a private Community

play04:02

which makes up roughly three to four

play04:04

percent

play04:05

um and outside of that you know I have

play04:07

little things like sponsorships

play04:08

affiliate products that that makes up

play04:10

the remainder but really it's mostly

play04:12

driven through through you know digital

play04:14

courses and knowledge sharing

play04:16

and basically like for the for the

play04:18

courses it's uh it's a One-Shot fee yet

play04:21

it's uh it's still like the biggest

play04:23

chunk of your Revenue so what kind of is

play04:27

your like long-term strategy when it

play04:28

comes to courses is it to always

play04:31

build new courses or update them so you

play04:34

can sell to your existing audience or is

play04:36

it more to you know like enrich your

play04:39

Top-Up funnel and always get more people

play04:41

to discover the course

play04:43

uh you know it's probably a little bit

play04:45

of both I think what I ultimately want

play04:46

to end up at I don't really have like a

play04:48

five or ten year plan I kind of like to

play04:50

you know just do things as they feel

play04:53

right for me I think that makes it more

play04:55

interesting but if I were to guess at

play04:57

what my plan is it's probably continuing

play04:59

to expand top of funnel so that I can

play05:01

get more customers for my current

play05:03

courses because the feedback on my

play05:05

courses is exceptional and so I want to

play05:06

expose those courses to more people

play05:09

um so that's that's sort of one plan the

play05:11

second plan is I'd like to continue to

play05:13

add courses you know I have an operating

play05:15

system for LinkedIn which helped me go

play05:17

from zero to two hundred and thirty

play05:19

three thousand followers I've roughly

play05:20

I've recently excused me grown on

play05:22

Twitter from four thousand to a hundred

play05:24

and almost thirty thousand in about six

play05:25

months I'd love to put together

play05:27

something small that showed people how I

play05:28

I did that

play05:30

um I'm also really interested in doing

play05:31

cohort based coaching programs so you

play05:34

know courses are really fun and they're

play05:35

small and they help you do something

play05:37

really specific really well but

play05:39

ultimately my goal is to help people

play05:41

build their first online business that's

play05:44

what I really want to do and I think

play05:45

there's probably no better way to do

play05:47

that than Hands-On with another cohort

play05:50

of people who have the same goals want

play05:52

to reach the same outcome and so I'm

play05:54

kicking around ideas for for doing that

play05:56

effectively it's just a matter of you

play05:57

know getting organized and making sure

play05:59

that I focus on what my actual audience

play06:01

wants next

play06:02

so your focus for the court coaching

play06:04

will be more mainly on like uh just like

play06:07

uh people willing to start their

play06:09

business or do you have like a niche

play06:11

down to a specific audience for example

play06:13

like SAS businesses cost 1 million ARR

play06:17

or whatever yeah I've basically like

play06:19

part of the reason that I don't have a

play06:22

tremendous number amount of my income as

play06:24

a SAS advisor by the way if you asked me

play06:26

two years ago I would have said that was

play06:27

80 of my income

play06:28

um is I've kind of left the SAS space

play06:30

like I don't talk a lot about SAS I'm

play06:32

not really super interested in building

play06:34

SAS you know companies or or platforms

play06:36

what I'm really interested in doing is

play06:38

helping you know people who have a

play06:40

full-time job right now identify the

play06:43

skills that they may not be aware that

play06:45

they have already because we all have

play06:47

knowledge blindness really develop those

play06:49

skills and then learn to monetize those

play06:52

skills online outside of their the

play06:54

nine-to-five workplace that's what I

play06:56

want to do so you know a lot of that is

play06:58

creating digital courses building

play07:00

coaching and Consulting businesses you

play07:02

know building private communities all

play07:04

the things that I've done to actually

play07:06

exit the SAS world and get away from

play07:08

that that sort of corporate nine to five

play07:09

that's what I'm really passionate about

play07:11

and that's why I want to aim in that

play07:13

direction

play07:14

no that's uh that's really cool and uh

play07:16

right now what is your uh funnel like

play07:18

when it comes to uh really like uh going

play07:22

from converting your audience towards

play07:24

having them as like uh either in your

play07:27

community paying a recurring fee or

play07:30

potentially buying your course

play07:32

yeah it's it's pretty simple so if you

play07:35

read my content I'm I'm really against

play07:36

over complications so you're not going

play07:39

to see a lot of tremendously complicated

play07:41

funnels or anything like that because

play07:43

that's not generally how I buy things so

play07:45

I usually design my business around the

play07:48

way that I like to buy and I think it

play07:51

works so so here's sort of here's here's

play07:53

sort of you know how it goes today I

play07:55

think at the top of the Creator funnel

play07:57

there's getting discovered so I think

play07:59

you got to create noise right you got to

play08:00

go out you gotta make people aware of

play08:03

who you are who you help and what you

play08:04

help them do that's sort of number one

play08:06

the second part is generally trust and

play08:08

trust is usually developed by showing

play08:10

how you think at a deeper level by

play08:12

pulling back the curtain on how you

play08:13

think and how your brain works that's

play08:15

usually through a newsletter or a

play08:17

podcast or a YouTube channel something

play08:18

where there's longer form content

play08:21

after trust is relationships that's

play08:23

usually getting involved in a private

play08:24

Community where you can really have

play08:25

one-on-one time where you can talk in

play08:27

real time and then next up is

play08:28

monetization so here's how I generally

play08:31

leverage that Creator funnel to to build

play08:34

um really a customer base right I create

play08:37

content twice daily every day on both

play08:39

LinkedIn and Twitter always aimed at my

play08:42

ICP always aimed at people who want to

play08:44

build a side project build a side hustle

play08:47

build something online I don't talk

play08:48

about really anything outside of that

play08:51

and my whole goal is to get them as a

play08:53

subscriber to my newsletter which has

play08:54

about 30 000 subscribers I launched it

play08:57

roughly four months ago

play09:00

um I want them to read that I want them

play09:01

to get value out of that and I want them

play09:03

to make a choice at the end of reading

play09:05

one of my newsletters either they've

play09:07

read enough and they feel a deep enough

play09:09

trust where they can purchase one of my

play09:11

courses which by the way are affordable

play09:13

and I make them that way intentionally

play09:14

so they can you know make pull that

play09:17

trigger you know impulse buy pricing or

play09:20

join my private Community where they can

play09:21

deepen the relationship with me you know

play09:23

eventually you know buy products which

play09:25

are helpful to them so that's really as

play09:27

simple as my funnel is making a lot of

play09:30

noise showing a deeper level of of you

play09:32

know how my brain works or how I think

play09:34

about things to build that trust and

play09:36

then giving people the option to either

play09:38

deepen a relationship or buy something

play09:39

right away that's about it yeah that's

play09:42

uh no that's really cool and I think

play09:44

that's exactly how I decided to purchase

play09:46

your course and join the community at

play09:49

some point it was following your content

play09:50

you brought value and I was actually

play09:52

curious because uh I've launched also

play09:55

like a couple of courses in the past

play09:57

like uh sold online Etc and your pricing

play10:01

status you mentioned your courses are

play10:03

really affordable and what was like the

play10:07

reasoning behind it because you're

play10:09

selling uh coaching which I think is

play10:11

around like a thousand dollar an hour or

play10:13

800 an hour but you also have courses

play10:16

that cost like a few hundred dollars I

play10:19

think it was a couple hundred dollars uh

play10:22

so what's what's the strategy behind it

play10:24

uh you have you ever thought about like

play10:26

uh packaging like uh coaching plus

play10:29

courses or doing like different type of

play10:31

pricing or what did you have in mind

play10:33

when you decided your price yeah you

play10:37

know it starts with just an overall

play10:40

thought about how I want to be in the

play10:42

world right which is

play10:44

um I want to help as many people as

play10:46

possible and you can't do that when you

play10:48

price people out

play10:50

and there's a lot of information

play10:51

floating around the web around High

play10:54

ticket this and high ticket that and a

play10:57

lot of that is survivorship bias you see

play10:59

a few people doing really well with high

play11:01

ticket courses if you actually peeled

play11:03

the onion back you'd see a hundred

play11:05

thousand people who have tried to sell

play11:06

High ticket courses with crickets right

play11:08

so I think first of all it's really

play11:10

really difficult to do that second of

play11:12

all it's just not my Mantra I want to

play11:13

help as many people as possible whether

play11:15

you have a United States dollar whether

play11:17

you're you know living in India or

play11:18

Europe or South America wherever you

play11:20

live I want you to be able to hopefully

play11:22

afford a course that I have that that's

play11:24

sort of my goal but also it's a win-win

play11:27

like don't get me wrong it's great to

play11:30

have a lot of customers and to help

play11:32

people but also the more customers I

play11:34

have the more likely someone is to be

play11:36

saying something good about my product

play11:37

every day online and so my my sort of

play11:40

thought process around the pricing is

play11:42

make it really affordable make it really

play11:44

easy for people to say yes and then

play11:46

allow them with the content so spend 150

play11:49

bucks which is what my course sources

play11:50

are and I want someone to say man that

play11:52

was a hundred and fifty thousand dollars

play11:54

worth of material and I already paid I

play11:56

already paid 150 for that and for them

play11:58

to go on LinkedIn or go on Twitter or go

play12:01

on Instagram and talk about it on my

play12:03

behalf and if someone's talking about my

play12:05

courses on my behalf it it leads to so

play12:08

many more sales than when I talk about

play12:10

it myself and so it's great for the

play12:13

customer and it's it's great for my

play12:14

business

play12:15

uh that's uh love the love the mindsets

play12:18

and um you you were really focused on on

play12:22

LinkedIn at first and as you mentioned

play12:23

you you started like uh posting on

play12:25

Twitter and now more recently maybe like

play12:27

Instagram a bit more what's like the the

play12:30

idea behind it because usually like uh

play12:34

you know like someone would tell you

play12:35

okay once you've done you've narrowed

play12:37

down like your audience on the platform

play12:39

and you're getting a lot of traction

play12:41

just focus on that and go all in you

play12:44

know however you're deciding to do

play12:46

something else which is like kind of

play12:48

testing a new platform why is that

play12:50

exactly

play12:51

yeah I think by the way it's really good

play12:53

advice when people say like nail one

play12:56

platform that is generally advice that I

play12:58

give

play12:59

um I think what people don't see is I

play13:01

spent three years on on only LinkedIn

play13:04

and just writing on there every day

play13:06

until I feel as though and by the way

play13:08

this is maybe this isn't true but I feel

play13:10

as though I understand the nuances of

play13:13

the platform

play13:14

I've mastered most of building a large

play13:17

audience and getting a lot of Engagement

play13:20

and once I did that I wanted an

play13:22

opportunity to go expose my knowledge

play13:26

and content to people who might not

play13:28

consume on LinkedIn and so Twitter was a

play13:31

natural Next Step because I like to

play13:32

write versus being on video or doing

play13:34

audio so I took a lot of what I've

play13:36

written on LinkedIn

play13:38

and challenged myself to say can I get

play13:41

this down to 280 characters can I make

play13:43

this informative and Punchy and

play13:45

interesting in much you know many fewer

play13:47

characters and so I was able to do that

play13:49

and so it exposed me to this whole new

play13:51

audience now I'm doing the same thing on

play13:53

on Instagram so not only is it a new

play13:56

audience it's also also further social

play13:58

proof so if someone comes on LinkedIn

play14:01

says oh this guy's got 230 000 followers

play14:03

and then goes over to Twitter and you

play14:05

got a few hundred you know the

play14:07

confidence level goes down versus this

play14:10

person has 230 000 followers on LinkedIn

play14:12

they come over to Twitter I've got 130

play14:14

000 followers something is consistent

play14:17

about this person's content that makes

play14:19

people want to follow them all over the

play14:21

place so I believe that social proof

play14:23

long term will have a positive impact on

play14:25

my business

play14:26

yeah I 100 agree and I think like you

play14:28

can also drive a lot of traffic from

play14:31

like your social platform to another

play14:33

because if people enjoy like following

play14:35

you on LinkedIn they'll probably enjoy

play14:37

following you also like uh on Twitter or

play14:39

Instagram down the line and for sure so

play14:43

far like uh can can you share like uh

play14:45

like kind of the the revenue you've made

play14:47

or like yearly revenue or these type of

play14:50

numbers

play14:50

yes

play14:52

um right now so I think last year my

play14:54

business did

play14:55

maybe 740 or 750

play14:59

um mostly on courses and some advising

play15:01

this year it's pacing about 1.4

play15:06

um so it's a it's almost a double I

play15:08

think the year before that it did maybe

play15:10

550 and so it's growing really quickly

play15:13

interestingly enough with um with the

play15:15

market down and gas prices up and the

play15:17

summer hitting and all these things

play15:19

happening that is having an impact like

play15:21

I I won't lie like people are definitely

play15:23

spending less money on on info products

play15:26

um but that's okay like part of what I'm

play15:30

part of sort of my holistic strategy is

play15:32

not to make as much money as possible it

play15:35

is to make good money that I you know I

play15:38

want to make money don't get me wrong

play15:39

don't let me tell you otherwise but

play15:41

um

play15:42

I I want to make a certain amount of

play15:44

money I'd rather work less like I I'm

play15:46

doing this as a lifestyle business and

play15:48

my goal is to spend as much time with my

play15:50

wife Jennifer as I can and my dogs and

play15:53

traveling and doing all those things

play15:55

um so yeah like the fact that Revenue

play15:57

goes down when something like this

play15:58

happens is not great but it's also not

play16:01

the end of the world and I've set my

play16:02

business up to function that way

play16:05

no that's that's really cool and uh

play16:07

what's like the the long-term plan have

play16:10

you planned like to hire people to start

play16:13

working with you or do you already work

play16:15

with contractors like what's kind of the

play16:17

structure of the business yeah I have no

play16:19

employees I have a virtual assistant who

play16:21

I I hired through a firm called virtual

play16:24

so like she get she gives me 24 hours of

play16:27

work a month

play16:29

um through virtual so she's a contract

play16:31

assistant and she handles emails and

play16:34

receipts and invoices and you know

play16:36

random questions about how people log

play16:38

into my website and things like that but

play16:40

I'm a one-person show I mean my wife

play16:43

supports the the hell out of my business

play16:45

and

play16:46

um she does things like

play16:48

um write some emails for the community

play16:50

and things like that but but to the

play16:52

extent that I have employees I don't

play16:54

have any of those I also don't plan to

play16:56

have any

play16:57

um I built this business

play17:00

for time freedom to be able to do what I

play17:02

want to make good money but also I don't

play17:04

really want to manage anyone I had a

play17:06

team of 150 people at my last business

play17:08

and I love helping people grow and

play17:10

Thrive but right now I'm on a break from

play17:12

at least managing folks yeah okay I have

play17:16

a that's pretty cool and uh and on your

play17:18

coaching side like uh who do you usually

play17:20

coach

play17:21

yeah it's it's interesting I have three

play17:24

coaching packages one for audience

play17:26

growth so like how to grow on social

play17:28

media one for business growth which is

play17:30

mostly like how do I build a better

play17:32

service business where I'm trading time

play17:34

for money like a consulting or coaching

play17:36

business and the last one is how do I

play17:37

grow a digital product

play17:39

um

play17:40

eighty percent that's 70 to 80 is all

play17:44

about audience growth most people

play17:45

struggle on the top of funnel the the

play17:47

getting discovered part the other 15 is

play17:50

generally on the digital product side

play17:51

very few on the business side like

play17:54

service business coaching and Consulting

play17:55

so I'm really striking that from the

play17:57

record and saying all right I'm not

play17:58

going to do that anymore but the core

play18:01

focus is how do I get traction on social

play18:03

media and not just how do I get traction

play18:06

but how do I get traction with my ideal

play18:07

customer and a lot of folks want to

play18:10

build courses and want to build

play18:11

businesses but they have no traction and

play18:14

uh you gotta have it it's like it's a

play18:17

prerequisite for being really good at

play18:21

selling digital courses or building a

play18:23

business online you got to have that

play18:25

attention and I spend most of my time

play18:27

coaching and educating people on how to

play18:29

do that

play18:30

and you you mentioned because like you

play18:33

talk a lot about audience building and

play18:35

helping people on on building Their

play18:37

audience and I think you're like the

play18:38

obviously the perfect example of someone

play18:40

who started on LinkedIn and grew like

play18:43

his audience to to more than 200k

play18:46

followers so what kind of was the the

play18:49

first step of building your audience and

play18:52

how much time were you actually spending

play18:54

on the platform to grow your audience

play18:57

if I zoom back to 2019 when I first

play19:00

started maybe it was late 2018 I don't

play19:02

always remember exactly but

play19:04

um

play19:05

what I started to do was I would wake up

play19:07

in the morning and like try and think of

play19:09

something to say and that was that was

play19:11

it that was the whole

play19:13

you know strategy right

play19:15

um I'm probably not the right word but

play19:16

that was the strategy and I struggled

play19:20

because that's really hard to do it's

play19:22

really hard to do that every morning and

play19:24

stay consistent but in the beginning

play19:26

what you really need to do is create

play19:28

noise and look for signal right so it's

play19:31

like get out there

play19:32

and get comfortable putting your

play19:35

thoughts into the universe if you can do

play19:38

that

play19:39

you're doing what almost any business

play19:40

does which is almost creating a product

play19:43

and I really truly believe that the

play19:45

things you write online are products

play19:47

they're products that people are

play19:49

consuming they might be free it might be

play19:51

free for the customer to read your

play19:52

content online but the great part about

play19:54

free products like that which is the

play19:56

content is you get feedback from

play19:58

potential users and so I would just

play20:01

write a lot and watch and see what

play20:03

resonated and as things resonated more

play20:06

and other things resonated less I

play20:08

started really honing in on that signal

play20:10

and so early in my career I was mostly

play20:13

writing about SAS sales because that was

play20:15

my background and my goal was to land

play20:17

Consulting and Advising clients for my

play20:19

business and so I started just by

play20:20

talking about SAS in general and then I

play20:23

moved to early stage SAS then early

play20:25

stage SMB SAS and then early stage SMB

play20:28

SAS in the healthcare vertical because

play20:30

that's where my my really my big

play20:32

background was that's where my expertise

play20:34

was and that's what was resonating with

play20:36

my potential customers once I honed in

play20:39

in on that feedback that I heard from

play20:41

potential customers I started Landing

play20:42

Consulting and Advising clients left and

play20:44

right so that was the beginning of how I

play20:47

wrote as I've transitioned out of SAS

play20:49

and more into the Creator space now that

play20:51

it's a full-time job I've built really

play20:54

robust systems so I have a nine step

play20:56

system that I leverage every Monday to

play20:59

create a newsletter 10 pieces of

play21:02

LinkedIn content 10 pieces of Twitter

play21:04

content 10 Instagram stories one Twitter

play21:07

thread a selling post and a post

play21:09

newsletter post and so I do it all in

play21:13

one day based on a variety of systems

play21:15

that I have in place that's really

play21:18

impressive and how exactly like how does

play21:21

the system kind of look like to create

play21:23

so much content in uh in such little

play21:25

time yeah I'll kind of I'll kind of walk

play21:28

you through it so the first step for me

play21:29

is idea capture so it's all about just

play21:32

what what are the possible things that I

play21:34

can write about my Saturday newsletter

play21:36

is really practical and tactical you're

play21:38

going to learn how to grow your audience

play21:39

or business every Saturday in less than

play21:41

four minutes so my newsletter is all how

play21:44

to's it's never observational it's never

play21:46

nebulous it's just here's how to do

play21:48

something and so I start by every Monday

play21:51

doing some idea capture and by the way

play21:53

idea capture happens throughout the week

play21:55

using my notion app I'll just if I think

play21:57

of something I toss it into the app and

play21:59

I have this ever long running document

play22:02

essentially of ideas once I have an idea

play22:06

a significant number of ideas I select

play22:09

one on Monday morning and I start doing

play22:10

research and research just comes through

play22:13

finding tweets quotes books articles

play22:17

things that support what I'm saying I

play22:20

can talk about how I do things but it's

play22:22

great when you can also Shine the Light

play22:24

on somebody on Twitter or somebody on

play22:26

LinkedIn that's how you build

play22:27

relationships so I love incorporating

play22:29

research as step two

play22:31

step three for me is really putting the

play22:34

idea in the research into a short less

play22:37

than four minute newsletter and I have a

play22:39

template for writing my newsletter that

play22:40

I use every week and so you know what

play22:42

you're going to get from me I'm going to

play22:44

present a problem I'm going to tell you

play22:45

why most people don't solve it and then

play22:47

I'm going to show you how to solve it

play22:48

that is my template every week and

play22:51

that's really step three

play22:53

step four is short it's editing I ask

play22:55

myself four questions and I push my

play22:57

newsletter through the lens of those

play22:59

four questions to make sure that I have

play23:01

a very well edited newsletter step five

play23:04

is my pre-newsletter call to action so

play23:06

on Friday I'm going to call everyone to

play23:09

action to say hey if you don't subscribe

play23:11

you're going to miss tomorrow's issue so

play23:13

I write that post out that goes to both

play23:14

LinkedIn and Twitter on Friday

play23:16

step six is the post newsletter call to

play23:20

action so the newsletter comes out on

play23:22

Saturday and then every Sunday I do a

play23:24

post newsletter call to action which is

play23:26

hey this is what you missed yesterday

play23:28

and here's why you shouldn't miss it

play23:30

again so again trying to accrue or

play23:32

acquire those subscribers on a Sunday

play23:33

step seven is I take that newsletter and

play23:37

I push it through a different lens I

play23:39

push it through the lens of additional

play23:41

content so I'll reread the newsletter

play23:43

look at the idea and say number one what

play23:46

are observations that I have number two

play23:48

what's a commonly held belief about

play23:50

something that I wrote about that is

play23:52

wrong a contrarian take number three

play23:55

what are some tools or books or

play23:56

newsletters or tweets about this so I

play23:58

create a listicle number four like why

play24:01

does this happen very often I'll create

play24:02

a teardown or an analysis number five

play24:05

like how will this change in the future

play24:07

so I create a present versus future

play24:09

piece of content and then number six

play24:11

what's a story that I can tell about my

play24:13

life that's related to this particular

play24:15

particular topic and that story is

play24:18

generally put into five parts pain and

play24:20

attention agitation Intrigue positive

play24:23

future and solution so by the time I'm

play24:25

done going through that I have six

play24:27

pieces of LinkedIn content six Twitter

play24:29

content and sometimes I'll write two of

play24:31

each so I usually end up with 10. once

play24:34

I'm done with that I go back up I take

play24:35

the newsletter I turn it into a Twitter

play24:37

thread copy paste separate it get it

play24:39

into 280 character increments and store

play24:41

it into hype Fury for 12 weeks out and

play24:44

then step nine As I push it through a

play24:46

publishing system so I have each piece

play24:48

of content that I just talked about gets

play24:51

distributed into the future so that I

play24:53

can call people back to the newsletter

play24:54

at any time which builds that trust I

play24:56

talked about earlier and creates that

play24:58

funnel for buying one of my courses

play25:00

that's the nine steps wow

play25:03

that's uh that's really awesome and I I

play25:05

love how organized you are you mentioned

play25:08

that uh you were at some point once you

play25:12

wrote the newsletter you ask yourself

play25:14

for questions regarding the newsletter

play25:17

itself like what are usually like uh the

play25:19

question you ask yourself to know

play25:21

whether or not the content was great

play25:24

generally some pretty simple ones like

play25:25

the the most simple ones are have I

play25:28

added appropriate visuals things that

play25:30

are eye-catching that support what I'm

play25:32

saying number two have I added relevant

play25:34

links so if I'm sharing somebody else's

play25:36

work or a tweet thread or something

play25:39

somebody else has said I always want to

play25:41

give them credit I always want to make

play25:42

sure I'm linking to those things

play25:43

including linking to my own content you

play25:46

know internal links on on my website so

play25:48

on and so forth the the sort of ones I

play25:50

ask myself to make sure I'm on target is

play25:52

are my sentences concise is my grammar

play25:55

correct is each sentence really easy to

play25:57

understand do I stick to the main topic

play26:00

do I reduce sort of going on these

play26:02

really long boring tangents and then

play26:05

ultimately do I deliver what's promised

play26:08

in the headline so if I say I'm going to

play26:10

teach you how to do something when I

play26:12

read through the newsletter Can I 100

play26:13

confidently say that I did that and so

play26:16

those are the pretty simple questions

play26:17

that I push through editing now that's

play26:20

that's awesome and at some point you

play26:22

know you were mentioning that uh you you

play26:24

have this on multiple platform and it's

play26:27

basically like one topic per week that

play26:28

you're gonna kind of like split under

play26:31

different angles

play26:32

is it really like uh something that

play26:35

you're gonna push through only one week

play26:37

or do you sometimes like mix up between

play26:39

different weeks uh different topics not

play26:42

sure if it was clear yeah it was clear

play26:45

um I I mix it up so I I think it's

play26:48

boring to say you know on Monday through

play26:51

Friday I'm going to talk about one topic

play26:52

and then the newsletter is going to be

play26:54

that topic on Saturday so generally I'll

play26:56

produce the newsletter on a Saturday

play26:59

um and again I'll produce 10 pieces of

play27:01

content off of that newsletter and I'll

play27:03

stagger those over the next 10 weeks and

play27:06

the really cool thing is uh because I've

play27:09

already created a newsletter

play27:11

and because the newsletter is really

play27:13

tactical and practical

play27:15

they're almost like free guides and so

play27:18

if you look over the next 10 weeks there

play27:20

is one piece of content

play27:22

at least once per week over 10 weeks

play27:25

that will be related to a previous

play27:27

newsletter issue that I've written at

play27:29

some point

play27:30

because of that when I write on LinkedIn

play27:33

or Twitter I can say at the end of each

play27:35

piece of content

play27:37

if this particular topic is interesting

play27:39

to you I've written a longer form guide

play27:42

to this find it in the comments check

play27:45

out this link find it in my profile and

play27:47

that brings people to my website which

play27:51

is now I have a captive audience the

play27:53

likelihood they do something else is

play27:54

really high subscribe to my newsletter

play27:57

gain trust in my expertise buy a course

play28:00

book a coaching call

play28:02

any number of actions that I generally

play28:05

can't get them to do when we're just

play28:06

playing on social media or in the email

play28:08

inbox and so my intention is to

play28:10

constantly expose my content and

play28:13

knowledge but inside of you know the

play28:16

Captivity of my website

play28:18

that's that's impressive like the way

play28:21

you you have been like structuring all

play28:23

of that and I've got two questions one

play28:25

about your newsletter and the call to

play28:27

action which I will ask a little bit

play28:29

later but the first one is you've

play28:32

mentioned that

play28:33

um obviously like like every content

play28:36

creator to get ideas sometimes you're

play28:38

gonna like uh I don't know be on social

play28:40

media someone's gonna post about

play28:41

something or you're going to do a

play28:43

research phase and you're going to be

play28:45

able to basically like gather ideas from

play28:47

a lot of interesting people and make it

play28:50

your own to write your own posts you

play28:52

also mentioned that you try to give

play28:55

credit as much as possible to things or

play28:58

quotes or or things you will take from

play29:01

other like creators

play29:04

what is kind of like the the balance

play29:06

between okay this content has been

play29:09

inspiring me yes but I mean you know I'm

play29:11

creating my own so I don't have to kind

play29:13

of like credit them uh two okay I really

play29:16

need to quote that person because this

play29:18

is very close to what I'm to what they

play29:20

were saying basically yeah I mean I I

play29:23

don't know that there's a whole lot of

play29:25

new ideas in the world right like right

play29:28

so so generally what I try and do and

play29:31

the way that I think about it is I try

play29:34

and create ideas based on what's

play29:35

happening to me so like for example I

play29:39

had somebody asked me the other day how

play29:42

did you make your first dollar online

play29:43

and I thought well [ __ ] that's a great

play29:46

newsletter topic like that's an awesome

play29:48

newsletter topic not how I made mine but

play29:51

like how might I do it if I were

play29:52

starting today and so I like wrote down

play29:55

that topic in notion I was like how to

play29:57

make your first dollar online that'll

play29:59

come out this Saturday

play30:00

um and I can write about my Prof process

play30:04

or how I might think about it but

play30:07

there's so many other people who inside

play30:10

of that process have said something much

play30:13

smarter than I could say it or much

play30:15

better than I could say it so as I'm

play30:18

writing out my process so so for example

play30:20

let's say I was talking about step one

play30:23

you know you got to figure out what

play30:25

skills you have that you've you know

play30:26

identified and developed well I can tell

play30:28

you how I might go about doing that but

play30:30

I'm also going to go out into Twitter

play30:32

and Google and start searching for is

play30:34

there someone else who's explained this

play30:35

10 times better than I could possibly

play30:37

explain it and so I'm going to make a

play30:39

note of that as I'm doing my research

play30:41

and so ultimately I'll write a

play30:43

newsletter that's my opinions and what I

play30:45

would do but I'll back up my opinions

play30:48

and say well you know here's Austin

play30:50

belsack or Dan Co or Dickie Bush or

play30:52

Nicholas Cohen and here's how they think

play30:54

about it so if you're looking for a

play30:55

different thought process or a little

play30:57

bit of a deeper rabbit hole through this

play30:59

Twitter thread check out this piece of

play31:00

writing because to me that's that's part

play31:03

of building relationships and often the

play31:05

people that I choose are either a really

play31:07

brilliant or B people that I want to

play31:10

Foster relationships with and so shining

play31:12

a light on their content I think is one

play31:14

way to do that now that's uh that's

play31:17

really smart and I think like uh as you

play31:19

said like you're also creating

play31:21

relationship with others and obviously

play31:24

like I think something in that you've

play31:27

done really well is once you start

play31:29

becoming like uh let's like a content

play31:32

creator with a large audience partnering

play31:34

with other people who have also like

play31:36

large audience is just a great way to

play31:39

grow like is it something you've

play31:41

extensively done because I've seen you

play31:43

do like a webinar with a Dicky or a

play31:46

Nicholas Call Etc is it like a strategy

play31:49

you have in place or you just go with

play31:52

the flow meaning like uh you know what I

play31:54

love uh this guy is creating like

play31:57

awesome content I'm just gonna start

play31:59

sharing a bit more his content to my

play32:02

newsletter like show some love and down

play32:04

the line like if it uh if it goes to

play32:06

like uh you know I don't know like a

play32:08

potential partnership or whatever like

play32:09

I'm done for it like what's your

play32:11

reasoning behind it yeah it's it's

play32:14

pretty interesting for about the first

play32:16

two and a half years of my journey

play32:18

online

play32:19

um it was not a part of my strategy so I

play32:22

was just writing and engaging writing

play32:24

and engaging writing and engaging and

play32:27

every once in a while sorry to interrupt

play32:28

one quick question when you say engaging

play32:30

you mean replying to the comments people

play32:33

write to you or engaging on other

play32:34

people's posts a little bit of both but

play32:37

mostly mostly your comments mostly I'm

play32:39

head down heads down on creating and

play32:41

then engaging with the people who engage

play32:43

with me and then I go out and I would

play32:45

engage with other folks whose content I

play32:47

really enjoyed but like co-creating or

play32:51

support was not a real big part of my

play32:54

strategy and I was able to grow to 150

play32:57

or 180 000 followers that way and then I

play32:59

moved to Twitter and as I started to get

play33:02

some traction and by the way like again

play33:04

this was all solo ten thousand twenty

play33:06

thousand fifty thousand seventy thousand

play33:08

and as soon as I like eclipsed 75 80 000

play33:12

something really interesting started

play33:14

happening which was a lot of folks

play33:17

started reaching out to me and saying

play33:19

hey I see you killing it on Twitter like

play33:23

how do you how do you write on LinkedIn

play33:25

what's that all about you know we've

play33:27

we've never been over there tell us a

play33:29

little bit more about it and I was like

play33:30

sure why don't you tell me a little bit

play33:32

more more about Twitter you have 200 000

play33:34

followers right can you could you share

play33:37

what's working for you and that started

play33:39

to lead to some really deep

play33:40

relationships the first one I can think

play33:41

of is one you mentioned Dickie Bush and

play33:43

Nicholas Cole the ship ship 30 for 30

play33:45

guys and we just started creating a

play33:48

relationship so now we're doing what any

play33:50

you know I wouldn't call us business

play33:52

partners we're not in the traditional

play33:54

sense but like what any Partners might

play33:56

do which is when I can help them on

play33:58

LinkedIn I'll give them a piece of

play34:00

guidance when they can help me on

play34:01

Twitter they'll give me a piece of

play34:02

guidance and that relationship has

play34:04

happened with folks like Dickie and

play34:06

Nicholas Sawhill Bloom Blake Berge Nick

play34:08

Huber and it's turned into really a a

play34:12

group of brilliant people that I get to

play34:14

chat with every once in a while to learn

play34:16

more about being a creator

play34:18

now that's that's really awesome and I

play34:20

think it was uh it was actually

play34:21

interesting because I noticed it because

play34:23

DK was really focused on Twitter and he

play34:26

was like killing it and I think it's

play34:28

only a couple of months ago that is

play34:31

starting investing really like on on

play34:33

LinkedIn and when he started he had like

play34:35

a I don't know just not even a thousand

play34:37

followers I think like I think now it

play34:39

has grown a lot but it's really cool to

play34:42

see that you can help each other out

play34:44

like this for sure yeah and I I highly

play34:47

recommend like I I've talked about this

play34:49

forever the one thing that you don't

play34:51

want to do is get involved in a pod you

play34:54

don't want to pay money to have a bunch

play34:56

of people who are unrelated to your

play34:57

business give you engagement because

play34:59

they feel obligated to do so

play35:02

does it work maybe right I don't know

play35:05

um what you really want to do is build

play35:07

relationships with people like Ben get

play35:09

them to support you right and the way

play35:11

you get them to support you is by

play35:13

supporting them yeah like yeah not too

play35:16

much different than networking offline

play35:18

sorry for interrupting no no good but I

play35:21

I 100 agree with you and uh to be honest

play35:23

like uh I was the founder of lamppad

play35:26

before actually like selling it so it

play35:28

was uh for me like it's it's just uh I

play35:31

created a monster

play35:32

and yes sorry I forgot about that

play35:36

no no but to be honest I like uh yeah

play35:39

the i i hundred like my vision of the of

play35:42

the LinkedIn game I think like uh three

play35:44

years ago when uh when we created it was

play35:46

like very different and like 100 agree

play35:48

with you it's like if you want to be in

play35:51

the game for the long run you shouldn't

play35:53

look for quick hacks quick engagement

play35:56

pods quick thing it's it will never work

play35:59

out like of course it can work out in

play36:01

the short term like first month second

play36:03

months you get vanity metrics but then

play36:06

after that like what do you have left uh

play36:08

true relationship takes time and I think

play36:10

like uh the way you're doing it and the

play36:12

way you've uh you've built your audience

play36:14

is uh is really impressive and I want to

play36:16

go back you know to to this part of your

play36:19

funnel when on um you know like uh

play36:21

Friday you have this call to action to

play36:24

actually have people join your

play36:25

newsletter then the same on Sunday for

play36:27

people who might have like missed it to

play36:29

talk about the issue from Saturday and

play36:31

I'm actually like uh career is because

play36:33

you mentioned your newsletter you

play36:34

started it uh like six months ago or

play36:37

something four five months ago four four

play36:39

to six I can't actually remember to be

play36:41

honest do you do you regret starting it

play36:44

like uh so late versus you know like uh

play36:47

from when you actually started to create

play36:49

content online

play36:51

for sure okay for sure yeah yeah I just

play36:55

crossed I think I just crossed 30 000

play36:56

subscribers today or it might end up

play36:59

being tonight or tomorrow but thank you

play37:01

so much but you know I could have had a

play37:03

hundred thousand subscribers or more by

play37:04

now and um so you know

play37:07

I didn't do it so the best thing you can

play37:09

do it when you didn't do it back in the

play37:10

day is to do it as soon as you now right

play37:13

that's right and I I decided to make

play37:15

that choice and um you know I had tried

play37:18

in the past and I had not been very good

play37:19

at staying consistent and it's because I

play37:21

just didn't have a system and so once I

play37:25

had a system

play37:26

it became game over it was it was so

play37:29

much so much easier

play37:30

and the thing is like because my first

play37:33

thought you know when you started your

play37:34

newsletter like uh like a few months

play37:36

backwards just like I was wondering if

play37:38

in your strategy it was more like to

play37:40

grow your audience to like a certain

play37:42

level and then bring people like to your

play37:45

newsletter or if so I'm gonna rephrase

play37:48

this question if you had to give an

play37:50

advice to let's say someone who is uh

play37:52

just starting on LinkedIn starting

play37:55

getting maybe like a little bit of

play37:56

traction and if they want to like when

play37:59

would be the right time to kind of like

play38:00

get started with a newsletter I think

play38:03

any time anytime I think I mean to the

play38:06

extent that it doesn't keep you from

play38:08

continuing to grow your audience and

play38:10

that's why I think about having an

play38:12

interlocked and interrelated system it's

play38:15

why I believe if you're going you need a

play38:18

piece of pillar content like Gary

play38:19

vaynerchuk always says in me since I

play38:21

don't do a podcast and I don't do

play38:23

YouTube

play38:25

um my pillar is the newsletter and I'm

play38:28

telling you nothing is easier than

play38:30

writing a newsletter and then looking

play38:32

back at the newsletter in easily inside

play38:34

of it seeing five or seven pieces of

play38:36

content like you just see them you

play38:38

scroll through and you're like oh this

play38:39

paragraph is a piece of content this

play38:40

sentence is a piece of content and then

play38:42

you just pull it out of those things and

play38:45

so I recommend like if you're learning

play38:47

how to be a content creator nothing

play38:49

better than having a pillar piece of

play38:50

content that you can use to continue to

play38:53

grow your audience related to the same

play38:54

topic

play38:55

that's that's really cool and you know

play38:58

like uh you we were discussing a little

play39:00

bit earlier

play39:01

um right now you have like very clear

play39:04

Niche and ICP and you talk to me a

play39:07

little bit more about like uh you know

play39:09

when uh when you work like talking about

play39:11

SAS then focusing you know on like SAS

play39:13

for smbs and such smbs in the health

play39:15

tech industry Etc like how would you go

play39:19

or explain to people how exactly to find

play39:22

their Niche and the type of content they

play39:24

should write about

play39:25

yeah I don't necessarily know that you

play39:28

find your Niche and this is I try and

play39:30

write about this often but like it's

play39:32

hard to find your Niche I sort of feel

play39:34

like your Niche finds you sort of um you

play39:37

have to be aware of what skills you have

play39:39

and you have to start you you developing

play39:42

and using those skills so so for example

play39:44

I'll I'll walk you through how my Niche

play39:47

found me

play39:48

um I had a skill and the skill was

play39:51

building

play39:52

essentially SAS companies in the

play39:54

healthcare space I did that for 11 years

play39:57

um and very well and so I started

play39:58

writing about that I didn't have the

play40:00

skill of writing but I grew it over time

play40:03

writing about that thing ended up being

play40:06

a second skill so as I started writing

play40:09

what happened was my LinkedIn audience

play40:11

grew and I started studying how to grow

play40:13

that more so I could get more customers

play40:15

that turned into a third skill so now I

play40:18

knew how to build Healthcare technology

play40:20

companies I knew how to write and I knew

play40:22

how to grow on LinkedIn and when I

play40:24

looked at my DMs on LinkedIn the most

play40:26

common questions weren't how do you grow

play40:28

a Healthcare company they were how are

play40:30

you growing so fast on LinkedIn and so I

play40:32

was like let's pivot so I pivoted out of

play40:35

healthcare and SAS and I started talking

play40:37

about how to grow on LinkedIn and I

play40:38

became a LinkedIn guy right I didn't

play40:41

want to be that and I don't want to be

play40:43

that so so I kept writing kept writing

play40:45

and I made sales of my courses and

play40:47

showed people how I did that and over

play40:49

time I started doing things like

play40:51

building a community

play40:53

building a coaching program and suddenly

play40:55

the question started shifting away from

play40:57

LinkedIn and they started shifting to

play40:59

well how are you building your business

play41:00

how are you building so many revenue

play41:02

streams how do you think about what

play41:04

revenue streams to build and that became

play41:06

a fourth skill the fourth skill became

play41:08

building this one-person business so I

play41:10

pivoted again right and then I you don't

play41:12

you won't hear me talk much about

play41:14

LinkedIn anymore I talk about it in the

play41:16

context of building a one-person

play41:18

business but all I did was listen to my

play41:21

audience look at the questions they were

play41:22

asking me and also what was I like

play41:25

interested in I think whatever you're

play41:28

doing at the moment is generally most

play41:30

interesting to you so as you talk about

play41:32

that

play41:33

other some folks Will Follow You other

play41:36

people will say hey this topic is no

play41:38

longer interesting to me

play41:40

that's okay

play41:42

and you were mentioning that uh whenever

play41:45

you were creating content you spend time

play41:48

like engaging on people's comments is

play41:51

that something you still do and because

play41:53

you're I mean your posts are getting

play41:54

like thousands of likes and sometimes

play41:57

thousands of comments so how do you keep

play41:59

up and what's your strategy about

play42:00

comments and answering all comments yeah

play42:03

I mean for about the first 45 minutes of

play42:06

each morning I engage with almost every

play42:08

single person who writes on my stuff

play42:09

that is a differentiator in my opinion I

play42:12

don't know how smart it is because it's

play42:14

time consuming and it burns me out

play42:16

sometimes and I could probably you know

play42:19

spend that time building a new product

play42:21

without much of a hit but like I don't

play42:24

know I like the idea of building

play42:26

relationships with my audience

play42:28

um outside of those 45 minutes I

play42:30

generally have three to five people on

play42:32

LinkedIn whose notifications I have

play42:34

turned on and I have 20 people on

play42:36

Twitter whose notifications I have

play42:38

turned on plus I use a tool called

play42:40

Blackmagic that allows me to know

play42:42

um when they've posted on Twitter and if

play42:45

I've missed it in like for 15 minutes

play42:47

once a day I jump on Twitter and

play42:49

Linkedin and I just rock through all

play42:51

those people I add some value to their

play42:53

their piece of content and that does a

play42:56

few things it Fosters the relationship

play42:58

even deeper and it also exposes me to a

play43:01

new audience who may not know who I am

play43:03

and so again it's a win-win

play43:06

um I'm not Mother Teresa I don't do

play43:07

everything just on the behalf of others

play43:09

like I try and I try and do things that

play43:11

benefit others but also benefit myself

play43:13

and so that I found to be one of them

play43:15

yeah it's definitely a win-win and do

play43:18

you engage because you were mentioning

play43:20

okay you have like maybe uh 20 people

play43:22

that uh you want notification turned on

play43:24

on Twitter so do you engage on all of

play43:27

their tweets or sometimes you know some

play43:29

tweets are like very difficult to engage

play43:31

with you like can just agree or whatever

play43:33

and uh

play43:34

yeah I never I never force it if

play43:37

something's if something's irrelevant to

play43:38

me I don't comment on it at all

play43:41

um I kind of Click through using

play43:42

Blackmagic and find the you know I've

play43:44

got 20 people and first of all 50 of

play43:47

them won't have written anything that

play43:48

day so maybe it takes them down to 10

play43:50

and of that 10 there's generally three

play43:52

or four that are really relevant for me

play43:54

and I'll spend a great deal amount of

play43:56

time writing something you know I hope

play43:58

that is smart and thoughtful versus I'll

play44:01

never just write agree like you'll never

play44:02

see me doing that unless like

play44:05

people are saying things to me on

play44:06

LinkedIn that just weren't that very you

play44:09

know shallow comment but uh for the most

play44:10

part I'm trying to add value on each

play44:12

engagement no that's that's pretty cool

play44:14

time is uh is playing so I want to kind

play44:18

of like uh wrap up the episode with a

play44:21

few questions

play44:22

um what's your favorite uh book or

play44:24

podcast you like to listen to

play44:27

uh my favorite book is I've got a few I

play44:30

mean I love atomic Habits by James clear

play44:32

but that's a very common answer a book I

play44:35

really enjoy is a book called

play44:36

factfulness by Hans rosling and

play44:39

essentially the takeaway is in this

play44:42

world today it feels like everything is

play44:45

falling apart political Strife Wars

play44:47

climate change covet it feels like the

play44:50

world is getting worse objectively it is

play44:52

getting better from a data perspective

play44:53

on the things that are most important

play44:55

you know it's getting better in Hans

play44:57

rosling he's a he's deceased now but he

play45:00

lays out a very compelling argument for

play45:02

why the world is getting better so I

play45:03

love that I don't listen to very many

play45:06

podcasts and I think people find that to

play45:08

be surprising but the only time I have a

play45:11

chance to listen to things is when I'm

play45:13

driving or working out and I generally

play45:15

prefer music uh so I so like maybe every

play45:18

once in a while I'll catch

play45:20

a Tim Ferriss something or you know I'll

play45:23

listen if one of my friends has been on

play45:25

a podcast as a guest uh and in a very

play45:28

vain way I'll listen to myself to make

play45:30

sure I didn't say anything stupid

play45:31

um so I do that every once in a while

play45:33

just to say like dude did everything

play45:35

that I say makes sense

play45:37

um but yeah that's that's generally how

play45:38

I think about it really good and uh

play45:41

what's your favorite uh content creator

play45:43

at the moment

play45:45

Harry Mack

play45:46

okay

play45:48

yeah Harry Mack is a freestyle rapper on

play45:52

YouTube I love him yeah yeah I love

play45:54

Harry Mack and um the reason why is

play45:56

number one I like hip-hop I love hip-hop

play45:58

number two and the biggest reason is I

play46:01

just feel as though across every medium

play46:04

in the world he is operating at the

play46:06

highest level and I very much am in awe

play46:09

of the way that he operates and if I

play46:12

could be the type of Creator in my

play46:15

particular Niche or or medium the way

play46:17

that he is in his uh that would be

play46:20

really amazing so I take a lot of

play46:22

motivation from watching him excel in

play46:25

his craft

play46:26

it's it's really really impressive how

play46:29

we can improvise with some random words

play46:32

and just rap about it and look at the

play46:34

environment and create awesome things is

play46:36

uh is incredible I love it I listen to

play46:38

it every day

play46:40

where do you like watch it to tick tock

play46:42

or like Instagram or YouTube YouTube I'm

play46:46

like I'm I know this sounds funny but

play46:48

I'm like I'm in my 40s which is not old

play46:50

by any by any means but like I don't

play46:52

understand Tick Tock or

play46:54

um I don't really know how to like watch

play46:56

something on Instagram all that well so

play46:58

I just go to YouTube okay I I love

play47:00

YouTube too I still listen to music on

play47:02

YouTube which everyone made fun of but I

play47:05

still like it nice and

play47:08

um what's the favorite thing you do to

play47:10

kind of like regain energy and during

play47:12

tough times

play47:13

yeah a couple things I generally when

play47:16

it's not the summer in Nashville which

play47:18

is where I live right now

play47:19

um my wife and I will go to go on a five

play47:22

or six mile walk each morning when the

play47:24

weather's nice and that's a really great

play47:25

time to be off technology talking with

play47:28

each other you know deepening our

play47:30

relationship but also like it's when

play47:32

great ideas pop up so that's that's one

play47:34

thing I love to do

play47:35

um when it's summer and hot I go to the

play47:37

YMCA and I swim I lift I use the

play47:41

elliptical machine I try and do things

play47:43

that generate a lot of effort you know

play47:46

early in the mornings that the rest of

play47:47

the day seems pretty easy

play47:49

um and then lastly we travel a lot so I

play47:53

think we're chatting before the podcast

play47:54

started but you know we travel Europe

play47:56

often we travel uh Central America very

play48:00

frequently we're in Mexico very very

play48:02

often and so we love to travel and eat

play48:05

good food and drink good wine and you

play48:07

know we've got no kids so that's sort of

play48:09

our

play48:10

our Escape I guess enjoying life trying

play48:14

yeah that's really good

play48:16

um to uh to kind of like round up this

play48:19

episode where to be honest you've

play48:21

brought us some value bombs and tons of

play48:24

really awesome insights where can people

play48:27

learn more from you and follow you and

play48:29

subscribe to your newsletter yep my

play48:32

website is Justin Welsh and that's

play48:34

w-e-l-s-h dot me Justin welsh.me and

play48:39

they can subscribe to my newsletter it's

play48:40

called the Saturday solopreneur in every

play48:43

Saturday morning you will get one

play48:45

actionable tip for growing your audience

play48:46

and business that you can always read in

play48:48

less than four minutes guaranteed and I

play48:51

can vote for it it's really good thank

play48:53

you I read it on Sunday to be honest but

play48:55

uh it arrives on Saturday I appreciate

play48:58

it I appreciate that man well Justine

play49:00

thanks a lot for uh being awesome and

play49:03

have an amazing day thanks so much for

play49:05

having me I appreciate it thank you for

play49:07

listening to the bootstrap Stories the

play49:09

only podcast where strap entrepreneurs

play49:12

share their journey in all transparency

play49:14

if you enjoyed this episode don't

play49:16

hesitate to leave us a review and in

play49:18

case you want to see the interview all

play49:20

episodes are live on the YouTube channel

play49:22

check out the link in the description

play49:24

and hit subscribe if you haven't already

play49:26

have an amazing day and make sure to

play49:28

also join us in our amazing bootstrap

play49:31

Community where we all helped each other

play49:34

to become successful and grow a

play49:37

profitable business take care and talk

play49:39

to you soon

Rate This

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

Related Tags
Business GrowthContent CreationLinkedIn StrategiesPodcast InsightsSolopreneur TipsSocial Media MarketingDigital CoursesAudience BuildingRevenue StreamsOnline Business