Social Media is a popularity contest...

Man, the Internet sucks. Let's be real for a minute. The Internet kind of sucks. And I love it, though. Like, I really do love it, but it kind of sucks because as creative people.

We have to recognize it for what it is, which is opportunity. And I've said this on here before. I'll say it again, and I'll say it for a long time after this. The trouble with the Internet is seeing the potential that exists. When we watch YouTube channels, for instance, which ones do we see? Well, we typically see videos that have hundreds of thousands of views on it or subscribers with tens or hundreds of thousands of. Or rather, creators with tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Right. And so it feels like this overwhelming popularity contest that we're constantly trying to keep up with the Joneses and do this whole thing. And, man, I've gotten caught up in that. And I get revved because I've seen some people in a similar space to me that have said some things that felt a little too close for comfort as far as, like, it felt a little like they were taking some things that I had said not too long ago and used it. And then I thought, you know, that's actually amazing. What could be a higher compliment if that is even the case? It's probably, you know, but that's the other part is that our ego gets so, like, it wallows in this whole thing of, like, oh, well, you know, so and so is just going to rip me off anyway. If I put this idea out there and it's really good, somebody's going to steal it. Like, man, that's so dangerous. It's so dangerous for us to get wrapped up in everybody else's thing, especially if they're in our space. And so a lot of what I've done in the last, I don't know, couple years, but especially in the last little bit, is I've quit looking at people that I would consider to be in the same space as me. I don't watch it that much. I don't really look at it because I found that it just creates this anxiety. It feels like, okay, well, I'm not there and in subscriber counts, so they just may be crushing it. They must be, like, way better than me, whatever it is, right? And I know ultimately that's not true. I know ultimately that I am just here to run my own race and do my own thing. And so as a creative, I want to encourage you for a second and say that when we look at the potential, the dangers get so real, because then we Start to really aim for.

We start to aim for.

Goals that are outside of our control. I talk about these a lot, right? These. These vanity metrics, these things that ultimately may or may not end goal is to create things that are meaningful to you, and it's to make a living doing something that you love. Having a huge subscriber number isn't necessary to do that. It's just not. I have the smallest viewership, like the biggest subscriber number, but the smaller, the smallest viewership that this channel has seen. And I've made more money in the last two months on this channel, through this channel and through, you know, the people that I'm reaching here than I ever have. And that's because I got real serious about what the real goal was, which is to help people, number one. And then number two, to figure out how to help people and to support myself at the same time. Those two changes were the biggest thing. So I quit caring about what everybody else was doing. I quit caring about the subscriber numbers, and I just started going for it. And, you know, when we think of this popularity contest, it can just, I don't know how else to say, just gets tough. So how do we, like, come out of that? And I felt like for me, I personally had to hit rock bottom a little bit. I had to get to a point where I had spun my wheels in that direction for so long that I knew it wasn't going to work. And we hear creators that are huge all the time, like, oh, I just don't worry about the subscriber counts, blah, blah, blah. And then my reaction always was like, well, f you, dude. Like, I know that you don't have to because you're big, but in hindsight, I think they're right. I believe it. I think that they just didn't care about that. They made things that they liked and they made things that they knew would help somebody else, would serve someone else. Those are the two big things right? Now, I do think there is a third equation to this.

To where we're able to continue to grow but not get caught up in the popularity side of it. And those are the first two, right? Make things that you like that fit you, that are honest and true to what you want to say and what you want to do. Then make things that help people. Because if you want to build a business, you got to serve somebody else. If you want to just make things for you, that's a hobby. You want to be a professional, you got to show up and do something for Somebody else. It's just the way it works. No problem there. Right? So, number one, do it for you. Number two, do it for them. And then number three, refine. But refine under your own, like, analytics and metrics and all these things. Refine your. To you. Because I get asked this question a lot. So what's the average that you see on this thing? What's the thing that we. Is there an average we should be shooting for to get to this level? Is there a metric that's like the magic number? And I want to tell you that is so, again, so dangerous because now we're back to that comparison game when the best thing we can do is just compare to ourselves, just to continue to look at our own metrics and grow from them. So if you see that you want. If you know, like, you want to reach more people, nothing wrong with that. Remember why you want to reach them, though, because that's what's going to get that internal motivation. Number two, like, now that you understand that, go just make a bunch of crap and then go back and look at all that stuff and see what is resonating the most, then refine that thing more for you and your audience. Okay, this kind of worked and I didn't really expect that. Now how can I refine that more and do that more and make it better so that people maybe stay longer or so it reaches more people? That's where these tactics can start to come into play. That's when having better copy on your website can matter more. That's when understanding how to be a better storyteller can do you a lot of good. That's when you know, having a much clearer depiction of your brand can be important. But we should never let those things be the penultimate driver over.

This idea of making what we want to make for who we want to make it for. Because ultimately we can shift our brand to try to fit into this box that somebody else is in. I see too many, you know, and I was even one of these guys. I see too many Gary Vee wannabes. I see too many people trying to copy such and such. And, you know, like, imitation is the best form of flattery. Like, that's how we learn. We all go through that imitation phase. But just be. Be wary, though. Be wary of what is your. What feels natural and true to you to chase the thing that you want versus, like, what. What feels like, you know, you just trying to fit into this other box because you think it's going to be more successful, because that's where the dangers start to lie. Now, this can lead to all kinds of paralysis. Analysis. We feel this, like, constant pressure to show up consistently everywhere with our content because everybody's saying, you know, be on all these platforms, do all these things. I don't. Honestly, I don't believe that. I say pick the one that feels the best to you and go after that first. But check this video out, because I talk about that idea of the pressure of feeling like you need to be everywhere at once and how you can overcome that and know when to take a break. I think that's really, really important. So check that video out, and I'll see you over there and sending you tons of love. I'll see you in the next one.