Honest thoughts about audience building

I have tweeted every single day for the last 2 years

I was sold on the “build an audience, and sell to them” idea very early on

Too early I think

This journey has been a rollercoaster - full of wins and losses, big and small

Here’s what I’ve learned about audience building -

1. Picking a niche

Everyone says pick a niche

So I did

Then I changed it...

Then I changed it again..

I've tried out at least 4 different niches here -

• Habits/Productivity
• Product Management
• Writing
• Copywriting/Ghostwriting

Moved on from each of them

Because...

Not because there isn't an audience for these topics.

But because I didn't feel pulled towards them after a few months.

Shiny object syndrome maybe... 🤔

More like self discovery syndrome.

More on this in a bit.

Next..

2. Consistency

This is important, but overrated.

Sure you can tweet every day, and maybe you should.

But it's useless if you don't have anything interesting to say.

I got oversold on consistency early on.

Sacrificed quality for quantity.

But something good came out of it..

Tweeting became a habit for me

Twitter is like my office water cooler now

I come here every day, share something with my "co-workers"

Read what they've been up to

It's fun

But it became overwhelming when I was trying to please the algorithm.

Not doing that anymore.

Next..

3. Dopamine addiction

This is real.

Every like, comment, follow used to pump me up.

I would check my phone hundreds of times a day for notifications

Sure I built systems around it

Like using TweetDeck, or time blocking Twitter, or turning off notifications on my phone

But..

All of that works, until it doesn't

Beyond a point, you just have to train yourself to stop caring about the numbers

Realize that there's life beyond those numbers

Some of the smartest people here have 7 followers & no profile picture

I have to find ways to connect with them

4. Connections

This is the real deal.

Twitter has some of the smartest people on the planet.

If you're not active here you're missing out on a ton of serendipity.

I've met so many cool people from Twitter.

I even met my co-founder here.

We Exchanged a few DMs...

Did a couple of zoom calls over a 12 month period.

Eventually he hired me to consult on his new startup.

6 months later, I joined him as the co-founder.

And now we're building a profitable business together.

Wouldn't have been possible without Twitter.

5. Document vs Showcase

This is the most important distinction to think about.

Is this a place to showcase your expertise?

Or is this a place to document your journey?

I've dabbled in both.

But found more value in using Twitter as a place to document my journey.

I was a typical corporate slave before I came here. Had no idea about entrepreneurship.

As I've dabbled in multiple niches and built multiple projects, I've learned a ton about myself.

And I've tweeted about it every day

Sometimes I cringe when I look at my old tweets

But..

I also see them as a journey of self discovery.

I am shipping, learning, improving every day.

I am evolving every day.

And my Twitter profile is a public record of this evolution.

Make of that what you will.

Cheers 🙏

Hope this helped, let me know on Twitter -