Generalist vs. Specialist, How To Monetize Your Community, and Twitter MBA.
Generalist vs. Specialist, How To Monetize Your Community, and Twitter MBA.
Growth Currency ⚡ 2️⃣3️⃣
Welcome to the Edition #2️⃣3️⃣ of Growth Currency ⚡
We’ve cracked the 200 subscriber plateau 🙌 — thank you for being here!
I started this journey January 19th 2021 with zero of you. It means a ton we now have a high school auditorium of people subscribed.
And welcome to 15 new subscribers including Beau, Justin, Renee, Chad, Thomas, Margaret, Sonam, Kim, Trevor, Kjell, and Nilesh! Pumped to have you along for the journey.
✨ QUICK HEADS UP! ✨
I’ve been working hard alongside Michael “@gentoftech” Greenberg to put together a resource for creators—particularly those just starting their venture into the creator economy.
It’s called Zero to Paid 💰: A Creator Monetization Playbook For Making Your First Dollars Online.
We’re going to be looking for a few beta testers to help us finish up the product by providing some initial feedback. Beta testers get a free copy in exchange for a bit of feedback.
Reply to this email or DM me on Twitter if you’re interested in being a beta tester! We’ll only be looking for a handful of people for feedback :)
We’ve been building this product “live” (#buildinpublic) each Monday for the past 3 weeks as we go through the Learn → Create → Build → Sell framework to the Creator Economy.
Join us for our ‘Sell’ show on Monday June 28th HERE.
IS BEING A GENERALIST ITS OWN SPECIALTY?
This past week I wrote & tweeted about being a generalist (aka multipotentialite/multipassionate/jack of all trades/swiss army knife, etc) and it seemed to resonate with a lot of you.
So what do you think?
Does it suit you better to specialize—or do you like to dabble and live the “slashie” life, like Puno adoringly refers to us multi-skilled creatives.
FREELANCING FOR GENERALISTS? 🤔
I’ve often toyed with the idea of becoming a part-time freelancer—and in some ways got my current position as a jack-of-all-trades marketer, hired doing contract work to help get a startup off the ground.
So being a marketing generalist was beneficial. It can work!
I asked the question on Twitter this weekend:
Some said “absolutely!”
Some gave a definitive “no."
And most gave the fair “it depends”, suggesting it is possible—but it’s harder to earn as much as a generalist.
I had a Racket conversation with June earlier this week about it. Check it out here.
Consider medicine.
The General Practitioner—or “family doctor”—is the definition of a generalist. He/she knows a bit about everything. They have to. But as soon as something is a little outside of their wheelhouse, you’re off to see the specialist.
A marketing generalist can make your website edits, run your email marketing campaigns and maybe whip up a quick design on Canva—but if you need some in-depth problem solving, you call in the web developer, the email marketer, or the graphic designer.
We generalists can get things done—we either do them ourselves, or we outsource when necessary.
That, in and of itself, is a skillset to be proud of 💪
CREATOR HIGHLIGHTS 🔦
Jeremy Enns || I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with Jeremy. He runs Podcast Strategy & Production biz and writes a stellar newsletter called Creative Wayfinding.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff || Anne-Laure is the brain behind Ness Labs. Say no more.
Matt Tillotson || Matt writes an insightful weekly newsletter about marketing, writing, content strategy, and personal tech for the Creator Age.
TWEET OF THE WEEK 🐦
At the risk of sounding too much like a platitude, I added another tweet with my thoughts on why.
THIS WEEK’S GROWTH CURRENCY ⚡
📈 MARKETING
The Ultimate Guide to Monetizing Your Online Community by Printify
While you may not be looking to monetize your community quite yet, this in-depth article highlights a number of ways creators can do so when ready.
A few ideas discussed with examples:
→ Introduce print on demand branded merchandise
→ Start coaching and selling your expertise
→ Cross-selling
→ Create a rewards scheme for your patrons
Twitter MBA Course [FREE] by Blake Emal
The best part about this course (so far) is the intro where Blake says… “I had 300 Twitter followers back in September, and now I have like 10k!”
Here’s a screenshot from today:
🛠 TOOLS
Sharethrough Headline Analyzer — “How Engaging is Your Headline?” Write better headlines with this simple and effective FREE headline analyzer.
Build In Public Cheatsheet [FREE] — Follow this thought-through Notion template to #buildinpublic with intention + strategy. (h/t to Ch Daniel for this free resource!)
✍ WRITING
The Rise of the Full-Stack Freelancer by Forte Labs
Tiago Forte is a smart guy. He’s also business partners with David Perrell. Though this article doesn’t focus on writing, a core component of the Full-Stack Freelancer is the ability to write effectively.
💰 BUSINESS & MONETIZATION
10 Steps To Creating a Wildly Successful Online Course by Thinkific
Most of us can teach others something. No matter your area of knowledge, read about how you can earn some income sharing your knowledge via an online course.
(#3 is the most important, IMO)
🎧 PODCASTS
Turning Your Expertise Into Useful Content with Marie Poulin || The Foster Podcast
“Marie Poulin, digital strategy expert and founder of the popular Notion Mastery course, joined Foster’s Stew Fortier to discuss how she productizes her expertise. Below we’ve compiled some of the key takeaways.”
Here’s the tl;dr…
Develop a product that is a good use of your time and strengths.
You don’t have to be an industry-leading expert in order to help people in a field.
Share your talent and expertise generously.
It’s okay to do things that don’t scale at first.
Create content in lockstep with your audience.
Think of your projects as just small chapters in your career. They don’t define you.
🏘 COMMUNITIES & NEWSLETTERS
Indie Stack — “IndieStack is a community of digital indie makers who have come together to learn together, share experiences and resources, support each others' journeys and keep each other accountable.”
That’s it for this week! I am so happy you stayed to the end—here’s yet another Easter egg 🥚🐰:
Tweet you read this edition of Growth Currency + your favorite link from this edition—be sure to tag @growthcurrency—and I’ll give you a 5-star Quote RT :D
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My mission is to help creators find their version of success online via this newsletter and Twitter. Please share this newsletter with any creators you know who might benefit from reading!
Lastly, connect with me on Twitter and say ‘hey’ — DMs are open 👋
PS if you want to help support the newsletter, feel free to buy me a coffee. Virtual coffee is almost as good as the real thing! Thanks 😆 ☕