The biggest mistake creators make, How to instantly show your value, Hacking Product Hunt.
Growth Currency ⚡ 0️⃣2️⃣8️⃣
You made it! Welcome to the 28th edition of Growth Currency ⚡
👋 A warm welcome to 56 new subscribers this week—including Leigh, Fardeen, Jack, Albert, Sean, Kevin, Daniel, Josh, Jordana and Barb!
I don’t take my space in your inbox for granted. Thank you for the support and for being here! 🙏
A QUICK LESSON IN THE “ICKY-BUT-NECESSARY”… SELF PROMOTION
I had a fun Racket chat with one of the Ship 30 For 30 commanders—Daniel Bustamante—this past week.
Daniel asked me: “What have been your biggest lessons have been from growing a newsletter over the past 6 months?”
Here were the first 3 things that came to mind…
Just start publishing — I started my newsletter with zero subscribers. It didn’t matter. We all start at zero. But you have to start.
Promote your work — Nobody is going to see/read/hear about your work if you don’t promote it.
Focus on consistency — I made a goal to write this newsletter for 100 editions for 100 weeks straight, no matter what (hence the reason they’re numbered). Consistency has been a massive key for growth.
I want to focus the most on #2. Why?
Because a lack of self-promotion is the biggest mistake I see so many creators make.
→ Many people feel “icky” about self-promotion.
→ Many people publish their work and then wonder why nobody is seeing it or engaging with it.
→ Many people are not promoting their work.
I get it, though. It feels kind of weird promoting yourself. You might feel like an imposter. You might feel like you’re yelling at people through a bullhorn while they run as fast as they can in the other direction covering their ears 🙉
But if you don’t promote yourself, your work won’t get seen, and you’re not going to have the same positive impact on the world that you otherwise could.
SO PROMOTE YOURSELF.
“But Dylan, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Some of your audience may turn and run—and that’s good. Weed out those who aren’t interested in your work.
Truth is: most people won’t notice. At first.
A snowball is tiny when it starts rolling down a hill. But it builds the more it rolls.
Keep rolling, keep promoting.
Your work will get attention the more you promote it. And if it’s not, that’s a signal for you, too.
→ Maybe your work needs a tweak.
→ Maybe you need to approach it from another angle.
→ Maybe you’re not speaking to the right people, on the right platform, at the right time, or in the right way!
But you’ll never ever EVER know if any of that’s true if you don’t promote your work.
Need help with promoting your work?
Share it in the comments here. I’ll give it an RT!
Do you, or does your business, need help with a content promotional strategy?
Book a call with me here.
CREATOR SPOTLIGHTS 🔦
Julia Saxena || Julia’s a copywriter & productivity nerd building the Scale Your Impact newsletter and runs Minimum Viable Video. Her Atomic Essays are a treat, as well 🚀
Katelyn Bourgoin || Why We Buy is a stellar weekly newsletter filled with buyer psychology + free tips to sell better. Katelyn also runs CustomerCamp.co and the Customer Show podcast.
Robbie Crabtree || Robbie’s an ex-lawyer and incredibly speaker. I had the pleasure of hosting a Twitter Space with Robbie last week and it was a GOLD MINE of knowledge nuggets. Check out his free 21-day email course on Performative Speaking.
TWEET OF THE WEEK 🐦
This tweet resonated with many, despite the typo 🙃
THIS WEEK’S GROWTH CURRENCY ⚡
📈 MARKETING
How to instantly show your value by Wes Kao
These are Wes’ favorite ways to convey a product’s value proposition. You can apply them to products and brands—you can even apply these tips to people. Wes says these work for job interviews, selling yourself as a consultant, etc.
Here are a few of my faves:
→ Increase desire, don’t just decrease friction
→ Be/Have/Do
→ Aim for “No brainer status”
✍ WRITING
How To Jump Start Your Blog When Traffic Flatlines by Josh Spector
I don’t blog—I newsletter (I’m coining that as a new verb)—but these are great ideas for anyone who publishes in any form online, including Twitter! Some great ideas:
→ Pretend You’re Starting From Scratch
→ Choose Three (New?) Topics To Blog About
→ Pick One Social Media Platform To Focus On
💰 BUSINESS & MONETIZATION
12 Ways to Monetize a Podcast – Plus My Actual Results by Nick Loper
Who doesn’t want to monetize their podcast? Okay, maybe some of you, but I think it’s safe to say that most of us dream of making some kind of living off our venture in the creator space.
Here are a few ways Nick has successfully monetized his Side Hustle Show Podcast:
→ Referral Sponsorships
→ Sell Your Own Services (to Listeners)
→ Paywall Old Episodes
🐦 TWITTER
Writing is Not Your Bottleneck in Audience Building. This is. by Kevon Cheung
Kevon explains the biggest thing holding most creators from growing an audience on Twitter is _______ & _______. And he’s right. But you’ll have to read to find out!
🛠 TOOLS
Nocode OS — there are SO many Nocode tools out there for you to build your online empire, it’s hard to keep track. Get this curated list of Nocode tools for ONE DOLLAR!
Refind — I’m getting asked more frequently how I curate content. This is one of my new favorite ways—Refind. Thanks to Janel Loi for this one!
🏘 COMMUNITY 🎓COURSES 📩 NEWSLETTERS
Perpetual Education: Design For The Web — Join this cohort-based course to level up your web design game. I’ve met Derek Wood and he’s a solid dude with a quality product!
How to hack Product Hunt: The Ups and Downs of a Launch Weekend by Alex Haas of GrowGetters — This is a fantastic dive into how Alex attempted to launch his newsletter on Product Hunt, and the top 10 things he recommends you do before you launch your product on PH.
Not A Newsletter — Dan Oshinsky worked as Director of Newsletters at Buzzfeed and The New Yorker. He knows a thing or two about starting & growing a newsletter. I recommend a subscribe if you’re writing & growing a newsletter!
And that’s a wrap for the week! You rock hard if you made it this far 🤘 🎸
This newsletter has grown a lot over the past month and it’s thanks to you. So… what do you think?
I’m a sucker for feedback: what sucked in this edition? What would you like more of? Send me a reply! I know everyone says this but I LEGIT reply to every one I get from you all. Honestly.
Or send me a DM on Twitter and let me know what you liked, what you didn’t, or just to say hey!
Please feel welcome to share this email with anyone you think it might help, or anyone who’s creating something worth sharing here.
Peace & plutonic love,
Dylan
PS if you want to help support the newsletter, feel free to buy me a coffee. I used to take a drip 12oz black but I recently tried the pour-over blonde roast at Starbucks and DAMN. New fave. Thanks! 😆 ☕
Great advice on self promotion, Dylan. I have a lot of work to do in this area!