I was perusing Threads today over a coffee.
GASP
I know.
“Stephen you don’t really use social media that much”
True.
But every now and then I come across a genuine soul who asks for advice about how they can take what they’re passionate about and make a bit of coin.
And like the marketing weirdo that I am. I gave them a bit of the sauce. So I thought why not share it here cause chances are you also have some extra ideas and knowledge you’d like to pass down or maybe build something on it.
First things first. Back in 2013. Gary Vaynerchuck published a book called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
Which I’d recommend giving a read anyways although though the content is a little dated…
And one of the key take aways was just give some value before making the pitch.
Now with the way things are in the modern world of social media and people using A.I. to pump out ungodly amounts of trash. There’s a lot more Noise instead of Signal.
So going back to the context of this and to help our fellow (Threader??? I dunno what to call them lol)
I said at first. You need to genuinely care about what it is that you’re going to offer. It needs to be something that you get excited to talk about, research and ultimately provide for, cause let’s be honest. There’s a market for anything. If someone can sell bath water, you can share a slice of your passion.
I used body weight exercises aka calisthenics as an example but honestly anything you’re good at and passionate about can be used.
So you’ve been training calisthenics all your life and you’ve also gone down the rabbit hole of looking for videos to potentially level up the intensity of your practice, but in those videos you see hundreds of people asking for beginner friendly tips and advice on how to get started.
Basic market research is always key. A couple of hours on Youtube and Amazon (Looking at books on the subject but filtering down to the lowest reviews) can help you find the pain points you’re after.
So let’s assume you’ve done your research and you found that a lot of the stuff out there is way too advanced for beginners. So you decide to create a little guide that’s short and sweet. Has 10 beginner friendly movements and exercises to get them going. Now you have your thing.
You’ve prettied it up as best you can (It doesn’t need to be perfect)
You use a free online software like systeme io Or Gumroad to create the page that is needed to deliver your guide and once you’re done you put the price point anywhere between $10-$20.
Again you go and pretty up Threads profile and add the info to your bio and this is where you get to work.
You make that guide and the content around that guide your whole god damn personality. You post threads about mistakes and concepts and you talk about the demons in the fitness industry. You go against the grain and show you know your stuff because you’re attacking the sacred cows of the industry.
You get into genuine conversations back and forth (Like in Jab Jab Jab Right Hook) and then you give them an opportunity to buy.
Then you overdeliver and support them and before you know it. You’ve got a fan for life. They may even take you up on a coaching call where you can talk to them about it and offer guidance etc.
The thing is. It’s all about momentum.
Yeah this isn’t going to make you a millionaire over night, but it’s going to give you the confidence to know that you can provide some value to the world.
You don’t need to be an expert on the topic. You just need to be a few steps ahead of the people that want to learn.
And that’s it. We’re still in the information age but it’s about quality and genuinely caring about your customers and if you show up every day. Before you know it, you’ll be doing the thing you love, making money hand over fist and building something that could potentially last you a life time.
The TL;DR version:
Find something you’re good at or passionate about.
Find a problem in the market by looking on social media, Amazon and every other place where those people potentially buy from.
Create a solution in the form of a guide to get people into your world.
Offer it as something low cost to start off with.
Turn one of your social media platforms into the space where you’re going to hang out and talk about it and find people who are also talking about those same things.
Start genuine conversations.
Sell the thing.
A lot of people overcomplicate this whole process but this is the simple way of learning by doing.
If you find this is something you can see yourself doing forever. Then you can go deeper down the rabbit hole and studying the good stuff like marketing, copywriting, buyer psychology and how to grow from a single product to a fully fledged business.
I mean…
Amazon started off with just selling books and look at it now…
Basically this is me giving you permission to go and do some cool shit, make some coin and who knows. You could become the next Amazon.
Or like me. (Make enough money doing this online thing, that I can open up a cat cafe or an animal sanctuary while still selling cool shit online)