Building in public has landed me millions of dollars of investment, has differentiated me amongst all my competitors and brought me in thousands of customers all from just vlogging and creating content about my experiences starting a company.
So, as we go about my day to day, I'm going to teach you guys my exact playbook that I use to manage to create content as a startup CEO, so that you can do the same thing for yourself.
So there are three things I need to teach you guys in order for you to succeed at building in public.
And these are actually gonna help you, whether you're trying to get your company off of the ground or you're just trying to build your own personal brand and build a following.
So first I'm gonna help you figure out what kind of content you should even create content about.
Specifically, I'm gonna help you figure out what part of your day is actually interesting enough to people that if you created content about it, you'd actually go viral.
Then next I'm gonna walk you through how I'm able to fit in time to create content every single week across multiple platforms within my schedule as a startup CEO, so that you can figure out how to create content within your busy schedule.
And then lastly, and I actually think the most important part of this video is I'm going to share with you all the secrets that separate all of these successful creator entrepreneurs who have made it from those who have tried and not.
And basically what I mean by that is, I'm gonna share with you all of the day-to-day tactics that people like Gary Vee and I use to make sure that you actually succeed.
So, in order to figure out what kind of content you actually want to start posting, I need you to realize that, in this very moment, you're actually creating something that I like to call sawdust.
Now, what do I actually mean by that?
Well basically, Jack Butcher has this concept where every single day when we go into our jobs, even though we're not literally sawing wood, we're creating this concept called sawdust, which is basically all of the insights and learnings and ups and downs and challenges of our day-to-day job.
That would be really interesting content if we just packaged it properly.
So for me, what that actually meant was when I first started my company.
I just started vlogging in public that I wanted to start a business that helped creators make money.
And I just started posting, like all of my ups and downs, all the big wins, like landing my first few customers.
And I was sharing all the insights and learnings I had about actually how do you run a successful creator business.
And the really cool part of all of that, as we head into the office, is I didn't expect that when I started posting all those things, I basically just had a bunch of customers start reaching out to me saying like hey, I'm a creator, I'd love to get to work with you.
And so as I look at my TikTok here, just to give you guys a couple ideas of what kinds of content you could post, I was literally posting about meeting with a customer, my lessons learned, and also like posting about hitting different milestones.
And even now as a company.
We now just share the data insights that we'll find as a company and we'll literally just make content about those data insights.
And what's really cool in that is, when you share your insights or your data that you have about your target market, you actually start to show that you're the expert in this industry.
And so now we'll actually have customers come in and say, Hey, I saw your content about this.
It was very clear that you knew what you're talking about.
So I wanted to work with you.
And so what you'll see is this really cool virtuous cycle start to occur, where all of these pieces of content that you're creating about your experience, where you're vlogging and building in public, lead to more sales, which then leads to more content, more sawdust, which then leads to more sales and more sawdust and more sales, and then more success every time.
And so a question I'd actually ask you right now to help you get your mind flowing is for you to actually imagine the person you were a year ago or five years ago and ask yourself what did that person need to know?
AKA what are some lessons learned you've actually had recently that you could start sharing with the world?
Because you'll start to realize that as you start to share that content, you'll slowly start to build an audience and then slowly start to see customers come into your door.
But that's of course, if you can crush this next step, which is actually finding time to create content when you're already feeling super stretched in your schedule or you're already feeling kind of burnt out.
So I think why the thought of starting to film yourself and post content is so exhausting for most people to think about is because they're actually not thinking about it properly.
Now, what I mean by that is Gary Vee actually has this quote where he says, don't create content.
Instead, document your life.
So the key here is not to think about things as your job over here and then creating content as an entirely separate thing, because that creates a lot of tension and drag where you're like, oh my God, I need to go do my job and I need to go create content over here.
And that context switching is really hard on your day to day.
So instead, creating content should actually just be naturally integrated into your day to day job.
So, as an example, I'm literally on a meeting right now where my co-founder Vitaly, is going to kill me when he sees that I'm filming a video right now during a meeting, but I'm literally just gonna take a photo here and use this to create content later.
And so that's the thing about creating content that's focused on building in public, where it's actually just streamlined into your day to day, rather than you having to take time out of your day to make content.
Your day just is content.
So basically what I do once a week is I'll take a look at my calendar here and I'll ask myself what are all of the interesting things I'm doing this week.
Where, for example, if I have an investor meeting on the calendar, I'll realize that like, oh wait, I could actually film this and turn it into a YouTube video.
And I'll then use Gary Vee's content pyramid model, where I'll start with just this one long form YouTube video and then we'll cut it up into a bunch of different short form videos for TikTok or for Instagram.
And I'll also turn it into a text post for LinkedIn or Twitter.
And so boom, we get five to 10 pieces of content from just one filming session.
So, now that you know what kind of content to create, as well as how to actually stay sane while trying to do it, I'm going to share with you now the secrets that people like Alex Formozy or Gary V use to actually succeed.
Because my fear in all of this is that you're going to watch this video and feel super inspired right now like oh, I'm going to go do this and then not actually succeed.
So instead, please follow these tips, please follow this advice so you're actually successful.
So the first reality check I'm going to give you is that your first few posts are likely going to flop.
Where when I think back to my first few posts, they were basically only just crickets supporting it.
And I need you to realize that this is completely okay.
In fact I would say it's part of the process to actually see as a test whether or not you have the guts to fully make it.
And so I want you to commit yourself to post at least 10 times and post all sorts of different kinds of content.
Because what you're gonna find here is that, as you post more, at least one of those 10 posts is going to do pretty well.
And the key to succeeding is iterating, which means figuring out.
What are the patterns of the one or two of the 10 videos that did?
Well for you to then double down on that.
Because, for me, what I realized of my first few posts was that the posts that actually did best were my blog posts of actually sharing the startup journey.
So lo and behold, I started doing that.
Now, the next key principle here, and by the way, this is not a sponsored Poppy ad.
I just really like Poppy, but Poppy, please sponsor me going forward.
The next key principle here is to focus your content on always giving, giving, giving.
Now, what I mean by that is basically when you think about yourself scrolling social media or on YouTube or what have you, when you think about what content you choose.
We're all naturally kind of selfish in that.
Like we want things that add value to our lives.
And so, when you think about what kind of content you actually want to create, I want you to think about Hey, if I create this content, how could it make someone else's day better?
So when I sit down and put pen to paper to think about what kind of content I want to make this week, I always ask myself, what kind of discrete value can someone walk away from my content with?
Whether that's they learned something, or they laughed a little bit, or they just felt inspired to go out and do their life.
And so, as you think about creating your own content, make sure you always go super value first and just give give give, because I promise you good karma will take care of you.
Now, the last piece of advice I'll give you is the difference between the people who did make it and the people who did it, which I actually I'll put an image right here of a graphic that's really influenced how I think about persisting in life, where all the people who made it what they did was they just never ever, ever gave up.
Like I promise you, if you're trying to start your own thing or build in public, life is going to throw so many challenges at you.
Like you're constantly going to be stressed or anxious over, are you going to make it?
Or are you going to be able to make payroll?
Or what will people think of me if I do this thing?
And the only way you're truly going to make it is if you just never, ever give up.
Seriously, if you just commit to posting a hundred times and you pour your heart and soul into improving through that process, like I am so sure that you will be successful in this that if you're not for some reason, I will personally Venmo you a hundred dollars.
Like that is how sure I am that if you just persist, you will be successful.
So go out there and crush it because I believe in you.
