When you first start creating content online, one of the hardest things to get over is the fact that no-one is listening. I’ve been through it a number of times - my first blog posts weren’t read by anyone, my first tweets were the same and my first video on YouTube had less views than I have fingers. Starting off on substack last week - I’m now at the same stage with this.
At the time of writing I have 10 subscribers. Five of which have joined in the last day since I posted about it on LinkedIn, two are my own email addresses which I used for testing it out and the other three have ‘volunteered their support’ (thanks guys ;)) It’s a pretty demoralising time and it goes on for ages. Here’s the thing though - most people don’t get through this stage. They give up before things take off. Its understandable, you can feel a bit of a wally talking as if the world is listening when actually there are less people reading your post than there are in a football team. If you let it get to you, you can also start to feel you’re wasting your best content and good ideas. Don’t. You can always find ways of repurposing that later.
When I launched my YouTube channel about five years ago I started with the following video called ‘Just Do It’
It was awful, it makes me cringe hard now. At the time it got a few views and I had no subscribers at all. Five years on (and ashamedly without too much effort recently (thats about to change btw)) I now have almost 2000 subs and the video below has 120,000 views. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d given up in that first year. I’ve built an audience that actually want to hear what I have to say.
So I guess the lesson I wanted to journal today is about not giving up in those early stages of trying something new. If you’re about to embark on creating your own content, ensure you go in with your eyes wide open as its a tough road ahead. Ultimately though it’s one that pays off time and time again if you stick with it.
We live in a world where we want instant gratification, instant results and overnight success. The truth is, that is very rarely ever a thing.
Again, a great post. And very true. I’ve never thought of it before as “talking to yourself”
I’ve come to advise people that the keys are:
1. Consistency. Doing it consistently will make you better, and help you tell others about it
2. Consistency will create CLARITY, which is what you want to be going for
3. In time, clarity will create a COMPELLING message