How is it possible that after almost 6 years and 280 articles, I don’t have a bigger audience than 100 people?
I asked myself if I had to teach a class, on “How to have only 100 email subscribers after 6 years”, what would I teach?
- Make everyone have to actually look you up, and not be in any common places of modern internet (like social media)
- Bury the sign up form deep in the website, making people have to come across it.
- Rename the email list Frolic 100 and max it at 100 subscribers and drop people off who are inactive
- Write articles primarily for yourself.
- Not sell anything, not want to sell anything, not be driven by selling, so there’s no reason to build a base.
- Be confused yourself on what it is you want.
- Draw satisfaction from imagining a library room with a few dozen chairs, and what that would feel like, and be good about the email list being comparable.
- Draw satisfaction from the list of articles themselves, from the body of work produced, not from the metrics of subscribers.
- Make a conscious decision to reject modern addictions to building Followers and Likes.
- See yourself as a Sage on the Mountain, which is never going to be about volume.
- Create such a powerful story of the limited aspect of the Frolic 100, most people self-select and don’t even sign up because they see it as a big ask or think of themselves as unworthy.
- Draw pleasure by searching through your own articles and seeing what wisdom you’ve left for yourself.
- Let fear of being judged by strangers keep you away from building a bigger audience.
- Don’t put yourself out there, by doing any sort of outreach or promotion. No podcasts, no guest blogs, no anything.
- Feel accomplished with the publishing of each week’s article. The act of writing it. Knowing you’ve already created one book from the content and more intellectual property is sitting there.
- Be touched by individuals benefiting from what you share.
Having now said that, looking at that list, I do acknowledge that fear of being judged is probably the biggest contributor to not putting myself out there or seeking a larger audience. The thing is, that is an old story. When I started this blog, in 2018, I was a wreck and at the start of my healing journey.
I am no longer that person. I stopped being him some time ago and it’s time I stop behaving like him. The rest of the list will give me some ideas on what I can do the opposite of.
A lot of that list aren’t “bad” things, and are actually quite effective tools – hence worth teaching. Some of them I will absolutely continue doing. However, I believe my mission is in service of more people and want to increase my visibility, reach, and impact. It’s time.
Where are you an expert on the things that are holding you back? What if you “taught” it?
