I’m not one to share TMI stories too often but I think you might resonate with this one, especially if you’ve ever had to deal with burnout.
I have, and the scariest of bouts happened to me in the summer of 2022. After 2 years of intense agency work fueled by the pandemic, I was burnt out and on the verge of depression.
I had already started working on launching this newsletter but I couldn’t see the point of it anymore — I concluded that no one would care about what I had to say and that I didn’t have a strong enough voice.
It was a dark time. 😓
I was unmotivated, sluggish in everything I did, and constantly felt as if I had to swim through molten lava just to get through the day.
During one of my many doomscrolling sessions, I stumbled upon Semrush’s Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers list. I scrolled through it just to see how many of my favorite people in the industry had made it there.
At #86, I saw a familiar face but it took me a good 10 seconds to realize it was ME! I made the list with Ann Handley, Andy Crestodina, and Robert Rose!
That day, everything changed. I found renewed energy, I was motivated, and I finally realized I did have a voice and ideas worth sharing.
I know, external validation seems shallow and frivolous and we’re trained to rely on internal motivation and discipline instead. However, my tank of internal motivation was running on fumes back then, so yeah, call me frivolous, but that’s what it took to take me out of a dark and nasty place.
Why am I telling you all this? What does it have to do with audience building?
You see, the first criterion for making that list (as per Semrush) was the size of your Twitter following. In 2022, I had over 18k followers and a pretty decent engagement rate (the second criterion).
I’ve recently started posting on X again, BTW, so join me if you use the platform.
All this to say that the size and the relevance of my audience caused a ripple effect that motivated me to build a second business and saved my sanity.
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Since then, the same two things helped me:
- Add at least 4 new revenue streams, some of them semi-passive (as passive as it gets with digital products).
- Get countless recommendations for both my consulting work and my agency.
- Build a network of actual friends that I support and who support me (this was the most unexpected benefit for me!).
- Finally be able to zoom out properly and plot a course for 3-5 years into the future.
All of this, {{ subscriber.first_name }}, is what I want for YOU too. The freedom to create additional revenue streams. The media mentions that will ultimately seem effortless. The network that empowers you. Getting leads to chase you, not the other way around.
I’ll teach it all in the Audience Accelerator course launching this July.
In the meantime, let me ask you this: which of the above would help you more in your business — getting leads easier, selling digital products easier, creating additional revenue streams, or something else?
Hit reply, I want to build the course that helps you remove your biggest challenge as effortlessly as possible.
Always in your corner,
Adriana
P.S.: If you missed the first issue of this behind-the-scenes series, you can read it here.
