Building a Business Vs Building an Audience

Audiences are less volatile. At least, that's what it seems like so far. I have a very small following compared to the big names on Twitter and the rest of the world, but I actually have a pretty big following compared to what I had just four weeks ago.

And maybe I just haven't had time to experience the "down" moments, but from my experience so far and my best logical guess, it's much harder to lose followers than it is to lose sales.

Short of getting "canceled," there aren't significant downturns when it comes to building an audience, and it also feels like no matter what the economy does, having a brand is going to be a huge asset - both entrepreneurially and if I ever wanted to get a "real job."

Obviously, if you’re trying to sell a product with your Twitter page, there are going to be ups and downs, but growing followers is 10X less stressful than running a business.

I relate everything to running a cleaning company because it’s the only business I’ve ever successfully made money on, and it’s what I’m currently working on, but when it comes to running a cleaning business, there are seriously bad days that can set you back days, weeks, even months.

Things like losing your best employee, losing your best customer, or getting a bad review keep business owners up at night. And it’s just part of the game. It’s impossible to start a business without dealing with headaches.

I’m building an audience on Twitter because compared to the day-to-day of my business, this is honestly sunshine and rainbows. I love it, and it’s fun. Now obviously, don’t take me too seriously because I have essentially no followers (kidding, I love all 243 of you).

And when I wrote this as a Twitter thread earlier today, I actually had 244 followers, so maybe it's more volatile than I thought.

But WOW is this low stress compared to running the day-to-day of a business, and I really love that it feels very straightforward. I used to run cross country, and my favorite thing about it is that it's straightforward. If you want to become a better runner, you have to run a lot. That's it.

Growing an audience feels similar because if you want to grow a following as a person who writes about business, you just have to write a lot.

If you want to become a great basketball player or football player, you need to become an expert at 100s of drills, learn all the plays, and study film. It’s complicated, and there are a ton of moving parts. Running a business is the same way. There are a million moving parts. From marketing to accounting to hiring and firing to operations to sales. All of it matters. And as the CEO of a business, if you can't successfully juggle all of these things, you're going to fail. At a minimum, you need to be able to delegate effectively and ensure that other people are all doing their part to make the machine run.

So when I need a break from running my business, I write about business.