Founder of the Social Media Escape Club
I did two interviews today:
Being yourself, human marketing and more with Tim Bailey
I’ve found I really enjoy having conversations like this. For better or worse, Substack makes it stupid easy to do a live interview via the app, which means the image quality is superb, and the audio quality is pretty good, too.
“when you’re living according to your values, immersed in nature, and putting your talents toward things that matter to you, life becomes easy.
There is no cognitive dissonance, no exhaustion, no fear, no guilt. There’s peace and ease in everything, and a rhythm to it. The sense of freedom that comes from refusing to wear the itchy mask anymore gives you energy and optimism, which you channel into your projects.”
Katherine Pomfret
My Social Media Escape Club project takes a lot of energy, but it’s a good energy. It’s regenerative, to a degree. But I can let it take over, too. There’s just always something more to do, to write, another video to make, an interview to schedule.
My creative practice used to be making music, but these days it seems to be running. Yeah, I guess that’s not art, but for me it is. It brightens my day. Gives me energy. I’m inspired by other runners. I get a lot of great ideas out there on the trails.
Climbed over 5,600′ this week, my most ever. I turn 49 next month. Telling you… climbing these hills along the Appalachian Trail is my creative practice. I love it so much.
Put me on a flat surface to run 30 miles a week? Kill me.
But make it 5,000′ of climbing, and I’m in.
You just never know what you’ll find out there in the woods. This is my second 1,400′ of climbing in one week. Over 4,000′ for the week, with the weekend to go, yet. The thing I found I love about running is climbing. Even when I’m slow, at least I’m moving up some pretty big hills.
Last year I climbed 83,000′ and so far this year I’m at 17,400′ – I’m behind pace if I wanna do better than 2024!
Before seeking more (subscribers, audience, fans), seek flow. This is something I bring up a lot through my Email Guidance offering.
Is your website set up in a way that pulls people in? Or is it a bunch of links to third party platforms that seek only to monetize and collect data from your fans?
Does your sales page include comforting and informative videos about what you offer? Or do you only post those sorts of videos on Instagram for just 3% of your followers to see?
Does your store have more than one item (this one from Laura Kidd) in stock?
We want to expand and grow our audience, but stepping back and making subtle changes to our current operations might be a better place to start
Love this bit from ‘When Fashion Brands Curate Better Than Museums,’ which goes along with the bit of wisdom we learned from Olivia Rafferty, about looking outside of your industry for inspiration (listen to that here).
“Meanwhile, museums are out here filming awkward TikToks and selling tote bags that say “Support the Arts.”
Meanwhile, Gucci drops a film series directed by Harmony Korine and it’s sold out before you even hear about it.”
Replace museums with “bands” or “authors” or “photographers” and drop in whatever cookie cutter / color by numbers marketing dreck they’re producing.
Make things, show it to your friends, like Rick Rubin says:
“Some have already criticized Jesse Welles’ output as being too much, and this batch of previously-releases songs won’t help his case. But what Jesse Welles is doing defies all conventional norms. No artist or songwriter has ever been responsible for such a voluminous amount of output that still resonates widely with the public like Welles does. It’s unprecedented territory that calls for extraordinary measures to chronicle it, like releasing a 63-song album.”
Via Saving Country Music, via Tedium.
What a great piece from Coco Mocoe:
Podcast hosts with 10,000 followers on Instagram (who barely post) can sell out theaters. Meanwhile, TikTokers with 5 million+ followers sometimes can’t get anyone to show up to a meet-and-greet. Why?
One of my mentors, Jamie Gutfreund, said something that stuck with me:
“No one hate-listens to a podcast.”
I started repurposing my video interviews into podcast format (you can find them here), because I know some of my readers enjoy listening without watching, so they can wash the dishes or go for a walk.
But yeah – large numbers on a quick-hit platform don’t always translate to a longer-form audience.
I do a thing called Email Guidance, which sort of replaces my 1:1 Zoom call offering which I’ve done with clients, mostly through my Social Media Escape Club newsletter.
I want to offer something without paying for something like Podia or Teachable which are $30/mo and more, plus 5% fees!
So I figured an email offering could work. Potential clients could email me their obstacles, I reply with my guidance, along with a Strip payment link.
Some people click and book, some don’t. Either way I’m gaining insights on my readers, and the guidance I provide can easily be repurposed as future newsletters or videos.
Try it here.
