I would have quit being a creator... except for this [WRAP 224]

Hey Reader, before the WRAP starts I want to remind you that my fall coaching programs are filling up.

The one coming up first is Inbox to Income, my newsletter coaching program. I’ve been working in email marketing since 2015 as employee #5 at Kit, then helping clients like Ryan Holiday, Dan Go, Amanda Goetz, Justin Welsh, Susan Cain, Ryder Carroll, and more.

The part people like the most is that I will personally edit your newsletter during the program. That means reviewing your hook, story, structure, and call to action. The goal is to make you more sales and grow your subscriber list 🎯

Inbox to Income is 8 weeks long and we will start in late September so everything is done by early December. If you're interested, click here to learn more and apply.

💡 One Big Idea: The Million View Reel

A few weeks ago, I had a reel cross a million views for the first time ever.

I’ve been posting content regularly since 2018, so I’ve had a long time to work out the kinks on what makes a good piece of content. But that reel did not fit the idea in my mind about what would go viral. The editing was nothing special. The hook was pretty good but not great. I did post it at the start of a new month, and timing can be everything, so that part was smart 😆

But if you lined up every reel I’ve made and asked me to pick the one that was going to break, that one might be in my top ten.

I can’t predict virality, but what I am starting to do is give myself more credit for the instincts. Eight years of reps is why the hook worked at all, why I subconsciously knew the timing was right, and that reel was even in the conversation. Taste and experience don’t guarantee you anything, but they totally improve your odds. Mine are a lot better than they were in 2018 and I'm getting better every week I keep putting in more reps.

​David Perell posted a thread this week about the state of the creator economy and one part of it stuck with me. He says the algorithm is so mercurial that one video crushes, the next one’s a dud, and nobody can tell you why. More data than ever but less predictability than ever.

Subscribers used to carry you, but now every post lives and dies on the merit of people's interests. Yes, having a large audience helps, but it only gives you a bigger pool to drown in if the content doesn't perform well out of the proverbial gate.

You can’t do much about that part. So here’s what I focus on instead, and there are four pieces to it. Handwritten notes so you can believe this is me, and not some AI Matt-bot 😉

The first is that content is still a volume game, but the bar for quality is higher than ever. More is still the answer, it’s just a worse answer than it used to be, because everybody figured out “more” at the same time. More and better is tough. Anybody selling you a version where it isn’t tough is selling you something that isn't real.

The second is don’t let the whiffs get you down, as long as you’re learning and experimenting. A flop while you’re testing a new hook or a new format is learning how to improve, the ante you pay to see the cards (poker terms). But if you're coasting AND it's not working... alarm bells need to go off.

The third is to double down on formats that work, but don’t hold them too closely or stop testing. Every format and every trend either dies or evolves, and nobody sends you an email when it starts happening. You have to adapt too. I've learned that lesson the wrong way by not focusing enough on bullet journal content the last few years, i.e. the format that works.

And the fourth is that niches continue to be undefeated for growth. Be known for a specific thing. David frames this as needing either a unique vibe or something unique to say: one gives you staying power, the other is how you rise fast. For most of us, a niche is how we get to either one.

One more thing I added to David’s post that's been relevant for my creator small business experience...

If you’re trying to make it as a creator, learn a platform or service skill to complement your content skills. If you’re into YouTube, get as good as you can at titles, thumbnails, hooks, intros, editing. I got into newsletters and then got really good at optimizing, automating, pitching, and growing the list. Those are skills other creators will pay you for through services or coaching.

That means when my own content isn’t performing, or isn’t paying, I’m not sitting there refreshing analytics or losing my mind about money because a launch fell flat. I "keep the lights on" by being one of the top newsletter consultants in the world (which is why you should join Inbox to Income).

That’s been my business model for the past five years. A mix of YouTube videos, my own newsletters, courses and coaching, boosted by email services for other creators. If I had only relied on my own content and offers, I don’t think I’d have lasted more than two or three years in the creators streets.

I believe that being "in the arena" making content still matters. People who hire you want to see you doing the thing. Plus it gives you a personal space to tinker with ideas and formats so you show up with proven opinions about what works.

A million views is a nice thing that happened to me, and it's a part of the momentum work I wrote about last month. More analog content is a part of what I want to keep doing, so I need to protect it.

Anyway... what are you testing right now that hasn’t worked yet? Reply and let me know, I like hearing about the experiments more than the wins.

📹 One Video to Watch: The New Rules of YouTube

I hired Paddy Galloway for YouTube coaching a few years back, and he’s still one of the best strategists in the world at this.

​In this video with Colin and Samir, Paddy talks about how much YouTube has changed: why view counts aren’t the be-all end-all they used to be, and why longer videos are performing well right now.

​

Long videos are not permission to let the camera roll without a story to tell. It’s the same thing I was getting at above: keep going, keep testing, and keep getting better at the craft while you do it.

📖 Article to Read: Some Thoughts on the Creator Economy

​David’s full thread is worth your time beyond the parts I pulled from. He gets into platforms taking a bigger cut from creators, subscriber count becoming a vanity metric, and why he’s bullish on deep brand partnerships over CPM money.

Then Paul Millerd’s reply is just as insightful, especially the part about the soft alliances of creators promoting each other that newer people don’t know exist. I've seen that happen at times in my own work, and especially with the big names I work for in email marketing. It's all part of the game.

Thanks for reading the WRAP!

Have a great weekend 👋🏻

Matt Ragland