Brandon Zhang Profile picture
Sep 24, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read Read on X
In the past 2 days, I helped @stephsmithio sell 61 copies of her amazing book "Doing Content Right."

For the longest time, I had doubts about selling to my audience.

- No authority
- Not niche enough
- Bad audience reaction to sales

Here's why I'm glad I powered through 🧵
1/ Self-confidence

61 sales. That's an amazing amount of support from you guys.

This was generated by one tweet thread that I RT'ed a couple times.

It showed me that I genuinely had believers and supporters who trusted my word.
2/ Connections

In the thread, I encouraged everyone who was thinking about getting the course to DM me.

I was able to make so many more connections through answering questions and learning the different backgrounds of my following.

It really gave me context.
3/ The Power of The First $

After you earn you first $ online, your world view transforms.

This wasn't my first online $, but it was my first $'s earned without having to do sales, or insert ads (podcast).

It felt frictionless, magical.

4/ Inspiration

It also showed me that people were interested in what I had to say.

It made me introspect and think of lessons that I could provide to my audience.

With that said, I'm in early planning stages of some cool new products I'm thinking about sharing.
5/ Mistakes are natural

At one point, I stated that my code "brandon20" granted $20 off instead of 20%.

@chrismessina helped recognize the mistake.

Initially, I was petrified, I definitely lost trust in some. But, when looking back, people were pretty understanding.
With that said, if you are curious about the book, its a 69791 word case study on content and distribution (SEO, Hacker News, Facebook, etc)

Use my code "brandon20" for 20% off (not 20$ 😅)

Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.

gumroad.com/a/5043315

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More from @brandonthezhang

Jun 18, 2022
6 traps to avoid when you start to build on Twitter:
1. Be strict with your time

The more you invest on Twitter ≠ more time spent on Twitter without purpose.

Building on Twitter involves:

• Writing
• DMing
• Replying
• Researching

Only open Twitter with a goal in mind:

• Clearing my DMs
• Responding to 10 tweets
2. Overthinking simplicity.

Twitter is simple:

• Build 10+ true connections via comments / DMs
• Build a content schedule
• Start posting threads after you reach ~1000 followers
• Have fun

All the niche tips are small optimizations people make after getting started.
Read 9 tweets
Jun 13, 2022
After helping 15+ founders scale their audience to >100k, I've seen a fair share of big wins and even bigger mistakes.

Here are 8 takeaways for YOU to build a high-value audience.

Let's start with the most non-conventional tip:
1. Counter-content wins

People respond (like/retweet) to two types of content on Twitter (h/t @Julian) :

• Counter-intuitive: "I never realized the world worked that way."

• Counter-narrative: "That's not how I was told the world worked!"

Example:

2. Quantify everything

You need to stand out on the timeline. You have ~3 seconds to grab someone's attention.

The truth: People respond to results and statistics.

Topics:

• How we grew to X employees
• How we raised $ X

Example:

Read 12 tweets
Mar 15, 2022
If leveraged quickly, Twitter can lead to life-changing opportunities, jobs, mentors, and friendships.

It worked for me.

But 95% of people have no idea how to start.

Here's a thread of 13 unique tips to help you turn Twitter into your most valuable resource:
1. Protect your attention from the algorithm.

Twitter is geared to try and serve content they think you like, not content that will create a positive impact for you.

To protect your attention:

• Use Twitter Lists
• Block Trending Topics
• Regularly Mute Conversations
2. Build Twitter Lists

The Twitter timeline is scattered. One second you are learning about NFTs, the next the best coffee shop in NYC.

Lists create content silos that allow you to build deeper understanding of the topics you actually care about. (Video h/t @aaditsh)
Read 17 tweets
Mar 4, 2022
an update ⚡️

excited to join @MavenHQ (back by @a16z and @firstround) to help them onboard and enable creators to build sustainable, $1m+ cohort-based courses.

why I'm excited to join a company looking to revamp the online education landscape: Image
1. I'm a user.

In 5 months, I've used @MavenHQ to run my own CBC.

It's allowed me and @aaditsh to reach:

• 3 cohorts
• 170+ students
• ~$80k in revenue

But it's still early, I can't wait to work w/ the product team to provide feedback from a course instructor's view.
2. CBCs empowers creators/instructors

In the internet era, education will follow a power law, great instructors will reach great outcomes.

CBCs allow creators to most efficiently transfer their knowledge, build close connections with their audience and monetize. ImageImage
Read 11 tweets
Mar 2, 2022
I'm helping @theSamParr and @gaganbiyani run Ideation Bootcamp.

Its primary goal: To teach people to spot and research scalable and viable product ideas that can grow to $100 million.

We're live with our first session now and I'll be live-tweeting my learnings below:
1/ On Ikigai

Because of Hustle Con, @myfirstmilpod, Sam's network.

He's seen behind the scenes of hundreds of businesses.

You don't NEED to love what you do, but having a sense of purpose certainly helps.

It removes a lot of luck and pain.
2/ On Starting Small

The key is to start small.

A small but intense fire is the goal.

Vision is thinking about a big, motivating goal. The future.

Execution is the early days, which are minuscule and just a fraction of the vision.

Think about both. They guide one another.
Read 21 tweets
Feb 28, 2022
I've been behind the scenes in watching many Cohort-Based Courses (CBCs) grow to 7-figure businesses.

But contrary to what you've been told, launching them isn't complicated.

Here's a 7-step system to take your course from idea to first paying customer:
First, what the hell are CBCs?

CBCs are interactive, community-centric online courses where a group of students advance through the material together - @wes_kao

Whereas async online courses have ~3% completion rates, CBCs usually have >70% completion rates w/ high engagement.
Let's identify the potential that CBCs have:

@fortelabs reached $2.7M in revenue in 2021
@AliAbdaal reached $2.5M in revenue through four cohorts of the Part-Time Youtuber Academy in 2021
@MavenHQ empowered 30+ instructors to make >$10k, with many making $100k-$250k ImageImage
Read 18 tweets

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