Thank you all for 10k!

It means everything!

Here are 8 lessons I observed on my journey.

These principles guided me to 4k and are as relevant now.

This is my reflection on what lessons are key for growth and audience building.

- A Thread -
1. The Hedonic Treadmill

Success comes in waves.

You get a shoutout, a RT, a big account follows you.

You get a dopamine hit from the 200 followers.

The next day you get 2. It's ok to feel bad.

Don't.

Stay consistent, and you will get another big break.
2. The Lighthouse

Stole this from @mkobach

Keep tweeting about interesting ideas that come to your head.

People will tell you your niche for you.

They tag you in related posts, comments, discussions.

You become the lighthouse for that niche.
3. Conversational Energy

Conversations are not distractions.

By talking to the people that inspire you, you should be leaving each conversation inspired.

Talk to them about your ideas and projects.

Conversations also lay the groundwork for a community of support.
4. Idea Generation

Everything is a remix.

There are opportunity for ideas everywhere.

What is a tweet you found on VC twitter that you could apply to your niche?

What recent article can you remix? Look to create your own content by connecting ideas from different fields.
5. Tweet from Abundance

My biggest takeaway from @david_perell

is never to stare at a blank page again.

Always be taking notes, build an information capture system.

Same idea for tweets as well.

Tweets are writing in pencil. Essays are writing in ink.
6. Metrics of Connection

I know its ironic I am saying this when this thread was made after hitting 10k.

But, honestly, that was just a landmark for me to share this.

The real magic of twitter is measured in the number of calls, conversations, and connections made.
7. Baker's Dozen

Going the extra mile by doing the small things that make people feel comfortable.

Give people more than they bargain for when they click on your tweets.

People become true fans when you keep giving.

Respond to them thoroughly when they DM you or comment.
8. Community

Build a community that:

- Lifts you up
- Wants you to succeed
- Shares strategy openly
- Is active in communicating with you
- Shares the same values and pillars as you

I am blessed to be a part of so many here on Twitter. Thank you all!
What's worked best for me to grow:

- Tweets that ask questions (ie. what is your favourite book)
- Tweets that reflect (ie. lessons from my podcast)
- Tweets about money (ie. thread on the agency course)

gumroad.com/a/495187059

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More from @brandonthezhang

22 Nov
I'm always looking to experiment.

Around a month ago, @PaikCapital released his "Agency Course"

It was $50 at launch and I picked it up.

It was 10 hours of content. I was expecting 2.

A month in, I've generated 40x ROI w/ 2 clients while in college.

- A Thread -
1/ What's an agency?

The great thing about the course is how widely applicable it is.

An agency is an organization that helps businesses with certain tasks.

Here's just a small list of potential areas:

- SEO
- Email marketing
- Lead generation
- Social media design
2/ Why does it work?

There are millions of small businesses in America.

The space will never be saturated.

They specialize in doing their jobs, you can specialize in helping them with their pain points they don't control.

Here's where market research comes in
Read 7 tweets
11 Nov
Everything I do is built off the back of my note-taking system.

To be a better creator of any medium, note-taking will be your accelerator.

- A Thread of 10 Lessons to make you a better note-taker-
1. Reduce, friction!

Like your physical environment, make your digital processes smooth.

Install Instapaper, Pocket or the browser plug-in of your note-taking app of choice.

Whenever you see something interesting, save it without second thought.
2. Highlights + Active Reading

In your read-it-later app of choice (Instapaper recommended), now go through the saved articles and decide which are high priority.

Delete the others to keep a clean inbox.

Make highlights w/ Instapaper while commenting your thoughts
Read 11 tweets
2 Oct
I just published my converastion w/ @mariepoulin

Watching her videos on @NotionHQ was what initially introduced me to the potential of Notion in managing projects.

Recounting her journey of building a business helping others manage their life & business in Notion

A Thread 👇
1/

Marie had come across Notion a couple of times, but it didn't stick until she worked on her permaculture certificate and needed a gallery.

Lesson: A project is the best way to learn Notion, just like a project is the best way to learn how to code.
2/

@mariepoulin realized that if people just took all their information from Asana or Evernote and pasted it into Notion, nothing would change.

You would have the same system. To be more productive, you need to build workflows.

Lesson: Evaluate and improve your systems
Read 15 tweets
1 Oct
Listening to @EricJorgenson chat with @jackbutcher on @visualizevalue Office Hours about "The Almanac of Naval"

Covered:

- Process
- Compression
- Leverage
- Specific Knowledge

(thread)
1/

Who is @EricJorgenson?

Dropped out of College after the 4th year, joining a startup and moving to San Francisco.

Currently, Eric works @zaarly, a marketplace for home services

Has done everything that is “not coding,” currently in partnerships and projects
2/

How did the idea form?

Went to a startup weekend (hackathon) his 2nd year of college. Was told by a founder to read what Naval wrote on Venture Hacks.

Through Poor Charlie’s Almanac, found a lot of curated books, which was where the format of the Navalmanac came through
Read 12 tweets
30 Sep
I now have the perfect answer when someone asks how to master content in 2020.

It's @stephsmithio's "Standing out in 2020: Doing Content Right," a comprehensive 284-page book on the topic.

Now, its $30, ($24 if you use code: brandon20) but tomorrow it will go to $50

[Thread]
Who is Steph?

Speaking to Steph on the podcast, she is an amazing thinker and writer.

She has had over 1 million views on her personal blog w/ numerous viral articles.

Leading the trends team @TheHustle, one of the best publications out there.
Chapter 1: Your Personal Monopoly

- Finding Niche
- Audience Cross Check
- Find Distribution Vector
- Blog, Newsletter or Both?

One of the best introductions to how to start on a platform out there.
Read 9 tweets
30 Sep
When I started podcasting this summer, I was nervous, and the definition of awkward

Taking Write of Passage, I became good friends with @robbiecrab.

Robbie transformed my life by teaching me how to be a better speaker, and more importantly a better communicator

(thread) 🧵
1/

While in Write of Passage, Robbie and I came up with an idea to have daily writing accountability groups.

3-4 people on a call writing in silence and debriefing everyone of their progress in the end.

We tested it ourselves first.
2/

Every morning, 5 of us would get on a call and write. A 5 minute briefing, 60 minutes of focus and a 5 minute debriefing.

Even after Write of Passage ended, the tradition continued.

We introduced others to the idea as well and the community grew.
Read 16 tweets

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