π How to gain followers - the oldest hack in the book π
Many creators and hackers put their success down to consistency - setting a clear path and sticking to it:
But how can an early creator achieve consistency?
When youβre starting out itβs difficult to commit yourself in a certain direction for a number of reasons:
You have lots of ideas but youβre not sure which will land well
You want to prioritise things that will build your audience quickly
You may be juggling other work commitments so you have to be picky
You consume a load of content from people who are successful - every time you read something good youβre convinced you should be doing something similar.
Itβs easy to feel disorganised like youβre bouncing from one idea to the next, and youβre probably responding to a lack of engagement in your content too quickly.Β
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
The Answer - Go back to basics. Create a plan.Β
Planning seems to be getting a bad rep at the moment. Lots of content encourages you to βjust startβ or βbe agileβ - suggesting a plan leads to wasted time and inflexibility. But sometimes we need a structure to stick to what we set out to achieve.
Why creating a plan can help:
Strategy
It makes you think - when youβre creating a plan it really makes you decide what your key goals should be, and how youβre going to achieve them. It helps you to set your strategy for engagement / development / improvement.
Focus
The plan helps you to focus on what youβre trying to achieve in the moment, knowing full well youβve considered why youβre doing this and what it will achieve. It prevents the constant existential crisis that you may be having on a daily basis.
Drive
By planning you set milestones that you drive to achieve. You know that if you donβt meet a certain milestone it will set you back and you wonβt be able to achieve your overall aim. Planning creates sustainable drive.
Coordination
If youβre part of a team, planning helps to set key accountabilities that ensure your efforts are coordinated. With a well thought out plan, nothing slips through the cracks.
As soon as you stop working sporadically and start working towards a well thought out planΒ youβll start to gain traction.Β
Tips for creating a good plan:
Set 2 - 3 strategic priorities to inform your plan
Use planning templates to make planning easy (a simple one pager)
Start to use a simple plan for the week.
Slidegame.io is a free template site with drops every Sunday. Sign up and this Sunday you will receive a comprehensive set of planning templates
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