🟢 $20M profit by talking to yourself?

Why I won't underestimate this simple approach

Ryan Walsh 🟢

Apr 13, 2024

(2.5 min read)

speaker on stage singling out a single person in the crowd to speak to

Having your content go viral is overrated.

Even if you’ve never created viral content before, you know how to do it.

Seriously.

Imagine a billionaire came to you with a deal:

You get $1B if you produce a post that gets 100K likes in the next week.

Just now, 2 seconds after reading that challenge, you’ve already thought of multiple ways to succeed.

“It wouldn’t even be hard,” you’re saying.

Why?

Mostly because you’d care less about:

What you’d spend to create the content
Whether your post would lead to future engagement or income
Your reputation

In other words, you’d be sensationalist.

You’d be extreme.

Willing to dedicate tons of effort (and even money).

Even willing to embarrass yourself or sacrifice relationships.

You wouldn’t worry about the future.

You’d treat the post (and your entire online presence) as disposable.

But in your real life, since a billionaire has not given you this kind of deal, sensationalism would be a waste of your time.

And could actually cost you future opportunities.

Don’t chase impressions. Or likes. Or even comments.

Those come cheap.

Going viral means appealing to everyone.

Becoming everyone’s favorite for the moment.

That’s not what you want.

Become someone’s favorite for the long-term.

Those are valuable, mutually beneficial relationships.

Instead of catering to the masses, focus like a laser on one person you can help.

Often this is your past self.

Help the person you were.

Your deep understanding of your past struggles, doubts, and confusions is your unique advantage now.

In other words, you’re already intimate with your audience.

Because they’re just like you.

If you have a target in mind, you won’t hit the bullseye every time, but you’ll get better results than if you didn’t aim at all.

Give your ideal client a name and full backstory.

My friend John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneurs on Fire named his avatar Jimmy.

He wrote 800 words about him.

Here are some sample details about “Jimmy”:

Jimmy is forty years old.
He has a wife and two kids, ages three and five.
Jimmy drives to work every day by himself. It’s a twenty-five-minute commute.
When Jimmy gets to work, he grabs a coffee, says hi to a couple friends on his way to his cubicle, and he spends the next eight hours doing a job he does not like.
When his workday ends, Jimmy jumps back into his car for a thirty-five-minute commute home. (He gets stuck in a little evening traffic.)
When Jimmy arrives home, he plays with his kids for a bit, has dinner with his family, then puts his kids to bed and spends a little time catching up on the day with his wife.
Then, Jimmy finds himself alone on his couch having a little Jimmy pity party.

Entrepreneurs on Fire has profited $20M+ since its 2012 launch.

Tailoring content to “Jimmy” has worked wonders!

Keep in mind that age and location (demographics) are less important than how your avatar thinks and feels (psychographics).

What moves them.

Get it right, and the right people will flock to you.

It might feel counterintuitive at first, but:

When you speak to one, your message will resonate with many more.

In other words, don’t make “going viral” your goal.

Empty, transitory virality isn’t helpful.

Aim to help one specific person.

Again and again, every time you make something, create it for that same person.

If any of those efforts go viral, the attention will be meaningful because you’ll be attracting fans of your usual work.

On a personal note, I’ve haven’t identified a clear avatar yet (or even a narrow description of a past version of myself).

But I don’t regret starting my writing habit beforehand.

You can’t steer a parked car.

You’re witnessing the early stages of what will be an evolution.

You’ll know I’ve nailed it once my posts consistently overflow with comments from repeat visitors, and you hear success stories of people I’ve been able to help. 😉