Going viral for the first time is wild

Read Time: 5m

I went viral this week through social proof.

Never happened to me before, on any platform, ever.

After a long day at the 9-5, I wearily opened my MacBook Air and checked my notifications.

"Aw, hell, another Justin Welsh impersonator followed me"

WTF!

Gained 70+ followers in 12 hours (that's a 13% increase overnight) and 7 email subscribers.

Matt Barron @EmBeeThree Is there a better feeling than when the Solopreneur GOAT follows you? I'm SO used to spam impersonator accounts doing this to me. This time it's real. LFG. 5:3 PM • Nov 7, 2023 1 Retweets 111 Likes Read 36 replies

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Want to know the secret?

I didn't do anything special.

• I engage with his content every day
• I read his emails and reply to them occasionally
• I subscribe to his premium content on X

The lesson is: You don't have to do anything special to make amazing things happen.

You need persistence.

To help you think through your solopreneur journey and provide you with some advice, I've put together 50 things I’ve learned about solopreneurship and digital sales over the past 7-8 months:

1. C2C (creator-to-consumer) sales is much different than B2B.
2. C2B (creator-to-business) sales could be an interesting avenue to explore.
3. C2C digital sales = income is generated through emails, landing pages, etc. Conversations aren’t necessarily required.
4. As a creator, social-proof and association is your key sales enabler.
5. Testimonials, hosting spaces with other recognizable names helps build social proof, which is really important.
6. A good way to build connections with those 2-3 steps ahead of you is to interview them.
7. Start an email list NOW.
8. Platform risk is real.
9. There’s no need for expensive platforms like Kajabi.
10. X, Carrd and ConvertKit are excellent baseline tools. Don’t overcomplicate the tech stack.
11. Reply to large accounts to get lots of visibility.
12. Use that visibility to pull people to your profile.
13. X is the top of funnel, use it accordingly.
14. Your goal for X, LI etc. is to get folks to sign up for your email list.
15. X, LI, TikTok → email list → click links → sales page → purchase
16. LinkedIn is a great platform, but it’s tricky to use if you’re trying to get out of your 9-5. It’s possible, but tricky.
17. When you find people who regularly engage with your content, treat them like kings.
18. When people provide you advice that actually helps you, treat them like kings.
19. Don’t be afraid to speak up in Spaces.
20. When on Spaces, make a brief intro, add a new perspective and as a question. Not 10m rants, STFU.
21. Most people don’t share full context of their wins because it’s probably not 100% true.
22. We’re early on X.
23. Pay attention to folks like NFT_GOD who understand the X algorithm. I don’t constantly worry about algo changes, but it’s nice to know certain things like:
24. When you DM someone, it triggers the algo to have you show up on their timeline more.
25. Nobody likes slimy cold sales DMs.
26. Use DMs as another tool to make a connection with someone.
27. No matter how big your account gets, don’t forget about smaller accounts that were there for you.
28. There’s a ton of large accounts out there that built their audiences wrong.
29. If you don’t attract followers organically, expect it to be hard to monetize down the line. People know when you shortcut. Don’t do it.
30. Clear writing over clever.
31. Copywriting is probably the most important skill to learn.
32. Video content will become increasingly more important, get comfortable with it.
33. Using ChatGPT copy/paste for your content is weak sauce. Expect to get exposed by others if you join a Space, podcast or start doing video content.
34. Gumroad is an excellent tool to create a product page for your solutions.
35. Validate your product before building it by writing about it on X and LI.
36. Use XPro, it helps you be laser focused on who / what content you want to engage with .
37. You need to have foundational direction on what you’re all about before you start, but it’s ok to change along the way.
38. You are the niche.
39. Don’t post like a guru. Have a build in public mindset.
40. Inject personality, it helps you stand out, plus it’s more fun.
41. Don’t be afraid to take a stance on something.
42. Build a testimonial base by providing your services for free for a few clients.
43. Offer your consulting services for a fair price afterwards to begin generating income.
44. Overdeliver for your clients, always. Word of mouth referrals are gold.
45. As you deliver your services, you’ll learn about common challenges. These are digital product opportunities.
46. You must have a strong “why” to survive as a solopreneur. Without it, you’ll quit about 6 months in.
47. Use data from your tweets & posts to double down on what’s resonating with your audience.
48. Don’t turn your solopreneur business into another 9-5, that’s what you’re trying to escape.
49. Don’t ignore your solopreneur problems, you are the only one that can work through them.
50. Talk about the benefit of the benefit, not your 5 step process. People want outcomes.

-Matt Barron

When you're ready, there's several ways I can help you:

1. Book a 1:1 Digital Sales Call with me.
2. ​Discover your Solopreneur IP: Identify your unique intellectual property as a solopreneur plus get 3 solo business ideas tailored to your experience, personality and skillsets.
3. ​SuperCharge Your X Growth: 5x your engagement and consistently find new clients without turning X into another 9-5.
4. ​Add email subscribers daily and write emails that have a 40%+ open rate: Write tweets that get you email subs. Then write emails that get a 40%+ open rate.
5. ​Your Magnetic Pinned Tweet: Create your magnetic pinned tweet today using the Transformation Tweet I describe in this short video.