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For the most recent installment of Creators Unlocked, we communicate to Josh Ho, a SaaS founder and creator – the latter a time period he would not instinctually use, although it positively applies.
Josh earned his founder title with Referral Rock, a software program firm that eases the method of accumulating referrals. However he additionally hosts two podcasts, writes a publication, and tweets to greater than 17,000 followers on Twitter.
In our dialog, he shares nice recommendation for entrepreneurs and small enterprise homeowners trying to develop on social media with restricted time and assets.
Get used to the change in the way you’re perceived
Josh would be the first one to inform you that he doesn’t essentially see himself as a creator. “If somebody initially labels me as a ‘creator’, I are usually considerably greatly surprised. It isn’t my instinctive self-definition.” Nonetheless, making an allowance for the quantity of his inventive output, from podcasts to newsletters and Twitter posts, the label is the proper descriptor. “Regardless of my preliminary reservations, I do certainly embody the qualities of a creator, together with my entrepreneurial traits.”
Josh’s hesitations to be labeled as a creator jogged my memory of Steph Smith’s insights about how she’s perceived in public – “I’ve constructed many issues during the last couple of years, and you can say that these inputs have a degree of intentionality. However I am unable to at all times management the issues that folks latch on to.”
Whereas some folks could instantly suppose “creator” after they consider Josh Ho, he’s extra comfy together with his identification as an entrepreneur and founder. “Entrepreneurship got here earlier than content material creation. I first recognized as an entrepreneur and founder, and upon realizing that a lot of the recommendation circulating wasn’t fairly useful for many individuals, I felt compelled to step into the realm of content material creation,” he explains.
Let the work you already do, feed your content material
Throughout the totally different titles, codecs, and types of content material that Josh works with, he’s discovered stability by pondering of every factor as a part of a Venn diagram. Every a part of Josh’s experiences and experience feed into his content material. “As I work together with different entrepreneurs, the questions that naturally come up feed into [my content], and after being requested the identical query a number of occasions, I will compile my responses into notes. This could spark different types of content material, like a Twitter thread or a podcast dialogue. Since most founders are enthusiastic about advertising and marketing and buyer acquisition, there is a vital overlap in content material areas,” he explains.
Some folks work properly pondering up concepts and executing them on the fly, however Josh has discovered success by sticking to an everyday schedule. The rhythm of recording podcasts at set intervals helps preserve stability with out consciously fascinated by it. He sees it as extra of a built-in ritual than a separate effort to stability all the pieces.
No matter notion, Josh is all about his viewers, and his creativity shines when it’s knowledge-sharing first – all the pieces else comes second to that.
“At my core, I’ve a robust want to help others, and I get pleasure from sharing the insights I’ve gained from my very own experiences. My ardour lies in delving deep into challenges, determining options, after which sharing these options in a packaged, digestible format. My goal is to avoid wasting others from having to undergo the identical lengthy and laborious strategy of discovery, probably shaving off months of their time,” he explains. By sharing his experiences and insights, Josh hopes to information his viewers in the correct course together with his content material.
Choose a distinct segment and create for the viewers that comes with it
In an ideal instance of selecting a distinct segment and doubling down on it, Josh’s content material could be very clearly geared towards founders. As he places it, “I create content material that aids founders, particularly bootstrapped founders and SaaS entrepreneurs.” In different phrases, Josh has a transparent premise for the content material he creates that matches completely with Jay Acunzo’s ‘XY Premise Pitch’.
The purpose of Josh’s content material is not to seek out ‘the’ reply as a result of there is not one common answer that matches each sort of founder. As an alternative, he encourages founders to embrace nuance and suppose critically about their distinctive challenges.
Josh’s clear method to his personal content material implies that he’s an enormous advocate for selecting a distinct segment. He says, “There are numerous subjects I intentionally select to not write about though I’m enthusiastic about them. For instance, I take part in handball tournaments and luxuriate in smoking meat, but when I included all these sides into my content material, it might turn out to be complicated for my viewers.”
To Josh, niching down is crucial to provide your viewers a transparent concept of what to anticipate from you. That being mentioned, he additionally understands that there’s no one-size-fits-all method to this matter. What in the end issues is that you just land on one thing you care about sufficient to pursue, even with out financial incentives. Development is inevitable when you can publish constantly, even with a small viewers.
Undertake a sustainable method to creating content material
Josh’s content material is straight fed by his day-to-day as a founder and entrepreneur, a lot in order that he refers to it as “the ‘exhaust’ emanating from the engine of labor I am already engaged in.”
He shared an instance of a undertaking for his firm Referral Rock to revamp its homepage. He’d taken a course concerning the matter and needed to place his newfound information to make use of. His content material additionally benefited as he defined, “I shared some insights from this expertise on the advertising and marketing podcast, however it did not finish there. For the founder podcast with Nate, we recorded a session the place I assisted him together with his web site design. This session was launched through the publication as a video and we launched a podcast episode about it”
Basically, the work he was already going to do remodeled into 4 distinct items of content material. Josh spots alternatives for content material by asking, “What am I going to speak about this week? Is what I am at the moment engaged on fascinating?”
So regardless of the numerous platforms Josh creates for, the concepts behind his content material all have one root, making it simple for him to know what he’s creating and the way. He makes use of a set of various instruments to help his inventive efforts, together with:
- WordPress for writing and publishing
- Substack for newsletters
- Riverside for recording and modifying podcasts
- Twitter to construct neighborhood with founders and share broad advertising and marketing insights
- LinkedIn for extra superior and specialised insights
Josh’s content material can be powered by repurposing, which permits him to speak the identical concept throughout a number of platforms and mediums. He acknowledges the danger that the repetition is perhaps an excessive amount of for some folks. Josh explains his perspective, “I might recommend creators to not shrink back from cross-posting, particularly when beginning out. Keep in mind, there’ll at all times be people who recognize your content material – however they want to have the ability to discover it first.”
Josh compares advertising and marketing platforms you don’t personal to “borrowed land”, echoing a sentiment shared by folks we’ve interviewed for Creators Unlocked. “Your incentives may not align completely with these of the platform,” he explains.
He advises creators who’ve seen any success safe some a part of their viewers – to personal it by some means. This could possibly be by constructing your e-mail checklist or diversifying throughout numerous social media websites as safety. Direct entry to your viewers additionally lets you nurture extra profound relationships.
Nonetheless, extra platforms imply extra challenges. You possibly can’t depend on algorithms for visibility when you handle a listing or a neighborhood. Many creators try to monetize by providing programs or different merchandise, and it is typically a tough transition. That ‘borrowed land’ is commonly what facilitated your success. So, when you may goal for possession, do not forget that nobody really owns anybody’s consideration. It’s essential to constantly have interaction along with your viewers, preserve their curiosity, and supply worth.
Along with e-mail lists, Josh recommends constructing a neighborhood as one other technique for viewers possession. Platforms like Discord or Slack can function a hub to your neighborhood, often requiring an e-mail tackle to enroll. One other plus for neighborhood constructing is that it affords a degree of possession that enhances social media efforts fairly than being straight equated with them.
Three suggestions for entrepreneurs-in-content, present and aspiring
Josh has a powerful creator portfolio, all on prime of his work as a founder, and he’s at all times trying to share his recommendation. His content material comes from a real need to assist folks and study new abilities or enhance present ones – all his content material efforts match certainly one of these objectives. He began Looking for SaaS to assist his co-host Nate Bosscher in his journey as a brand new founder and observe talking. He invested time in constructing his viewers on Twitter as a result of he was inquisitive about what one of the best technique could be.
Listed below are his suggestions for entrepreneurs trying to construct an viewers on-line:
- First off, I would advocate leaning into your curiosities and pursuits, particularly in your explicit subject. Even when what you are promoting appears mundane, like extermination companies, there could possibly be components that intrigue you and could possibly be fascinating to others. Be it sure bug behaviors or seasonal patterns, these seemingly strange particulars can present compelling content material. What’s regular to you in your line of labor could also be new and thrilling to others.
- Secondly, do not shrink back from repurposing content material. Many individuals really feel strain to provide authentic materials however neglect that not everybody sees or retains all the pieces you set out. You possibly can reuse content material, possibly by altering the wording a bit or switching up the medium. Everybody interacts with totally different platforms for various causes, so do not be too involved about repetition. Actually, repeating a message can emphasize its significance.
- If you happen to wrestle with producing recent content material or concern repetition, begin by participating with others on these platforms. Social media is, above all, a neighborhood, not a soapbox. View it as a possibility to take part in conversations, reply, and work together along with your viewers. As you reply to your viewers, you may understand you may have extra to say on a subject. You may then rephrase or develop upon this in a publish by yourself platform. Consider it as an ‘AI immediate’ – responding to a immediate is often simpler than creating content material from scratch.
In abstract, focus in your curiosities, do not concern repurposing content material, and have interaction along with your viewers. These are Josh’s keys to rising and sustaining a significant presence on-line.
Considering forward
On his private plans for the longer term, Josh shares that he’s engaged on a course for SaaS founders, saying, “It isn’t monetary strain driving me however a want to share my information and assist others. My major goal is to assist founders who’re on this journey, probably expediting their studying course of and sparing them a number of missteps. Any earnings could possibly be used to provide again to the neighborhood, donate to a trigger, or present somewhat further for my household.”
Numerous Josh’s content material up to now has been retrospective, recounting tales and classes from way back to a decade in the past. The following part will look in the direction of the current, he explains, sharing his plans, “I need to share our evolution with our viewers, showcasing the experiments we’re operating, what’s working, what’s not, on a month-to-month foundation.” Count on to see extra of Josh channeling his development as a creator into rising the Referral Rock model.
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