5 builders who never spoke to each other · contested
Pick a few channels and skip the rest on purpose
Choose the handful you can do properly and deliberately abandon whole categories, because being visible everywhere and memorable nowhere is the worse outcome, and cutting the number of things you personally run is what makes any of them work. Point several distribution methods at one piece of work rather than running each channel as its own project.
Where this splits
Cutting channels down to a few done properly sits against the argument that multiplying an audience means entering a format you are not in yet rather than producing more in the one you already run.
5 claims against 1
Austin Church · Dru Riley · Justin Jackson · Preetam Nath · Zach Swinehart
Do a few channels properly and drop others
- 01Do not run every tactic on the list: pick the handful you can do properly and skip whole channels deliberately, because being visible everywhere and memorable nowhere is the worse outcome.
- 02Stop running each channel as its own project. Pick a theme, then point several distribution methods at the same piece of work.
Enter a new format to multiply your audience
To multiply an audience, move into a format you are not in yet instead of increasing output in the one you already have.
- 03Cut the number of channels you personally run when you pick a main product - fewer courses, fewer platforms, one or two conferences a year rather than four or five.
- 04Strip the operation down to the few activities that actually produce work, a presence on one social platform and good client communication, and refuse the rest.
- 05Pick three of these tactics and act on them this week, because chasing all of them at once means landing none.
What it returned
From his own list the author would write posts twice a month, send the newsletter weekly, thread and cross-post them, and drop Facebook and Slack groups entirely.
Diagnosis offered for founders who run SEO, email, paid ads and social as four separate efforts and find growth an uphill shove.
Justin had been simultaneously blogging, podcasting, newslettering, filming, running workshops, a membership site, courses, books, a coworking space and local meetups while posting across seven social platforms, and cut nearly all of it to focus on Transistor.
Tim Ferriss did not reach ten times the audience by publishing more blog posts, he wrote a book and started a podcast, and his income jumped through startup investing rather than more supplement or ad sales.
Sources
- [Coaching: Maia #24] Maia’s Final Episode + Reflecting on the Journey to 6 Figures - Double Your FreelancingZach Swinehart · doubleyourfreelancing.com · AI-Generated Summary: · 2024-05-15
- The Ultimate Guide to Building Client Relationships - Double Your FreelancingAustin Church · doubleyourfreelancing.com · Pick three. · 2016-09-12
- Progress is not automatic – Jakob GreenfeldJakob Greenfeld · jakobgreenfeld.com · Progress is not automatic · 2024-04-16 · dissenting
- 2018 year in reviewJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Do less · undated
- 📱 How a $2M/Year Job App Grew Using Unconventional Marketing Tactics? - Trends.vcDru Riley · trends.vc · 🎧 Listen To · 2025-10-22
- How to Plan Your Year In 4 Easy StepsPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · Don’t try to be a superhero · 2020-12-20
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in other
- Aim at early profit rather than at an exit7 unconnected
- Pick the two numbers you will actually act on6 unconnected
- Price the platform's power to end you6 unconnected · contested
- Weigh one loud launch day against a quiet build6 unconnected · contested
- Go deeper on whatever brought the first customers5 unconnected
- Audit what is already working and do more of it5 unconnected