Becoming an Entrepreneur #5: Building an Audience

Now it’s time to put all our reading, training, and education into action. I firmly believe in the content-first approach to business that the book “Content Inc.” discussed.

Welcome back to the Becoming an Entrepreneur Series (Part #1, Part #2, Part #3, Part #4), where we take you from employee to entrepreneur.

Why is building an audience important to your business? Every single business needs an audience. You can create an audience around a product, category, or brand.

High-Yield Bond Reinvestment in Action

I like to call this commodity versus content approach. Let’s take low-content books, for example. Creators make books to fit a certain keyword or hot niche—which can net them quick sales.

Let’s say that unicorn coloring books are all the rage today. With enough skills, you can jump into this niche and make good money—until it dries up.

Most advertising for new entrepreneurs or businesses falls into this category. People will push you into low-content books, selling digital products on Etsy, Amazon FBA, the health and fitness niche, etc.

In these scenarios, you would be a commodity. Your product is hot as long the niche is hot. Anyone can come to overtake you or disturb your business because people are not loyal to YOU.

Life as an Income Investor

This method is suitable if you need to make money within 3-6 months. You can jump in, upskill, and turn a profit based on what’s working today. However, this is not building an audience.

Building an audience is the long road. On the opposite side is building an audience around your brand, product, service, or yourself. 

Once you have an audience, your chance of running a successful business is far greater. In fact, you can venture into many different products or services once you have an audience.

Let’s say I want to build a business in Pensacola, Florida, but I have no money. I can first put my car on Turo to make some extra cash. I am using my car as a commodity business to make money.

Get Past the Middle-Class

While doing this, I also create content on YouTube and my blog about life in Pensacola. I talk about the nightlife, history, and beaches.

I consistently upload two videos and three blog posts a week. I slowly build an audience of visitors and locals in the Pensacola area.

Once I have 10,000 subscribers on YouTube, I launch my own car rental service. I have three Teslas that people can rent when they come into town.

My prices are much higher than Turo, but I have an audience willing to pay. These folks know, like, and trust me by following my content.

Down-Sized? Time to Start an Online Business

Once I get even more prominent on my blog and YouTube, I can host a meetup in Pensacola. It is a good place for people to gather around a shared connection. I make it exclusive by charging $200, so only serious people can attend.

Later, I will launch a tour guide business and a bed and breakfast. These businesses work in tandem so visitors can get great tours and a cozy stay in one package.

It starts with an audience. I would struggle to launch a bed and breakfast without an audience. The same is true for a tour guide business and a local meet-up.

The American Dream is Passive Income

Everything starts with an audience. The tricky part is that it takes close to five years to build a solid, loyal audience. Plus, you must create content daily to grow your group—it’s not easy.

A quick story. There is a parable (a wise tale) about two men who were asked to carry water from the river to the city. The strong man walked to the river daily and manually hauled the buckets back.

The smart man carried water by bucket daily but dug a trench a little at a time. Over time, the trench became a canal that allowed the water to flow directly to the city.

The strong man broke his back over time, while the smart man no longer carried more water. He “retired” and still had “passive income” from water deliveries.

Individual Preferred Shares vs. Preferred Funds

Your audience moves products. Think of building an audience as slowly building a conveyor belt between two destinations. Once you have made a conveyor belt (like an Amazon shipping warehouse), you can push different products along the line.

If you start a business without an audience, you are trying to carry the water from the river without help. It’s a tough market, and people want to know, like, and trust you before making a purchasing decision.

It takes seven “touches” before someone makes a buying decision—that’s where your content helps your business. 

Let’s say I am trying to push an affiliate link to the crowd-funded REIT Fundrise. I personally use Fundrise. 

Homeschooling + Online Business

Since I have an audience, I can keep writing content about Fundrise that they find valuable. My content is in the world, waiting for someone to consume it.

My audience may hear about Fundrise (affiliate) over the water cooler at work and decide to look into it. They trust me from my content over the years and click my link to start a Fundrise account. They win, and I win—it’s a win-win.

On the flip side, say I have no audience. I decided to push my Fundrise link through Facebook advertising. I am blasting a product to a bunch of strangers who are trying to relax after work. Which method works best?

Start building your audience today. I can talk all day on this topic; however, I have a couple of articles for you.

Wiping the Debt of Christmas Past

The most important aspect of building an audience is creating content daily. Over five years, you can generate enough content to last a lifetime. Then, all you need is to maintain your routine, albeit at a much slower pace.

Here are a few articles I have written over the last three years of blogging. Yes, you will build an audience if you show up every day.

1. Create a never-ending Stream of Content 2
2. Create Content Daily 2
3. Forever Valuable: The Magic of Evergreen Content
4. Bridge the Gap: How to Create Meaningful Content
5. Building an Audience 102: Adding Value Consistently

Conclusion. Everyone should strive to have 1,000 subscribers on any platform. No, not social media fans or Instagram followers.

I’m Obsessed With Money, And You Should Be Too

I am talking about you actually producing content, including music, art, drawings, pictures, writings, videos, podcasts, etc.

Half of our brain works best if it is creating. We fail to utilize this portion of our brain because of various other things in our lives (relationships, kids, work). 

It’s time to energize our creative processes. I did 24 years in the corporate world. Becoming a content creator and an entrepreneur over the last three far outshine those other years.

You’ll be surprised at how much you can achieve when you work for yourself. But you’ll never find out if you don’t start. You can do it. Good Luck!

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