The academic year starts today.

But while I’m not in university anymore. Almost all of my friends still are. So I’m still heavily involved in all of uni culture.

And, as is always the case, the first week of uni is filled with tons of activities and events. Which I’ll be joining of course. So I’ll be a bit more absent on social media this week and maybe some days next week as well.

In fact, I’ve already been absent on Twitter since Saturday. I was away for the weekend and had a chess game to play this Sunday (I won). The chess ‘season’ also started again—not that it’s a coincidence.

Now, all of this doesn’t mean that I’m lessening the content I post or the emails I write. It just means I have to prepare them up front.

So I’ve been busy scheduling my social media content. I first thought about scheduling my emails for the week. But I decided I could still squeeze in 20 minutes every day. I even want to do so.

So the only thing that really dropped is my engagement level. And the speed to which I answer emails and DMs. (If I haven’t answered you yet, bear with me)

Logically I would’ve expected my social media growth to plummet. Since that’s what all the growth gurus always say. And that was actually the case.

At least for the first day. I lost 5 followers compared to the previous day. On days when I barely engage I lose 2 to 3 followers. So this was to be expected if I didn’t engage at all.

But the next day confused me. I didn’t comment at all either. And I gained close to 10 followers. Which is quite good actually since I’ve never been the fastest grower on social media.

So there might be more to social media growth after all than just mindlessly commenting all day. Who would’ve thought?

Speaking of things people overestimate. Do you know what people UNDERestimate?

That’s right. Email.

If you want to get paid every single by writing short simple emails, then check out Simple Money Emails here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

Ascend 101

Lessons about building a one-person business, writing, and self-improvement

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I’ve previously spoken about why you should host spaces and the best ways to do so. But there’s more to cover than that.

That last article was mostly about the learning process, the preparation, and what you should be doing on a space. A big-picture overview to get you going.

Today we’ll talk about the specifics to make your spaces as well as possible—and to get you the most results you can get. You’re not working for a charity after all. You’re doing these with a goal in mind. Whether that’s more email subscribers, product sales, or coaching clients.

So let’s get straight into it.

What to do before, during, and after your space

There’s a lot that goes into hosting spaces. Luckily everything can be clearly divided into 3 different phases:

• The preparation

• The production

• The aftercare

Let’s start with how we prepare a space.

Stage 1) The preparation

First things first. You want to commit to a date and time and create your space. You’ll be forcing yourself to show up. No amount of excuses will allow you to skip this. This is important.

Especially when it comes to your first space. It’s scary. It’s nerve-wracking. But you have to overcome that fear. Host your first space with some friends if that makes it easier for you.

Now that you’ve created your space. It’s time to promote it on Twitter. Always do this. No matter how regularly you hold your spaces. No matter how many people are showing up. Always promote your space.

Promotions are best done starting 24 hours before the space. People don’t remember your spaces for much longer. They’ve got other stuff going on in their lives.

A good schedule could be to promote it 24 hours before, 10 hours before, 4 hours before, and 1 hour before. Experiment with this yourself and see what gives the best results.

Set aside AT LEAST 1 hour for your space. Preferably 90–120 minutes. It takes time for your space to settle in. Twitter needs time to recognize that your space is going well. And it needs time to distribute it to various different people. People who need time to check their Twitter and hop in as well.

Every space needs a title. This is what’ll bring in new listeners who haven’t heard about you. Many people hop into your space solely because of the title. Make sure it’s good.

A good copywriting formula for titles is ROT:

• R = Result

• O = Objection

• T = Time

Share what people will get from your space. Attack one common objection related to your result. And address how fast they’ll get it. Example:

• Gain 10K Organic Followers in 3 Months

Don’t add any emojis, exclamation marks, jargon, or useless fluff. You can mention one other creator. Keep it to just one though. It’ll get messy pretty quickly otherwise.

Lastly. There are some things you must do when hosting a space:

• Always stick to ONE topic

• Talk to ONE audience

• Record ALL of your spaces

Stage 2) The production

It’s your job to be a good host. This means:

a) encouraging interactivity.

Make the listener feel involved in the space.

If they can’t feel the difference between your space and a random podcast/YouTube video. You’re doing it wrong.

Set expectations when the space starts. Tell them what’s going to happen. What kind of format are you doing? What topic will you be discussing? Warm the people up. Get them excited to keep listening to the whole space.

Teach people how to use emojis, how to ask questions, and how/if they can become a speaker themselves. Regularly check the chat to see if any new questions come up. Then decide whether it’s worth answering that question during the space.

If a question is really interesting you can invite them up on stage as a speaker. Get a case study going. Make something happen.

People will stick around as long as they feel involved.

b) Get more listeners

Keeping listeners is great. Getting more is even better.

There are a few ways to accomplish this. One of these is simply asking people to share your space with others. Let them retweet your space tweet. Tell them to invite their friends.

If people like your space. They’ll be more than happy to share it as well.

Another method is by giving shout-outs to (big) accounts who happened to hop into your space. They’ll be getting recognition. Which earns them followers. And they’ll feel welcome and appreciated.

Both of these reasons will often end up in them sharing your space with their audience. This is the law of reciprocity in action. Don’t underestimate it.

c) Make memories

A space isn’t just another tweet. It’s a time and a place to make memories.

Share stories from your personal life. Try to connect with your audience. Express emotions and show them a different side of you.

A side you can’t show through a 280-character tweet.

Don’t make it a boring lecture. They’re not coming to class. People want to be entertained. So make it entertaining.

Experiment with live coaching. Take a listener on stage and walk through their situation. Ask questions to uncover their problems. Figure out where they want to go and come up with a game plan for them. This can be as minimalistic as you want of course.

But it’s a great way to show the audience what you do, how you do it, and give them the feeling of being educated while being entertained as well.

Make it all about them. Not about you.

d) Tell people what to do

Don’t host a space without including a CTA.

Send them to your newsletter. Give away a lead magnet to your listeners. Promote your product. Tell them how they can work 1-on-1 with you.

Give them something that you offer. You’ve got their full attention now. Use it.

Share how your product/service can change their lives. Explain it and guide them through it.

This is how you make money through a space.

Don’t be afraid to pitch in the middle of the call either. It doesn’t always have to be at the end.

Is the room packed with people and are you talking about a topic similar to your offer? Transition to it and tell people about it. Then just casually go on.

Once again. There are no rules.

Experiment and iterate on the go.

Stage 3) Aftercare

Your space is done. You ended the call and everyone is gone. Now what?

If everything’s gone well you will probably have gotten quite a number of comments. Go through them and answer every single one that wasn’t answered during the space.

This is a great moment to overdeliver. Be really specific and detailed in your answers. Most people don’t expect such a detailed answer after the event is over. This is your time to shine.

Make a tweet thanking people for joining the space. Talk about how much of a success it was.

Sometimes people take notes and will share them with you after the space. Use this as social proof. RT these tweets. Share screenshots of the DMs you’ve gotten.

Show other people what they missed out on. Guarantee that they’ll join the next space.

As a final reminder. ALWAYS record your spaces.

Some people want to join but simply can’t. Give them a chance to listen.

You can always market the space recording for an extra 24 hours for those who couldn’t make it. There’s even a great website I use www.flowjin.com that’ll record all of your spaces for free AND store them for an unlimited time. Whereas Twitter will only keep them for the next 30 days.

It is a great idea to keep them around and repurpose them later. Even if your early spaces aren’t that good. It’s always fun to look back and reflect on how much you’ve improved.

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P.S. Whenever you’re ready. Here’s how I can help you:

1. Hop on a Clarity Call with me: Remove all of your uncertainty. Get clear on what you have to do, when you have to do it, and how. Let’s get you on the right track to achieving the freedom you deserve.

2. Work 1-on-1 with me: We’ll determine where you stand and where you want to go. Then we’ll devise a roadmap to get you from A to B that’ll get you there in the next 30–60 days.

3. Check out my products (free & paid): Ranging from every resource I ever read to everything I know about content creation. It’s all waiting for you to claim it. Start your journey to financial freedom the right way.

I’m subscribed to a dozen or so email lists.

Most of them are big-name creators, copywriters, and email marketers. But I’m also subscribed to a few friends I made through X and other smaller creators who I felt like supporting and whose journey I wanted to follow.

And it’s incredible to watch how even the smallest creators are paying attention and learning from the big industry names. There are so many similarities you can draw.

Which is a good thing. You need to emulate high-quality content to get used to what high-quality content feels like after all. Only then can you venture out on your own, break the rules, and create your own way of doing things.

So I applaud that.

One problem with this strategy, however, is that it’s difficult to pinpoint why big-name creators do the things they do. You see what they do, but you don’t see why. Neither do you see the underlying principles they use to make their actions work.

I’ll give you an example.

Everyone and their mother’s dog realize that good email, especially daily ones, more often than not follow a general structure. The story structure.

You start with an idea/story/news item/celebrity gossip to entertain people, then teach a valuable lesson, and finally you transition to a CTA where you try to get your audience to do something, whether that’s clicking a link, replying to your email, or buying your product.

I refer to each of these stages as the meat, the bones, and the offer—or the open, the close, and the offer.

And that’s something almost everyone understands. That’s the thing you can see. And so almost everyone opens their email with some sort of idea. Which they try to turn into a lesson and then end with their offer.

Except there’s one problem I notice with almost all smaller creators. They break the #1 most important rule of email marketing. Costing them the sale, the engagement, the relation with their audience, and the whole thing they’re trying to build their business on.

And don’t come to me saying “Oh but Alex, I’m not in it to make money or sell my products”, yes you are. We all are. And that’s ok. I want to help you make sales, earn more money, and live a life of freedom. But I also want to get paid for doing so in the meantime.

Don’t you?

Because if you do, you better pay attention because I’m about to tell you the #1 biggest mistake most people make and how you can avoid it—so you can actually make sales through your emails.

And you don’t want to be part of the 90% of people who write emails but never make sales, do you?

Of course you don’t.

So here it is.

The number 1 biggest mistake most people make is failing to correctly open their email. They’re talking about the wrong story, the wrong news item, or the wrong idea.

The exact part of your email that does 90% of the work.

Choose the right opening and the right takeaway and you’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting in your email to get people to buy.

Here’s a simple litmus test to decide how (not) to open an email:

Ask yourself: “Will this idea help me make the sale?”

It sounds obvious. And it should be. But so many people fail to ask themselves this question when deciding if it’s worth opening their email with a certain idea they have in mind.

“But Alex how do I know if an idea helps me make the sale?”

Good question.

It’ll help you make the sale if somewhere in your idea there’s an element that:

• builds up desire in your reader for the outcome you’re promising

• stirs up his anxiety about the status quo

• creates more belief in your solution

• makes him trust you more

• dismisses alternatives

• creates an “in” group and makes your reader want to be in that group

• resolves objections your reader has

• simply motivates or inspires your reader to actually make a change and take action right now rather than waiting

If your story doesn’t have any of those elements, it’s not helping you make the sale. No alternatives.

No amount of funny stories, ChatGPT lifehacks, or cute cat pics will help you make the sale if your opening idea doesn’t include a single of these elements.

“infotainment”, “storyselling”, or whatever buzzword you use means selecting entertaining items that help you make the sale. Not simply entertaining people and just hoping they randomly buy from you.

And if you want to make extra certain people buy from you, then check out my course Simple Money Emails which teaches you all about it.

You can get it here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

Do you remember how I mentioned I started writing these daily emails first thing in the morning?

I mentioned it 4 emails back I believe.

If you don’t, here’s a refresher. I always schedule my emails at the same time each day. That’s 3.12 pm my time. And for the past 2 months I used to write that day’s email at 2.30 pm or something. Which gave me a good 30 minutes to write after I came up with an idea.

It wasn’t bad. But I realized it could’ve been better.

So 4 days ago I optimized my daily schedule and started writing my email for the day first thing in the morning. At least, that’s what I shared. And that’s what I did that first day as well.

Yet here we are, 4 days later, and I’m once again writing my email just a few minutes before it’s supposed to go out. In fact, that first day was the only time I truly did what I said I was going to do.

And that’s a problem.

I’ve been slacking off. In more ways than 1 actually. I haven’t been going to the gym regularly anymore for example.

So this email serves as an accountability message. I’m openly announcing right here, right now, that I’ll pick up pace again and start doing the things I know I’m supposed to do.

And let this be a reminder to you as well. It’s easy to lose track of your habits. Keep them in check. Have a regular reflection period in your life where you look at your habits, systems, and lifestyle choices to see if you’re still in line with your goals, visions, and values.

If they’re not, adapt. As any scientist would tell you. You need to keep putting in energy on a regular basis or your systems will break down due to entropy.

All of this gave me another realization. One that’s actually positive. Extremely positive.

All of this didn’t affect my business. I was still growing, selling, and making money. Which is another benefit of the daily email creator business model.

As long as you take 20-30 minutes of your time to write a daily email, you’ll keep making money. Now tell me another business model that enjoys such a simple process.

Not sure if you’ll find one though.

If this tickled your fancy. Check out Simple Money Emails here to learn more about how to build the same business model for yourself: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

Yesterday I sent quite a long email titled How James Cameron wrongly handled objections in Avatar. The email turned out to be 1,213 words long.

And most of the email was me talking about the Avatar film series and how Cameron failed to fully explore the topic at hand. Which, considering it was his medium for political commentary, backfired on him by letting his message go to waste and not have the impact he wanted.

But here’s the thing. For all those 1,213 words. Only the last 5 sentences had something to do with business. All other sentences were me critiquing a film I saw.

If you would solely listen to the content creation advice on Twitter, this email would’ve been a total failure. There wasn’t enough “value”. (whatever that means)

If you’d ask most self-proclaimed gurus, copywriters, or sales experts, this email would’ve been a total failure. What good would it do for me to talk for such a length of time about a topic that, presumably, doesn’t help me make the sale?

It should’ve failed according to all the advice you hear.

But yet, it didn’t.

In fact. I got more clicks and more replies than my average emails. It was 2 to 3 times as long but people seemed to love it.

And I know why.

I’ve used this same principle multiple times. And it’s always gotten better results than any of my other emails.

It’s a method so powerful that I can predict how much clicks and engagement I’ll get from it. There’s no guessing. It’s not even hoping that it’ll do well. I just know it will.

And above all. It’s a method anyone can use. It’s not something special about me. I’m nobody special after all. Anyone who knows and understands the underlying principles of this method can accomplish the very same thing.

No unfair advantage required.

You might think this sounds suspicious, and I understand. I would be wary as well if somebody else would be making the same claims as I am right now. But let me assure you. There’s nothing fishy going on. There’s no lying, no manipulating, no mind-hacking, no fraud, no scamming, no nothing.

I build my business on honesty, transparency, and virtuousness. Those are the values that make up my brand and how I do business. I previously talked about what I thought of people who lie and manipulate to get more engagement, more money, and more growth. That’s not me. The most important currency you have is your reputation. And I’m very clear on where I draw the line.

So if I’m telling you about a method, a principle that made my last email bound to be a success, then you better know it’s one hell of a principle anyone, even you, can use and get the same results.

You’re probably wondering what the principle is right now. But it’d be boring if I were to just tell you, wouldn’t it?

Instead, let’s play a game.

Think about what I told you in this email. Go back to the previous email and read through it again rapidly. Try to see what’s happening.

If you then think you know, reply to this email with what you think the method is. I’ll get back to you sharing whether you’re right or wrong.

I’ll even give you a hint: it’s got nothing to do with the length of the email. I could’ve done the same with a 200-word email.

And if you can’t wait any longer and just want to jump in and learn all about the magical principles of email writing. Then check out Simple Money Emails here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

I’m a big fan of Avatar by James Cameron.

The film with the blue people. Not the series about the 4 types of benders, although I love that one as well.

I’ve been a big fan of the first film ever since it released in 2009. I still remember how hyped 9-year-old Alex was after first seeing the film. The whole film was set in such a lively world, the universe was constructed perfectly, and an insane amount of money went into production, mostly toward world-building.

It was mind-blowing how amazing of an experience it was to watch that movie for the first time on the big screen. It truly was a moment I could experience for a second time.

So when last year the second film Avatar: The Way of Water released, you just know I had to see it. And so I did. It was a good and entertaining film, don’t get me wrong. But it wasn’t a masterpiece. Far from it.

The visuals were there. The world was, once again, amazing. The music, oh don’t get me started on the music. If you know me, then you already know how much I can geek out over film music. I truly love the music. They did a great job with that.

But it’s the story that felt flat for me. The writing could’ve been a lot better.

And there are a lot of improvements to be made. From pacing to consistency, plotholes, and overall dialogue. But that’s not what I’ll be talking about today.

Let me also add how it wasn’t all bad. There was a lot of good writing as well. Wordbuilding, especially creating a believable world, takes good writing, and they nailed that one.

But the thing that troubles me is this.

You should know that James Cameron made the series into a political commentary.

The argument Cameron makes is how bad greed and consumerism have gotten in today’s day and age, as represented by the humans in the film. And how we should reconnect and live in harmony with nature like the Na’vi are doing.

The human faction wants to destroy everything that lives and breathes on Pandora (the planet where the Na’vi lives) so that they can mine a rare and valuable ore that’s suitably called ‘unobtanium’. And they’re doing all of this purely for profit.

Now. here’s the thing. Consumerism is having an enormous effect on the planet. Animal species are going extinct. Lots of beautiful places on Earth are being destroyed. We aren’t in tune with nature anymore. Most people don’t even blink when they hear that another 1,000 new animal species are now endangered.

There’s nothing wrong there. And many people agree with those statements. It seems like the messaging Cameron made in Avatar should resonate with people—except it didn’t.

And that’s because of the bad writing.

The short story is this: Avatar is propaganda. Let me explain.

Here’s the definition of propaganda: “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.”

James Cameron’s Avatar is highly biased because the problem isn’t being explored well enough.

Let’s look at some examples:

• All humans (except for the 4 main characters or something) are pure evil, don’t have any regard for nature or animal lives and gladly engage in killing and genocide

• All Na’vi are perfect, virtuous, and noble creatures. Nobody does anything wrong and they all work together as one harmonious group in tune with nature and morally superior.

• The only reason humans want the unobtanium is for pure profit and nothing else

James Cameron makes shows his message yes, but he doesn’t explore it. He shows the good things about the Na’vi, and the bad side of the humans. He entirely disregards the bad side of the Na’vi and the good side of the humans.

Imagine these situations:

• The humans still kill and do everything for unobtanium, but instead of doing it for pure profit, they need it to save the Earth or keep their space fleets (and all the people on it) alive

• The Na’vi are still in tune with nature and protect both fauna and flora as good as possible, but they sometimes attack other Na’vi tribes and take prisoners to turn them into slaves

That’s what exploring is. You take an idea and you fully explore both sides. The good and the bad.

Because right now? It’s simply too perfect. The audience can’t relate. People think that when something seems too perfect and has 0 flaws whatsoever, it’s probably fake. And rightly so, that’s what you should think.

This is the audience’s objection to Cameron’s idea. An objection to what he’s trying to sell them. An objection to his offer.

And this isn’t unique to political commentaries or films. This is a true objection to every single offer out there. Even to yours.

How do you solve that objection?

Be honest, be transparent. Your offer probably isn’t for everyone. It won’t magically solve all their problems. So just say so.

Tell people what your product does good and who it’s for, but also routinely mention who shouldn’t buy your offer. What your offer doesn’t help people do and where it potentially lacks a bit.

If you want to sell your offer, then it helps to point out the flaws. After all, nobody buys something that’s trying to come across as perfect.

Something else that helps you if you want to sell your offer, especially if you want to sell it through email, is my course Simple Money Emails.

I’m not going to tell you what’s so great about it and how you can easily get paid every single day by writing simple emails and keeping your readers engaged.

No. Instead let me tell you who this isn’t for. This isn’t for you if you don’t like to write. My system relies on writing. I send emails every single day. If you tolerate writing and only want to send an email once a week, then this isn’t for you.

It also won’t teach you how to set up email sequences. That’s not what it’s about. First of all, I don’t use any email sequences myself, not yet at least. I don’t have experience with it, let alone gotten results with sequences. So I won’t act like I know all about it. With that said, you’ll find 0 modules, tips, tricks, or anything else related to email sequences.

This isn’t a one-and-done system. It’s not an “automated cash machine” and “get rich quick” course, a marketing angle other creators like to embrace when it comes to email courses.

No it’s none of that. It’s the most important methods, frameworks, and rules/guidelines of selling through email. It teaches you the fundamentals in a clear and step-by-step manner that I haven’t seen other courses do.

It allows you to make money every single day through writing emails that take you 20 minutes to write, grow your list, keep your readers engaged, and live a free life. No hassle, no “money while you sleep”, no fancy stuff.

If that doesn’t sound like anything for you, then don’t get it.

If it does sound interesting to you, then check it out here: alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

Some workmen from the city knocked on our door today.

Apparently they’re working on some electricity stuff of which I don’t understand anything. Replacing old cables with new cables and upgrading the grid or something, I have no idea.

What I do know is that I won’t have any electricity for today.

This made me realize something extremely important.

Something I’m grateful for.

You see, for most people. Most entrepreneurs or self-employed people. This would mean a disaster. They’d have to go someplace else for internet. To work on their business, join all their meetings, do their work, and whatnot.

But not me. I now write an email every single morning and I schedule it for later in the day.

I schedule all of my tweets once a week. I try to engage a bit on Twitter, but even if I'm unable to do so, that doesn't affect how much I earn.

Even if my electricity were to go out unexpectedly. Almost everything is automated.

I would still live my life the exact same way. I'm not dependent on whether or not I have power at home. And that's something to be grateful of.

It also means I can go on vacation whenever I feel like it. All I have to do is work a few hours before and schedule everything for however long I plan to go on vacation.

I can run my business with nothing but a phone in my pocket. I'm even writing this email on my phone right now.

There's really no limit to the level of freedom you can get by building your business in a way such as this.

And everyone can do it.

Here's all you need to do:

1) Dive deep into topics you find interesting

2) Talk about those topics in an entertaining and valuable way on social media (choose 1 platform to build on)

3) Create an email list and talk more in-depth about those topics

4) Drive traffic to your email list by heavily promoting it on your chosen social media platform

5) Create an offer that helps solve people's problems regarding your chosen topics and promote it daily through your email list

It's not glamorous, it's not fancy. But those are the fundamentals. And as any expert would tell you, the fundamentals are the most important parts of any business.

And if you're interested in building a similar business, one that's optimised for freedom & pursuing your curiosities. Then look no further than today’s offer Simple Money Emails.

It teaches you the ins and outs of the exact business model I use. Allowing you to get paid even while some workmen decide to cut off your power, or when you feel like you want to take a vacation.

Check it out here: http://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/SME

I’m revamping my daily schedule today.

Before today I used to write my daily emails sometime before they were supposed to go out. Most often half an hour before, so I had some time. But no sooner.

Well, that changes today. I always schedule my emails to go out at 3.12pm my time. But what time is it currently? When am I writing this?

Early on in the morning. It’s currently 7.39pm as I’m writing this email.

My business philosophy has always been to build a business that does not need more than 3 hours a day of work. Part of that also comes down to good time usage and productivity.

I’ve always had the habit of starting my day as soon as I wake up. As I’ve told multiple times already. I wake up and write for at least an hour, mostly on content, new modules of courses, or general things I’m working on. But for some reason I never included writing my emails in this ritual.

So now I am. I’m hoping that this will increase my productivity, free up more of my time throughout the day, and allow me to write more quality emails for you as well.

I’m not trying to claim like I’m some productivity guru or anything. Far from it. I barely know anything about it.

I’ve read both Deep Work and Atomic Habits once and I use Obsidian as my note-taking app. But that’s about it.

I’ll never claim to know be some sort of expert if I’ve never truly experimented with something myself. The amount of books I read about a topic doesn’t make me an expert if I never applied them.

Something I have extensive experience with however is Twitter monetization.

Do you want to monetize your Twitter audience but have no idea what to do or where to start? No worries I’ve got just the perfect thing for you.

Imagine if we were to hop on a 60-minute call where I’ll first ask you about where you’re at currently, what your goals are, and what you’re struggling with.

Then we’ll take a look at how to get you from where you are to where you want to be. We’ll create a personalized roadmap that you can use to reach your goals in the next 1–3 months as effective and efficiently as possible.

I’ll share some of my methods and frameworks regarding creating your offer, getting leads, making sales through your emails, and closing clients either on a call or in the DMs.

At the end of the call you’ll have full clarity and confidence regarding Twitter monetization and you’ll be well on your way building your business and earning a full-time income.

Does that sound interesting to you?

It does?

Fantastic. Then click the link here to book a call at a date & time that best suits you: https://calendly.com/alexvandromme/clarity-call

Ascend 101

Lessons about building a one-person business, writing, and self-improvement

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While commenting gets the most love from people on Twitter. It’s by far not the only method you can use to get more eyes on your content.

Let’s talk about some lesser-used tactics you can employ to grow your account.

Warning: you shouldn’t mindlessly use all of these. Some are controversial and people don’t like talking about it. But they do work.

I’d suggest using as many growth methods as you can if you are below 500 to 1,000 followers.

After that it’s up to you to decide how much they’re worth it.

Method 1) Liking posts of small accounts

This one is a fun and easy one to do. It barely takes any time to do. It is less powerful than comments. But the ease of use and quantity you can put out more than makes up for it.

What you’ll do is go to a big creator with the audience you’d like to have. Click on their follower list. Now go to the accounts of those followers and like 1–2 of their most recent posts.

That’s it. It doesn’t get easier than that.

This works for a few reasons.

Most people on Twitter are either consumers or very small creators. They barely get engagement. If any at all. They are also obsessed with getting notifications. Their brain lights up whenever they receive a like.

Now when like a post of theirs. They’re bound to see it. They’ll be interested to see who you are and click on your profile.

They'll follow you once they see you’re a creator (because you’re in a niche they’re probably interested in).

This works better the more followers you have. Social proof remains king. But don’t panic. Someone with 1,000 followers looks like a celebrity to your average Twitter user.

Method 2) Mention big creators in your threads

This one is self-explanatory.

You can write threads and tag bigger creators in them. The pre-requisite is that your thread has to be related to them in some way shape or form.

This can take many forms though:

• Do a breakdown of someone’s content/launch/email/funnel/whatever strategy.

• Talk about a topic that interests a bigger creator and refer to their opinion

• Write a thread about your experience with a free/paid service/product of a creator. Give your honest opinion and share what you learned.

• Tell a story about yourself and reference how a bigger creator made an impact on you.

The end goal is the same.

You’re hoping for them to interact with your post. Whether that’s a like, a comment, or even a retweet. This will boost your post and get you in front of a bigger audience. Yes even a like from someone with 300k+ will do a lot.

There’s also the other added benefit of them starting to recognize your face. This will allow networking opportunities. Befriending a big account will speed up your growth process a lot.

Method 3) Sending DMs

Nothing screams networking more like sliding into someone’s DM.

It’s the bread & butter of making lasting connections with people. There’s a lot to go over when it comes to sending DMs. I have an entire module dedicated to the art of sending DMs.

But the basics are nothing more than:

• Be human

• Be friendly

• Don’t expect anything

• Help them out for free

• Show genuine interest

If you can do those things. Great.

You’re already much better than 95% of Twitter users.

Seriously. You won’t believe how many people send me “Hey, love your content. Let’s connect!”. Or even a plain “Hi!”. Don’t do this.

You have to imagine how many DMs bigger accounts get daily.

Be refreshing and try to stand out. Don’t bore people and don’t drain them of their energy either.

Method 4) Follow/unfollow

This one is controversial. But it works. At least early on. Do this if you’re under 100 for sure. Your aim is to get to 100 ASAP.

Whether you keep doing this until 500–1000 is up to you.

Now how do you go about it? Who do you follow? How many people? And for how long?

Let me start by saying there are no strict rules surrounding this. All I can say is how I did this at the start. (Yes I did do this until around 500 followers or so)

Who do you follow?

Everyone who engages with other creators in a similar niche. Go to the latest tweet of one of your favorite big accounts. Check the comments, likes, and RTs. Follow them.

How many people can you follow?

There’s a limit on how many “un/follow” actions you can take daily. They set this to(at the time of writing) 50–80 daily. Exceed this and you’ll likely get restricted. Maybe even fully banned. Do be careful.

Know that this limit counts for both unfollows and follows. So if you follow 50 people and unfollow 50. That’s a combined 100 actions. Do this for a few days and you’ll be sure to get banned.

How long do you follow them?

At least a week. Follow/unfollow is against Twitter’s TOS. If you regularly follow and unfollow people in short bursts. This will trigger Twitter’s security measures and you will get banned.

A good way is to follow 10–20 people every weekday. And keep the weekends to unfollow around 50 people. (Unfollow the people you have been following for at least 7 days only)

Early on (0–100 followers) your follower/following ratio doesn’t matter all too much. But once you’ve passed that. It’s good to pay attention to it.

Don’t end up following 800 people while only being followed by 120. 250 following/120 followers is still alright. There is no right ratio. Use your common sense and determine for yourself whether yours is too high.

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P.S. Whenever you’re ready. Here’s how I can help you:

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A few months ago, a loyal reader of my emails asked:

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“Hey Alex do have any resources on how to grow & monetize an email list? Or any recommendations I should check out?

I want to start my own and would love some advice from you to know where and how to start.”

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At the time I responded with a simple answer talking about the tools I use and what kind of email I had the most success with so far. I also mentioned how I was in the process of creating a resource of my own on that exact topic.

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