“When you don’t talk down to your audience, then they can grow with you.” — Prince
Everyone wants a large audience.
But there are advantages to a small one.
You can superserve fans, develop relationships, and provide value in ways you can’t with the masses.
You just have to want to.
The irony?
When you do, you’ll have a large audience before you know it.
Now, on to this week’s ideas…
1. How To Figure Out If Your Idea Is Worth Spending Time On
“If you can’t explain your idea to others in a way that’s easy for them to understand, then it’s probably not a great idea.”
The most valuable creative skill you can develop isn’t the ability to generate new ideas — it’s knowing which ones to pursue.
In this post I break down how to figure out if your idea is worth spending time on by asking yourself five questions about it including whether your idea is unique AND familiar, if you’ll succeed even if you fail, and if you’re as excited about doing the work as you are the results that might come from it.
Related: Nine habits that make it easy to come up with great ideas.
2. Eight Lessons About Creativity From One Of The Internet’s Most Popular Creators
“There’s a lot of shame associated with backpedaling; things like quitting your job, getting a divorce, or simply starting over are considered shameful. But forward isn’t always progress and backward isn’t always regress.”
When the creator of The Oatmeal offers advice about how to make things you’d be wise to listen.
Matthew Inman shares eight things he’s learned about creativity in the decade he’s run the site and it’s packed with entertaining, educational, and inspiring advice.
His observations include that there are only bad ideas in brainstorming, creativity is like breathing because you can’t only exhale, and there’s nothing wrong with being both an artist and a business.
Btw, I found this link in the Storythings newsletter.
Related: A manifesto for creative people.
3. Five Ways To Build Your Personal Brand
“Building a personal brand on the internet is simply the act of being intentional with the way you present yourself.”
Some of these may seem obvious, but I bet you haven’t done all of them yet.
Nicolas Cole shares five ways to build your personal brand including to choose one social media platform on which to build a loyal audience, invest in a personal website, and build a web of content surrounding your name, company’s name and the work you do.
Related: Stop working on your personal brand — you’re wasting your time.
4. How To Craft An Awesome About Page
“Your about page should make readers feel like they’ve had a quick lunch with you. It should be brief, pleasant and memorable.”
About pages aren’t only one of the most frequently visited pages on most websites, they’re also probably the most important one.
Tobias Van Schneider breaks down how to craft an awesome About page including the importance of showcasing your personality and including something special.
Btw, I found this link in the Creative Mornings newsletter.
Related: 27 ways to get more traffic to your website.
5. How To Write For Audio
“With an article, you’re putting an entire plate of food down in front of the audience and letting them tuck into that meal on their own time. With a podcast, you’re putting down the plate of food, then plopping down in the chair next to them to spoon feed them every single bite, one tiny bite at a time.”
I’m going to launch a podcast soon (surprise!) and developing it has made me realize how different writing for audio is from writing for readers.
Jay Acunzo’s overview of how to write for audio is a great resource and includes tips about how to guide the listener, introduce subjects, and get great soundbites.
My podcast will be better because I read this article before recording it — you should do the same if you do anything with audio these days.
Related: How to improve your writing in six steps.
A Note From Dan Runcie, Founder Of Trapital
Hey there! Trapital is my media company that covers the business of hip-hop.
Each week, thousands of execs read the newsletter to gain insights on hip-hop’s growing influence.
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Three Quick Things Before You Go…
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