The chicken-or-the-egg question of the creator economy:
“What should I build first: an audience or a product?”
And here’s my super lame cop-out answer: it depends.
(Yeah that answer’s NOT going viral…)
The truth is, both can work — and the right strategy for you will depend on your situation and how quickly you want revenue. I’m going to share a few examples of creators who are taking both paths to success.
But first I’ll share my story.
I had a small audience when I started my newsletter (ie. my product) in January 2021. My Twitter following was around 700 people. I had no other platforms to beckon people to consume my product. Just Twitter.
So instead of trying to decide which to grow first — I simply did both simultaneously.
Was that the right move?
I’m 14 months into simultaneously publishing a newsletter (product) and building a Twitter following (audience) — all while trying to promote & monetize the newsletter AND increase the subscriber base.
It’s… a lot.
The results?
→ A newsletter product I’m proud of that’s been published 60 editions in 62 weeks.
→ My Twitter audience is now ~5200.
→ The…
