Avoid this 1 mistake to make $10,000/month

With Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, it’s quickly becoming the fastest growing social media platform of 2023, with no signs of stopping.

The problem is, 99% of people on the platform either:

1) don’t know how to grow a following

2) know how to grow a following but don’t know how to monetize it

So if you want to grow an audience fast on Twitter that you can monetize to $10,000/month in 2023, I’m going to tell you the 1 mistake to avoid.

By the end of this email, you’ll learn the core of my growth strategy that I’ve used to grow a total following of 195,000 followers in 2 years, and how I hit $11,000/month within my first year online.

Why I Struggled to Grow On Twitter

So, the number one problem I see with people starting out on Twitter, is they don’t know the difference between growing a following and growing a brand.

Now, what do I mean by this?

Well, to give you a concrete example, lemme explain by telling you a short story.

In September 2020, I came across a $40 course on how to grow on Twitter.

It piqued my curiosity; I bought it, and went through the course in a day.

And in that course, it told me all the “secrets” I needed to grow my brand:

• Pick a theme for my account

• Go on Canva and create a fancy banner

• Comment on other people’s accounts

• Write generic content that appeals to everybody

• Say polarizing things to get attention on my account

…and watch the followers roll in.

So, I created an anonymous account called “Philosophy of Fit” and applied the advice.

The result?

Within 3 days, I got ratio’d in the comments section for a polarizing take.

Within 5 days, the original account I bought the course from blocked me for commenting “generic stuff” (that he taught me) under his tweets.

In 3 months? I only grew to 750 followers.

Hundreds of hours studying and applying… and not much to show for it.

But while I was growing a couple followers a day, I’d watch other accounts skyrocket past me with ease.

So I did what any logical person would do…

I bought more courses.

As you might expect, it didn’t change much. I’d spend HOURS writing content, only to watch them get 3 retweets.

A “high-performing” tweet for me would be 11 likes.

And at that point, I probably spent $1000 on courses and hundreds of hours “learning”.

But, I had the drive and potential, I just didn’t know how to channel it to get real results.

Fortunately, though, in December 2020, I came across an account on my timeline. He was teaching the skill of copywriting and had a playful style in his writing. And although he was new, he grew to 1000 followers within 30 days.

My brain could not compute such a fast level of growth. Here I am spending months on this platform only to get to 750 followers, yet he blew past me like it was nothing.

And I’m glad he did because it completely reframed what I thought possible.

So I studied what made his account different from mine. Hell, I even hopped on a couple calls with him. We talked, and he told me he was in a similar position to me a year ago.

He tweeted his generic thoughts on self-improvement every day but barely grew his account. So he gave it up, move on, and got into copywriting.

After about a year, he said “screw it” and got back on Twitter.

But this time…

He taught copywriting on timeline.

And this time…

He saw explosive growth.

So why am I telling you this?

Because this is the most crucial step you need to take that 99% of people ignore.

I was trying to be valued without giving value. I tweeted what I thought would get good engagement. The generic content everyone else was tweeting. And because I did that, I didn’t stand out, so it didn’t give people an incentive to follow me.

You need to provide value.

WTF is “Value?”

I kinda hate this word because everyone online just throws it around.

“Just give value!!!” the gurus say.

*Then proceed to give 0 actionable advice*

So, if we’re gonna talk about value, it’s important we define it.

I’ll lay out my definition in one sentence:

You become valuable to others when you become the bridge from their pain to their desire.

For example:

How much money would you pay for water when you’re not thirsty?

How much money would you pay for water when you are thirsty?

How much money would you pay for water when you’re dehydrated, dying of thirst, in the middle of the desert, and there was only one person to buy from?

Bigger pain you solve = Higher value.

Higher value = More attention and more money.

So, after my 3 months of slow growth and seeing the success of my copywriter friend, I decided to emulate what he’d done.

At the time, I was learning web design and figured writing would be a great addition to my service. Plus, I always excelled at writing in school.

I started consuming copywriting books my friend recommended, applied what I learned, and gave actionable tips on the timeline.

And where it took me 3 months to get to 750 followers, it only took me 40 days to get to 1000.

And in under 2 years, I hit 400,000+ engaged followers across Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn.

So, I cannot stress this enough…

The value you provide is the foundation of building your brand.

Everything else is built around this core principle.

How to Find Your $1,000,000 Skill

There are 2 factors to consider when deciding how to give value:

1. Your interests

2. Market demand

Without interest, you can make money, but you’ll hate the work. This makes it hard to stay consistent and make a living doing what you love. No bueno.

Without market demand, you can enjoy the work, but you won’t make money. If you can’t afford to live, you can’t do what you love. Again, no bueno.

The solution?

Build your account where your interest intersects with market demand.

Don’t Know Your Interest?

• What can you talk about for hours?

• What books do you find yourself drawn to?

• What comes up on your YouTube suggested videos feed?

•What do your 5 closest friends and family members think you’re great at?

Whatever it is, list out all your interests on a piece of paper. It’s important you spend time alone and think about this.

We’re creating the foundations of your brand so we want you to think of all the best possible options.

Once you have all your interests listed out, you can validate market demand.

Now, remember how I said people value you if you can solve their problems?

Well, turns out, humans are pretty simple.

There are 3 main areas people have painful problems (I swear all that alliteration was unintentional):

1. People want to be healthier

2. People want to be wealthier

3. People want to improve their relationships

That’s it.

Within these 3 areas, you can dive deeper into subtopics.

A few examples:

Health

• Nutrition and diet

• Fitness and exercise

• Mental health and wellness

Wealth

• Personal finance and budgeting

• Investing and financial planning

• Entrepreneurship and small business

Relationships:

• Dating and romance

• Marriage and family

What’s Next?

Now that you know what to talk about…

Start talking about it.

Adopt the mindset, “If I don’t post 1 piece of actionable content per day, my head explodes.”

Actionable content is any information someone could read from your post and use in their life right away.

We want to do this because:

• You’ll grow faster (because you’re valuable)

• You’ll attract a higher quality audience (because you’re valuable)

• People will see you as an authority (because you’re valuable)

• You’ll land more clients and be able to charge higher prices because you’re seen as an authority

Do this over the course of the next 7-12 months and I guarantee you’ll see great results.

I wish I knew this when I started out. Woulda saved me lots of time and money. But at least I can help you.

Much love and happy Thursday.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Just Give Value, Bro” Robertson