You’re not Coca-Cola.

Going “viral” on Tik Tok with a stupid dance that gets you 100,000 followers is not going to get you more coaching clients…

And emailing an unengaged list of 100,000 people who have no idea who you are is not going to get you sales.

It’s not about size, it’s about connection.

(Case and point: one of my clients brought in more than $10,000 in sales in the past week from 1 webinar run to a small community of 260 people.)

So, the reason you build a personal brand…

Or build an audience on a platform.

Or build an email list.

Or community.

… Is so you can build trust and goodwill with your fellow human beings.

So you can add value. Be of service. Entertain. Inspire.

And yes… influence.

The ability to influence people to improve their lives and businesses through your products and services can only happen when you command authority over your domain.

So how do you do that in today’s world, when there’s more noise than ever…

Everyone has an opinion…

And there are more scammers and fake gurus selling courses than ever?

Here’s an honest answer that you can take or leave:

It depends. On you.

In the rest of this issue, I’ll tell you why…

I’ll touch on what’s going on today in the digital marketing landscape from my ‘behind-the-scenes’ perspective…

And how to think about building your distribution network and authority.

So you can win by attracting people who want to hear what you have to say…

And who, over time, you can build quality relationships with.

Because the more quality relationships you build, the more money you will make.

And the bigger impact you will have.

Here’s the first step:

If you want to get more customers and make more money…

Have you grabbed the mic and stepped up to lead?

With conviction.
With confidence.

One of my clients is in the midst of doing this right now, and wow - it is a beautiful thing to see.

He’s got the stories.
He’s investing in developing his voice.
And he’s got a brilliant, disruptive philosophy that is shaking things up and serving his clients at a whole new level.

What he’s been lacking - and what we’re helping him build - is a distribution channel.

A media platform where he can attract his tribe.

He’s already making a good living serving a small number of clients at a high level.

Now, the key to unlock the next level of impact, influence, and earning is to build his authority.

If you’re great at what you do, but you’ve been hiding in the shadows, I invite you to step up and claim your authority.

It might not happen today, or tomorrow. In fact, it might not happen for years…

Which I’m a little embarrassed to say has actually been the case for me.

In fact, this is the first meaningful writing I’ve done for myself in over a decade.

(What can I say… staying behind-the-scenes is pretty damn comfy.)

But I feel I’ve been called to pick up the pen and start implementing what I’ve spent the last 14 years helping others do: build my own “distribution channel.”

If you haven’t yet started this yourself, or if you’re in progress (and maybe a little uncertain about direction or whether it’ll work for you)…

Here’s why I believe it’s critical to step up to the mic and lead in a bigger way.​

I’m not going to be so bold as to say I can predict the future.

However, I have spent a good deal of time thinking about this question.

As AI improves faster and faster in intelligence and capability… as hard tasks get easier and previously impossible tasks move to simply “hard”...

How do you compete? How do you win? How do you stand out?

But then I look at people like Garrett Gunderson, someone I wrote for over many years, who continues to evolve, change direction, and have “true fans” follow him into each new venture.

Why?

He has a lot of authority (as a bestselling author and with a significant social following).

And he has a strong distribution channel. He can reach people through his email list and socials.

Will he be replaced by AI?
Will people suddenly stop needing his wisdom, being inspired by his insights, and enjoying his humour?

I don’t think so.

And it’s not just because he has a lot of ‘fans.’

It’s because of the quality of them.

Garrett has done an amazing job leaning into connection. He sends handwritten notes and signed books. He texts people. He intentionally invests in what he calls “Relationship Capital”... and it’s worked tremendously well for him.

If I’m honest, this is probably the single biggest reason I’ve committed myself to writing and claiming my authority.

I think this is a really big deal, and people like Garrett are going to thrive in the coming years. And people like me - who have been comfortable behind-the-scenes - are going to need to step up in one way or another.

How about you… how’s your relationship capital?

How many ‘true fans’ do you have?

To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.
​-Kevin Kelly, 1,000 True Fans

I’ve seen people crush it on YouTube.

I know people doing great on Substack.

You can sell over DMs on social media, or go big with podcasts.

It doesn’t matter what channel you use.

What matters is that you’re great at it.

So before you go crazy posting at random on Tik Tok, let’s take a moment to talk strategy.

The reason most people fail is they shoot content for a couple weeks… maybe write a few emails… and then other stuff comes up.

Their entire plan falls to the wayside.

I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. It sucks.

But I’ve since learned that you have to pick your battles.

That starts with identifying your strengths.

In my experience, there are 3 ways to do this at a high level.

Yours depends on where your ‘zone of genius’ is. You can either:

1 - Write
2 - Shoot video
3 - Build community

Some of you can do more than one. But most can only do 1 extremely well.

And if you want to do all 3 at a high level, you’re going to need a team.

Now, my company gets our clients a level of “omnipresence” on all of their most important and relevant channels. Wherever their customers hang out, that’s where they are.

We publish content at a high level. And over time, it ‘snowballs’ to build their distribution channels… to build authority… and yes, drive more leads and sales.

But there’s more to building relationships than just posting content.

Relationships are a human dynamic. They’re formed over time through conversation. Through service.

So no matter how good we are at helping you show up as an authority… we can never be YOU.

We can’t replace you on camera.

(Neither can AI by the way… that’s a great way to destroy trust. See this case study of Ryan Levesque calling out Alex Hormozi for using an AI engagement chatbot).

What we can do is free up more of your time. So you can shine in whatever you do best, which is how you’re going to build an incredibly powerful distribution channel of ‘true fans’.

After all, a thousand true fans doesn’t seem too hard, right?

The way I see it, you could feasibly build that in 30 minutes a day over a year or two of consistent effort.

So if we take some of the pressure off…

It becomes quite simple:

If you’re a writer, then you should write.

Lean into the written platforms: Substack, X, LinkedIn, Threads.

Write every day. Write short form, long form… whatever you want.

Post on all of them, but pick one channel as your ‘main thing’ for the time being and dive in deep. Follow people you like. Engage on their channels. Read comments.

Find quality people, and invest time in building relationships with them.

The same goes for video. If you’re good at it (or want to be), then shoot more videos.

Focus on YouTube, Instagram, and maybe even Tik Tok (depending on your audience - Tik Tok leans much younger).

Study the greats and experiment with short form and long form content.

If you’re great at interviewing people (or even if you’re a solo show)... start a podcast.

Same goes here: engage with people who comment on your stuff. Build relationships.

Learn the important metrics, how to capture attention in the first 30 seconds, and the flow of a great video.

Some of you are natural community builders.

You have that special kind of magic that can make a Facebook Group thrive. Or an Instagram group chat. Or a Telegram channel, or private Skool community.

Everyone wants one of these communities, but most can’t get out of bed to do what it takes to get people engaged and make it work (so it’s not a ghost town). If you’re great at this, you have a huge step up in my opinion as we move forward in this crazy AI world.

My suggestion:

Pick 1 of these to focus on this quarter, and do it at the highest possible level.

As my YouTube fitness guru Caroline Girvan tells me every day I get my ass kicked (seriously her “Epic” program is 💯)...

“We want as many push ups as possible, but they need to be high quality push ups.”

Same goes for content.

This is more important than ever today, because as they say “marketers ruin everything” by taking it to the extreme.

So AI generated garbage content is proliferating everywhere.

(Can you tell I wrote this entire piece with my own 10 fingers and brain? I did.)

The bar is being raised - and the easiest way to stand out (in my humble opinion) is to:

Put out great stuff
Connect deeper to create more ‘true fans’

Shoot for quality at the highest possible quantity (but not at the expense of making it great).

Personally, writing comes the most natural for me, so I’m starting there.

Over time, I may move into video. And in terms of community, I’m setting aside time in my schedule to build more high quality relationships each week.

Even 1 new quality connection a week can move the needle.
​

And to put it mildly, many of the loudest voices in the world today are not exactly our best and brightest.

In fact, I think the world would be better served if more of the quieter people among us spoke up more.

Yes… those of us who have stayed behind-the-scenes, lifting others up, striving to be our best selves - could do with being a little louder.

Showing a little more confidence.

Having the conviction to share our voice and show up in a new way.

Whether that’s true or not - and whether my voice is one worth listening to - is in the hands of the people.

But that’s what I’m going to do here.

And if you’re like me, and you feel called to play a bigger game and serve at a higher level, then I would love to connect with you deeper… to grow together… and to hopefully make our small mark and make the world just a little more peaceful.

Thanks for reading.

I’ll wrap it up a little different with a simple ‘ask’:

Be a little kinder than necessary to others, and have the courage to put your best out there a little more often.

-Ryan
​