• This is a clever question. One that I don't think we've answered before in our 112 episodes. I've been thinking about it, it was on the board last week, and I didn't answer it. I've been thinking a little about it, and I think that, frustratingly, they're all really hard. Getting from zero to a K is like, you have to get people that don't know you. I think you're just learning and trying to figure it out.

    1 to 10, I think is really-really hard because that's where you have to start to be consistent. You have to do all of these things, and you have to have the mental shift to be-- It can be embarrassing to be actively trying to grow an audience, if you're at 2,000 followers because people like your friends, it's not a thing yet.
    You're not an influencer with 200K, and all your friends think that's super cool and you're getting invited to all this shit and they love it. It's like, "How did you, do you see what Tim's doing? Is it kind of weird, he's trying to be an influencer. Oh, you're trying to be an influencer." I have heard that conversation 50 times of people. Just like normal people talking about their friends who were trying to make a go of it.

    I think the 1 to 10 is tough from a personal standpoint of just being like, this is what I want to do and this is where I want-- This is something I'm interested in, and I am going to go for this because to get from 1 to 10, you have to act like you have a 100K in some ways. You have to be consistent, you have to be doing all this stuff, you have to be acting like an influencer, but you don't have the following yet to back it up.

    It can feel ridiculous, and it can feel a waste of your time. I think it is really hard in that 1 to 10 to keep going because you don't have that big following, you're not getting brand deals, you're not getting free clothes, you're not getting anything. It feels, wow, this is so much work for almost no benefit. That's really hard. I think getting to 100K is just flat-out hard. See now, especially today. There are a lot of amazing influencers that I love, that I follow, who I follow, started following a year ago and they're at 40K, and they're at 50K now.

    It is slow going out there. It's hard to grow. Anyone who can go from starting an Instagram account in the last couple of years and over 100K now, I tip my hat to you because there is something special there. I do think that getting to that 100K is probably less about tactics and doing everything right, as it is about just having a really unique point of view that is in sync with where popular culture is and riding that wave.

    I think, in some ways, you're less responsible for it than getting from 1 to 10. I find that most people who have a big following, it's just kind of took off for them at some point. Usually, that's between that 10 and 100K. Frustratingly, they're all very difficult in their own way getting from a hundred to a million, 100 to 150. It's all really hard and I hope these episodes in some way are helpful to you all because I know there's not a huge amount of advice out there on how to do this. I feel for you. I've had an Instagram account for eight years, and it's a 22,000, so I know this isn't easy.
    Episode #112
    - Hardest Growth Number to Reach, Email Lists, Event Etiquette