With organic content, this is the game.

Everywhere you look, you see content explaining “how I added 10,000 new subscribers this month.” Or “How I made $200,000 this week.”

This is where your flywheel really takes off. Your previous growth results in future growth. Your past virality leads to future virality.

It’s the dream scenario.

With a heroic story like this, it makes growth seem effortless, doesn’t it?

Everyone wants to learn the tips and tricks that this person used to get such a massive success.

This content is the equivalent of the Netflix top 10 list. Everyone with a Netflix account knows that the top 10 movies and shows aren’t necessarily good. And yet they are still the movies getting the most views.

As soon as a new movie comes on the platform, people who are desperate for something new will jump on it. It climbs the ranks, causing more and more people to give in to temptation and watch it.

This is often how it goes with any kind of content you create.

Virality equals value.

And quality goes by the wayside.

So the question is, how do you get started? If virality is the main indicator of value, then how do you get your first post to go viral? Or your first noteworthy achievement that makes people want what you have?

How do you build the first couple of sales, or the first thousand emails on your list?

This is the most pressing question for every new business.

And understanding the answer begins with understanding the nature of value.

With growth, you have two options, which for the sake of simplicity, we will call Fast and slow.

Fast generally means buying ads. There is a popular adage that the fastest way to earn $100,000 in revenue is by spending $1,000,000 in ad spend.

Slow means one follower, one sale at a time. Or as Rocky Balboa says, “one step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.”

There isn’t a right or wrong answer. Both are acceptable.

But where most entrepreneurs go wrong is they want fast results from slow systems.

They seek out the “how I added 10,000 new subscribers this month” type of content but aren’t willing to put in the 3 years of daily publishing to get to that point.

They want the overnight success without the years of darkness and toil.

I wanted this for a long time.

I raced as hard as I could but like a carrot on a stick, my goal constantly eluded me.

But you can avoid completely avoid it by setting the expectation for how you’re going to grow, what you stand for, and why you’re doing it your way.

That is why I talk so much about clarity, thinking, and understanding yourself.

It’s not as sexy as “look at how much money I made last month,” but it’s more sustainable.

And sustainable beats rapid inconsistency every time.

Check,

Andrew Ryder