Crushing It! EPB

  “That’s the thing: once you’ve crushed something, you’ve got to keep moving on. Who knows how long Snapchat’s going to be around? Let’s crush it again.”

  While still going strong on Snapchat, Shaun started developing his YouTube channel. Originally he was documenting the scene behind the scenes of his crazy Snapchat adventures and travels, but as he started creating more branded YouTube videos and his life became increasingly packed with meetings, the channel increasingly featured all the characters in his life, from the employees working in the “Spacestation”—Shaun’s studio and office—to his wife, Jenny, and his baby girl, Adley. In late 2016, they launched a second YouTube channel, on which they all have free rein to bring their “weird ideas” to life. Shaun envisions it as a sitcom in which all of his friends and family play a distinct role. His hope is that his audience will get addicted to the personalities and story lines just as they once did with shows like Seinfeld.

  Though his YouTube brand deals today outnumber those he does for Snapchat, his Snapchat following remains robust. In addition, he continues to accept speaking engagements, including a TED Talk. He is also working as a consultant helping brands to strategize, work with influencers, and put together strong social-media campaigns. In 2017, he announced that he’ll be creating branded content for Viacom, including Nickelodeon and MTV. And he recently launched a successful eSports organization with some of the number-one teams in the world. There’s no sign of stopping. Every day, this long-haired skater dude with the instincts of a hardened businessman commits to spreading positive messages and giving people a reason to laugh and have fun.

  What’s the secret to his success? “Personal relationships. I think a lot of people establish fake, one-way relationships—they just want to ask for something, or they want to do a collab and get a shout-out. They don’t develop those real relationships and provide value and just give, give, give. If you do that, eventually you’ll get back, and that’s where the success comes.”

  I have watched this man execute relentlessly for the last five years or so. What I love most about him is how his happiness comes through in everything that he does. He’s a classic storyteller who isn’t afraid to try anything. While many people find every reason in the world to say no, Shaun says yes. That’s his secret sauce.

  10

  Twitter

  If the following information sounds a little familiar, as though you might have read it before in Crush It!, that’s because you did. The strategy for building a brand on Twitter has changed little in nine years, but most people still haven’t learned how to do it correctly and effectively.

  Twitter is the water cooler of society, that place where everyone goes to get the latest update on whatever news or pop-culture event is occurring. The only difference is that, while office workers used to have to wait until the day after an event to gather around and share their knowledge and opinions, now that conversation is happening in real time, 24/7.

  At the time of this writing, Twitter, in this one man’s opinion, is in a really tricky spot. It continues to remain the only pure social network, a place where people interact with content, with each other, and with events in a way that doesn’t happen anywhere else. Other platforms started out as social networks, to be sure, but eventually became content management systems. There is engagement, but on a far smaller scale than on Twitter. On Twitter, in an instant you can dive into any conversation about any topic—cooking, outer space, wine, sneakers, politics, skateboards, seltzer. Done wisely, this engagement will compel people to seek out your content elsewhere. Unfortunately, this ease of interaction led Twitter to develop more into a conversation platform than a consumption platform. People talk a lot on Twitter, and the sheer volume is problematic. You’re going to consume a lot more of what I say if you hear me speak at a keynote than if we’re having a conversation, because when we talk, especially in a group, we’ll probably interrupt each other, talk over each other, and get distracted by what else is going on in the room. It’s difficult for consumers to absorb everything you want them to when you’re talking to them on Twitter. The constant chatter and massive volume has been great for the spread of ideas, which is good for influencers and media outlets, but the chat glut has also made it harder for people to break out as Twitter personalities.

  Twitter 101

  Twitter is disproportionately the place to listen, react, and hijack. Problem is, most people aren’t very good listeners, and it’s often an especially big challenge for the types of people who want to build personal brands so the world will listen to them. But listening well is the key to engaging well on Twitter. It’s by listening that you can find the conversation threads that can lead you to the people passionate about the subject around which you’re going to grow your influence. If you’re a lawyer who wants to be the next influential sportscaster, it’s likely you’re going to put out amazing sports-related commentary on YouTube and create a sports podcast. Getting anyone to give you even a passing glance on those platforms, however, will depend almost exclusively on the quality of your content, and even then a huge number of people just won’t see you. But on Twitter, a rising sportscaster could make it her mission to find all the people—every single one—talking about Kolten Wong, Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals, or the Cardinals’ archrivals, the Cubs, Chicago, or Wrigley Field, and reply in some unthreatening, interesting way that creates a connection between her and each sports fan. The next day, she could do the very same thing for people talking about the Jets and all Jets-related topics. If she does it well and frequently enough, eventually she can virtually grab these people by the shoulders and point them straight toward her website, YouTube channel, or podcast.

  The thing is, it will take a shitload of discipline and patience. Let me define discipline: it’s backing up your ambitions with your actions. This rookie will need to spend four, five, even six hours a day on this kind of engagement, often in the predawn hours, if she wants to become the next Linda Cohn. If she just wants a little name recognition from her town’s bar regulars when they talk about their local team, then twenty or forty minutes per day will be perfectly adequate. Maybe.

  Now, keeping people’s attention and nabbing a subscription or a loyal fan will still rely entirely on the quality of what those consumers find on our rookie sportscaster’s website, but the point is that Twitter gives you a chance to both lure and lasso—or jab and right hook—people into your orbit in a way that no other platform does. It’s a slow, slow, slow process and an immense amount of work, but if you’re willing to do it and your content is special, you should see a payoff.

  Twitter 201

  Biz-dev. Everyone knows that Twitter is still the number-one place to get my attention because, to this day, I’m still consuming what people are saying about me there more than on all other platforms combined. That’s true for many other people in different fields. Because it was built to be a conversation platform, Twitter is an interesting place to jump-start biz-dev opportunities or collaborations as you grow your brand—maybe even the best place. For example, some influencers have hundreds of thousands, even millions, of followers on Instagram, but only a few thousand on Twitter. Where do you think they get the most requests for favors or collabs? Instagram. So even though they probably spend more time on Instagram, you’re more likely to have a better chance of getting a response if you DM them on Twitter, where there is less competition for their attention.

  There are several other advantages to using Twitter as your pillar content:

  It’s a complete and trustworthy directory. The platform has been around long enough to have perfected its verification system, which gives it a better search function. You can still spend a lot of time guessing whether the Instagram account you’re targeting is real or not.

  Its retweet feature offers a remarkable opportunity to create instant awareness. Let’s say you make a YouTube mash-up of the rapper Logic’s music videos. It’s unlikely he’s going to see it, even if he’s tagged. Share
the mash-up on Twitter, however, and the retweets can propel your video to dramatic virality, the kind that even the biggest influencers notice. This kind of word of mouth does not exist on Instagram or Snapchat and is enormously beneficial to content creators.

  Not only that, you can try to spark that word of mouth many, many more times on Twitter than on other platforms. I post three, maybe four times per day on Instagram, but there are days when I could post forty-seven times on Twitter. The fact that it’s as welcoming to the written word as to pictures gives content creators the flexibility and leeway to increase the volume of their storytelling.

  On Twitter, you are always just one comment away from getting noticed and making a name for yourself, so the more times you get a chance to talk, the better. Remember, though, that the best dinner guests are not just great storytellers, but also great listeners. So bring all your smarts, your wit, and your cleverness to the party, keep the conversation going by engaging everyone around you, and watch your influence grow and your opportunities multiply. There’s no other platform that gives you this opening to introduce yourself to so many people so often. Don’t ignore it.

  Imagine This

  Let’s say you’re a twenty-two-year-old college student named Anna, and your dream is to be a sports commentator. I know there are a lot of you out there because you e-mail me pretty much every month asking me to help you get an internship at ESPN or Bleacher Report or Barstool Sports. You know what that means? That means that even the kids who have spent most of their lives steeped in social media and can hardly remember a time before Twitter are still looking at the world through a narrow lens and completely missing the big career and personal brand–building opportunities right in front of them.

  The wonderful thing about sports is that they’re a great equalizer. Any basketball fan can walk up to a group of twenty people they don’t know debating LeBron versus Jordan and within minutes be part of the mix. For many people, they’re the easiest icebreaker. Sports also help people ease into new relationships, offering a way to connect with strangers without having to rely on other social identifiers, like your job, neighborhood, or school. Twitter was built for those kinds of conversations. In fact, there’s no better place than Twitter for sports personalities and enthusiasts, because there is literally no limit to the number and kind of sports conversations in which you could engage.

  Now think about this: who do you think has a better chance of getting an internship with ESPN: (a) the unknown kid who sends her résumé in along with four thousand other people applying for the same job and has nothing but a prayer that the director of the internship program will bother to look at her portfolio, or (b) the kid who becomes a regular, active presence in the Twitter feeds of all the ESPN personalities and staff who actually rely on intern help?

  The thing that differentiates sportscasters from one another is their greater or lesser ability to synthesize data, of course, but also the particular ways they add their two or three or nine cents to the event at hand, whether it’s the McGregor versus Mayweather fight, or the Cavaliers versus the Warriors, or the Wimbledon tennis finals. Twitter is unmatched in its ability to help you amplify your voice and your brand. If you’re looking for a job or hoping to make your mark in an industry, consider your activity there as the longest interview of your life. And that’s a good thing. There are few feelings more frustrating than leaving an interview wishing you could have said one more thing to show off what you know or to emphasize your value to an organization. You never have to feel that way on Twitter; the forum gives you endless opportunities to prove why you’re special and deserve to be respected.

  So use Twitter to show the world—and in particular, all the important people at various sports outlets who might need interns—your unique perspective and personality.

  Start by looking at the trending topics (in the mobile app, you’ll see them listed when you click on the Search symbol). There is bound to be something sports related there. Click on it, and then start expressing your thoughts. You can do this in two ways. You could just start writing. With a 280-character limit, it could take you eleven tweets to say everything you want to, but that’s OK. Or you could try recording a video of yourself talking about the topic (the current video time limit on Twitter is 140 seconds), then posting that. Include the relevant hashtag so that everyone else searching for information on that topic will see your tweets. Once you’ve exhausted yourself with the trends, start searching other sports topics and inserting yourself into the conversations happening around them by replying to people’s tweets. You show you’re well rounded by sharing your thoughts all day, every day, via text or video, on everything from the NHL to MMA, the PGA, and World Taekwondo (which was known as the WTF until June 2017, when it rebranded and dropped the word Federation from its name). You reply to famous people, you create content in response to well-known sportswriters, personalities, coaches, and athletes. You give yourself every possible opportunity to be discovered as people hit those hashtags and watch those conversations.

  Done right, this should take you four to six hours.

  That’s day one.

  On day two, you do it again—for four to six hours, or as many as you can spare when you’re not at work or school. Remember, eleven minutes is eleven more than zero, but also remember, twelve minutes gives you more at bats to win than eleven.

  Day three is a Saturday. Awesome! It’s your day off! That means you can spend ten to seventeen hours seeking out sports-related topics and engaging with others interested in them, too.

  Day four, Sunday, the day of rest. You “sleep in”—an extra hour—so you only get ten to sixteen hours to work, but you make them count.

  Day five. Monday. Go to work, go to school. Tweet during any downtime, such as lunch or walking between classes. Meet your parents for dinner (put the phone away). Go home. Study for your upcoming test if you must,* and tweet until two a.m.

  Do this repeatedly, consistently, constantly, until your thumbs are callused and your eyes are bleeding, or at least until you feel they should be.

  One of those tweets, maybe within those five days but probably more like a year down the line, will be the piece of content that catches the eye of someone at a sports station in Kansas City or Montreal or Chicago, who will reach out to you to find out where you’re working and whether you’d be interested in joining their team. Or maybe a news station will contact you and ask you to comment for an article (news stations monitor Twitter closely for material). One piece of content in a Twitter environment can be worth a hundred on any other platform. It’s that disproportionately impactful.

  I want to make something very clear. This book, like 99 percent of my content, is for people who aren’t 100 percent happy, for those who complain or wish or hope or wonder “What if?” I talk about working twelve-, fourteen-, or seventeen-hour days because that’s what it took most of today’s success stories and entrepreneurial role models to get to where they are. I don’t actually recommend unhealthy lifestyles, like getting too little sleep or isolating yourself from your family, but to all the critics who say entrepreneurs like you and me don’t have work-life balance or are shortchanging our health, I ask you this: has it ever occurred to you that the people you’re insisting should get eight hours of sleep are so unhappy with the sixteen hours they’re awake that they’re willing to invest this many hours to change their lives for the better? Which would you rather have, a long night’s sleep and sixteen hours of misery every day or a little less sleep but twenty hours of wide-awake joy? I’ll pick joy every time, and so will most people who are crushing it.

  How I’m Crushing It

  Jared Polin, FroKnowsPhoto

  YouTube: froknowsphoto

  Jared Polin’s father had a great way of explaining why he always wanted to be his own boss: “I’m not going to be told when I can take a leak.” A children’s clothing salesman, he was known for his honesty. When Jared decided to go into business for himself, he vowed that honesty
would be one of his calling cards, too. Along with his hair pick.

  Jared uses a hair pick as a business card because he has a seriously big afro, and because he is the founder of FroKnowsPhoto, a YouTube channel dedicated to “fun and informative videos” about everything you’d want to know about photography, from proper lighting techniques to choosing the best gear. He spent his youth working in a camera store, started shooting professionally at the age of fifteen, and spent ten years touring with bands. This is not someone who ever had to think hard to identify his passion.

  For years he had had a beautiful website that featured his best work, but he hadn’t seen much business come of it. He was twenty-nine years old. His mother had passed away unexpectedly of cancer, and he’d stayed home to help his father take care of his centenarian grandmother. He was shooting weddings, the usual gigs photographers do to make their living, and earning $20K, maybe $30K a year. At the time, most people were saying that blogs were the way to build an audience, but he didn’t consider himself a writer. Yet he’d watch other photographers’ YouTube channels and be consistently unimpressed with the information they were putting out. Rather than criticize and tell them what they were doing wrong in their comments sections, he simply decided to do it better.

  He’d attended an event, bartering his photography skills for a ticket, where he had heard this loud wine salesman talk about how he had used video to grow his family’s liquor store.

  This guy was very real and not trying to sell anything, even though he’d just written a book. And he said, “There’s no secret to being successful on the Internet. You need to be good at what you do; you need to be passionate about it and go crush it.” That resonated with me. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders because someone else was saying what I was thinking. I had tried some things in the past, to make a couple videos and put them up, but for whatever reason, my head wasn’t in it. I just wasn’t ready, I guess, at the time. And reading the book, something clicked, and I thought, Now I’m ready to do this. He did this in the wine world; there’s no reason why I can’t go out there and exploit it in the photo world.