I follow https://twitter.com/dvassallo and he shares a lot of insightful information and he's very open with his personal and startup related numbers.

If you're bootstrapping your startup like I am, I'd recommend that you follow him too.

Here are clickable links from his post above, for the lazy/efficient.

[1] https://gumroad.com/l/twitter-audience/hn

[2] https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1252963753647316992

[3] https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1253447751779487744

[4] https://gumroad.com/l/aws-good-parts/corona

[5] https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1253161719108493313

No specific question, I had my opportunity to ask a bunch of him in a recent interview, but I just wanted to comment to say that DVassallo is 100% legit and has given me some great ideas, so ask him some questions.

How much of your success would say can be attributed to your specific subject and the fact that Twitter is your audience's "natural habitat?"

Do you know of other examples of people in niches that have nothing to do with tech, having the same success on Twitter by doing similar things as you did?

Lots do well (low 6 figures in sales per year) in the health and fitness category on Twitter, even with audiences smaller than mine.

Daniel is legit.

I followed his journey after I discovered him via the sponsored tweet on AWS.

He stood as an inspiration & I've used few of his techniques to get to where I'm now - https://twitter.com/Thenakedpoet2/status/1253285273250566145

What are your thoughts on building multiple audiences considering trust and credibility is such an important factor?

Since your (Twitter) following is your customer acquisition channel, do you think this will restrict what you’re able to sell after this? In other words, do you think a following of hackers who aspire to be entrepreneurs will force you to sell “how to make money online” type material to continue your success?

I have a lot of subjects I would like to sell ebooks on, but that seems to conflict with the strategy of cultivating a specific audience around a personal brand.

I don't think it's a problem as many people think. Followers don't tend to follow you to buy products from you. They follow mostly because they like to watch a story as it happens, get some inspiration for themselves, and occasionally learn something actionable. Talking on various topics doesn't necessarily detract from being interesting in that regard (within some limit).

When it comes to monetization, only a small fraction will buy directly. Your audience helps you most by spreading the word. Since they feel they know you a little bit, they start recommending you and your work to their friends and followers. It's this network effect that makes it really powerful.

Thanks!

1). Getting started.. write content or videos about something I am passionate about? Just.. specific? niche?

2). How can I best stay true to the format? Like what is your top 10 always make sure to do this.. and not that, etc.

3). What can I do to differentiate myself? Speaking well? Or do I need a hook?

I am interested in taking this route, and I have some ideas.. I just don't know where to start. Those links and things help, so thanks for that.

Start with something of broad interest first, rather than a niche. It's easier to find customers this way. If you have expertise in the niche, you likely know the fundamentals well. Teach those fundamentals.

Don't worry too much about production quality. The value is in the message. Many people fall in the trap of obsession on the production and get demotivated by the lack of progress. Just think of this as a recorded live talk. Prepare some slides, think about what you're going to say, and record.

The most difficult part is marketing. It helps to have an audience. People prefer learning from someone they feel they already know a little bit.

Thank you for sharing. How did you go about building your audience? What would you recommend as first step for someone without an audience? I've made some videos and courses in the past that have done well and have always thought I should be making more videos and/or writing more.

It started with the blog post in my pinned tweet. That made it to the frontpage of HN and got me my first ~2000 followers in a week. Then I kept sharing details about my business and self-employment journey. Occasionally a tweet goes a bit viral, and it gets me a few hundred followers. But most of the steady state growth happens from other people recommending me to their followers. In the course I just released I go in a lot more detail about what I did, and what I've seen work and not work.

I don't use Twitter - I find it unsubstantial. I can't imagine following anyone or anyone following me. Like, how do you acquire followers - posting geeky jokes or retweeting jokes from others? (etc...)

You can use Twitter in many ways. But I treat it as a virtual town square. Some important info, some gossip & news, and plenty of conversations. People get to know me a little bit, and I get to know some people.

Were you ever concerned about potential downsides of building an online business linked directly with your real identity?

Have you experienced any downsides to it?

Authenticity has a price. It can affect job opportunities, lost business, awkwardness, and other things. However, I control what goes out and stays hidden. I don’t feel an obligation to share everything, and if it’s something I feel can harm me, I keep it offline.

So far, I didn’t experience any consequential downsides, but I’m sure I’ve closed some employment opportunities with some of my comments. (But I was aware of that risk when I made them.)

How many blog posts/tweets/days did you take to get there from the first one?

My average is about 2 tweets per day (to my timeline), and it has been consistent since the beginning. I wrote 5 blog posts in the first 3 months, but then settled on Twitter.