Welcome to The Creator Lab
A place for creators trying to understand how to do social media without burning out
My epic fail
In 2024, I did a 6 month growth experiment where I committed to post on Instagram everyday because I heard “consistency” was what mattered when it came to growing a platform. “Just show up, be yourself, people will come.” I put in tons of work in developing content for every single day, made graphics, the whole deal.
I started the experiment at 2,122 followers and, after 6 months, had 2103.
Yes, you read that right. By showing up, being myself, and posting consistently, I LOST 19 followers. So apparently, myself sucked and it felt like a pretty big hit. I’m a creator. Everyone tells me that I need to grow my platform in order to have an audience, but I do the things and then I freaking LOSE followers. What gives?
I almost gave up. I thought I did, actually, but the issue was, my ultimate goal was/is to have an audience for my music and books. There’s no way around it. Every “me in 5 years” has an audience that connects with the things I make and if I don’t do it, no one will.
So, I finally regulated my feelings and then set out on a journey to understand what’s actually going on with the mysterious “algo”, and how and why creators grow their platforms.
Growth experiment 2.0
At the end of 2024, I set off on growth experiment 2.0 and while I’ve not “blown up” I have seen growth. Enough growth to make me think that I’ve got something to offer to creators.
This experiment has brought me into the depths of marketing, human psychology, machine learning, and storytelling and I’ve been putting into practice all I learn to build a platform for my music, and soon, for my books, and I’m still deep in it.
Why this experiment matters to you
Here’s the deal.
Like it or not, we all know that if you want to gain an audience and make a living doing what we’re passionate about, then we need to use social media. There are some people who choose not to engage or play by their own rules and still “blow up.” Attention just falls on them as if directed by some supernatural force, but, despite how often we FEEL like we see this, this is rarely, like 0.1% of what’s happening. What’s more likely is that the person who “blew up” put in the work to understand how social media works and figured out a system that works for them, stayed at it, and they finally caught traction.
In the end, it comes down to systems. Why? Because social media is driven by algorithms and what is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a finite, ordered set of rules or instructions that a system follows to transform inputs into outputs.
Aka it’s a computer.
Creators know this, but do we really know this? Do we really know what this means for how what we do translates as a computer input? Again, this might be a depressing idea, but it is what it is and we either adapt or change the system. I can’t afford to build my own social media platform, so adapt it is.
Why am I the one you should listen to?
I’ll be the first to say that there are other people with more impressive growth than I have. My claims to fame are:
Going from 0-15k followers on TikTok
Increasing streams from 0 - 75k in a year
I’ve made tons of mistakes, and am literally currently recovering from one. I’m not a NYT bestseller or a top artist on Spotify. I’m not a “social media expert” who’s unlocked the world. So why should you subscribe?
Here are my creds:
I have 4 kids
I’m the main provider for my family & work a full-time job
I barely have time to create, let alone do social media
My answer to “where do you see yourself in 5 years” is always writing things for a community of people who care about me and like what I make.
I work in tech, so I understand it and can translate complicated concepts with simple language
I’m am the target audience of this newsletter. I’m just like you. I don’t have tons of time. I have kids to take care of. A full time job. I’m not a content expert who can do content full-time (yet). I’m trying my best to avoid doing too much and burning out. Sound familiar?
You are passionately invited to The Creator Lab
This is a public experiment in which you have a front-row seat to my successes and failures. This means you can steal what works, and not do what doesn’t. I’ve already gathered some hard-won knowledge that I want to share like:
How to understand and work with the algo
Content approach and strategies
Personal storytelling
Systems, frameworks, etc
I know that this is paid, but as mentioned in my creds, I’ve got a family to feed, a FT job, so I have to be brutally efficient with my time. This being paid helps me show up for you more often. If I know there is a community paying literal money for what I learn, it will help me prioritize this more and be more accountable for showing up.
So, if this sounds like your kinda place, I’d love to have you along for the ride. While I can’t promise I’ll become a superstar musician/author, I can promise that you’ll learn a lot and get a front-row seat of the journey of growth, not just the “I’ve made it” outcome.
What do you say? Wanna come along?