How I Gained 100,000 Followers

And the exact steps I took that you can copy and use yourself

Honestly, it was an accident.

The number of followers you have doesn’t mean anything. The only meaning I can draw from a follower count is that I’ve been writing for a long time (six years).

You probably won’t still have three followers if you write for six years straight and publish 10+ blog posts a week and three short social media posts a day.

Social media is a game. How many followers you have is supposed to be a sign as to what level of the game you’re playing. I disagree. I don’t think there is any point focusing on followers.

Attention that leads to fame will ruin your life. Just ask anyone who has achieved exactly that.

The Biggest Myth

“If you have 100,000 followers your stories will all go viral.”

Nope, my experience has been the opposite. Here is an example of a freshly minted suck fest I wrote recently. People hated this story.

Then there is the idea that a publication with lots of followers will boost your writing. This is a myth too.

A popular publication won’t make your views explode either.

Why?

Terrible writing is terrible writing. End of story.

Here are a few other lessons from this 100,000 follower journey.

Write With Raw Emotion

People get glued to your writing through emotion. Many writers write with emotion, but they don’t use their own raw emotion.

The strategy is simple: When you have a bad day and want to cry, bottle up the emotion, and then spit it back out as a story.

When you lose a loved one, write about it. There’s one trick though: Don’t just share the emotion. Use the emotion in a way that is helpful to the reader. Talk about how you felt and what the reader can learn.

If everybody forgot about copywriting, bait and switch headlines, follower counts, and social media hacks, there would be many more beautiful stories that inspire us to battle these uncertain times.

This means if you use raw emotion, you’ll be in a completely different lane.

Don’t Become Complacent

It’s easy to become complacent. People dress up in suits every day to become people their parents won’t recognize in retirement.

Unemployment is a punch in the face.

It takes your ego and throws it on the floor, then spits on it. Your view of the world is shaped by the work you do each day. Losing that work means you question everything you’ve known.

You realize there is no safe job. You appreciate a good boss who treats you with kindness. You see how much discrimination there is in a world that is obsessed with using data against you to disqualify you for opportunities that might change your life.

I credit unemployment with writing success.

It forced me to wake up and smell the roses. Setbacks produce more helpful writing than a string of successes shot next to a Lambo.

Create a Rock-Solid Process

There is a process to everything you do. I didn’t realize this.

I thought I just sat down to write at my computer a couple of times a week. Upon forced analysis, I realized that there is this intricate process full of rituals that I follow. Here’s a glimpse:

• 1 and 1/4 spoons of instant Moccona Coffee with almond milk. Shaken not stirred.
• A start time to write between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
• A burnout period around 12 p.m.
• A gorgeous girlfriend who supports the writing process with food.
• Writing on Thursdays and Saturdays.
• Documentaries on Saturday evening for topic discovery and research.
• Editing on Monday.
• Photo selection on Sunday morning.
• Nature walks on Sunday arvo.
• The ritual of turning off the phone (every notification of every app we use to ruin our lives is switched off too).

The little things in writing mean everything to the result. Don’t overlook them.

Fight Back When You Get Banned

I got banned from a well-known social media platform. (I was innocent, your honor, I swear.) The ban was eventually lifted because it was a case of mistaken accusations.

Nonetheless, it helped me understand that you can do everything right as a writer and still face prosecution.

So all you can do is get back up and start again. This is a helpful thought as a writer because your world will get torn apart more times than you can ever imagine. Putting the pieces together again is an art.

Remind People of an Experience They Had

“I felt like that once too,” is a sign of great writing.

Take people through an experience or a story that is relatable. We’ve all dealt with heartache, loss, disappointment, discrimination, etc. Write about it and put us inside your head.

When a reader jumps in a writer’s head for a moment, they have the opportunity to hear that writer and then overcome their own adversity.

Become a Better Human

I used to be an unkind person. I’d scream at charities and make fun of cancer patients who slowed me down from arriving at my next meeting on time.

It took all the selfishness in the world for me to have a change of heart — to finally live with heart.

Terrible people can become helpful writers. They can show everyday people how unkind they’re being by falling for the “accumulation of stuff” game that deludes many of us to chase money. Money is the worst writing motivation.

Many up-and-coming writers don’t feel worthy of sharing their stories because they think they’re not a good enough human being.

You become a better human being as you write.

Why? Because as you write heaps you are forced to learn, teach, and read the stories of others. That process changes you.

I spent much of last year watching videos of kindness and sharing them. I watched so many videos that I started unconsciously replicating what I saw. I remember one morning seeing an elderly man struggling to cross the street in time before the light went red, and he risked getting hit by a car. Like Superman without the cape, I stepped out into the traffic and helped him cross the road.

Nobody clapped. Nobody said anything. It was just a silent moment where it felt like the right thing to do.

I’m not Jesus. I’m a recovered asshole.

So if you’re not the person you want to be yet, don’t worry — write your way there. See the struggle of others as your own.

Make Friends With Other Writers

Some of my good friends are writers. They tell me when I’ve gone too far or when I can go further. They build me up and make me feel like this journey is worth it. The only reason I know I have 100,000 followers is because one of those friends posted a message in a group chat to remind me.

The writers you come up with are the next writers of our generation.

They are the ones who proofread your work, introduce you to book publishers, help you make a few dollars on the side, partner with you to launch a product, tell you how to create an email list, and refer you to publications.

Writing is not a competition between writers.

The best followers are other writers.

Be Unhappy With Yourself

I started writing because I was unhappy with myself. Mental illness was silently wreaking havoc on my life and I couldn’t see it. Tony Robbins lit a match that helped me see what was happening in my head.

Writing became a tool to recover.

On the days where the world looked dark, writing became a distraction, then a hobby, then a disease, then a cure, then a pursuit that had nothing to do with me.

Reach a point where you’ve had enough. You can write a lot from that place.

Make 40 Cents From Writing

It shows you that your writing has value. Because we all have value, even you.

Write When You Feel Like It. And When You Don’t.

There will be many times when you won’t feel like writing or you’re not sure what to write about. Write a list of headlines. See which one grabs you. Then try to write one sentence under the headline.

If you follow this strategy, you’ll see how all writing begins: with one sentence. So if you don’t feel like it, it’s okay. Come home with a headache and write one sentence. Watch how quickly you’ll forget about your headache.

That’s How You Get 100,000 Followers

Followers don’t make you special. I won’t be given any award-winning speeches with a list of credits at the end.

One thousand followers feels like 100,000 followers. As long as you have one person reading, then you’ve got a way to be helpful. Because writing and social media have nothing to do with followers.

Writing on the internet can take your life to many places you could never have imagined. Some places will be picturesque, and others will be haunted houses full of ghosts who want to steal your car keys.

The way to reach 100,000 followers is to give up the follower game.

Write as many times per week as you can and keep the reader at the center of everything you do. Treat the reader like a brother or a sister who you love. That’s how you transcend the follower game and become someone you won’t recognize.

Follow your writing aspirations and see where they take you. You’ve got nothing to lose.