No Readers? Learn to Fish.

You won’t catch any, if you are trying to catch them all.

Are you not getting throngs of readers, salivating over your well-written articles? Do you keep refreshing your stats, hoping those dwindling numbers of reads will rise into double or triple digits? Are the wolves howling, signaling your demise?

I’ve got the answer: learn to fish.

I feel like Jesus telling you, “yo, folks, cast your nets on the other side of the boat.” Follow me, y’all. I’ll make you fishers of readers. (Miracles, water-walking, and raising from the dead not included.)

Russell Brunson brought me this idea via his book DotCom Secrets. He knows his stuff: companies pay him $100,000 for a day’s worth of consulting. He hosts business conferences that sell $50,000 tickets, only available to companies making over $1 million in annual revenue. Needless to say, I haven’t attended these conferences. I bought the book. And then, after being impressed, I bought his other books.

Now I share what I’ve learned with you. Together, we can be successful fishermen and fisherwomen.

Trout like corn.

My dad tried to get me to fish, but I hated it. It was messy and boring, and I ended up with a hook embedded in my hand. It sucked. But I’m a dad now. I needed something to bond with my son, and fishing fitted the bill.

I read some books and did some Googling. I wanted to catch all the fish. I bought the poles, bait, and tackle boxes, and out to the ponds we went. We caught some sunnies: little fish with big teeth and sharp spines, and no meat. Other people were catching trout: big beautiful and fat fish.

This brings up a couple of “lessons learned” to apply to writing:

1. If you compare your success to others, you will suffer in your wallowing anxiety and negativity. Don’t do it.
2. If you share in the excitement of others’ success, compliment them, and ask them how they did it, they are usually friendly and want to help you.
3. If you believe there are plenty of fish for everyone to catch, you’ll stick around until you catch your own. If you think the fish are limited, you’ll quit and go home early.

We can talk all day about how fishing relates to writing (and success in general). But this isn’t about the wide world of fishing. This is about bait.

Turns out, trout like corn.

I asked the trout-catchers, “Hey, that’s a beautiful fish! What’s your method?” The trout-catchers replied by holding up a can of corn, saying, “sprinkle some in the water and put some on your hook.”

If you want more fish, know the fish you want.

Brunson’s point in his book was about knowing the customer he wants. Specifically, he wants fish — I mean, clients — for his conferences that make over $1 million in annual revenue. He’s okay letting the proverbial sunnies swim away.

Remember, there are plenty of fish to fill your boat, but you can’t have them all.

Brunson recommends creating an avatar for your ideal customer. Spend some time on this. Write it out. If you are writing, construct the reader you want:

• How do they access your articles?
• What time of day and environment do they do their reading?
• What kind of jobs and families do they have?
• Why do they choose to read? What do they get from it?

Go ahead and take your time to expand on this in great detail. Describe the color of their hair; choose their weight profile; dress them. The more details, the better.

Before you drop your line in the water, know what fish you want.

Before you create your headline or subtitle or find your picture, have in mind what reader you want. This changes everything! Yes, every single piece of your article changes when you picture an individual reader. Talk to them. Appeal to them. Lure those readers in!

It’s a paradox; live with it.

Yes, you will catch MORE fish by narrowing your focus. I know. It doesn’t make sense. You see there are billions of fish swimming around: fat fish, skinny fish, tall fish, short fish, colorful fish, bland fish, pretty fish, ugly fish — and you want them ALL!

Get your mind off catching all the fish. I’m telling you, it is nearly impossible, especially when you see other fishing enthusiasts reeling in bounties of varied fish. But I guarantee those anglers are focusing on one type of fish and catching other fish incidentally.

If you’re like me and scroll to the bottom of an article to get the main points, here you go:

1. Don’t compare yourself to other writers.
2. There are plenty of readers for everyone to be successful.
3. Create an image of the single type of reader you want.
4. Write to that ONE reader.
5. Profit.

Thanks for reading! I write about being unproductive, breaking habits, and getting lots of sleep, AND still getting things done.

Follow me on Twitter at @LifeisPresence.