Be Dumb or Get Washed Away

I had 1800 fans on Instagram

But it wasn’t for me.

I knew my writing was solid.

I wrote content for 6 months.

But something happened.

Instagram shifted. Video content got pushed more than images.

I hated over-editing my videos only for them to get 400 views.

So I had a decision to make.

Keep hating the process, but keep my 1800 fans.

Or drop it all and start from 0 on X.

I sat for weeks thinking about this decision.

“What if nobody likes my stuff?”

“What do I even post on X?”

My thoughts raced. Doubt lingered.

But I knew it was the only move. I knew I needed to start from 0.

Why?

I had confidence in my writing skills.

But I also knew I needed to look dumb.

Everybody starts at 0 and I was no different.

I stuck around for 60 days and have gained 640 fans since then.

I have a tribe as some might say.

But this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t allow myself to suck.

Perception of Being a Beginner

Most people suck at learning.

They don’t learn how to learn.

They fear being incompetent and looking dumb.

I spoke to a friend earlier this week.

He talked about learning how to learn.

Why is this important?

Because if you can’t learn you can’t win.

The quicker you nail down concepts the quicker you can install them.

The quicker you install them the quicker you win.

Simple.

But the root issue is most people aren’t willing to learn.

They refuse for 3 reasons.

They’re scared of judgment.

They’re scared of falling short.

They’re scared of their fragile ego.

These three things hold back 90% of content creators.

1. Judgment

Humans crave social acceptance.

When you look around everybody is winning.

Posts flexing 200K impressions in a week.

Posts flexing 100 fans in a day.

This is why it’s tough to start.

All you see are wins.

And you’re over here fighting to make progress.

But here’s the thing.

People never share their down moments.

They only flex and talk about their peaks.

It’s superficial and everybody sees through it.

When you’re starting out see through this madness.

Most creators never share their lowest moments.

People won’t judge you for being small.

They judge you for complaining about being small.

Most don’t care anyway.

They only start caring when you gain a following.

2. Falling Short

You’ll never know unless you try.

Too many people are afraid of falling on their faces.

But what happens if you don’t even try?

Earlier this week, Matt and I interviewed Joseph Oliver.

He’s a 17-year-old multiple 6-figure dropshipper.

The crazy thing?

It took him three months before he saw his first sale.

He spent months grinding with no results.

You can’t fall short if you don’t quit.

It’s impossible.

Quitting is only quitting when you decide to quit.

Anything else is feedback and progress.

You’re the one who decides to quit or not.

You hold ultimate power.

3. Fragile Ego

“But I don’t want to look dumb”

Well, you won’t win.

Simple as that.

Everybody looks dumb in the beginning.

Think of the biggest creators.

Dan Koe.

Dakota Robertson.

They all started from 0.

Their content sucked too.

But the difference between them and Jimmy the Guru?

They knew being trash was part of the process.

You can’t win without finding your base level.

Let yourself look dumb and adjust from there.

Base Level Feedback

You don’t start to start.

You start to find your base level.

From there you find improvements.

But everything starts at the base level.

Without it, there’s no starting point.

It’s like prepping for a marathon only to never run once the gun goes off.

You sit at the starting line while everyone else is getting feedback.

The quicker you get feedback the quicker you can make changes.

If your writing sucks you’ll see nobody is following you.

From there you can make tweaks.

But you’ll never know your writing sucks if you don’t get your first 50 posts out.

Learning to Learn

Learning to learn is a fun process.

Once you reach the other side of the bridge you grasp things at lightning speed.

You fail faster to learn faster.

That’s the entire learning process.

But how do you do it?

Let’s jump into it.

1. Push Things Out Like a Madman

In the beginning, nobody cares.

People aren’t judging you.

They aren’t even thinking about you.

But most feel like everybody is judging their content.

The 50 people who looked at your post and didn’t leave a like.

This is The Spotlight Effect.

You think the 50 people who saw your post are clowning you.

But they scrolled past it in a second.

This fear holds tons of people back.

They never post because of it.

You need to get something out.

Why?

Feedback, feedback, feedback.

Even if you aren’t getting feedback from others.

It’s still a stepping stone.

You’re getting in the needed reps to get good at the content game.

Right now you’re standing on a stepping stone.

The more content you put out the more stepping stones there are in front of you.

You run out of stepping stones the moment you stop posting.

Get something out.

2. Experiment Like a Scientist

You’re the scientist behind your content.

Each post is an experiment.

Are your posts sparking a chemical reaction from your audience?

Or are they fizzing out?

Once you get stuff out you must test.

Test, test, test.

This is what it should look like in your first few months.

I’m still testing my content to this day.

Seeing what works and what doesn’t.

The cool thing?

You’ll always be a content scientist.

It’s the only way to stay sharp and unique.

Most people find what works and only do that thing.

Focus on what works, but stay sharp and keep experimenting.

You might find the next big thing.

3. Analyze Like a Data Nerd

The next step is to analyze.

What works?

What doesn’t?

Did a specific post do well?

Why?

Most people test and double down after seeing one post explode.

You must take it up a level.

Instead of only looking for what works…

Focus on cutting out the things that don’t work.

You don’t want dead weight.

Dead weight turns your audience off.

You want fans scrambling to each post you share.

Not only some. (Platitude people)

If nothing works?

Test something else.

It’s an ongoing game of receiving feedback and doing new stuff.

Cut out all the dead weight and your fans scramble to every post you share.

4. Repeat.

The best creators keep this cycle going.

If you aren’t growing you’re dying.

There’s no such thing as staying level.

You must be a content madman, scientist, and data nerd.

This takes years to get down.

I started writing when I was on Instagram.

But it took me months to get the basics down.

And I’m still learning to this day.

The best learners love learning.

So once you get this process down you’ll never want to quit.

It’s fulfilling and satisfying at the same time.

Tying The Knot

You’re going to be trash.

I was trash.

Dan Koe was trash.

Dakota Robertson was trash.

(Spoke to Dakota last week and freaked out)

Everybody’s content sucks in the beginning.

But you must be at peace with that.

Most people never get over this truth and never start.

They’re too afraid of looking dumb.

They’re too afraid of what others will say.

The result?

They stay as someone who used to have potential.

Fulfill your potential.

Don't waste it.

Keep killing it.

-Trung

This Week’s Podcast

This week’s podcast is my favorite one to date.

Matt and I talked about accountability, but we had tons of fun with it.

This podcast is more free-flowing than usual.

Watch below and let us know if we should keep this kind of format in the future.

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P.S. We are rolling out episodes with guests. Be on the lookout for those in the future.

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