Uncommon Advice
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Uncommon Advice
Million Dollar Audiences, Twitter vs. Threads, and The Truth About Multitasking
In this episode, Nate shares his personal experience with entrepreneurial burnout and how he recovered, plus strategies to refuel your passion. We also discuss Instagram's new platform Threads and how it compares to Twitter, and why multitasking is a productivity killer. Learn how to compartmentalize tasks effectively and get the most done in less time.
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Welcome back to Uncommon Advice. We got another episode. We have Zee back in studio today, woo Feeling better. He was down for the count for a few days. Driving a extrovert like him Crazy. Have to sit in the house. Oh yeah. So we're excited to get into today. How you feel, man.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm feeling a lot better. Just the vid, the rona still, I guess, out there and somehow some way I ended up catching it. No idea how, because I've asked every single person that I was with If anybody has caught it. Nobody got it but me, so I have no clue how that came apart, but yeah, At least you're not hanging out.
Speaker 1:You didn't have to hang out for 14 days.
Speaker 2:July 4th came around and you know, like you said, I'm a big extrovert. I actually had friends in town. Guys, Friends came in town to spend this beautiful July 4th with me and they did not. I sat home alone and did absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so Ashton held it down while you were out, so that was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I'm sure to watch that episode. That was a great episode too that you guys put together.
Speaker 1:Let's get into it. Man, We've got some cool stuff we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about a new group that we've got launched that we're working on. We're going to dive into the whole Twitterverse threads thing that's going down, and then we're going to get into some uncommon advice about multitasking. So I'm excited for you all. Tell you what. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Let's do it. So, nate, you started this group that we're talking about. You started this what? Five, six days ago? I think a week ago, right, not that long ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just I started it, I want to say, on Wednesday, maybe of last week. So I was heading out of town to a charity event and headed out of town to the charity event and at that event, so shoes there. But when I was there I made a post before I jumped on the plane and this is the value of owning an audience or having an audience. And what I did is I made a post about what we talk about in here on the podcast. We talk a lot about building million dollar newsletters and audiences and all that stuff right. So I made a post about how I was thinking about putting some more content together for that and we got a bunch of people interested and commented on it. I was like, oh smokes, I got to do something with this now. So a much bigger response than I thought. So what I did is I put them into a group and about a week ago probably today is when I really started kind of dropping them in there.
Speaker 2:So in this group. First of all, what's the group called Million Dollar Newsletters and it's free, right, it's literally. You're just giving knowledge to people who want to learn how to build million dollar newsletters. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So the group is absolutely free. It's on Facebook. It's interesting enough, I heard the word boomer today when I was on a mastermind call and I think it was directed towards me. Maybe this isn't the coolest platform to be using, but no, I mean it's. A lot of people are over there. So we kept it on Facebook to keep it simple, and you can search for million dollar newsletters and jump into group there. You know it is a private group, but it is free. You don't want to just be giving a secret to everybody.
Speaker 2:So what kind of content?
Speaker 1:are you putting in there? So I'm dropping everything that we do, like all the things I've learned over the last three years of building our newsletters and things that I've learned in the 20 years I've been, you know, running businesses, so not just newsletters. I just happen to have that's a lot of the content in there, but I'm dropping basically right now. It's been a post today. From that post, it's usually highlighting one core topic in regards to building newsletters. So, for example, today I talked about yesterday I talked about one step funnels and today I talked about the three types of one step funnels that we use and I put that in there. So there's kind of really just going deep into million dollar newsletters and what it takes to launch one, grow one and ultimately for us. So one.
Speaker 2:So we were talking about something yesterday. You said a lot of people that want to join this group is because they're burned out or they're trying to learn how to do something. Because you're saying a lot of response, you got back from people who were like high end, like really big agency owners and stuff like that, and you, being an agency owner, I know we've spoken about it before, that's why you stop you got burned out. You got to a point where, like I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So really what it came down to is the posts that really kind of took off inside the group when I once people got in. There was the, and I ended up pinning it so people can see it, because it had a big impact on many people messaging me that I've known for years. But I just talked about being burnt out and I think in business, as an entrepreneur, it happens we get burnt out over time, and in my agency I was. I was running it for nine years. We had plateaued the previous three years. We're not growing and the only way to grow was to take on more clients, hire more people, get bigger.
Speaker 1:Right Now that didn't necessarily mean profit margins would go up or, frankly, they would shrink a little bit more overhead. And so with that I just was fried and I've talked about it before how I got a phone call on my birthday, my 40th birthday, and it's like it was funny because you know, my wife knew I was burned out, my clients actually. After I had conversations with them about how we had to move on and find them any reasons, they knew I was burned out and I think the challenge the thing was I just had to admit it, okay. And so what I did at that point? I got burnt out. I'm like I gotta do something different, and that's when I got into building the newsletter business, because I had done it prior. My first newsletter was back in 2008, 2009.
Speaker 2:Oh, so, so you, you mean burned down. You're talking about the agency and the newsletter, what's? They're both basically still in the media, marketing kind of thing. But what's the difference that you're getting burned down in the agency but not in the newsletter business?
Speaker 1:Newsletter. Business is way easier to run. Agency. I was building complicated funnels, running paid traffic all these years, right? So between all the offers I had run prior to owning an agency that I owned, plus all the agency, all the agency clients I had and all the traffic ran for them, we were close to a hundred million dollars a little over a hundred million dollars in ad spending. All that timeframe of running you know, business Now sounds like an amazing number but at the same time, keep in mind, I've been in the online game for 20 years, almost, right. So I've been doing marketing for about 20 years for the companies I've been building or doing right so it is a big number, but at the same time it's, I think, the more I guess, the impressive pieces.
Speaker 1:It's been going on for so long, right, so been in the game for a while, it's not kind of flashing a pan stuff. So the difference is the media had clients responsible that I was responsible to and the results that we got were required for them, so right. So like one month we'd be riding high, they'd love us, we put some stuff in place, it'd be successful, and then the next month Maybe you know we had a couple tests that didn't win and you know we were just another expense at that point. We're the best thing since sliced bread when we were winning and we were just an expense when we weren't. So it was just emotional roller coaster and I mean I truly care about the success of the clients, right, and so like I'd find myself and I'd built this business to where I had to be in the trenches nonstop all the time. So that was the challenge.
Speaker 2:That's why I was burnout, and a lot of agency owners are that way, because they're great Tacticians that become owners, right at that point, the business is probably probably want you in the trenches because you're the one that had the I would say the mastermind. You were the one. They came to you because of you, not because your employees or anything. So they wanted you to be more involved. So, with this monthly news that you're building out great idea, what's the goal? What, what, what is the goal? That if someone's joining it, like, what's the angle, it's gonna be a group just on Facebook, or is there more to it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I think obviously we've got the, we've had the million dollar newsletter group. I'm at a point now and you mentioned the district agency in in newsletter business. So in the newsletter business, like, you and the team do a great job of cranking that out and growing that and we're kind of the teams there. So I've got some time on my hands and I know that we can have a positive impact For other people that want to do the same thing. Right. And so there's a couple kind of if I had to give my my selfish reasons, right, I yes, it's gonna help other people for one other business owners actually make more money in their business Because a lot of people aren't doing it properly and or doing it all to. It's also going to be done.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna, you know, consulting side, right, so I do have a consulting offer where people can come in and work with me directly, I hope, kind of build out their newsletter and so we'll see where that grows. That that's kind of the start of it now. And then our ultimate goal to newsletter business, frankly it's it's for a roll-up sale. So if we help a bunch of people build a bunch of kick-ass newsletters, they could potentially partake in some of that if if it makes sense, yeah, so it helps us build a network of other people that are building newsletters, be successful and then, when we are looking to exit one day, potentially be able to wrap them in with us if the deal makes sense.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, and I know there's a book coming along. I know you're in the process of that. That's still in the beginning, but July 4th they gave us here at the office the day off and you came in July 4th Was that the day that you worked on everything that's on the whiteboard? Oh yeah, so we, so I think it was. I didn't come in, I was sick, so I didn't actually come in back to the office till Monday and I walk in and there's this board in our conference room and it's just filled with everything about this on what people are gonna get out of it, what kind of content. So that's pretty cool. He's, he's already.
Speaker 1:Yes, there pieces of their manager's. Got a document in it all now for everybody. And biggest thing is Getting results right.
Speaker 2:What's the biggest advice you tell anybody that joins your group, like, if they want to take the most, the biggest opportunity or the, I guess, the most opportunity out of it, what's the advice you would give them?
Speaker 1:Well, there's a lot of different nuggets in the group right.
Speaker 1:So, each one of those nuggets is going to be beneficial to somebody, based on where they're at and their kind of journey with that process, right. But I would say, at the end of the day, a lot of people aren't using email anymore. So use it, and because when you use it you guarantee things. But I could tell you, if you use it and you use it right, you're going to make more money in your business. Hands down, you will. It's worked every time. I've used it right and many other people I know have used it. So use email. Old shiny objects eventually become new shiny objects, right? Especially in the marketing world.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so you know, and email's been around for a long time, so it's not a fad, it's not a tactic that's going to die off. It's here and companies are using it more and more, and there's definitely a unique way that you got to use it, which we talk about in the group. So yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing is engagement and not just liking it but actually interacting with some of the stuff that you say and other people say, because that can build relationships and that can help you. Like, if someone you put something on your post right and someone says, hey, explain this to me. I saw you were talking with someone and you said, hey, I'm going to be posting about this year in the next coming weeks, and you did post it. And then he commented oh, thank you. So it's like engaging when you're not even if it's just your NAITS group or not, but any other group engage with the comments and with the people and that's going to help build relationships and conversations.
Speaker 1:Yep, so you're one. As my buddy Mark likes to say, you're one relationship away. There you go. There, you go, so you can find them in there.
Speaker 2:So I think now we're going to get into the rumble that's been going on here in the last last week between Twitter and the red. So I know you've been on thread. You actually have a decent following already on thread and I know you've been more active. I haven't really done much on thread. I created an account, so what are your thoughts on thread?
Speaker 1:So I don't know that I really sold on it yet. I mean, yeah, they were the fastest growing kind of whatever user base. But if you look at it, they're pushing a lot of people from Instagram over and so the real question will be what is the adoption rate? How many? You know everyone's on it because it's new, but how many people come back to it? So be curious to where that falls. I think you know it's. There's some simplicity to it. I like right now, out of the gate. I like Twitter more and I like threads.
Speaker 1:Okay functionality wise, it's just more mature right Now. Threads I feel like it's almost like it was rushed a little bit to just get out the door Some certain features that just aren't there. So I'm not, I go on there, I'm kind of playing around a little bit with it, trying things out, but I don't know if it's, I don't really know who's going to win the battle and I don't know if it's about winning a battle. You know, I was watching a thing with Gary V talking specifically about this, and what he was saying is it's not or, it's and Right. Social media is about and not or. And granted, he's everywhere right and he's not everything. So his, his statement made a lot of sense to me too. Like threads, it's not about what whether threads or Twitter survives. Threads overtakes Twitter. You know Thread survives. The question is and it's and Threads. So how are you going to implement it in your business? You know it'd be interesting to see what goes down with it. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been in there much, but what do you think is going to go down?
Speaker 2:I haven't been in there much. I will say there's one thing that Instagram did that I think lives to what we do in building audiences. So Metta has built a big audience on Instagram. Instagram has millions, maybe billions, of people on it and it's funny because there's only one way you can get a Thread account it's if you have an Instagram account. So what they did is they're forcing their Instagram users to grow this platform.
Speaker 2:It's not like Twitter where it's just staying alone, where you can go and create your account. No, you cannot get a Thread without Instagram. And when you're on Instagram, I think it's like even on the, if you go to your bio, it's already up there like join Thread if you're not having joined, and once you do join, it has, I think, the app. Yeah, with the numbers. So I think they're doing what we've spoken about is using their audience to grow a new system, audience kind of thing. So that's pretty cool that they've done it, but my thoughts on it is I haven't played around with it much. I've seen like what you posted, I've liked on it, but I haven't done anything. It looks very similar to Twitter from my end, from what I've seen, just tweeting stuff or images allowed. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they got images, got video, like they got all that stuff on there, but they don't have there's no like DM feature, which I guess could be good, but there's. You know, Twitter seems to be more of like a real time news platform right now. What I've noticed right now on threads when I'm over there is people posting more information. They really what. It's funny because some of the people I follow over there follow on Twitter and they're just taking a content they had on Twitter and posting it over on threads to kind of curate all that Right. So it is interesting to see that. The question is will it be around? I don't know, who knows, maybe is it, maybe it isn't or it doesn't.
Speaker 2:Wasn't the whole thing behind it, too, with Twitter? Because I know, remember, when Elon Musk took over, he fired a bunch of people. I think I read somewhere we had a conversation on it where he brought some of those. Mark Zuckerberg brought some of those people that were fired over to help build this thread, like developers and stuff, and now they're facing a lawsuit or something.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I mean I know he filed whatever a lawsuit. I mean it's at this point, who knows what it is between those guys gamesmanship or isn't, I don't know. But apparently Zuckerberg, when I heard Zuckerberg hired a bunch of Zuck, hired a bunch of people that were let off by Twitter, that were specifically building out Twitter, they were developers for specifically Twitter. He hired them over at threads they built and launched and took off, right, so with it. So who knows? I mean he's talking about trade secrets, all that kind of stuff, and you know IP, I think, is what he's going after on the lawsuit that he posted about. But that's big business man, those guys absolutely. Well, I don't want to play that game.
Speaker 2:There was a funny thing about it. It's like Mark Zuckerberg's growth. He steals the Facebook development from his buddy when they were partners, and then Instagram he just buys it out. He didn't build it out. And then let's see, and now threads. He just went and hired some people from they used to work at Twitter to build threads. He's like this guy hasn't done anything himself, but hey, he's a good businessman, right? He is where he is today.
Speaker 1:I mean, he's. He's done a really good job of building not two things right Social interactive communities and then an ad platform behind it. So, for one, twitter's ad platform is not very good, so Facebook's is really good. They've done a great job with that. So the question is, what I'm actually curious to see is how do they roll the ad platform over to the threads? So is the plan that you basically, now and so when you're running Facebook ads, you're running on meta, whatever, oh, I'm calling it. But even when they change the meta, even if you're going to run some ads over there, you can pick what platform you know. When I'm curious to see, like, are they just going to pop up? Now I can run in threads, is that going to pop up in there? So, if so, in that traffic, I mean it opens up a whole other set of traffic source and their ad platform will 100%.
Speaker 2:I mean, what kind of ads are you going to be able to run?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what types. What style, right, yeah, so that's going to be interesting.
Speaker 2:But story Mark or Elon apparently they might fight, apparently they, apparently they've been training. So what are you taking in this one?
Speaker 1:Oh, man, I don't really know who to take, so I think it's all show.
Speaker 2:Do you actually think it will happen? You don't think so. No, I think, first of all. I think if it does happen see first, only people with a ton of money are going to be able to get in. Those tickets are going to be ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Well, it's almost like this whole threads and Twitter battle is just to increase pay-per-view tickets, right Ticket sales Exactly Increase the price they were saying like I think Dana White well, I think it was Dana White who spoke about it or something and he was just making a joke he's like pay-per-view is going to be easily anywhere between $1,000 and $1,000. I mean a hundred to 500 bucks to be able to watch this fight. Yeah, imagine paying 500 bucks to watch these two guys who have no idea what to do when they fight over here. But I probably take Mark just because I seen he's been training with some of the UFC champions, like there's Rodrezania and Alexander, so yeah, I mean he is, who knows what, what Elon is doing, or if he trains behind the scenes.
Speaker 1:Maybe he trains and doesn't talk about it. So who knows? You get that sleeper.
Speaker 1:Well, I might have some, Definitely a couple of years ago came out and was like trying to like, build more of a likable character for himself, right, like more of a likable personality. So he started posting more about that stuff. And that's when the fighting thing, you jitsu and all that. Now I don't know that he chose jiu-jitsu just to make people like him, but I think it was also these. There's a little bit PR that goes into some of that stuff right, right now it'll be.
Speaker 2:It'll be interesting Elon might come out with some like Tesla robotic fighter or something when he's like backstage at this robot fighting for a person. You never know with these guys. But yeah, no Twitter thread, we'll see you. We'll see how that plans out here in the future. Right right now, the hype is red because it's a new thing.
Speaker 2:It's a new thing, so we'll see how long it lasts, which everything I think that meta has done. Like you said, facebook with their Instagram. They've, they had done a good job developing and continue to stay up with the times. Like Facebook is around forever but people still don't fall off like like my space. My space was on for a while, but not a lot of people really you even around in my space was Listen.
Speaker 1:I had a my space. I remember.
Speaker 2:I remember you could pick. You could pick your music to put on your profile. I had an account of my space. Was it who sent you your?
Speaker 1:first message first message?
Speaker 2:I actually don't even remember.
Speaker 1:Who's your?
Speaker 2:first friend? Oh, my first friend. I think my first friend was my cousin. There's no way.
Speaker 1:See, come on, it was Tom Tom at my space.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't remember that part.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's everyone's first friend at my space.
Speaker 2:No, but I had a my space and I remember that you could pick your music and all that, but no, but my space fell off and I feel like another one's falling off. I haven't heard about it. I have actually haven't even been on the lights like a snapchat. Snapchat, I remember it used to be like Greatest and best thing in the world, and I feel like snapchats falling off a little bit too.
Speaker 1:I don't know that it's. It'll be interesting because I did a. I did a poll recently because clubhouse was huge a couple years ago when they launched and it was real big. Everyone's doing it. I'm there and I think threads has more staying power than clubhouse has. A clubhouse kind of everybody was doing it is that they launched at the right time and Everybody was like just communicate. So I don't clubhouse kind of died off. I don't know where it's at now. Definitely don't see a lot of people like pushing like they were. I think threads has a little bit more staying power.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, and it will mean you have, when you have like the name behind you have met up with the Facebook and Instagram. You have a lot of support. So I don't think it's gonna, like you said, I don't think it's in the going anywhere, but hey well, I guess time will tell, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's jump in. Maybe got uncommon advice, and I want to talk about the false beliefs People have around multitasking.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm gonna ask you right off the bat Think multitasking is something that is good, or do you see it as a bad thing?
Speaker 1:So multitasking is one of those things where a lot of people do. We get sucked into doing it. We're doing one thing. Let me do another thing. The biggest challenge with multitasking is that Very few things get complete. I so, instead of Bragging about being a great multitasker, talking about how you're great at multitasking, or even if anyone's watching this and they're applying for jobs, don't tell someone you're great at multitasking, right. So like, if you're, look, if you're an entrepreneur, your business owner, you're someone who wants to work with a small business and an entrepreneur. Stop telling them a great multitasking. Start telling them Get really, really good at completing.
Speaker 1:Completion, getting things over the finish line, is way more important than being able to do a bunch of things and once correct so even if you take one thing on, if you got your your list, you got five things and you're working on five things to get them done, you're gonna. You're constantly bouncing back and forth, your wasting time, because turning one for one project to move to the next, you know it's one thing.
Speaker 2:So when you get into some completed, yeah, I mean that that's a big thing. But I also think when you're multitasking, mistakes are mistakes pop Probability is a lot higher because I've made them. Like I know when we do like the whole list cleaning here, we clean our list down with transferring them. I've made mistakes. We're like a financial maverick list should have gone here but I accidentally put it in the American health to drop box folder just from trying to do different, so many things at once makes mistakes. So, like you said, right down your list and it's better to Scratch it off and just do one completed and move on to the next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, now multitasking Absolutely. So the key is get it across the finish line, but one thing is Focusing in on that task for that moment. Now there's times when a project comes in right, or something you're working on, and you get it all the way to the point that you can't do anything else until you get information from someone else, or you get feedback from somebody. Right, you it usually is off gets to the point where you've moved that ball as far as you can, down the road as far as you could, and then you have to hand it off to somebody else to do a piece, or you're waiting on someone else to get back to you. Right, then move on to the next task.
Speaker 1:So multitasking I think people kind of one getting kids over the finish line is more important. But if you're multitasking, like a lot of people think, because they got 75 tabs open or working on six things at once, that they're being productive, really what it is is you're just busy. Being busy, which are people love doing, is being busy. Being busy, right. So getting one thing done. You can multitask in a day, but you just change how you do it, like get one project all the way across To as close as you can, as far as you can before you need information back, then which? And move on to the next project, get that all the way over to where you need it and then, as soon as you get that information back from somebody else, then you push the other ball all the way across finish line, right? What happens is we get all these things going on and then we don't do any of them and they never get across the finish line. So I disagree with multitasking really Okay.
Speaker 2:So what would you say? Because you've probably done it, everybody's done the multitasking. What would you say is the biggest, biggest mistake you've made? Multitasking.
Speaker 1:I well. The biggest mistake I made on multitasking is just that I don't get things across the finish line when they need to be. Basically like you're doing so many things that you have fast balls get dropped, things don't get across the finish line, right, so that's so. That's the type of, that's the results that most people get, which especially an environment, like us in the office where we're built.
Speaker 2:We're working on different brand, bunch of different brands, audiences, different projects. Dad, this example of ash running with Google, the Google adsense he's doing this. It's like when you're multitasking some, like you said, stuff start falling through the crack and then even you forget them. You forget about them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to compartmentalize right in time blocks. It's probably a much better way of getting things done than multitasking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you see I've. I had a big issue Multitasking, especially when I was in school. I was in school. I'm I would say I'm a bit ADHD, like I'm like the kind of person like I'm working on something, I jumped, I've got him better. But in school I remember I'd be doing like a Math, math, I'll be doing like math or like reading or something, and I'd be like, all right, no, let's jump to the next, and I literally will have the tab open, like you said. You'll have all these tabs open up top, and then I would Come and then I get, I got, I get into a freeze when I start multitasking a lot that I get frustrated. I get into a freeze like now I can't do anything, now it's pointless. I've run into that situation before. I don't know if you've ever gotten into.
Speaker 1:I've gotten there and it happens to a lot of people Right, so they got so many things going on and your mind ends up going, well, what do I do? And then three hours passed and you're like, what the hell did I do today? I got nothing done, right, because you freeze and don't get things done at all Correct. Then you find yourself like clicking Every 70 you know all the tabs that you got open and, oh well, do this and I do this. I bounce around and find you find yourself bouncing back and forth, and back and forth and nothing ever gets there.
Speaker 2:And you've told me before. When that happens, I accomplish something very small, and that can be reading your emails, opening your emails, so just something to get you back going, and those, those, those kind of advices have helped. The multitasking side of things for me.
Speaker 1:That's it, man. I think that's it short and sweet short and sweet Awesome man.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, remember, like subscribe, we have our gross code, gentlemen's code, here. We don't, like I said, where we don't, nobody pays us. No, what does? This is just to give information out to people to help you guys out. So, like subscribe and send it to a Buddy. Maybe he needs some help out of multitasking or not multitasking, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Until next time, see you guys.