Why I Quit Toxic "Money" Twitter

Quick note:

I frame this from the lens of a content creator, but even if you don’t create content, this perspective will help to improve your personal and professional life as well.

I nearly quit as a content creator.

I’ve burnt out more times than I care to admit and ended up further from my goal – to share my ideas online and make money doing it.

The grips of “Money Twitter” got the best of me.

I fell into the trap of believing guru advice that I could make money online by:

• Sending 5 DMs/day

• Tweeting 4 times/day

• Writing threads twice a week

• Jumping on calls with people weekly

• Commenting on big account’s tweets 40 times/day

  • “Gotta set notifications and get there first!”

  • “Gotta leave an insightful reply!”

  • “Gotta like everyone’s tweet so they notice you and follow”

This was supposed to be the optimal growth strategy to grow an audience (traffic), get them on your email list (marketing), and sell them your offer (profit).

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great business model but the way I went about it was dumb.

It didn’t align with my values and it felt like work I didn’t get any joy from – like a typical 9-5.

Back in October, I started on YouTube and gained 145 subs then pivoted after finding Dan Koe, then started Twitter, now 880 followers.

In the beginning, I was excited to create, connect, and cash out.

I thoroughly enjoyed expressing my perspectives, learning new insights, and forming connections.

My passion for writing and creating impact grew.

I aimed to balance the abundance of misguided advice and provide genuine value.

Then things changed…

I gradually lost the excitement, Tweeting turned into a chore, and it felt like I had missed the entire point of creating.

The environment turned into a Twitter growth funnel circle jerk.

A vicious cycle is all too common with new endeavors like this:

1. You get excited about starting

2. Full-blown research mode

3. Follow gurus and influencers that have what you want

4. Copy all of their tactics and follow their advice

5. Repeat their philosophy as if it were your own

6. Get some initial traction and results

7. Things start to slow down

8. Motivation starts to dwindle

9. You start having doubts about the process

10. Comparison, imposter syndrome, or burnout starts to kill your drive

11. You quit or take an extended break.

My creator journey has been riddled with mistakes.

I can whine about how gurus are just out to indoctrinate beginners.

I can complain about how much time I’ve wasted trying to make it on Money Twitter.

I can make the excuse that I didn’t make it because I have a family, a full-time job, and don’t have hours to spend on Twitter growth.

But I won’t (anymore).

Instead, I’m going to use this experience as a stepping stone for my next venture. More on that at the end of this letter.

As you may have guessed, this isn’t a total loss.

I learned many valuable skills in the past 6 months:

• Courses taught me marketing, copywriting, lead generation, and storytelling.

• Experience taught me content creation, long-form writing, and systems thinking.

• Failures taught me prioritization, leverage, energy management, and patience.

These are 7 mistakes that I would avoid if I had to do it all over again.

Mistake #1: Posting platitudes

Platitudes are easy to write but they suck!

Think about it.

What types of creators do you follow & why?

They all write with impact, magnetism, and unique angles.

Show your true colors because there are too many copies out there.

With AI on the rise, lifeless content is saturating the internet.

My new goal is to tell more stories in my content.

Share advice and learnings from your perspective.

Mistake #2: Failing to write effectively

2 words:

Impactful writing.

The one tip I used to improve mine – cut out 50%

I'm not a professional by any means but I figured that I should write to make reading easier.

Long, blocky paragraphs are annoying and less engaging.

I use white space, like this, for readability and to make my points concise.

Writing a book is different but if you’re writing online, you most likely want your readers to get value from your wisdom by finishing your articles.

Here are 2 tools to help with your writing:

• Hemmingway - suggestions on readability, sentence structure, improving active vs. passive voice, etc.

• Grammarly – corrects your grammar and helps eliminate weak sentences.

Studying a bit of copywriting and creating your own blog is the best way to improve, in my opinion.

Bonus: join a community where you can get accountability and direct feedback.

I have some resources for you at the end.

Mistake #3: Neglecting skill building

They can take away your job, home, and belongings but there’s one thing that no one can take from you.

Your skills.

Skills make you an asset and open up more opportunities to grow in health, wealth, and relationships.

Here’s the skill stack I’m building for the rest of 2023:

• Video creation

• Storytelling

• Visual/graphic design

• Verbal communication

• Writing

• Marketing

All contribute to the goal of making an impact on my community and developing mastery in multiple domains.

Mistake #4: Failing to network effectively

What's more important than getting "followers"?

Genuine connections.

Reach out to those who spark your curiosity

Don't ask for anything upfront, give!

Opportunities don't often come from what you know, but rather who you know.

Either way, having a solid foundation in relationships online and in person makes pursuing goals and experiences 10x more worthy.

I can show you how to start a (proper) conversation online here:

Mistake #5: Chasing virality

More followers don’t mean shit.

My follower count didn’t make me:

• Happier

• More money

• A ton of friends

Chasing "rapid growth" wasn’t sustainable for me and for many people it won’t be either.

I burnt out from trying to chase every shiny object and growth tactic out there.

That’s by design.

If you’re hung up on every Notion template, giveaway, or some guru telling you you’re wrong for existing, chances are you’re chasing the wrong rabbit.

Boring habits and systems that make sense for your personality type (link below) will keep you in the game for a long time.

Forget the trends and focus on building from the ground up.

Mistake #6: Failing to set systems

Don’t make the same mistake I did.

I spent hours on Twitter engaging (and consuming mindlessly).

So I created a system that requires minimal time with the most impact:

25 - 50 minutes a day spent building new connections and getting my content seen using the algorithm.

I’ve burnt out too often by trying to keep up with everyone, all the time, daily.

Make a targeted list, join a community, or build your own.

Now, I have a group of less than 10 creators that I engage with regularly.

Not just on social media, but in genuine conversation where we share insights and resources, and help each other stay accountable to our goals.

The group is exclusive but I’ve been deciding on making it open to my email community.

Let me know if that’s something you’re interested in!

Mistake #7: Niching down my brand

Heard that before?

Hyper-specific content poses a big problem:

1. You box yourself into limited content ideas.

2. You end up getting tired of recycling the same old content.

3. You can only talk about the niche or your content engagement suffers.

I’m a big fan of the niche of one approach, where YOU are the niche.

Of course, not everyone will like everything you talk about, but think about it:

The people you follow don’t all just create about one thing!

You subscribe to multiple creators for a wide variety of topics that you’re interested in.

So why should you narrow yours?

If you’re hell-bent on niching down, talk about ALL of your interests as they relate to a common theme (i.e. self-improvement, general health, business)

The only time it makes sense to pick a niche is to solve a specific problem.

You do that by creating a targeted offer, a:

• Product

• Service

• Community

• Cohort

• Course
  

Create broadly, solve specifically.

Note: I watched a few videos that pose a compelling argument to choose a niche in the beginning, at least for a little while. I may update my stance later, but check these out if you’re interested and decide if you want to niche down or not.

• Exactly How to Grow a Massive Brand from ZERO Followers

• My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers

The Lessons:

TL;DR for becoming an unshakable, impactful creator

1. Share your stories

2. Write with impact in mind

3. Build an evergreen skill stack

4. Learn how to be a better friend

5. Reject the hype and shiny objects

6. Set repeatable systems

7. Create your own niche

So I’ve decided to pull back on Twitter for a bit, not quit entirely.

I’ve always wanted to grow a YouTube channel but got distracted by everything else I mentioned above.

My focus will be on a 30-day Camera Confidence Challenge by creating daily videos on my second channel to get more comfortable on camera.

I’m 1 week in as of today!

Here’s a document outlining the challenge if you’re interested!

P.s. if you want to improve your video and camera skills, you’re welcome to join me and a group of others for accountability.

Just send me a DM on my socials or reply to the email.

What did you think of this letter?

Was it helpful?

Let me know!

See you next week!

Resources:

Communities:

• Modern Mastery: Join a like-minded group of individuals committed to self-mastery, building an online business, and gaining financial freedom.

• Dad’s Online Business Toolbox: Join a community of men who are building families, online businesses, and legacies. Free modules are added every month!

Content Mastery:

• Speechify: Emails, articles, ebooks, and more are read to you at up to 4.5x speed. ($60 off link).

• 2-Hour Writer: Learn a marketable skill writing 1-2 hours per day that translates to a promotion, a business, or bringing clarity to your overactive mind.

• Content OS: Set up a content creation machine to systemize your weekly workflow.

• Hypefury: Schedule unlimited tweets and save your ideas in a clean dashboard while saving 4 hours per week.