Give Away What You Know, One Bite at a Time

Dazzlement creates attention, and attention can be monetized. It's why great magicians can always afford a mansion. But most of us can't even make a quarter appear out of a kid's ear.?

The truth is that very, very few people are beautiful, funny, athletic, interesting, or talented enough to win attention with shock and awe.?

It took me years to figure this out, and to stop feeling bad about my inability to create as much attention as some of my contemporaries. It was a dazzle deficit.

But I finally realized that there is a different approach that works for mortals like me....

Stop trying to be amazing, and start being useful.

I talked about this success equation in my book Youtility years ago, and I'd argue that it's even more vital today. (I've got an updated keynote presentation on this topic too)

You need only gander at TikTok to see this Youtility formula in action.?

Sure, you'll find on TikTok egregiously talented, very popular creators, each a magician in their own way. But does the attention they aggregate with amazement mean you can execute the same trick? Are you going to out-juggle a juggler? Out-dance a dancer? Out-prank a prankster??

Instead, the TikTok creators that inspire me are those that do precisely what I recommended in my book nine years ago....

Take the entire banquet of your knowledge and give it away, one bite at a time.

Inspector AJ is a great example. He's a home inspector in Tennessee, with 1.6 million followers. Again, he's a home inspector, not a Julliard-trained ballerina or some such.

Here's one of his top videos. It's just 14 seconds long, and has accrued 800,000+ views.?

AJ understands the three critical components of building an audience with Youtility:

1. Consistency. Give your audience information in steady doses, on the same platform(s).

2. Usefulness. Educate always. The video above is pretty funny, but much of AJ's content teaches about home safety.

3. Acknowledgement. Let the audience know you hear, see, and appreciate them. AJ responds to a ton of comments, and references the audience in some of his videos.

Miss Excel works this same system. She provides quick Microsoft Excel tips on the TikTok platform, and now sells hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of training courses each month.?

This usefulness approach works in any and every platform: blog, Youtube, podcast, and beyond. In fact, it's the system that powers the newsletter you're reading right now. Consistency. Usefulness. Acknowledgement.

Today, however, TikTok is perhaps the fastest way to accrue an audience, which is why I'm thinking of launching a series there this Spring. Maybe about tequila?!?

But regardless of where you execute it, the Youtility system can work for you. Just figure out what you know that your audience doesn't. Then chop that knowledge up into bits, and distribute it over time.

The biggest mistake is assuming what you know is too mundane to be interesting. It's not. If you are interested in a subject, there are literally millions of others who share that fascination.

After all, neither home inspection nor spreadsheets are topics you'd see on the marquee of Radio City Music Hall. Yet, Inspector AJ and Miss Excel reach more people every day than the Rockettes do, by far.

This issue's issue: What usefulness-based accounts do you follow on TikTok? I'd love more examples!