I did a TikTok.

I did a video on TikTok.

Doesn't seem headline-of-a-newsletter worthy perhaps. But for me it's a big first step into the wild world of social media, outside of my safety net of Linkedin of course.

The main thing holding me back from doing TikTok in the past, other than my age, has been the need for video content. I hated every attempt that I recorded of me sitting at my desk recording myself. Everything I did seemed preachy or patronising.

So I invested ￡395 in a drone with a 4k camera that basically acts as a portable film crew. Just show it your face and it'll either follow you from behind, or fly backwards in front of you.

I expected the worst, but am actually impressed by how well it works. So I had a go at filming something in my garden (I'm not ready to be seen recording myself in public yet!) and actually found it much much easier.

It's pretty cheesy, but I think I will take that versus overly serious or boring.

You can see the first test video here - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/chrismole_an-important-message-activity-7138853658191912960-zErW

Not ground breaking, but the (very) casual nature of the video allowed me to relax a bit. Also helped by the fact that I played a bit of a character rather than the real me trying to give insights. That will probably come across even cheesier when I start!

So, armed with a video, I decided to give it a test on TikTok. I'm invisible there so there's no real damage I could do.

I posted it to a new account I set up, with no followers or even people I was following. Within 30 minutes, it had over 700 views.

I have 22k followers on Linkedin, and some videos I post never get 700 views over all.

It was a very quick reality check of the potential power of TikTok. Clearly the targeting and relevance is a lot lower than Linkedin, but I'm sure there is a type of content I can develop that drives some value.

So 2024 is going to be about video for me. The safety of Linkedin and the wild west of TikTok. Wish me luck!

I'm going to take a short break from blogs and newsletters now until January. Time to relax and refresh ready to go big in 2024 with FounderON, Kitchimo, The Ten Club and Cassidilly. I can't wait.

Hope you have an amazing Christmas and a fun filled New Year!

If you liked this newsletter, you might also like my blog where I talk about the many highs and lows of starting, scaling and selling my business.

Check it out here - www.founderon.com/my-blog