Looking back on my 100-day challenge

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Back in March, I shared an interview on Creative Elements with?Lalese Stamps. Lalese garnered a lot of attention for a 100-day project where she created 100 ceramic mugs with unique handles in 100 days.

That 100-day project had a?huge?impact on Lalese's life and business,?Lolly Lolly Ceramics. She was featured in New York Times, Pop Sugar, Marie Claire, and even Gwyneth Paltrow! Her?Instagram?following has grown to nearly 110K.

It's such an incredible story. And I saw that as a challenge I wanted to take on myself – 100 days of?something.

At the same time, I had this recurring urge to invest more energy into Twitter. Whenever I took the platform more seriously and dedicated some energy into Tweeting more (especially more?thoughtful?ideas) I would see a positive return.

So back in August, I combined these two urges. On a bit of a whim, I stood up a landing page for what I called the?#Tweet100 challenge.

The idea was simple: a 100-day challenge to publish at least?one?good Tweet per day. Of course "good" is subjective, but the idea was to give yourself a chance to get your ideas in front of new people.

With some help from Aron at?Automate All The Things, I built a no-code leaderboard that would automatically track your progress through the challenge as long as you tagged your tweet with #tweet100.

And that was it! It was (and still is)?totally free to participate.

But the results have been?wild:

• More than 1,000 participants
• Nearly 30,000 Tweets tracked
• More than 90,000 followers gained

Personally, I've gained more than 1,600 followers in 100 days (16% growth). Others have gained more than 3,000 and even 4,000!

The experience has taught me a few things:

• What gets measured gets managed.?By focusing on this challenge for 100 days, I did in fact ensure that I tweeted more, and I saw results because of it.
• You build faster by borrowing.?I've been almost?stubbornly?focused on growing my email list because I didn't trust social media. But by focusing on sharing my ideas on Twitter, I grew my email subscribers faster than ever before!
• Community forms naturally when it serves the people.?I've been blown away by how supportive people in the #Tweet100 challenge have been to one another, just by following and connecting with each other on Twitter! Up until this week, there was no formal community platform. But a strong community formed nonetheless.
• Twitter still has so much opportunity.?I get frustrated talking to some creators on Creative Elements because it's clear they hit on an opportunity at the right time. Today, it often feels like we missed the boat on those "right times." But in my honest opinion, there's still?so much?opportunity to grow your?creative platform?on Twitter.
• Tweets get attention, Threads get followers.?There's just no denying it – what is working on Twitter right now is Threads. It's the most reliable path towards growth on that platform and it's not even close.

Yesterday was my 100th day of #Tweet100. And I'm rolling my progress into what I'm calling #Tweet365, a challenge to focus on Twitter for a full year. It's bizarre to say, but Twitter is one of my biggest creative priorities for 2022, and you might want to consider it too!

There is still a lot of opportunity on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube too...but I'm much better and happier in written form than video.

→ If you want to join me, you can join?for free right here.

And because it's such a priority for me, I've also created an ACTUAL community platform to support members of the #Tweet100 community!

Inside the?#Tweet100 Social Club,?I'll be sharing everything I'm learning about growing on Twitter, supporting others members' Tweets, sharing writing prompts, and more.

If you want to grow YOUR creative platform on Twitter, I hope you'll consider joining us!

#81: Jay-Talking about Speaking with Jay Acunzo

Many months back, I was introduced to Jay Acunzo over Twitter. It seems a lot of people who like my work also like his work and vice versa.

So Jay and I recorded an episode on storytelling earlier this year, and we have since become pretty great friends!

Jay is an author, a speaker, and a showrunner. He started his career in marketing working with ESPN, Google and HubSpot. He currently hosts two podcasts. One is called 3 Clips, which was recently acquired by a podcasting platform called Castos, and the other is called Unthinkable, a storytelling podcast about creative people who break from conventional thinking to make what matters most.

I recently reached out to Jay to ask him questions about speaking, and we decided to turn that conversation into a podcast episode to help others too.

I’m calling this Jay Talking, a series of conversations with my friend Jay Acunzo that are less so an interview, and more so a conversation between two creators in the trenches of building their businesses.

In this episode of Jay Talking, we talk about speaking, the differences between a keynote and a breakout, how to land gigs, how to prepare for gigs, and some actual next steps I could take if I wanted to become a keynote like my friend Jay.

?? Listen to the episode

Go Behind The Scenes of Creating a Membership

Over the next few months, I'm creating a membership that will be opened to a small group of creators in early 2022.

By purchasing?Behind the Scenes Access, you'll be invited to a private Discord community where I'm sharing every decision I'm making in the build-out and why, including all PAST updates.

Platforms, pricing, integrations, automations, strategy and more. See you inside!

?? Get behind the scenes access

Hey, I'm Jay Clouse! And I'm here to help you find?creative independence.

Most of my creative energy is directed towards my podcast,?Creative Elements, and my newsletter,?Creative Companion.

I've created a number of courses and?workshops?including my best-selling?Podcast Like The Pros?and my?Freelancing School Course Bundle.

I want to support YOU on your own journey to creative independence.

The path is long, but you can do it. And I'll be right there by your side, encouraging and inspiring you the whole way.

You can also connect with me on?Twitter?or?Instagram.