What I Used to Think About Having a Large Following Would Do for My Business VS What It Does

The more followers you have, the more your business can stand on its own. 

Do you think it's true? When I started Meraki Media, I dreamt about having 3,000 followers. I guess it's because of the kind of culture Instagram gives to its audience that people started glorifying being famous. 

Having this kind of mindset is good, but it doesn't work most of the time.

Why? Well, there's a huge misconception about being viral and what it does to our business.  

Scroll away and read more about it here.

Why going viral never works.

Most people who miraculously got famous because of a viral post tend to have no idea what to do. They don't have a clue how to seize the opportunity. 

How to get brand deals all the time?

What content could make me viral again?

How can I get more followers?

It will never work because not only are we going to be too stressed about it, we will also lose focus on the goal. Managing leads and creating content at the same time is not a great exercise for your mental health.

What I thought would happen.

When I reached 3,000, I expected a lot. I thought that the business would completely function on its own by then. At some point, I was after the followers and the likes too. I was working very hard and realized its heavyweight. 

Starting a business gives a lot of stress and personal growth. If you get stuck up on something like gaining more followers, you might fall into a business that’s not making revenues.

You won't even bother because you're after the number of likes you're seeing. The first three years of your business are very crucial. It’s where you’ll be making connections.

That’s what I want you guys to focus on. 

We all know we need that in business. And it is an important stepping stone to grow the company in the future. I want you to think about the connections you’re making today? 

Is it going to impact your business in the next few years to come?

Why should we connect?

I'm going to tell you about my grandfather's wise words. He was an amazing entrepreneur. And he goes with the saying,  “Never burn a bridge.”

The reason is that you may never get to cross paths with these people in business again. 

So, treat them right.

I uphold these wise words as I manage Meraki Media. You have to maintain a good relationship with your clients until the end. I know it stings our hearts every time a client cancels or ends their subscription, but don't ever think it's your fault.

They are business owners and they should be able to decide what's good for their company or not. To be honest, I feel so proud of them. Finally, they are learning to make their own choices in their businesses. There's no point getting upset. You can always choose to look at the brighter perspective of things. 

You will have a hard time focusing on connections when you get too caught up with obsessing over the likes. If you're not happy about the situation, do something about it.

That's why you guys are listening to this podcast, you're taking action around what's not working in your life. It's not about the automatic success in reaching 3k, there's no such thing. 

What do you need as an entrepreneur?

Moving forward and educating yourself. Sitting down and deciding how you want to approach the problem. That’s the best way to coach. No coach can tell you exactly what to do. 

You decide. I support you.

And if you don't have people supporting you, and telling you, you need to follow your intuition, you need to do what's most important for you, that will derail your goals, right, and the track that you're on. 

Takeaway

Don’t ever compare yourself to the success of other people. 

Look at our company, for example, we’ve been in the business for 3 years and we’ve just recently reached 3k. 

I should be upset with these numbers, but I'm not. That is because we’re growing at a steady rate of ideal clients. And that’s what we want. Just remember that if you’re showing up and you’re offering value and educating people, they will find you. 

Go easy on yourself and go on a vacation. And be more present.  

If that’s not resonating well with you yet, you can try our membership program. We’ll discuss your insights and we’ll talk about what type of content you need to be putting up out there. 

Follow us on Instagram.

And visit our podcast channel for more in-depth talks.