Don't Swim Against the Tide!

For years I fought against certain trends on the Internet. I fought against the siloing of your data by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Medium. They built vast empires on the backs of your content and I grumbled because I thought my little blog would change the world. Little did I know that it’s all about social media and how you use it. My biggest lesson from this fight is don’t swim against the tide.

I started 2023 with the word Focus. My entire goal this year is to focus on the important things in my life. Those include my family, work, and my writing.

I’m focusing and refocusing my time for maximum benefit. I’m questioning productivity and being ruthless with what works and what doesn’t work. Above all, I’m no longer shying away from distribution channels because that’s where the audience is.

The audience for my work is on Facebook. They’re on Instagram and Medium. They’re moving from Twitter to Mastodon and they’re signing up for email newsletters. I would be stupid not to give them what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.

That’s what I’ve been doing in 2023, focusing on those core things and they’ve been paying off in spades.

Based on running my latest data on Medium, my subscriber growth remains in viral territory. I’m 4 months ahead of my forecast with no signs of slowing down. Readers love my Weathered Publication on Medium and its growth is picking up steam.

On the regular Internet, both my sites, Thomas Ott dot IO and this one (Neural Market Trends) are awakening. Both sites have an email newsletter option and subscribers are starting to flood in. By all metrics I have, the growth engine is firing on all cylinders. All because I’ve been writing great content and a solid go-to-market strategy.

If I continued to swim against the tide I would write myself into oblivion. That wouldn’t be a good thing because I have so much value to share with you all.

It’s that simple. Write great content and serve it in the way that people want to consume and you can build a solid audience.