First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo - Secret Recipe for a Successful Content Creator: 7 Key Lessons with Clint Murphy

Secret Recipe for a Successful Content Creator: 7 Key Lessons with Clint Murphy

06/21/23 • 39 min

First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo

E36: What's it like to go from 0 to 300k+ followers in 2 years? Clint Murphy, the host and creator of The Growth Guide podcast and newsletter, did exactly that. Clint is the Chief Financial Officer at Mosaic Homes, a Real Estate Development company. But, what I’m most impressed by is Clint’s audience growth, which has skyrocketed over the past 2-3 years. Clint is a master at audience growth and lucky for you, I invited him on to this podcast to tell us all about it. This is a masterclass in personal brand growth. This is one episode you don't want to miss.
Let's get down to business!
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SPONSOR:

I love using Riverside.fm to record all guest interviews like this one with Clint Murphy. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.
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EXCERPTS:
Audience Building Flywheel: "And so the flywheel is, as we grow the social media, the access to guests increases. As we have larger and larger guests, the threads that we write on social media to promote the episode get more eyeballs because people wanna learn lessons from those people that you had on the show...Until they're both growing bigger and bigger."
— Clint Murphy (8:32)
Viral Networking: "And so what you do is you create a network of friends. I'm gonna share your stuff. You're gonna share my stuff. We share each other's stuff. We lift each other up. We get it in front of more eyeballs."
— Clint Murphy (12:00)
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TOPICS:
[00:05:27] Reverse Engineering Goals for Success
[00:08:32] Creating a Flywheel to Grow Your Audience
[00:10:52] Mindset: Be Willing to Suck For a While
[00:20:11] Differences Between LinkedIn vs. Twitter
[00:21:55] How to Choose the Right Platform For Your Content
[00:25:33] Focus on the Long Game for Growth
[00:26:15] Focus on Process, Not Results - Your Inner Scorecard
[00:34:56] 7 Lessons for Successful Content Creation
***
LINKS:
Jeremy Enns - Episode 28
Sam Browne - Episode 32

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.
Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.
Episode you might like:
Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv
From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry
...

Previous Episode

Newsletter Growth Secrets: Don't Make These Costly Mistakes

E35: Today, I am sharing my learnings growing my newsletter. I'll tell you five key lessons from my journey to getting 3,000 subscribers in just 5 months for the First Class Founders newsletter so that you don't have make costly mistakes.
I'll lay out specific and actionable tips about what to look for while promoting your newsletter, how to spend your money wisely, where to spend your money wisely, and the one thing you need to have in your branding and messaging.
Let's get down to business!

***
SPONSOR:

I love using Riverside.fm to record all guest interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.
***
EXCERPTS:
Cross Promotions: "Trying to cross promote your newsletter before reaching 3, 000 subscribers doesn't result in a big uptick in your subscriber numbers."

— Yong-Soo Chung (13:09)Swapping Recommendations: "Swapping recommendations helps your newsletter grow rapidly because you're no longer constrained by the same constraints that applied when you were doing cross promos."

— Yong-Soo Chung (15:28)
***
TOPICS:
[00:05:48] Growing via Twitter ads.
[00:07:19] How to auto-DM your followers.
[00:13:09] Cross-promotions not effective before 3k subscribers.
[00:14:50] Swapping recommendations is magical.
[00:19:24] Beehiiv Boosts: New channel for growth?
[00:24:02] Consistency in voice, branding, and messaging.
[00:29:34] Bonus lesson: Build in public.
***

LINKS:

Episode 22 - Newsletter Success Launch Plan: 4 Effective Strategies to Kickstart Your Newsletter
Episode 23 - Grow Your Newsletter Fast: Secrets to Skyrocketing Your Subscribers
Episode 27 - 10 Powerful Tools to Boost Your Newsletter Growth

Next Episode

From Investment Banker to Creator: The Story of How Khe Hy Carved Out His Unconventional Entrepreneurial Path

E37: Khe Hy and I have A LOT in common. Khe is also the son of immigrant parents. And like me, Khe also decided to quit his Wall Street finance job to venture off into entrepreneurship. My conversation with Khe proved to be incredibly illuminating and I found his life to be a rich treasure trove of stories and life-lessons.
I spoke to Khe about his journey of becoming an entrepreneur: from being one of the youngest Managing Directors at the prestigious private equity firm BlackRock managing a fund of hedge-funds to starting his own newsletter, to quietly offering his services as a business coach, to becoming the founder and CEO of his own company, RadReads.
Today, Khe shares many life-lessons he learned while going down his unconventional entrepreneurial path.

***
SPONSOR:

I love using Riverside.fm to record all guest interviews like this one with Khe Hy. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.
***
EXCERPTS:
Why Material Success Doesn't Always Equal Happiness: "But my happiness...baseline level of happiness, didn't really change much."

— Khe Hy (5:09)
The Benefits of Not Niching Down: "I'm gonna share things that I'm interested in, and they're gonna change because I'm gonna change."
— Khe Hy (12:39)Establishing Authority: "When you write about a certain topic over and over and over and over again, you become an authority, or people deem you an authority."
— Khe Hy (25:25)
Challenge of Converting Your Audience to Customers: "People could love your stuff, but getting them to open their wallets and, like, buy something from you is a completely different ballgame."
— Khe Hy (41:58)
***

TOPICS:
[00:03:12] Khe's Journey from Employee to Entrepreneur
[00:08:01] Accidental Newsletter Becomes Huge Success
[00:11:27] Long-Term Success Means Sticking with It
[00:25:25] Repetition Establishes Authority
[00:28:24] CEO Struggles as Creator Economy Declines
[00:46:15] How to Find your True Work, Passion and Focus
***

LINKS:
How to "CEO" During an Economic Meltdown
Khe Hy on Twitter

First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo - Secret Recipe for a Successful Content Creator: 7 Key Lessons with Clint Murphy

Transcript

Yong-Soo Chung [00:00:00]:
When Clint Murphy told me about his insane running streak, I was totally blown away.
Clint Murphy [00:00:07]:
In 2016, I started a running streak and I ran everyday for one and half years. And I ended that streak by doing an ultra marathon that was 50 miles long. That's the key to life - there's no motivation, there's only doing it. So the same way we get good on twitter is the same way we get good at running. You just do it. EVERY SINGLE. DAY
Yong-Soo Ch