Shaan Puri on Curating First Impressions

4 installments into Social Proof, and we’ve landed a powerhouse interviewee. Shaan Puri is a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, investor, and creator with platforms that attain hundreds of thousands of individuals each day.

From his two newsletters, one private and the opposite referred to as The Milk Highway speaking about crypto, to his viewers of over 300,000 individuals on Twitter, to his well-liked My First Million podcast, Shaan’s inventive output is fascinating. And his platforms are only a facet hustle – he additionally offered his startup, Bebo, to Twitch and now runs a rolling fund investing in different startups.

On this interview, uncover how Shaan has grown and leveraged his private model, in addition to an attention-grabbing train in private branding that everybody ought to strive.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to fulfill with me for Social Proof Shaan! We’re beginning with a two-for-one query: What do you concentrate on private branding, and would you name what you have got a private model?

The way in which I give it some thought is: I’m simply attempting to place myself on the market. It’s like whenever you’re in a automotive and have the music so loud that different individuals can hear it from their automobiles. No matter I’m, I need it to be loud sufficient that if any individual hears it they usually like that track, they will begin nodding alongside.

My aim is that by placing my ideas, concepts, and character on the market, I’ll entice like-minded individuals who get pleasure from these ideas and have comparable ones to share. It’s simply my manner of attracting like-minded individuals to me.

Q: And when did you begin this means of attracting like-minded individuals?

I began after I was first interviewing for a job. I requested myself, “what am I attempting to do on this interview?”

Finally, I needed to stroll in and go away an impression on whoever I used to be assembly. And that is a model, proper? That is what a model does – Nike and McDonald’s need you to know one thing about them. They need it to be memorable, they usually need it to be favorable. So I believed that, as an alternative of making ready solutions to their questions, I ought to take into account what I needed them to know and bear in mind about me.

I used to be interviewing with two firms that day – Stripe and an concept lab referred to as Monkey Inferno. And I made a decision that after they mentioned me, they’d all say, “He’s actually ‘clean’, ‘clean’ and ‘clean’.” I believed fastidiously about what phrases ought to go in these blanks, which is how I labored backward from determining my model.

Q: I like that you just talked about the phrases as a result of that ties in properly to my subsequent query: what three phrases would you employ to explain your private model?

Going again to my interview prep story, I bear in mind writing: I need them to know that I am

• Daring aka I take motion
• Enjoyable/Humorous, i.e., somebody they might need across the workplace
• Intelligent in order that I won’t be the neatest individual within the room, however I might all the time consider inventive methods to win.

Naturally, so much has modified since I first did this train, and my most popular final phrase is: Profitable as a result of I discover that folks need to do enterprise with people who find themselves already profitable.

And I used what I name a “pillar branding train,” the place I draw out pillars – just like these on the entrance of the White Home. That is meant to assist visualize the pillars that maintain up my model. On the high of every pillar, I wrote daring, humorous, and intelligent.

Placing it into motion was a bit totally different. I couldn’t simply come out and inform [the interviewers] I am daring as a result of no person would consider that. What I wanted to do was inform them tales about issues that I’ve performed that will cause them to have just one conclusion about me: he’s fairly daring, or he takes motion. To facilitate that, I began pulling tales from issues I’ve performed that will help that pillar. And I’d fill [the pillar] out.

And for among the pillars, I had extra tales than others, which helped me understand that though I needed to be perceived a sure manner, I hadn’t taken sufficient motion in that path. So this train was additionally a word to strive extra issues I needed to be a part of my model. It turned greater than only a branding train – extra of a roadmap for a way I needed to method life.

There’s additionally one final piece of the puzzle you could additionally add as a pillar which is what you aren’t. I need individuals to say, “He’s not clean.” I’d say the phrases to replenish the house listed below are: faux and robotic. I don’t need to come off as both when interacting with somebody.

Q: You do many issues – podcasts, newsletters, posting repeatedly on Twitter, launching a course. Which of those has been your favourite medium of expression? Which one do you suppose is the best on your model? And the way do you steadiness doing all these items on the identical time?

I feel all of them go collectively. You requested a query about time, and lots of belongings you talked about are what I do in my spare time – work is occupied by the 2 companies I run. Because of this I don’t purchase the excuse of time – loads of these actions are ardour tasks, issues I get pleasure from doing. They don’t really feel like work to me.

When it comes to worth, I feel essentially the most precious content material medium for me has been the podcast, however all of them go collectively. It’s like a funnel – on the high is the place individuals uncover you, and that discovery tends to be by way of Twitter for me. I grew my Twitter within the final 12 months from possibly 20,000 followers to 300,000 followers. And I did that as a result of I needed individuals to have a straightforward, light-weight touchpoint.

And there can be individuals who needed to go a bit additional down the funnel, which leads them to my publication. So past the shorter-form Twitter content material, I may be in my viewers’s inbox and share extra in-depth ideas.

Anybody that needed to go additional can then be led to the underside of the funnel by way of my podcast, the place you hear my voice, tone, and inflection. It’s the closest I get to my viewers and the place I can construct essentially the most belief. If I’m in your ears 50 hours a 12 months, that’s greater than you discuss to most individuals. So it helps construct a really precious relationship with individuals.

Q: What three ways would you advocate individuals strive when determining which automobiles they will use to construct their manufacturers?

I’d say do not do it should you’re simply attempting to construct a model. As a result of then you definitely’ve simply created work for your self. And actually, if you are going to work that onerous on it, you would possibly as effectively construct a enterprise or work at a job. The way in which I have a look at it’s I need the tasks I do to be what I already get pleasure from.

I recommend you discover what kind of content material you wish to create, whether or not interviewing individuals or curating stuff on your feed. No matter it’s, simply do what’s enjoyable and pure for you. And the byproduct shall be your model getting constructed. You are able to do some issues alongside the best way to go a little bit quicker or be extra intentional about it, however the extra essential half is discovering what you get pleasure from.

And even when no model received constructed out of it, it will nonetheless be value it. For instance, my podcast is effective as a result of it will get about 20 million downloads a 12 months. However after I began, I did not plan for individuals to hear – I believed that was most unlikely. I used to be extra taken with having interviews and conversations with attention-grabbing individuals. Positive, some individuals would possibly hearken to it, however that wasn’t my purpose for doing it. And that is why I caught with it.

Most individuals have some exterior aim like fame or cash for beginning inventive tasks. And after they don’t instantly see outcomes, they get discouraged and quit. The individuals who win are the individuals who do it as a result of it is enjoyable for them. The act of doing it’s the reward – they do not want the opposite stuff, and subsequently the opposite stuff comes as a result of they hold going.

And yet one more word: individuals can inform should you’re having enjoyable along with your content material since you’re nerding out about this subject that you just love. That can also be what makes content material pop.

Q: You tweeted just lately that every thing you’ve performed, regardless of how random, has labored out and contributed to your success. Which of your tasks was the turning level for you? When did you understand, “Yeah that is working?”

I’ve a philosophy: the people who find themselves my clients are those who love what I do. If I really like what I do, then the precise individuals will discover it as a result of it will resonate with them the identical manner it is resonating with me. So the primary signal of success is simply liking your personal work. Most individuals fail at that, both as a result of they’re manner too harsh on their work, or they’re attempting to please different individuals, they usually do not even like what they make. And that is a recipe for failure, for my part.

And second, earlier than the numbers get large, you will begin to get emails or feedback that may hold you going. And it is superb. You possibly can have 5 feedback on a YouTube video that hold you motivated for a 12 months since you’re assured that any individual someplace actually likes this factor. I do know, I am not loopy, this factor does work.

Q: Attention-grabbing. You talked about in an interview with Sacra that you just had been capable of increase funds from the individuals who had engaged along with your content material and constructed a relationship with you. What has been the largest reward from publishing content material for you?

Some background right here is that we’ve a rolling fund that lets different individuals make investments alongside me within the startups I spend money on. I’ve a great community and expertise with angel investing, so different individuals who stay exterior the US, or don’t have the community or time, can select to speculate on this rolling fund. However the creation and progress of the fund wasn’t one thing I’d have predicted moving into – it was a byproduct of doing the work.

The podcast and my Twitter account had began getting well-liked. Then I tweeted, “Hey, I will increase a rolling fund, and I need to increase one million {dollars} from individuals on Twitter, and I will take no conferences,” doing it as a problem to myself. And we hit that aim in like two days. After which it simply stored going.

Now, the fund invests between eight to 10 million a 12 months throughout the startups we work with. To at the present time, I feel I’ve taken possibly one assembly with somebody to elucidate what we do – the entire thing has been pushed largely by individuals who already listened to me and trusted me.

These are usually not individuals I’ve met in actual life, however they have been listening to the podcasts and following me on Twitter for some time. They usually felt sufficient conviction to have the ability to spend money on the fund.

Seeing that conviction come by way of, particularly as a result of individuals had been giving me their cash, was the sign that constructing a private model and constantly placing out content material actually builds belief.

Q: It’s superb that you can get to that time with two constant content material codecs – and your years of expertise, in fact. I’ve a hen or egg query for you. Did publicizing your tasks result in you publishing on social media? Or did you get the concepts on your tasks after publishing constantly on social media?

I began making content material as a result of I believed it might be enjoyable and I’d be good at it. And I had extra time as a result of I had offered my firm – that is after I began.

Q: And which of your efforts, whether or not it’s the podcast or Twitter has led to the chance you take into account essentially the most precious?

I wrote a thread about Clubhouse when it was actually well-liked. All people thought it was the following large factor and I sort of learn a thread saying, “Hey, I do not suppose so. And this is how I feel it is gonna play out.”

And it went viral – 10 million plus individuals learn that thread – which led to a bunch of actually attention-grabbing individuals emailing or DMing me saying, “Wow, that is nice, we love the best way you suppose, we might like to get to know you.”

The same tweet and outcome was one I did on the metaverse, basically saying, “Individuals take into consideration the metaverse a method, this is how I give it some thought otherwise.”

That additionally reached many individuals, and Mark Zuckerberg referenced it and talked about that it influenced the best way he thinks in regards to the metaverse.

Q: What would you inform your previous self about constructing your private model should you had been ranging from scratch?

I’d say, “Hey, what you are hoping will occur will occur.”

But when I used to be going to do it otherwise, I would simply area of interest down a little bit extra.

At the moment, I am fairly broad – I’ve The Milk Highway, which talks about crypto, and I’ve Twitter, the place I discuss no matter. Then there’s my private publication, curating tweets, and the My First Million podcast, which is extra about enterprise breakdowns and concepts. So fairly unfold out.

But when I actually targeted on a kind of areas, I feel I might grow to be possibly essentially the most well-known individual in that department in that area of interest, however I did not do this. So I feel that will be the one enchancment that I’d recommend to myself.

Q: What are some downsides you’ve got skilled in your journey as a creator?

To be trustworthy, not many. The content material is a little bit of a treadmill – it’s a must to hold doing it. It is not like software program the place you make it as soon as, and other people simply use it every day. I feel that is in all probability the largest draw back – you’ll be able to’t automate creativity. One other factor is the extra well-liked you get, the extra individuals will say imply issues to you on-line. So you have got to have the ability to not fear about that an excessive amount of.

Takeaways

What I really like most about this interview is how actionable it’s. Shaan’s ardour for the tasks he takes on has led him to some superb alternatives – listed below are among the greatest takeaways from our chat:

• Take management of your narrative: With out prompting, Shaan talked about the three-word train that has grow to be commonplace in Social Proof interviews, framing it as “pillar branding.” Utilizing the pillar-branding train is a inventive method to visualize what you need different individuals to get out of their interactions along with your on-line persona. Tell us on Twitter should you’d like a templatized model of the pillar branding template.
• Do issues that match up with the way you need to be perceived: When describing the pillar branding train, Shaan additionally talked about that he thought a sure manner about himself however didn’t have sufficient tales or “proof” to again that considering. This reveals that it’s very important that you just not solely take into consideration the way you need to be perceived but in addition take actions that correlate with that notion. Need to be seen as educated about social media? Experiment with totally different platforms and ways along with your accounts.
• Leverage your repute: Crafting and finally benefitting out of your on-line persona is one thing that has come up in earlier interviews, however Shaan’s use of his repute is kind of attention-grabbing. You might not be elevating hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for an funding fund, however the work you’ve put into rising your on-line presence shouldn’t be siloed. Reap the benefits of the connections you make to get the alternatives you want.
• Decide mediums and niches that you just get pleasure from: Whether or not it’s by way of writing or talking, Shaan has discovered his most popular strategies of getting his ideas on the market. You possibly can’t be in every single place or discuss every thing, however prioritize discovering and settling in your most popular private branding medium first. This might help pave the best way so that you can uncover what you need to be recognized for (your area of interest) and give attention to creativity

💡Shaan says it greatest: you’ll be able to’t automate creativity. What you can automate is how you place your inventive work on the market – and that’s the place Buffer can help you. Reap the benefits of our stacked Freemium tier to construct a behavior of consistency and assist maximize your creativity.

Get began now.