The most important lesson in content creation

Hello!

And welcome to the 72 new thieves that have joined our club.

Here's what happened recently:

I've been testing content creation on Instagram for the past 2 months. I'll share more details on my strategy there soon!

I've also started cross-promoting the Steal Club with other publications. The results are very promising! I love collaborating with others so, if you have a newsletter between 1-3k subs, do reach out!

But enough of that, let's go into today's topic!

Here's the thing with content creation:

It's unpredictable.

You can not anticipate success or failure.

The content piece you think will do great, sometimes flops. And the piece you are not feeling much sure about, suddenly goes viral.

Let me tell you a story about my experience with the subject.

I’ve had plenty of humbling experiences when it comes to content since I joined Twitter.

But there was one time when it was super clear to me.

About one year ago, I joined Ship30for30. You might have heard of it. 

It’s a cohort-based course that gets you to write 30 essays in 30 days.

Midway through the challenge, on a Sunday morning, I posted what I thought was my worst essay so far.

The night before I had burritos and...you know how that usually turns out.

🌯🌯🌯

I had a terrible night of sleep. 

But I was really committed to publishing one essay a day. So I sat down, turned on my computer, and started writing.

It didn’t feel like the best I’ve ever written at all. But it was something.

My thoughts at the moment were: "Meh, I’ll just post it. It will probably flop. It's Sunday, who cares."

But here comes the plot twist:

It turned out to be my best essay ever.

Let me pause for a moment to recommend a newsletter you need to read: 

Public Lab, by Kevon Cheung.

Kevon is an advocate for the "Build in Public" movement. With his newsletter, he gives you tips on how to show your work in public, grow your business, and make friends along the way.

It's insightful, actionable, and packed with useful resources. 

Plus, Kevon is the type of person who is always willing to help. Extra kudos for that ✌️ Subscribe here 👇

Public Lab

Coming back to the story:

That essay that I thought was going to flop, turned out to be my best-performing essay.

More likes than the others.

More impressions than the others.

More comments and engagement than the others.

“Success”.

So the day after arrives. 

Now I'm feeling pumped. Confidence is through the roof and burritos are a thing of the past.

"My worst essay and it's a success? Wait until you see todays. This is top 3 EASY"

That was me 👆

Enter second plot twist: it massively FLOPS.

It was my worst essay for the whole challenge.

Fewer likes than the others.

Fewer impressions than the others.

No comments or engagement whatsoever.

What I thought was my worst essay turned out to be the best.

What I thought was a top 3 essay, turned out to be the worst.

You might think that I learned my lesson with that one.

Wrong 😂

I still remember this thread below to this day.

If you know me a little bit you know that I like video games.

I made a thread once combining video games and content creation.

It did awesome 👇

So me, in my infinite wisdom, I tried to replicate the formula.

And as you might have guessed by now...it totally flopped.

I spent almost 3 hours putting it together. 

I even made a cool gif for the first tweet!

For nothing.

It’s not that the content was bad, it simply didn’t stick.

Both experiences taught me something: 

Content creation is humbling.

It will crush your expectations. For better and worse.

But it's also encouraging.

It teaches you that you should keep trying no matter what. 

That the next piece of content you put out, even if it doesn't feel like much, could be the one that changes everything.

Don't trust yourself as a judge for your content.

Publish and let the world decide. 

You might be surprised.

And that's it for today!

I hope you enjoyed this issue! I tried to make it a bit different than usual by sharing this story.

As a reminder, you get 10$ off Hook that hook, my thread writing mini-course, just for being part of the club!

See you next week!

Alex Llull

Thief Master, The Steal Club

What do you think of today's email?

Your feedback helps me improve The Steal Club. Vote below (simply click):

• 👍 Worth it
• 😐 Meh - was ok.
• 👎 Not interesting to me