“Who cares how many ‘likes’ you get from 2,000 people you don’t even know… There’s 53 guys in the locker room. Those are the 53 that matter” – Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick is the head coach of the National Football League’s New England Patriots. He has led his team to 6 championships and is arguably one of the best to ever coach the game. He also knows how to motivate people.

But it is also well known that Coach Belichick isn’t a fan of social media, or media in general. Nonetheless, I love this quote for a few reasons.

1. Focusing on your likes, especially from people you don’t have any relationship with, is the fastest route to disappointment and demotivation. 

My mantra is, create, submit, & forget. Get out there, consistently, with empathetic content, engage in authentic conversations, and the likes/follows will take care of themselves. That’s it. Personally, my goal is not to amass the largest following, but to build a following of authentic relationships. I’d rather have 500 engaged, genuine followers than a hundred thousand followers who don’t engage.

2. Focusing on who matters will supercharge your efforts.

Your work isn’t for everybody. So the challenge is to find the people who do need what you offer, i.e., Who are you trying to serve?

If you’ve ever read or listened to anything from Seth Godin, you have heard him say, “Instead of trying to reach everyone, seek to reach the smallest viable audience.”

Godin wants us to focus, think smaller. We don’t need to be Beyoncé to be successful. Instead of trying to be the most successful painter in the world, maybe focus on being the most successful painter in your town. Ask yourself how many customers do I need? Who are they? Where are they? What do they need? Then find them, go above and beyond to be empathetic to their needs, and figure out ways to make them feel good about purchasing your art.

The takeaway is, stop worrying about likes and focus on what matters. Realize that what you offer isn’t for everyone. Figure out who it is for, and then focus on serving that audience.

Ok, that’s all for today. Good luck out there!

#CreateSomethingGreat

Photo by Jenna Hamra from Pexels