Welcome to 🚀 Progress. My weekly update where I share my stories and behind-the-scene insights into my journey playing the Internet game and seeking to provide value for this world as an entrepreneur/creator. Every week I will transparently show my progress from the beginning on.
Who is this for?
For people who want to play the internet game and learn from my story.
Because I’m going to win this game.
You think I’m a dreamer? That I shouldn’t even try and give up?
Remember: Quitters never win. Winners never quit. Play the long game.
Topics
⬛️ 🟧 ⬜️ Notes on brand creation
🏴 On my obsession in Running
🌍 The SEO world
Weekly recap
At the beginning of the week I updated my Twitter profile. I think this is not really the thing that I was looking for. With my profile I’m more looking like a clown. This has to be updated. There’s also too much orange involved and I don’t like the logo either. It also should have a more darker side. I have to rework it and have to use more pictures. Also thinking about to get into photography for that.
The rest of the week I spent my time with discovering the world of SEO again, playing with the free video editing tool Da Vinci Resolve, reading about brands and thinking about founding a running club in my home town.
| KPI | Numbers |
|---|---|
| ⌛️ Time invested | not measured yet |
| 🏟️ Audience | |
| Website-visitors | 4 |
| X | 82 followers (few of them are spam) 9,556 post impressions (in January) |
| 💸 Income | 0 € |
| 💸Costs | – 17,85€ Kewords Everywhere Subscription – 5€ Hosting every month |
⬛️ 🟧 ⬜️ Notes on brand creation
Group belonging
A brand stands for people, who belong to a group and interact frequently with each other. They have the same values and share the same experiences and feelings. They feel responsible and have dependencies between each other. Once the cult is set members of the group run the program and evolve the brand theirselves. Hierarchies emerge. Some become leaders, some followers.
To grow the brand the people outside of the brand must have a chance to interact with the people already involved. The people who want to get into the brand have to qualify to fit into the brand. So there has to be entry hurdle which has to be overcome. People outside the brand have to realize that they have very little capacity unless they become part of the team.
Separation and Differentiation from the rest
What is something that differentiates the people who follow your brand from other people? There has to be a clear separation from the rest. The people of the group are different than the others. They are individuals but follow a set of rules.
Meaning System and Purpose
Brands stand up for something valuable and significant. They create a goal for one’s and for people’s existence. They fight for what is right and make the world a better place. The brand should contain a vision of how things could be. What would a world with these people look like?
A good example for this might be Patagonia and their commitment for environmental protection and responsibility. Here’s a quote from their website:
As we began to witness the extent of global warming and ecological destruction, and our own contribution to it, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done. If we could do the right thing while making enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses, and maybe change the system along the way.
By Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia
I also like the quote from Henry Ford:
The business of business should not be just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.
By Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
Uniformity of appearance
A brand should contain a common language, common symbols and iconography. There also should be a manifesto or a declaration which describe the values of the brand.
Everything that I learned from the abstract before is out of the book The Culting of Brands – Douglas Atkin *
Make it understandable
Is your message easy, releveant and repeatable? Make it easier to understand your brand. Can your customer find out what you are doing within five seconds of visiting your website.
The customers problem
What are your customers burning questions?
How does your offer help people to survive and thrive?
„When Apple began filtering their communication to make it simple and relevant, they actually stopped featuring computers in most of their advertising. Instead, they understand their customers were all living, breathing heroes, and they tapped into their stories. They did this by (1) identifying what their customers wanted (to be seen and heard), (2) defining their customers‘ challenge (that people didn’t recognize their hidden genius), and (3) offering their customers a tool they could use to express themselves (computers and smartphones).“
Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller
A brand’s storytelling
Customer = Hero
Brand = Guide
The guide gives the hero a plan to succeed and offers a vision of how great a customers life could be if they follow their brand.
Everything that I learned from the abstract before is out of the book Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller *
🏴 On my obsession in Running
I’m into running and endurance for about 5 years now. I made a lot of progress over the years. I ran a Sub3h marathon, a Sub35 10k and 1:18h half marathon. The progress I’ve made makes me really proud. Running is the thing that I put the most and consistent effort of my life into.
In the week between Christmas and New year I ran 100k in 7 days. This was my biggest running streak yet. It was not really a problem to get through this so that I’m ready for new goals for 2024.
The first half of the year I’m trying to develop my PRs in the 5k and 10k races. I want to a run a 16:30 in the 5k and a Sub34 10k. To get in this shape back again will be really hard. During the time I got my PRs I was really fit and put a lot of time into endurance sport in general.
Founding a running club
I’ve been thinking about starting a running club in my home town for several weeks now. There is an example from the neighborhood that I am very excited about.
They use social media to present their brand, their values and the successes of their runners. In addition, some runners have become local heroes and a kind of role model and also got a large following on social media. I think this is where social media has a powerful effect. It encourages member engagement as it gives them a chance to be seen. It also inspires other people from outside the brand.
For me personally, it’s not about being seen on social media. However, I would love to make some connections with other running enthusiasts, learn from them and inspire each other. Also it would be a fun experience to build it up. Here are some ideas and todo’s that I’m thinking about:
- Designing a brand name, logo and values
- Make an Instagram account
- Take pictures of billboards in the city and advertise on them
- Take pictures of famous running spots in the town
- Distribute stickers in the city
🌍 The SEO world
In this week I stumbled over SEO twice. The first thing that got me interested was this tweet on X:
It drew my attention to how you can use the sitemap of websites. This in combination with the possibility to let AI generate texts, keywords and articles is so powerful.
The second thing I stumbled across was the free email course on SEO from Boring Marketing (Find the course here). Firstly, I found the format of the email course very interesting. It was used as an appetizer for a very high-priced 30-day SEO course (price: $2997). On the other hand, the content was really high quality and I was able to learn a lot.
Since I enjoy dealing with SEO and I see great potential here, I will probably tackle the topic in the next few weeks. However, I don’t yet know how I will link this to my branding project.
🔎 Interesting Internet things:
Here’s a collection of interesting finds, tools and people that I have discovered this week in the depths of the internet and that I think are worth seeing:
🔎 #1 Short-form Video format
Amazing simple short-form video format
https://www.youtube.com/@goharsguide
🔎 #2 Guide for using reddit
🔎 | #3 Business ideas course by Sahil Lavingia, Founder of Gumroad
How to come up with good business ideas series by Sahil Lavingia
If you’re reading this, I can’t thank you enough. I appreciate the time you’ve spent with reading my things. I hope you found valuable insights and perhaps a touch of inspiration to find your way.
With gratitude,
Jan
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