EP #96 - You Can Start Small & Still Create Real Opportunities

You can be a “nobody” on paper and still create real opportunities, as long as you show up, publish, and learn.

I dig into the shift to interest media, where algorithms decide what people see based on attention not loyalty. Why your followers might never see your posts, and why a single clip can suddenly hit big numbers without paid ads. I break down how I think about Instagram for highlights and entertainment, TikTok as unpredictable and trend-driven, YouTube as a bridge from short-form to long-form, and Facebook as still useful for groups and events.

If you want practical tools, I share what’s helped me build faster: LinkedIn for networking and business opportunities, AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini for writing and problem-solving, NotebookLM and Perplexity for research and learning, Shopify for getting a simple website up, and Google Analytics plus Google Ads for understanding and converting demand. I also share a realistic take on work volatility and why starting your project now can be a form of career insurance.

Sponsored by Infinity Sleep

Get the sleep you deserve and use the promo code “onlyscott15%” and receive 15% off your first order.

https://www.infinitysleep.co.nz/

My Social Media

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@OnlyScott

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theonlyscott01/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@onlyscottspodcast

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Only-Scott-100091616387021/

Transcript

Welcome Back To Solo Rants

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh, let's just have some fun with it. Who gives a fuck? Alright, and welcome to the Only Scott solo episode. Yeah, we're just gonna have a bit of a bit of a solo sesh today, guys. Um I wanted to um to do bring back more of these. I think I was used to do these a few years ago actually. I would have more like solo episodes and solo um just me kind of ranting along. Um I got kind of got back into them recently. I had like one where I was doing um, you know, fucking what was it? Those are gonna be really raw, by the way, and it's just gonna be what it is, man. So it's not very scripted this one, so you're gonna have to bear with me. Um but yeah, I used to do some on like some marketing, I used to do some with like some some some I used call them like medium dives into like some industry related things to like entertainment or what's going on with like the world economy, pretending I know what's going on. Uh, but just having a bit of fun with it. But this one I kind of wanted to have a bit more of like something practical to give to anybody who's listening who might be thinking of starting something online, and it might just might maybe it's like an um whatever the project is, right? Like if it's music, if it's if you're trying to become like an athlete, or if you're trying to start a podcast, or if you're trying to just create some content around what you love doing. Um, if I've seen I've been doing this podcast now for a few years, and I'm probably gonna touch more on this in a later episode, but what I've really noticed is the power of personal brand and content and doing your own thing which gives you opportunities towards the things that you like doing, right? Um, and I think that's just really important, and something I really want to talk about more on here. Like, look, I'm a fucking nobody really when you want to look at if you want to look at numbers, like look, I think I've got like 700 followers on Instagram, like maybe the I think the same amount on TikTok, a couple hundred subscribers on YouTube. Like, look, I'm no one special, I'm not here with like thousands, millions of followers and things like that. And already, like, I've had opportunities, um, not just with on the podcast, but with things outside of it, um, especially when it's come to like work-wise. Um, you know, I work in like the marketing industry and I've been posting on LinkedIn as well, been growing a little bit more of a following there, and I've just noticed like the power of having your own uh content, personal brand, creating opportunities for yourself. And guys, if I can fucking do it, you can. You know what I mean? Like, oh Scott, I don't have all these skills or whatever. It's like, dude, I fucking did audio visual like way back, and um, and like honestly, I've had to learn so much more stuff while doing this podcast and trying to get better at doing the content, and also just like showing up and being consistent and disciplined, you know, the ups and downs of things not working or things working out. And if I just have anything kind of to ref like to to give back, it's just like you can actually start your own thing, and there's a lot of ways for for you to build whatever it is, your business, your brand, your your passion, or whatever. And yeah, it could be it could be monetizing, but just getting yourself out there, help your career, like there's so many things that you can do. Um, and I think it's it's just especially in New Zealand, like I think we're starting to get there now where more people are doing it, um, rather than being looked at as like a fucking weirdo like trying to talk to a camera and stuff. It's just like, well, this is just how it is, man. Like, this is actually what we should all be, you know, not saying we should all be doing, but if we just all big each other up and push each other to to do the things we really want to do, you know? And I just want to kind of, you know, focus more on that because this podcast is about the dream chases, and I want to I'm gonna have probably another episode in a in a in a little while, reflecting more on when I get to episode 100. So this is episode 96, I think, so I'm almost there. But I kind of wanted to talk more about um how to actually build something online and how to actually get yourself in a position where you can like not like leverage audiences, like I guess it is that, but it's like you can now create opportunities for yourself and help better, you know, go in the direction of things that you want, um, because you've got the content or you've got the expertise or the skills, and I kind of wanted to talk about how um how to get started, and it's got a little list here in front of me. So the platforms, the tools that we that are kind of you people are probably very aware of them, and you probably already know them, but I think just understanding how to use them and how to like leverage these platforms to kind of get what you want out of them, but understanding like what each platform can be used for. So when I'm talking about social platforms, e-commerce platforms, um, and we can also talk about maybe some more like creative uh creative creation platforms. Maybe it's like a music with like logic or pro or like cubase, or maybe it's like video editing or like DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro, or maybe it's like um like for podcasting, I use BuzzSprout and stuff, and we can get into all that as well, but this episode I want to keep it quite um top, top of uh, I guess like like um, you know, I was gonna say top of funnels, a marketing term, but I'm just trying to think of like something else. Like just yeah, keep not trying to get too detailed in this one. So I'd I just but I just want to talk about kind of a few different things I've noticed over the years of doing this, and especially being involved in doing business myself. I got infinity sleep and just just sort of things I've noticed, and maybe you know, you can get something out of it, or you know, tell me to get fucked. I don't know. But nah, I swear, I swear that I've got some good shit this year. Um, so I you might have heard me mention this on the podcast before, and you might have heard this being spoken about if you've been listening, but like social media isn't social media anymore. Now, I'm gonna completely just copy what someone else has said here, and this is like Gary V, um, talking about how social media now has changed a lot's interest in media and how algorithms work. Now, for my podcast, even right, if you think about all the kind of if you follow my podcast, um, I do a lot of different uh topics and I've had a lot of different kinds of uh dream chasers on here, people from all sorts of different fields, and I get asked quite a bit, um I say quite a bit, let's just say once a month. I I get asked occasionally, um, and I'll pick myself up too much, like, oh, Scott, like, I haven't seen your podcast. Are you still doing it? And I'm like, yeah, I've been, I'm, I'm still cranking along, I'm still making episodes, I've been releasing it, like, you know, got content coming out every week, you know, new podcasts every two weeks. And people are, oh, I haven't seen it. And I'm like, oh, but I'm probably not on your algorithm, right? Because, you know, like last week I might have had on like a let's say like a fighter, and then this week I had someone on from the business world, and you're probably not interested in that, so the algorithm's not going to show you that. And that's what's also interesting when it comes down to like followers or subscribers, maybe on Instagram or YouTube. Like, even on YouTube, like subscribers used to be everything, but they're not really I mean they're important as like a visual, right? Like, oh god, lots of subscribers must be very popular. But if I'm being honest, like it doesn't, it's all a like anybody can put out like just one video and it can do quite well. Um, I mean, obviously you've got to produce it nicely, but well, I mean it doesn't always have to be produced nicely, but I guess you got you got you gotta hit uh a note or something in order to go viral or to get in front of a lot of people. But we're just in a position where subscribers, followers, whatever, don't have as much weight as I think they once did. And even like with some of the clips I've put up on here, like again, like I said, I don't have many followers at all, and I'm not, and like it's all it's all pretty small stuff, but a few videos get to like 500k, and I'm like, what the fuck? This is crazy, you know? Um, and that's just organic, there's no paid advertising going behind it or anything like that. And so like everyone can have the power to do this kind of stuff, and I think that that like that part is really cool, and I think should give you some confidence to to like try it out um with with whatever you're doing. Um, from what I also understand as well with social media, social media, uh interest media. So when I talk about that again, just want to make sure we're on the same page. So we're talking about Instagram, TikTok, um, YouTube, and like Facebook. And well, I think what's also important with what you're trying to achieve with whatever you're trying to do online, it's if it's like I said, business or in a certain endeavor, um creative or whatever, is like I kind of see like what kind of audiences are on different platforms and like and what each platform does really well. Like I've been working in marketing for a bit and I can I've kind of seen the strengths of different platforms. And um one thing I kind of want to get into more is like for Instagram, you definitely are having an audience who are like generally there for entertainment, right? Generally there for scrolling, just kind of there to like have some fun. There are some brand-related things on there, but I don't most people don't go on Instagram for business. You might be having like DMs and maybe setting up maybe uh some business uh like profiles and you know sort of showcasing what you're doing, but in my experience, like not many people go on Instagram to go on there for primarily business purposes. It's kind of used to create, you know, entertaining content, bring people into your story, and then uh, you know, like I said, it's not really there for like business as such. Um it's also a great way, like from like a podcast point of view, or from like a long format uh show of some kind, like you're showing basically the greatest hits of what you're doing in your content to then push people to like YouTube uh or whatever platform it is, or maybe to like showcase your song, um, or maybe it's to showcase your like your fight if you're a fighter or whatever your reel is from your sport, um, to then maybe push people to then checking you out on like a longer format. And so that's what YouTube and also TikTok's very good at too, and Facebook can be good at that as well. So and YouTube Shorts is as well. So utilizing those kind of platforms for for the for that kind of content can be can be really good. Um I would say like uh TikTok is a bit of a funny one. Like it's I don't I'm I post on it, but it's very like yeah, I it's very unpredictable. I don't I don't really know how to work it properly. I think everyone's attention spans on there are so much less, and the audience is a lot younger. So you you're you're you're kind of trying to cater to the younger not saying you have to cater to them, but you're catering to like even shorter attach uh uh attention spans on there. So um I would say you have to be a bit careful of not bit careful, but I just think when you're making like if you're making some content that is yeah, I don't know, like you just have to be a bit more wary of you know what the age range is and kind of what they give a shit about, I suppose. And this episode is sponsored by me. Do you struggle with sleeping and particularly struggle with light and sound while sleeping? I think it's time you get the sleep that you deserve. My business Infinity Sleep specializes in sleep well-being products to enhance your sleep quality. I've been using sleep masks and airplugs for the past three years to help improve my sleep, and I'm so stoked to finally have ones that have been created for my own sleeping needs. If you would like to learn more about my business Infinity Sleep, please visit our website www.infinitysleep.co dot nz. By making a purchase, you are directly not only supporting a local Huey business, but also this podcast. Use the promo code only scot 15% and receive 15% off your first order. Go to www.infinitysleep.co dot nz to get the sleep that you deserve. Something else really interesting, I watched a video about actually, just remind me right now, on TikTok now. Um they push different trends at uh so they push different creators who are like hitting like, I don't know, some kind of trends. So there's a really good interview with Matt Reif. Um, this is a comedian, by the way, and he was talking about how when he started posting on TikTok originally, I think 2022 or something, maybe a bit earlier, and he was saying how when he was putting up content on there and uploading, you know, his skits and everything, that they were going crazy, like millions of millions of views, like he was getting a lot of engagement, a lot of attention, and you know, he's got a probably a crazy amount of followers, right? Something insane. And then suddenly it just had a huge drop-off. Um, like people just weren't seeing his videos anymore. The content he was doing wasn't being pushed, and I was like, Fucking hell. Uh I watched this interview with him talking about it, and he's like, and he actually actually sat down with like someone from TikTok to understand what happened. He's like, you know, I was absolutely crushing it. Um, had about two years of crazy growth and all this. Um, and maybe I've just been around for a bit too long, maybe people are a bit sick of the content or whatever it is, and they're like, Nah, we actually were were pushing comedians for a while, and then we um uh you know that that was a trend for a bit, and now I've moved on to another one. And he's like, What? So this was I was just a part of a trend, and it's like, yeah. Um, and so he's like, Well, how do I how do I get my views up and how do I get you know my engagement and you know get get my get my yeah data back? And he's just like and they're just like, Yeah, you just have to, I don't know, maybe do like a dance video or some shit. Like, what the fuck? So like these platforms just don't really care, they're just there to like ride the wave of whatever's popular and whatever's gonna get the most eyes, most engagement, most views, and most money. Like, that's just how it goes. But that doesn't mean you can't do the thing that you want to do, it just means that like you just have to, I guess, stick to your guns and stick to stick to what means something to you. Um, but I I found that quite interesting uh with with TikTok. Um I don't think to being TikTok, people talk about I've had PK on here actually, if you want to check out PK, PK Hectic, and we were talking about how being like TikTok famous is probably the worst kind of famous. And the reason for that is because while especially in New Zealand, um you can't get paid, I don't think, unless you're getting brand deals and sponsorships or something, but there's no money in it. Um not to say you get into doing TikTok and shit to make money, but it's like there's not much opportunity for you to do, I don't know, like more fucking brand deal. Like, sorry, not brand deal, sorry, but maybe like yeah, getting paid for like your views or your content from the actual platform, like YouTube can pay you. Um not heaps, but unless you got like 500,000 views a video or something like that, then you probably can. So it's also quite interesting that within TikTok, like, yeah, you got millions of followers and that, but what does that really translate to at the end of the day? I don't know. I mean, it depends on on what you define success for you, but if you're trying to make it into something, like, don't get me wrong, it's kind of cool you got that many followers, but um I suppose it doesn't translate as much as you think um into creating a business. But maybe it can, maybe it can create you a business as well. Um but I think like there's like other ways to other platforms can do that better. That's what I'm trying to say. Uh yeah, I think Facebook's in an interesting position right now. I think Facebook's in a funny one because you've got most of the most of the demographic on Facebook is 35 and and over. And it's kind of like the boomer fucking social media platform these days, right? And um uh you got I think Facebook is really good at certain things, like I mean I still use Messenger all the time. Um and I and it's obviously like you know, organizing events is still really easy on Facebook, and they got community groups, and it's really good for like fan, like if you're like a fan of like a band or something and they got like their own like group or whatever, like that's kind of cool. Um so you can still use it for like quite a few things and you can post links on there, like you can do on Instagram stories, but it's not the same like with Facebook, right? So I think I think that I think that's something with um Facebook that still is um really good, and uh it's easy. I guess if you're doing like advertising on there, like I will say it is it's just full of too much advertising these days, which is like it's not the greatest user experience anymore. I I would say they've made the platform quite hard to use now. It's not really a platform where I go on there, and I'm like, wow, this is like really cool and lots of interesting stuff coming my way. No, not one, not really. Uh yeah, I I would say like if you really want to get somewhere for business and you want to try and post more about your you know business journey or trying to set up opportunities for like networking and things, I recommend LinkedIn 100%. LinkedIn is a funny one because it is a bit cringe, let's just be real. Some of that shit on LinkedIn, and fuck man, like I've posted some stuff on there and I'm like, yeah, can be a little cringy, but at the end of the day, if we're gonna be really honest about creating business opportunities, LinkedIn is incredible for that. And I don't even think I can't remember the percentage, but not many people actually use LinkedIn um to do posting and that. Like a lot of people don't even don't even post on there. So there's so much opportunity for people to start posting on LinkedIn and getting in front of, I don't know, employers, or maybe getting in touch with like other people in your industry, or creating whatever opportunities uh you you're trying to do. Like I've got um with my business affinity sleep, I'm trying to get out there, share my business journey, and um yeah, like get in front of people who would who would give a shit. And that's also ended up giving me some opportunities to do some cool things at some events, um, speaking gigs, surprisingly. And it's also given me like um uh yeah, like some some other kind of really cool like uh opportunities with like wholesale and stuff. So there's been like some really cool things that have come out of LinkedIn that I don't think could have been achieved on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or anything like that. So I really you know as as cringy as some of the shit can be, I I really recommend trying out LinkedIn and just again it's hard, it's not easy, um, but you've got to put yourself out there and you start getting attention, it starts compounding, it starts to pay off a little bit, and and I really recommend to to to to to give it a go, especially if you're wanting to do something a bit more, I guess, in the business space. Um yeah, I really, I really recommend. Um so something else I want to touch on as well, kind of the next part, is like the like how do you apart from all the social platforms and where we're at with those, I kind of want to talk about as well, like how do you actually build the thing, like whatever, right? And there's a lot of different ways like for me, I've got to try out all the platforms over the years. Like you name it, I've been on them, like from all the social ones to e-commerce, like Shopify, to then like using like Google Ads, Analytics, Data Analytics, uh, to using all the different AIs that are out at the moment. I've tried a lot of different stuff. Um, also being a creative, I've also tried out with quite a lot of video software. I've also tried out a lot of music creation software. Um there's a lot of there's so much that you can use uh to help you build whatever the thing is you're trying to do, or to help you achieve whatever uh the whatever whatever the goal is. And I um in my experience, I've kind of uh got a list here of some stuff, and I think what I've really really um in found really cool is like all the different tools that you can use from different AIs that can actually help you like just kind of get going. Here are some of the tools that you can use to help build uh whether that be the business or brand online, um, apart from the social platforms we spoke about, and most people watching or listening probably already know them. But I I don't know, maybe here's some stuff that you can use that might be able to help you. So helping you do some thinking and writing, um I would check out Claude. Obviously, it was ChatGPT and there's Google's Gemini. I would highly, highly recommend using Claude. It does a lot of incredible things, it can even do like automation, it can do coding, it can help do cowork, it can like go into your browser and do things for you. Um, like you can and it can give you very interesting, uh, I guess more personalized insights. Uh, I think it does a bit of in the other AIs so far. Um, however, though, ChatGPT did come out with a pretty cool image generator recently, which looks crazy. So that's also pretty pretty cool. And then Gemini, using Google's database, is very good at doing some is quite good at doing some data research. So I think, yeah, find out which AI works best for you. I personally recommend using Claude. Um, I'm I'm only scratching the surface of this platform still, but highly recommend checking it out. Um, research and learning, I would recommend checking out Notebook LM and uh platform like Perplexity. So Notebook LM I have a bit more experience with, so you can like put in all these different journal articles or papers, and maybe if you're doing something a bit more academic or uh research based, it can help you just it just write up like a you know, it can also do PowerPoint presentations, it can turn information into a podcast for you, it's pretty amazing. And you just put in all the journal. articles or the research papers into like the into the AI and then it will write a whole uh you know kind of essay or research paper or it can turn it into a podcast view or a slideshow or whatever and it will only pull from that information which is make what which is what makes it different from the other platforms. Because you know like with like you know Chat GPT and Gemini and a few of those other ones like they kind of go on tangents and kind of pull information like what the fuck whereas notebook LM doesn't do that. So recommend checking it out. Same with Perplexity. I haven't played around with Perplexity as much but I've heard it does uh similar things so yeah I definitely recommend that um I would also say if you're planning to sell things online I reckon the easiest website to use if you're use if you're wanting to make your own website um I would really recommend Shopify. Shopify does make things quite simple this isn't an ad for them by the way I mean I use it but I would say like it's the easiest kind of you can just grab a template and just kind of get going. Like you don't need to overthink it too much. There are some things in the back end there are a little bit like you know setting up payments and a few bits but to kind of get you going it is quite good. Like especially if you're like let's say you're a band or an artist or maybe you're an athlete or whatever if you want to sell some t-shirts and some merch I think it is quite easy um to just use Shopify and just just put it on there. And then you can it's easy to link to the socials and all that so I'd I'd say use that. I would say if you want to understand your audience and who's going onto your website so this is kind of a level above that so if you're someone who has created a website and just needs like some basic kind of insights like there are some some easy ones you can get from like Shopify it can give you some analytics but it's not going to give you like heaps of information. So Google Analytics is quite good at this and it gives you quite a lot of audience data and just understanding a bit more about who they are what they look like you know what they're interested in age groups uh gender etc I think it does that I'm not gonna say it does it amazing but it does it reasonably well to help you paint uh help uh help it helps paint a picture of who's coming to check out your website and what you're doing um and then I also would really highly recommend like I mean I I I kind of do this for work but I do use Google ads a lot. Google ads is very powerful so if you you can advertise across the Google networks and it gets you in front on like um all the different Google networks obviously Google search you see little ads at the top sponsored ones it gets you on Google shopping like little products that show up it also helps get you on showing up on like Gmail the uh like Google display networks a bunch of websites opt in uh to like Google advertising so your products or your business can show up on there um and then obviously YouTube advertising which is Google as well so you can do like YouTube ads um which can also help yeah showcase your product or business or service on there too um and you can choose your budget you can choose how long you run it for there are some quirks to it but I would say it is quite powerful um compared to like Facebook Instagram like meta advertising as such meta is has its strengths in my experience of really helping you getting awareness so I think meta's strength with the advertising is getting your brand or your whatever it is that you're doing out there and getting it shown to a lot of people um and generating some interest but I wouldn't say it's very good at having people um go to your you know go to your website or go to whatever and to like do an action like to buy a product or submit a form or to um you know sign up to you I think it's probably quite good for gigs and events. I think Med is quite good at that um but I would say if you want someone to like actually like email you sign a form send you a message or um buy a product you want to use Google ads for that kind of thing in my experience to anyway. Yeah. So anyway I just kind of wanted to do a podcast where we at oh yeah I kind of just wanted to do a podcast about these kind of simple trying to make this a bit easier for people who are maybe thinking about starting their own thing. Look I'm just a dude who's you know been doing a podcast for a few few years now started a business two years ago I'm very much still on my journey of trying to build the things I really want to you know uh you know pursue in my life and it's um it's a it's definitely a tough journey and it's you know being in New Zealand like it's not they don't make it easy. It's if we're a small country and we are lucky that we you know like we we like we I I can do this kind of thing but but I wouldn't say there's like much support um especially like uh if we want to talk about investment or whatever you kind of have to be in order to get yourself in a position where you can really put yourself out like you know get on a larger scale you know you've got to have money and whatever to do that but it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't do it. You just have to be prepared to put in the work grind it out compound get the experience continually continuously put yourself out there and you just never know who's watching. You just don't know who's watching and that's why I I keep doing this and I still get to chat to some really awesome people who come on this podcast who share their awesome journeys about how they're chat you know whether they're trying to chase the dream or they've achieved a part of the dream but they're going after something more you know how they're going about you know sort of dealing with the push and pull effects of the economy and you know what's happening globally but then at the end of the day it's just kind of like down to you to make it happen. And I think I think I just want to try and be more encouraging and positive to people who want to go out there and uh go after what they want but also to provide a bit of a realistic perspective of what it's actually like because you do need to think about a few variables but at the same time you're not going to know what those are until you go and try it. But there's always a risk to these things. I had a really good chat with uh Mikey Smith on my last podcast about how does having a like does is is there such a thing as a stable salary job anymore that can provide you um stability in your life all the time. I don't think we're in an economy I don't think we've been in an economy in a while you know where you can just rely on a salary job to be completely stable and provide you a stable income all the time. Like things are very um volatile at the moment and um I've had friends I know people who've lost their jobs to all sorts of things not just AI but lost work and businesses going under. It's been a very tough time and so if if if we've if I've learned anything over this time period this is probably the best time to start your personal brand or start that project or start the thing it is that you really want to do um or just give it a go. It doesn't even need to be something crazy. Just post one thing a week or one video like just I I think my my whole thing is just look if someone like myself can do it you can definitely do it. So um just start start um start the thing. Start the thing. Alright thanks for listening or watching something a bit different but um I appreciate you guys um if you've hung out this long I appreciate it very much and we'll have a guest for the next one. Alright peace