My worst 14 posts built 80% of my audience

Here are the 3 biggest mistakes I made building my audience,

So you don't waste 18 months like I did.

1) I created content before I knew what problem I was solving (cost me 11 months)

I posted 5-7 Instagram reels per week about "online business."

Growth strategies. Mindset tips. Productivity hacks. Whatever felt relevant.

11 months later: 2,400 followers. 140 email subscribers.

Know what happened?

Nobody knew what I actually helped them DO.

Meanwhile, someone else posted 3 times per week about ONE specific problem: "How to write emails that convert without sounding salesy."

They had 900 followers and 1,200 email subscribers.

Smaller audience. Bigger impact. An actual business making money.

Here's what actually matters: Solve one specific problem for one specific person.

Not "help people in general."

People don't subscribe to vague value. They subscribe to specific solutions.

2) I tried to build an audience THEN find what they needed (backwards)

My approach: Get followers → Survey them → Create what they want

Sounds logical, right?

Wrong.

I spent 7 months building to 5,000 followers. Then I asked what they wanted.

The answers? All over the place. No clear pattern. No obvious product.

Then I saw someone do it backwards:

Identify one painful problem → Create the solution → Attract people solving that problem → Audience builds itself.

They had 400 followers and a waitlist of 200 people for their product.

Here's the reality: The problem comes first. The audience comes second.

You can't find what people need AFTER you build an audience of random people.

You build an audience BY solving a specific problem publicly.

3) I posted to "provide value" instead of making a clear offer (nobody bought)

Every post ended with: "Hope this helps! Follow for more."

No link. No offer. No next step.

Just... value.

I thought I was "building trust." I was actually training people to consume and leave.

Then I learned: Every piece of content should have ONE clear next step.

Not "follow for more." Not "let me know what you think."

A clear offer: "Comment SYSTEM for the blueprint" / "Click here for the guide" / "Reply with your biggest challenge"

One problem. One solution. One offer.

The moment I flipped this, I went from 8 signups per week to 50+ signups per week.

Same follower count. Different approach.

But here's what most people miss:

They flip the approach but still guess what will work.

Different content. Same guessing. Same wasted time.

The best builders don't guess. They test.

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That's the difference.

Most people flip their approach and hope it works.

Smart builders flip their approach and test what actually converts.

The 3 mistakes?

Total cost: 18 months building an audience that didn't know what I sold

You can skip all of it and do this:

Identify the problem.
Build the solution.
Make the offer.
The audience builds itself.

Everything else is building in circles.

Talk soon,
Digital Savage

P.S. If you have an audience but no clear offer, you built it backwards. Start with the problem. The people will follow.

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