36,000 vs 36 = this keeps me up at night

_{Day 271/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

I need to tell you something that makes me question myself…

I have 36,000 followers on LinkedIn.
I built that in 3 years by posting screenshots of my work and adding some thoughts.

Every day. Same thing. Screenshot. Thoughts. Post.

It worked.

People followed. Clients came. Revenue happened.
It’s how I build my consulting practice.

I know how to do this.

OR DO I???

I have 36 followers on Twitter.
And I feel like I'm starting from zero.
Like I don't know what I'm doing.

Like I need to "prove" I can do this before I can tell other people to do it.
Even though I literally already proved it.

On a different website.
With a different blue logo.

Here's the thing:
Someone told me months ago: "You need to be more visible. Post on Twitter."

And I thought: "Yeah, I should."

And then I didn't. Because I had 10,000 other things to do.

Like:

• Fix bugs in Penfriend

• Answer support emails

• Build Wave Three of the new launch

• Write this newsletter

• Eat food occasionally

• Sleep (supposedly important)

But here's what's funny:

I tell founders ALL THE TIME:

"Just screenshot what you're working on and post it. Add some thoughts. That's it."

And they do it.
And it works.

And I'm sitting here with 35 Twitter followers like:

"I can't possibly give this advice without having 100K followers first."
"I need to EARN the right to tell people to do the thing I already did."
"On LinkedIn it doesn't count. I need to do it again. With the blue bird this time."

So I started posting on Twitter.

Screenshots of my day. Building features. Fixing bugs. Random thoughts.

Same thing I did on LinkedIn.
Nothing fancy.
And you know what's happening?
It's working.

36 followers is not a lot.

But I have DMs from people saying:

• "Love following the build"

• "This is helpful"

• "Keep posting"

And I realize:

I'm making this harder than it needs to be.

The truth is:

I already know how to do this.
I've done it.

I have 36,000 people who watched me do it.
But there's this voice in my head that says:

"That was LinkedIn. This is Twitter. Different rules. Start over. Prove yourself again."

And I listen to that voice.
Even though it's lying.
Because the platforms are different, sure.

But the process is the same:

1. Do the work

2. Screenshot it

3. Add value through thoughts

4. Post it

5. Repeat tomorrow

That's it.
That worked on LinkedIn.
It's working on Twitter.

It'll work on whatever platform comes next.

Here's what I'm learning:

You don't need to re-prove yourself on every platform.
You just need to show up. Do the thing you already know works. And trust that it'll work again.

Even when you have 36 followers and feel like you're shouting into the void.

Because you're not starting from zero.

You're starting from knowing how to do this.

That's not nothing.

So here's my goal:

100K followers on Twitter. And LinkedIn. And…..

Not because I need it to feel legitimate. But because I want to prove (to myself) that this works everywhere.

And then maybe I'll stop having this stupid impostor syndrome every time I switch platforms.

Maybe.

Probably not.

I'll probably just find a new thing to feel like a fraud about.

That's how this works, right?

Anyway.

If you're on Twitter, follow me: https://x.com/tim_i_h

Watch me screenshot things and add thoughts.
It's riveting content.

35 followers and climbing.

At 100 I’ll release a secret project I’ve been playing with.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "100k or bust" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. The irony is not lost on me that I'm writing a newsletter to 2,553 people about how I feel weird having 35 Twitter followers.

This is what impostor syndrome looks like.

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.