I took Twitter seriously at the end of 2020. I thought it was a platform for news, political banter, and celebrities. In the years I had a passive and inactive account, I had no idea what kind of opportunities were available to me.
The number of relationships, exciting projects, and ways to learn became limitless. My eyes grew, knowing how connected this world of the internet could be. Little did I know that I would be making strong friendships from all over the world in a matter of weeks. That’s been the most rewarding experience for me.
The third person to contact me about meeting on video was Jessie Van Breugel. He had jumped into an interesting season in his life, traveling and going freelance full time. I realized that he was a great writer and communicator with a knack for personal branding. We clicked right away.
A few months later, we decided to host a few Twitter Spaces. We noticed a big need for people to get feedback on their Twitter profiles; their bio, banner, pinned tweet, and other components. So we threw out a simple proposal: we would give live feedback to whoever asked.
Immediately, our friends saw the value in it and participated. We met many new people and loved adding value in any way we could. This small seed grew and we dug deeper into the need.
We all have a vision of who we want to be, what value we want to provide, and what we want to represent. But when it’s time to implement it, we find it difficult to communicate it. In short, many need help refining their personal brand and providing consistent value.
Jessie and I felt the same about ourselves. How could we improve our brand and learn to create great content daily? We became students, watching others and studying hard to find our own process.
In time, we came up with the Idea Generation Model to make it virtually impossible to run out of good ideas. No more creator’s block. That’s a good start! Then we developed the Micro Thread Framework, a simple but effective structure that serves as a vessel to deliver great content. Micro Threads consist of three tweets, each with a specific purpose.
Frameworks and processes are great but they won’t work until you breathe life into them. We tested and tweaked them until we found they worked efficiently. We later created Spotlights, which highlighted great Micro Threads and broke them down to learn what worked and what didn’t for live feedback and group settings.
Eventually, Build Your House Club began to form into a possibility and tangible creation. Through the curriculum we created and live interactions, we would create a cohort designed to learn, promote action, and build community.
Our first cohort has been amazing so far. Each member had a One-on-One discovery session to refine their brand and pick three areas of focus for their content. We kicked off 21 days to develop content. Then we studied our Spotlights and the published Micro Threads we could learn from. Soon we’ll have office hours focused on data and our 5X Content Model, where creators can multiply their original content.
When we end our 21 days, we’ll come out the other side with a clarified vision, stronger habits, and a supportive community.
I would like to thank everyone who joined this first cohort and trusted Jessie and me to learn alongside you. It’s the beginning and we are very excited for what’s to come.
Unsplash photo: Photo by Elvir K on Unsplash
EDIT & Update:
A few months after this post, Jessie and I retired the cohort. While the community is still alive, the program is no longer active.
This was an incredible experience for us both. Many people built their brand and voice online and we developed many relationships.
Jessie and I are focusing on new endeavors and we encourage you to check out what we are up to via Twitter (Click Here for Jessie; Click Here for John).
Thank you!
John
11/27/2021
