How I Just Had An Ego Death On Facebook (Of All Places)

I place continuous education on a pedestal.

Every couple of months I take a new course to learn a skill. Ideally, this accumulation of skills compounds itself and leads to unimaginable things. This time around, I wanted to learn short-form video. Think reels and quick videos you see on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, etc.

I’ve been paying attention to this handful of guys having a crazy return on their invested energy from creating these little videos. And so when I learned they launched a course, I knew I had to take it.

It’s called Cut30 and it’s already paid for itself.

Here’s why:

Over 27,000 Views….What?!

Part of the homework for the course is to post videos & get the reps in.

So I whipped up fresh social accounts for Tare across the board. 0 followers, 0 likes, zero zero zero. I figured I ought to start making the videos for the business I’m starting vs. anything else. Plus, I wasn’t exactly thinking anyone would really see the first dozen videos or so - which felt relieving honestly.

That’s not how it went down at all.

I make the first video. It’s pretty nerve-racking to post since I feel so vulnerable and also new to the medium. I soon decide screw it, let’s throw it in the Crunchy Middle TN private Facebook group of 5k+ members, figuring these people might like it and too, thinking I definitely need to get outside my comfort zone.

BOOM.

It hits.

It goes local viral within 8 hours.

People texting me with their support. My mom is calling to ask why I didn’t tell her ahead of time. Amelia says she might barf. And people in the video class are cheering me on.

The Power Behind Short Videos

I used to think that reels and shorts were just junk food.

And I’d say most of them still are, but there’s a growing portion of them doing something very different & in my opinion…good in fact. It’s the hyper-condensing of information. You’ve certainly read a book that could have just been a blog post, or heard an album with only a couple good songs, or watched a how-to Youtube video and didn’t get what you came for until like 5 minutes in. This is what short-form solves for. It’s the video version of tweet.

Beyond that, because they’re so condensed, they’re pretty powerful if you happen to be talking about something people want to hear.

At the time of this writing, my first 4 videos have garnered well over 50,000 views total and 881 followers total……within a week!

I even got recognized at the Farmer’s Market over the weekend.

That just melts my dopamine circuits every time I contemplate it.

I seriously may have only invested less than 3 hours into the making and editing of those 4 videos.

It’s crazy.

I’m Just Getting Started

There’s so much more to come.

I will be treating this as I do writing - like a craft. And it’s thrilling to start something new with such immediate & life-altering feedback. I have the discipline down to stick with things and this only further exacerbates my willingness to work hard at it and hone it.

There’s no telling where it shall lead.

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If you want to pay attention to this now that you have the meta details, you can find my business on the main platforms at Tare Bulk Foods.

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