A few weeks ago, I flew to San Jose to work on a marketing video and picture shoot with Jordan Harbinger. He used to host the Art of Charm show and now hosts the Jordan Harbinger Show. His podcast gets more than 6 million downloads a month. Jordan is one of the first names in the current personal development field, and I think he’s one of the best at giving good advice.
We talked about many different things during the hour-long conversation, and I want to keep looking into them as I develop the material. One thing he said really stayed with me and is really important to me right now as I start writing and doing things again. I want to talk about how and where to start making and sharing your own material online, but I’m not sure how to say it.
Choose one or two platforms and stick with them.
Jordan informed us that when it comes to releasing content, he thinks people should only choose one or two platforms that they really like and stick with them. Jordan enjoys the voice platform. He would post mp3 files teaching soft skills to a private domain and offer the link to friends and coworkers who asked for it. This was more than ten years ago before podcasting was a thing. His slow growth didn’t matter because he had something important to say; he was comfortable saying it, and it helped a lot of people who needed it.
Fast forward to when podcasting became popular, his program got a lot bigger, and he had a lot of great guests. He’s basically doing the same thing again. He teaches people with sound. He just started using a second medium, video on YouTube, and all he’s doing is capturing the discussions he already has for the podcast and putting them up there.
The most essential thing to learn from this is that he started with what he liked and was good at, and he kept doing it for years.
Don’t get “Shiny Object Syndrome”!
Jordan says that most people are stopped by what he calls “Shiny Object Syndrome.” People are too busy chasing shiny things.
What is the most popular new style of video? I use Instagram. I should also use SnapChat. I might go on YouTube. I can’t let my Facebook account go. What is TikTok? I guess I should join too.
Jordan says that Gary Vee is different. Gary likes all of the social media. Therefore, he’ll do everything and do it well. But he has a group of people! He has a vast crew of more than 20 individuals who make content for all of his social media accounts and are now working on making it available in other languages. You shouldn’t try to be or compare yourself to that.
People quit so soon, and I’ve quit doing things for myself over and over again because I tried to do everything. Before I had anything to say or a place to start talking, I sought to make things better for growth.
Finally, he said something that really got to me.
If you really wanted to change how people thought, you would just start writing.
I like writing, and I’m fairly excellent at it, so I’m in a rare position. But I still think this is true. Writing is the best way to affect how others think. That works with audio, too. Videos are good if they are done effectively, but they can be incredibly quick for sharing complicated topics. If you want to make art, get a camera or a canvas. If you want to be a documentarian, you need to get a camera or become a journalist.
Great works of art are made when the message and the medium work together.
How I’m taking this advice…
I think that before you start making something, you need to know what you want to express and how to say it effectively.
As I create my profession in Los Angeles, start a business with my partner Leann, and go through all the ups and downs of life, I am going through a lot of growth and change. I’m always seeking for small ways to improve myself and share what I’ve learned, or for small moments of beauty that make the hard things easier and share them.
I’m writing about how I’ve changed and grown as a person, the varied ideas I come across, people like Jordan Harbinger that I get to meet, and my photography. When this gets out on Instagram, I’m going to publish a short blooper video from the day of the interview and link to this blog post (@masonlee.me). I might use this blog as a script for a video and add Jordan’s comments. I don’t really care about making headlines about this topic or posting a video on TikTok, Facebook, or any of those other sites. It’s not important enough, and it’s not the right place for this topic.
