What Most Creators Get Wrong

“Build an audience first, figure out what to sell later.”

Sounds clever. But in reality?

It’s a sophisticated way to procrastinate.

You’re creating every day, growing followers, chasing engagement…

But you have no idea where you’re taking your audience.

No offer = no revenue.

No revenue = no sustainability.

No sustainability = a hobby, not a business.

And if you’re not careful, the audience-first path becomes a long, fuzzy loop that leads nowhere.

Here’s why the audience-first model is flawed:

1. You’re creating without clear direction

You’re guessing what might resonate.

Often, you attract people who love your free content but never buy.

Why? Because there’s no real problem being solved. Just content.

2. Audience ≠ buyers

100,000 followers might love your tweets and never buy your product.

10,000 subscribers might open your emails and totally ignore your launch.

If you built your audience on entertainment or generic insight, don’t be surprised when they ghost your offer.

3. It’s a long shot that is rarely worth the effort

You give and give without knowing if it’ll ever pay off.

And if you pivot (which most people do), you’ll probably start from zero.

4. You burn out before you monetise

Audience-building requires consistent output with zero guarantee.

If you don’t have savings or income elsewhere, you’ll eventually burn out, slow down, or worse, get desperate and start making bad decisions.

5. You’re playing a status game, not a business game

This model subtly shifts your focus from solving problems to seeking praise.

You start chasing vanity metrics instead of attracting paying customers.

A real business solves a painful problem for a clearly defined person and gets paid for it.

You don’t need 10k followers for that. You just need a few clients.

So what’s the better play?

Start with a clear problem. Build a simple offer that solves it. Get a few people to pay you. Then refine, improve, and scale what’s working.

Cash flow creates clarity, not the other way around.

If you enjoyed this, reply and let me know.

Until next time, keep creating!

Omara

If you need help building your brand, attracting new clients, and growing your business, reply to this email or book a call here.

“Omara helped us build a $100K+ revenue stream from scratch using just LinkedIn and email. No ad spend. Just clear strategy and consistent execution.” —Rim Aridi