Page 179 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

followers or attention. People follow you (or your business) because that’s what
they’re interested in—you. I follow Shaquille O’Neal’s tweets and posts because
I’m interested in what he has to say. If he spent all his time talking about other
people and mentioning his other fans, I wouldn’t be as interested.

What should you talk about online? It’s simple: Talk about yourself and your
business. Really. If people don’t like what you do or say, they can unfollow you,
but chances are that you’ll gain far more followers than you lose. Finally,
remember that online social networks are merely reflections of what’s happening
elsewhere. Want more Twitter followers? Then do something
interesting … away from Twitter.

A Cautionary Note

There’s no point pursuing growth for growth’s sake; you should scale a business
only if you really want to. Many of the subjects of our case studies said they had
turned down growth opportunities in a deliberate plan to remain small: “I just
didn’t want the hassle of managing people.”

The decision on going big versus staying small is unique to each person (we’ll
look at it much more in the next two chapters), but in this section we want to
focus on things you can do to increase income without hiring additional
employees or bringing in outside investors. All the tweaks mentioned above can
be done by a solopreneur. Some might be easier with assistants, contractors, or
employees, but none require a team. Before we close it out, let’s look at a key
distinction between two different kinds of growth.

You can grow a business one of two ways: horizontally, by going wide and
creating different products to apply to different people, or vertically, by going
deep and creating more levels of engagement with customers. The flowchart on
this page shows how this works.

Different businesses will find that one solution suits them better than the
other, and it’s also possible to pursue limited growth in both areas. Mostly,
though, you can keep moving on up, tweaking your way to the bank and growing
your business. The first $1.26—or the first sale—may be the hardest, but after
that, your most difficult choice may be deciding between many good options for
growth.