Make your profile an art gallery to get paid more

Recently, I’ve been saying No to sponsored content. Not because I’m too rich or famous to take it, but because I want to stand out. I want my content to be unique like a beautiful piece hung on a clean wall in an art gallery.

I don’t want to be another photo in a yearbook, squeezed between Brian and Julia.

So, What I’m trying to say is that your content should be prime real estate, and each time you want to build a new house, it should be a villa, not an HMO.

But how do you do that?

Web3 is a great industry, with tons of opportunities for small creators to earn anywhere between $100 to $500 for a sponsored post. That can be great, but it can also be your downfall.

I saw a great thread about art galleries by Cozomo De’Medici that perfectly encapsulated this theory.

In the 1800s, art galleries displayed art in “salon style.” Everything was crammed together from floor to ceiling. Today, it’s all about a clean wall with space between each art piece.

Can you guess which hanging style gives each piece the best chance to be seen and appreciated? That’s exactly how I see paid content.

I’m not saying don’t take any sponsored thread, but space it out so it stands out on its own, and in between, push as much valuable content as you can so you have leverage when negotiating.

If you can show that you generate 100k, 250k or more organic impressions per month, you can negotiate better prices and explain that you only take deals that matter to you. Projects you resonate with.

Play the long-term game

If you’re trying to grow as a creator, you must understand you’re in this for a long, long time. It’s tempting to take anything and everything thrown at you and make a few bucks, but the truth is, most offers suck and will not add value to your personal brand.

Resist the temptation to gain short-term gain and focus on where you want to be five years from now.

It’s up to you to decide, but my view on paid content is it should not take more than 15-20% of my feed.

This content creator makes $250k/year all through his X profile

Recently, I had the pleasure of talking with Aaron, who is a gym chad making $250k/year from X.

The cool thing? He never sells on his timeline; his only website is his newsletter. He sends emails every single day, weekend included, all for free, sharing his experience.

His funnel works so well because he puts upfront value before trying to extract from his audience. Once you read his daily email, you can hop on a call with him and get paid access to him, but you don’t need to do any of that if you don’t want to.

He treats his feed and newsletter like Prime real estate. That means whenever people see his content, they trust it to be organic. You get where I’m going with that.

I published a 1h30m interview with him last week on my YouTube channel. We talk gym, content, motivation, discipline and a few other things I think you might enjoy

Check the video here, and I’ll see you next week.