Are you building a business or an audience?

Not all films are designed to be blockbusters. (Image by gagnonm1993)

This blog was not originally meant to be for entrepreneurs and creatives, but I know there are a lot of you reading.

And one theme that these folks often struggle with is how to take the next step—especially when you don’t know what the next step is.

One source of confusion is that building a business and building an audience are two different things, but they are often presented as the same thing in a lot of the discourse online. One can lead to the other, but it’s important to have clarity about which thing you’re doing and why.

If what you’re looking for is dollars in, your primary goal should be to build a business, not an audience. To build a business, you’ve got to offer something of value and spread the word about it. That means getting over any fear of being salesy or looking desperate. It means not waiting until you have the perfect website or the perfect offer. You get out there and hustle, using what you’ve got. It’s uncomfortable but potentially very rewarding.

If what you’re looking for is to spread a message, build a community, leave a legacy, strengthen your reputation, or be popular, you’re in the “build an audience” camp. To do this well requires consistent, patient effort over time, letting go of the quick sale and instead focusing on the long game. You make things and give them away, share ideas for free, and build relationships without expecting anything in return. All you ask is that people tell the others if what you’ve offered is valuable to them.

It’s not that you can’t pursue both of these paths at once or that they never intersect. You can, and they do. However, if you are working on a “give content generously” strategy, you shouldn’t get demoralized when you’re not generating a whole lot of sales. Have you even asked for them?

These days, a lot of the advice out there is more focused on creating a bunch of content. But if your goal is a profitable business, you need to learn how to price and sell products and services. These are specialized skills that can be learned but don’t just magically arise on their own. If you’ve never done much selling before, you probably don’t know how. There’s nothing wrong with you.

On the other hand, if you’re already making a decent living but are seeking more fulfillment, it may be that you want to focus on building your audience. If you try to measure your investment in dollars, it will likely be hard to justify the time and energy you spend on this endeavor (for instance, writing a book, putting together a gallery show, or developing a TED talk). However, at a certain point in your career, you might just want to something because it brings you joy and satisfaction or helps others. No further justification is necessary.

Successful people reaching their fifties and sixties often find themselves wanting to focus more on legacy than money. After so many years, they find it hard to let go of money as a metric of success. However, if they focus on the impact they are making with their work, even on an individual level, they can get a better sense of their effectiveness.

Those who need to make a living first and foremost should focus on that. The easiest way to do it is to get a job. The next easiest is to be a freelancer. Bootstrapping an idea that you’re not emotionally connected to—something that’s not your “baby”— is pretty doable, too. The very hardest path forward, in my opinion, is to earn income from a passion project, entirely on your own terms, especially if you seek to avoid sales and marketing. At best, it takes awhile; at worst, your project never makes a dime. That still doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not worth doing.

Things are far less confusing if the purpose of a project is clear and unequivocal. When we can be honest about what we want and need, the route toward our desired outcome is shorter and less painful. It will be easier to identify and find the help we need, and we’ll have the fortitude to stick with our plan during the hard times.

You can accomplish virtually anything you set out to do—but not everything. Which are you building: a business or an audience? Or something else entirely?