The only flywheel to build a future-proof personal brand on CT

Building a brand around trust is slower, but it’s infinitely more powerful.

Everyone wants to grow their account on CT and earn millions of views and airdrops.

But the only way to build a future-proof account is by optimising for trust, not views.

This is the complete flywheel that I’m doing now to achieve just that:

Value → Trust → Credibility → Social Capital → Wealth → More Value

Here’s how each component plays a role:

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Value

In its simplest form, money is a transfer of value.

To earn money, you have to provide value first.

And here’s the best way to do it:

Solve a pain point that others have and provide a solution for it.

There are millions of pain points that exist in this world, but we just need to find a few to start solving for them.

And I’m using this to find pain points I can solve:

Speaking to my former self and teaching him how to get to where I am now at a faster pace.

That’s why I write in a certain style with my posts:

I share the costs involved and why I chose to interact with certain projects because I know that’s what my former self would have wanted.

And others who fit the same profile as my former self will resonate with the content I create.

It’s easier to convert a stranger to a follower if you can build a connection with them.

And the opportunities to provide value to my audience will compound:

Followers will ask more questions, and that gives me even more pain points to solve.

While giving value, give it freely.

Do it because you mean it, instead of begging for likes and follows at every point.

(Others can tell and get turned off by such behaviour)

And once you consistently prove that you can solve someone’s problems, you move on to the next stage.

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Trust

Trusting a complete stranger is hard.

You don’t know the person at all, and there’s no way to tell if they’re here to extract from you.

This is the challenge we face when converting someone into a fan (not just a follower).

But everything changes once you’re consistently providing value:

They notice how you’re solving their problems and will eventually trust you.

You’re not just any engagement farmer who optimises for views.

Instead, you do things and share what you do online.

And because you have the results to prove that you did it:

Others will trust you more.

Even better if you share your failures, because it makes you even more relatable and trustworthy.

But this is a long-drawn process:

It’s hard for someone to trust you with just a single viral piece of content.

Someone needs to watch/read a certain number of hours of your content before deciding to trust you.

So being consistent on the timeline is the best way for others to be exposed to your content.

And why I’m leaning more towards long-form because it converts strangers into followers much faster than any short-form content will.

@leonabboud_ shared the 3 factors to building trust:

1. Document everything in your life (others see you as a real human)

2. Prove you can deliver (have the evidence and results to show for)

3. Share the entire process (you become more relatable)

Once you’ve built trust with multiple fans, they will become your loudest promoters:

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Credibility

Others start vouching for you publicly because they’re impacted by the value you provide.

They would recommend you to their friends,

or spread ideas that you believe in.

This compounds the influence you control:

Initially, we just relied on our account as a single mouthpiece to share our ideas.

But now, others are sharing them on our behalf.

And everything can change when a person with a reputation chooses to vouch for you, just like what CC2 did for me:

This is why I see @ethos_network playing a key role in the future of social reputation.

Credibility shows that ‘who says it’ is more important than ‘what is being said’:

I can copy and paste every tweet that CC2 posted, but I won’t get the same traction because I don’t have the same level of reputation.

So instead of trying to copy others:

Seek to display your authentic self online.

Others can tell when you’re faking or trying to be someone else.

And that’s how you stand out and build credibility.

This reputation helps you to unlock a new wave of opportunities too:

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Social Capital

Others can’t help but feel indebted to the amount of value that you freely provide on the timeline.

And some of your fans would want to return the favour to you.

They could open doors for you that would have otherwise been unattainable:

• Early access to new protocols

• New alpha

These are beyond just monetary gains, and you could gain new knowledge that accumulates wealth for you.

An example was one of my followers who offered to help me navigate the Virtuals ecosystem when I was just starting out.

These opportunities help to compound your value further:

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Wealth

Apart from just the knowledge you have, you’re now able to tap into the knowledge and expertise of others.

Knowledge that they won’t share with others unless they trust you.

This begins your wealth accumulation phase:

All the hard work you’ve done previously gives you exponential growth in your wealth.

The grinding that you’ve done (sometimes with zero results) has finally paid off.

At this point, you could choose to cash out and live a comfortable life, or continue playing the game:

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More Value

Wealth gives you leverage on your time and you can use the spare time to provide more value.

You now have more lived experiences and results to share publicly.

Now that you’ve ‘made it’, you gain even more credibility by sharing the steps that helped you achieve it.

And this brings you back to the start of the cycle:

Provide value to ultimately get wealth.

You may notice that I’ve left out one ‘important’ piece of the puzzle:

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But what about attention?

I believe there’s a fine balance between attention and value:

• Attention means nothing if there’s zero value

• Value means nothing if you can’t capture attention with content

The algo loves drama and hype because it captures the most attention and engagement.

But ultimately, it provides zero value to the reader.

While no one will notice you even if you provide value but are unable to get eyeballs to your content.

I believe that anyone can capture attention once they consistently provide value:

They have enough data points to know what works and what doesn’t.

I can’t tell you the exact formula to capture attention, but I can show you what worked for me.

The only way is to try it out yourself and double down on what works.

(Because everyone’s audience is different, so what works for me may not work for you)

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Value above anything else

Choose to optimise for value and not anything else.

Start by solving problems for your former self, as others will experience the same pain points as your former self did.

No matter how experienced or early you are in a topic:

You still will be considered an expert by someone.

Use that to your advantage, share what you’ve done and you’ll build wealth eventually.

Ultimately, it’s a long term game and those who are patient will win.

In any sector (and not just Web3):

Trust is the only thing that we need to succeed.

Build trust by consistently providing value, always.

Having a strong social reputation is no longer enough for airdrops, and we need to have a solid onchain footprint.

I shared my thoughts on how we need to build these future-proof pillars for airdrops below:

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Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

• Audience to Airdrop: Steal my playbook to build trust fast and earn social airdrops

• Secure Airdrop Hunter: My flagship Web3 security course, learn how to protect your assets and onchain footprint while stopping hackers from draining your funds