Audience Builder Spotlight: Ash Lamb

Hey friends,

It’s time for another Audience Builder Spotlight. This week, we’re traveling all the way to Barcelona to meet the talented Ash Lamb. You may have come across his creations on Twitter, where he deconstructing and illustrating ideas for creative entrepreneurs. This way, he built an audience of almost 29,000 people in less than two years.

He is also teaching people how to create impactful visuals at visualgrowth.com

So, without further adieu, let’s see what Ash has to say about audience building.

Tell us about your audience-building journey: how and why did you decide to do this?I decided to build my own personal brand because it was the perfect excuse to explore my insatiable curiosity.As a young creative individual, I felt lost and overwhelmed by all those amazing things I could be doing with my time, so I realized that my best bet was to focus on building something that could be easily transferred in the future.If tomorrow I decided to become a software developer, I could still use my current personal brand to document my journey and keep connecting with fellow developers. If after a few months I got tired of making software and decided to start a DTC brand I could still leverage my brand in multiple ways.A genuinely authentic personal brand is an evergreen asset, that if used correctly, can make all the difference.Every day I learn something new, sometimes it's a hard skill, other times it's a soft skill, if you're truly passionate about entrepreneurship, you can't go wrong with building your own brand online.What impact has audience building had for you?The audience I've managed to build is a by-product of showing up every day to share my art, ideas, and projects.Documenting my journey has allowed me to attract many life-changing opportunities. I've had the chance to collaborate with multiple people and a couple (unicorn) "startups".I've talked to people I've always admired like Ali Abdaal, Lewis Howes, Steven Bartlett... I've also had the amazing chance to meet some fellow creative entrepreneurs in person!Sometime soon I'll start traveling the world to meet everyone I've connected with up until now! Building an audience exposes you to the magic of randomness. My future co-founder could send me a DM today!

Now, let’s get in the weeds. What were the tactics that helped you grow the most? Why?I'm not big into growth hacking because I truly believe in the power of simplicity and authenticity.Engagement farming can work well in the short term, but if you truly want to play long-term games with long-term people, I highly recommend you focus on sharing and building stuff you truly care about.Here are a few tips:

• Treat your personal brand as a fun experiment where you get to test things you're interested in, sooner or later something will pick up traction.

• Focus on your input instead of your output. Instead of aiming to build an audience of 10k people commit to creating and sharing something you're proud of every week, or even every day!

• Vanity metrics can't be trusted. Optimize for connection and money. It's better to only get 10 likes on a post but meet your future co-founder through it, than to get 10.000 empty likes.

• 1 + 1 = 3. Find someone whom you resonate with and propose a collaboration. I've illustrated articles and threads for writers I like. One successful collaboration could land you a life-changing deal. You're one piece of content away from achieving some of your craziest career goals.

• Try to build a valuable product off the back of your brand. A brand without any real substance behind won't go too far. People who are in the trenches building something usually have better stories to tell.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone gave you at the beginning of your audience-building journey?Audience building is not an end in itself, it's only a vehicle you can use to document your journey and connect with amazing people from all around the world. My long-term goal is to build a small portfolio of world-class digital products. Right now I'm focused on building a library of illustrated guides on topics I'm passionate about like creativity and stoicism.Businesses fail, entrepreneurs don't. As long as you keep moving forward you'll achieve everything you set out to do. Guaranteed. Most people never achieve their goals because they let one little failure define who they are. Instead, use your failures as stepping stones to success. When you're least expecting it, a great opportunity will present itself, and if you've put in the prior work, you'll be able to take advantage of it and change your life.You can find me on:TwitterInstagramLinkedInVisual Growth CourseDon't take anything I share too seriously. I'm just a young creator figuring things out. Everything I share is a reminder to myself.

Ash is the living proof that audience building can change your life. You never know when and where the next great opportunity will come your way. It’s a long game, but it’s worth it.

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