Ryan Williams [Williams - The Influencer Economy: How to Launch Your Idea, Share It with the World, and Thrive in the Digital Age

Millions have sought their big break online. Ryan Williams has hunted down the few who succeeded, and distilled their inspiring stories into lessons that we can all put to use. Its an engaging, actionable read for anyone looking to gain fans, followers, or customers in the digital age.

Adam Grant, Wharton professor and NewYork Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

Full of actionable insights, this book is pure gold for anyone wanting to make it in the Influencer Economy.

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

If youve ever thought about monetizing your passion, Ryan Williams delivers an insiders guide to prospering from the Influencer Economy.

Jay Samit, bestselling author of DisruptYou! Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity , and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation

In an age when a big idea can be launchedand a big industry shaken upwith nothing more than a laptop, The Influencer Economy offers a blueprint for how to doit. If you want to understand the way the world works now, this is a must read.

Willie Geist, host NBCs TODAY and MSNBCs Morning Joe

The Influencer Economy

How to Launch Your Idea, Share It with the World, and Thrive in the Digital Age

Ryan Williams

Copyright 2016 Ryan Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBNs

Print edition: 978-0-996077-11-8

Kindle: 978-0-996077-10-1

EPub: 978-0-996077-12-5

To Katherine, who was the original lightning in a bottle.

To Julia and Libby, who have kept me enjoying life as this book was completed.

Contents

Preface

Step 1: Launch

Chapter 1: Craft a Big Vision

Chapter 2: Pick Your Platform

Chapter 3: Book Your Own GigsThe Jay Z Effect

Chapter 4: Adopt New Technology Early and Often

Step 2: Share

Chapter 5: Strive for Authenticity

Chapter 6: Collaborate

Chapter 7: Capture Lightning in a Bottle

Step 3: Thrive

Chapter 8: Open Doors for Others

Chapter 9: Meet People In Real Life (IRL)

Chapter 10: Give Your Community Ownership

Acknowledgments

Endnotes

Books I Love

About the Author

Preface

The Influencer Economy is a movement and book to help you to launch your idea, share it with the world and thrive in the digital age. What I realized early in the process of writing this book and creating my podcast, is that in order to thrive in the digital age, you dont need to go to business school. You dont need an Ivy League degree. You dont need to know celebrities. And you dont need to have a lot of money. You just need to learn the new rules of success from the emerging leaders of the Influencer Economy.

I wrote this book from my own perspective as a creative entrepreneur, bootstrapping my ideas and vision without any large budget. Im imagining youre in a similar boatits you and maybe a co-founder out there working on your idea, and its a lonely slog. I want this book to move your journey along and help you build a community and platform around your idea, even if your idea has yet to launch.

When I began attending VidCon, Comic-Con, South by Southwest (SXSW), TechCrunch Disrupt and other tech and fan-geek conferences, I noticed two remarkable things: these events were celebrating geeks, technology, and modern social media; and no one was telling the stories of the awesome people embracing this new form of influence and the wildly successful businesses they were creating. I was on the front lines of what I called the Influencer Economy, and this movement was permeating all technology and media-based businesses, from California to New York to London to Mumbai.

I was inspired and went on to launch a podcast dedicated to interviewing the Influencer Economy pioneers. After speaking to more than a hundred artists, experts, and entrepreneursfrom world-famous YouTubers to New York Times best-selling authors to the most creative start-up founders and investors on the planetI reverse engineered their careers, to understand the stories behind their success, and now present everything I learned in The Influencer Economy: How to Launch Your Idea, Share It with the World and Thrive in the Digital Age . You can listen to the podcast here:

www.influencereconomy.com

This is the book I wish I had when I launched my podcast and started writing this book. The three primary steps to success in the Influencer Economylaunch, share and thrivecan be applied to both business and life. I wrote about the fascinating stories of more than a dozen people who turned their visions, ideas, and hobbies into influential and profitable digital media empires. In each chapter I also provide the Influencer School Lessons derived from each of these individuals journeys for everyone to learn from. I aim for you to understand lessons from influencers, that will help you to launch your idea. I also wrote-out specific actions readers can take to launch their own ideas into the online universe.

The Influencer Economy features 10 key principles that are the building blocks of the Influencer Economywith elements such as crafting your big vision, picking a platform, community collaboration, and opening doors for others.

I wrote this book for youpeople with a business idea or product launch who are interested in how they might become part of this fast-moving phenomenon. If you have a curious personality and an idea that youd like to explore, or an itch that you want to scratch around building a business or a creative idea whether its a hobby or passion project, this book was made for you to serve as a guidebook to get your idea out to the world. Whether you have a day job working on a side passion project, or have gone full-time with your idea, the lessons and actions of this book will give you a business launch framework for the digital age. The book comes with an action-guidebook for you to take the next steps with your idea.

For the entire Influencer Economy Lesson and Action Guidebook , go here:

http://www.influencereconomy.com/influencers

Learning from the Influencer Economy

Years ago I was performing stand-up comedy onstage at the world-renowned DC Improv. With bright lights shining in my eyes, I was in front of a packed house of 300 people who were drinking watered-down lite beers and ready to laugh. I was eyeing my set list of seven well-rehearsed jokes that I had practiced at open-mic nights for years. I gazed into the bright spotlights looking me straight in the eye, feeling the anticipation of the crowd, waiting for the moment to tell my opening joke.

I wanted to puke.

In the early 2000s I had battled through nerves, smoky clubs, and hecklers in an effort to tell jokes for a living. Audiences called me every name in the book. When I did do well, and kill it as my fellow comedians would say, it felt amazing. But after performing stand-up for many years, I quickly learned the lesson that in comedy you get rejected, a lot. This insight helped me later in life when I turned to a career in tech entrepreneurship, but at the time the rejection was much more palpable. Ultimately I realized to become the next Louis C.K., Patton Oswalt, or Amy Schumer, you need 510 years of honing your craft to get really good.

I also spent part of my mid-twenties battling chronic depression, even while I was regularly performing stand-up. There were days where I never left my one-bedroom studio except to drive to comedy gigs and go to my day job. My entire life outlook was negative and self-defeating, I didnt completely understand my dark mood, and I knew something was off.