How Tommy Clark is Selling Shovels During the Content Gold Rush

Tommy Clark is Selling Shovels During the Content Gold Rush

Building better resources for creators

The old saying about selling shovels during a gold rush has become a platitude across nearly every industry. But in the creator economy (a phrase I cringe as I write), there's a certain nuance at play.

No doubt there are plenty of people lining up to sell the content 'shovels' through money-grab courses and e-books — you can't walk down the Twitter streets without being sold some sort of content framework reminiscent of a prosperity gospel for tech bros.

That's why Tommy Clark's approach sticks out.

He not only avoids the pitfalls of the self-proclaimed content gurus, who promise viral success and eternal happiness, but he's remarkably generous with some of the most actionable tips and analysis on the internet.

Before going full force in building resources for social media strategy and content creation (templates, outlines, etc.), Tommy was on his own journey — searching for someone like his future self to guide him on his path to social media strategy success.

It turned out these resources weren't exactly bulletproof.

Theory vs. Application is a perfect place to start considering the subject matter. The vast majority of people writing about these topics are able to cover the same subject matter from a 30K-foot view — "publish every day," "build a brand," "have rich parents" — but there's hardly anything when it comes to the nitty gritty.

Sure, publish/post often, but how do you actually balance between quality and quantity? Which suite of tools are actually best for you? Theory only goes so far.

A key insight here is that the most valuable thing you can learn from a brand is not from a behemoth with a massive team of experts, but from a scrappy startup punching above its weight class.

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