The argument in one line.
Entrepreneurs and influencers are playing two different games with two different scoreboards, and optimizing for reach (the influencer scoreboard) actively works against building the trust that turns an audience into paying clients.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You're an entrepreneur posting content regularly but the views aren't converting into leads or clients.
- You've hit a follower milestone (10K, 100K+) and were surprised it didn't move revenue the way you expected.
- You run a coaching, consulting, or service business and use social content as a funnel into that business.
- You feel behind or inadequate comparing your numbers to full-time influencers and content creators.
SKIP IF…
- Your actual goal is to become a full-time influencer or creator, where reach and views are the product.
- You're already running a deliberate content-connection-conversion system and looking for tactical execution detail rather than the underlying framework.
The full version, fast.
The video argues entrepreneurs mistakenly play the influencer's game, chasing reach, views, and virality, when their actual scoreboard should be trust, because a large audience that doesn't trust you converts into zero business. The core framework is three shifts: measure trust instead of reach; make content that is valuable (does a specific job for the business) instead of merely viral; and run a full three-stage system of Content, Connection, and Conversion, since influencers stop at content while entrepreneurs also build relationships (via DMs, stories, personal content) and create explicit conversion moments (lead magnets, webinars, in-person offers). The creator illustrates this with a 500K-view video that produced nothing versus a 6,000-view video that generated real client conversations, and a live-event story where a QR code sold out two workshops purely on pre-built trust, not audience size.
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00:00 – 00:55
01 · The two games on social media
Sets up the core premise: influencers and entrepreneurs are playing different games with different scoreboards, and most entrepreneurs are unknowingly optimizing for the wrong one.
00:55 – 02:00
02 · Shift 1: From reach to trust
Tells the story of hitting 100K Instagram followers in 2022 and realizing followers didn't convert at any predictable rate — trust, not reach, is the real scoreboard.
02:00 – 02:30
03 · Shift 2: From viral to valuable
Introduces the second shift: content should be valuable (do a specific job for the business) rather than simply optimized to go viral.
02:30 – 03:55
04 · The 500K-view video that did nothing
Compares a commodity news video that hit half a million views with zero business results against a 6,000-view video that generated direct client conversations.
03:55 – 05:20
05 · When going viral does matter
Clarifies the nuance: perspective content can and should go viral, because it builds trust at the same time as reach, unlike generic commodity content.
05:20 – 05:45
06 · Forward Focus newsletter
Brief mid-roll plug for the creator's weekly email newsletter.
05:45 – 06:20
07 · Shift 3: The Three C's framework
Introduces the third shift: Content, Connection, Conversion — the full system entrepreneurs need to run, versus the content-only game influencers play.
06:20 – 08:00
08 · Connection: the bridge most people skip
Explains how reviewing his own DMs revealed that personal, non-business content is what builds the relationship bridge before someone ever converts.
08:00 – 10:30
09 · Conversion: the Dallas QR code story
Tells the story of speaking at a Dallas event with no sales team, putting up a QR code after his talk, and selling out two workshops on trust alone.
10:30 – 11:00
10 · Micro conversions explained
Defines micro-conversions — small asks like lead magnets or email signups — as the steps that move an audience toward a bigger ask over time.
11:00 – 11:45
11 · How I sold out Forward in one webinar
A second proof point: a flagship event that normally takes months to sell sold out in a single webinar because the audience already trusted him.
11:45 – 12:55
12 · Why you feel behind (and why you're not)
Addresses the emotional side: feeling behind is a symptom of measuring yourself against the wrong (influencer) scoreboard.
12:55 – 13:30
13 · Recap: the three shifts
Summarizes the three shifts: reach to trust, viral to valuable, and running the full three-C system.
13:30 – 14:13
14 · What's next
Teases the next video in the series covering the exact content system, and points to a prior video on perspective/signature content.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- A 100,000-follower audience that doesn't trust you is worth less than 1,000 followers who do, because trust — not reach — is what converts into paying clients.
- There is no universal conversion rate between followers and buyers; it depends entirely on how much trust and proof has been built with that specific audience.
- A video can get 500,000 views and produce zero business, while a video with 6,000 views in the same window can generate direct client inquiries — reach and value are not the same metric.
- Commodity content (news, tips, hacks anyone could Google) builds reach; perspective content (a unique, sometimes contrarian point of view) builds both reach and trust simultaneously.
- Creators who build an entire audience on generic tips-and-hacks content often can't convert that audience later, because the audience valued the information, not the person delivering it.
- The three-stage system entrepreneurs need is Content (attention), Connection (relationship), Conversion (business) — influencers typically stop after the first stage.
- The bridge between someone watching your videos and actually reaching out is built by non-business, personal content posted in between value content — reactions, DMs, stories, personal life updates.
- At a live event with no sales team, a single QR code after a trust-building presentation filled two paid workshops, because the audience's trust was already built before the presentation began.
- The right question to replace 'how many views did I get' is 'did my content make the right people trust me more' — that is the number that actually converts to revenue.
- A webinar that normally takes two to three months to sell out sold out in a single day when the audience had already been warmed by months of trust-building content beforehand.
- Micro-conversions (getting someone to opt into a lead magnet or email list) matter more early on than asking for the sale directly, because they move people down the trust chain before a bigger ask.
- Feeling 'behind' as an entrepreneur is usually a sign of measuring yourself against the influencer scoreboard (views, followers) instead of your own scoreboard (trust, client conversations).
Trust is the only number that turns content into clients.
CONTENT STRATEGY
Reach and trust are different scoreboards that don't move together, and entrepreneurs who chase the influencer's scoreboard end up with an audience that never converts.
- Stop measuring content by views and start asking whether it made the right people trust you more — that is the metric that actually correlates with revenue.
- A large audience with no trust is worth less than a small audience that trusts you; there is no fixed conversion rate between followers and buyers.
- Separate your content into two jobs: some pieces build brand and reach (can be commodity or perspective-based), others exist specifically to start conversations or book clients — know which one each post is for.
- Perspective or contrarian content can safely go viral because it builds trust at the same time as reach; generic tips-and-hacks content builds reach without trust and can trap you in an audience that won't convert later.
- Run all three stages — Content for attention, Connection for relationship, Conversion for business — instead of stopping at content like most influencers do.
- Deliberately post personal, non-business content between value posts; it's the relationship glue that keeps an audience engaged until they're ready to become a client.
- Use small, low-friction micro-conversions (lead magnet, email opt-in) to move an audience toward a bigger ask, rather than asking for the sale cold.
- When you feel behind compared to other creators, check whether you're comparing your trust-based scoreboard to their reach-based one — the two were never meant to be compared.
Terms worth knowing.
- Commodity content
- Content anyone could get elsewhere (like news or basic tips) that builds reach but rarely builds trust or leads to business, because the audience values the information rather than the creator.
- Perspective content
- Content built around a creator's unique or contrarian point of view rather than generic information; it tends to build both reach and trust because the audience is connecting with the person, not just the facts.
- Micro-conversion
- A small, low-friction ask placed in content (like signing up for an email list or lead magnet) that moves someone one step closer to eventually becoming a paying client, without asking them to buy outright.
- Three C's (Content, Connection, Conversion)
- A three-stage framework where content earns attention, connection builds relationship and trust over time, and conversion turns that trust into an actual business transaction.
Things they pointed at.
05:28productForward Focus (weekly newsletter)
11:02productForward (annual event/workshop)
00:27channelAlex Hormozi
Lines you could clip.
01:51
“A 100,000 followers who don't trust you isn't worth anything. I would rather have a thousand followers who actually trust me and connect with me.”
01:58
“You can't deposit your views and likes at the bank.”
12:25
“You're not behind. You're keeping score on the wrong scoreboard.”
08:48
“No sales team, no table, no follow-up calls, just me, a talk, then a QR code, people scanned it and paid right there.”
Word for word.
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metaphoranalogystory
00:00So if you're an entrepreneur using content to grow your business, but you're not trying to be a full time influencer, this video is for you. So you're probably posting doing what all the gurus tell you to do, and it's just not turning into actual business. The views aren't becoming clients.
00:12See, there are two games being played on social media right now. The influencer game and the entrepreneur game, and you are playing the wrong game. The algorithm is quietly rewarding you for winning the one you actually don't even wanna win.
00:22Getting out of this comes down to three shifts. Look, spent the last five years using content to build two businesses past multiple 7 figures in net income without ever chasing influence or numbers. I've taught thousands of entrepreneurs how to do the same thing, and I've shared stages with some of the biggest names in business and content.
00:36I've even collaborated with Alex Tremozi at my own event, and I've watched how these people who are actually winning at this game play completely different than everybody else. So make these three shifts and you will start winning the game that actually builds a business. The one that doesn't just get you followers, it gets you paid.
00:51Now the first shift is about the scoreboard you're using. In the influencers game, the scoreboard is reach, followers, views, likes, but in the entrepreneurs game, the scoreboard is trust. And here's the thing that almost nobody tells you, the two scoreboards don't move together.
01:03You can win one and completely lose the other. I remember back in 2022 when I hit my first 100,000 followers on Instagram, I was thinking, wow. This is it.
01:10This is gonna change everything. And yes, some things did happen. My DMs went up, leads went up.
01:14I had some more connections. That part was real. And even some of my friends were telling me, look, if a fraction of my audience buys from me, I'm gonna be set for life.
01:21But the math didn't really work like that. See, I was thinking like an influencer. I thought that a certain number of followers and reach would convert to a set number of buyers, but there was no flat percentage.
01:30There's no universal conversion rate on an audience. It's gonna depend on how long you've been creating videos, whether your content actually connects with people, if they actually trust you, whether you've shown them enough proof. A 100,000 followers who don't trust you isn't worth anything.
01:42I would rather have a thousand followers who actually trust me and connect with me. And so this is the first shift. You stop chasing reach as a scoreboard and you start measuring trust because .
01:52So here's the new question that replaces how many views did I get. You wanna ask yourself, did my content make the right people trust me more? That is the only number that actually turns this into business.
02:01And the second shift is what you've actually been optimizing for. This is the one that I see almost everybody get wrong, including honestly me sometimes. I'll be straight with you about this in a minute.
02:09In the influencers game, the goal is to go viral, to shoot as wide as possible, reach as many people as you can. But in the entrepreneurs game, the goal is to be valuable, and valuable means something specific. This means that the content does a clear job for your business.
02:20It either helps you build your brand or books you clients. Meaning, your content is going to do a clear job for your business. It's either going to build your brand or book you clients and you're gonna know which one it's doing.
02:30I was making the mistake that viral and valuable meant the same thing, but it's not the case. Let me show you what I mean. I'm gonna walk you through this with my own content.
02:37A few months ago, I posted a video that was just relaying the news to the audience. It was considered commodity content because you could have just gone to Google and got the information. Now, I did it my own way and I delivered the message properly with a good hook and so it did half a million views, But what I realized was I didn't get anything from this.
02:52Like I got a bunch of comments, people people talking, a few people sharing the video, but it didn't lead to any valuable connections or business opportunity. Now, let me compare this to another video that I posted right around the same time and it ended up getting 6,000 views. So basically, one hundredth of the reach of the half a million view video.
03:07Now, directly in the comments of that lower view video, there's actually people asking to do business with me. They're asking for the lead magnet that was offered in there. There's d m's and conversations happening directly because of that video.
03:17So this is real business coming from a video that a fraction of my audience saw. And so here's what I finally understood. All of your content isn't doing the same job.
03:24Some of this content is used to build your brand and build your credibility at scale, but then some of the content is job is to actually convert the audience into clients, start conversations, get people to opt in for a lead magnet, and this can turn into business. So that tax video was top of funnel reach content, but the 6,000 view post was trust content.
03:40Now both of these are fine, but you have to know which one you're making and why you're posting it. Now here's the part that's gonna sound like a contradiction because you're seeing me say you don't need to go viral. There's different types of content, but then I actually do try to go viral with certain types of content and I do this every single month on Instagram.
03:55The difference is on those specific posts, I'm trying to go viral with perspective content, not commodity content. I actually talked about this in the previous video that I just posted.
04:03See, I've had several posts go viral on Instagram, but these were me sharing my unique point of view. Sometimes it's something that differs from what everybody in my industry says, And as a result, some of those posts end up taking off. And sometimes you can make those posts go viral, but they don't really mean anything to the audience.
04:17And so it is true that successful creators right now are doing two types of content. They are making content that converts, but then they're also making content that's top of the funnel meant to bring in more followers and create trust with the audience. Just make sure that you're not doing the same old generic ChatGPT style content and you're trying to do perspective content, and you'll notice that sometimes you might accidentally go viral, and this is good for your overall brand because it's gonna create connection and trust with the audience.
04:40This actually helps me when I make a conversion piece because more people are already aware of me and they trust me to move forward. And when you look at commodity content, which is the stuff that's the tips, tricks, and hacks, I actually have members in my community who have built their whole audience on this. They got into the drug of like, I posted this type of thing and it went viral.
04:56I did a listicle and I got it to take off. I used the text over b roll with trending audio, and it had all these items that's valuable information, but the people valued the info and not the person. And so what happened with a few of these members is they built a 100,000 followers or more, but then when they do a conversion piece, they barely get any results.
05:12And so the problem with this is it puts them in a box of the only type of content that works for them is when they make this generic stuff, and so they make more of it which leads to more of the wrong audience. And remember, being unmistakably you, that's called signature content or perspective content. I talked about this in the last video and that's what earns you attention in the first place.
05:29But this video right now is what you actually do with that attention so it can turn into business and get you paid. Now, one quick thing before we make the third shift. If you're getting value out of this video, I wanna tell you about this email that I send out every single week.
05:40It's called Forward Focus. Over 30,000 entrepreneurs get this. It's one idea straight to your inbox, no fluff, and it takes you about sixty to ninety seconds to read.
05:47There's a link in the description if you wanna get it, and I'll send you this week's issue. Now let's get into the third shift which is one that changes everything. In the influencer's game, the whole game is content.
05:55Make enough good content and you win. And that's actually true if the prize you want is views and attention. But if the prize you want is actually clients and business, then that type of content is only one third of the real system.
06:05The entrepreneurs who win are running two more stages that the influencers skip completely. I call this the three c's. Content, connection, conversion.
06:12Content gives you the attention, connection builds the relationship with the audience, and conversion turns it into business. Influencers stop at the first c, but the entrepreneurs who are winning are running all three, and I wanna show you what the other two actually look like because this is where all the business you've been missing is actually coming from.
06:26So after content comes connection, and I came across this by accident initially. I was looking through all my DMs, and I want you to do the same thing. Look at the DMs where somebody started a transaction with you.
06:36They asked you something for a lead magnet or a question that led to them booking a call, whatever that conversion piece is for you. And then when I see these messages in the DMs, if you scroll up, I see all these other pieces of reactions and different engagement along the way. So I'll give you my example.
06:50There would be people reacting to different stories that I posted, maybe sending a quick DM or two back and forth. Now, what is that content that people were connecting with me on before they got to the conversion piece? Most of it is non business content.
07:01It might be certain things that I wanted to share about personal values, things I was doing in my personal life, lifestyle, things like this. So this taught me that the connection piece is extremely valuable when you get to conversions because it allows the audience to build trust with you over time. Most people are not yet ready to start a transaction or do business with you, but in the meantime, you can't just keep selling to them.
07:20So the glue that keeps them engaged is going to be the other type of content you post in between. For me, I post personal content and I also share my isms. These are my values on business, personal life, family, and so these are the things that people connect with and I have conversations with them throughout the year.
07:34And then some of these people turn into clients. So once I saw that the conversion piece almost never came cold, I noticed a bridge. This is the bridge between somebody watching your videos and actually trusting you and reaching out.
07:44That is the connection piece that people are missing, and I think this is the part that most influencers skip because it doesn't scale. You have to actually be interested in building community in order to respond to messages. Now, I'm not saying I spend a ton of time on this, but I do block almost an hour every day to just respond to people, react to different things, and build those connections intentionally because I'm not just building a community, I'm building a network, and some of these network connections have led to amazing opportunities in my business.
08:08Now, let's move on to conversion and I'll tell you about a story that broke my belief on this whole process. Last year, I was invited to speak at an event and these are people who had actually been in my audience. I noticed when I got there that there were a lot of people who are like, hey, I've been watching your videos and was I having conversations with people before I even hit the stage.
08:22Then I gave my presentation and in this case, it led to an offer to do business with me. There was a workshop and this was not cheap. This was going to be kind of a higher ticket, mid ticket price point.
08:31And so normally in this case, I would have some sort of sales team there. Like, I would be like, okay, if you're interested in this, go see my team and we could talk about working together. But in this case, I had traveled to this event in Dallas and I was by myself.
08:41There was no sales team with me. So I decided to do something different because honestly, I had no choice at the time. I just put up a QR code and told people they could scan this and pay right there to sign up for the workshop.
08:51Now this application was for my forward business, but this applies to any business. It's just gonna be a different conversion step. So I did my whole presentation.
08:58I had all the proof in there, and it led to the conversion piece. I gave them a clear next step and put up this QR code, and I was thinking maybe a few people are gonna sign up. My expectations were low because like I said, I didn't have a sales team with me to book the calls or start the process and help me with conversion.
09:12So when I got off stage, I looked at the results, I checked my email, and it was shocking because I had filled two entire workshops. No sales team, no table, no follow-up calls, just me, a talk, then a QR code, people scanned it and paid right there. Now the reason this worked was not my reach.
09:26It It wasn't because I had the biggest audience in the room. There were bigger influencers on that stage earlier in the day and after me. The reason it worked was because of trust.
09:33Trust had been built before I even hit the stage, and then when I was on there, I added to that trust with my presentation, and then I gave people a clear next step. This is conversion. This is the third c, and it happened with nothing but my personal brand and a clear ask.
09:46That event was bottom of the funnel for me because many of the people in the audience were already aware of me. They've been watching my content. Some of them were even on my email list, And so when I gave that talk with proof in it and then I let you a clear next step, they were able to scan a QR code and pay right there from their seat.
09:59But in other cases where they're not at the bottom of the funnel, I might offer them a lead magnet. I might offer them to join an email list. And so it's important to know that you can't just go straight for the close like I did there.
10:08There's a process to doing this, and this is where you're gonna offer these conversion steps online. I think of these as micro conversions. Like, what's a micro conversion you could post about today on Instagram?
10:17Not gonna be for someone to buy your product or service or start the process of working with you. It's going to be for them to sign up for something you offer. This is an easy way to get them down the line of eventually working with you.
10:26The whole game changed for me when I stopped selling my product or service and started selling that next step instead. And so when you do this often, there's gonna be enough people in the middle with you that when you do offer a bottom of the funnel opportunity, way more people take advantage of this. I've noticed people in our community will complain about, hey, I put out a lead magnet.
10:42I put out a clear next step and not enough people took advantage of it. I was disappointed. Now, one problem could be that that clear next step wasn't valuable enough for the people that were watching, but the bigger problem is more likely you haven't been posting enough content that builds trust and builds connection with people before you made an ask.
10:57If you've been making good content and actually doing the connection piece, when you offer something, way more people are gonna give you benefit of the doubt and start the process with you. This is why the three c's are so important because they all work together. Now that QR code workshop thing was not a one off.
11:10I'll give you another example. Every year, I sell out an event called Forward. We sell it through a webinar, live online.
11:16Now this year, I sold it out in one single webinar. Normally, it takes me two to three months to do this and I ended up selling it out in a day. Now this wasn't because I was viral content creator, it's because the people on that call, there was enough of them who trusted me.
11:28They trusted me because they hadn't seen me for the first time that day. They've been watching my content. I looked this up.
11:33Many of the people were on my email list before they even joined that webinar. And because of that, when I presented them with an offer, they trusted me that I was gonna deliver on the promise, and they ended up taking advantage of it. So my reach got people to sign up for the thing, but trust is what got them to actually purchase.
11:46And so that's the system, content connection conversion. The influencer runs the first one and wonders why their business never comes, but the entrepreneur, the smart entrepreneur runs all three, that is the whole game. Now for those of you who are still watching, there's a decent chance that you've been feeling something this entire video that you never really talk about.
12:02Okay? And it's the feeling that everybody else has something figured out that you don't, or this feeling that you're constantly behind. I still deal with this today.
12:09I feel overwhelmed and behind when I look at all the people doing all these things online, and I can't help but feel behind. The thing that's actually happening here is you're not behind. You're keeping score on the wrong scoreboard.
12:19You've been measuring yourself against influencers, people who are going viral on purpose, people playing a completely game with different rules and different prizes. They might be looking for brand deals and you're looking for clients. And then you feel like you're a failure because you're not getting the same amount of views as them, but you were never supposed to be playing that game.
12:35Your numbers are not supposed to look like these people. The moment you stop measuring your business by the influencer scoreboard, that feeling, the one that says you're not good enough at this, it's all just gonna go away because you are not bad at content, especially if you're doing this consistently. You've just been judging yourself by a scoreboard that was never yours to begin with.
12:52Once you dial in your messaging and your goals, I would just put like tunnel vision on and stop looking and comparing yourself to all these different creators online. So those are the three shifts. Number one, from reach to trust, you're gonna chase the scoreboard that actually pays you.
13:03Number two is viral to valuable. Know what every single piece of content is for and what its purpose is. And then number three is the full content system.
13:10You need to run all three c's, not just the first one. This is how you stop playing the influencer game and start playing the entrepreneur's game.
13:17That is a game that you can actually win. And so that's the goal I want for you guys. It's not always to become an influencer or try and go viral.
13:23Yes. You're gonna have videos go viral by accident. Yes.
13:25You could become an accidental influencer, but your goal should be to build trust with the most amount of people online. This is what actually is gonna lead to business opportunities. This also takes you off of the hamster wheel of constantly relying on your reach numbers.
13:37You're trying to build your business with a strong personal brand attached to it. You're not building a personal brand with the hope of one day having a business. It's the other way around.
13:45That is the game that is worth playing and that you can stick with for years. In the next video in this whole series, I'm gonna walk you through the exact system that I use to make content that does all of this. This is gonna be the one framework that I'd want you to have if you only watched a single video on my entire YouTube channel.
13:59And in the meantime, if you wanna learn more about the signature content or perspective content that I'm using to go viral right now, you can check out this video that we just recently posted. I'll see you guys on the next video.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Two people can post the same amount of content and get wildly different business results — because, the creator argues, they're playing two entirely different games. One chases reach. The other chases trust. Only one of them gets paid.
Named ideas worth stealing.
05:50acronym
The Three C's
- Content
- Connection
- Conversion
Content earns attention, Connection builds the relationship and trust with the audience over time, and Conversion turns that trust into an actual business transaction. Influencers stop at Content; entrepreneurs who convert run all three.
Steal forany personal-brand-to-business funnel, e.g. structuring a content calendar so some posts are pure value/reach, some are personal/relationship posts, and some carry an explicit small ask.
00:00list
The Three Shifts
- Reach to Trust
- Viral to Valuable
- Content-only to the full three-C system
The overall thesis structure of the video — three mindset shifts that move a creator from playing the influencer's game to playing the entrepreneur's game.
Steal forself-auditing a content strategy: which of the three shifts is your content currently missing?
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
05:28newsletter
“It's called Forward Focus. Over 30,000 entrepreneurs get this. It's one idea straight to your inbox... There's a link in the description if you wanna get it.”
Soft mid-roll plug tied directly to the value just delivered ('if you're getting value out of this video'), framed as a continuation of the lesson rather than a hard sell — low-friction micro-conversion consistent with the video's own advice.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
