Hip-Hop Daily Dose #34: What Happens When You Stay Consistent

The main reason I'm dropping a podcast every day possible is this:

Consistency builds momentum.

The one thing successful rappers have in common is that they consistently write and record.

Many of them do it every single day.

(See "Hip-Hop Daily Dose #15: The One Thing You Must Do Every Day.")

Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Tupac are famous examples.

I also did a whole episode on Lil Wayne's content strategy.

I've talked to the vocal coach of one of the most famous singers of all-time (I'll probably talk more about this later).

He told me that consistency is what this industry looks for.

Let me unpack some of the great examples I've had in business and podcasting...

There's a guy named Dre Baldwin.

He used to be a pro athlete.

Now he writes about sports, discipline, mindset, and business topics.

He came up by posting a video every day during the early years of YouTube.

They were just videos of him doing basketball drills in the gym.

He didn't know what he was doing with the videos.

There was no plan to build a brand or following.

(Also, these weren't high quality vids...he used an old home movie camcorder)

Flash forward a few years...Dre's one of the most prolific YouTubers in the site's history.

Not many people publish a video every single day (maybe no one else has).

That's not all Dre did:

For years, he posted articles to his blog every day.

And I've been getting his daily email for years.

In 2016, I finished up an internship and was jobless for a few months.

(I tried and failed to monetize this very blog you're on right now)

At that time, Periscope was big.

Live broadcasting was just beginning.

As usual, Dre wasted no time diving into a new trend.

I'd get the notification that Dre was live and watch him talk about interesting topics.

Mindset, how to deal with people, business, marketing, creating content, rap, basketball...

Everything I'm interested in.

Shortly after, Dre started a podcast.

He discussed his decision to drop a podcast every single day for a year.

After the first year, he kept posting one every day.

The latest episode is #1279.

That's 3.5 years of a daily show.

Somewhere around 30-60 episodes ago, he started pulling them off Soundcloud.

The recent shows seem to cut off while he's in the middle of a point...they cut to an advertisement for his group membership offer.

These used to be free podcasts.

Now he calls them Masterclasses and charges $19 for each one.

They're also available as a collection on his membership site.

I used to have unlimited free access to them... 

I squeezed a lot of value out of them, but now I think should've taken notes. 

(I'm probably going to join his Game Group, it's inexpensive and has a lot of other exclusive material I've never seen.)

For years, he published the following:

  • A video
  • An email
  • A blog post
  • A podcast show
  • Social media posts

Every. Single. Day.

This guy really went hard in creating content.

Some would call it overkill.

But you know what...

He created courses around all of his content.

He's got over 10 of those...maybe even closer to 20.

He wrote books that expanded on the topics.

He's got around 20 books.

Yes, I didn't even mention that yet!

While publishing at least 4 major pieces of content a day, he still managed to write a lot of books!

And he works out every day because he's an athlete...runs marathons and stuff.

That's insane.

That's the kind of person I've been following for the past 5 years.

Thank goodness I have this example.

This is a real, true example of consistency to an almost absurd level.

People tell him he acts like a robot.

He robotically executes great content on a daily basis.

The quality isn't perfect...he's not spending too much time worrying about the design flaws of the pictures and videos and audio... 

He puts most of his focus on the subject matter.

Dre's consistency has led to the monetization of his brand.

Every idea and related experience goes into the creation of some form of content.

Then he recycles, refreshes, and adds upon the subject matter in a different medium.

What was once a blog post is now a podcast show.

What was once a free podcast show is now material for paid members-only.

You might think there's no way I'd pay to listen to shows I've already heard...

But he combines the archive with other material I'm not familiar with.

Dre's not the only model I have to follow...

I talk about Gary Vee a lot on Hip-Hop Daily Dose.

He's pretty famous.

Started off as a teen working in his dad's liquor store.

Built the Wine Library TV and had the first vlog about wine...

During the early days of YouTube.

When he took over operations of his dad's liquor store, profits skyrocketed.

How did he do it?

He vlogged non-stop.

Posting crappy, low-quality videos that got 50 views.

But his personality and wine expertise shone through.

Gary was always in the email marketing game...

He built the email list and sent a lot of emails.

He blogged.

He was on Twitter for hours every night after work, hopping in every conversation about wine.

Now, he has a pro media crew that captures his keynote speeches, conversations and random life moments and turns them into daily content.

He drops a podcast almost daily now.

He thinks that quality is subjective...some people will think your stuff rocks while others might pick it apart with critiques on your design.

Gary's message is to produce a lot of volume on topics you care about.

The right people will be attracted to it.

Chuck D posts a mammoth hip-hop show every single week.

Doesn't matter if he's at the train station, he'll still record.

There's a new "...AndYouDon'tStop" every single week.

Chuck D isn't too good to create non-stop...how can the rest of us be?

It's a good reminder to stay humble and not feel too entitled...

No one's required to listen to anything we put out into the world.

They have a lot of other people vying for their attention.

It takes a lot of patience mixed with impatience...

Impatience is needed on a daily basis, creating at levels that other people may find too much.

They're too patient...waiting days and weeks, or months.

Just taking way too long to publish something.

(See "Hip-Hop Daily Dose #29: Just Do It!")

In that sense, every day must be approached urgently and with impatience.

The long run is a patience game, however.

If the day-to-day is a sprint, well the long-term is a marathon.

It takes patience when you see that your shows and posts only have 8 listens.

It takes faith in the process that good content over time snowballs into an established brand.

It can take years.

Dre posted a daily podcast for over 3 years before selling the content to recent converts.

He's throwing so much other value into his offer that older converts (like me) are interested in paying him $ too.

Low views on your music, posts, podcasts etc are a rite of passage.

Every great influencer had 8 views at one time too.

It's not always about how many are listening, but who is listening.

It reminds me of a passage from the singer Sting's book, Broken Music.

When his old band The Police had their first single out, "Roxanne," radio didn't know who the group was yet.

The Police played a show and only around 10 people showed up.

They played their heart out anyway.

An influential radio guy happened to be there and started playing "Roxanne."

Other radio stations caught on.

They blew up from there, starting with that one radio guy.

A powerful reminder to do your best, and as much of it as you can, regardless of who's paying attention.

I need to make up a bit for lost time.

Here's what happened...my first foray into podcasting was at the very beginning of 2016.

I had a show on here called "Monikker's Rap Show."

I'd play some of my favorite tracks from the previous week.

It was fun, but cumbersome.

I fizzled out after a few shows.

This year in March, I created a show called "Money Talk."

I love the concept of it - it's not so different from Hip-Hop Daily Dose.

HHDP is probably what Money Talk would eventually become.

A show centered around hip-hop, marketing, and business.

There was some kind of mental block with that show.

I'd stay up all night, working on one show for several hours.

I've only released 3 shows of "Money Talk."

I worked on another podcast this year.

It centered around book reviews.

It was hours and hours of preparation to read a book chapter and outline it.

Then my friend and I struggled to record the material with the right flow between us.

I spent hours editing each episode...I think we made 3 episodes that I didn't completely finish.

It just felt like SO much effort and I wasn't sure why.

It was emotional energy for me to get on the same page with someone else.

Looking back, all this tells me I wasn't working with the right mix of material. 

When you're passionately connected to the material and have enough experience and research ability, you can get content out much quicker. 

When I got the inspiration for HHDD, I knew the scope of this show was more attainable for me.

Now I can get a HHDD show done in 1-2 hours...sometimes I spend extra time researching, listening to artists etc. 

Attaching long written posts such as this one takes a lot more time too. 

But it's all clicking in a way none of the other shows did (and I didn't do a single lengthy write up to accompany any of those past shows!)

By dropping a show every day, I feel like I'm making up for lost time.

What if I had published "Monikker's Rap Show" consistently over the last 3 (almost 4) years?

I'd be sitting in a totally different place, assuming I was happy making the show and people were vibing to it.

Podcasting was JUST taking off in 2016.

It was different from today, when "everyone" seems to have a podcast.

In the last couple of years, consumers have adopted podcasts as a viable entertainment source.

The last 3-4 years went by without consistent content from me.

I feel the consequences of that now.

The only option is for me to produce a lot of valuable material now.

All my "failures" have led be to become an urgent, action-taking producer.

My entrepreneurial role models see trends developing and jump in as early as they can.

It was smart to establish a regular podcast in 2015 or 2016.

Gary Vee and Dre Baldwin used them to add to their credibility and catalog of material.

Don't let too many days go by while you sit and ponder what to say.

By the way, I just found an article that says when Chuck D started his weekly radio show, "...AndYouDontStop."

(I couldn't find anything about it at the time of recording this HHDD).

He started in Nov 2009...

That's 10 years of a weekly show.

He's not racking up thousands of views on the Mixcloud tracks of the show...

Many of the shows don't even get 100 views and he barely has 1000 followers.

(I'm sure thousands of people tune in for the radio syndication, however.)

Here's an example of someone so committed and connected to the material, regardless of the outcome.

A LOT of people show up at his consistent live performances.

What he's doing is working really well.

Tons of past superstars fall off, never to be heard from again...

They put out a project no one buys...

People don't buy tickets to their concerts.

That's not the case with Chuck D.

He takes the time and effort to stay in the conversation.

The show name itself explains his work ethic "...AndYouDontStop!"

Chuck D doesn't take the time to stop at the age of 57.

I explored common music industry excuses in HHDD #32...

I dissected a promo email from an artist retiring a stage name due to all these "external circumstances."

I call them excuses that lead to failure if you maintain a scarcity mindset.

Chuck D has none of those excuses.

His results speak for themselves.

Success doesn't happen in one day:

It's the result of accumulated tasks you've completed over and over.

They compound each other, snowball, and create a wave of momentum you may have never even imagined was possible.

Go out there and just do it!

I'll be talking more in the future about how to stay inspired, constantly get new ideas, and perfect your process of content creation.

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