You don’t need 1M followers. You need to know which game you’re playing. There are two ways to build an audience: 1. Go for massive reach 2. Go deep on a niche (like the 1,000 true fans who will buy anything you put out) Both work. But the worst place to be is the middle: No real reach, no real niche. Just floating with a vague audience that doesn’t convert into anything. The barbell strategy clarifies everything. And frankly, a lot of it reveals itself as you build. You start to recognize: “I’m not trying to hit a million followers, I’m building something specific.” With creatoreconomynyc, it became clear that the best strategy is to go focused. Creators, marketers, founders. That specificity is what drives real partnerships and real growth, even without hundreds of thousands of followers. Which end are you on? — From my conversation on the perspectivelab.podcast