Behind The Scenes

How I build an audience (100K+)

If you’ve been following me for the last few months you probably saw my social media blow up. Although everything happened pretty quickly, it was far from an ‘overnight success’. That’s why today I’m writing about what goes on behind the scenes - the work over the last 3 years that has led to where I am now.

I never started this for the numbers, views or likes, but I’m grateful that my message is received by thousands. If you’re reading this, I appreciate you, your support and I will always do my best to provide value with my content, insha’Allah.

Learning How To Speak Well

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” - Professor Albert Allen Bartlett

I started this newsletter in May 2020 during lockdown. I have written over 50 pieces on various self-development topics (you can read the others here). For the first 18 months, I published a new piece every Sunday. Each piece took me around 4-5 hours to write, so you can do the maths and see how much time I put into building this.

After all that effort, I had a reading list of 50 people, most of who were family and friends. Not a huge number considering the amount of work that went into it.

Although the numbers didn’t change much in those early years, the learning curve was exponential. I learnt how to curate new ideas on a weekly basis. I got better at turning my ideas into well-written pieces.

I realised quickly that if you can write well, it will translate into your speech. If you can package your ideas well into a sentence on paper, you’ll find it a lot easier to do that with speech. Writing this newsletter for over 2 years has seriously improved my speech, thoughts and writing.

This is an overlooked skill and it’s something I’ve been developing in the background for 3+ years. These days you may see a short video of me talking about Islam, medicine or productivity, but what you don’t see is the hundreds of hours spent learning how to write, how to speak and how to deliver messages over the last few years.

You don’t see what happens behind the scenes.

Eye For Detail

“The expert at anything was once a beginner.” – Helen Hayes

The aesthetic in my videos and photography didn’t come overnight. I developed that through 2 years of photography and I still consider myself a beginner.

Before I used to make videos my content was purely in written and picture format. During that time I learnt all about lighting, angles, framing and editing (lots of editing). Fast forward to this summer when I delved into videography, I had already laid down the foundations of capturing moments and stories in pictures. Those skills came in handy when recording videos.

Don’t be fooled into thinking I just picked up a camera and was automatically good at making videos. There are countless hours of practice that went into this craft.

One Thing At A Time

It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. - Og Mandino

My work in the last 3 years has been essential to the skillset I have today. The reason I can take nice pictures, make aesthetic videos, write and speak coherently is because I did one thing at a time.

I practised each skill until I was good at it before moving on to the next.

In 2020 I learnt how to write.

In 2021 I learnt how to take pictures.

In 2022 I learnt how to make videos.

Earlier this year I actually paused writing on this newsletter for a few months so I could solely focus on making videos. Now that I’ve learnt how to do that well, I’ve restarted writing.

I’ve honestly missed doing this.

Nothing Is As It Seems

There is no such thing as overnight success. Anyone who tells you differently is either lying or extremely lucky.

Behind every public victory are countless private victories and failures that lead to the final event. You might see my page thriving and growing now (Alhamdulillah), but you don’t see the efforts that got me here; the 2-3 years where growth was stagnant but I still showed up every day sharing what I love.

As a medical student, it’s not been easy to balance studies with content creation, but the fact that I have more to life than university brings me so much joy. Regardless of the metrics, I love what I do in my spare time and I urge anyone with the desire to create to do just that.

Create. Experiment. Learn.

You never know what might come of it.

Try This:

If you’re new here, this is the most important part of my newsletter.

I want to provide value to help you live a better life, so I end each post with actionable advice. Something you can actually do to implement the lesson from this post.

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Focus on one thing at a time. If you want to become a good writer, focus on only writing for 6 months. Be consistent.

Tell your friends and family that you’ll be posting weekly - once you tell people it holds you accountable, when you tell people about it you put your reputation on the line if you don’t follow through on your word.

I guarantee that if you consistently work on a craft for 6+ months you will improve drastically and it will benefit you in some way.

Be patient, be consistent and have the courage to try new things.

Your future self will thank you.

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If you read this far, I appreciate you so much 🤍 Have you considered subscribing? You can here, it’s free and designed to provide value.

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✏️Insights

🎙️ Podcast: The Huberman Lab

My all-time favourite podcast. I started to re-listen to some old episodes recently and it did not disappoint. If you’re interested in psychiatry/psychology like me then you’ll love the newer episodes that dive into the neurobiology of mental illnesses like OCD, Bipolar Disorder etc.

📚 Currently Reading: ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight (*Kindle, Audible, Paperback)

Phil Knight is the founder of Nike. This is his autobiography. I’m 25% into the book and it’s quite slow, but it’s very interesting to see the uncertainty, risks and hard work that went into building a global company. Lots of lessons especially if you’re into business and creating.

🛒 Amazon Finds: Diffuser

If you’ve tuned into my Instagram Live study with-me sessions you’ll know about my diffuser. I’ve had a load of people asking about my diffuser - you can find it here on Amazon. You plug it in, fill it with water and add essential oils of your choice and turn it on. It turns the liquid into water vapour that acts as an air freshener, it doubles up as a bedside lamp too. I notice that when I have it on during the night I suffer less from dry skin/mouth. I like the trickling sound of the water too, it’s like having a mini waterfall by your bed. I have the smart version which connects to my phone and my Alexa, so I can set it to turn on automatically or I just say Alexa, turn on the diffuser. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve made to date and makes the vibe in my bedroom so much nicer.

PS. If you use the amazon link I shared above, I get a little kickback from your purchase.