Stop Chasing Followers. Start With This Instead

How I stopped performing for numbers and started creating from truth

When I look back at my earliest Substack posts, titles like The Smartest Creators Aren’t Just on Instagram & TikTok or Why Being a Small Creator Is Actually Your Superpower leaned almost entirely on my professional experience working with influencers and creators. Twelve plus years in marketing gave me plenty of insights to share, and those posts weren’t bad. (In fact, they’re still worth a read, don’t sleep!)

The problem was that they came from what I knew, not from the truth I carried (my own perspective or beliefs).

What I knew was that the world had changed and everyday people were starting to gain exposure, but not everyone understood why they had gone viral or suddenly started gaining followers. And worse, a lot of them did not know how to pivot. They didn’t know what to talk about next and weren’t sure what these new followers wanted from them content-wise.

It was that experience that shaped my perspective. It took years to identify and give language to it, but over time, I came to realize a conviction I had been carrying: every single person has influence. That includes you. That includes me.

At first, I approached Substack through the lens of my experience. I wrote about how to market, how to grow, and how to position yourself like the well-followed creators I had worked alongside. That was the surface layer, but it wasn’t the deepest part of my perspective. When I sat with it, I realized the deeper belief beneath my experience was not just about how to get more reach. It was about the fact that everyone already has influence, whether they have one hundred followers or one hundred thousand. The real work is coming into agreement with it. Myself included.

That realization shifted everything. My inputs were no longer about fitting myself into the box of being a content creator, professional influence or doling out polished advice. My inputs began to reflect the perspective I actually believed: that influence is in all of us, and it is worth stewarding well.

This is what the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30) reminds me of. Each servant was given something different, but what mattered was not how much they had. What mattered was what they did with it. In the same way, the truth we carry is like the talent or influence our Creator has placed in us. It is unique to each of us, and it is meant to be multiplied and shared for the good of others.

You can probably picture this in your own life. We all know that family member who somehow influences the entire family, no matter the age or generation. Or that friend who can gather twenty people with two hours notice to show up at a place that has not even been decided yet. Influence does not always look like a platform or a following. Sometimes it is the ability to move people, shift a room, or set the tone without even trying.

I first saw it up close with my mother, who could light up any room she entered just with her charm and presence, still to this day. Later I saw it with friends, clients, celebrities, creators, and talent I worked with. Some had massive followings but very little influence on the people closest to them. Others barely posted but could change the entire online narrative with just one post. From those experiences, I learned the difference between being well known and being truly influential.

That is the truth I carry.

It is my unique perspective (or “divine agitation”) that I cannot turn off. I see influence in everyone. I believe we all have it, and I believe it shows up in different forms and at different scales. Coming into agreement with that truth is what gave me a new frame of mind to post from, and it is why last week’s piece connected the way it did with so many folks.

So here is the real shift I want to leave you with today:

• If you are struggling to name your truth, start by looking beneath your knowledge or experience. What do you know in your soul to be true?

  • For me, marketing was the surface layer. The belief beneath it, that I still hold in my soul, is that everybody has and carries influence. They just have to come into agreement with it.

• Once you find your truth (yes, you can have more than one), let it guide your inputs, your angles, your point of view, your content. The more your inputs line up with what you believe, the more your outputs will naturally create the impact you want.

---

I will share more about how to name and work with your truth later (if that’s something you all are interested in). For now, I would love to hear:

• (Even if you’re not sure yet), what’s one belief, perspective, or truth that feels personal to you and impossible to ignore?

Share it below in the comments.

That is the place where your influence really begins, and I think we would all benefit from seeing the truth that each of us is carrying. I am sure some of us will even push you to start creating around your truth, because we want to hear more.

In Perspective,

Jerveris