The Relationship Revolution: Why Your Viewer Count Isn't The Point

Every artist/creator I've ever known panics about the same thing when sharing their work: "How do I get more people to see my stuff?"

But while visibility is a real challenge, there's something fundamental we need to focus on first. I'm saying this to you and I'm saying it to myself.

View counts are just vanity metrics. The real value—the only value that matters—comes from the relationships you build with your viewers. Whether that's 10 million people or just 10.

I've seen this firsthand. I help run a YouTube channel with 30k+ subscribers (Excess Returns) and another with (currently, ahem) fewer than 300 (Cultish Creative - yes, feel free to subscribe, I am shamefully shameless about it). The size difference is dramatic, but the truth remains constant across both:

The channels that endure don't chase views. They cultivate relationships.

With Excess Returns, we've built our identity around this promise: watch our content and walk away feeling like a smarter, more confident investor. That relationship creates loyalty no algorithm can touch. And trust me when I say, the algorithms barely touch us, even with 30k subscribers. So yeah, make a promise and then live up to it.

Contrast that against Cultish Creative, which is still finding its footing. At the moment, it's essentially a public networking experiment that I'm connecting back to the Personal Archive project. We're not there yet, but through consistent iteration, a clearer relationship with our viewers is finally starting to emerge, one year in. I'm almost at the clear promise point. And it's taken serious time and effort to get here.

What happens when creators chase views instead of relationships? We've all seen it. We all can smell it. You might succeed temporarily, sure, but at what cost?

If Excess Returns pivoted to apocalyptic clickbait ("MARKET CRASH IMMINENT?!"), we'd probably see a spike in traffic. But would those be viewers we could build meaningful connections with? Would they stick around?

Similarly, if Cultish Creative devolved into "meet this celebrity you'll never actually meet" faux networking interviews, we might attract some drive-by viewers, but where would that lead besides hoping to monetize eyeballs that I don't even care about connecting with?

Yeah, the struggle for visibility is real when you're creating. I feel it too. But, remember:

All value flows from relationships with your viewers.

As soon as you have even a handful, focus there. Start conversations in comments. Ask questions. Respond thoughtfully. Create feedback loops. It's astonishing what you'll build together when you prioritize connection over attention.

P.S. Follow along with my journey. This isn't just a subscribe pitch. I primarily document this work here through these entries and reflections, but watch for the shifts in what appears on YouTube and LinkedIn too as this evolves. If you're a creator too, steal my playbook and improve on it—I'm building it in public for a reason.