How I Built An Audience of 575,000 in a BORING Niche 😴
You can turn your boring hobby into a $20,000 a month cash grab...coming from a guy who has done it.
Backstory
In late 2020, I was at a dairy farm, feeding a baby cow milk. Talking to the farmer, he mentioned “Yea, people love this cow, she had a few viral videos not too long ago.” Later that evening, curiosity got me and I downloaded TikTok to check the farm out. To my surprise, the farm page had 72,000 followers. To me, this was astounding! Here was this baby cow, raking in $1000’s of dollars per month…drinking milk…😲
Initially, I went about my life. Stocks and crypto (this is my niche) were performing particularly well at that time. Crypto was making life changing gains for me. I was a heavy investor in Ethereum and Hedera Hashgraph back in 2019. Besides normal trading since 2007 (which I was only moderately successful then) I was so miserable with my job at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding, that I had withdrawn my 401k of 9 years and dumped it into stocks and crypto. It was desperation to get out of that job, that life and a leap of faith.
Naturally, the TikTok algorithm picked up on my preferences over time, and began showing me crypto and stock TikTok. This was around April 2021. To my horror, the advice and tips were awful. I was scaling out of Ethereum and many altcoins (and stocks)…while the biggest influencers were buying. Encouraging people to invest in, what to me, was a clear distribution phase (top phase of a stock). Sitting in a livestream, I commented about Relative Strength Index (RSI, something we no longer use)…the streamer said: “You should make a video”….so I did! It was terrible lol.
The first video ever received 3529 views…which to me, was a big deal! So I made a few more videos…and on my 4th video, Safemoon, a popular crypto at the time that looked like the biggest scam in history…which I happily shared my thoughts on…was the video that “took off”. SO MANY HATE COMMENTS. I nearly quit…felt like I had not bothered anyone and in fact, was trying to help people. But that hate drove virality…15,900 views to me then, was “viral”.
Regardless of the comments, something kind of clicked in my mind. I realized: “I can do this.” I never sought to be a influencer or creator. It just kind of happened…and as a goal oriented person, I thought: “lets see where I can take this”. So I started posting regularly, providing updates for various cryptos or stocks per people’s requests…something I still do today. Then as I had fully exited crypto, I posted a “Crypto Will Crash” series…that garnered 100’s of thousands of views. Again…driven by hate and rage.
2 Weeks later…Bitcoin proceed to crash over -50% and many altcoins lost -90% value or more. And that was the moment I became an “established” name in the crypto space…and the 5 year content creator journey. Now, I exited crypto fully and rebranded into StockTok.
Since 2020…I have picked up every trick in the book…how to grow platforms. My social media career is nearing an end…its not a forever thing, and feel like I “made it”. But YOU can make it…you CAN do it. I get bored once a goal is achieved. TikTok stands at 575,300, YouTube had ~75,000 followers, Twitter (X) had 45,000 followers…the last 2 are deactivated simply because I don’t want to do the work anymore. You can make $20,000 a month…from views alone.
I had pushback from my own family and friends at the time. But remember… the only ones telling you that you can’t do it, whether its with content or stock trading…are the people that haven’t done it themselves. Ignore them.
Here is everything I know on how to go viral…
I love Substack…but lets be brutally honest about a few things before the tips and tricks. Reading is a dying recreational activity. I am not saying it is right…I am not saying there aren’t avid readers out there…but as a creator, you bend to the audience. What do THEY want? Its fine writing articles…heck, you are reading one now. but your chance of becoming known or viral, with articles alone, is near 0%. This is backed by empirical evidence. In 1999, the average American read 18.5 books per year; by 2021 that amount had dropped by -31%1…and latest evidence points that in 2025, 48.5% of Americans hadn’t read a book at all.2 Sad…I know. The few majorly successful writers here on Substack, started LONG ago. To become known or viral…you have to show your face…and build relationships with people. You can only do that with video content.
So what goes into a video?
Expertise. Quality. Connection. And a few tricks 😏
You may be the worlds greatest musician…or knitter…or coder. But if you don’t know how to “hack” the social media algorithm…no one will ever know you are great.
Let’s start off with the “Anatomy of a Viral Video” (I’ve had 22 videos with over a million views). The first is commonly known as “the hook”….I tend to disagree with this term, and prefer “Bait + Familiarity”. The easiest way to explain this is with an example. Look at the picture below. Where are your eyes drawn?
If you are like any normal human being, the image on the left is where your eyes and emotional interest went to. You are mad, because Bezos is laughing as people have just been laid off. You have been BAITED….an emotional trigger. Additionally, if the video is about Amazon…everyone knows who Jeff Bezos is…so we can reach a large audience by using familiarity. The beginning of any successful video will bait, or trigger the audience. It doesn’t have to be “anger” or “rage”… it can be any emotional trigger: happiness, sadness, loneliness, disappointment, etc. This gets someone emotionally invested in your video. The familiarity is so that, potentially, millions of people know what you are instantly talking about within 1 second of the video. You have 1 second to capture attention. Be smart.
Realize that attention spans are low. Sadly low. But that’s reality and you are not going to change it. The next 2 to 7 seconds… you are trying to keep people’s attention. By holding someone’s attention for ~8 seconds…you qualify to be PAID. That is why this part of the video is the most important.
Most people do not read an entire article or news post…they skim headlines and consider themselves well informed… a major problem that has become evident in the last Presidential election cycle, both left and right. This is where you give the “Climax” or the headline story.
“Meta Fired 100,000 people and they will file for unemployment”
“Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky will get 24 inches of Snow Saturday”
“Nancy Pelosi raked in $4.7 million dollars trading stocks in congress.”
Between the introductory “bait + familiarity” and providing the “climax” or headline of your video, you have gotten people to at least the 7 second mark. Be proud...this is not easy! The video below was a recent piece that received nearly 900,000 views…and nearly half the people didn’t make it past 12 seconds. The average watch time of 31.2 seconds…out of 84. Kind of disappointing…but that is just the way it is!
Now you can see the anatomy of a viral video down below, but we are reaching the “story, background” part of your video. This is where you talk about the details of whatever your video is about. Why did Bezos lay off those people? What are the people’s reaction? What is the stock price impact? etc. etc. If you are doing a piece about building a campfire…where did the wood come from? How did you start the fire? How big is the fire?…you get the point. This is where you drive your point. My long term followers, all typically ignore me the first 7-10 seconds…knowing that I am just working the algorithm. The meat and potatoes of the video is in the middle. The people that reach this part of the video (and is most of the people here on Substack with me) are the ones you want to subscribe! They listen to more than the headline, especially if you make informational content. You do not want the short attention spanned 7 second watchers…they will drive you insane. You just use the goldfish attention spanned people to get paid by the social media platform. These people often times generate me between $5k to $20k a month. They watch 5 seconds, take a shit in the comments, and scroll on. Be grateful for those ignoramuses.
Finally, you want to “loop” the video. This is a weird term…but recall that the average watch time was 32.1 seconds? Well, you will have a few people that watch 100% of your video. What is better than 100%? 105%…or 110% obviously. So you discretely trick them into watching 100%+. Here are 2 simple examples:
Notice the final words of the video, can loop to the beginning. “What’s even cooler is that knitting socks can save you money.” “And that’s why Bezos laid off 100,000 people…”. You can amplify this looping effect by using the exact same familiarity image at the end of the video as you did at the beginning. You won’t get everyone…but you will trick a lot of people to watch 105% or 110% of your video. Again…not saying it’s right…but no one will know your great message unless you can beat the algorithm.
This is the basic anatomy of how to make great content. You do not have to sacrifice your soul or give a fake narrative. But there are some tips to get your message out. Some final direct comments if you are considering making content:
Best platforms for growth: TikTok. The algorithm is really great at capturing people...then you direct them to your YouTube/Instagram. Also...you need to think about the "long game". Don't be shy about trying new platforms like BlueSky or Substack. Platforms die, and platforms rise. So when you hear of a new platform, immediately save a page with your profile name. You don't necessarily need to use it...but save it just in case. As you grow you can push your content to multiple platforms.
Hashtags. Platform specific, but I use the 3x3 method. 3 of the GENERAL niche. 3 of WHO I am talking about. 3 of what is SPECIFIC to the video. For example, if you are doing a camping video, you would try something like: #camping #campfire #hiking (this is the general niche), #campers #survivalists #firelovers (this is the who you are talking to) and then #roastinghotdogs #tent #firewood (this is the specific niche). Don’t chase the POPULAR hashtags....if its popular, you are late to it. The specific niches are your best chances to go viral with something. GET CREATIVE!
Always have captions. On TikTok, his is how the algorithm "reads" your video and pushes it to the right audience. On YouTube, this engages a huge new demographic of people with auditory disabilities. It will also help you when editing videos.
Always put a title at the beginning to let the audience know what I am about to talk about. It gets their mind in the mode. "Stock Market Update, 08 May 2025" as an example. Every single investor instantly knows that the video is relevant to them.
Don’t block trolls or hate. I am not going to sugar coat this...the internet is a nasty place. People's true colors come out behind anonymous profiles. Angry trolls furiously typing comments...is ENGAGEMENT. More engagement = the algorithm pushing your content to more people. For example, in one video I associated Guyana with Africa, intentionally. THOUSANDS of people "corrected" me telling me it was in South America. (2 minutes into the video I addressed that Guyana was in South America). The video received over 5 million views and I gained about 30,000 followers. Because all those people correcting me were engaging, and it was pushed hard by the algorithms. That 10 minutes of work netted me about $4200. This is where the money and growth is at. I’m telling you this though, it can get to you mentally...the hate comments, or the just weird comments. You have to ignore this. Realize you will never see these people...and it all feels better when you see that check come in. Do not block trolls...they are your biggest paydays, biggest fans (they always return), and give you the most growth. I actually now engage with them, just for growth lol. You farm them, like sheep!
Post regularly. When I was building, I didn’t stop posting until I gained a net view of 50,000. I can usually tell in the first hour how a video will perform. This will be a bit lower if you are first starting off. Maybe 100 views for the day...then to 1000 the next month....eventually you will hit big numbers. But regardless, set a goal. Eventually the goal will be easy, and you will raise the bar. Once you get in the habit, it gets easier and easier to post regularly. It takes me about 10 minutes to make a video. Your first time is the hardest.
Be genuine. Be yourself. There will be a few that don't like you...whatever. In time, you will find millions of people just like you that you didn't know about. People hate the fakers.
You don't need any fancy equipment. Your phone has 1080 pixel quality...which is the maximum quality for TikTok, and is satisfactory for most platforms. Most phones have 4k quality, which is near the top tier for YouTube. I don't see many posts in 8k. The point being, you do not need to break the bank for equipment. You do need quality sound and lighting....but again, no need to break the bank:
Audio: I have a Blue Yeti USB microphone, $70...but most often just use the wired apple headphones.
Lighting: Very important...crappy lighting bores audiences. I have a $10 led grow light attached to my desk. But in most videos, I record standing in front of the window....natural light is BEST. I do have the fancy studio lights (which was a waste of money). I literally put them behind me for ambience, and just record in front of the window. See the light behind me below...i'm using the window lo
Natural light is best. Me standing in front of a window, with the fancy light behind me lol
Editing: Capcut. Its simple to use and free.
I hope this post helps you in your content journey. You can do it! I also have an entire Video series on how to go viral, here.
https://www.statista.com/chart/26572/average-number-of-books-read-by-us-residents-per-year/
https://testprepinsight.com/resources/us-book-reading-statistics/#:~:text=Key%20Findings,number%20had%20fallen%20to%2046%25.
You outsourced to a bot farm in Asia?!?!?!
Hi Tim! Loved the article and free advice! Questions for ya: do you think it’s possible to grow solely on Substack with no other social media presence? And how would you go about choosing a niche when you have several interests?