This guy gets it

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I’ve never been able to crack social media growth*

Being able to consistently get eyes is not something I can do.

So I study people closely who can pull it off.

I want to know their secret.

This year I’ve been watching Soren Iverson do just that.

Not just the viral post thing (which is impressive) but also turning that skill into a book, an app and an agency.

Whether or not you care about social media, there’s a good lesson in Soren’s ability to stay-the-fuck-on-topic.

This is an unconventional story for us here. But I really do think it’s a good one. Soren and I have very different takes on why he can soar past his goals so fast. Read them below.

*except that one time my Twitter did help me grow and sell a different newsletter so ok maybe I cracked social growth before and then promptly deleted that entire account 🙃 

Who’s Soren Iverson and What’s His Business

Soren Iverson is a digital product designer who quit his tech job and went out on his own in April of this year. And he skyrocketed to fame in every category. Wunderkind this one. So many lessons, so little time.

Soren’s business portfolio looks like this:

• A product design agency 

• A gamified walking app

• A book 

• A set of viral social accounts (choose your channel really) and high profile brand partnerships like Duolingo

The revenue split is 30-40% on the content business and 60-70% on the agency. The app doesn’t have a revenue model yet (or Soren didn’t include it in the revenue pie).

Wow, what a diverse range of ventures to nail IN ONE YEAR.

How it started

It all started with “unhinged UI.”

As Soren told Wired magazine last year, he wondered what would happen if apps were injected with the most intrusive thoughts of their makers.

Soren took to social media with visual jokes like what if your parents could block you from your Tinder matches.

Or this you’re eating too much Taco Bell do you need therapy…

As Soren recounts, he “started getting traction” on the social side (that’s putting it lightly 😜) which he then turned into a newsletter.

But the people demanded more! They kept asking for a book of all these whacky ideas so he obliged.

Here’s Soren sitting with all those books in his Southern California garage. Real fire hazard so it’s a good thing he’s selling out fast!

By April of this year, Soren had enough asks for design consulting work that he left his job and started Iverson, a full service design and marketing consultancy.

He also somehow found time to make an app called Stompers which has thousands of reviews in the App Store so suffice it to say it’s very popular.

(Yeah I don’t think he has kids but he is in a band which is basically the same thing as far as being a money and time pit jk jk I love kids so much)

Now here we are just barely 4 months later and well, Soren’s only going up from here.

What kind of success are we talking

Success is self-defined. Meeting your own goals.

In Soren’s case, what has impressed me is that he sets and surpasses his goals really quickly and they are not easy goals to achieve. It’s not like he sets the bar low.

We talked once before he quit his job, when the agency was just a glimmer in his eye, but he already had plenty of interest from clients via his growing online persona. It was becoming a clear launchpad.

Once again, what’s unique here is that he had the right opportunities coming in pre-launch and it’s a testament to Soren’s message focus and saturation.

What Soren thinks he got right

Consistency
Soren has produced over 600 days of unhinged posts. He’s committed to the bit and he keeps showing up to do it, in a way people both expect and are surprised by.

Hard work
When he went full time solo, he went heads down right away “to figure out how to scale and operationalize,” often working 20 hours days. (I know, I know, not very Low Energy Leads! but this didn’t last long)

Team
Soren moved from solo to team over the summer, hiring an operations lead, an executive assistant, an animator and more to help scale both the content business and the agency. This has both made the consistency easier and the hours less crazy. He also hired well, not sparing any expense.

Speed
In Soren’s words, “Speed is an incredible differentiator and I make it a point for the agency to execute quality work at an extremely high velocity.”

Demonstration of craft
It’s a straight shot from the social content to the agency work. The satirical interfaces he produces demonstrate both that Soren knows app design inside and out and also that he gets human behavior. They don’t just play for virality, they create a growing public portfolio of expertly crafted design.

What I think he got right

Humor
Soren’s posts are funny. Funny stuff outperforms utilitarian stuff on pretty much every marketing channel. If you can be funny, be funny.

Content/market match
He found content/market match early before building the agency. Soren chose a theme he could hit on over and over again that would communicate all these things at once. He’s good at design, he gets how the world works, he’s relatable, he’s paying attention to changes in technology and he can both follow or break a trend.

🎯 The fact that this unhinged UI theme plays both for viral content and tees up the agency work is the truly genius part of what Soren is doing. Many of us can nail one or the other, few of us can nail both.

Shallow by default, deep by choice
His content hits quick in the feed meaning it doesn’t require that much brain power (never good for social) but it does invite that brain power if you linger longer (hence the comments).

Decision confidence
Behind the scenes, in a Slack community we’re both in, I’ve seen how Soren talks about new hires or new launches. He charts a plan of action and follows it. From the outside, he comes across extremely clear headed. He trusts himself maybe more than some of us do though he told me “a lot of this was figuring it out as I go.” You sure make it look easy, man!

Back to this graph from last week’s issue—how long do you want to talk about ONE thing?

I admire Soren’s level of focus and ability to stay on topic. It works when you can do that (I’ve never been able to, but maybe this is my year!) and it’s a great reminder that covering too wide a range of topics just waters down the message.

Find your theme (make it a damn good one) and hit it over and over again so the people will start to know, trust, buy and refer.

Easier said than done. I dunno if I can get there, but maybe you can?! I’m rooting for you. Keep me posted!

P.S. Get your now limited edition Low Energy Leads merch. It’s pretty nice! Very soft. Very embroidered. Very affordable. Very demure.

P.P.S. I owe a bunch of you replies. 139 of them to be precise. I appreciate all the notes and I’m a bit email overwhelmed so response time is slow right now.