How to grow your audience as an entrepreneur

How do you build a $5 million business by writing just two hours a day? And more importantly, how do you do it without chasing viral moments or buying fake followers?

Meet Dan Koe—the entrepreneur who transformed from a freelance web designer to a digital empire builder—and has revolutionized how creators think about audience building. Dan is the mastermind behind Modern Mastery (his former community), The Koe Letter (his weekly newsletter), and Kortex (his software for creators), on a journey to prove that authentic connection beats empty metrics every time.

"Follower count doesn't matter anymore," Dan states plainly. What matters is the depth of connection you build with your audience.

From earning $3,000 per month from courses and digital products in 2019 to scaling to $50,000 monthly revenue in 2020, and ultimately reaching $4.2 million in 2023—Dan's journey shows that building an engaged audience–strategically and authentically–is more valuable and sustainable than chasing vanity metrics.

The goal

In today's creator economy, there's a clear divide between those chasing quick wins and those building lasting influence. Dan's approach firmly plants itself in the latter category.

The goal isn't to amass followers who mindlessly consume viral content—it's to cultivate an audience that:

• Deeply resonates with your message
• Actively engages with your content
• Transforms into loyal community members
• Becomes passionate advocates for you and/or your work

As Dan puts it, "The negative aspects of social media are obvious. But few people talk about how life-changing it is to find people you deeply resonate with who are doing what you want to do in life."

This relationship between creator and audience feeds into a simple but powerful flywheel:

• Short-form content draws people in
• Long-form content keeps them engaged
• Products and communities transform them into loyal fans

Or as Dan succinctly explains: "If you don't write short, you don't build your audience. If you don't write long, you don't keep your audience."

The playbook

Dan's approach to audience building is refreshingly straightforward—but don't mistake simplicity for ease. Here's how he does it:

1. Build solid content habits that create value

The foundation of Dan's success is his unwavering commitment to writing two hours every day. This isn't about churning out content—it's about developing ideas that genuinely help people.

Key elements of his content strategy:

• Consistency in creation
• Focus on solving real problems
• Investment in relationship building
• Depth over surface-level advice

Each piece of content should leave readers with something they can implement immediately.

2. Bring your own unique perspective to your business

Dan's breakthrough came when he realized something crucial about successful creators: "What made them unique was not their business's value proposition but their personality. Their unique blend of interests and opinions."

How to develop your voice:

• Share personal experiences and insights
• Connect seemingly unrelated topics
• Attack problems from novel angles (ie. your perspective)
• Push boundaries thoughtfully

"I see it as my job to push out of that boundary just a tiny bit," Dan explains about his content approach. He combines psychology, philosophy, and practical business advice in ways that make readers think differently about familiar concepts.

3. Master the content pyramid

Dan's content strategy follows what he calls the "Content Pyramid"–a three-tiered approach that turns casual viewers into dedicated fans. Let's break down each level: