Useful Not Famous

Worry has improved my life

We've found a way to use worry to improve our lives. Worry, problem solving, attacking constraints, whatever you call it, it's what we do before going all in on an idea. By taking this approach, we've found it's given us a superpower: Conviction. Leave us a voicemail to be featured on the show: call.show/usefulnotfamous [https://call.show/usefulnotfamous] Chapters * (00:00) - Worry Before Betting * (00:27) - Psycho Cybernetics Intro * (01:25) - Mindset Without Gurus * (03:34) - Perspective Shapes Days * (05:46) - Opportunity Looks Like Work * (07:48) - Define Worry As Planning * (10:49) - Business Prep And Runway * (12:40) - Cool Cucumber Confidence * (15:22) - Life Has No Finish Line * (19:42) - Assessing People Risks * (22:04) - Hard Now Easy Later * (25:21) - Run Toward Hard Things * (27:03) - Final Takeaway And Wrap --- Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers. Join our useful family at usefulnotfamous.com [https://usefulnotfamous.com/] to get one actionable tip delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Follow us! Jeff Sarris [https://sarr.is/] | Amara Andrew [https://amaraandrew.com/] Support the Show Readwise is the way to get the most out of what you read and is the only subscription that we find so valuable that we can imagine keeping it until the end of time.  Sign up for Readwise using our special link, readwise.io/maven/ [https://readwise.io/maven/], and get 60 days free!

500K Followers. $323 a Month.

Half a million followers. $323 a month. That's the average. In this episode, we break down why fame is one of the worst goals you can chase — and why the people getting rich aren't the ones you see on your feed. They're the ones solving hard problems you'll never hear about. We get into: • Why the right tools in the wrong hands are worthless • The "aspiring entrepreneur" trap (and how to escape it) • Why your phone is enough to start — and proof from creators doing it • The real reason famous people spiral while engineers thrive • What a study of nuns' brains taught us about staying sharp • Why hiding behind the camera is killing your content • How constraints (not gear) actually make you better If you've been waiting for the right setup, the right camera, the right moment — this one's for you. Stop buying. Start making. Leave us a voicemail to be featured on the show: call.show/usefulnotfamous [https://call.show/usefulnotfamous] Chapters * (00:00) - The right tools in the wrong hands * (01:15) - We built a call-in platform (call.show) * (03:30) - Infinite tools, zero skill * (05:45) - Why "aspiring entrepreneur" is a trap * (07:20) - 500K followers, $323/month * (09:40) - Hiding behind the camera kills content * (12:15) - Wrong tools, right hands beats the opposite * (14:30) - The gear is the easy part * (17:00) - Why most people get stuck on the wrong problem * (19:45) - The nun study and why you need other people * (23:00) - Why famous people spiral and engineers don't --- Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers. Join our useful family at usefulnotfamous.com [https://usefulnotfamous.com/] to get one actionable tip delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Follow us! Jeff Sarris [https://sarr.is/] | Amara Andrew [https://amaraandrew.com/] Support the Show Readwise is the way to get the most out of what you read and is the only subscription that we find so valuable that we can imagine keeping it until the end of time.  Sign up for Readwise using our special link, readwise.io/maven/ [https://readwise.io/maven/], and get 60 days free!

You failed because you chased "what" instead of "when"

Change doesn't fail because you're too early. It almost always fails because you're too late. In this episode, we explain why chasing views, followers, and “fame” won’t pay the bills without a real business behind it, and how to flip the whole game by becoming genuinely useful to a specific group of people. We break down usefulness as a chain (audience → business owners → advertisers/customers), why we evolve offerings instead of constantly restarting, and how patience beats high-risk hype. We also share a real hyperlocal case study: two simple videos helped a brand-new coffee shop with no marketing open to a slammed weekend and why that only works when the product is actually good. If you don’t feel useful, it’s time to change...before it’s too late. Chapters * (00:00) - Change Too Late * (00:05) - Meet The Hosts * (00:36) - Useful Not Famous * (01:22) - Fame Vs Business * (04:37) - Define Being Useful * (07:07) - Change And Trends * (08:41) - Evolving Revenue Mix * (11:47) - Sunk Cost Trap * (14:27) - Low Risk Long Game * (17:55) - Patience And Passion * (20:42) - Make Them Feel Something * (21:06) - Every Post Is Marketing * (21:30) - Be Useful With Content * (22:12) - New Coffee Shop Pivot * (23:09) - The Bold DM Ask * (23:55) - Not An Imposition * (25:38) - Hyperlocal Reach Proof * (27:11) - Opening Day Chaos * (30:34) - Turning Crowds Into Regulars * (33:20) - Usefulness Connects Everyone * (34:04) - Passion And Sustainability * (35:48) - Final Call To Change --- Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers. Join our useful family at usefulnotfamous.com [https://usefulnotfamous.com/] to get one actionable tip delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Follow us! Jeff Sarris [https://sarr.is/] | Amara Andrew [https://amaraandrew.com/] Support the Show Readwise is the way to get the most out of what you read and is the only subscription that we find so valuable that we can imagine keeping it until the end of time.  Sign up for Readwise using our special link, readwise.io/maven/ [https://readwise.io/maven/], and get 60 days free!

Forget "work smarter not harder" Do this

"Work smarter, not harder" is comforting advice—until you realize it's also a complete lie. Your competitors are doing both: using AI to sprint through research, production, and decision-making while everyone else scrolls. This week, we break down why tools like Grok and Claude can compress hours of work into mere seconds (if you know how to prompt well), why offloading your thinking is the fastest way to lose your edge, and how a single search can reveal what's completely hidden from Google. Finally, we tackle the quiet mistake draining most small businesses: treating platforms like separate worlds. In an interest-graph, algorithm-driven world where 75–85% of views come from non-followers, the smartest move is to cross-post everywhere, ignore vanity metrics, keep personal and business accounts separate, and let the audience, not your assumptions, decide what hits. Chapters * (00:00) - Smarter And Harder * (01:16) - AI Output Trap * (03:27) - Daily AI Workflow * (05:41) - Research Story Grok * (09:37) - Skills Still Matter * (11:55) - Cross Post Everywhere * (15:17) - Vanity Metrics Myth * (16:00) - Hyperlocal Growth Example * (17:16) - Algorithms And Discovery * (20:15) - Train Your Algorithm * (20:55) - Personal vs Business Accounts * (22:32) - Personality With Relevance * (24:21) - Non Followers Drive Views * (25:09) - Hashtags For Discovery * (27:16) - Post Everywhere Strategy * (28:32) - Monetize Across Platforms * (31:30) - Teams Behind Big Creators * (34:07) - Small Business Content Efficiency * (37:00) - Final Posting Hacks Wrap --- Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers. Join our useful family at usefulnotfamous.com [https://usefulnotfamous.com/] to get one actionable tip delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Follow us! Jeff Sarris [https://sarr.is/] | Amara Andrew [https://amaraandrew.com/] Support the Show Readwise is the way to get the most out of what you read and is the only subscription that we find so valuable that we can imagine keeping it until the end of time.  Sign up for Readwise using our special link, readwise.io/maven/ [https://readwise.io/maven/], and get 60 days free!

Small problems ruin your happiness

Most people are stuck solving the wrong problems. They obsess over pixel-perfect website tweaks, compare follower counts, and replay awkward conversations in their head while the questions that actually move the needle go unanswered. What are you building? Who is it for? Why does it matter? In this episode, we break down why small problems shrink your life and how choosing bigger, harder problems is the fastest path to growth in business and personally. We dig into the "pick your battles" framework, why the interest graph has made followers nearly irrelevant, and the real math behind creator income. One YouTuber made $1.2M from a single video while a TikToker with 1.4M followers and 360M views couldn't cover rent. If you want to be useful, not just famous, this one's for you. Topics covered: vanity metrics, interest graph vs. follower graph, AI search, hyperlocal platforms, timeless marketing, and what it means to be a student of the craft. Chapters * (00:00) - Small Problems, Small Life * (00:35) - What Counts as Small * (02:18) - The Vanity Metrics Trap * (04:10) - Small Stuff in Your Personal Life * (06:17) - Pick Your Battles * (09:13) - The Reset Button of Social Media * (15:02) - Why the Interest Graph Wins * (15:41) - Being Useful Pays * (16:10) - AI Search Finds You * (18:02) - TikTok vs. YouTube Money * (18:40) - Fame vs. Freedom * (19:02) - The Million-Dollar Video * (19:50) - 1.4M Followers, Can't Make Rent * (21:27) - In Service of What? * (22:09) - The Hyperlocal Platform Model * (23:09) - Who Should Do Marketing? * (25:32) - Timeless Marketing Tactics * (26:28) - Students of the Craft * (33:18) - Big Problems Worth Solving * (35:11) - Wrap Up --- Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers. Join our useful family at usefulnotfamous.com [https://usefulnotfamous.com/] to get one actionable tip delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Follow us! Jeff Sarris [https://sarr.is/] | Amara Andrew [https://amaraandrew.com/] Support the Show Readwise is the way to get the most out of what you read and is the only subscription that we find so valuable that we can imagine keeping it until the end of time.  Sign up for Readwise using our special link, readwise.io/maven/ [https://readwise.io/maven/], and get 60 days free!