So, seven people want to know how I rose to fame. The only problem is that I’m not famous. So I don’t know what I’m really supposed to do to answer this question… Well I mean I used to be back in August last year, but that’s a long time from where we are today…
How long did it take for me to start becoming famous on Quora?
21 days. I just came here, wrote an answer, and then the world just shifted. Everyone just put me up on a pedestal and the world was forever different.
Oh wait. That never happened…
What was the tipping point?
I’m sure there were multiple tipping points, I’ll have to dig them up. I kept stats for exactly one year, so I suppose I can share those here. They will outline my exact journey on Quora.
This is my summary:
5 Million views and over 10,000 Followers in just under a year, from May 15, 2013 to May 5, 2014.
May 2013: 102 Views.
June 2013: 3475 Views.
July 2013: 61298 Views.
August 2013: 160312 Views.
September 2013: 355604 Views.
October 2013: 364575 Views.
November 2013: 480442 Views.
December 2013: 588452 Views.
January 2014: 837134 Views.
February 2014: 781028 Views.
March 2014: 610241 Views.
April 2014: 760313 Views.
May 15, 2013: 3 Followers.
August 30th, 2013: 354 Followers.
September 29, 2013: 1000 Followers.
September 30, 2013: 1041 Followers.
October 31, 2013: 1748 Followers.
November 9, 2013: 2000 Followers.
November 30, 2013: 2575 Followers.
December 11, 2013: 3000 Followers.
December 31, 2013: 3760 Followers.
January 4, 2014: 4000 Followers.
January 21, 2014: 5000 Followers.
January 31, 2014: 5471 Followers.
February 8, 2014: 6000 Followers.
February 23, 2014: 7000 Followers.
February 28, 2014: 7320 Followers.
March 15, 2014: 8000 Followers.
March 31, 2014: 8990 Followers.
April 1, 2014: 9000 Followers.
April 21, 2014: 10000 Followers.
April 30, 2014: 10430 Followers.
May 5, 2014: 10650 Followers.
So, to track it out, this is what happened.
I joined Quora on April 10, 2013. I read this answer thread:
What does it feel like to lose a lot of money quickly?
I saw that everyone who wrote on this site wrote at a high caliber. They put their hearts into their posts. I felt that if I wanted to write, I would have to put my heart into my writing as well.
Then I wrote my first answer, which got about five upvotes, on May 15, 2013:
Afterward, I stopped writing and started stalking users and upvoting their content, like James Altucher and Erin Paige Law. Quora, such a magical place with the brightest of the bright.
On June 20, 2013, Erin promoted my answer to 1,000 people. That cost what, 5,000 credits? Who in the world even has 5,000 credits? I know I hardly ever do.
Well, that was enough to spark my interest and prove to me that at least someone in the world was interested in hearing what I had to say. So I decided to write more. From June 20, 2013 to July 25, 2013 I had written 100 answers. As seen from the statistics earlier, my view count raised from 102 views in May to 3475 in June and 61298 by July, just over the course of a few short months. That’s like more than the amount of people whom I talked to all throughout my whole entire life. I actually had true visibility.
Fame however? I think not.
I was just another guy on the internet. However, were there any key moments which stuck out?
My 10th answer was this: Leonard Kim’s answer to What did you see as a child that affected your life?
On this answer I was able to connect with Bianca Diesel, Rory Young and Rick Bruno, whom have all became great friends.
My 16th answer, I went even deeper into my life: Leonard Kim’s answer to How do people react to moving from a high to a low standard of living?
By my 115th answer I had this: Leonard Kim’s answer to How can I thoroughly screw up my life?
In August, it looks like all I did was answer business related questions, like this: Leonard Kim’s answer to How does one create a business plan?
Then I ended September with 354 followers. I was finally famous! I ruled the world! I had hundreds of people following me! It was like the happiest of days, ever.
Then I began to climb the ropes to mediocrity. The more followers I had, the less influence I’d receive.
Fame?
What was that?
It was just a vision of the past. Something I could only hold on to for my first few months on the site. Because shortly after, it all just crumbled away.
No more fame. No more power. No more riches.
Instead, I’d be the center of smear campaigns and the target of bad publicity. I was just cast back to the rags from whence I came.
So, looking over the stats, the tipping point of when I lost my fame and became public enemy #1 had to be in between September and October, as my follower count jumped from 354 to 1,000. Where exactly it started? I’m not quite sure.
Was it when I shared my horrid date with my coworker (whom still talks to and hangs out with me for some reason)?
When I shared the beginning of a story?
Leonard Kim’s answer to What is a true personal story that people have a hard time believing?
When I shared my past life as a gold digger?
Leonard Kim’s answer to What is it like to be a golddigger?
When I shared how it feels to be used for my cash?
Leonard Kim’s answer to What does it feel like to know someone is dating you just for your money?
Or when I shared how to find a rich man?
Leonard Kim’s answer to How do I attract rich men?
When I shared my goodbye letter?
Leonard Kim’s answer to What are some examples of heart-breaking suicide notes?
Or was it when I shared how I gave up on my only goal in life?
Leonard Kim’s answer to Life Lessons: Have you ever given up on a dream or goal?
Well, whatever answer it was, it propelled me into a new realm of fame. A fame that was short lived. Sanjay hosted a meetup in November. Everyone asked me what I did for a living, as if I was some type of big deal. I had no clue what was going on. I just wanted to hide under a blanket and leave. But I had two glasses of wine then started to feel better.
I made more friends with more people like Ellen and Cherie and Becky and Christi and Xu and Ridwa and Virali and Cammi and Melissa and Jennifer and Susanna and Janelle and Rachel and Shirley and Ariel and I can just go on and on and on. I had lunch with Jane at Red Robin near the beach. Then on December 20, Quora stuck a quill next to my name as an early birthday present. Varsha helped me hit 2 million views by the end of the year. At the beginning of January, I did a podcast. Terrence invited me to his wedding in February. In March I was asked to do two interviews. One I totally blew and the other was published. In April I was offered a six figure job out in New York, but who wants to move to a place with such sporadic weather? I had to sleep in jackets just to stay cold! Oh and I also went to visit my favoritest (Yes, this is a real word in the Leonard Kim dictionary.) friend James Altucher. Scott showed me around New York while Jason let me stay at his place. His friend Helen recognized me at his party due to Quora and I had no clue how to even react. There was a TW meetup that I wanted to attend, but I didn’t get to make it out since I had school, so I had sent a friend to go in place of me. Then I just hosted a meetup last weekend with my dear friend Amanda.
For a year, I made two commitments to the marketplace, which somehow increased these stats as well. The first was to follow back everyone who upvoted or followed me first, so they could a2a me questions for free. This created a 42% follow back ratio.
In the interim of all this, I had two people try to defame me publicly, one being our lovely friend Mr. Hayter. Now I just have anonymous users try to defame me by asking ridiculous questions stating that I made some kind of follower scheme that doesn’t actually work, as seen by the 5% ratios of other people who have tried this in the past.
Since I’m about full disclosure, this is exactly what I did: Scott Balster of Employtown interviews Leonard Kim by Leonard Kim on Uncouth Eloquence
Then after I hit the one year point and answered 2000 questions, 11 of which had over 1,000 upvotes and had over 1000 pending A2A’s, my values changed. I anonymized 1500 answers and unfollowed everyone, only following back who I wanted to.
Now, when I write an answer, I automatically get at least three to four downvotes immediately, a few upvotes, and then my answers stop all distribution.
So is there fame anymore?
No. I’m old news.
Now it’s just a bunch of angry bitter old men who are tired of seeing my content being distributed on the platform, so they downvote away and anonymously try to defame me since they don’t have the courage to say what they want to straight to my face.
But then again, I don’t really mind too much, because my values have changed as well. I provided a whole year of my time to the community for free. But it’s been a week since I quit smoking so now I need to take care of my health. I need to keep my woman happy, Then I need to figure out exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life, whether it be consulting, writing books, marketing, or pursuing a career in self help. The biggest problem about this equation is that I love working for other people and not just myself, so it makes it a bit harder to get a solid decision on what exactly I should do.
Oh yeah, I need to end with a graph since everyone else has one.
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Originally posted on Quora.
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