The #1 Way to Grow Your Audience in 2026 | Domonkos Eross | 149

Most creators try to grow by posting more. More content, more platforms, more hours. But the biggest creators and thought leaders grow in a very different way, and most of it happens behind the scenes. I sat down with Domonkos "Doma" Eross, founder of Flowin, a creative agency for thought leaders, to talk about what actually drives audience growth right now. We get into his seven strategic steps to succeed as a thought leader, why creator partnerships are the number one source of growth in the creator economy, and Doma’s outreach technique for landing dream clients. If you've ever wanted to know the systems the biggest creators use to consistently grow their audiences, I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:33 How Doma started working with thought leaders 03:03 Why direct outreach works 03:33 The Manchester United cold email 05:05 Why a well-packaged pitch gets attention 06:49 Using credibility to get past the first filter 08:06 How office hours turned into clients 09:13 Leaving energy vs lingering energy 10:13 Why curiosity beats a target list 11:59 How your network compounds 12:54 The seven steps to succeed as a thought leader 13:18 Step 1: Develop exceptional knowledge first 14:17 Step 2: Define your mission and theory of change 16:19 Step 3: Build an ecosystem strategy 18:21 Matching your ecosystem to how you make money 19:51 Step 4: Turn your ideas into the right content 21:18 Protecting clients from the wrong projects 22:38 Step 5: Build the right team 23:12 Why team size and influence don't correlate 24:55 How James Clear decides what to work on 26:32 Building a team around impact 28:26 The most surprising role on a thought leader's team 30:53 What thought leaders know about saying no 32:17 Focus on your craft and outsource the rest 33:22 Step 6: Creator partnerships, the #1 source of growth 35:14 Why Creator Network works better than list swaps 37:19 How partnerships work at a smaller scale 39:00 How much growth Creator Network drives 40:27 Why partnerships are a win-win 41:22 Set up partnerships before your podcast episode airs 44:27 Why the creator economy isn't competitive 46:32 What Doma has learned from his clients 47:57 Step 7: Build and perfect your organic channels 48:13 Why your newsletter is the only channel you own 49:56 Building a newsletter that sounds like you 53:05 The three phases of a book launch 54:15 Teasing your book in your newsletter 55:26 Why you need to book podcasts months ahead 56:08 The concentrated strike approach 56:34 How to pitch the biggest podcasts 58:48 Which podcasts actually sell books 59:50 The people behind podcast bookings 1:01:36 Using a live event to launch a book 1:03:37 How Doma runs Flowin 1:05:08 Why Doma doesn't want to scale 1:06:40 Final thoughts If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Doma: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/domonkoseross Website: https://flowin.consulting Featured in this episode: Kit: https://www.kit.com Flowin: https://flowin.consulting Highlights: 03:33 The Manchester United cold email 13:18 Why thought leadership is the result, not the goal 24:55 How James Clear decides what to work on 33:22 The #1 source of growth in the creator economy 53:05 The three phases of a book launch