🧑🏼‍🚀 Blueprint 058

Welcome back to Blueprint.

If you’re new to the series, it’s been 58 weeks (1 year + 1 month + 2 weeks) since I went full-time as an entrepreneur.

My goal is to go from $0 → $1M/month in income while transparently documenting the entire journey, strategy, and moves made.

• Each week, I share learnings & experiments (in written form)

• Each month, I share income & strategy shifts (in video form)

• You can watch the Year 1 recap video here

A reminder that the internet game is not zero-sum. Everyone reading this can win at an unlimited scale. I’m writing this for the internet astronauts building their own worlds. If that’s you…let’s ride 👩🏻‍🚀

WEEK 58 METRICS & UPDATES

Week 58 Metrics + Updates

A few quick updates:

1. Threads: I’ve added Threads to the metrics tracker. Something important is happening here. I can’t say this with certainty, but I get the feeling that consistent engagement on Threads algorithmically adds a booster to your IG. In other words, if you’re actively trying to grow your IG, I’d be engaging on Threads. Vibes are also much more positive, people want to be there, less political content, etc. My approach? Right now I’m cross-posting my tweets to Threads, but will start developing a more “Threads-specific” strategy over the next few weeks.

2. Wavy: I’ve also added a second newsletter called Wavy. Wavy will be solely focused on content & marketing. I’m going to keep Blueprint exactly how it is (on entrepreneurship, mindset, mental frameworks, my journey) and put all of my content strategy, content trends & content learnings in Wavy. I’m also going to start breaking down other viral content and explain exactly why it works, how to extract those learnings to use in your content, etc. If you follow me only for the entrepreneurial journey, subscribing to Blueprint only is perfect. But if you like reading my thoughts on both the journey + want hyper tactical content/marketing/growth tips & emerging trends, I’d encourage you to subscribe to Wavy as well. It’s free :)

3. Vlog 1 (Why Vlog?): My first vlog is dropping tomorrow morning on YouTube. Hyped to start doing this consistently

SANDCASTLES

Sandcastles

Before we dive into today’s post, I wanted to share a quick teaser of a new project I'm working on...a storytelling assistant.

After spending 18 months making content daily, I’ve realized the hardest part is consistently turning good ideas into great scripts/stories.

This is the elusive “sauce layer” I always talk about.

But imagine if you could bottle up my storytelling process/frameworks and tap into it on demand for content in any lane/industry?

This is currently in the works. Our storytelling assistant will help you write world-class video scripts instantly.

To date, I haven’t used any off the shelf AI writing tools because I think their output is way too generic and not optimized for high-performing content.

We’re going to solve this.

I'm using my expertise in storytelling to build a hyper focused tool that will solve this specific problem.

I'm giving Blueprint readers early access & special pricing when it goes live. If you're on this list, you'll secure the Blueprint special.

If this sounds valuable to you, make sure to sign up (https://sandcastles.ai).

WINNING VS PLAYING

Winning vs playing

Growing up, I realized early on that I was ultra competitive…

…a real maniac when it came to games, competitions, challenges or anything with a score.

And I know this personality type isn’t for everyone, but I love winning.

My goal, when approaching any game, is to play continuously, obsessively pursue the optimal strategy, beat everyone, and then go to sleep.

And you’d think this would be the perfect personality to succeed at entrepreneurship.

It might be, but it turns out, it has a major blindspot…

When you operate in maniac mode, you’re optimizing for short, intense bursts.

All my life, this is how I’ve played.

In school, for example, I wouldn’t study until the night before a test.

I would cram a full semester of learning into the 10 hour window right before, stay up all night, use the pressure as adrenaline, take the test, and then crash right after.

And this style had never let me down…until now.

Because entrepreneurship demands a much different mode of game play.

It’s true that company building has a bunch of mini sprints that require max effort, but they’re part of a massive 100 mile race.

Instead of being given one game with fixed opponents and learnable strategies, you’re taken to an endless arcade, where you have to beat thousands of games against infinite opponents with rules that constantly change.

There is no winning…there is just playing.

It’s a forever game with infinite levels.

And when you approach forever games with a sprinter’s mind…you end up with sore legs…a lot.

To win at entrepreneurship, you can’t be a hare or a tortoise.

You have to be both.

And this has been the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn.

The goal is not to win and be done. There is no done….

The goal is to win the day and survive long enough to get to play again tomorrow.

This is why I don’t believe entrepreneurship is for most people (and why the reward for those that do succeed should be so great).

Because in order to make it, and stay sane along the way, you have to shift your brain from liking winning to liking playing.

Sure, when you zoom out, you’ll be able to see wins, but when you’re in the trenches, day after day, you have to find a way to derive satisfaction from getting to play.

At my core, I’m despise the idea of participation trophies, so this concept has been the hardest for me come to terms with.

I spend most of my internal dialogue trying to trick the “win at all costs” guy into being happy with another 16 hours spent charging up the endless mountain.

Because the reality is…playing must become winning or true winning will never come.

ATOMICS

Atomics

I’ve tried my best to stop listening to podcasts (to preserve more thought space for original ideas).

One of the few that I did listen to this week was Chris Williamson & Alex Hormozi.

Here’s a remix on one of my favorite bits from the conversation…I call it atomics.

At 1:13:58, Hormozi explains his framework for breaking down tasks into base level component parts.

The example he gives…if someone gave you the direction to “be more charismatic”…what do you actually do?

It’s hard to action on “be more charismatic” because charisma is actually a bundled term…made up of 10-15 tactical skills/actions (e.g., smiling when meeting someone, eye contact, putting your shoulders back, etc.).

He goes on to explain how he uses this framework…breaking tasks into component skills…when training team members.

Instead of telling a new video editor to “be more like Jimmy,” he ruthlessly tries to break down what makes Jimmy good into simple & straightforward component parts.

I think of these as the atomic units.

I find this frame extremely helpful for every task. Here’s how I’ve been implementing it…

Currently, I’m in a period of max delegation.

My goal is to abstract away every single thing off my plate except for a) coming up with original ideas and b) recording/writing them.

This is where I believe I can offer max leverage.

So to delegate the rest, I need to break down my work into the small possible components.

What does, “edit this video in my style” actually mean?

Well for the captions alone, it’d be:

• Use this font style in this positioning in this size

• Switch the captions exactly when the frame switches

• Use a background color in these scenarios and no background in these

• Use big fonts here, here, and here, and small fonts everywhere else

• Look for these outlier cases, etc.

This is obviously a trivial example, but all of a sudden “match my caption style” becomes a super specific series of atomic steps at the smallest possible unit that are much harder to miscommunicate.

I’m now applying this framework to every form of communication possible.

To eliminate missteps, over communicate at a smaller atomic level.

PURSUIT VS CRAFT

Pursuit vs Craft

Everybody wants to find “their thing.”

Most people believe the goal is to find something they’re naturally good at.

But I think this is the wrong approach.

The goal is not to find something you’re naturally good at (the craft).

The goal is to find something that you naturally enjoy getting better at (the pursuit).

It’s a small nuance that makes a massive difference.

For example, you may naturally be top 1% in the world at making clay pots.

And that’s awesome…but if you don’t enjoy the process of getting better at making pots, you’ll never practice, you’ll never achieve mastery, and that natural gift will eventually atrophy.

Because to be great, at any craft, requires an obsessive and maniacal pursuit…daily improvement.

The natural gift alone is not enough.

So to find your purpose, the answer you seek is not finding the craft you’re suited for…it’s finding the craft you like pursuing.

Do you enjoy the process of getting better at this thing enough to spend 30,000 more hours to eke out a 1% skill improvement.

If so…you’ve found your thing. Start climbing.

KALLAWISMS

Kallawisms

Treadmills for the mind

1. TV Shows

My homie JT Barnett made this post referring to podcasts as TV shows. It started spinning my wheels.

I think this frame should be applied to all content makers/brands.

Every “creator” should think of themselves like a TV channel. You content is programming. Why should your target audience watch it?

For me, I’m building an “entrepreneur/builder” channel. My goal is to become a place that entrepreneurs want to consume content because it’s fun and helps them win.

With this frame, I need to constantly ask myself…is the content I’m producing good/entertaining/valuable enough to get entrepreneurs to spend some of their attention on it?

If not, the format/framing may not be right.

This thesis is one of the reasons why I’m starting to vlog. I’m trying to infuse more of my personality and quirks as a wrapper around some of the substance/frameworks. I’m excited for you guys to check out vlog 1 tomorrow!

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2. Speed to value

This is one of my most important marketing concepts.

You need to increase your speed to demonstrable value.

If your product is a shoe insert that helps avoid cankles, you want to decrease the amount of time it takes for a viewer to see the benefit.

If you’re making a video about a robot washing dishes, show the robot as soon as possible.

Compressing the time from start to “seeing value” will help viewers answer “why is this for me?” much quicker.

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3. Reps with intention

Another Chis Williamson special.

I saw this clip of him working out with an absolute monster, Mike Israetel.

Mike goes, “we’re not here to do reps, we’re here to do one rep at a time, very well.”

And it hit me.

Lately, I’ve fallen prisoner to putting out content reps without intention. 

Every rep should have intention behind it…is it an experiment, a test, a value gem, etc?

Reps without intention are just motion.

Motion isn’t progress. Motion in a single direction is progress.

Don’t rep without intention.

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4. Timewasters

Sometimes I’ll look up after a day/week and wonder where all the time went.

When I sit and reflect, most of my wasted time comes from mindless scroll breaks (that turn into 30 min. wormholes), an extra 30 mins before/after bed, etc..

Almost all of my wasted time comes from overconsumption and overscrolling.

I’ve tried my best to limit this by using my Brick to block social as much as possible.

It’s a conundrum, best summed up by this tweet…

WEEK 58 BEST CONTENT

My best content from last week:

1. 🎯 | Somebody should make an entrepreneur reality show that combines Love Island x Shark Tank: Watch

2. 🗺️ | Mindtrip lets travelers earn up to $10K/month by sharing their travel recs (short): Watch

3. 🎯 | Why Mindtrip could be huge (long short test): Watch

4. ✈️ | How to get set-up as a travel creator for free on Mindtrip: Watch

5. 🧑🏼‍🚀 | Blueprint 057 - Shipwrecks, worldbuilding 101, obituaries, rare air, money points, systems vs ideas: Read