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My total 2024 coaching earnings finished at $551K because I stopped trying to do "ALL th3 thInGs."

2024 was about focusing on less.

It paid off and now I can't operate any other way. Here are my 3 favorites learnings from a successful year.

Let's jam!

First, commit to 1 premium group coaching offer.

I used to get excited about:

• Launching a course

• Selling digital products

• Building a subscription community

I thought, “I’ll give so much value at an affordable price people will line-up to buy!”

*Crickets*

Well, I did get some sales, but not enough to write about it in a Substack post.

Those 3 offers appeal to 3 different buyer behaviors, at 3 different stages of their journey, with 3 kinds of buying power (none of which are premium).

They're not bad ideas. They're "really-hard-to-scale-without-volume" ideas.

Unless you're Mr. Beast (or even a fraction of Mr. Beast), you likely don't have the social media traffic to launch, sustain, and scale even 1 of the 3.

But what if I told you that’s good news? It is and here’s why: most people in the world have a small social media following.

This “small” should actually read as, “sufficient.”

It leads to 1 inescapably fascinating paradox that encourages me every time I stop and reflect:

Coaches with a small audience and premium price tag win big.

And they win big because they learn how to target their niche with a premium price instead of trying to target broadly with an “affordable” price.

In 2024, I committed to testing this paradox with:

• 1 group coaching offer

• 1 target audience (coaches)

• 1 specific stage of their journey

You know how my story turned out (see pic at the beginning of this post), so here’s what happened when I taught this to my clients:

• Client earned ~$100K in sales after only 4 workshops 🔥

• Client closed a deal in 24hrs, then $18K 30 days later

• Client closed the largest deal of her coaching career

• Client closed her first premium deal, then 8 more

• Client earned her first $1,000 payment (above)

• Client earned $40K from 1 free workshop

So we're clear, my ~$100K client gets about 20 likes per post and has 7-10 people show up to his monthly workshop.

When you focus on simplification and depth you get Avenger's level clarity as your superpower.

Your content marketing gets sharp, persuasive, influential, powerful, engaging and:

• Your landing pages get dialed into your niche buyer

• Your workshop delivers must-have knowledge

• Your sales conversations get easier (& fun)

• Your client delivery gets faster

I've never been more confident that 1 offer is all you need to scale to $1M.

Second, you don't need 100 traffic sources.

I have a presence on 1 social platform: LinkedIn (2, now that I'm on Substack).

Time and time again I said to myself:

• "Figure out ads."

• "Launch on YouTube."

• "I can go viral on TikTok."

• "Instagram will be so important."

"You must de-risk from only 1 traffic source," I argued in my head.

While I’m not wrong, there’s a more important lesson to grasp first:

Master 1 social platform, first. And stick with 1 platform until you can maintain an active roster of 20 clients (more on that in my final insight below).

For me, that was LinkedIn. Substack and YT are next ONLY because:

1. I've mastered LinkedIn (active client roster of 50+)

2. I'm able to hire support services (like video editors etc.)

3. I now have the bandwidth (due to my group coaching structure)

I'm not leaving LinkedIn in the dust. I’m only building on the momentum.

To recap our journey in this post so far, my $551K in coaching sales came from a simplified focus of:

• 1 social platform

• 1 group coaching offer

• 1 target audience (coaches)

• 1 specific stage of their journey

Let’s close with my 3rd and final insight.

You only need 1 conversion protocol: a free workshop.

I've tried to acquire new clients with every blueprint in the playbook.

• Videos

• Paid ads

• Carousels

• Text posts

• "Clarity Calls"

• "Strategy Calls"

• "Discovery Calls"

• [insert name] Calls" 😂

You know what really worked? 1 free workshop per month.

Think about this math for a second (warning: you can't unsee it).

If you commit to 12 workshops in 2025 (1 per month) with the goal of getting and maintaining 20 active clients, then:

Scenario 1

• 20 active clients

• $500 earned per client

• $10K per month or $120K per year

Scenario 2

• 20 active clients

• $750 earned per client

• $15K per month or $180K per year

Scenario 3

• 20 active clients

• $1,000 earned per client

• $20K per month or $240K per year

12 workshops to get and maintain 20 active clients.

That's so clear.

There's not a person on planet earth who can convince me it's not possible with any audience size. My clients and I proved it.

When I cut back on common strategies and focused on 1 workshop, I not only ended up with a consistent conversion protocol, I found that I always had somewhere to point potential clients to.

You see, we often try to go from content to conversion. But that's really hard to do.

Everyone tries to sell with content. “Content builds a 24/7 sales machine,” the echo chamber says.

Not true.

Sure, it creates “lead warmth.” But everyone wants to sell in content, so everyone looks like they’re selling the same thing.

Social is 1 giant sales circus.

This changes when you build a powerful workshop.

A free workshop between your content and your offer enables you to always point people to 1 highly valuable experience. This makes you distinct among a sea of sellers.

It's valuable because you're NOT hard selling on the workshop. You're forgetting conversion and serving. You’re meeting potential buyers where they’re at.

(“selling” doesn’t feel like selling when it’s human and relationship focused)

The value is that...wait for it...someone (your target buyer) is actually going to gain new information that they can immediately start applying.

This is a dramatically different experience compared to the person who read your post (and everyone else’s) that encouraged them to “DM” you to get their life changed.

Let’s recap our “1’s":”

• 1 workshop

• 1 social platform

• 1 group coaching offer

• 1 target audience (coaches)

• 1 specific stage of their journey

This is all you need to build a $20K per month coaching business (and beyond).

Get clear on your group coaching offer first, then craft your workshop, then market your workshop. Repeat it every month until you get better and better.

Let 2025 be the year you do less to get more.

• But not just "more money."

• More lunches with your spouse.

• More free time with your children.

• More "hey, let's go see that new movie."

• More "let's book that trip to [insert place]."

• More weekday nights grabbing a bite with friends.

The right kind of more.

Please be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, Coaches Who Close.

~ Ryan Musselman

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Hello there,

My name is Matthew Brown.

I run Tribe Digital–an X and LinkedIn ghostwriting agency for B2B business owners.

Started the business in June of 2022 and have now worked with 60+ business owners, mostly B2B, to grow their audience, email lists, and businesses.

We’ve driven nearly $10m in revenue for clients in that time.

Now, there’s a lot of different factors that go into building an organic traffic engine that grows your audience and business on autopilot.

But I want to cover 2 big ideas:

1. Your content engine

2. Social selling - where I use automations and where I don’t

Your Content Engine

I originally got this idea from Sahil Bloom years ago and it’s stuck with me since.

A content engine is how you can consistently and reliably produce great content.

• You de-risk content quality

• You’re more consistent which means you’ll experience compounding returns

• You’ll create a body of work that you can repurpose and span across channels

A content engine looks like this:

Inputs → Note-taking → Outputs → Distribution → Audience

Inputs

This is stuff you consume.

Could be YouTube videos, podcasts, Twitter, email, books, audiobooks, conversations, or any number of things. Our brains consume and produce ideas. As you are consuming different forms of content and as you spend time thinking, you get to the next section.

Note-taking

Write down:

• What stands out as interesting

• “Ah ha” or “oh wow” moments

• Novel insights or strong opinions

Make sure to note where you got the ideas from so you can properly attribute them.

Where do you write this?

I recommend doing whatever works best for you. But I’ll share what works best for me, after trying many different systems:

1. I take raw notes using Apple Notes. I always have my phone with me and it’s incredibly low friction.
   

2. When I sit down to write, I’ll put the most interesting ideas into my knowledge management system in Notion (which looks like the image below)

(If you want this knowledge management system for yourself, you can click here to get it)

As you can see, this is where I work on ideas.

Outputs

I sit down every day with some dedicated writing time, scan the list of ideas under “no status” or “in progress” till I find one that looks interesting to me that day.

Then I’ll write the piece of content and move it to “completed”.

This becomes my library of content I can easily repurpose across platforms. You can see I have 245 long-form pieces sitting in the “posted” section. I will admit I haven’t operated this perfectly because I’ve published more posts and emails than that.

But regardless–it’s incredibly valuable.

Distribution

This is publishing the content.

I use Hypefury for X and Taplio for LinkedIn to schedule the content in advance. You can manually post or use the in-built scheduling tools for any of the platforms. But I get a lot of value from how clean the scheduling tools are and the analytics dashboards they have built in.

If I spend an extra long time on a piece of content, I’ll also spend extra energy distributing it.

I’ll DM it to several friends and ask if they’re willing to drop a comment.

I make these asks sparingly and try to reciprocate as much as I can.

Audience

As a byproduct of my consumption, note-taking, outputs and distribution, I build an audience.

For context, I started writing on LinkedIn for my own account about 8 months ago. I’ve crossed 12,000 followers and 2500+ email subscribers in that time. And I’ve built far larger audiences for my clients.

People forget that it’s not all about audience size either.

I have several clients with sub 10k followers who make $1M+ per year through their audiences. It’s about “The Right Followers” as much as it is the “number of followers”. So make sure you’re optimizing for both!

~

Last note on Content Engines before we move on.

As a ghostwriting/content agency, we build these content engines out for every single client. Basically we ask the question, how can we consistently produce excellent content? This often requires weekly client interviews if they’re not already regularly producing.

So get creative.

I shared my strategy with you and it may work perfectly or you might have to make some tweaks.

The important part of any system is that it takes LESS effort than it produces in outputs.

Social selling: Where I use Automations vs. Where I keep things Manual

For context, about 50% of my sales have come from content and DMs.

And for almost all of my clients, they’re getting sales calls booked directly from the social platform. I’ve convinced a few to start email newsletters and those have become solid sources of booked calls too. But the vast majority of leads have come from X or LinkedIn.

So here’s what I’ve learned.

Automation: Posts “automatically” are shown to people

This isn’t true automation.

But just by posting content, you switch from 1:1 to 1:many. Which inherently is higher leverage. If producing content is NOT a part of your routine right now, I would highly recommend you consider adding it.

However, let’s talk about direct outreach as well.

Manual: LinkedIn Sales Navigator lists

LinkedIn has an amazing built-in tool.

Unfortunately you do have to pay for it. But I believe they offer a great promotion for month 1 (and you can get everything you need in 1 month). I recommend building these lists manually because you know better than anyone what your target audience looks like.

But after you build several quality lists, it can make sense to add automations.

Automation: Connection requests

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to manually send 40 daily connection requests for myself, let alone for the 15 clients we work with.

Great place to use a tool (I use one called Expandi).

You might wonder if you should add a note with the connection requests and this is my rule of thumb:

• If you are contacting someone cold and can’t get hyper-personalized with the messaging, send a blank connection request. You can later message them once they’ve accepted.

• If you can personalize the message, send a connection request with a personalized message. This will improve connection acceptance rates as well as reply rates. Personalized messages might mention the college they graduated from, geography they live in, if they visited your profile or recently changed jobs.

Note: on X/Twitter, there’s not a great method to do the whole follow-for-follow thing like there is with LinkedIn’s connection request feature.

Second Note: Automations are against LinkedIn’s terms of service. So beware how you use them.

Automation + Manual: DM Messages

Once someone has accepted a connection request, do you send them automated or manual messages?

I start with automated messaging.

I build specific and personalized scripts for every list I use.

BUT…once someone responds, all automations are automatically turned off. And I then manually respond to each conversation and be overly and obviously human. The reason I’m okay sending automated messages is because after doing a ton of manual ones I realized they all looked similar anyway.

However, once people respond, the conversation can go any number of ways and I don’t try to perfectly map responses for every variation of what people could say.

Automation: DM response notifications

When you get a response from someone, they are warm.

If you wait 2 days to respond back, they are cold.

So I set up a Zap to let me know when someone responds. The output looks like this:

And like this:

When to decide if you should do something manually or automate it?

If you have low volume, don’t automate things.

Just do them.

But if you’re going to do something at scale…you’ve GOT to figure out automation because it will save you tens of hours of time, often on a recurring basis.

~

Boom.

That’s it!

Hope you were able to actually learn something from this. My favorite definition of learning is “same conditions, new behavior”. Or in other words, you change your behavior if you learn. If you consume content but don’t change behavior, that’s called entertainment.

Best,

Matthew

PS - if you’re interested in learning more from me, I write a weekly newsletter called the Social Selling Newsletter.

The newsletter fits 3 criteria: (1) actionable within 24 hours (2) helps you make more money and (3) I’d pay at least $20 for the information.

Check it out here: https://matthewbrown.kit.com/profile

Subscribe now

Pssssst. Hey….

You….

Yes you…

Want to write for the Autopreneur?

If you’ve got a great system or unique business strategy, and you would like to be seen by over 2500 readers…

We just opened up more guest authors slots for Q2!

Reply to this email or reach out to me at Ryan@theautopreneur.co to apply. I’ll send you more details when we chat.

~ Ryan Hutchinson

Hi & hello have we met yet?

I doubt it cz I’m new here and just trying to figure out how this guest authoring thing works…

So stick with me for a second will you (I’ll make it 10x worth your scroll).

I’m Lessa, 33, German (but identify as Latin), love Eminem, reinvent myself 7x/year, come from the world of ads & news, started typing my first words for the Internet 2 years ago, wrote & sold a GIF course, ended up marketing emails (my own)…

And…

Now this is awkward cz we’re not that close yet…

I milk cows as a hobby.

(Yes, really)

random picture so you know who i am (right)

Stop the grinning, here’s the deal:

Today, I’m gonna walk you through a different style of newsletters that makes people love you & your stuff.

See, in the age of AI…

We’re left with copies of a copy of a lamer copy.

Everything’s said and done before.

Everything’s happening faster.

You’re struggling to keep up the…

Well, wait, what?

Why write anything, really? Why sit down to type the words? Why not just automate, VA & repurpose?

The answer is annoyingly simple:

You’re human.

I’m human.

And you and me crave other humans.

(every once in a while)

We’re tired of the robots, the fake, and the lifeless.

We wanna connect - and feel again.

We don’t get particularly excited….

About that standardized AI update in your inbox 7 days through Sunday.

So if you’ve always wanted to send newsletters that are personal, relevant & entertaining…

That make people binge your words, laugh, and actually remember you…

It’s your lucky day!

Today, I’m sharing my style of personal branding meets storytelling meets news editing….

So you can make your emails cool again.

BUT FIRST.

Let me take you back… to the original content creators.

See, I got a professional history in television. In other news:

7 years of being trapped in underground editing rooms of popular German broadcast stations, piecing together the story of the day.

Now…

If I can make Monday morning traffic strikes & the 1001st press conference (saying absolutely nothing) look interesting…

I can send newsletters that make you feel.

(hehe)

serious traffic strike on a Monday

See, news editing taught me something crucial:

You can't tell a story without seeing a story.

Words alone don't cut it. You need:

• Formatting keeping your attention

• Visuals supporting your message

• Structure building tension

• Details making you feel

So when cutting scenes for television, every decision shaped our story:

The angle. The footage. The details. The focus.

But the evil part??

Now I use THAT to hook you on my emails.

Instead of another dry "business update"...

I show AND tell my story.

And you can do the same.

Prepare pen & paper, hold on to your phone…

My 4-part anti-framework for newsletters people hate*:

*mainly cz they didn’t write them

1. The Intro (say hi)

Introducing…

Your first chance to bond. Think real life:

This is small talk on the elevator - or catching up with a friend.

very real newsletter example

What’s happening here? -

You're not writing a corporate update -

You're starting a conversation.

Ideas to get you typing:

• 3 things that happened to you this week

• Comment on a trending or relevant topic

• A quick win, a laugh - or some drama

2. The Story (Behind the Scenes)

This is your moment to take them behind the scenes.

To make them feel part of your journey.

To show off more of your day to day…

and connect over shared rants.

Check this one (extra graphic):

Notice how I'm not just telling a story about a cow giving birth.

I'm:

• Building tension

• Adding time markers ("4:45 pm")

• Making you feel the panic with me

Now, you don’t have to tell farm stories. How about…

• Business wins/fails

• Drama on your feed

• Client situationships

• Random daily stuff that taught you a lesson

3. The Value (I tried this so you don’t have to)

Here's where 97% of newsletters screw up:

Most authors separate value and entertainment - as if you can't have both!!

(Spoiler: for the sake of this breakdown, I've done the same. But here's the truth:)

Entertainment IS value.

It's what actually makes people remember you and your words.

That’s why for each bit of traditional “value”… you add equal bits of entertainment.

(skipping this will get you ignored)

Now, here's where it gets interesting:

While AI can help you outline, edit, and even generate ideas...

It can't replicate YOUR way of entertaining.

(trust me, I've tried - my AI poems were impressive but nobody lost sleep over them)

That's your edge in 2025.

But let me show you:

from my newsletter “what bugs me about your welcome sequence”

See?

Not just another "how to write welcome emails" guide -

I actually subbed to 5 different sequences and turned my market research into lessons.

The value can be anything:

• Your experience (my favourite: "i tried this so you don't have to")

• Breakdowns & frameworks you've discovered (or invented)

• “How I”: Processes and systems that actually work for you

And the best part?

This style of emails doesn’t just make people love you -

It actually sells your stuff.

Let me prove it to you adding 1 last step:

4. The Offer (since we’re already here….)

Your whole email is leading up to this point (even if you didn’t know it yet).

Why waste a perfectly good story without… pitching your offer?

You’ve set people up to want more of you…

So now’s your chance to play just that.

Watch me segway shamelessly:

Your CTA can be:

• Direct (shameless segway, “buy my stuff”)

• Indirect (natural progression into your offer)

• Just building connection (& farming replies) with a PS: ”how about you like tapped this button and told me…”
  
  

you’ll notice i love shameless

So summing up my anti-framework:

1. Intro (say hi)

2. Story (behind the scenes)

3. Value (i tried this so you don’t have to)

4. Offer (since we’re already here….)

“Cool steps you got there, Lessa, but here’s the thing…”

Yes yes I hear you.

I’m not trying to productize you.

Now here's what really drives this home:

→ You gotta make it YOUR OWN. ←

I broke my own rules in this post:

• Skipped step 2 to build tension

• Told my backstory throughout

• Still kept you reading, right?

Here’s the thing:

↳ You use structure to support your personality - never to replace it.

Look.

Building a personal brand in 2025 isn’t optional anymore.

Being 1 of 1 is your superpower… and unfair advantage (one newsletter at a time).

Play that in your emails.

See why people hate how much they love these emails?

But wait.

Remember how I said… every piece of value needs equal entertainment?

Well.

I've got a visual storytelling checklist for you.

(so you'll never stare at a blinking cursor again)

It shows you:

• What to talk about in your emails (when life's boring)

• How you keep people excited to hear from you

• Which elements to add to truly stand out

Subscribe to Get Your Checklist

No thanks I love writing emails nobody reads

xx Lessa

PS - If you made it down here… you're gonna crush your newsletter game.

Subscribe now

This Sunday Spotlight is brought to you by Airtable: my favorite software on the planet.

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~ Ryan

Here's a scenario I see too often:

A business owner is struggling with sales, so they do what seems logical - they double down on sales tactics.

More calls. More follow-ups. More "value-adding" touchpoints. More "proven" closing techniques. More payment plans. More $X.99 price tags. More DMs. More scripts.

More, more, more, MOARRRRR.

And what happens?

Usually, more of the same. Or worse!

Look, you can choose to keep banging your head against the wall with extra sneaky sales tactics, getting those marginal, incremental "improvements" that barely move the needle. Or… you can grab a shovel and start digging for better answers.

Banging your head against the wall = bloody forehead
Digging for better answers = some sweat on your brow

We both know which option will hurt less.

I’ll share a counterintuitive truth:

If your sales are struggling, stop selling.

The problem might not be your selling. The problem might be that you're even selling in the first place, when something more fundamental is broken.

Do I have you leaning in yet?

Good, let’s get to it.

But First…

The Trust-First Paradox

Every time you push a sales message before earning buyer trust, you're actually making your job harder.

Way harder.

Think about your own buying behavior…

When you sense someone is trying to sell to you before understanding your needs or establishing credibility, what happens? Your guard goes up. Your skepticism increases. You start looking for reasons to say no.

And you get really pissed off at their arrogance: “I can’t f*cking believe that guy!”

(Well, maybe that’s just me.)

Your prospects are doing the EXACT. SAME. THING.

According to research from the Edelman Trust Barometer, business trust is at an all-time low. The research shows that 63% of people need to hear company claims 3-5 times before they'll believe them.

And here's the best (well… worst?) part - that number goes up when the claims come through obvious sales channels.

(I’m speaking to you, LinkedIn-ers)

The 3 Trust Gaps Killing Your Sales

1. The Expertise Gap

When you lead with sales tactics instead of genuine expertise, you create a massive credibility problem. One a little bandaid can’t fix. Your prospects can sense when you're recycling generic advice versus speaking from deep understanding. This manifests in sales conversations as hesitation, "I’ll think about it" responses, price sensitivity, and constant objections.

The fix is not another sales script. It's demonstrating real, deep expertise before you ever ask for the sale. Prove you understand their situation - and explain how you can help resolve their bottlenecks.

It’s about building trust, FIRST.

2. The Proof Gap

Standard testimonials aren't enough anymore. No one cares about all the nice things people have to say about you. My mom has a lot of nice things to say about me. Big whoop. Everyone has dozens of great reviews. You can’t rely on those anymore. On top of that, we also live at a shitty time in history where fake reviews are rampant. Now, buyers need more substantial evidence. They need to see:

1. Detailed case studies showing your process, not just results

2. Third-party validation from credible sources (e.g., DMing your clients directly)

3. Transparent sharing of both successes and limitations of your service(s)

4. Visual frameworks and roadmaps that are proven to work and easy to grasp

5. Clear, measurable outcomes backed by data

3. The Alignment Gap

This is where your message doesn't match reality. Maybe you claim to be a premium service provider, but you still compete on price. Like saying you sign $25,000+ consulting gigs but you won’t stop spamming your $17 Notion swipe files with mind-numbing email sequences for your $97 power-hour upsells that just so happen to always be expiring “in 24 hours.”

(I just got tired typing that out)

Orrrrr…. you promise high-ticket personalization but deliver templated solutions.

I can keep going, but you get the point.

This misalignment creates cognitive dissonance that kills trust before you ever build it. People might never say it to your face, but they see it. They feel it. And that prevents them from buying.

The Trust-First Framework

Instead of focusing on sales tactics, this is what we do with our clients at Graewolves:

1. Audit Your Trust Signals:

• Review all customer touchpoints

• Identify where you're making claims without sufficient proof

• Map out where prospects typically express doubt

• Pinpoint where in the customer journey people drop off

• Document and assess your current trust-building assets
  

2. Build Your Trust Infrastructure:

• Develop some real thought leadership content

• Create detailed case studies that show your process

• Build systematic ways to demonstrate expertise on a weekly basis

• Establish clear differentiators backed by evidence

• Do deep market research, so you’re always whispering into your ICP’s ears
  

3. Measure Trust Indicators:

• Track engagement with your thought leadership

• Monitor changes in sales cycle length

• Document objections and how they evolve over time

• Measure price sensitivity in conversations (any lingering price objections?)

• Record your sales calls. Are leads excited to speak to you, or does it still feel like you’re trying to sell plush teddy bears to poker-faced Black Ops assassins?

(Pst! If you’ve gotten this far… you might wanna know when our $50K website drops! Join our waitlist here ->

https://graewolves.com

When Should You Return to Selling Again?

You'll know you've built enough trust when:

1. Prospects start referencing your content in sales calls

2. Your expertise becomes part of the conversation naturally

3. Price objections decrease

4. Sales cycles begin shortening

5. Referrals increase without you directly asking for them

Again, LOTS of research on this shizz, but this ain’t my newsletter - it’s Ryan and Leo’s. So I’ll settle down.

“Great Milly, now wtf do I do next?”

Start here:

1. Pause any aggressive sales pushes

2. Document every doubt or objection you've heard in the last month

3. Map out where you currently have proof points for each

4. Identify your biggest trust gaps

5. Create a plan to systematically fill all of those trust gaps

Trust isn't just another sales tactic. It's the foundation everything else builds upon. You can have the best sales techniques in the world, but without trust, you're just pushing harder against a door that's locked from the inside.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours.

Banging your head against the wall = bloody forehead
Digging for better answers = some sweat on your brow

We both know which option will hurt less.

Build trust first, and watch how much easier selling becomes.

Much gratitude to Ryan + Leo for letting me smack talk in their newsletter.

And a special thank you to my hubby Jason Dellatolla for his PhD-level attention to detail in the editing process.

Muchas gracias, gents!

- Milanie (call me Milly!) Grae

Co-Founder of Graewolves
www.graewolves.com

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Written by Jacob Pegs: CEO of Mojo Design & founder of the Modern Maker.

When I started creating content, I thought the best way to prove my expertise was to give away as much value as possible.

I’d break down strategies, share step-by-step guides, and show people exactly how to do things.

And while this approach built trust, it didn’t drive sales the way I expected. My audience was learning from me — but they weren’t buying from me.

I grew my LinkedIn from 0 to 45,000+ followers in a year. But followers didn’t equate to cash collected.

That’s when I made a small but powerful shift in my content strategy:

Tell Them What, Not How

Why This Works

Your prospects don’t just want to learn — they want to try. When you share how to do something in your content, you’re giving them everything they need to take action on their own.

For info-products and services, this can backfire. Here’s why:

• They feel like they’ve already gotten what they need.
  If you hand them the entire blueprint, they don’t see the need to pay for more. They’ll save your post, feel satisfied, and never come back to buy.

• They get stuck in “DIY mode.”
  Even with the best advice, most people struggle to execute on their own. But instead of asking for help, they try (and fail) in silence — because you’ve made it seem like they should be able to figure it out.

The solution?
Stop focusing so much on the how and start giving them the what.

The Cheesecake Recipe Analogy

Let me show you how this works with a simple example.

Imagine you’re sharing grandma’s cheesecake recipe:

When You Share the How (Step-by-Step):

• 2 tablespoons of sugar

• 1 glass of milk

• 500g of cheese

Your audience is thrilled. They thank you for the recipe, save the post, and head to the kitchen to try it themselves.

But what happens next?
They don’t need anything else from you. They’ve already got the instructions, so why would they pay for more?

When You Share the What (The Story):

Instead, you post something like this:

“Last weekend, I visited my grandma. We sat in her cozy kitchen, catching up over her famous cheesecake. That recipe has been in our family for decades, and every bite brought back memories of childhood summers. It’s the kind of cheesecake that turns a regular Sunday into something magical.”

Suddenly, your audience isn’t thinking about how to make cheesecake. They’re thinking:

• “What’s this recipe she’s talking about?”

• “How can I get it?”

• “Where do I find this magical cheesecake?”

You’ve created curiosity and desire — not just for the recipe, but for the experience behind it.

Applying This to Your Business

If you’re selling info-products or services, the same principle applies:

• When you tell them how:
  They’ll try it themselves.
  They’ll save your post, thank you for the advice, and move on.

• When you tell them what:
  They’ll want the next step.
  They’ll DM you, click your link, or sign up for your offer — because you’ve sparked curiosity and shown them the outcome, not the instructions.

Real-Life Example

Let’s say you’re selling a course on building a profitable online business.

The How Approach (Step-by-Step):

• “Here’s how I grew my audience to 10k in 3 months:

1. I posted consistently every day.

2. I used these 3 content frameworks.

3. I DM’d 20 people a day.”

People might save the post, try these tactics themselves, and never feel the need to buy your course.

The What Approach (Outcome-Focused):

• “3 months ago, I was struggling to get any traction with my content. Today, I have an audience of 10,000 who engage with every post — and it’s all thanks to a simple framework I discovered. That framework changed everything for me.”

Your audience now wants to know:

• What’s the framework?

• How can I get it?

• Where can I learn this from you?

By sharing the what — the result and the transformation — you create curiosity and leave them wanting more.

When to Use This Strategy

This approach works best when:

1. You’re selling info-products or high-sophistication offers.
   Your audience already knows the basics. They don’t need another “how-to”; they need a reason to take the next step with you.

2. You’re nurturing curiosity and desire.
   If your goal is to spark interest and generate leads, focus on outcomes, benefits, and experiences instead of instructions.

3. You want to create urgency.
   When people don’t know how to achieve the outcome themselves, they’re more likely to act now — by clicking, buying, or reaching out.

Balancing the What and the How

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should never share the how. Teaching step-by-step processes still has a place in your content strategy — especially when you’re building trust and growing your audience.

The key is balance. Mix things up:

• When you want engagement: Teach the how.

• When you want conversions: Focus on the what.

Simplify to Amplify

This small shift in your content strategy — telling them what instead of how — can have a massive impact on your results. It’s what helped me hit 5-figure months, and it’s something I continue to use today.

Next time you’re crafting a LinkedIn post, ask yourself:

• Am I giving them everything they need to do this on their own?

• Or am I sparking curiosity and making them want more?

Simplify your content to amplify your results. Give them the what, not the how, so they need you right now.

~ Jacob

Hey Autopreneur!

Did you enjoy this deep dive?

Jacob was one of the first marketing coaches I hired back in 2023.

In fact…

The very same strategy that he just taught you?

Was the exact reason why I paid him thousands of dollars for his 1 on 1 coaching program.

Which brings me to an exciting announcement:

Jacob and I will be teaching an 8-week cohort together!

We’ll be helping you build a complete email marketing system that will have you selling your offers on autopilot & publishing high-quality content with ease.

We’re obsessed with money-making email strategies…

And this cohort will give you the same systems that helped Jacob and I earn a combined 7-figures in revenue (as solopreneurs) these last few years.

But there’s only 1 downside…

With our audience of over 100,000, this means we have to limit the number of seats available for each cohort.

So when the doors open?

This cohort will sell out…fast.

If you want to get on the waitlist before everyone else…

Fill out this 30 second form and reserve your spot in line!

Catch you next week, Autopreneur.

~ Ryan Hutchinson

If someone sent you this, consider subscribing to the newsletter. We’re teaching 2164 people how to automate their businesses using no-code, AI tools and systems:

Subscribe now

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Holy shit.

January 2025 might have been the longest month in my human existence.

I promised you monthly updates on my new “newsletter” business & the funnels attached to it, as well as areas where I need improvement.

A lot has changed, and even more is changing for February…so without beating around the bush…let’s get into the numbers.

Revenue Update:

For our reporting purposes, I’m treating anything that happened before January 1, 2025 as null and void.

This is a new year, new publication style, and new funnel…

Therefore, we’re going to act as if this was a brand new business I’m starting from scratch.

Here’s the results so far:

The Automation Lab - Community

• 17 new members

• Monthly Recurring Revenue = $1245

• 0 Churned

• January Goal = 30 new members

  • Fell short of the goal by 13 members.

My initial goal, having never run a subscription community before, was 30 new members inside the community. We had a nice little surge of new joiners at the beginning of January, mostly because of seasonality.

I figured, 1x a day is a steep but doable goal, but I didn’t do any outbound whatsoever…which in hindsight would have probaly put me at the goal.

The Skool Community landing page URLs are only shared in 3 places:

1. YouTube video descriptions

2. LinkedIn featured section

3. Substack articles & signoffs

I’ve collected feedback, and a majority of these new members are coming in 2 different funels:

Funnel 1 = LinkedIn → Newsletter article → Binging YouTube videos → Skool Purchase

or

Funnel 2 = YouTube / LinkedIn → binging Newsletter articles → Skool purchase

It’s interesting to see where people “found me.”

The 1 consistency is that almost all of them told me “I binged your content and then signed up.”

This is why I loved the video + newsletter play so much…it just works. It nurtures a new subscriber faster than any short form Tweet or LinkedIn post could ever do.

Besides…is “binging” LinkedIn posts even a thing?

Areas for Improvement:

• The Skool “About Us” page is basically the only landing page for this offer…and I haven’t updated it in months. I could do a better job explaining more about the community and what’s inside of it on this lander…it needs an update ASAP.

• I’ve been so busy writing newsletters, building our operations, and providing content & community service that I stopped doing any outbound prospecting. For Feb, I’ll be slowly doing some more follow ups to people who said they were interested in the past but haven’t joined.

• This “90 Day Autopreneur” course is my Holy Grail. It’s also the most challenging offer I’ve ever tried to create → Some of the classroom modules I’ve recorded, then had to re-record 3 or 4 times when I would uncover holes in my own systems.

• I want my students to be on the clearest path as possible to owning and building their fully automated business models. Because of this → I’ll be removing old modules within the community, and only including this 90 Day Course as the core content.

1 to 1 Private Business Coaching:

• 2 new students at current price

• Revenue = $6000

• Available coaching spots left = 1

I only promoted the coaching in 1 (maybe 2?) newsletters for the entire month of January, because those 2 slots sold out within the first week.

However, I have a few coaching clients off-boarding in the next 60 days, and will only be taking on 1 more coaching client at this current pricing.

My mentor told me last week, “It’s time we add more friction.”

…and he’s exactly right.

Areas for Improvement:

• Coaching for me is less about revenue and more about the fulfillent of helping someone else win. However, now that I’ve stopped taking on agency clients (done-for-you), any coaching clients I decide to take on will need to be more “aligned” with how much my time is actually worth.

• The amount of time I currently invest into helping my coaching clients, I’m actually losing money downstream. I started my coaching offer at $3000 for 6x hour long calls and mistakenly said, "That’s $500 an hour.” But what actually happens is I end up giving away automations, building a few, spending more time answering questions inside of emails and DM’s, and just generally doing solo-work and research to make sure my students have the best experience possible. My “real” coaching rate ends up around $175 an hour. I could either start putting a time limit on how many off-call hours I devote to each new student, OR, like I said above just increase my total offer pricing. Still unsure on this yet.

• 2025 was for me the “Year of Increasing Leverage.” Unfortunately, as much as I do enjoy it, and with some students getting a 25x ROI on their coaching investment…1 to 1 coaching is simply not a scalable offer. I’m considering a joint venture into group coaching with another “famous” digital entrepreneur you all most likely know and love. Our partnership would flip the business coaching world on it’s head, and provide a complete, 360 degree business mentorship for people looking to earn more and scale a business online. More on this to come…

Newsletter Sponsorships & Affiliates:

• 4 Sponsorship Meetings

• 0 Sponsorships Contracted

• (Unknown) Affiliate Revenue

Wow. I had no idea that selling ad revenue (organically) to a newsletter would be so difficult lol.

Maybe I’m just not great at:

A) Selling it.

B) Promoting it often.

C) Making the offer compelling.

But in reality, the Truth is probably:

D) All of the above.

Areas for Improvement:

• I’m probably being too protective of what I’ve built. But I believe your attention isn’t worth some cheap “space-filler” sitting at the top of this newsletter. Whoever we partner up for advertising is going be a company, brand, or software that is actually useful to you. I refuse to partner with just anyone who has the money. But there’s a catch-22 here…the sponsorship revenue would essentially fuel more growth in the form of ads. So being overly picky, might be a bottleneck to growth.

• I only included a few affiliate links in maybe 2-4 newsletter articles. I need to do this way more often. Most of the time, I’ll forget and include a link to the product…only a week later realizing I have an affiliate link to it. Gotta keep a better system for accessing my links quickly, and also the back offices to which I can grab numbers for reporting purposes. I legit have no idea how much I made in the last 3 months from affiliate links! LOL

All in all its been an awesome month.

We upped our content from 1x week to 3x. I built a small team of people across two separate business units. Launching the best (and last) course I’ll ever create. Gotten plenty of high praise from people I respect in the industry. And met some kick ass entrepreneurs along the way.

We’re even changing the newsletter format to be more of what you want, versus what I initially thought you wanted.

We’re going to feature more AI Agent content, and less overall “news” content

Keep following along this journey, and share the newsletter with a friend who might like to read it:

Share

Finding Ways to Protect Your Time

Most marketers and digital gurus will offer blanketed advice like:

“Don’t ask for a first name on your landing page and you’ll get more email signups!”

“Your about me section should have links to everything you offer.”

“Have different price points at every step of the customer journey, to increase LTV.”

But you know me…

When everyone goes right, I tend to Think Left.

I’ve been finding ways to introduce more friction, to make it harder to reach me.

And I highly suggest you do the same in 2025.

I suggest you create a business model that no one has ever thought about yet.

One filled with friction between you and everything clammoring for your time. One that serves you exactly what you want, on a silver platter. A business model that you start and stop during set hours & days of the week.

This is why a few months ago I stopped doing any calls on Mondays and Fridays.

I left corporate because I hated meetings…12 months later…I had meetings scheduled every morning again 5 days a week.

“How did I get here again?”

Today, unless you’re buying a one-time strategy call from me, or a potential business partner, close colleague, or client…

It’ll be borderline impossible for us to “catch up over zoom.”

Eminem is arguably the greatest rapper to ever exist.

And if you haven’t heard this story, I suggest you listen to this interview told by famous recording artist, Akon, when they worked together on a record:

As a fellow musician, an ambitious entrepreneur, and someone who is 100% dedicated to my task…This Totally Resonates With Me.

I used to write and record songs until 4am because I would be totally engulfed in the creative process.

We get so caught up in building a business, or trying to squeeze out that last little bit to finish up, that we forget we’re sacrificing tomorrow’s energy for today’s completion.

The internet glamorizes the “grind bros” and the “Hormozi nation” people who somehow think that running our batteries to 0 everyday is the best way to build a business.

Or that the only way to becoming internet famous is to be visible 24/7.

It’s not.

Introducing friction to your outside world, to your customers, and to your devices → is the only way you’ll survive in business.

Imagine how difficult it was for Eminem…when he actually set this 9 to 5 boundary on his business.

I imagine he’s locked in the studio, writing another platinum verse, fully emersed and in a flow state…

And then the alarm goes off, “REET REET! REET! REET!”

It’s 5pm and he has to pack up for the day…right in the middle of a certified banger.

Easy to say you’ll do…

Even more difficult to actually put into practice.

Too often we treat our clients, our audience, our comments section, our customers, our business partners…

As if they were more important than our health, our families, and our own lives.

I’ll give you a great example of someone fully dedicated to friction:

Sean D’Souza.

Sean is one of the OG’s of digital marketing. I’ve been a huge fan for years. Using Sean’s psychotactics in your marketing is like playing chess, while others are playing tic-tac-toe.

He runs a “workshop” business model. Just he and his wife.

The goal?

Earn $500,000…then take the rest of the year off.

He’s not creating social media content, he’s not writing daily emails, he isn’t promoting his latest skool community…

The guy feels like a complete ghost.

When I first deconstructed his business model…my jaw hit the floor.

It's just too simple.

“Does this really work?”

I said to myself in disbelief. I’d been programmed by the Gary Vee’s of the world that the only way to success is by banging your head against a wall all day until it broke.

But more often than not it was my head…not the wall…that would cave in.

Check this out:

Sean runs a live workshop on a specific topic. He even sells the past workshop recording as a digital “course” on that topic, and will open the doors to purchase these courses sparingly throughout the year.

On his website you’ll find the entire list of currently offered live workshops / courses:

His entire schedule of offers is listed, through 2027, in just half a website page.

Then he gives you the 2 reasons why you should act quickly when the doors open:

No shit.

I’ve been on Sean’s email list for years and I maybe get 1 email a month, then a few more when he opens the doors to the workshop I’m waitlisted for.

So unfortunately that Landing Pages course you’re really excited about?

Yeah…you’re waiting until October 2026 to have a chance at buying it.

But what if you didn’t want to wait that long? What if you just wanted to buy the cartooning course he’s running at the end of 2025?

You can’t.

When you click on the link to buy you get directed here:

After you sign up for the waitlist, you get a simple email:

Thanks for signing up, we’ll let you know when we open it up the doors.

That’s it.

Sean “sells out” his courses in this way, before anyone even hands him a dollar.

By the time the doors open you rush to purchase so fast…that you never stopped to realize Sean engineered the sales process this way. He plays on your psychological desires to “not be left out” wondering when, and if, he’ll ever run that workshop again.

He isn’t building some 7 or 8 figure personal brand. He isn’t trying to be internet famous…

He’s shooting for $500k…then the year is done.

Minimalistic marketing at its finest.

Friction.

You and I both need more of it.

We need to stop rushing to our phones to respond to DM’s, to stop replying to every comment on our posts, to turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode and go deep into 1 or 2 big projects.

We need to charge WAY more for direct access to us.

Try booking a coffee chat with Justin Welsh…it’ll cost you a mortgage payment for an hour of his time.

Oh, and after you pay? You still only get like 3 questions to ask him (more friction).

Go out and buy 40 Tesla dealerships…and I guarantee you Elon would never even know your name.

The more distance between you and the world, the more valuable you become by default.

Less supply = greater demand = higher prices.

Consider this scenario for a moment:

If the doctor told you tomorrow that you had 1 week left to live…

How much would you charge someone for an hour of your time?

You might not even offer an hour of your life.

It would be priceless.

These are all questions to start asking yourself about how you run your own business.

Remember: You’re not an AI. You weren’t built to answer every human request around you. Or to respond to every notification that begs for your attention.

You’re a brilliant mind.

A beautiful soul.

A person of immense value.

Introduce more friction at your front door.

And watch the world respect you for it.

~ Ryan

If you made it this far…maybe you’re looking for more?

I want to help you achieve your business goals for 2025…here’s two ways we can work together:

• Community & Courses:

  My latest course, “The 90 Day Autopreneur,” will take anyone at any level of experience, and teach them how to build a fully automated business model in just 90 days. Follow my complete daily action plan, filled with templates and downloads, and level up your AI & Automation skills.
  

• 1v1 Coaching with Ryan:

  If you’re stuck on a business problem, and can’t find the answers you need in my free content…then I’ve got a methodology to help your business grow inside any niche. Click the link above to learn about some of my coaching clients and their success stories.

If someone sent you this, consider subscribing to the newsletter. We’re teaching 2067 people how to automate their businesses using simple, AI Systems:

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Interested in getting traffic for your business? We’re looking for valuable sponsorship partners to promote. If you’re a solo entrepreneur, a digital agency owner, or building a new AI tool or SaaS…

Email ryan@theautopreneur.co or DM me on Substack:

You’re not starting from zero.

When you transition to Substack from LinkedIn, X, or any other platform—you’ve got an advantage compared to brand new creators.

Here are two of your unique advantages:

First, you can bring your audience with you for some quick growth—Ryan and I discuss 6 ways to do so here.

Secondly, you potentially have months of proven content waiting to tap into. This lets you bypass the dreaded blinking cursor and worry over what to post.

Today, we’ll show you how to design a 90-day content calendar using your top-performing content from LinkedIn and X.

If you’re ready, let’s dive in.

Days 1-30 have already been written for you.

As long as you can hit copy, and paste, your first 30 Notes are written.

Realistically, I’d start with 30 days. In reality, you might have months’ worth of content for Substack Notes to pull from depending on how long you’ve been posting on other platforms.

Notes are kinda of like X, but on Substack.

There’s an activity feed almost identical to X where you can post text, images, and videos, and like, comment, and restack (Substacks version of a retweet or repost).

And since there is no character limit it makes an easy content transition from either LinkedIn or X where the same couldn’t be done (as easily) if you were migrating from LinkedIn to X or Threads for example.

We will use a couple of tools to make this quick and easy.

Kleo, if you’re on LinkedIn.

Tweet Hunter X, if you’re on X.

These two (free) browser extensions allow you to view your top content.

See the screenshots below.

You can sort by likes, comments, and shares on Kleo.

While filtering by your top content, copy the URL into a content calendar (I use Notion, Ryan uses Airtable).

Do this for at least your top 30 posts.

That gives you your first month's worth of content. However, let’s say you’ve been posting for 4 years and have hundreds or thousands of posts… Well, you’d be wise to repurpose more than 30 days worth.

Now, you may have noticed this isn’t 100% automated. As of writing, Substack has a closed API, there are no apps or scheduling features built for Notes.

Try this:

• Copy the URL from Kleo or Tweet Hunter X into your calendar.

• Each morning, copy and paste the content into your Substack Notes.

This is the first thing I do when I sit down at my laptop every morning while I sip my Nitro Cold Brew.

Don’t just take my word for it, here’s proof that this works.

The post below was my first viral Note on Substack:

Not many people know this, but this post was originally written and posted on LinkedIn. Once it did well, I repurposed it to Substack Notes.

Receiving over 1,500 likes and 85 shares on Substack, this Note has generated hundreds of new subscribers, and 5+ months later it still gets engagement.

Now, let’s move on to creating your first long-form posts.

Your outline for 90 days of Substack Posts.

Substack offers a unique blend of short-form and long-form content.

Many creators that leverage LinkedIn or X, do so as a way to build their email list or newsletter. Substack offers you both, within a single platform.

Think of it like this.

Substack Notes are short(er) form content.

Substack Posts, or newsletters, are for long(er) form content.

Over the last year, they have continued to expand their feature set beyond text newsletters to include video and podcasts with direct integration to YouTube.

While you can write all net new posts if you want, you have the outline for at least 90 days’ worth of posts at your fingertips.

If you’re coming from LinkedIn, and you had a LinkedIn newsletter or posted articles? You can repurpose these directly on Substack. If not…

We will expand our top 10-12 posts into Substack posts/newsletters.

Our top-performing short-form content such as LinkedIn posts, tweets, or Substack Notes, is the perfect place to find long-form content ideas.

Because they’ve been proven to work.

If you recall, the viral post I shared in the previous section, after seeing its success, I used this as the outline for a newsletter.

Instead of expanding on the same topic (one option), I wrote a post about my lessons learned from going viral. You can read it here:

Landon’s Letters

I Went Viral On Substack, Twice — Here’s What I Learned.

Thank you for reading; I keep everything here free and easy to access—no strings attached. If you find it helpful, the best way to support is through a restack or recommending the publication—it makes a big difference. Enjoy…

Read more

2 years ago · 505 likes · 215 comments · Landon Poburan

This newsletter became the most popular one I’ve ever written.

It’s been read over 4,600 times and received 435 likes, and 187 comments and generated my Substack 122 new subscribers.

Here are a couple of other examples.

I wrote a Note on why I turned off Substack Monetization, which was somewhat of a controversial opinion. Watching it do well, I turned it into a post.

You can see the Note here.
You can see the post here.

I wrote a Note on treating Substack like a video game, then I turned this into a full-length post after seeing the good performance it received.

You can see the Note here.
You can see the post here.

So, to get started with your first 90 days of long-form Substack posts, here are the fastest 3 ways to utilize your existing content.

• Repurpose LinkedIn Newsletters/Articles.

• Expand your top 10-12 posts into Posts/Newsletters.

• Answer the top questions your audience has asked in comments or DMs like I did with this post.

By now, you should have a packed content calendar.

But there are a few things I want you to do to ensure your publication is set up right to maximize your growth.

Don’t ignore the simplest optimizations when starting on Substack.

The more you grow, the more important these become.

Substack, much like LinkedIn and X, benefits from a well-optimized profile.

A few simple 1-time tweaks can build the foundation of a Substack that creates a compounding growth effect with every new subscriber.

Here’s your to-do list:

1. Write your about page.

2. Update your homepage links.

3. Update your navigation bar links.

4. Update your new subscriber welcome email.

5. Update your theme with a featured CTA section.

Start treating Substack like your website or at least an extension of it.

Hint: Most of this content you’ll migrate from LinkedIn or X profile.

You can leverage your about/bio as your about page.

You can pull the links we used on those platforms, our top lead magnets, and digital products and update the links on our publication to direct people to them.

And you can turn your LinkedIn featured links into featured posts on a publication home page.

These simple profile optimizations in combination with adding relevant links within posts have allowed me to add 100s of downloads to my lead magnets, sales for my products, and books without spending a penny on advertising.

With every new subscriber and visit to my profile they are introduced to additional ways that I can help them on their journey—you can do the same.

If you’re looking for a step-by-step tutorial, you can find one here.

90 days is just the beginning, here’s exactly what to do after that.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Substack isn’t much different than LinkedIn or X.

The growth strategy isn’t too different than what you were likely doing on LinkedIn and X. This is great news because you might not need to change your habits.

The biggest difference—many people don’t even realize—is that Substack is not only a writing and social platform, it’s an email list. You own your list, and you can export and retain the emails of all your subscribers.

Let’s review a common approach to LinkedIn and X.

• Post daily (5-7x/Week).

• Optimize profile for goals.

• Incorporate 1-2 CTAs per week min.

• Engage with other accounts (ex: 10+ comments per day)

• Engagement groups can accelerate reach and growth.

• Experiment with various content types, formats, and mediums.

  • Images, videos, decks, etc.

• Re-use top content.

• Model what content works.

• Assess content performance weekly.

  • Reuse, spin, and repurpose your best posts, hooks, and angles.

  • Follow trends that emerge over time.

That’s pretty much how we grow on Substack.

While there are varying stages depending on where you’re at, if you followed that plan above you’d effectively be in what I’d call “Expert” mode on Substack.

And if I had to bet? I’d bet you’d be growing.

Whether you batch your content or spend 30-60 minutes daily writing, I’d recommend a mix of the following as a starting point:

• Post 1x Weekly Newsletters.

• Post 3-5+ Weekly Notes.

That’s a baseline recommendation.

Notes are a growth engine, and your newsletters are for depth.

Then as you want to get spicey, you can explore more advanced growth strategies such as:

• Daily Notes.

• Repost high-performing posts.

• Expand Notes to Posts.

• Re-write “moderate” performing Notes to improve performance.

• Write guest posts/collaborations.

• Generate recommendations.

• Incorporate 1-2 CTAs per week (min.)

• Engage with other accounts (ex: 10+ comments per day)

Consistency is the key component.

Now, here’s something important to remember.

What ‘works’ is constantly evolving. Assess your content to see what is working and what isn’t. See what the top creators are posting and model their behavior.

Every piece of content is a piece of data.

So I recommend assessing your performance on a regular cadence (ex Weekly) and looking for trends in content topics, formats, and structures, and with time you can begin to zero in on what works best for your publication.

I know the transition to a new platform can be daunting, but I hope this makes it a little more manageable.

Landon

PS - If you’re looking for more content ideas, this should help:

Landon’s Letters

I’ve Written 270+ Days In A Row — Here’s My Secret To Endless Idea Generation

Writing streak: 270 days…

Read more

2 years ago · 35 likes · 22 comments · Landon Poburan

Hey Autopreneur - it’s Ryan here, checking in.

This is a solid strategy for finding what “works” across social media platforms. Landon puts the emphasis back on optimizing for what the reader likes, versus optimizing for a “style” of post that the algorithm is pushing.

The results are a high quality subscriber for your brand…more trust…more reach.

If you’re looking for more content systems like this, and want to know how to build sales and marketing automations…

I’ve just launched a new course inside The Automation Lab:

The 90 Day Autopreneur

My goal?

Teach anyone…with any level of business experience…how to go from beginner to advanced in entrepreneurial systems.

In just 90 days.

It’s a daily action plan from day 1 through day 90.

Did I mention there’s literally zero programming skills needed?

You don’t even need to have a business yet to get started.

You’ll build an online business using foundational concepts, and then mold and adapt the systems to fit your needs…

All while learning how to automate the tasks hate doing.

Week 1 was just released…and I’ll be slowly increasing the cost as more course modules get published.

Join 43 of us inside The Automation Lab today:

https://www.skool.com/the-automation-lab

If you’re reading this but haven’t yet subscribed, join 1959 ambitious entrepreneurs learning to build & automate their digital business with AI Systems:

Subscribe now

Interested in getting your brand or business seen by thousands of readers every month?

Check out these sponsorship opportunities here.

Written by special guest contributor, Tom Harman → Panic Attack & Anxiety Mentor

AI meeting summaries often feel cold and impersonal.

But if it could make your business more human—and more profitable?

Over the past 2 years, I’ve built a business that helps people develop 'creative confidence' and put the ‘personal’ back in personal branding.

If you’re a creative individual, like me, then you know that overwhelm can often lead to anxiety and panic attacks…

As if the walls are caving in around you.

I needed a way of simplifying my side hustle. And along the way, I discovered the secret to staying present in every interaction, even while juggling a full-time job, family life, and growing a business.

For my clients to succeed, I need to be fully present during 1:1 video interactions.

Not worrying about recordings, not clicking buttons immediately after the meeting ends, and not feeling responsible for writing lengthy follow up emails.

I’m not a super technical person, and don’t want to rely on automations to run my business. I like to keep my delivery process as simple as possible.

So instead, I use AI to allow me to bring the most valuable skillset from parenthood to the business world:

The ability to be present.

AI makes me a better listener.

(Even if my wife doesn’t agree…)

I don’t take notes or rely on AI note-takers to find what’s useful from our call. Instead, I capture everything within 1 prompt.

In order for the client to feel “heard,” we want all 11,258 words of the 60 minute conversation. We don’t want to send them the same meeting summary that they most likely received from their own AI note-taker.

With the help of a basic ChatGPT prompting workflow, this is possible.

I do this by using only 2 tools: Google Meet and ChatGPT Plus to save time and deliver a unique, yet highly valuable follow-up action plan:

For $20 a month.

The Workflow:

It starts with Google Meet for recording the meetings.

I host calls on Google Meet and use its built-in recording & transcription tool (included with a $20/month plan).

After I click this button, the full meeting transcript lands in my inbox after the call.

You can use any meeting recording tool, as long as you get the complete transcript as a document or email after the call.

Ok, now what?

It’s time to open ChatGPT.

I don’t want to send a quickly thrown together summary. I also don’t want them getting the same basic AI summarization that everyone else uses.

As more and more people use these AI summary tools, sending something “different” after the call is the easiest way to stand out from the flood of other average coaches and consultants.

Plus…my clients deserve more than average coaching.

Inspired by James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter, I created a framework to deliver value-packed reports after every call:

• 3 Actionable Insights → tied directly to their goals.

• 2 Thought-Provoking Questions → to get them thinking about the solution versus the problem.

• 1 Actionable Step → they can implement immediately and feel like they’re making progress toward their goal.

Clients feel heard, supported, and ready to take action.

Here’s my simple “3-2-1” follow-up prompt:

You are a career entrepreneurship coach with 20 years of experience and a specialization in human performance. 

I will provide you with a call [TRANSCRIPT] to analyze and summarize. Your task is to produce a concise, actionable email summary optimized for clarity, focusing on the user’s goal.

My client's goal is [GOAL].

Your Task:
Extract 3 actionable insights from the transcript that directly relate to the user’s goal. Ensure each insight ties back to their goal. Be specific.

Provide 2 thought-provoking questions that challenge the user to think critically about strategies or actions that could directly lead to achieving their goal based on the discussion.

Suggest 1 actionable step for this week that aligns with their goal and leverages the insights provided.

Format the output as a professional, engaging email. Use numbered bullet points for clarity and conciseness.

Only output the task and no additional language.

Additional Guidance:

Prioritize practical, outcome-driven advice.

Tie reflections, gratitude, or personal experiences back to their main goal.

Avoid generic advice—focus on strategies that directly engage the user’s target audience and foster authentic connections.

Let’s think step by step.

Do you understand?

It creates a simple report that makes your clients feel like they’re being heard and not processed.

The results speak for themselves.

Thanks to this simple process, I’ve increased my revenue from $100 to $1000 a month.

The value lies in taking an extra step, to show up different, to not settle for being average with your clients.

And the best part → the rate increase was my client’s idea!

All thanks to a brilliant thinker (James Clear), a GPT Prompt, and a meeting transcription.

AI now gives me peace of mind.

I’m not juggling odds and ends in the delivery process:

• Show up and listen.

• Paste transcript + prompt into ChatGPT

• Send 3-2-1 email to the client.

Taking notes and worrying about tools during a client meeting is the fastest way to lose critical information.

Being present, especially inside the therapy space, is you’re superpower.

Use this GPT Prompt and get back to focusing on what matters → the client.

Now get out there and 10X your revenue.

Tom

Side note - If building a unique prompt for your business feels intimidating…

Check out last week’s newsletter from Tim @ Penfriend.

It blew my mind.

Hey Autopreneur!

Ryan here…

Hope you enjoyed this simple coaching prompt from Tom this week.

And as if the universe was listening…

I actually ran into the exact problem that Tom discussed here.

Just this week I sat on a delivery call, installing a cold email system for a client of mine…

During the last moments of the call, my client said “And I owe you $1000 correct?”

I told him yes that I would be sending over the invoice for the final payment installment…

But I also said to the client, “As a side note we actually just raised our offer price on this up to $3500 for these cold outreach systems…”

I merged a line of business with another entrepreneur, and we built the infra and the team around productizing our delivery & systems offer.

It was a simple back and forth, joking with the client.

Then we ended the call, and Fathom sent the client the recording summary.

Inside the summary was a “next steps” section…

With a bullet point that said “Ryan will send the invoice to (Client name) for $3500.”

The client emailed me pretty pissed off and confused, not knowing that this was a mistake on the part of an AI summarizer.

AI tools are supposed to make us more efficient, more productive, less robotic in our delivery process…

But they also make mistakes.

If you’re looking to create your own automated meeting summarizer that includes Tom’s prompt, and drafts the email for you automatically…

Then check out last Wednesday’s workflow here:

I’m also building my next and last course I’ll ever create.

The goal?

To take someone brand new to online business, and have them create a fully automated, functional business in 90 days.

Once that course is released inside the community → membership pricing will go up drastically.

So if you’re sick of trying to “figure it out” yourself…

Join 41 other entrepreneurs inside The Automation Lab, and get access to all my 40k per month business systems, AI tools, and automation templates.

You don’t need a business or any technical expertise to join, we welcome everyone from total newbies to subject matter experts...

Like these beautiful humans:

Written by special guest contributor, Tim Hanson → CCO at Penfriend.ai

I’ve built over 1,500 prompts and prompt sequences over the last 2 years.

I say built, because I have a system to make prompts that work.

In my 3,000 hours writing prompts → I’ve seen patterns in what works and what doesn’t…

What gets great results consistently, and what falls flat on it’s face.

And most importantly, what is the difference between great prompts that do the work for you, versus poor prompts that you waste time creating and never use again.

So for you, fellow Autopreneurs…I give you my entire system.

Use it to build any prompt you want.

Why Most Prompts Fail

The biggest problem with most prompts isn't that they're "bad" - it's that they're incomplete.

People throw a vague request at an LLM and hope for the best. It's like walking into a restaurant and saying "food" instead of ordering from the menu.

The Seven Essential Components

Every prompt needs at least three of these seven components to work reliably:

1. Role

2. Task

3. Steps

4. Context/Constraints

5. Goal

6. Formatting

7. Output

Let's go scuba mode on each one.

At the end, we’ll put it all together into 1 prompting template you can use as a guide…

1. Role: Who's Doing the Work?

Most people know about the ROLE. It’s a common input. You’re essentially defining the box in which the LLM can play in. If you’re vague, you get vague answer. If you’re specific, you get specific answer. Really isn’t much more to it than this.

Bad role: "Act as a writer"

Good role: "Senior technical writer with 10+ years experience in API documentation and developer education"

The difference? The second one gives the LLM specific expertise domains to draw from.

My favourite way to write this is like so:

Adopt the role of X with elements of role Y

A lot of the time when we prompt we’re actually asking the LLM to take into account multiple points of view, or at least one primary role with a couple dashes of other ideas.

“Adopt the role of _____” seems to keep the creativity alive over a prompt like, “You are a ___” which is more rigid and exacting.

It removes a lot of thing thinking and reasoning side of the LLM.

You can, should you wish, go more complex than this on what the role is. BUT, I’ve found it really isn’t necessary.

Give the box a name, don’t build the box from scratch.

2. Task: What Needs to Be Done?

Your Task section needs to be crystal clear about the objective.

One task, one purpose.

Poorly written task: "Write something interesting about AI"

Clearly written task: "Create a technical comparison of GPT-3 and GPT-4's token processing capabilities, focusing on practical implications for developers"

See how the second one leaves no room for confusion?

3. Steps: The Road Map

Steps break down how to accomplish the task. This is optional but powerful when you need specific methodology followed.

Example:

## STEPS

1. Define key technical terms

2. Compare processing speeds

3. Analyze token handling differences

4. Provide practical implementation tips

5. Summarize key takeaways

You can get by without doing this.

The steps section is for when you know how to do a task and need specific things doing every time.

The best way to work out these steps is to do the task yourself. Screen record yourself and talk through the steps. Then throw them into a new prompt asking it to summarise the transcript into steps for you.

Riverside fm has an amazing transcription service and it’s completely free. Highly recommend.

4. Context/Constraints: Setting the Boundaries

Context and constraints tell the LLM what it's working with and what limits it needs to respect.

Example:

## CONTEXT

- Article targets senior developers

- Follows section on basic NLP concepts

- Requires specific code examples

## CONSTRAINTS

- No basic explanations of what tokens are

- Code examples must be in Python

- Keep technical accuracy over accessibility

The boundaries are the walls to your box. They are the things that make the task tangible.

Think about it like this, if I wanted to come up with a business plan to sell 10,000 books this year I could have 10,000 one to one sales calls about my book. But that sounds like a shit way to spend the year.

So my constraint could be “Without spending more than 4 hours a week promoting it”, or “Only suggest scalable 1 to many solutions.”

5. Goal: The End Game

Your Goal section defines what success looks like.

What should this prompt achieve?

Probably the most optional of the sections, but I’ve found having bit here like how do you want it to read, how should it flow, how should it make the reader feel etc have the biggest impact in this seciton.

Example:

## GOAL

Create a technical comparison that enables developers to make informed decisions about which model to use for their specific use case, with concrete examples and metrics.

6. Formatting: The Structure

Formatting isn't about making things pretty - it's about ensuring consistent structure. This is crucial if you're feeding the output into another process (or prompt).

Example:

## FORMAT

- Use H2 (##) for main sections

- Code in triple backticks with language specified

- Key terms in bold

- Metrics in tables

- Examples in bullet points

If you’re using the prompt over and over again, this is the second most important step. You want to copy it into a sheet? Then specify that. If you want it to have bullets, or be broken down in a certain way. Then say it.

Literally give an formatting example to get the same thing over and over again.

7. Output: The Most Important Part

This is where most prompts fall apart.

Your Output section needs to specify exactly what you want to see.

Without this Output section, the LLM will present it’s answers in whatever way it thinks is best.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is merit in this, but we’re after something we can use to replace a job. Something consistent.

This is where the consistency comes from → defining exactly what you’re after.

Example: Technical API Documentation

## OUTPUT

Generate API endpoint documentation with:

- Structure:

- Endpoint summary (50-75 words)

- Authentication requirements

- Request format

- Response format

- Error codes

- Rate limits

- Must include for each endpoint:

- HTTP method

- Full URL path

- Required/optional parameters

- Response object structure

- 3 example requests

- 3 example responses (success, error, edge case)

- Code examples in:

- cURL

- Python

- JavaScript

- Format requirements:

- Parameters in table format

- Code in triple backticks with language

- Response schemas in JSON

- Status codes with emoji indicators

Example: Data Analysis Report

## OUTPUT

Produce a data analysis report with:

- Length: 2000-2500 words

- Required sections:

1. Executive Summary (250 words)

2. Methodology (300 words)

3. Key Findings (1000 words)

4. Limitations (200 words)

5. Recommendations (250 words)

- Each key finding must include:

- Statistical significance

- Confidence interval

- Real-world implication

- Visualization specification

- Technical requirements:

- All numbers rounded to 2 decimal places

- Percentages include sample size

- P-values in scientific notation

- Effect sizes with Cohen's d

- Visualization specs:

- Type of chart for each metric

- Color schemes (primary/secondary)

- Axis labels and units

- Legend placement

- Format:

- Tables for comparative data

- Footnotes for assumptions

- Citations in APA style

- Formulas in LaTeX

Use These to Create Your Master Prompt

Here's our complete prompt example, that uses all seven components we discussed:

## ROLE

Senior technical content strategist with expertise in API documentation and developer education

## TASK

Create a comprehensive guide about implementing rate limiting in REST APIs

## STEPS

1. Define rate limiting concepts

2. Compare implementation methods

3. Provide code examples

4. Outline best practices

5. Address common pitfalls

## CONTEXT

- Audience: Backend developers

- Knowledge level: Intermediate to advanced

- Part of larger API design series

## CONSTRAINTS

- Focus on practical implementation

- Use Python and Node.js examples

- No basic REST API explanations

- Keep security considerations primary

## GOAL

Enable developers to implement production-grade rate limiting with clear understanding of tradeoffs and best practices

## FORMAT

- H2 for main sections

- H3 for subsections

- Code in triple backticks

- Tables for comparisons

- Bullet points for lists

## OUTPUT

Deliver technical guide:

- Length: 1500-2000 words

- 5 main sections

- Each section must include:

- Technical explanation

- Code example

- Best practices

- Common pitfalls

- Must include:

- Performance considerations

- Security implications

- Scaling factors

Copy this prompt above. You can create a template from it to use repeatedly when building your own prompts.

Also, bookmark this article whenever you’re stuck and need help.

The Secret to Scaling

When your output format is precisely defined, you can feed it into other prompts or processes reliably.

Inside our operation at Penfriend.ai, we even use prompts to reformat the output from another prompt, so it works better as the input for our next task in the sequence.

Think of this process like a production line: each station needs to receive materials in a specific format to do its job properly.

Advanced Applications: A Peek Behind the Curtain

At Penfriend.ai, we take this basic structure and build entire systems with it.

We have prompts that generate other prompts, prompts that reformat outputs for the next prompt in the chain, and prompts that handle edge cases.

Here’s the best part: every single one of our specialized prompts still follows this same seven-component structure.

Even our error-handling agents (which catch and fix issues in the output) use these same building blocks. The complexity comes from how we chain things together, not from making the prompts themselves more complex.

If anything we break the prompts down even further, at times going as far to have a different prompt for each step in the “steps” sequence…so we can get crazy granular on exactly what each prompt needs to be doing.

Testing Your Prompts

Want to know if your prompt is solid?

Run it multiple times.

The output should be consistently good. If it's not, look at which of the seven components might need more definition.

The most common issue? Vague output specifications.

If you're not getting consistent results, start by making your Output section more detailed.

Prompt Snippets

There are a bunch of things you can add to prompts to make them work better.

The more you talk to the prompt like a human, the better output you get. Even going as far as asking how good it is at the job you’re asking it to do, and praising it for operating on all cylinders today.

The opposite is also true.

If you have things you don’t want it to do, telling the prompt you’ll fine it $1,000 every time it does something wrong, should remove that issue entirely.

Get Great Outputs, Consistently

Tell the prompt it’s allowed to think out loud, before committing to your formatting.

Prompting the LLM to tell you how it’s working through its tasks, will give you more defined outputs.

And when it’s done with it’s thinking, the AI conforms to the formatting you had before, still giving you a perfectly usable outcome…but now it’s 10x better than it would be otherwise.

Get Started: Creating Your Own Prompts

1. Start with three components: Role, Task, and Output

2. Add others as needed for clarity

3. Be extremely specific in your Output section

4. Test multiple times

5. Refine based on results

Remember: You don't need all seven components every time, but you do need to be specific about the ones you use.

It’s not magic…It’s a system.

Perfect outputs aren't magic - they're engineered .

Whether you're writing a single prompt or building a system of hundreds, these seven components give you a basic structure for reliable outputs.

Start small, be specific, and always define your outputs clearly.

The rest will follow.

Now go build something amazing.

✌️Tim

CCO, Penfriend.ai

Hey Autopreneur!

It’s Ryan here…

Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to our newset community members who joined The Automation Lab:

• Sabrina Ahmed - Burnout Coach & Neuroscientist.

• Jonnie Perry - Ghostwriter for Agency Owners.

• Sivakuma Margabandhu - Aspiring IT Coach.

• Artia Hawkins - Copywriter for Entrepreneurs.

• Michele Parad - Spiritual Business Consultant.

• Max Bernstein - Marketing & Positioning Expert.

• Matt Rubenstein - ECommerce Strategist & Consultant.

• Pushvinder Gill - Retired Telecom Director.

• Jessica Encell Coleman - Human Connection Expert.

• Dana Daskalova - LinkedIn Coach.

• Jay Melone - Growth & Scalability Strategist.

• Chris Mielke - AI Empowered Project Manager.

• Elliot Meade - Human Fulfillment & Lifestyle Design Coach.

These entrepreneurs all wanted more for themselves in 2025…and took the first step by joining our growing community. And they’re getting results:

Living proof that anyone, across any industry, can upskill in AI & Automation.

Join us today and get instant access to my premier AI Systems, Workflows, and Business Strategies to grow your business online.

Want to watch instead of read?

Most new AI tools today aren’t worth paying for.

Very few of them work well…but most will slow you down.

Rather than spend the time to research, use, and determine whether or not you want to keep the software, I figured it would be helpful to show you what’s under the hood here at The Autopreneur.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars on software and AI tools in the last 2 years alone.

My background in Data Science allows me to quickly try out new tools, and then determine whether or not it should be used inside our business.

If you read last week’s deep dive on my “1 Goal Theory”, then you know I’m in the process of tearing down my other businesses and offers…

In order to pursue 1 Single Goal.

I’ll be focusing all my energy, capital, and labor into helping 100,000+ readers inside our newsletter.

If you subscribe, we’ll teach you how to build more efficient businesses with simple tech & tools.

So after combing through all the software we use, and eliminating stuff we won’t need…I decided to make a comprehensive list that will help you build a lean operation, without wasting time with the wrong tools.

My priority with our newsletter business is to keep the software as simple as possible, using only battle tested software that will still be around in 3 to 5 years.

Subscribe now

Here’s what’s in store for this week’s Sunday Spotlight:

• The 26 Tools I Use to Automate My Newsletter Business

• 5 Unique Ways I’m Planning to Monetize this Newsletter

• Sharing My 2025 Revenue Results - Establishing the Baseline

…plus a free dashboard I built just for you.

Let’s dive in.

Our Brand New Tools Dashboard

Here’s a comprehensive list of the tools I’m currently using inside my newsletter business:

https://airtable.com/appOT4PeAX3qFObZB/shra6xSjoOueJTiFm

**This dashboard looks best on desktop, mobile isn’t great for viewing.**

I’ll also be updating this list often with new AI & Automation tools we’re researching, and providing demos inside of our Friday newsletter edition, The Founder’s Digest.

You can bookmark and use this dashboard whenever you want to lookup a new recommended tool.

If you have any suggestions for software that we should research → please comment below and we’ll add it to the list.

Costs of Our Current Tool Stack:

As of January 5th, 2025…

• 26 total in active use

• 7 tools we’re researching and testing

• Monthly subscriptions = $236.40

• Yearly subscriptions = $19.00

• One-Time Payments = $970.00

• Monthly Costs of Tools in Testing = $188.00

• NOTE:

  • Make = Free Until November 2025

  • Airtable = Free Until $2000 in credits are used up.

  • Keep reading below for more info on this…

The 26 Tools We’re Using to Run The Autopreneur

Here’s a list sorted from cheapest to most expensive.

For more detailed analysis on these tools, please watch this video and follow along with the dashboard or list below.

1. Substack

   • Newsletter hosting platform

   • One-time $50 payment for custom domain

   • Moved my newsletter from ConvertKit over to Substack to get more visibility & growth.

2. Cal

   • Free plan

   • Booking system

   • Replacing Calendly’s basic plan with Cal’s free plan for same usage.

3. Airtable

   • $30/month per user, but I now have it free for 3 to 4 years.

   • Content calendar, CRM, Automation capabilities, Data Analysis, and a ton more use cases.

   • Want $2000 of Airtable credits free? Join the Automation Lab and find out how…

4. Make

   • $19/month, but I have this free for a year.

   • No-Code Automation platform of choice. 

   • 99% of my business automations run through Make

   • Want 240,000 tasks and the premium tier free for 1 year? Join the Automation Lab and find out how…

5. Thrive Cart

   • $500 one-time payment, then you own it forever.

   • Checkout pages & simple funnels. Also has course hosting capabilities.

   • Using it for my 1v1 coaching checkout pages.

6. Telegram

   • Free

   • Internal team communication

   • Replaced Slack, we have a small team and most people like simple messaging platforms over large teamwide comms platforms.

7. OpenAI API & Claude API

   • One-time credit purchases.

   • Used for insert automation prompts and AI modules inside of Make or Zapier workflows

   • Can automatically “top up” your credit balance with putting a card on file.

   • **Different than ChatGPT or Claude’s chat product

8. Stripe & PayPal

   • Payment processors

   • Revenue-based fees

   • I like that PayPal gives you a business debit card too.

9. Tally Forms

   1. Free form builder

   2. Simple forms that you can create from scratch for websites or Notion docs.

   3. Been recently using this for agency (before shutting it down) proposals and having clients provide signature inside the Notion doc.

10. Fathom

• Free version

• Meeting recorder with great prompts & summaries attached

• Automation capabilities and can build inside of Zapier

11. OBS (Open Broadcasting Software)

• Free video streaming & recording

• Higher quality video recording than loom, most streamers use this.

• This is for my high production value youtube videos.

12. TurboTax

• Yearly tax filing software

• Pay one time, per use basis, no subscription. Maybe $280 last year?

• Been using for like 10 years and don’t see myself changing anytime soon.

13. Apify

• Limited, but useful free plan.

• Web/social media scraping, Content research

• Can setup scraping “actors” built by experts and use them in your make automations

14. Gamma

• Free plan is all you need

• Lead magnet creation, simple documents, embedded links & pay links. Their AI value adds are complete trash.

• I use this for YouTube presentations, workshops, sharing documents, and lead magnets.

15. Whimsical

• Free Flowchart software - one of my new favorites

• Using it for building internal operations workflows, and training others on processes.

• This may replace Notion for our internal SOPs and onboarding documents. Still in debate.

16. Google Workspace

• $7.20 per inbox

• Gmail, Google Drive, Google Meet currently

• Hate google meet recordings, debating adding Zoom instead

17. Twitter Blue

• $9/month

• Gives you the Verification checkmark, analytics, Grok access

• Probably also gives you more impressions but impossible to know

18. Canva

• $12/month

• Design assets, content, visuals

• My entire brand creatives are inside, I use for youtube thumbs, content, all of it.

19. YouTube Premium

• $14/month

• Ad-free viewing

• The time it saves me from clicking skip and not getting interrupted during learning and education.

20. Loom

• $15/month

• Video & screen sharing, simple editing.

• I use loom multiple times a day, providing client updates, whipping up content quickly, community videos & courses.

21. Carrd

• $19/year

• Simple Landing pages & websites

• Hosts my 5 day free email course (recently deprecated to focus only on newsletter)

22. Notion

• $28/month ($18 plan + $10 for AI add on)

• Project and task management

• Internal documentation, SOPs, Onboarding new members, training. Not sure if we’ll continue using as we downscale the infrastructure.

23. Linked Helper

• $45/month

• Safest LinkedIn automation tool

• I use for both outreach and email scraping for cold email campaigns. Lead gen is my primary use case.

24. Skool

• $99/month

• Community & course hosting platform

• Currently hosting our Automation Lab community, with all my templates, systems, and courses inside.

5 Unique Ways I’m Monetizing this Newsletter

Here’s how I plan to monetize The Autopreneur and my portfolio of newsletters.

Community + Courses:

• Instead of promoting individual courses and sending spammy email campaigns to offer them…I’ll simply tell you when a new course is launched here.

• All my best courses, systems, downloads, templates, automations, AI tools, etc will be located inside our Skool community for 1 monthly price.

• Join the community here: https://www.skool.com/the-automation-lab

• Network with other entrepreneurs, learn & install what systems & automations you need to improve your business, and get the bi-weekly coaching help from me during our Q&A calls.

Coaching 1v1:

• I’ll still continue to keep my private 1v1 coaching offer going throughout the year.

• It’s great data, feedback, and allows me to feel personally fulfilled in my life…just for helping someone else win. Probably the greatest feeling ever.

• Coaching is first come first serve, and there’s still 2 available spots left on my calendar for this month.

• Watch this video for more info on my coaching program.

• DM or email me with any questions.

Affiliate Links:

• I hate writers that spam affiliate links inside of generic newsletters. They give you zero knowledge or use case, not fair warnings or risks.

• Just because there’s an affiliate code, doesn’t mean you should promote it.

• Some of the tools you’ll see inside the dashboards and articles will have affiliate links, but you know how much I value these tools by the transparency we provide when reviewing them. I tell you exactly what I’m using or have used before.

• If ever I find a tool becomes outdated, you’ll hear about it from me first.

Sponsored Placements:

• Contrary to what the entire industry thinks…carving out a top location for a sponsored ad in your newsletter is not the only way to sell sponsorships.

• How many times do you just fast forward or scroll right past the ad placement? This benefits neither the audience, the buyer, nor the seller…

• We’ll do sponsored deep dives, live reviews and case studies, early access tool demos, and strategic ad placements for companies & creators that who want to get traffic.

Joint Ventures:

• Perhaps another author, creator, or business owner is looking for valuable B2B business traffic? Maybe they need help getting signups for a new product launch? Or to beta test an AI SaaS?

• You, the loyal subscriber, will get early access and discounts to various programs, courses, communities, cohorts, and software…just for being a fan of the Autopreneur.

• My network is extensive, and I’m constantly sourcing for mutually beneficial joint venture. I enjoy helping other entrepreneurs grow their revenue & their audience. If you’re interested, please email or DM me for more info.

My 2025 Revenue Results

This is our first official “Sunday Spotlight” of 2025.

Since we’re only 5 days into the new year…there isn’t much revenue to share lol.

I’ll be adding to a public dashboard that displays our revenue, goals, and milestones we’ve hit along the way.

I love the “build in public” style articles…

So once a month, I’ll send you an update on how my newsletter business is doing.

I’m stoked to share this journey with you.

As we demo more AI tools & Automations, the curated list of software will continue to be updated every week.

If you’re someone who doesn’t have the time to research the thousands of new AI tools, then stay tuned…and bookmark this dashboard.

I dunno about you…

But I’ve got a really great feeling about 2025.

It's time to give up the old baggage…

To give yourself permission to finally achieve that 1 Huge Goal you’ve been obsessing over.

While you’re getting after it…

Don’t forget to read “The Autopreneur” every week…

I’ll give you all the tools you need to succeed, and nothing you don’t.

See you at the top, Autopreneur.

Ryan Hutchinson

P.S. If you found this breakdown helpful, feel free to share it with a fellow entrepreneur who might benefit from it.

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Write Content → Collect Emails → Automate Offers → Ask for Feedback

This probably isn’t breaking news to you.

And you’re probably already doing at least 3 of the 4 parts of this already.

But there’s an area inside this email conversion process that no one really talks about.

And it happens to be the most important part of my content strategy.

It’s how I use my newsletter, as the lead magnet to grow my email list on autopilot.

But every system has to have a name…

Because…all the coolest marketers name their systems, right?

So let’s call it the “Newsletter Magnet System.”

I’ll explain this workflow in the article, but if you need a closer look: https://whimsical.com/newsletter-magnet-system-GSqKyr72WWX6uQ6nrqTPzX

Here’s what’s actually cool about this Newsletter Magnet System:

Your newsletter becomes the lead magnet…for the newsletter.

Feels like the movie Inception LOL.

The newsletter article turns into your social media content.

That content turns the newsletter article into a lead magnet.

The result?

When you use this system, you’ll put out consistently good content and get more email subscribers…for less hard work than you’re doing today.

It’s an extremely easy system to maintain too: currently takes me ~4 hours a month to maintain.

Pretty soon, I’ll be handing it off to my virtual assistant to run. She’ll be able to manage this very easily, without much training or assistance from me.

As with any great system, the smallest improvements lead to amazing results in the future.

Since launching it in 2024, this Newsletter Magnet System got more high quality email subscribers, higher open rates, higher click-through-rates, and more net new clients…

And I’m working less hours on content than I ever have before.

My Weekly Disclaimer: Systems are not a “one-size-fits-all.” Take only what’s useful for you, and install it into your unique business.

Then tell me how it helped you in the comments below.

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The Social Media Lie: Your Followers are Not Your Friends

When I was in college, if we walked into a house party and it was empty…

We chugged a few beers from the keg, and then left to go find a more popular party.

20 years later, I still see this behavior all across social media.

“Twitter is dead.”

“LinkedIn is boring.”

“Bluesky is blowing up.”

“Substack is where it’s at.”

Why do we care so much? The reason is simple…

The people who jump from 1 platform to another? They can only focus on creating content for 1 platform. Any more than 1, feels like a huge time-suck.

They waste precious time learning all the “best practices” for that 1 platform. They ask me questions like, “When is the best time to post content here?”

Unfortunately, they’re stuck in the matrix.

Slaves to an algorithm.

I’m going to show you a new way of thinking about social media…

It will save you from the “organic content grind.”

Hot Take: Not a single metric matters on social media.

Not views. Not engagement. Not followers. Not Reposts.

And definitely not the unproven metrics like “dwell time” and “saves” that we still have no evidence on.

Why?

Because your social media profile is just rented office space.

And the social media landlords like Meta and Microsoft, are the only ones who dictate your results.

Need proof?

Look at what my LinkedIn landlord just did to me:

I have 14,000 followers and 10,000+ connections…and can’t even lookup more than 3 people in a basic search.

What’s the fucking point of being active on a gigantic people database, when you can’t search for people?

Free isn’t Free.

And in the future, every platform will be pay to play.

If anything, we’ve learned that these landlords could care less about the people who drive traffic to it, marketers like you and I.

And when you’re desperate to get noticed online, you’ll treat every new comment and follower as if they were a brand new high ticket client.

Let’s reframe your thinking on how to use social media & content:

Social platforms are NOT communities.

They aren’t “social” at all. They’re simply a tool. A repository of valuable data.

And if we want this data, we have to go fishing for it ourselves…by posting content and collecting feedback from it.

Here’s another analogy:

Think of your social media content like putting up a billboard on a highway.

Traffic is speeding by, and there are thousands of billboards…so you only have split seconds to try and stand out.

My theory → I want you seeing my billboard every mile on your journey.

By mile 50…

You’re now getting curious, “Who the hell is this Ryan guy?"

I want you taking time out of your busy schedule to enter my funnel.

Outside of this → social media has zero purpose.

Steven Singer (Philly native) is the OG at attention-grabbing billboards, before social media was even a thing.

Years ago, he started plastering his billboards up and down Interstate 95.

By mile 10, after you’ve seen a ton of these billboards…

You say to yourself, “Who tf is Steven Singer??”

Without knowing it…you took the bait.

(Here’s the full backstory on the marketing campaign if you’re interested.)

This is how you should start treating your content online.

If you aren’t super creative like Steven Singer, then you can overcome the lack of creativity by being consistent.

Eventually, with time, you become consistently good.

Your job as a marketer is to stand in the middle of a busy street corner, and hand out free samples.

Some people will ignore you.

Some will take your free sample…and keep walking.

But some lucky people will stop…eat the free sample…then ask you for more.

Check Mate.

Remember: you’re not on social media to get followers, likes, comments, or figure out how to hack the algorithm…you’re not even there to build a community or network.

You only have 1 primary goal:

To capture someone’s interest, and move that interest off platform.

I can’t stress this enough, having the right mindset about social media is the most important step in business.

Now let’s dig into the Newsletter Magnet System.

The Newsletter Magnet System:

If you knew that every piece of you content you wrote was an absolute banger…How often would you post?

And if you knew that everyone loved this content…

Wouldn’t you want to share it across as many platforms as possible?

This is the crux of my system → to share only my best performing content, as often as possible, on as many social media channels as I find necessary.

Every morning around 7:15am eastern time, 1 piece of content gets posted to:

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• YouTube (as a text or image post)

• Substack Notes

You can add Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, etc, etc…I just chose not to.

You also don’t need to pay for Hypefury, Taplio, Publer, or any of those expensive (and useless) scheduling tools.

Make.com costs me $19 a month…and I run my entire business using it.

I have a social media “posting” automation that takes the daily scheduled post from my content calendar, and publishes it out across these platforms.

Here’s a look at the automtion workflow:

My content calendar is inside of Airtable, but you can host yours inside of Notion, or even Google Sheets, and use the same automation.

When the clock strikes 7:18am ET, this automation fires off, and my post goes live.

Instead of only relying on 1 platform to capture interest, I’m now getting traffic and distribution on 4 different platforms.

My social strategy is simple:

• Give updates on what I’m building

• Call out specific problems I see

• Show prospects how I can help

Eventually the right person stops and says, “Who is this automation guy that keeps showing up in my feed?”

When they want to learn more, they’ll click the link inside my post and decide whether or not to join my free newsletter.

If you’re already posting content everyday…this system will do wonders for you.

Now instead of 365 chances to get leads, you’ve got at least 1460 chances a year with this automation.

But remember…

The real value isn’t in being consistent…

We want to be “consistently good.”

Find What Works → Post More of It → Get More Leads

The most valuable currency I own online is an email list.

The second most valuable currency is my conversion data.

One question I love to collect data on?

“What content gets me the most email signups?”

This NLM System uses tracking links to find out what content got me the most emails, and what CTAs they clicking.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1) Include a link directly inside your social media post.

In every social post, I include a “Call to Action” at the bottom.

3 Days a Week: I include a link directly within the body of the post.

Yes…it probably harms my reach.

No…I don’t care.

I’m optimizing for email subscribers, not views.

When you use this system, and improve the quality of each post…it ends up negating the lack of views per post over time.

No more hiding your links with the classic “link in the comments below” nonsense…

No more hacky algorithm tricks.

Besides, commenting on your own content just makes you look weird.

I want my audience to enjoy a frictionless journey:

1. Stop and read The Hook. (or Get Hooked from an image.)

2. If they’re interested? Click “See More” to continue.

3. Still interested? Click the link in the post to continue.

The smoothest user experience possible.

No more jenky hacks or trying to optimize for an algorithm.

I use these “Call to Actions” in my content:

The Most Valuable CTA’s Are:

1. Newsletter Article → A direct link to read a past newsletter article.

2. Newsletter Sub → A direct link to my newsletter opt-in page.

3. EEC Sub → A direct link to my free email course opt-in page.

These 3 CTAs are the primary driver for email signups.

The other CTAs, like “follow me” or “comment below” are inserted on the in-between days that I’m not using a link.

Sometimes, I’ll throw out a sales post that offers a direct link to a paid workshop I’m running, or directly promotes my Automation Lab Community.

In order to get the most email subscribers from organic content, I only post the stuff I know works…

Step 2) Analyze the Best Converting Links

I track which CTA + Links perform the best, by using Short.io.

Short allows you to create a “tracker” inside a URL. I use these trackers to answer that question above → “What piece of content got the most email signups?”

In the image above, you can see some CTAs get way more clicks than others…

Your eyes immediately go to the post with 147 clicks.

And you’re probably thinking, “That’s the best performing CTA by a long shot.”

Not so fast.

Let’s analyze this data from the screenshot above.

We’ll use the LinkedIn content data + link tracking data:

• 2024.12.10

  • CTA Strategy = Newsletter Pitch

  • Total Words in LinkedIn Post = 355

  • LinkedIn Impressions = 1889

  • LinkedIn Clicks = 26

  • Click Through Rate = 1.3%

• 2024.12.07

  • CTA Strategy = Newsletter Article Share

  • Total Words in LinkedIn Post = 131

  • LinkedIn Impressions = 929

  • LinkedIn Clicks = 22

  • Click Through Rate = 2.4%

• 2024.11.18

  • CTA = Newsletter Article Share

  • Total Words in LinkedIn Post = 88

  • LinkedIn Impressions = 5421

  • LinkedIn Clicks = 137

  • Click Through Rate = 2.5%

The CTA on 12/07 with the worst total clicks, converted just as well as the CTA on 11/18 with the most total clicks.

Without having this data, you would have ignored a high-performing CTA.

Here’s my 5 minute rough analysis:

• Posts that offer the reader a “deeper dive” inside a newsletter article, have higher CTRs.

• The less words you write in a post, the more likely someone will click.

• Using an Image with a Quote = Better Algorithm Performance

Analyzing data like this is how I continue to improve my content every month.

Every 30 days, I recycle the best performing content and CTAs…and increase email subscribers, while decreasing my need to continuously write new content.

If you’re on day 1 of writing content, here’s a simple recycling strategy you can use to get started:

I used this exact content flywheel when I started writing content in March 2023. But the AI tools we had at the time we terrible. It was mostly me re-writing my own stuff and working in new hooks, new formats, new CTAs.

Nowadays, I’ve got so much content & conversion data that my content calendar is almost 100% recycled posts.

At the end of each month, I’ll take the best performing content + CTAs, and re-write or just re-schedule them over 60 to 90 days.

I leave 2 open days a week for writing new content.

The other 5 days a week, I’m just re-cycling my best performing content from previous months.

The End Result?

High Converting Content & CTAs that get more clicks, more subscribers, and more revenue downstream.

The subscribers who enter my newsletter get to explore topics more in depth, than the appetizers I write about on social media.

This article you’re reading is an example of a deep dive.

Step 3) Find What Works…but Make Sure it Works For YOU.

Last week, I did an “Ask Me Anything” training for Moe Choice’s six figure solopreneur community.

Brielle Wohlenhaus, a communications expert, asked a great question…one that I often struggled with at the beginning of my newsletter journey.

She asked:

“I'm very passionate about video, I feel like with my personality and within my business, video makes most sense for me. I started a newsletter about six months ago, and within the first 24 hours, it got 10,000 subscribers. But what I found is, my passion is really just in doing video. My passion isn't necessarily in writing, but I also know that sometimes you got to do things, whether you're passionate about them or not within your business…

Do you have any advice or insights? Should I keep going with the newsletter? Or should I just go all in with video?”

I get this question quite often inside the community, from other entrepreneurs & marketers automating their sales and marketing processes.

“Should I write? Or should I do video?”

The answer isn’t binary. It’s not A or B.

Your A should complement B.

Better yet…create A, then have it create B, and C, and D.

Brielle probably has over 100+ hours of video content. Since she’s not really interested in writing a newsletter, she shouldn’t feel forced into it.

That’s the quickest way to start hating your business.

Use the AI tools and Automations that we provide inside The Automation Lab to repurpose those video transcripts into written longform newsletters.

I can write for hours on end with ease, but video?

It feels like a heavy lift.

So when I sat down to record this YouTube video, my first thought was “This video is way too long…no one will watch this.”

30 days later…I lost count of the number of people on sales calls who mentioned that they watched this video.

It gave them more A-ha moments than any other piece of content I published.

A + B = $$$

First, find your A.

Then find the system that lets your A turn into B…

Without spending any extra time to get there.

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TLDR:

• If you’re not building an email list, you’re wasting time with social media.

• Use the “Newsletter Magnet System” for getting more email subscribers with less effort.

• Track the success of your content by tracking links inside the post.

• High-performing CTAs get recycled in future posts.

• Create content in a style that you enjoy, then have it feed other styles you don’t enjoy…so your readers can consume in the ways they enjoy.

Happy Holidays Autopreneur.

Time > Everything,

Ryan Hutchinson

PS - Want to build a $40k per month business using Automation and AI?

I teach all my strategies to a growing community of entrepreneurs…

Inside, you’ll get instant access to all my sales, marketing, and client onboarding automations…as well as bi-weekly calls and workshop trainings..

https://www.skool.com/the-automation-lab/about

It’s February 2016.

And I’m killing it.

I had just completed my first full year as a solo run business owner. Month over month, clients and revenue were growing comfortably.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, all the hard work and long nights of year 1 finally paid off. The pipeline was bursting, candidates were getting offers, and I was closing invoices every week.

January 2016 closed to the tune of $72,000 in revenue.

How was I going to sustain this crazy fast momentum?

“Time to hire some help.”

My plate was overloaded. The next logical step was to start outsourcing areas of the business.

Inside my Executive Recruiting Firm, there were 3 core business units:

• Client Acquisition → Finding new Fintech clients with a need to hire sales & marketing positions at middle mgmt or higher.

• Client Delivery → Filling the roles by sourcing, interviewing, qualifying, and making offers to the best candidates possible.

• Project Management → Ensuring that both candidates and clients were kept happy throughout the recruitment lifecycle.

Up to that point, I was my entire company…

My ego told me that I should stay in the driver’s seat of the client acquisition process.

I then figured that hiring an employee on the delivery side would be the “next best” option. This person would help with the sourcing & recruiting of candidates.

I didn’t want to overextend myself by hiring my first employee.

And who’s cheaper than an intern fresh out of college?

After a few postings on job boards…I decided to hire a young intern.

He had all the soft skills I was looking for:

• Family Orientated & Respectful

• Ability to focus on a task until completion

• Lifelong athlete and college football player

• Ambitious: saving up to buy a house for he and his fiance.

• Unafraid to take action first, while learning as he figured it out.

All the stars were aligned.

I could now focus on getting clients, and assuming this intern would learn how to find candidates rather quickly…I could have a short list of candidates in half the time it took me on my own.

Month 1 went by, and Jason failed the first few client roles I gave him.

I figured it was just the learning curve of never having recruited before. We had runway, and I had patience.

“I’ll just spend time each week and train him.”

I decided to spend 2 days a week with my intern, sitting over his shoulder, trying to understand his thinking process as he sourced for candidates.

That’s 2 days a week…where 2 people are doing 1 low-impact job.

This was the beginning of my downfall.

And I never even saw it coming.

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The Slow Burn.

You don’t get fat from eating 1 Big Mac.

You get fat from eating 1 Big Mac, every week, for years.

When you’re caught up in the moment, 1 greasy burger doesn’t seem so bad.

Even those unhealthy calories eventually burn off.

But 1 unhealthy decision, leads to other unhealthy decisions. Choices that compound on each other over time. My father calls them, “Poor Choices.”

April came around and the intern was finding his stride. But that stride arrived a little too late…

In America, interns are typically only hired for a 90 to 120 day working period.

My intern knew this. So he began to slack off towards the end. I also knew this. So I began cancelling our daily check-ins.

Since Jason wouldn’t be here much longer, I ended up just doing his work too. Cleaning up behind him, while still maintaining my full desk. And because of the time I spent training him, all the new client work that I landed in February and March, was now behind schedule.

90 days spent using an intern, and not one dollar of ROI back to the business. In fact, it was a net loss given how much of my time was taken managing and training this person.

At this point, we had $250,000+ worth of client work sitting in limbo.

But it was impossible for me to handle the workload.

3 Major Flaws Plagued My Business:

1. Being active in all areas of my business, I was juggling an insane amount of work…and doing a terrible job at it.

2. My overhead was around $7,000 per month for overpriced software & low quality email leads. (This is back when tech was expensive and way before I knew about automation.)

3. Recruiting is one of the worst cash flow models on the planet. Look at all the uncontrolled variables in this operation:

   1. Start sales outreach out to find clients.

   2. Send over a contract, and start working on the project.

   3. Source, interview, and send qualified candidates over to the client.

   4. Client takes a few days to let you know which candidates they want to interview, if any at all.

   5. Narrow down the top 2 or 3 candidates after all interview rounds have been completed, and send over an offer.

   6. Negotiate until you get the candidate to accept an offer. Yay! You’re halfway to seeing revenue.

   7. Candidate has to give current employer their 2 week notice, then takes a week or 2 vacation before their new role with your client.

   8. Candidate still has to show up for day 1…sometimes they shop your offer and end up ghosting you and your client.

   9. If they do show up…THEN the client is finally sent an invoice.

   10. Client has 30 days to pay the invoice.

This sales cycle can sometimes last 6 months or more, depending on 2 billion factors outside of your control.

So there I was → back to hiring an employee again.

This time I was determined…instead of going the cheap labor route, we needed an experienced recruiter. Someone who didn’t need any hand holding.

Even though we were running low on cash, with all that client work on the table…I was willing to pay for experience.

After a few weeks of interviews, I found a woman with 25 years of recruiting experience across different industries. She also lived in a really low cost of living area in Louisiana, so her salary demands were slightly lower than I expected to pay for someone with this tenure.

In my desperation to hire quickly, I ignored a few red flags on her resume. She was unemployed for awhile, and couldn’t find steady recruiting work.

This didn’t bother me too much, and in my mind I actually spun it into a positive → I didn’t have the time to wait weeks to onboard our new recruiting employee.

She agreed to start within 10 days, and in early May, she joined my company.

The Tidal Wave.

I felt really confident my new experienced recruiting employee would pick up on our client work rather quickly.

Another 2 weeks for her ramp up period, and she was off on her own.

My business was already doomed…I just didn’t know it yet.

What you may not know about the recruiting industry is that Summertime is usually the slowest months of the year.

I was completely burnt out from the year…but because of this slow period, I had to keep my foot on the gas pedal.

My next fatal error was to stop prospecting.

Me and my new employee were so busy trying to find candidates for all the client work, that my pipeline was nonexistent.

I had filled two client roles all by myself, and the invoices were almost due. Those invoices were worth $35,000 in total, for 2 candidates places with the same company. This was a client I had done business with in 2015, and who knew me well.

I focused on closing those positions out, but in doing so had let the other more difficult roles run way over schedule.

What could go wrong right? They should be paying me within a week.

But all the while…I had this weird intuition that something was wrong…

I Lost Everything.

Just before a tidal wave hits…there’s a phenomenon called a “Drawback.”

It’s when the ocean suddenly pulls back from the coastline, exposing the seafloor, before a massive tsunami comes rushing in.

All of these signs were a drawback I kept ignoring.

Then in mid-June…it happened.

Those “Hard to Fill” roles I put on the backburner? Cancelled.

The roles my recruiter was working on? Filled elsewhere.

The client who owed me $34,000? Ghosted me.

The client I was relying on to pay me, told me to go fuck myself.

They knew our operation was small, and that I didn’t have the time nor the money to spend on legal fees to pursue.

So now I had:

• A high paying employee on salary.

• No pipeline of new clients.

• Only 1 role to work on.

• No incoming revenue.

All during the the slowest time of the year in recruiting.

Couldn’t be worse than this right?

Wrong.

In July 2016, Donald Trump was announced as the Republican primary candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

It would be Donald Trump (the wild card) vs. Hillary Clinton (the anti-middle class).

Because of how unexpected this was…it felt like no business in America wanted to hire new employees.

This was officially rock bottom.

When we lost all our entire portfolio of clients within two weeks.

Because of this, we needed her to change from finding candidates, to finding clients. She wasn’t good enough at sales to succeed in this environment.

Once again, my time was fragmented at training & managing a poor performing employee, all the while trying to keep the business afloat.

By August 2016, just 4 months after I hired her…I had to let her go. I figured this would be a financial lift off of the business.

The plan was to downsize to a solo-run operation, and fight off the bill collectors as long as I could.

What I didn’t expect to happen, was for her to file for unemployment.

She continued to be on my “payroll” while no longer working at the company. Not shaming unemployment here…but that was the final deathblow for my business.

Her unemployment costs made it impossible for me to keep my doors open.

If losing a business is a rite of passage in entrepreneurship…

Then this was my initiation fee.

It felt like someone had taken everything I worked for, piled it up in my backyard, poured gasoline on it, and lit a match.

All I could do was watch in disbelief.

My ego, my spirit, and my physical health…

All burned down to the ground alongside that pile of ashes.

For the first time in ten years, I was forced to go get a job.

The 3 Lessons.

The great Charlie Munger once said…

Welp…

In the spirit of vicarious learning, here are the 3 biggest lessons to takeaway from my catostrophic failure:

*One bad hire will destroy your small business.*

Labor is the biggest expense a small business can incur…and there isn’t even a close second.

Back then, things moved much slower…small businesses couldn’t compete as readily as they can today. The workforce wasn’t as “globalized” and remote as we are in 2024.

Now we have access to cheaper, faster technology, like AI tools no-code software. These are tools that will work for you 24/7…without needing a vacation, healthcare, or talking about you around the water cooler.

Back then, hiring people was all I knew. I was an expert at it for big businesses, but I learned I wasn’t so good at it in my own.

My biggest lever, human labor, ended up costing me more of my time.

I failed because I hired people and expected them to work as hard and diligently as me.

When they didn’t…I ended up stepping in to do their work.

Just because you’re not technically savvy, doesn’t mean you should hire. Look for tech and tools that you can offload tasks to first, then hire people to manage them.

*Cash Flow isn’t just a yuppie accounting term.*

Without a long runway, your airplane will never get off the ground.

Nor will it be able to land during an emergency.

Cash flow is your business runway.

Create a service inside of your business model that you can sell and deliver on autopilot. One that doesn’t require human labor to actively participate inside the client delivery process. This is called “productizing.”

Today, I have a productized automation service that I sell on repeat: LinkedIn + Cold Email Lead Generation.

Clients get a fully automated LinkedIn setup, that builds their audience, gets them inbound DMs, and automates the button clicks of their sales outreach online. This LinkedIn system also feeds a cold email system that automatically sends thousands of emails to their targeted prospects every week.

This is one of my highest selling productized services.

We setup these automations & systems inside our client’s business for a $2000 one-time fee. Then after the system is ready to go, our clients get 30 days of customer support from my team.

Our aim isn’t to do the actual lead generation service itself, rather, to let the client own complete control over the system. We simply install it, then help them learn and improve upon their own results.

Having a productized offer like this in my business protects me from bad breaks.

*If you’re not filling your pipeline, your days in business are numbered.*

95% of you reading this hate sales.

So do I.

But wanna know what I hate more?

Worrying about money.

Stressing out about how I’m going to put food on my table.

Losing sleep because I can’t stop thinking about work.

Not being fully present with my family because my mind is worried about where the next dollar will come from.

Back in 2016, my ego was the CEO of my business.

The CEO figured that since he had sold millions in the past, that Ryan Hutchinson was the most important person to the business.

Without my personal involvement with prospects and clients, I was afraid that my business wouldn’t grow.

Turns out the opposite was true…my involvement caused the business to fail.

My first hire should have been a great sales person. Someone adept at getting clients. Having a consistent sales process that nutures prospects 7 days a week, is mandatory.

Your mileage may vary here…but marketing & prospecting is now a non-negotiable:

Whether you’re running ads, writing content, automating a cold email campaign, performing outreach on social media, or networking your ass off…85% or more of your week as a small business owner should be stuffing that pipeline.

Otherwise, how do you expect to take a vacation from your business?

Or to take care of a family member when tragedy hits home?

Wrapping up.

2016 was a year I’ll never forget.

There were times during this election year that felt eerily similar.

But this time around…I was prepared. I knew what was missing from my last failure, and planned accordingly.

“It is far better to have understood why you failed than to be ignorant of why you succeeded.” ~ Dr. Robert A. Burgelman

Let my failures be an example of what not to do.

Take from it what you need, and apply it to your own life & business.

Catch you next week, Autopreneur.

Share

Time > Everything,

Ryan Hutchinson

P.S. - If you’re a business owner, looking for ways to grow your business online…

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The mass exit has begun.

The messages are getting louder as growth is almost non-existent on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. The old social sanctuaries we used to grow our businesses organically are now reserved for the lucky few, everyone else…

They’re moving to Substack.

The writing is on the wall, it’s time to read it.

I’m flooded with messages like…

“I have a big following on other platforms so how do I get people here.” (Substack)

People leaving LinkedIn, X, and IG for Substack’s new opportunity for growth.

I received this email from a well-known business coach who teaches email marketing and audience growth on Instagram…

“Harsh Truth: Right now it's harder than ever to stand out on social media and grow an audience.”

Some creators are seeing as much as 2-3x as much growth on Substack compared to LinkedIn/X while having a fraction of the followers.

And in a recent survey, 20% of my audience said they want to move their audiences from LinkedIn and X to their Substack publications.

The pain of growth finally outweighs the pain of change.

Content ain’t easy.

Most of us aren’t full-time content creators.

It’s a medium used to build an audience and monetize our businesses. We don’t have 6-figures/Month to invest in growth like Gary Vaynerchuk, Alex Hormozi, and Neil Patel.

During my attempts to grow on LinkedIn, I invested money into various courses, coaches, and ghostwriters, and here’s what I learned:

• People are teaching what helped them grow 3-5 years ago — It no longer works.

• The gurus are now telling people to join engagement groups to grow — These aren’t cheap.

• The ghostwriters selling “guaranteed growth” are putting your content into engagement groups to show growth and engagement.

I think my most important lesson?

As an experiment, I paid for engagement like they taught. While I gained followers and my posts got 500+ likes and dozens of shares… It didn’t translate into email list growth or increased revenue.

When I fired them and stopped posting on LinkedIn altogether my growth didn’t stop even though my LinkedIn growth came to a halt.

What did make a difference? Writing on Substack.

Here are 6 ways to siphon your LinkedIn and X followers to your Substack publication.

Starting from zero is never easy.

Except if you’re moving from LinkedIn, X, or anywhere, you don’t have to. With a little strategically placed effort you can siphon your followers over to Substack and begin growing once again.

Here are 6 ways to get started.

#1: Announcement post(s).

Make it official.

A formal announcement to your followers letting them know you’re moving to Substack is a good place to start. Include why and let them know what you’ll be sharing there.

Knowing that including links can throttle reach it might make sense to post this more than once and alternate between including a direct link and giving them a ‘reason’ or ‘incentive’ (something we will touch on later).

Announcements can (should) be made on your social platforms and your email list.

#2: All signs should point to Substack.

Make yourself easy to find.

Update your links in your bio, pinned posts, website, email signatures, automations, etc. Every opportunity and interaction should direct people to your Substack publication. These links can be swapped in for your old platform, or at least become a higher importance/priority.

#3: Strategic promotion of your Substack content.

Promote your publication.

No one cares that you are posting on Substack. And only a percentage of your audience will see your announcement post, that’s why you’re leaving, remember.

We need to promote your Substack content on your primary platforms to move people to interact with you there.

Use micro-content.

For every long-form post or newsletter create 5-10 pieces of micro-content that lead back to the full-length piece. Schedule and share these to siphon your followers to Substack.

Include CTAs.

At the bottom of every post on LinkedIn/X include a casual CTA to move your audience to Substack.

Example: “If you enjoyed this? You can subscribe to my newsletter here.”

This should be implemented during your transition to Substack but can also be done indefinitely if you keep this platform as part of your overall content strategy.

#4: Create high-value ungated content only available on Substack.

We need to give them reasons.

If you share the same content on Substack as you share on LinkedIn/X you decrease the chances of them following you on Substack. There’s no reason to.

What high-value (ungated) content can you make available on Substack?

Maybe you have an ebook, training, workshop, etc. that you can post publically on Substack. Then promote this on LinkedIn/X giving them a reason to follow you on Substack.

They get access for free, all they need to do is subscribe.

#5: Deplatform your followers to your email list.

Email is a gold mine for pushing people to Substack.

If you haven’t already, begin deplatforming your followers to your email list. This means you’re pushing people to lead magnets and opt-ins that get them onto your email list.

From here, you can use your email list to drive people to Substack, start here.

• Super signature.

• Links in your delivery email.

• Links in your welcome sequence.

• Promote your latest posts/newsletters.

Note: You can import your entire email list into Substack. This has pros and cons and depends on the context of your business and how you plan to pair your use of Substack and email marketing.

#6: (Advanced) Run ads to your followers.

This isn’t for everyone.

But, if you have a large following and the cash flow to do so paid advertising may be a consideration.

You can run ads on LinkedIn, X, and IG to ONLY your followers promoting your Substack or your Substack content.

The transition timeline.

The further we plan, the better. The longer we wait, the worse.

My minimum recommendations:

• 3 Months in advance deplatforming and building your email list.

• 3 Months after promoting your Substack content.

Use this as a general guideline.

If you’re already building your list awesome, if you haven’t, start today. If you want to move to Substack tomorrow you don’t need to wait 3 Months.

Once you make Substack your primary platform you can still post to LinkedIn/X. This can be done for a transition period to siphon your followers, or, it can be done indefinitely cross-promoting your content.

Give people a reason.

Even trivial reasons increase response.

This was proven by social psychologist Ellen Lange and described in Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence.

Providing a reason when making a request, even when that reason was weak, almost doubled the likelihood of compliance (someone responding as desired).

Want people to follow you? Give them a reason why.

Why are you moving to Substack? Is there value to them…

What can you give them in exchange for following you on Substack…

Will the content be different than what you post on the platform they already use…

If you can craft an offer around it, do so. Giving people something of value, or something that is exclusive to Substack, will increase your likelihood of them following you.

Remember, the stronger and bigger your brand the easier it will be to siphon your followers. Except not all of us are Gary Vaynerchuk where people will follow him on every platform imaginable…

…Instead, we leverage psychology to tip the scales in our favor.

Wrapping up.

There you have it, friend.

A 6-step framework for siphoning your LinkedIn and X followers to Substack.

Here’s a quick summary.

1. Announcement posts.

2. All signs should point to Substack.

3. Strategic promotion of your Substack content.

4. Create high-value ungated content only available on Substack.

5. Deplatform your followers to your email list.

6. (Advanced) Run ads to your followers.

And increase your chances by giving them a reason ;-)

I truly hope this can become a playbook you can use, save, and leverage to build your Substack publication.

~

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Hey Autopreneur!

Enjoyed reading this guest post?

Landon is one of my favorite humans, let alone writers, on Substack. I regularly ping him him for advice on how to dominate this platform.

Go give him a follow for more tips on how to monetize your brand or business online.

Speaking of special guests…

I’ll be showcasing some of my favorite entrepreneurs every month in The Autopreneur. These are people that I trust implicitly.

They’re part of my “Growth Partnership Network.”

If you’re interested in purchasing a sponsorship in the newsletter, or are looking to host sponsored brands to your audience - please fill out this application form.

See you next week, Autopreneur.

Time > Everything,

Want to build a $40k per month business?

I host a VIP community for business owners around the world.

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Join us inside “The Automation Lab” today!

You bought every $100 course, joined 15 new business communities, read every article of “The Autopreneur”, and watched more YouTube videos than TV shows.

That one business idea you’ve been thinking about for years is torturing you.

You’re ready to start.

So, like every other guru influencer out there…you follow in their footsteps.

Day 1 - You start posting content. Exciting stuff!

Day 90 - You’re in a love / hate relationship social media.

On one hand, social media helped you grow your business. It feels great knowing that you can network with people and get leads for just writing words on the internet.

But as someone wise once said, “Free” isn’t free.

The organic marketing grind starts ruining your mental health:

• “I’m not getting any inbound leads, I gotta post more.”

• “My views are down, I need to start commenting more.”

• “I spent 3 hours writing this, and barely got any traffic?”

• “How are these people doing this with a full-time job?”

• “I guess what I’m doing is wrong, I need to change it up.”

With every ounce of momentum, you become a slave to the algorithm.

It’s a trap.

I hate the term “Solopreneur.”

It’s just a marketing term made up to entice hard-working, ambitious people like you, with a promise of “Just build it and the money will come.”

But that’s not reality. You’re simply a freelancer without the title.

There’s nothing solo about building a business.

And as AI models get smarter, faster…

We’re in for a rude awakening.

Technology WILL put 98% of solopreneurs out of business in 5 years.

It’s time to bullet proof your business…starting now.

Prepare yourself for this to happen…so your family’s financial future won’t be swallowed up like a tidal wave when it happens.

And today I’m going to help you do this.

I’ve been slowly preparing myself for AI to make me irrelevant → by building business automations that do 90% of the work for me. The benefits of these systems are endless. Learning them will put you ahead of millions of people. They’ll make you fall in love being a business owner again.

These systems allow you to operate from a position of strength…removing you from digital slavery.

And today, I’m pulling back the curtain on everything.

Watch the video below…

And steal some of my systems for building your own 40k per month business:

(Follow Along with the Flowchart → https://whimsical.com/black-box-automations-operational-DVrWurn4Zx2sfn1mpJ8SRQ)

See you next week, Autopreneur.

Time > Everything,

Ryan Hutchinson

PS - If you want access to all my sales, marketing, and delivery automations I use to run my $40k per month business...join our ​Skool community here.

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Today, you’ll learn how to build a marketing automation that will 2x, 3x, or even 50x your email signups—all on autopilot.

I call this the “Fair Trade.”

It’s how I get genuine testimonials from people I’ve never met…using an automation you can build in 15 minutes (or less).

If you’re looking to grow an audience on social media, collect more email leads, and nurture prospects that turn into clients…this will help you do that.

It will create a flywheel effect for continuous email list growth.

I’ll be describing how you can build this entire automation from start to finish.

And the examples I’ll be using is from my personal brand.

If you’re new here:

I write a newsletter called “The Autopreneur” which gives 1 tip on AI & Automation every week.

Two weeks ago, I launched an educational email course to my newsletter subscribers called “Build Your AI Marketing Machine.”

So far it’s been a big hit →

Here’s the open rates and click through rates from the free course:

Just yesterday, I compared these stats with my new friend from Twitter, Matthew Brown.

Compared with some of his client’s stats, I’m right on par with or slightly better in terms of open rates and click-through-rates.

Matt’s one of the best Ghostwriter’s I’ve met this year…so when he tells me I’m on the right path then I can breath easier.

As an Autopreneur, I’m constantly looking for ways to leverage myself.

Whether its a piece of tech, an automation, or offloading to an expert - always be on the hunt for ways to “clone yourself.”

Here’s my macro strategy for the next 12 months:

Subscribe now

My Marketing Strategy for 2025.

Social media is getting crowded.

It’s starting to feel like the kiddie pool at a backyard BBQ in July.

My business strategy for 2025 → borrow other people’s trust. Using creator collaborations, sidekicks, and JV partnerships in order to find new eyeballs.

Relying solely on organic traffic to build a business will soon going to be a losing strategy…as our social media kiddie pool runs out of room.

But networking takes time…

So my next thought was:
“How can I get the audience to promote my course to their channels?”

Social proof is the most powerful tool to grow your business. Without it, you’re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over time.

And every single time I share a testimonial…I earn more revenue.

There is no other piece of content or copy that’s a close second.

My goal is simple:

Ask the reader to give a testimonial review of my free AI course, which will attract new people to signup for the course.

This allows me to find new communities of potential customers. Allowing me to acquire more leads with much less effort.

The Big Problem.

Getting testimonials is much harder than all the gurus will tell you.

Paying customers will rarely go the extra mile to leave a review…let alone share your stuff to their social media.

Why?

The reciprocity scale is no longer tipping in your favor.

They paid you for your thing, and you delivered. The scale is back to even.

If you were to ask them for a testimonial, to the client it feels like you’re overasking.

This is also why so many business owners I mentor, have a hard time asking their clients for a testimonial. What’s worse, is they don’t have a system for it. You should always have some sort of template to guide your client in completing the testimonial.

But in this situation, there’s an added level of difficulty.

These free course subscribers haven’t paid me a dollar yet!

A New Marketing Technique.

Chenell Basilio is one of my favorite marketers on the internet (and a fellow Philadelphian!).

After you read this → go subscribe to her INSANELY valuable newsletter, “Growth in Reverse” (https://growthinreverse.com/)

#notsponsoredbutwishiwas

It’s one of the only newsletters I read religiously…one that challenges the way I think about marketing & business growth.

Back in June, Chenell wrote a story about a Twitter creator who grew a massive newsletter using a social media marketing trick.

He used what Chenell calls a “Growth Loop” to increase newsletter signups AND audience growth at the same time.

This guy went from zero presence online to building a 100,000+ person Twitter following AND a 50k+ list within a few months.

I sat back in my recliner after studying this growth loop…wondering, “How can I use this trick inside my own newsletter...but automate the entire thing?”

And during the creation of my Free 5 Day AI Course…

The light bulb went on.

I found the perfect way to include this growth loop…

But with a slightly better twist.

One that’s uniquely my own.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Give away so much free value that you feel sick over it.

Unfortunately…I used to think like this guy. You've probably even caught me ranting against guys like Gary Vee and Hormozi for repeating this mantra.

Here’s what I didn’t understand that they did:

The “give everything away” model is the fastest way to grow distribution at scale.

There’s 2 thoughts we all have as fledgling business owners:

1. If I give it all away, then I won’t have anything left to sell.

2. If I give it all away, then they won’t need me for anything else.

And both of which…I’ve learned…are dead wrong.

If you don’t give away at least 1 thing that you know people would pay you money for…then you’re only as good as the information you talk about:

And the moment your information is no longer valuable to the market, your brand is no longer valuable.

When you give this valuable thing away for free…they start banging down your door to pay you money. They start following you religiously, and start telling their friends about you. They start giving you testimonials (like the ones below) without you ever asking for them.

People need to feel provided for, to know that you fully understand them, and that you’re willing to serve their highest interest.

And when you give away so much that you feel sick over it, you attract less “kiddie pool” clients and more “olympic swimming pool” clients.

But my aim was to give away so much free value inside the course that someone can’t wait to open the next email.

Offering the straightest, quickest path to a desired result.

Throughout the course, I teach you how to build your very own “AI Employee.” One that writes & repurposes your social media content. It even schedules & posts this content across multiple social media channels…

Using only a chatGPT window and a basic spreadsheet.

You’ll never have to log on to social media ever again to post content.

Its the exact system I use today.

These AI & Automation tools save me hundreds of hours a month, and keep me focused on revenue generating activities…not wasting time writing content or messing with shitty GPT prompts.

In the free course, you learn how to build a marketing system I charge $4000 for. I don’t hold back any information or gatekeep anything. You learn the headaches to avoid, my funnel strategy, the entire marketing automation, instructional videos, and all the benefits this AI-driven system provides.

When I decided to give this away for free…it made me sick to my stomach. In the end, karma is the best strategy.

But maybe you don’t have time to learn?

Maybe you’re flat out exhausted from running a business, and your brain is too tired to figure it all out?

This is where our growth loop becomes valuable → People will do anything to save time.

Re-read that sentence again and again.

Make it the mantra for your business model.

Step 2: Engineer a “Fair Trade” with your reader.

After 5 days of giving insanely value info, the reciprocity scale points back in my direction.

Keeping with the theme of saving time, I included a “fast forward” button for people who just want the next email to come ASAP.

All of this sets up the reader for a huge “time-saving” bonus when they complete the 5 day course.

Ask Yourself: ‘What’s one thing that I could offer my audience, that is so absurdly valuable, they would do almost anything to get it for free?’

This valuable thing is free for everyone taking the course, but only under 1 stipulation:

We trade for it.

I thought, “Why don’t I just give them the whole system, templatized and built for them…in return for a genuine testimonial?”

The Fair Trade:

“If I gave you a $4000 marketing system, complete with an AI + Automation tools, that you could tailor for your business in minutes…Would you write a social media post about my course?”

Your first thought might be like, "That doesn’t sound fair at all.”

On the surface, you would be correct. But you’re only looking at it from the POV of the subscriber.

Take a look at it from the my side:

• What happens when that 1 social media testimonial turns into 20 new course subscribers?

• What happens if 5 of them give testimonials to their audience?

• What happens when I have a swipe file of 100 testimonials for a free course…what will people think about my paid stuff?

• What happens when 1000, 5000, 10000 people go through the course - at my current rate of 20% who offer testimonials?

• What happens to my list, when someone with 100,000 followers writes a testimonial?

This is called the Network Effect.

And it’s the only viable way to scale a great business with organic traffic.

The best part? These testimonials are evergreen. They will do the selling for you forever. You can use them literally anywhere - in your emails, your content, sales pages, etc.

I wanted to tip the reciprocity scale so far on the reader’s side, that none of this feels like “work.”

So the next step was to make the act of posting this testimonial as easy as a few clicks.

Step 3: Remove as much friction as possible.

If writing the testimonial post “feels” like a chore or work, then no one will do it.

Your readers will do the mental math: the farther away they are from completing the task…the less likely they are to take the first step.

So I needed to find a way to automate it.

Here was the exact copy:

The Twitter posting link is an entirely automated process.

I used clicktotweet.com to automatically volley up this template based on the template you see above.

Here’s the URL if you want to see how it works: https://ctt.ac/9hAQl

When you click the link, the template is automatically drafted for you as a new tweet.

All the reader has to do is write the review, tag me, and click post.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not have this feature. I could build this in a more complex technical automation, but this would require more work than I was willing to figure out.

So for now, the LinkedIn link inside my email sequence just sends the reader to my LinkedIn profile page.

Once the reader publishes their social media testimonial - they reply to my email with proof of life. I ask for this because 90% of the time, LinkedIn doesn’t notify me when I’m tagged in another post.

At this point the deal is done.

My $4000 marketing automation is instantly emailed to them, within minutes of their reply.

Step 4: Automate your end of the bargain.

I didn’t want to be monitoring my inbox for these emails to come through, and then have to send a reply back. Nor did I want to hire a virtual assistant for such a low-value task…

That’s where Make.com comes in.

This email reply automation is so stupid simple. It’s only 3 steps.

And even if you’re the least technical person on the planet, you can have this workflow built and running within 15 minutes or less.

But instead of telling you how to do it…

Why not just show you?

Here’s the automation flow:

1. Set up a filter inside of gmail: when subject line includes (insert subject line text) → automatically label that email as {name your label} inside of gmail.

2. When new label is added to email, the automation will trigger.

3. Delay for 90 seconds.

4. Download the attachment from google drive.

5. Send new email to the reader with the downloaded attachment + URL to setup instructions.

Step 5 - Nurture the relationship further.

In October 2024, email is still the single greatest way to build relationships with your prospects.

It’s the only communication medium that everyone signs onto.

Since my automation sends them the delivery email…I will always end that email with a question. This prompts the reader to reply back answering the question and continuing the conversation. More trust = More sales.

Remember: The highest ROI skill you can have is understanding people.

The relationships I’ve built, the amazing clients I’ve helped, the mentors who showed me how to level up…

It’s your people that make you wealthy…Not the assets you own.

Learn to automate the button clicks…not the conversations.

Benefits of The Fair Trade

Here’s what happens when you deploy this sales automation:

• You stop manually asking for testimonials…and start getting referrals from prospects you’ve never met before.

• You get more net new leads & followers by uncovering new communities of people.

• You fast track the “Know Like Trust” factor by borrowing the trust that someone else built with this new audience.

• Your list growth is built by your raving fans. This growth compounds over time - the more people on your list, the more raving fans you get, the more people who provide a testimonial. Make the free thing they get so ridiculously valuable and you’ll go mega viral.

• Your work is entirely automated from start to finish. All you have to do is open your inbox and continue these valuable conversations.

It’s such a crazy marketing hack, definitely one of my favorites that I’ve engineered to date.

It’s tripled my weekly newsletter signups in 2 weeks since launching it.

But I won’t lie to you…

Even though I worked my ass off building this free course…I never expected so many testimonials to come from it.

But everytime someone writes a post, I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Here’s some of my favorites so far:

These amazing entrepreneurs all took my free 5 day AI course.

They’re pioneers who want more for themselves, and take the necessary steps to get there.

They’re regular people like you and me, business owners striving for more freedom and autonomy.

If you’re interested, you should join 950+ other business owners leveling up their AI & Automation skills here:

Forever-funnels.com

TLDR:

1. Give so much value up front that it tilts the reciprocity scale in your favor.

2. Engineer a “Fair Trade” for the reader → subscriber or reader does a desired action and you give them something valuable that you sell for free.

3. Have the person reply to the email after they’ve completed the action you want them to do.

4. Use my simple Make.com automation (video above) to automate an email delivering your valuable thing.

5. Include a strategic question at the end of your delivery email, to prompt the person to reply back…continuing the sales warmup process.

6. Thank your lucky stars you’re subscribed to “The Autopreneur” newsletter…and forward this newsletter article to a friend.

See you next week Autopreneur.

Time > Everything,

Ryan Hutchinson

PS - If you’re looking to get more leads and clients without working more hours…

Here’s a few suggestions that can help you:

1. Build Your Ai Marketing Machine - Get my Free 5 Day Email Course and learn how to build your “AI Employees.”

2. Grow Your Business to 40k Per Month - The Complete B2B Roadmap, including a daily action plan, systems, and automations to help get your business to consistent 40k months.

3. Done For You Automation Builds - Book a Project Call with me and we’ll discuss any custom automations your business needs.

But you know what’s even more valuable?

An Email List of Qualified Buyers.

In just 6 months, I’ve built a system that attracts VC firms, Entrepereneurs with 2.5 million followers, and 8 figure agency owners…

This same system also attracted:

• Yoga Teachers

• Podcast Hosts

• Data Scientists

• Mental Health Coaches

• Software Engineers & Tech Consultants

• Travel Plan Concierges

• AI Companies

• Farmers

• Chefs

Having qualified prospects in my back pocket gives me complete control over my future.

Whether or not you want to sell your services, build partnerships, get hired in a new role, or position yourself as an authority → you need a system for getting attention.

One that combines AI, Automation, and Human-Powered networking.

This is my version.

I call it my “Forever Leads System.”

This system helped me build an audience of 15,000+ people online, attract 30-50 qualified leads a week, and earn upwards of 35k months…

And it only takes 7 to 12 hours a week to manage.

If this sounds ridiculous…I totally get it.

Because I used to laugh at gurus who made bold claims…

Until I tasted the sweet nectar of “Leverage.”

This system completely transformed my life, my career, and my future.

And you too can build this system yourself, even if you have no idea what a no-code automation is.

Build the whole thing. Use pieces of it that you like.

Mold it to your own specific needs.

That’s the joy of getting leverage with systems → you control the advantage.

You deserve the freedom to work on things you love. You deserve to chase your passions, and not work 16 hour days. You deserve to enjoy a 2 month vacation with loved ones, and not worry about your business falling apart.

Today, I’m giving you a deep dive into my Forever Leads System.

Let’s take a look at 7 critical pieces:

1) Write & Post Content Across ALL Social Media Platforms

In March 2024, I went all-in on building an email list.

The goal was three-fold:

1. Build leverage as a one-man shop.

2. Find a new market demand & create an offer for it.

3. Grow a pipeline of qualified buyers for my automation agency.

I had been writing content on LinkedIn for a year, but I never focused on growing my list.

After logging on to Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Threads, etc., getting dings and pings every 2 seconds on mobile, and trying to batch schedule content…

My manual approach to content got old…quick.

I tried services like Taplio, Publer, and Hypefury, but sometimes they would bug out and not post my content.

Plus they’re expensive: $97 a month just to schedule stuff?

“There has to be an easier way to distribute content.”

Welcome to Make.com, your new business partner.

This is my “Content Scheduler” automation.

If you’re new to Make, this thing looks like a monster. But the entire workflow is only 3 main steps:

1. Find today’s content in my Airtable database.

2. Check the “Type” of post. (image, video, text only, etc)

3. Publish that post to all the social platforms I’m on.

My content scheduling automation takes a piece of content, and depending on the type → instantly blasts out it across LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, and Medium.

The best part?

I don't ever need to log in to these platforms.

This one workflow alone will save you (or your team) countless hours from logging in, scheduling, and copying & pasting all day.

You can easily swap out Airtable for Google Sheets, Notion, Microsoft Excel, or any other database that you write & store your content inside of.

This central content system allows me to run all my automations from one central repository.

Here’s a few of the other automations I also have running off my content database:

• My Content Performance Dashboard

• My Lead Gen Data Analyzer

• All My Copywriting & Content Swipe Files

• A Social Media Templatizer

• Ideas & Rough Drafts

• An AI Repurposing Machine

• My Personal AI Ghostwriter

This part of my Forever Leads System helps me batch content across 7 social media platforms in minutes. It acts as my own social media marketing team.

It even repurposes newsletters like this one into perfect social media posts.

2) Collect Email Leads with Automated Outreach

Back in May 2024, I got sick of sending 100-200 connection requests a week on LinkedIn.

So I hired a virtual assistant to do it for me.

Ruth would:

1. Log onto a VPN.

2. Ping me when she was signing on to my profile so as not to set off any red flags.

3. Check who engaged with my content and who viewed my profile.

4. Find any profiles I wasn’t connected to.

5. Copy & Paste a friendly “Hello!” script.

6. Max out my 100 free connection requests every week.

7. Update our CRM with anyone who she sent connections to & document who accepted or responded.

8. Then tag in Ryan inside the CRM, so that I could continue the conversations in the DMs.

9. Ping me when she was logging off.

It was entirely hands-free on my part…and it worked like a charm.

Except it also cost me anywhere from $500-$800 every month to have her do this work.

And while the system was running smoothly, something about it just didn’t “feel” right to me.

“There’s got to be an automation tool that does this…without setting off any alarms on LinkedIn.”

So I did my research into the social media automation world…and found nothing but high risk, low reward bots.

Using automation, especially on LinkedIn, is very risky.

If I lost my 13,000 followers over there it would be a huge blow…

But after months of testing out some free trials, I found a low-risk tool I love.

It’s even used by a few entrepreneurs I trust.

And none of them have ever been shadowbanned for using it.

The LinkedIn automation tool I chose for my Forever Leads System mimics human-like behavior. It adds in random scrolls, time delays, and limits on “actions taken”. I’ve been running this bot 7 days a week, from 8am to 8pm since June, and I’ve never gotten one red flag from LinkedIn.

Instead of paying Ruth $500 a month, I pay $15 for this tool…and it takes 15 minutes a week to manage my automated outreach.

Here’s how it works:

1. The bot scrapes all of my followers & profile visitors on LinkedIn.

2. Then it collects their profile information (including email addresses) and adds this info to my CRM.

3. Finally, it sends a personalized connection request to anyone who fits my ideal customer criteria. Inside that first message, it includes a note along with my Substack opt-in page.

I’ve also got a few more automated messages after they initially accept that starts my “Sales by Chat” flow.

(more on this below)

Remember: these aren’t cold leads, they’re already following my content on LinkedIn, or have clicked on my profile. That’s why I can give them the newsletter link right away.

My opt-in rate is around 65-70% for anyone who accepts a connection request.

At 100 outgoing connections sent every week, about 60-70 people will accept right away.

This gets me 35-40 new email leads every week.

In the month of August, this bot tripled my email lead flow, and added $12,000+ worth of revenue.

Did I mention that I took a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard for two weeks with my family?

This LinkedIn automation ran while I was in the swimming pool all day.

And in the next few steps you’ll see how I automated the nurturing process, turning these new warm leads into customers.

There’s so many more time-saving lead gen tasks on LinkedIn that you can perform with this tool…

For obvious reasons, I’m not publicly releasing the name of this software in a blog article…

It’s a really powerful lead gen tool that could be easily abused by idiots…

And I don’t want to ruin it for us business owners who use it effectively.

If you’re interested in learning more about this tool, please DM me or Email me personally.

3) Sell $5000 to $15,000 Offers in the DM’s

Once a connection request is accepted, the human side of the sales nurturing process begins.

*Ryan has entered the chat.*

I hop into my DMs 2 days a week for a total of about 4-5 hours, with one goal:

Network first, Offer second.

I use a very human-centered approach as the North Star for my sales conversations. Having a structured system for my DM’s reduces the overwhelm of getting hundreds of new conversations.

The chat flow ends in people either booking a call for my agency (high ticket) or purchase my offers without a sales call.

Reminder: Your time here on Earth is short. Please treat it that way.

No more “coffee chat” meetings that go nowhere. No more answering questions all day in the DM’s.

This simple, structured Sales by Chat system is my bread and butter.

My process is so simple that anyone who hates selling can use it, and start closing customers without a single sales call.

It’s a simple “If They Say This, Then You Say That” framework with 11 phases of a conversation.

I feed this “Sales by Chat” blueprint into ChatGPT, along with any conversation examples for it to learn.

Here’s my Human + Automation chat flow:

• I paste the conversation into my pre-started ChatGPT bot.

• ChatGPT analyzes the conversation and figures out what phase of my “Sales-by-Chat” process we’re in.

• ChatGPT then suggests how to approach the next step in the sales-by-chat process, and provides an example response for me to reply with.

This takes the thinking out of the DM process…and you’ll never have to wonder:

"What Do I Say Next?"

It saves me hours of wasting time DM’ing, and removes any mistakes of over or under selling myself.

This DM conversation above turned into a $1500 purchase in August.

That same client above referred me a new lead.

I then turned that lead into a $3500 client.

This new client now wants to discuss hiring us to ghostwrite a book for a $15,000 - $20,000 deal.

The Lesson: Have a structured system for your sales conversations.

It will repay you in dividends.

4) Offer a Treasure Trove of “Deeper Dives”

By this point, I’m now getting leads with content, connections, and DMs across 5 to 7 platforms.

That’s 15 to 21 inbound and outbound channels all running at once.

As my social media following grows, this pipeline grows along with it.

And all of this is only possible by using a simple, manageable system.

So far, the only manual tasks I’ve performed are:

• Writing Content

• Replying to DMs

But here’s the thing…

Some people who follow you are piping hot leads.

Others…maybe sign in once a week, and just happened to click the follow button on your profile.

They quickly forget who you are.

I want people to remember me offline.

For this exact reason, I moved my entire newsletter articles over to Substack.

My deep dives were tucked away from the world, buried inside my ConvertKit creator profile…where no one can see them.

In just 1 month of posting my newsletter here:

Substack boosted my total email list by 7%. I also have 5 people referring me in their newsletters. My list is compounding even faster than before.

People here aparently enjoy long form content.

A substack user is looking to read something…and then they subscribe if they got value from it.

But there’s only one major issue with Substack:

You can’t send automated email sequences to new subscribers…

…until now.

This 2 step automation in Make allows me to now use my Substack opt-in page as a newsletter opt-in.

When someone bypasses the Substack opt-in, they’re instantly hit with all my deep dives and previous articles. If they read to the bottom, it’s almost guarantee that they’ll subscribe.

Maybe leads need to see what’s behind the curtain first? A show of faith…before they decide to opt-in to The Autopreneur.

My Subscriber Automation Then Triggers:

• Scrape the “New Subscriber in Substack” email for an email address

• Add that email address to my welcome sequence in ConvertKit

If you want to build this 2 step automation - and have your Substack subscribers instantly get added to your email marketing software…

Check out this tutorial I wrote on how to build it.

Now they’re captured.

And until they decide to leave, I have full permission to email them with even more evergreen content.

5) Send “Forever-Green” Nurture Sequences

The welcome sequence is where this Forever Leads System really compounds your ROTI. (Return on Time Invested)

Think of email sequences like compounding interest for the all the time you invested to acquire the lead.

Every marketing guru online has advice for email sequences…but most of them are only applicable to their brand...not yours.

“So what do I write in my welcome sequence?”

Here’s what I suggest:

• Take your best selling content (or emails) you’ve written in the past.

• Re-write them into “Forever-green” emails.

• Add CTAs for your core service or high-ticket offer.

Most people will start with a “bottom up” approach. They offer a low ticket item to new email leads.

Don’t do this.

The problem is in the lack of scale.

If you ever wanted to run paid traffic to this email sequence, you don’t have a long runway before running out of cash.

Compare these 2 scenarios…

Low Ticket → 7 Day Welcome Sequence:

• 1000 New Leads Added

• Emails = Welcome, Pitch, Value, Value, Pitch, Value, Value, Pitch

• Offer is a $100 workshop

• 2% Conversion Rate (20 customers)

• Total Revenue = $2000

You can comfortably spend up to $2 to acquire a new lead before going into the red.

High Ticket → 7 Day Welcome Sequence

• 1000 New Leads Added

• Emails = Welcome, HT Pitch, Value, Value, HT Pitch, Value, Value, HT Pitch

• Offer is a $9000 Done-For-You service

• 0.1% Conversion Rate (1 customer)

• Total Revenue = $9,000

You can comfortably spend up to $9 to acquire a new lead before going into the red.

Offering higher ticket items in your welcome sequence gives you more chances to earn an early profit.

I give away more than 30 email templates that you can plug and play into your own welcome sequence in my Forever Leads System course.

By analyzing the emails that make me the most money, I repurpose the best performing ones…and add them to my “Forever-green” email automations.

Which brings me to my next step…

6) Create Your Offers Based on Real Market Data

I build offers based on what the market needs.

You have this data too → all your winning content, emails, sales copy, offers, DM’s, CTA’s, etc.

Analyze the stuff that makes your leads click the “buy now” button.

Example → I created an offer called the “Social Media Automation Kit”

Algorithms were hurting everyone’s reach. I kept seeing comments about people feeling “depressed” about what social media and content algorithms were doing to their businesses.

This was a valuable insight.

I got it from asking my audience what issues they were facing, and then storing that information in a database.

I’ll feed ChatGPT all the prospect & market data, and ask it to find insights for me.

This is the real power of AI inside your business.

ChatGPT let me know about the negative sentiment around social media tasks. So I sent an email to my list at 10pm on a Sunday night…

I woke up to $2250 in revenue for my SMA Kit offer…

Along with 20+ leads replying “I’m interested.”

That One Email Made Me $2750 in 48 hours.

This is mostly how I’ve built my low to mid ticket offers.

1. I uncover what my audience wants.

2. I test different offers and price points.

3. I keep the winners and discard the losers.

I’ve made tens of thousands in revenue from my newsletter, with less than 1,000 emails on my list.

It’s not about the size of your list…its about the purchasing power of the lead.

You build a squeeky clean list by finding what the market will pay you for…

Then publishing content that educates those specific people.

My only goal as a solo CEO is to find & create offers that sell. Then make sure my customers keep coming back for more.

“But how do I know if an idea should turn into an offer?”

This brings us to the final step.

Step 7: Have a Community to Mastermind New Ideas

The last piece of my Forever Leads System is to host a community.

Communities are all the rage nowadays, but mine is much different.

Huge communities are a beast to manage & maintain.

A community of 1000 people begging for your time is the stuff my nightmares are made of.

I treat my community like a mini-mastermind:

“The Automation Lab” is a small community reserved for my customers & clients. They each get the option to join us inside a Skool community if they want to.

One of the perks of being a community member, is that they get to beta test all my new ideas.

Members get first access to any new automations I build, they get my help with any issues, and they give me a look into their own business systems.

This helps me fine-tune my offers for a wide range of use cases…while also collecting extremely valuable data.

No one teaches you how to answer the question:

“What do my customers need next?”

And answering this question successfully is your ticket to freedom.

It’s the open loop that we’re all trying to solve as business owners.

Inside our community: I share a ton of free videos, Automations, and AI tools that members can use to get more leads, clients, and time.

I love hanging out with my “Lab Rats.” We also have a bi-weekly Q&A session open for all members.

Members are constantly tinkering with new AI tools and asking questions:

Having a community is optional of course.

But I highly suggest creating some type of “inner circle” where you can mastermind and collect data from the market.

The ability to pitch without selling is so underrated.

It will also keep you sane when you’re struggling to find that golden offer.

In Summary:

These automations are a godsend.

The Forever Leads System gives me more free time to work on the things I love in my business.

It allows me to get more leads and clients while spending time in paradise with my family.

It gives me predictable revenue.

It’s scalable. Flexible. Adaptable.

Most of all its fun as hell.

If you're growing a business using social media, and you want to know:

• How to collect 1000 new leads from social media in the next 60 days, without wasting hours writing content

• How to automate your entire social media calendar, so you never have to worry about what to post next

• How to create a swipe file of viral content templates using easy AI tools

• How to build lead magnets that position you as an authority

• How to get the leading experts to build your list for you

• How to copy-and-paste high-converting landing pages that capture leads while you sleep

• How to design an evergreen email sequence that generates predictable revenue

• How to use content, competitor, and customer data to stuff your pipeline with more leads

• How to design a lead conversion system that prints cash while your on vacation

• And many more practical, 7-figure business systems…

Then you should check out my Forever Leads System.

More than 40 business owners use this system to earn $10k, $20k, even $50k per month:

…and we’re just getting started.

Time > Everything

Ryan Hutchinson

PS - DM me, or email ryan@thecreatorstack.com if you’re interested in owning this lead generation system.

Picking a Million Dollar Niche.

During my initial research phase, I found 3 interesting niches that are all interconnected with each other.

• Homesteading:

  • Pros: Trending upward on macro interest level. People are sick of the system and looking for more control over their health, career, and finances. Positive, raving fan community found everywhere on social media.

  • Cons: Difficult barrier to entry. Mostly requires capital, time, and passion to want this type of lifestyle. Increase in responsibilities.

• Off-Grid Lifestyle:

  • Pros: Increase in affordable, sustainable technology to help you cut the cord. Gives you a sense of resiliency and rebelliousness. Huge search demand within SEO traffic & organic social media content.

  • Cons: Not legal in every state. Transitioning to off-grid can get expensive quickly, as well as requires a “less-comfort” mindset.

• Gardening:

  • Pros: Requires almost no capital, land, or time to get started. Plethora of content ideas & information to repurpose. Massive community of people leading by example.

  • Cons: Large competition, difficult to “stand out” or be unique. Very seasonal search volume depending on the location of audience.

Picking any of these allows me to scratch my own itch.

Which is rule #1 when starting a business online.

Never under any circumstances start a business that you have no interest in pursuing. Otherwise you’re just trading a job you hate for a business (with more jobs) you hate.

You should at the very least have an interest in the thing your going to put out to the world. Next level would be having some skills or experience in the thing too. This isn’t required, as anyone can learn along the way (why I love reading about build in public style content), but your interests will pull you toward your goals on those grueling days you just don’t have it in you.

Let’s take a look at these 3 micro-niches, and find the synergies:

Homesteading + Off-Grid = A way to break free from societal structures.

Gardening + Off-Grid = Learning essential survival skills & emergency preparedness.

Gardening + Homesteading = Control over your labor and long term preservation.

So what’s the Core Philosophy?

Self-Reliance.

The most important skill in our human experience.

This topic itself is broad enough to not “box me in” when pumping out content and getting traction.

But it is small enough that it only speaks to a very specific audience…

A community of people who support each other.

How do I know this?

Because I’m part of this community.

It’s been a mission of mine since 2020 to learn essential skills like home construction, woodworking, growing my own food, sustainable energy resources, and creating my own income.

Scratching my own itch.

Becoming Self-Reliant.

Choose a Different Way of Life.

After researching a ton of social media channels, I spent about 30 minutes typing in business names into GoDaddy’s domain search.

I settled on Alternative-Living.com

A solid name for a website, with very common search strings, and one that could easily be turned into a physical newsletter product or magazine in the future.

The name encompasses the entire Venn Diagram above.

It could also easily be niched downward if needed OR expanded outward to include things like one-person business ownership, farming, prepping & survival, tiny homes, and really anything that leans against the social norms most people fall victim to.

So now we’ve established:

1. A micro-niche with high demand.

2. A growing community that spends money & supports itself.

3. Variety in the topics, platforms, and styles of content.

4. The ability to drive traffic organically & with paid strategies.

5. A 5 year upward trend with no signs of slowing down.

We’ve identified our success markers.

Now how are we going to make any money with this?

My $85,000 per month newsletter strategy.

“Ryan, what is the point of starting a newsletter?”

I dunno…

One of the greatest investments you can make is starting a personal brand.

The second greatest investment?

Starting a newsletter.

Imagine having an email list of 50,000 targeted fans (and buyers).

A list of people who Know, Like, and Trust you.

A tangible business asset that YOU own.

Here’s my preliminary strategy to $85,000+ per month:

Tactic #1 - Use my personal brand to help kickstart some traffic

When you’re brand new, you should do anything and everything to get your name out there. Talk to literally everybody about what you’re up to.

Fortunately I’ve been building my personal brand for 17 months now.

I’ve currently got an audience of:

• 13,000 on LinkedIn

• 450 on Twitter

• 205 on YouTube

• 624 on The Autopreneur

And while it won’t be a significant boost, it’s still valuable attention.

I’ll use the gold I’m sitting on today to send traffic over to the Alternative-Living.com

Never underestimate the power of targeted distribution and networking. Whether it be your own list or someone else’s, the real value lies in the quality of the audience you’re talking to..

Strategy Tactic #2 - Get Attention…Quickly

Here’s 20 different organic tactics you can use to build your email list without paying for ads:

1. Lead Magnets: Use lead magnets to convert a small audience into subscribers. Promote them through social media posts, DMs, and other channels. Good lead magnets provide immediate value, solve a narrow problem, and are quick to consume.

2. Pre and Post-CTAs: Use pre-CTAs to build anticipation for your newsletter and post-CTAs to promote it after publication.

3. New Follower Auto DMs: Send automated DMs to new followers to promote your newsletter.

4. Cold Email Warm Contacts: Email your existing contacts to inform them about your newsletter and encourage them to subscribe.

5. Referral Programs: Set up a simple referral program to encourage subscribers to refer others.

6. Cross-Promotions & Recommendations: Partner with other newsletters for cross-promotions and recommendations to grow your subscriber base.

7. Ask for Shares: Encourage subscribers to forward your newsletter to friends.

8. Build Relationships: Establish relationships with other creators to gain opportunities for promotion and growth.

9. Partner Giveaways: Collaborate with other newsletters to host giveaways that require users to subscribe.

10. Be a Podcast Guest: Appear on podcasts to talk about your newsletter and get more subscribers.

11. Guest Posts in Newsletters: Write guest posts in other newsletters to reach new audiences.

12. Link to Your Content: Ask other newsletters to link to your content, driving more traffic to your newsletter.

13. Content Syndication: Partner with blogs or media companies to republish your content for more exposure.

14. Online Communities: Join relevant online communities and share your expertise to attract subscribers.

15. Reddit Strategy: Engage on Reddit to organically gain newsletter subscribers.

16. Website Email Capture: Optimize your website with multiple email capture forms to convert visitors into subscribers.

17. Quora Strategy: Answer questions on Quora related to your expertise and link to your newsletter.

18. Repurpose Content for SEO: Turn newsletter content into SEO-optimized articles.

19. Product Hunt Launch: Launch your newsletter on Product Hunt to quickly gain subscribers.

20. Creative Promotions: Use unique strategies like billboard backpacks or milestone giveaways to promote your newsletter.

Since this is a side project…and not my main business venture…

I’ll need to narrow it down to a few key plays. Tactics that use high leverage for an insane ROI.

Cross Promos - This will be through newsletter shares, JV deals, and paying other influencers in the space to send traffic. Substack recommendations will be a great play here…especially in this unique space. I don’t see too many influencers writing on substack in this niche, there’s an ocean of opportunity to dominate this platform.

Organic Video Content - I’ve already started posting short form Instagram Reels on my page, and repurposing over on YT Shorts and TikTok. Funny enough, my last two TikToks posts have already been getting a ton of likes and views.

FB + Instagram Ads - This is self explanatory. But will need to create a unique PAS style VSL or simple ad that offers a lead magnet to acquire the lead. I’ve studied newsletter funnels and a lot of them are running paid traffic directly to a blog article or Substack post that offers the free valuable information, and then has the “Sign Up for the Newsletter” plastered around it.

Mini Documentaries & Stories - This is more of a “style” of content vs an actual traffic source…but from my research it’s the best way to generate high CTR and grow the audience. I’m in love with channels that show other people living simpler lifestyles. Tapping into another influencer’s audience by documenting their journey on our site, makes the “creative” side of content an easier lift.

Now we’ve got the tactics and the sources…

Let’s talk money.

Strategy Tactic #3 - Hybrid Newsletter Monetization

Here’s how the Hybrid Model works:

Send 2-3 newsletters per week.

I’ll initially start with 1x week until my systems are running smoothly. But the goal will be to schedule on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

On the journey, I’ll affiliate helpful products to generate some light revenue.

Around 5,000 subs…I’ll sell 1 sponsorship spot in each newsletter issue.

Newsletters like this are more niche, therefore the audience is of high quality. They usually command a higher sponsorship rate.

Around 10,000 subs…I’ll create a low-priced course or product.

Earning between $99-$250 per sale would be ideal. This price range is low enough to drive impulse buys, and high enough to cover my ad costs.

Money Math:

At 100,000 subscribers and a 50% open rate, you can sell newsletter sponsorships for $2,500 each ($50 CPM).

If we sell 1 sponsorship in each newsletter at that rate, that’s $32,500 per month in recurring sponsorship revenue.

If we convert 2.5% of subscribers into $250 customers (2,500), that’s $52,000 per month in course revenue.

Total monthly revenue = $85,500.00

The first goal is a list of 1,000 subscribers.

And if you’re a subscriber then you’ll be getting everything from me:

• Monthly Revenue Reports

• Advanced Tactics

• Failures

• Wins

• Data

We’re finally here.

The last 7 weeks of preparation now places us in position to win.

We’re getting a head start.

This won’t be easy…

And I’m expecting turbulence along the way.

But the best part?

You’re with me for the ride.

Time > Everything

Ryan Hutchinson

Did you miss the last deep dive? Read it here:

A few weeks ago, I listened to an interview with Justin Welsh.

If you don't know Justin, you're either living under a rock...or you're new to LinkedIn.

I was doing laundry, and had it on in the background...until 1 thought stopped me:

​

I've been reading his content for 10 months, but never actually analyzed his funnel.

This should be at the top of every content creator's list of things to study.

It's not.

​

Issue: We dismiss famous creators because of their fame & fortune.

Why?

We don't believe that their strategies will work for us.

After taking 100+ hours to study Justin's funnel...its clearly apparent:

This high leverage strategy can be run by anyone.
Anyone with any size audience can start doing this tomorrow.

​

Let's take a look - step by step:

Step 1 - Content

Goal - post TOFU content on LinkedIn, attract interest, and move the reader's attention to the author's comment section.

Hook - "Your business success is one plan away."

CTA - "You can join 178,975 subscribers for free in the 📌📌comment."

Picture - include pictures to take up visual real estate in the timeline. Use personalized quotes, testimonials, or screenshots. Justin includes a picture with every post. I'm a huge fan of this strategy.
​

The LinkedIn post:

The picture attached:

​

Step 2 - Pinned Comment

Goal - Give more value as a "free bonus", tipping the reciprocity scale in your favor. Move the reader off platform to a newsletter or subscription page.

Hook - "Here's a bonus tip for making it this far."

(Marketing Psychology Tip: reward the reader with a 'bonus' for following directions)

CTA - "Join my free newsletter and get weekly actionable tips for building your own online business here:"

​

The pinned comment:

​

Step 3 - Newsletter Signup

Goal - Sell with social proof and testimonials. Set the standard of excellence that you deliver insane value for your "free" signup. Capture the email address.

Hook - "Practical tips guiding you from first-dollar to full-time solopreneur."

CTA / Button - "Join 175k Readers"

​

The newsletter landing page:

​

Step 4 - Thank You & Segmentation

Goal - Personalize the "Thank You" with a handwritten signature. Offer an optional questionnaire to segment the reader into specific interests...a great way to collect valuable data.

Hook - "I want to make sure that I send you exactly the type of content and newsletters you want to read."

CTA / Button - "Mind sparing 15 seconds to tell me about what you're hoping to learn?"

​

The Thank You Page & Questionnaire:

I clicked through 6 questions to get to the last button above. Looks like its hosted by RightMessage. I'm going to take a look into this feature...

​

Step 5 - Welcome Email

Goal - Set expectations for future emails, validate the email address, and re-direct attention back to his website.

Hook - "It's Time to Upgrade Your Saturday"

CTA / Button - "Come inside and get access to free articles for creators and entrepreneurs..."

The first email after subscribing to the newsletter:

​

Step 6 - Content Ecosystem

Goal - Hold and keep attention within your content ecosystem.

Offer more free value, solve problems specific to your audience, and move the reader further down your value ladder.

Content subtopics and niches allow the reader to pick and choose what topics that interest them.

The email link leads right back to Justin's newsletter database:

Clicking the first article titled "A Skeptic's Guide to Learning":

There's signups and CTAs at the top, middle, and bottom of every page.

​

At the end of every article, Justin includes his patented "soft sell."

"Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:"

​

This has been the same consistent sales pitch across every email, every article, every CTA that Justin writes. Not giving the hard pitch means you will have a longer 'warmup' phase before someone is ready to buy...

BUT...

The reward is that when a reader is ready to buy, they don't need much convincing.

​

They've seen enough of your brand and value to know what to expect.

​

Step 7 - Course Landing Page $$$

Goal - Move a red-hot lead to purchase the course product. Show more competency + social proof + boat loads of testimonials.

Hook - "Establish, grow, & monetize your personal brand on LinkedIn."

CTA / Button - "Get Instant Access for $150"

The product landing page:

This landing page is similar to the newsletter one...except heavily focused on paying members' results and testimonials.

It makes Justin Welsh $11,000 per day.

​

BONUS: The Sly 'Edit' You Never Noticed

By this point...you're knee deep in articles on Justin's website.

​

You're inundated with so much value that there's no point in going back to LinkedIn.

​

However, you most likely missed this sly maneuver...

​

If you head back to where the funnel started...

​

You'll uncover something verrrrrrrry interesting:

Notice the CTA at the bottom?

​

Justin edits out the old CTA, and he adds a link directly within the post itself.

​

OLD CTA - "You can join 178,975 subscribers for free in the 📌📌comment."

NEW CTA - "📌📌 Sign up to read it and get your 2024 plan ready for action: (link)"

​

He removes one action step from the funnel...which means one less chance to lose prospects.

​

IMPORTANT NOTE -- Never include an external link when you first publish your post.

If you include an external link, the algorithm throttles your overall reach. LinkedIn wants to keep users on platform...so this makes sense.

Justin avoids this by waiting 10-20 minutes and then edits the post to include the external link.

​

By that time the post is off and running, and he loses less initial traction and gains more potential subscribers.

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Justin Welsh is an OG Autopreneur.

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Remember…

Time > Everything.

~ Ryan

PS - Want an expert to build this for you?

I’ve built automations & systems for over 200+ Startups around the world…

Email me today → ryan@thecreatorstack.com

So buckle up, because you're sitting front seat...

And we're headed on a journey from $0 to $85,000 in MRR.

Sound good?

This week's deep dive is an absolute banger...

The Autopreneur - The First 3 Steps to 7 Figures

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Starting a business will make you feel like an idiot...

All....the....time.

After starting 7 businesses, I've learned a few tricks that get hundreds of leads, drive thousands in revenue every month, and position myself as a unique authority.

And it's what you'll be learning in today's 11th edition of The Autopreneur.

So I'm starting at the beginning again...

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Houston, Prepare for Liftoff.

"[FIRST NAME GOES HERE], what would you do if you lost everything...and had to start all over again?"

​

Now THERE'S a question I want to explore deeper.

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There's a ton of shitty business advice out there:

• Newsletters are dead.

• Starting a business is extremely risky.

• Build the product first, then go find customers.

• You should only start a business selling what you have experience in.

• You need a great idea, perfect timing, and luck to build a $1,000,000+ business.

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I don't have time to tell you why these gurus are wrong, but after 17 years working for myself you can take my word for it.

Here's how most businesses ACTUALLY start: When you become your first customer.

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Any business I've started came from my desire to solve a problem I was sick and tired of.

Million dollar ventures aren't just cool ideas you have. They're thoughts that spawn from the depths of your unconscious mind.

These business ideas drive you insane, day and night. They won't leave you alone.

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Next thing you know...

You're creating a business for a problem that you absolutely despise.

But before we ask our family and friends to look at our "Next Big Idea," we MUST become private investigators first.

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Last week I threw out a long list of micro-niches that I thought might be primed for a newsletter style business.

After researching a bunch, here's what I narrowed it down to:

1. Organic Gardening for Small Backyards

2. Side Hustles for Creative Professionals

3. Vanlife Conversion Tips for Beginners

4. Gut health solutions for Anxiety and IBS

5. Mobility for people who sit at a desk all day.

All of these topics I have an interest in, have problems I suffered with, or have become a customer for.

I ended up picking number 1...but with a big twist.

But before I tell you what I picked...

Here's where it all started:

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Step 1 - Find the "A-Listers"

Where do most influencers hide out? On social media of course.

So I put myself in the shoes of a potential customer for these niches, and began typing in queries into Google and YouTube.

I found the most popular YouTube channels, talking about the exact questions the niche's customers would have.

Then I went to these influencer's main websites, most of them blogs, and copied the website URL.

Next, I went over to Similarweb.com, signed up for their free 7 day trial, and used their "Website Performance" tab to do some traffic stalking.

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Example: One of the magazines I subscribe to is called "Backwoods Home Magazine." A publication about homesteading and becoming more self-sufficient.

You can see their home site at backwoodshome.com.

I bought it from a Facebook ad last winter. <-- REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER

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Someone once said, "If it has a physical magazine, that means there's a huge market of buyers."

Physical products cost money, time, and require heavy distribution.

Look at the BWH mag results in similarweb:

Here we can see not only that BWH is getting a 650,000 visits every 90 days, but similarweb also provides a list of "similar" websites within the niche too.

This is next level data, real-time information that ChatGPT can't offer you...

As expected, 91% of their traffic comes from the US & CAN.

Unexpectedly, the demographic is split evenly amongst males and females. This crowd also seems to be an older community with 75% of visitors above the age of 45...

Probably why a majority of their social traffic comes from Facebook.

Analyzing some of the competitors below...

I did extensive research on the top 10...and about 20 other websites in the niche. None of them came close to the traffic that Backwoods Home Mag had.

How can a quarterly magazine, that doesn't send a daily email, have SO much organic traffic?

Answer: SEO.

They've had the blog running since the dawn of the social media.

There's thousands of blog articles on their website ranking in Google for a ton of random search strings. A lot of the blog articles are centered around trending or controversial topics within the niche.

They also have an adjacent partner magazine at selfreliant.com which is such a beautiful salt + pepper asset class to have.

They're probably building two separate lists and sending traffic back and forth to each.

Another reason why having an email list is a great business asset.

It gives your business tangible value.

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So after weeks of researching the 5 niches, here's why I didn't pick the others:

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• Why Not Side Hustles for Creative Professionals?

  • Data shows that this was too general of a topic for too general of an audience demographic. Not enough "raving fan" communities built around the type of content I would be producing. Would be a go wide + deep and not the strategy I'm looking for with a micro-niche asset. This would be a great long term play for a 1-2x weekly newsletter. Something to keep in mind for the future.

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• Why Not Vanlife Conversion Tips for Beginners?

  • Research scared me a bit. Data shows that traffic is small from organic search, however, could be offset by the raving fan community of Vanlifers on social media (Instagram + YouTube). People love watching YouTube videos about unique conversions. What scared me is that no one was running any ads, which could be a blue ocean or a dead market. The rush to convert a van during 2020 is now over with, and a lot of social media van lifers are "quitting" van life altogether. We can also assume that most people living on out of a van are probably trying to "penny pinch," although the cost of converting a van is fairly expensive. This topic actually spawned the revolution of my gardening niche selection...we'll dive into this later.

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• Why Not Gut health solutions for Anxiety and IBS?

  • This is a health issue I've dealt with for half of my adult years. It's also one that I'm 100% sure is linked to, and can be solved with a proper diet. Which begs the question -> would the business model simply be selling natural products? Or creating a new diet? Affiliating other products and diets? Products, especially ones you ingest, take a lot to get up and selling, especially safely. And I didn't want to run a brand based off of affiliate marketing only, which most of the niche websites around this topic focus on. But the traffic is definitely there, being dominated by blogs from healthcare insurance companies and mini-niche websites. Possibly one to save in the back pocket for later.

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• Why Not Mobility for people who sit at a desk all day?

  • This was the 1b to my 1a. All of the signs were there:

    • Strong traffic volume

    • Various ways to monetize with courses, eBooks, affiliate deals, drop shipping fitness products, etc

    • Remote work culture is at an all time high, people are sitting more than ever

    • The Vitamin vs Painkiller approach --> sell painkillers, not vitamins

    • I could pump out content of myself doing mobility exercises at my own desk.

  • Here's the only downside I saw: the demographic of the search traffic was senior citizens and older. People looking for chair exercises to combat aging ailments. I am not a senior citizen, nor am I interested in writing to that market. So theoretically, this might be a blue ocean. I've still got my thumb on this pulse...but the purchasing power didn't look stronger than the niche I picked.

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This beautiful data I collected up front will save me thousands of hours downstream.

I know who to target, how to speak to them, what offers to funnel hack, and where pockets of opportunity lie.

More importantly...I've validated hunches and know exactly what to avoid.

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Step 2 - Spying on Winnings Ads

Here's two resources you will want to bookmark:

1. ​Meta Ads Library​

2. ​Google Ads Library​

Keep in mind Meta owns Facebook + Instagram.

Google owns YouTube.

Looking up winning ads is the easiest way to find winning offers. These businesses aren't pissing money away on ads...they're running them to drive a serious return.

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What I first did was to dig deeper into the niche: searching for Facebook pages of popular influencers and social media channels.

Searching through related interests like homesteading, gardening, tiny-homes, solar, 12and prepping.

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Look at these ads...

What's the first thing you notice?

Hint: look at the "Started running on..." dates.

These MI Gardener ads have been actively running for 9 months straight.

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What about these from the Backwoods Home Magazine:

Over a year now.

See that video with the woman in the rocking chair in front of a warm fire?

That's the exact Facebook ad I purchased my subscription from.

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An ad that runs longer than a month is a good one.

Longer than a year?

It's printing cash.

It means the cost per lead (CPL) is lower than the EPS (earnings per subscriber).

So I started building my swipe file of micro-niche ads & screenshots.

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Phase 3 - Funnel Hacking

PRO TIP --> If you want to sell more offers, you should be diving headfirst into every competitors lead gen funnel.

From there I started actually clicking on the ads, subscribing to newsletters, and screenshotting each part of the funnel.

You're not interested in what color the buttons are...

At this stage we just want to make note of things like:

• The type of media and copy writing

• Where the testimonials show up

• What prices the products & services are selling for

• What lead magnets are they using as bait.

This is GOLD.

These are lead magnets and funnels that you can use in your business today.

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Here's a simple 3 step funnel from joegardener.com:

1) Setup a landing page that offers a free desirable thing (e.g. free ebook).

Give them only one action to take - the button click.

2) When button is clicked, this popup opens up.

Offer the bribe --> You give me your First Name + Email, I'll give you the free ebook...

3) Simple Thank You page with the downloadable ebook.

The CTA links to follow Joe on Instagram.

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Now let's spot the opportunity.

I would improve this funnel by offering some type of upsell or a "next step" that calls out to your interested leads and turns them into immediate buyers.

You can include it right on the Thank You page.

This is how you can liquidate your ad costs, by collecting money immediately after the opt-in page.

Joe's welcome email is really professional, but again drops the ball.

He has way too many links, pictures, and CTAs for me to choose from. Keep it simple, keep it customer focused.

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I'm willing to bet 80% of you reading this did not do this type of research before starting your business.

You're probably traveling down the wrong path...

One that you thought would work because a content creator on social media said so.

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By not doing these three steps, you'll waste YEARS of your life failing to figure out what works and what doesn't.

If you're bootstrapping your business (like me)

Then you probably don't have that type of time.

It's not too late though...

You can still do this type of funnel hacking on your own business niche today!

Find what works, model...don't copy it, and then begin to build the pieces of your email marketing funnel.

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Since we're out of time...I'll save the rest for next week's deep dive. I'll show you the specific micro-niche I picked (hint: it's not homesteading)...

And lay out my exact strategy to build my simple business model to $1,000,000 a year.

You'll want to open that email.

It's gonna be insane.

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Stay tuned,

Ryan