you2idea@video:~$ watch 0UxQbhaoMlQ [33:48]
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0:03 I gave for free for many many years and now I'm in my stage where I I get to
0:07 earn the ask and so I ask a lot more now than I used to. But I do think that if
0:10 you're just getting started it should be give give give ask, right? Like maybe
0:17 maybe 90% giving and 10% asking. I don't think that you have to have 20 years
0:20 experience either. I think the more that you have obviously the the more you can
0:24 charge, the bigger projects you can do, the more complex projects you can do.
0:27 But the cool thing about um selling online is even if you only have let's
0:30 say two to three years of corporate experience or or two to three years of
0:34 building a specific skill that's better than somebody who has none, right? I
0:37 never really sit around and think well how do I build authority or how do I
0:41 build trust or how do I build expertise or show expertise? Um what I generally
0:46 think about is how do I establish whether or not someone is worth
0:51 listening to or following. And so what I've generally found when I consume
0:56 content is that the people I like to follow um are problem solvers.
0:59 >> Today's guest is one of the most influential solopreneurs on the
1:03 internet. So much so that literally his name is synonym of the concept. After
1:08 leaving the corporate world in 2019 due to burnout, he reinvented himself and
1:13 built a one-man business that has generated over $10 million in revenue
1:18 without employees, without offices, and no investors. He grew his liating
1:23 following since zero to 700,000 entirely organically posting once a day.
1:28 His content literally has become a blueprint for thousands of creators, me,
1:32 myself included. More than 30,000 people have enrolled his courses, the LinkedIn
1:36 operating system, the content OS, and of course his famous weekly newsletter
1:41 reaching nearly 200,000 readers considered the number one LinkedIn
1:44 content creator in the world. Thank you very much, Justin Wilch.
1:47 >> Hey, it's good to be here, man. Thanks for such a nice uh introduction. I
1:50 appreciate it. >> Really appreciate your time. Going right
1:54 to it, I wanted to ask you what's your take on um for content creators of
1:59 course high ticket versus low ticket. High ticket uh meaning let's put an
2:06 example $5,000 product for 20 people or let's say $1,000 product for 100 people
2:12 or vice versa. What's your take on that? >> Yeah, I think it I think it depends,
2:16 right? I don't think there's one single right answer. I think um for example, my
2:22 my approach to this was to start by creating uh products and services that
2:27 were affordable for everyone. And what I call those is sort of my trust trip wire
2:32 where if I can get somebody to pull out their credit card and spend, you know,
2:38 50 or $75 with me one time and I can deliver a really premium experience that
2:41 they're not expecting at that price point, then I know down the road as I
2:46 create additional products and services, I should theoretically be able to move
2:51 those up in price and get people to feel more at ease spending more money over
2:55 time. And of course, while still delivering more and more value, uh I
2:59 think if you're just getting started and you have a really specific skill that
3:04 you've honed your expertise in over 10, 20, 30 years, may maybe high ticket
3:09 services is the right way for you to start. I think ultimately what you're
3:13 looking at is what what kind of products are you building? What size is your
3:16 audience? And a lot of those things will intersect to tell you am I low, am I
3:20 medium, am I high? I don't think there's one right answer, but that's how I
3:24 started. Oh, that's awesome. And double clicking on that real quick. Um, do you
3:28 think can anyone monetize their knowledge or or is it only for industry
3:34 experts? You need to have some knowhow. >> I mean, I think it's more helpful um the
3:39 more knowhow you have, right? I think um you know, I will talk to people who will
3:43 tell me um I don't know what to sell because I don't have any skills or
3:47 knowledge. Well, I if that's if that's how you think about yourself, I would
3:52 highly encourage you to go out and acquire some skills and acquire some
3:56 knowledge. Go work for a company. Go learn how to do a skill, a trade,
4:00 something that you can teach other people how to do or that you you can
4:03 become a master at. Um, I don't think that you have to have 20 years
4:07 experience either. I think the more that you have, obviously, the the more you
4:11 can charge, um, the the bigger projects you can do, the more complex projects
4:14 you can do. But the cool thing about um selling online is even if you only have
4:19 let's say two to three years of corporate experience or or two to three
4:22 years of building a specific skill that's better than somebody who has
4:26 none, right? So there's always someone who's two two and a half three years
4:30 behind you. And if you can figure out how to bring those folks along on your
4:34 journey and turn them into customers, I mean you don't have to have decades and
4:38 decades of experience. And talking on that, so you of course are a hybrid in
4:43 the sense that you have authority, track record and then visibility, but again
4:47 double clicking on that what's your take on uh for example today I see lots of
4:53 influencers which have lots of reach but perhaps not that much expertise and
4:57 track record and then you see uh CEOs highx that um they have they have been
5:04 like amazing companies but they don't have sometimes not even Instagram or
5:08 perhaps they have uh a LinkedIn with couple hundred contacts. What What's
5:13 your route on on both of that? How do you see it? >> Yeah, I mean I see it as an opportunity
5:20 for both to improve, right? So So for example, I think it wasn't it wasn't
5:27 uncommon 10 years ago for a CEO to build a $100 million business and not be on
5:33 social media at all. And and to an extent you you still see that a little
5:37 bit. Um, but it's becoming less and less common. I think if you're a CEO, the the
5:42 the public face of a company that's a high growth company, being on social
5:46 media and and sharing knowledge and advice to your prospective customers is
5:52 a huge win. Um, and of course, as a busy CEO, like you could hire people to help
5:55 you do that, right? You don't have to do it all all by yourself. If you're
6:00 someone who is just an a quote unquote, for lack of a better term, influencer,
6:06 right? um then a and you don't have as deep of skills or knowledge as you
6:12 should, that's an area where you might get traction from your writing, but as
6:15 people discover that your products and services aren't valuable, that could
6:21 backfire a lot. And so I think it's really important to find the
6:24 intersection of like I'm I'm smart, I have skills, I have knowledge, and I
6:27 also know how to market myself. If you can do those things effectively, uh it
6:31 becomes a much better combination than the previous two that you mentioned.
6:37 >> Awesome. Now, talking about content, um how do you uh manage content that sells
6:44 versus free value content? Um what I mean here is how do you like do you put
6:48 CTAs on every post? I know you don't you you add lots of value for free. How's
6:52 the is there an equation like every five post I sell or h how do you envision
6:57 that the selling versus adding value? >> Yeah, I think you know I spent five
7:01 years maybe four four and a half years on LinkedIn just writing free content
7:07 without asking anyone to buy anything. Um and so for the last year or so I've
7:12 definitely started doing that more. Uh I think about my journey as like I gave
7:17 for free for many many years and now I'm in my stage where I get to earn the ask
7:22 and so I ask a lot more now than I used to. Um but I do think that if you're
7:26 just getting started it should be give give give ask, right? Like maybe maybe
7:32 90% giving and 10% asking to to me that's that's the right blend. And over
7:36 time as you earn the right to make more more asks that that ratio can shift. Um,
7:43 but I I don't think you're ever going to be successful if you only ask. So I
7:50 would I would always try even on an asking post to infuse that post with
7:54 value. >> Awesome. Yeah. Um, how do you uh have an editorial coherence? I'm citing your
8:03 web, but you you you speak about uh primarily six topics. personal growth,
8:06 business planning, personal branding, social growth, monetizing knowledge,
8:11 productivity. Um, how do you see the common thread amongst all the things
8:14 that that you speak about? How do you stay consistent and how do you find
8:19 this? Because some other experts, let's say say that you should stay in a niche
8:23 and just talking about something in concrete. How do you see that?
8:27 >> I I do see that as staying in a niche. Um, my niche is helping people become
8:32 one-person businesses. And in order to become a successful oneperson business,
8:36 you have to know how to market. You have to know how to use your time
8:40 effectively. You have to know how to design your life uh effectively because
8:44 if you're a oneperson business, like you can find yourself burning out or or uh
8:50 inundated with things to do. So I primarily write about topics that I
8:53 think roll up to the umbrella topic of of becoming a oneperson business or a
8:57 successful solarreneur. So that's how I stay aligned. Um I think around how I
9:04 create content is I don't have like a specific ideation process much anymore.
9:09 What I do is I try and and I've trained myself over I think six years to do this
9:13 but kind of keep my eyes and ears open around what's happening in my life and
9:16 in my business and what I see happening online. And anytime I see an idea, I
9:20 just write a tweet about it, right? And tweets become the foundation of
9:23 everything else because my LinkedIn posts are screenshotted tweets, my
9:27 Instagram posts are screenshotted tweets. So like if I can just think of
9:32 12 tweets a week, the the rest of the content flows naturally from that. So
9:36 that's how I think about it. >> That's awesome. Yeah. Distribution. Um
9:42 this perhaps is is a very specific uh question. So for example, you have
9:47 several product claims. Let's call it I'm going to call it like that. I don't
9:50 know if it's the technical meaning but you have for example I help
9:53 solrepreneurs turn knowledge into income. You have another one freedom to
9:58 live how you want. Um you sell freedom you sell soloreneurship
10:04 and uh what's your take on that? How did you come to this conclusion? And perhaps
10:07 how other content creators or knowledge creators um can I don't know adapt or
10:12 create a claim to stay on on the right lane if that makes sense.
10:16 >> Yeah, it does make sense. I I wouldn't I would I wouldn't call it a claim or that
10:20 I sell it. The way that I would think about it is um there there are two
10:25 things I've done. One is every single person who subscribes to my newsletter
10:29 goes through a series of multiple choice questions post subscribing. So I collect
10:34 all these really useful and relevant data points about my audience. I also
10:38 talk to my audience all the time. They ask me questions on a LinkedIn post.
10:42 They write on my tweets. they join my membership and ask me questions in our
10:47 live Q&As's. Um, so what I do is instead of selling something or claiming
10:52 something, I just turn their words back around onto them. So what I do is I look
10:57 at the data. What do people say they need help with? What are their biggest
10:59 challenges? What do they want to accomplish? Where is their dream life in
11:04 five, seven, 10 years? And then I talk to them and see what kind of words do
11:07 they use. How do they describe that situation? How do they describe that
11:10 life, their their problems, their challenges? And those sort of, if you
11:14 were, for for lack of a better term, kind of quote unquote claims um is just
11:19 what people say to me. And I use their language because I want them to know
11:22 that I'm listening and that I'm focused on the challenges that are most
11:25 important to them. >> Awesome. I also wanted to know um what's
11:32 your content balance in the sense of um so they say this is going to sound quite
11:37 weird. is my impression of you as a personal brand. You have uh lots of
11:42 visibility, also authority, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's the
11:46 media you've been in, if it's your profile pick, I don't know, but you you
11:51 bring lots of authority in that content. How do you balance like visibility,
11:56 authority, value in in the same content >> or >> Yeah. Or do you have different gateways
12:01 for each one? >> I don't I don't know that I optimize for
12:07 an outcome. So, so for example, I never really sit around and think, well, how
12:10 do I build authority or how do I build trust or how do I build expertise or
12:16 show expertise? Um, what I generally think about is how do I establish
12:22 whether or not someone is worth listening to or following. And so, what
12:27 I've generally found when I consume content is that the people I like to
12:32 follow um are problem solvers. So, they'll they'll help me solve a problem.
12:35 They'll write about something that I was challenged with and by the time I'm done
12:39 reading it, um, I have a solution, right? That's very, very helpful. Um,
12:42 oftentimes they'll just make really interesting and thoughtful observations.
12:46 They'll they'll observe something that I hadn't observed and I'll think, man,
12:49 that was that's really a good good observation. Or they'll be contrarian
12:53 and they'll say things like, you know, here's what I hear from most people.
12:56 This is why I don't think it works. Here's what I do instead and here's why
13:00 I think that works. So, it's like, oh, okay. I would have normally gone down
13:02 this route, but now I'm kind of interested in going down that that
13:06 route. So, I I've thought through all the different ways that people
13:09 communicate via content to me that I ingest willingly and excitedly. And I've
13:13 decided to kind of reverse engineer that. So, you might often see
13:17 observations, contrarian takes, step-by-step guides, how-tos, future
13:23 predictions, breakdowns, um because that's what I like. And so again, never
13:27 really optimizing for like, oh, this one's going to establish expertise, so
13:30 this one's going to build trust. It's just in aggregate as an aggregate total
13:36 outcome of of pushing all that content out. My hope is that people will say,
13:40 "Oh, I like this guy. I'm paying attention to him. I like what he
13:43 writes." And then my goal really, if if anything is going to establish
13:46 expertise, it's going to be my newsletter because that's where I go
13:50 longer on specific topics. So my goal is always to get people from short form to
13:56 long form. Awesome. Um, yeah, let's get into that. I I wanted your takes. Um,
14:01 again, double click on short form versus long form. They they they say that
14:05 today's retention is so and we we consume but al very short form content,
14:11 but on the flip side we have of course Substack, we have podcast, we have all
14:15 of this. Um, what's your take on on that? And um, yeah, and also you don't I
14:20 believe you don't have a YouTube channel. Also, if you can address
14:24 perhaps why not, if that's strategic, if it's >> Yeah.
14:29 >> Yeah. Sure. Um, so I mean, I think that if you're going to
14:34 be selling a service or a product online, long form is just the easiest
14:40 way to show off your expertise. Um, you get to go obviously deeper. You get to
14:44 become more complex. You control whether or not um at least it gets into
14:47 somebody's inbox, right? you're not you're not throttled by an algorithm or
14:53 trying to figure out why only a fraction of your followers are seeing a piece of
14:56 content. So all of that is kind of removed with long form. So you get that
15:00 removal and you also have the opportunity to show off your expertise.
15:04 Um does that mean that everybody has to have long form? They certainly don't
15:10 have to. But um I I would think that it would be a very valuable part of of
15:15 online selling. And the the difference I see and I'm not trying to suggest that
15:19 my newsletter is somehow the apex of newsletters or the best newsletter out
15:22 there. I don't I don't think it is. Um I think that I try and do something a
15:25 little bit differently than a lot of other folks, which is most newsletters
15:30 that I'm a part of when they're delivered to my inbox, it feels like
15:34 somebody selling something to me. Whereas I want my newsletters to come
15:39 across as strictly free value. Here's a tremendous amount of free value. And oh,
15:44 by the way, if you happen to want to go deeper on this topic, I have something
15:47 you can buy whenever you're ready. If you don't want to buy it, you just want
15:51 to receive free value from me every week for the rest of your life, that's your
15:54 that's you have a choice. And so that's that's sort of how I think about that.
15:58 When it comes to YouTube, that is a lifestyle choice. So, I like being on
16:04 video. I don't mind being on podcast and I don't I like to speak on stage and I
16:07 like to be a guest, but I don't particularly like turning the camera
16:11 around on myself and speaking in creating videos. I don't want to do
16:15 editing. I don't want to do captions. I don't I it just it sounds like a lot of
16:20 work and so I just don't do it. And um I think the outcome of that is while it
16:25 may be more difficult to quote unquote get to know me, I do think there's a
16:31 little more, you know, uh maybe I keep a distance a little more
16:35 and that it could be potentially intriguing. I I don't know if that's
16:38 true or false, but sometimes I think about that. >> 100% Justin, that that's the me as a a
16:45 follower. Um that's that's what exclusivity like that that's the bye-bye
16:52 by God and um yeah also you're quite contrarian in the good sense of the word
16:56 because we also have lots of experts saying that for example uh it's
17:02 necessary almost to humanize uh content and the way to humanize is through
17:06 video. What's your take on that? Have you been able to humanize through
17:09 newsletter, through text? How how do you see that? >> I think so. Um, you know, I can't
17:16 confidently say that because I don't necessarily have a way of capturing
17:20 whether people find me to be, you know, human or humanizing. Um,
17:26 at the same time, I don't know that I necessarily want or believe that that is necessary.
17:34 I I guess at at this point in time, part of what I've always enjoyed about being
17:39 online is that I I think you can take almost any best practice uh and prove it
17:47 wrong. Um, everybody told me you can't do low ticket, you have to do high
17:51 ticket. Everyone says you got to be on video. I've done writing. And as I look
17:58 at what everyone says you have to do, I found that by not doing those things,
18:02 I've been able to build a much more successful business than a lot of the
18:05 folks telling you that you have to do those things. And so, um, my my ultimate
18:09 goal is to do the things that I like to do and to stop doing or not do things
18:13 that I don't like doing. So, I don't want to sell $5,000 things and I don't
18:17 want to be on video, so I'm not going to do that. >> Awesome. What's your take on on
18:24 controversy? Um do you think for example LinkedIn has a a very corporate um
18:29 editorial line? Do you think there's some lines red lines to draw in like
18:34 politics or polarizing subjects? Do you think we should be free in I don't know
18:39 how do you see it strategically also of course >> um my thought is like
18:47 I don't necessarily want to wade into politics for example um you know 50% of people here believe
18:56 one thing and 50% of people here believe another and um if I spent all my time
19:03 shoving my beliefs down people's throats Um, number one, I don't know that that
19:08 would help them become successful solarreneurs. So, that's out, right? And
19:12 number two, it would probably be a foolish strategic move um to eliminate,
19:16 you know, half my customer base in a time where people tend to hate everyone
19:23 else who thinks differently. Um, so I I don't find a lot of value in politics uh
19:28 in my content. Um, I have my own personal beliefs behind the scenes. Um,
19:33 but I also have friends and family who run the gamut politically. Um, so to to
19:41 take some to assume that someone is bad because they don't agree with me on a
19:45 particular topic, like I just don't believe that, right? I think most people
19:48 are inherently good and they just have different philosophies on how to fix
19:52 problems in the world. And so I don't want to start fights with people uh for
19:56 no reason. and it doesn't help them achieve the outcome that I'm I want them
20:01 to achieve. So for me, politics is out. But for someone else um who maybe
20:07 politics is a big part of their brand, like of course, yeah, go go for it.
20:12 Just, you know, don't be surprised when you find yourself in an uncomfortable
20:15 situation. >> Awesome answer. Really like how how you you saw it in the ROI perspective. 50%
20:25 literally in all countries. Um yeah, what's your take on documenting versus
20:31 uh creating content on an expert perspective? For example, people should
20:35 they uh do like create content based on their vulnerabilities and learnings and this
20:42 and that or should it be more a perspective on on an expert and add
20:45 value? I don't know if that makes sense. You know, there's a trend now in
20:48 LinkedIn, at least in Spain, where people like the algorithm puts you up if
20:53 you're saying I failed or I did this. So, I don't know how what's your take on
20:56 that. >> Yeah, I think vulnerability has its place, but um vulnerability for the sake
21:03 of being being vulnerable is inauthentic, right? If we're being
21:07 vulnerable because the algorithm likes vulnerability, then how vulnerable are
21:12 you actually being? number one. And number two, vulner vulnerability as a
21:17 standalone is not particularly valuable. It it might um gain you some empathy.
21:22 Readers might sympathize or feel themselves in your shoes, but unless
21:27 there's a lesson that comes from that vulnerability, it doesn't help people
21:31 take the next step. So, okay, so you failed or something bad happened. Then
21:36 what what how did you overcome that? Right? It's like it's like the old job
21:39 interview question where a boss might say or an interviewer might say, "What's
21:42 your biggest weakness?" And if you just say, "I'm not very good at X." And
21:46 that's not a very good answer. But if you say, "I'm not very good at X, but
21:48 here's what I've been doing to solve that problem. Here's what's happened.
21:52 Here's how much I've improved." Like, that is being vulnerable. And then
21:56 extending the conversation by sharing value. It's no different in posting. Um
22:02 I I think people confuse impressions and engagement for business metrics and
22:06 they're not >> awesome. Yeah. Vanity metrics. What's your take on AI and content creation?
22:14 There's a lot of noise on that. Um you think still important to create
22:16 personal. >> Yeah. I mean I I don't particularly care how people create their content. The the
22:22 thing that I'm looking for is good content. I don't care if it's written by
22:25 a human. I don't care if it's written by an AI. I mean, I think that someone
22:30 should, if they're going to write with AI, uh, the outcome of the content
22:36 should be truth and stories that they've lived and expertise that they've they
22:41 have and they shouldn't use AI to fake knowledge or expertise. I think that's a
22:45 bad thing. Um, I think people will still do it though, right? So, I don't I don't
22:48 think that we should give people the benefit of the doubt. I think AI is
22:52 making it making it very easy. I think ultimately like there's a group of
22:55 people right now as we're sort of still early in the AI world whose like whole
23:03 vibe is um shaming or trying to play detective and oh I I think this person's
23:08 doing it or I think I I saw an M dash in this one person's thing so I I think
23:13 they're it's like I think those people are virtue signaling quite quite hard. I
23:17 think they're they're showing, you know, their audience, look at me, look how
23:21 virtuous I am. And I see a lot of people picking on uh folks for using AI and
23:26 like I think I can see AI in their writing. So I think they're being
23:31 disingenuous about it. What's your take on for example if uh a
23:36 person is literally starting or has no to to zero resources um would you say
23:42 specialize on only for example LinkedIn one platform or do distribution on all
23:46 of them? >> I mean I think I think if you're just getting started it's easier to just
23:53 start with one. Um I think it's more valuable to deeply understand a platform
24:00 and become an expert at it before moving on. Um >> is that your case? Right. You started
24:05 LinkedIn and then based on that and then >> yeah I did LinkedIn only for 3 years. Um
24:10 and then I moved to to Twitter next or X. Uh and then I just recently within a
24:14 year and a half ago added Instagram and threads. Um, but I spent three three and
24:19 a half years really learning what resonates on social media, learning how
24:23 to write and and trying to become a better social media content writer. Um,
24:28 then once I did that, rather than trying to figure out, you know, every single
24:32 platform, I I figured out a process where I said, "Okay, I I think I know
24:36 what works on Twitter. I think I know how to capture that and make it relevant
24:39 to LinkedIn. And I think I know how to capture all that and make it relevant to
24:44 Instagram." And so by doing that, I've streamlined the process where one piece
24:48 of content becomes, you know, three or four instead of having to create, you
24:52 know, 35 unique pieces of content every week. >> Awesome. And uh real quick on the
24:57 audience side, um do you have several audiences or avatars they say or or do
25:03 you have one ideal client that you want to direct your content? How how do you
25:06 define that? >> And is that important even, you know? >> I mean, yeah, it's important. I mean, I
25:12 have uh probably three different audience avatars. Um, one is is the the
25:19 beginning content creator. So, uh, you know, somebody who's essentially just
25:23 getting started creating content and trying trying to be seen as some sort of
25:28 uh thought leader. Uh, I think number two is we have somebody who uh is a
25:33 thought leader who is just starting to create revenue or build a business. So
25:37 they've got the audience, they understand what people care about, they
25:39 just they don't know how to monetize. They're trying to figure that out. And
25:42 then I have, you know, five and six figure creators who want to go to be six
25:47 and seven figure creators and they need to understand the systems. They need to
25:51 understand the automation. Uh and so I think that that kind of overarching
25:54 covers the three different audience personas that I have. But if I think
25:58 about sort of how those are broken down, I would say it's it's probably like
26:03 702010, right? So most of my content is still aimed at helping people figure out
26:07 how to market themselves because the monetization comes second.
26:12 >> Awesome. Justin, we're finishing now. Thanks for the master class. Uh we're
26:15 going to be finishing with some rapid fire questions. >> Um so the first one is what's your takes
26:22 on building something bigger than yourself, but depending on your personal
26:25 brand and your name? How how do you envision that? Um, I think right now if you build a
26:35 business around a personal brand, as people probably can imagine, there is
26:40 less what I would call exitability from that. It's harder to sell that, right,
26:44 than it is a company or a company name or or company's assets. I think that's
26:49 changing. Um, I don't have any data point to back that up. I don't it's a
26:53 hunch more than anything. I think we will see creators exit their brands to
27:00 relevant companies in the next two to five years. Um I think that companies
27:05 will understand um you know I'm just using this as an example. It's just a
27:08 I'm picking a name out of a hat, right? don't don't see anything with this but
27:12 like some some company that builds a product will say oh my god if we
27:16 controlled Ali Abd doll's you know social media profiles right I'm not
27:20 again I know Ali he controls his own profiles but um in this example they
27:24 might say oh that's worth five or 10 million bucks over the next you know
27:27 five or 10 years to the business because we could point all of that content
27:31 towards growing our business and so I think you'll see people doing that
27:37 >> 100% we we saw Joe Rogan right uh with the the exit podcast rights.
27:40 >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. Next question would be, are we
27:45 going to see the first solo unicorn founder entrepreneur >> soon? Soon.
27:53 >> I think so. Um, the problem with most solopreneurs is
27:57 that they're not really solopreneurs, right? They they they use their face of the
28:03 business to say, "It's just me." And then behind the scenes there's lots and
28:06 lots and lots of folks. Um, I'm not one of those. It's just me. My wife helps
28:10 me. My wife helps me edit my newsletters and every once in a while she'll help
28:14 put together an in-person event or something like that, but it's just me
28:16 and my wife. I don't have any content creators or uh newsletter writers or
28:20 anything. I just prefer it that way. I managed people for many many years. Um I
28:24 think someone will hit a hundred million. I I don't know if someone will
28:28 be able to hit like a billion dollar business just solely by themselves, but
28:33 it'll be interesting to see it happen if if they can do it. So, what's the best
28:36 investment in your life and the best investment investment you've made for
28:41 under €50? >> Oh, wow. Um, that is a good question. Uh, I'd say the
28:49 best investment for under €50. I have two. Um, I have these reading glasses
28:54 that I'm wearing because I can't I can't see much anymore. And so, those have
28:58 been super helpful. So, I bought I bought like 10 pairs and sprinkled them
29:01 around my house so that I'm not blind. Uh, and I I really like this book. This
29:05 is like not a plug. I I have nothing to do with this book. It's called Write
29:10 Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. Um >> uh he literally wrote the book on how to
29:13 write useful books and I'm recommending it and that's exactly what the intention
29:17 was of his uh his thing. Uh so that's another one that's under, you know, 50
29:22 that's super helpful, I would say. Um outside of that, man, what's a good in
29:27 what's like my best investment ever? I mean, more so than anything, especially
29:31 now, knock on wood, is like the stock market. Um, you know, I every we my my
29:35 wife and I, we don't buy a lot of stuff. Like, we're not stuff people. We don't
29:42 have uh jewelry or fancy clothes or anything like that. We just we invest
29:44 everything that we make into the stock market. That's been my best investment.
29:50 >> Awesome. Um, what do you think? It's the greatest invention in human history and
29:54 the greatest invention in human history for the past 20 years. So, human history
2:32 where if I can get somebody to pull out their credit card and spend, you know,
2:38 50 or $75 with me one time and I can deliver a really premium experience that
2:41 they're not expecting at that price point, then I know down the road as I
2:46 create additional products and services, I should theoretically be able to move
2:51 those up in price and get people to feel more at ease spending more money over
2:55 time. And of course, while still delivering more and more value, uh I
2:59 think if you're just getting started and you have a really specific skill that
3:04 you've honed your expertise in over 10, 20, 30 years, may maybe high ticket
3:09 services is the right way for you to start. I think ultimately what you're
3:13 looking at is what what kind of products are you building? What size is your
3:16 audience? And a lot of those things will intersect to tell you am I low, am I
3:20 medium, am I high? I don't think there's one right answer, but that's how I
3:24 started. Oh, that's awesome. And double clicking on that real quick. Um, do you
3:28 think can anyone monetize their knowledge or or is it only for industry
3:34 experts? You need to have some knowhow. >> I mean, I think it's more helpful um the
3:39 more knowhow you have, right? I think um you know, I will talk to people who will
3:43 tell me um I don't know what to sell because I don't have any skills or
3:47 knowledge. Well, I if that's if that's how you think about yourself, I would
3:52 highly encourage you to go out and acquire some skills and acquire some
3:56 knowledge. Go work for a company. Go learn how to do a skill, a trade,
4:00 something that you can teach other people how to do or that you you can
4:03 become a master at. Um, I don't think that you have to have 20 years
4:07 experience either. I think the more that you have, obviously, the the more you
4:11 can charge, um, the the bigger projects you can do, the more complex projects
4:14 you can do. But the cool thing about um selling online is even if you only have
4:19 let's say two to three years of corporate experience or or two to three
4:22 years of building a specific skill that's better than somebody who has
4:26 none, right? So there's always someone who's two two and a half three years
4:30 behind you. And if you can figure out how to bring those folks along on your
4:34 journey and turn them into customers, I mean you don't have to have decades and
4:38 decades of experience. And talking on that, so you of course are a hybrid in
4:43 the sense that you have authority, track record and then visibility, but again
4:47 double clicking on that what's your take on uh for example today I see lots of
4:53 influencers which have lots of reach but perhaps not that much expertise and
4:57 track record and then you see uh CEOs highx that um they have they have been
5:04 like amazing companies but they don't have sometimes not even Instagram or
5:08 perhaps they have uh a LinkedIn with couple hundred contacts. What What's
5:13 your route on on both of that? How do you see it? >> Yeah, I mean I see it as an opportunity
5:20 for both to improve, right? So So for example, I think it wasn't it wasn't
5:27 uncommon 10 years ago for a CEO to build a $100 million business and not be on
5:33 social media at all. And and to an extent you you still see that a little
5:37 bit. Um, but it's becoming less and less common. I think if you're a CEO, the the
5:42 the public face of a company that's a high growth company, being on social
5:46 media and and sharing knowledge and advice to your prospective customers is
5:52 a huge win. Um, and of course, as a busy CEO, like you could hire people to help
5:55 you do that, right? You don't have to do it all all by yourself. If you're
6:00 someone who is just an a quote unquote, for lack of a better term, influencer,
6:06 right? um then a and you don't have as deep of skills or knowledge as you
6:12 should, that's an area where you might get traction from your writing, but as
6:15 people discover that your products and services aren't valuable, that could
6:21 backfire a lot. And so I think it's really important to find the
6:24 intersection of like I'm I'm smart, I have skills, I have knowledge, and I
6:27 also know how to market myself. If you can do those things effectively, uh it
6:31 becomes a much better combination than the previous two that you mentioned.
6:37 >> Awesome. Now, talking about content, um how do you uh manage content that sells
6:44 versus free value content? Um what I mean here is how do you like do you put
6:48 CTAs on every post? I know you don't you you add lots of value for free. How's
6:52 the is there an equation like every five post I sell or h how do you envision
6:57 that the selling versus adding value? >> Yeah, I think you know I spent five
7:01 years maybe four four and a half years on LinkedIn just writing free content
7:07 without asking anyone to buy anything. Um and so for the last year or so I've
7:12 definitely started doing that more. Uh I think about my journey as like I gave
7:17 for free for many many years and now I'm in my stage where I get to earn the ask
7:22 and so I ask a lot more now than I used to. Um but I do think that if you're
7:26 just getting started it should be give give give ask, right? Like maybe maybe
7:32 90% giving and 10% asking to to me that's that's the right blend. And over
7:36 time as you earn the right to make more more asks that that ratio can shift. Um,
7:43 but I I don't think you're ever going to be successful if you only ask. So I
7:50 would I would always try even on an asking post to infuse that post with
7:54 value. >> Awesome. Yeah. Um, how do you uh have an editorial coherence? I'm citing your
8:03 web, but you you you speak about uh primarily six topics. personal growth,
8:06 business planning, personal branding, social growth, monetizing knowledge,
8:11 productivity. Um, how do you see the common thread amongst all the things
8:14 that that you speak about? How do you stay consistent and how do you find
8:19 this? Because some other experts, let's say say that you should stay in a niche
8:23 and just talking about something in concrete. How do you see that?
8:27 >> I I do see that as staying in a niche. Um, my niche is helping people become
8:32 one-person businesses. And in order to become a successful oneperson business,
8:36 you have to know how to market. You have to know how to use your time
8:40 effectively. You have to know how to design your life uh effectively because
8:44 if you're a oneperson business, like you can find yourself burning out or or uh
8:50 inundated with things to do. So I primarily write about topics that I
8:53 think roll up to the umbrella topic of of becoming a oneperson business or a
8:57 successful solarreneur. So that's how I stay aligned. Um I think around how I
9:04 create content is I don't have like a specific ideation process much anymore.
9:09 What I do is I try and and I've trained myself over I think six years to do this
9:13 but kind of keep my eyes and ears open around what's happening in my life and
9:16 in my business and what I see happening online. And anytime I see an idea, I
9:20 just write a tweet about it, right? And tweets become the foundation of
9:23 everything else because my LinkedIn posts are screenshotted tweets, my
9:27 Instagram posts are screenshotted tweets. So like if I can just think of
9:32 12 tweets a week, the the rest of the content flows naturally from that. So
9:36 that's how I think about it. >> That's awesome. Yeah. Distribution. Um
9:42 this perhaps is is a very specific uh question. So for example, you have
9:47 several product claims. Let's call it I'm going to call it like that. I don't
9:50 know if it's the technical meaning but you have for example I help
9:53 solrepreneurs turn knowledge into income. You have another one freedom to
9:58 live how you want. Um you sell freedom you sell soloreneurship
10:04 and uh what's your take on that? How did you come to this conclusion? And perhaps
10:07 how other content creators or knowledge creators um can I don't know adapt or
10:12 create a claim to stay on on the right lane if that makes sense.
10:16 >> Yeah, it does make sense. I I wouldn't I would I wouldn't call it a claim or that
10:20 I sell it. The way that I would think about it is um there there are two
10:25 things I've done. One is every single person who subscribes to my newsletter
10:29 goes through a series of multiple choice questions post subscribing. So I collect
10:34 all these really useful and relevant data points about my audience. I also
10:38 talk to my audience all the time. They ask me questions on a LinkedIn post.
10:42 They write on my tweets. they join my membership and ask me questions in our
10:47 live Q&As's. Um, so what I do is instead of selling something or claiming
10:52 something, I just turn their words back around onto them. So what I do is I look
10:57 at the data. What do people say they need help with? What are their biggest
10:59 challenges? What do they want to accomplish? Where is their dream life in
11:04 five, seven, 10 years? And then I talk to them and see what kind of words do
11:07 they use. How do they describe that situation? How do they describe that
11:10 life, their their problems, their challenges? And those sort of, if you
11:14 were, for for lack of a better term, kind of quote unquote claims um is just
11:19 what people say to me. And I use their language because I want them to know
11:22 that I'm listening and that I'm focused on the challenges that are most
11:25 important to them. >> Awesome. I also wanted to know um what's
11:32 your content balance in the sense of um so they say this is going to sound quite
11:37 weird. is my impression of you as a personal brand. You have uh lots of
11:42 visibility, also authority, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's the
11:46 media you've been in, if it's your profile pick, I don't know, but you you
11:51 bring lots of authority in that content. How do you balance like visibility,
11:56 authority, value in in the same content >> or >> Yeah. Or do you have different gateways
12:01 for each one? >> I don't I don't know that I optimize for
12:07 an outcome. So, so for example, I never really sit around and think, well, how
12:10 do I build authority or how do I build trust or how do I build expertise or
12:16 show expertise? Um, what I generally think about is how do I establish
12:22 whether or not someone is worth listening to or following. And so, what
12:27 I've generally found when I consume content is that the people I like to
12:32 follow um are problem solvers. So, they'll they'll help me solve a problem.
12:35 They'll write about something that I was challenged with and by the time I'm done
12:39 reading it, um, I have a solution, right? That's very, very helpful. Um,
12:42 oftentimes they'll just make really interesting and thoughtful observations.
12:46 They'll they'll observe something that I hadn't observed and I'll think, man,
12:49 that was that's really a good good observation. Or they'll be contrarian
12:53 and they'll say things like, you know, here's what I hear from most people.
12:56 This is why I don't think it works. Here's what I do instead and here's why
13:00 I think that works. So, it's like, oh, okay. I would have normally gone down
13:02 this route, but now I'm kind of interested in going down that that
13:06 route. So, I I've thought through all the different ways that people
13:09 communicate via content to me that I ingest willingly and excitedly. And I've
13:13 decided to kind of reverse engineer that. So, you might often see
13:17 observations, contrarian takes, step-by-step guides, how-tos, future
13:23 predictions, breakdowns, um because that's what I like. And so again, never
13:27 really optimizing for like, oh, this one's going to establish expertise, so
13:30 this one's going to build trust. It's just in aggregate as an aggregate total
13:36 outcome of of pushing all that content out. My hope is that people will say,
13:40 "Oh, I like this guy. I'm paying attention to him. I like what he
13:43 writes." And then my goal really, if if anything is going to establish
13:46 expertise, it's going to be my newsletter because that's where I go
13:50 longer on specific topics. So my goal is always to get people from short form to
13:56 long form. Awesome. Um, yeah, let's get into that. I I wanted your takes. Um,
14:01 again, double click on short form versus long form. They they they say that
14:05 today's retention is so and we we consume but al very short form content,
14:11 but on the flip side we have of course Substack, we have podcast, we have all
14:15 of this. Um, what's your take on on that? And um, yeah, and also you don't I
14:20 believe you don't have a YouTube channel. Also, if you can address
14:24 perhaps why not, if that's strategic, if it's >> Yeah.
14:29 >> Yeah. Sure. Um, so I mean, I think that if you're going to
14:34 be selling a service or a product online, long form is just the easiest
14:40 way to show off your expertise. Um, you get to go obviously deeper. You get to
14:44 become more complex. You control whether or not um at least it gets into
14:47 somebody's inbox, right? you're not you're not throttled by an algorithm or
14:53 trying to figure out why only a fraction of your followers are seeing a piece of
14:56 content. So all of that is kind of removed with long form. So you get that
15:00 removal and you also have the opportunity to show off your expertise.
15:04 Um does that mean that everybody has to have long form? They certainly don't
15:10 have to. But um I I would think that it would be a very valuable part of of
15:15 online selling. And the the difference I see and I'm not trying to suggest that
15:19 my newsletter is somehow the apex of newsletters or the best newsletter out
15:22 there. I don't I don't think it is. Um I think that I try and do something a
15:25 little bit differently than a lot of other folks, which is most newsletters
15:30 that I'm a part of when they're delivered to my inbox, it feels like
15:34 somebody selling something to me. Whereas I want my newsletters to come
15:39 across as strictly free value. Here's a tremendous amount of free value. And oh,
15:44 by the way, if you happen to want to go deeper on this topic, I have something
15:47 you can buy whenever you're ready. If you don't want to buy it, you just want
15:51 to receive free value from me every week for the rest of your life, that's your
15:54 that's you have a choice. And so that's that's sort of how I think about that.
15:58 When it comes to YouTube, that is a lifestyle choice. So, I like being on
16:04 video. I don't mind being on podcast and I don't I like to speak on stage and I
16:07 like to be a guest, but I don't particularly like turning the camera
16:11 around on myself and speaking in creating videos. I don't want to do
16:15 editing. I don't want to do captions. I don't I it just it sounds like a lot of
16:20 work and so I just don't do it. And um I think the outcome of that is while it
16:25 may be more difficult to quote unquote get to know me, I do think there's a
16:31 little more, you know, uh maybe I keep a distance a little more
16:35 and that it could be potentially intriguing. I I don't know if that's
16:38 true or false, but sometimes I think about that. >> 100% Justin, that that's the me as a a
16:45 follower. Um that's that's what exclusivity like that that's the bye-bye
16:52 by God and um yeah also you're quite contrarian in the good sense of the word
16:56 because we also have lots of experts saying that for example uh it's
17:02 necessary almost to humanize uh content and the way to humanize is through
17:06 video. What's your take on that? Have you been able to humanize through
17:09 newsletter, through text? How how do you see that? >> I think so. Um, you know, I can't
17:16 confidently say that because I don't necessarily have a way of capturing
17:20 whether people find me to be, you know, human or humanizing. Um,
17:26 at the same time, I don't know that I necessarily want or believe that that is necessary.
17:34 I I guess at at this point in time, part of what I've always enjoyed about being
17:39 online is that I I think you can take almost any best practice uh and prove it
17:47 wrong. Um, everybody told me you can't do low ticket, you have to do high
17:51 ticket. Everyone says you got to be on video. I've done writing. And as I look
17:58 at what everyone says you have to do, I found that by not doing those things,
18:02 I've been able to build a much more successful business than a lot of the
18:05 folks telling you that you have to do those things. And so, um, my my ultimate
18:09 goal is to do the things that I like to do and to stop doing or not do things
18:13 that I don't like doing. So, I don't want to sell $5,000 things and I don't
18:17 want to be on video, so I'm not going to do that. >> Awesome. What's your take on on
18:24 controversy? Um do you think for example LinkedIn has a a very corporate um
18:29 editorial line? Do you think there's some lines red lines to draw in like
18:34 politics or polarizing subjects? Do you think we should be free in I don't know
18:39 how do you see it strategically also of course >> um my thought is like
18:47 I don't necessarily want to wade into politics for example um you know 50% of people here believe
18:56 one thing and 50% of people here believe another and um if I spent all my time
19:03 shoving my beliefs down people's throats Um, number one, I don't know that that
19:08 would help them become successful solarreneurs. So, that's out, right? And
19:12 number two, it would probably be a foolish strategic move um to eliminate,
19:16 you know, half my customer base in a time where people tend to hate everyone
19:23 else who thinks differently. Um, so I I don't find a lot of value in politics uh
19:28 in my content. Um, I have my own personal beliefs behind the scenes. Um,
19:33 but I also have friends and family who run the gamut politically. Um, so to to
19:41 take some to assume that someone is bad because they don't agree with me on a
19:45 particular topic, like I just don't believe that, right? I think most people
19:48 are inherently good and they just have different philosophies on how to fix
19:52 problems in the world. And so I don't want to start fights with people uh for
19:56 no reason. and it doesn't help them achieve the outcome that I'm I want them
20:01 to achieve. So for me, politics is out. But for someone else um who maybe
20:07 politics is a big part of their brand, like of course, yeah, go go for it.
20:12 Just, you know, don't be surprised when you find yourself in an uncomfortable
20:15 situation. >> Awesome answer. Really like how how you you saw it in the ROI perspective. 50%
20:25 literally in all countries. Um yeah, what's your take on documenting versus
20:31 uh creating content on an expert perspective? For example, people should
20:35 they uh do like create content based on their vulnerabilities and learnings and this
20:42 and that or should it be more a perspective on on an expert and add
20:45 value? I don't know if that makes sense. You know, there's a trend now in
20:48 LinkedIn, at least in Spain, where people like the algorithm puts you up if
20:53 you're saying I failed or I did this. So, I don't know how what's your take on
20:56 that. >> Yeah, I think vulnerability has its place, but um vulnerability for the sake
21:03 of being being vulnerable is inauthentic, right? If we're being
21:07 vulnerable because the algorithm likes vulnerability, then how vulnerable are
21:12 you actually being? number one. And number two, vulner vulnerability as a
21:17 standalone is not particularly valuable. It it might um gain you some empathy.
21:22 Readers might sympathize or feel themselves in your shoes, but unless
21:27 there's a lesson that comes from that vulnerability, it doesn't help people
21:31 take the next step. So, okay, so you failed or something bad happened. Then
21:36 what what how did you overcome that? Right? It's like it's like the old job
21:39 interview question where a boss might say or an interviewer might say, "What's
21:42 your biggest weakness?" And if you just say, "I'm not very good at X." And
21:46 that's not a very good answer. But if you say, "I'm not very good at X, but
21:48 here's what I've been doing to solve that problem. Here's what's happened.
21:52 Here's how much I've improved." Like, that is being vulnerable. And then
21:56 extending the conversation by sharing value. It's no different in posting. Um
22:02 I I think people confuse impressions and engagement for business metrics and
22:06 they're not >> awesome. Yeah. Vanity metrics. What's your take on AI and content creation?
22:14 There's a lot of noise on that. Um you think still important to create
22:16 personal. >> Yeah. I mean I I don't particularly care how people create their content. The the
22:22 thing that I'm looking for is good content. I don't care if it's written by
22:25 a human. I don't care if it's written by an AI. I mean, I think that someone
22:30 should, if they're going to write with AI, uh, the outcome of the content
22:36 should be truth and stories that they've lived and expertise that they've they
22:41 have and they shouldn't use AI to fake knowledge or expertise. I think that's a
22:45 bad thing. Um, I think people will still do it though, right? So, I don't I don't
22:48 think that we should give people the benefit of the doubt. I think AI is
22:52 making it making it very easy. I think ultimately like there's a group of
22:55 people right now as we're sort of still early in the AI world whose like whole
23:03 vibe is um shaming or trying to play detective and oh I I think this person's
23:08 doing it or I think I I saw an M dash in this one person's thing so I I think
23:13 they're it's like I think those people are virtue signaling quite quite hard. I
23:17 think they're they're showing, you know, their audience, look at me, look how
23:21 virtuous I am. And I see a lot of people picking on uh folks for using AI and
23:26 like I think I can see AI in their writing. So I think they're being
23:31 disingenuous about it. What's your take on for example if uh a
23:36 person is literally starting or has no to to zero resources um would you say
23:42 specialize on only for example LinkedIn one platform or do distribution on all
23:46 of them? >> I mean I think I think if you're just getting started it's easier to just
23:53 start with one. Um I think it's more valuable to deeply understand a platform
24:00 and become an expert at it before moving on. Um >> is that your case? Right. You started
24:05 LinkedIn and then based on that and then >> yeah I did LinkedIn only for 3 years. Um
24:10 and then I moved to to Twitter next or X. Uh and then I just recently within a
24:14 year and a half ago added Instagram and threads. Um, but I spent three three and
24:19 a half years really learning what resonates on social media, learning how
24:23 to write and and trying to become a better social media content writer. Um,
24:28 then once I did that, rather than trying to figure out, you know, every single
24:32 platform, I I figured out a process where I said, "Okay, I I think I know
24:36 what works on Twitter. I think I know how to capture that and make it relevant
24:39 to LinkedIn. And I think I know how to capture all that and make it relevant to
24:44 Instagram." And so by doing that, I've streamlined the process where one piece
24:48 of content becomes, you know, three or four instead of having to create, you
24:52 know, 35 unique pieces of content every week. >> Awesome. And uh real quick on the
24:57 audience side, um do you have several audiences or avatars they say or or do
25:03 you have one ideal client that you want to direct your content? How how do you
25:06 define that? >> And is that important even, you know? >> I mean, yeah, it's important. I mean, I
25:12 have uh probably three different audience avatars. Um, one is is the the
25:19 beginning content creator. So, uh, you know, somebody who's essentially just
25:23 getting started creating content and trying trying to be seen as some sort of
25:28 uh thought leader. Uh, I think number two is we have somebody who uh is a
25:33 thought leader who is just starting to create revenue or build a business. So
25:37 they've got the audience, they understand what people care about, they
25:39 just they don't know how to monetize. They're trying to figure that out. And
25:42 then I have, you know, five and six figure creators who want to go to be six
25:47 and seven figure creators and they need to understand the systems. They need to
25:51 understand the automation. Uh and so I think that that kind of overarching
25:54 covers the three different audience personas that I have. But if I think
25:58 about sort of how those are broken down, I would say it's it's probably like
26:03 702010, right? So most of my content is still aimed at helping people figure out
26:07 how to market themselves because the monetization comes second.
26:12 >> Awesome. Justin, we're finishing now. Thanks for the master class. Uh we're
26:15 going to be finishing with some rapid fire questions. >> Um so the first one is what's your takes
26:22 on building something bigger than yourself, but depending on your personal
26:25 brand and your name? How how do you envision that? Um, I think right now if you build a
26:35 business around a personal brand, as people probably can imagine, there is
26:40 less what I would call exitability from that. It's harder to sell that, right,
26:44 than it is a company or a company name or or company's assets. I think that's
26:49 changing. Um, I don't have any data point to back that up. I don't it's a
26:53 hunch more than anything. I think we will see creators exit their brands to
27:00 relevant companies in the next two to five years. Um I think that companies
27:05 will understand um you know I'm just using this as an example. It's just a
27:08 I'm picking a name out of a hat, right? don't don't see anything with this but
27:12 like some some company that builds a product will say oh my god if we
27:16 controlled Ali Abd doll's you know social media profiles right I'm not
27:20 again I know Ali he controls his own profiles but um in this example they
27:24 might say oh that's worth five or 10 million bucks over the next you know
27:27 five or 10 years to the business because we could point all of that content
27:31 towards growing our business and so I think you'll see people doing that
27:37 >> 100% we we saw Joe Rogan right uh with the the exit podcast rights.
27:40 >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. Next question would be, are we
27:45 going to see the first solo unicorn founder entrepreneur >> soon? Soon.
27:53 >> I think so. Um, the problem with most solopreneurs is
27:57 that they're not really solopreneurs, right? They they they use their face of the
28:03 business to say, "It's just me." And then behind the scenes there's lots and
28:06 lots and lots of folks. Um, I'm not one of those. It's just me. My wife helps
28:10 me. My wife helps me edit my newsletters and every once in a while she'll help
28:14 put together an in-person event or something like that, but it's just me
28:16 and my wife. I don't have any content creators or uh newsletter writers or
28:20 anything. I just prefer it that way. I managed people for many many years. Um I
28:24 think someone will hit a hundred million. I I don't know if someone will
28:28 be able to hit like a billion dollar business just solely by themselves, but
28:33 it'll be interesting to see it happen if if they can do it. So, what's the best
28:36 investment in your life and the best investment investment you've made for
28:41 under €50? >> Oh, wow. Um, that is a good question. Uh, I'd say the
28:49 best investment for under €50. I have two. Um, I have these reading glasses
28:54 that I'm wearing because I can't I can't see much anymore. And so, those have
28:58 been super helpful. So, I bought I bought like 10 pairs and sprinkled them
29:01 around my house so that I'm not blind. Uh, and I I really like this book. This
29:05 is like not a plug. I I have nothing to do with this book. It's called Write
29:10 Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. Um >> uh he literally wrote the book on how to
29:13 write useful books and I'm recommending it and that's exactly what the intention
29:17 was of his uh his thing. Uh so that's another one that's under, you know, 50
29:22 that's super helpful, I would say. Um outside of that, man, what's a good in
29:27 what's like my best investment ever? I mean, more so than anything, especially
29:31 now, knock on wood, is like the stock market. Um, you know, I every we my my
29:35 wife and I, we don't buy a lot of stuff. Like, we're not stuff people. We don't
29:42 have uh jewelry or fancy clothes or anything like that. We just we invest
29:44 everything that we make into the stock market. That's been my best investment.
29:50 >> Awesome. Um, what do you think? It's the greatest invention in human history and
29:54 the greatest invention in human history for the past 20 years. So, human history
29:57 and the past 20 years, greatest invention. I mean, for the past 20
30:01 years, I'd say AI is pretty darn impressive. Um, I was pretty skeptical
30:07 when it came out, and I think it's um it has certainly changed my mind um with the power of of
30:16 how fast I can do things and how often it solves problems. Uh for me, uh the
30:22 best invention of all time, I mean, to me, is this may be a kind of a silly
30:26 answer, but to me, it's just music. I like music. Like I like it helps me when
30:30 I'm irritated. It helps me when I'm bummed. It helps me when I'm feeling
3:56 knowledge. Go work for a company. Go learn how to do a skill, a trade,
4:00 something that you can teach other people how to do or that you you can
4:03 become a master at. Um, I don't think that you have to have 20 years
4:07 experience either. I think the more that you have, obviously, the the more you
4:11 can charge, um, the the bigger projects you can do, the more complex projects
4:14 you can do. But the cool thing about um selling online is even if you only have
4:19 let's say two to three years of corporate experience or or two to three
4:22 years of building a specific skill that's better than somebody who has
4:26 none, right? So there's always someone who's two two and a half three years
4:30 behind you. And if you can figure out how to bring those folks along on your
4:34 journey and turn them into customers, I mean you don't have to have decades and
4:38 decades of experience. And talking on that, so you of course are a hybrid in
4:43 the sense that you have authority, track record and then visibility, but again
4:47 double clicking on that what's your take on uh for example today I see lots of
4:53 influencers which have lots of reach but perhaps not that much expertise and
4:57 track record and then you see uh CEOs highx that um they have they have been
5:04 like amazing companies but they don't have sometimes not even Instagram or
5:08 perhaps they have uh a LinkedIn with couple hundred contacts. What What's
5:13 your route on on both of that? How do you see it? >> Yeah, I mean I see it as an opportunity
5:20 for both to improve, right? So So for example, I think it wasn't it wasn't
5:27 uncommon 10 years ago for a CEO to build a $100 million business and not be on
5:33 social media at all. And and to an extent you you still see that a little
5:37 bit. Um, but it's becoming less and less common. I think if you're a CEO, the the
5:42 the public face of a company that's a high growth company, being on social
5:46 media and and sharing knowledge and advice to your prospective customers is
5:52 a huge win. Um, and of course, as a busy CEO, like you could hire people to help
5:55 you do that, right? You don't have to do it all all by yourself. If you're
6:00 someone who is just an a quote unquote, for lack of a better term, influencer,
6:06 right? um then a and you don't have as deep of skills or knowledge as you
6:12 should, that's an area where you might get traction from your writing, but as
6:15 people discover that your products and services aren't valuable, that could
6:21 backfire a lot. And so I think it's really important to find the
6:24 intersection of like I'm I'm smart, I have skills, I have knowledge, and I
6:27 also know how to market myself. If you can do those things effectively, uh it
6:31 becomes a much better combination than the previous two that you mentioned.
6:37 >> Awesome. Now, talking about content, um how do you uh manage content that sells
6:44 versus free value content? Um what I mean here is how do you like do you put
6:48 CTAs on every post? I know you don't you you add lots of value for free. How's
6:52 the is there an equation like every five post I sell or h how do you envision
6:57 that the selling versus adding value? >> Yeah, I think you know I spent five
7:01 years maybe four four and a half years on LinkedIn just writing free content
7:07 without asking anyone to buy anything. Um and so for the last year or so I've
7:12 definitely started doing that more. Uh I think about my journey as like I gave
7:17 for free for many many years and now I'm in my stage where I get to earn the ask
7:22 and so I ask a lot more now than I used to. Um but I do think that if you're
7:26 just getting started it should be give give give ask, right? Like maybe maybe
7:32 90% giving and 10% asking to to me that's that's the right blend. And over
7:36 time as you earn the right to make more more asks that that ratio can shift. Um,
7:43 but I I don't think you're ever going to be successful if you only ask. So I
7:50 would I would always try even on an asking post to infuse that post with
7:54 value. >> Awesome. Yeah. Um, how do you uh have an editorial coherence? I'm citing your
8:03 web, but you you you speak about uh primarily six topics. personal growth,
8:06 business planning, personal branding, social growth, monetizing knowledge,
8:11 productivity. Um, how do you see the common thread amongst all the things
8:14 that that you speak about? How do you stay consistent and how do you find
8:19 this? Because some other experts, let's say say that you should stay in a niche
8:23 and just talking about something in concrete. How do you see that?
8:27 >> I I do see that as staying in a niche. Um, my niche is helping people become
8:32 one-person businesses. And in order to become a successful oneperson business,
8:36 you have to know how to market. You have to know how to use your time
8:40 effectively. You have to know how to design your life uh effectively because
8:44 if you're a oneperson business, like you can find yourself burning out or or uh
8:50 inundated with things to do. So I primarily write about topics that I
8:53 think roll up to the umbrella topic of of becoming a oneperson business or a
8:57 successful solarreneur. So that's how I stay aligned. Um I think around how I
9:04 create content is I don't have like a specific ideation process much anymore.
9:09 What I do is I try and and I've trained myself over I think six years to do this
9:13 but kind of keep my eyes and ears open around what's happening in my life and
9:16 in my business and what I see happening online. And anytime I see an idea, I
9:20 just write a tweet about it, right? And tweets become the foundation of
9:23 everything else because my LinkedIn posts are screenshotted tweets, my
9:27 Instagram posts are screenshotted tweets. So like if I can just think of
9:32 12 tweets a week, the the rest of the content flows naturally from that. So
9:36 that's how I think about it. >> That's awesome. Yeah. Distribution. Um
9:42 this perhaps is is a very specific uh question. So for example, you have
9:47 several product claims. Let's call it I'm going to call it like that. I don't
9:50 know if it's the technical meaning but you have for example I help
9:53 solrepreneurs turn knowledge into income. You have another one freedom to
9:58 live how you want. Um you sell freedom you sell soloreneurship
10:04 and uh what's your take on that? How did you come to this conclusion? And perhaps
10:07 how other content creators or knowledge creators um can I don't know adapt or
10:12 create a claim to stay on on the right lane if that makes sense.
10:16 >> Yeah, it does make sense. I I wouldn't I would I wouldn't call it a claim or that
10:20 I sell it. The way that I would think about it is um there there are two
10:25 things I've done. One is every single person who subscribes to my newsletter
10:29 goes through a series of multiple choice questions post subscribing. So I collect
10:34 all these really useful and relevant data points about my audience. I also
10:38 talk to my audience all the time. They ask me questions on a LinkedIn post.
10:42 They write on my tweets. they join my membership and ask me questions in our
10:47 live Q&As's. Um, so what I do is instead of selling something or claiming
10:52 something, I just turn their words back around onto them. So what I do is I look
10:57 at the data. What do people say they need help with? What are their biggest
10:59 challenges? What do they want to accomplish? Where is their dream life in
11:04 five, seven, 10 years? And then I talk to them and see what kind of words do
11:07 they use. How do they describe that situation? How do they describe that
11:10 life, their their problems, their challenges? And those sort of, if you
11:14 were, for for lack of a better term, kind of quote unquote claims um is just
11:19 what people say to me. And I use their language because I want them to know
11:22 that I'm listening and that I'm focused on the challenges that are most
11:25 important to them. >> Awesome. I also wanted to know um what's
11:32 your content balance in the sense of um so they say this is going to sound quite
11:37 weird. is my impression of you as a personal brand. You have uh lots of
11:42 visibility, also authority, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's the
11:46 media you've been in, if it's your profile pick, I don't know, but you you
11:51 bring lots of authority in that content. How do you balance like visibility,
11:56 authority, value in in the same content >> or >> Yeah. Or do you have different gateways
12:01 for each one? >> I don't I don't know that I optimize for
12:07 an outcome. So, so for example, I never really sit around and think, well, how
12:10 do I build authority or how do I build trust or how do I build expertise or
12:16 show expertise? Um, what I generally think about is how do I establish
12:22 whether or not someone is worth listening to or following. And so, what
12:27 I've generally found when I consume content is that the people I like to
12:32 follow um are problem solvers. So, they'll they'll help me solve a problem.
12:35 They'll write about something that I was challenged with and by the time I'm done
12:39 reading it, um, I have a solution, right? That's very, very helpful. Um,
12:42 oftentimes they'll just make really interesting and thoughtful observations.
12:46 They'll they'll observe something that I hadn't observed and I'll think, man,
12:49 that was that's really a good good observation. Or they'll be contrarian
12:53 and they'll say things like, you know, here's what I hear from most people.
12:56 This is why I don't think it works. Here's what I do instead and here's why
13:00 I think that works. So, it's like, oh, okay. I would have normally gone down
13:02 this route, but now I'm kind of interested in going down that that
13:06 route. So, I I've thought through all the different ways that people
13:09 communicate via content to me that I ingest willingly and excitedly. And I've
13:13 decided to kind of reverse engineer that. So, you might often see
13:17 observations, contrarian takes, step-by-step guides, how-tos, future
13:23 predictions, breakdowns, um because that's what I like. And so again, never
13:27 really optimizing for like, oh, this one's going to establish expertise, so
13:30 this one's going to build trust. It's just in aggregate as an aggregate total
13:36 outcome of of pushing all that content out. My hope is that people will say,
13:40 "Oh, I like this guy. I'm paying attention to him. I like what he
13:43 writes." And then my goal really, if if anything is going to establish
13:46 expertise, it's going to be my newsletter because that's where I go
13:50 longer on specific topics. So my goal is always to get people from short form to
13:56 long form. Awesome. Um, yeah, let's get into that. I I wanted your takes. Um,
14:01 again, double click on short form versus long form. They they they say that
14:05 today's retention is so and we we consume but al very short form content,
14:11 but on the flip side we have of course Substack, we have podcast, we have all
14:15 of this. Um, what's your take on on that? And um, yeah, and also you don't I
14:20 believe you don't have a YouTube channel. Also, if you can address
14:24 perhaps why not, if that's strategic, if it's >> Yeah.
14:29 >> Yeah. Sure. Um, so I mean, I think that if you're going to
14:34 be selling a service or a product online, long form is just the easiest
14:40 way to show off your expertise. Um, you get to go obviously deeper. You get to
14:44 become more complex. You control whether or not um at least it gets into
14:47 somebody's inbox, right? you're not you're not throttled by an algorithm or
14:53 trying to figure out why only a fraction of your followers are seeing a piece of
14:56 content. So all of that is kind of removed with long form. So you get that
15:00 removal and you also have the opportunity to show off your expertise.
15:04 Um does that mean that everybody has to have long form? They certainly don't
15:10 have to. But um I I would think that it would be a very valuable part of of
15:15 online selling. And the the difference I see and I'm not trying to suggest that
15:19 my newsletter is somehow the apex of newsletters or the best newsletter out
15:22 there. I don't I don't think it is. Um I think that I try and do something a
15:25 little bit differently than a lot of other folks, which is most newsletters
15:30 that I'm a part of when they're delivered to my inbox, it feels like
15:34 somebody selling something to me. Whereas I want my newsletters to come
15:39 across as strictly free value. Here's a tremendous amount of free value. And oh,
15:44 by the way, if you happen to want to go deeper on this topic, I have something
15:47 you can buy whenever you're ready. If you don't want to buy it, you just want
15:51 to receive free value from me every week for the rest of your life, that's your
15:54 that's you have a choice. And so that's that's sort of how I think about that.
15:58 When it comes to YouTube, that is a lifestyle choice. So, I like being on
16:04 video. I don't mind being on podcast and I don't I like to speak on stage and I
16:07 like to be a guest, but I don't particularly like turning the camera
16:11 around on myself and speaking in creating videos. I don't want to do
16:15 editing. I don't want to do captions. I don't I it just it sounds like a lot of
16:20 work and so I just don't do it. And um I think the outcome of that is while it
16:25 may be more difficult to quote unquote get to know me, I do think there's a
16:31 little more, you know, uh maybe I keep a distance a little more
16:35 and that it could be potentially intriguing. I I don't know if that's
16:38 true or false, but sometimes I think about that. >> 100% Justin, that that's the me as a a
16:45 follower. Um that's that's what exclusivity like that that's the bye-bye
16:52 by God and um yeah also you're quite contrarian in the good sense of the word
16:56 because we also have lots of experts saying that for example uh it's
17:02 necessary almost to humanize uh content and the way to humanize is through
17:06 video. What's your take on that? Have you been able to humanize through
17:09 newsletter, through text? How how do you see that? >> I think so. Um, you know, I can't
17:16 confidently say that because I don't necessarily have a way of capturing
17:20 whether people find me to be, you know, human or humanizing. Um,
17:26 at the same time, I don't know that I necessarily want or believe that that is necessary.
17:34 I I guess at at this point in time, part of what I've always enjoyed about being
17:39 online is that I I think you can take almost any best practice uh and prove it
17:47 wrong. Um, everybody told me you can't do low ticket, you have to do high
17:51 ticket. Everyone says you got to be on video. I've done writing. And as I look
17:58 at what everyone says you have to do, I found that by not doing those things,
18:02 I've been able to build a much more successful business than a lot of the
18:05 folks telling you that you have to do those things. And so, um, my my ultimate
18:09 goal is to do the things that I like to do and to stop doing or not do things
18:13 that I don't like doing. So, I don't want to sell $5,000 things and I don't
18:17 want to be on video, so I'm not going to do that. >> Awesome. What's your take on on
18:24 controversy? Um do you think for example LinkedIn has a a very corporate um
18:29 editorial line? Do you think there's some lines red lines to draw in like
18:34 politics or polarizing subjects? Do you think we should be free in I don't know
18:39 how do you see it strategically also of course >> um my thought is like
18:47 I don't necessarily want to wade into politics for example um you know 50% of people here believe
18:56 one thing and 50% of people here believe another and um if I spent all my time
19:03 shoving my beliefs down people's throats Um, number one, I don't know that that
19:08 would help them become successful solarreneurs. So, that's out, right? And
19:12 number two, it would probably be a foolish strategic move um to eliminate,
19:16 you know, half my customer base in a time where people tend to hate everyone
19:23 else who thinks differently. Um, so I I don't find a lot of value in politics uh
19:28 in my content. Um, I have my own personal beliefs behind the scenes. Um,
19:33 but I also have friends and family who run the gamut politically. Um, so to to
19:41 take some to assume that someone is bad because they don't agree with me on a
19:45 particular topic, like I just don't believe that, right? I think most people
19:48 are inherently good and they just have different philosophies on how to fix
19:52 problems in the world. And so I don't want to start fights with people uh for
19:56 no reason. and it doesn't help them achieve the outcome that I'm I want them
20:01 to achieve. So for me, politics is out. But for someone else um who maybe
20:07 politics is a big part of their brand, like of course, yeah, go go for it.
20:12 Just, you know, don't be surprised when you find yourself in an uncomfortable
20:15 situation. >> Awesome answer. Really like how how you you saw it in the ROI perspective. 50%
20:25 literally in all countries. Um yeah, what's your take on documenting versus
20:31 uh creating content on an expert perspective? For example, people should
20:35 they uh do like create content based on their vulnerabilities and learnings and this
20:42 and that or should it be more a perspective on on an expert and add
20:45 value? I don't know if that makes sense. You know, there's a trend now in
20:48 LinkedIn, at least in Spain, where people like the algorithm puts you up if
20:53 you're saying I failed or I did this. So, I don't know how what's your take on
20:56 that. >> Yeah, I think vulnerability has its place, but um vulnerability for the sake
21:03 of being being vulnerable is inauthentic, right? If we're being
21:07 vulnerable because the algorithm likes vulnerability, then how vulnerable are
21:12 you actually being? number one. And number two, vulner vulnerability as a
21:17 standalone is not particularly valuable. It it might um gain you some empathy.
21:22 Readers might sympathize or feel themselves in your shoes, but unless
21:27 there's a lesson that comes from that vulnerability, it doesn't help people
21:31 take the next step. So, okay, so you failed or something bad happened. Then
21:36 what what how did you overcome that? Right? It's like it's like the old job
21:39 interview question where a boss might say or an interviewer might say, "What's
21:42 your biggest weakness?" And if you just say, "I'm not very good at X." And
21:46 that's not a very good answer. But if you say, "I'm not very good at X, but
21:48 here's what I've been doing to solve that problem. Here's what's happened.
21:52 Here's how much I've improved." Like, that is being vulnerable. And then
21:56 extending the conversation by sharing value. It's no different in posting. Um
22:02 I I think people confuse impressions and engagement for business metrics and
22:06 they're not >> awesome. Yeah. Vanity metrics. What's your take on AI and content creation?
22:14 There's a lot of noise on that. Um you think still important to create
22:16 personal. >> Yeah. I mean I I don't particularly care how people create their content. The the
22:22 thing that I'm looking for is good content. I don't care if it's written by
22:25 a human. I don't care if it's written by an AI. I mean, I think that someone
22:30 should, if they're going to write with AI, uh, the outcome of the content
22:36 should be truth and stories that they've lived and expertise that they've they
22:41 have and they shouldn't use AI to fake knowledge or expertise. I think that's a
22:45 bad thing. Um, I think people will still do it though, right? So, I don't I don't
22:48 think that we should give people the benefit of the doubt. I think AI is
22:52 making it making it very easy. I think ultimately like there's a group of
22:55 people right now as we're sort of still early in the AI world whose like whole
23:03 vibe is um shaming or trying to play detective and oh I I think this person's
23:08 doing it or I think I I saw an M dash in this one person's thing so I I think
23:13 they're it's like I think those people are virtue signaling quite quite hard. I
23:17 think they're they're showing, you know, their audience, look at me, look how
23:21 virtuous I am. And I see a lot of people picking on uh folks for using AI and
23:26 like I think I can see AI in their writing. So I think they're being
23:31 disingenuous about it. What's your take on for example if uh a
23:36 person is literally starting or has no to to zero resources um would you say
23:42 specialize on only for example LinkedIn one platform or do distribution on all
23:46 of them? >> I mean I think I think if you're just getting started it's easier to just
23:53 start with one. Um I think it's more valuable to deeply understand a platform
24:00 and become an expert at it before moving on. Um >> is that your case? Right. You started
24:05 LinkedIn and then based on that and then >> yeah I did LinkedIn only for 3 years. Um
24:10 and then I moved to to Twitter next or X. Uh and then I just recently within a
24:14 year and a half ago added Instagram and threads. Um, but I spent three three and
24:19 a half years really learning what resonates on social media, learning how
24:23 to write and and trying to become a better social media content writer. Um,
24:28 then once I did that, rather than trying to figure out, you know, every single
24:32 platform, I I figured out a process where I said, "Okay, I I think I know
24:36 what works on Twitter. I think I know how to capture that and make it relevant
24:39 to LinkedIn. And I think I know how to capture all that and make it relevant to
24:44 Instagram." And so by doing that, I've streamlined the process where one piece
24:48 of content becomes, you know, three or four instead of having to create, you
24:52 know, 35 unique pieces of content every week. >> Awesome. And uh real quick on the
24:57 audience side, um do you have several audiences or avatars they say or or do
25:03 you have one ideal client that you want to direct your content? How how do you
25:06 define that? >> And is that important even, you know? >> I mean, yeah, it's important. I mean, I
25:12 have uh probably three different audience avatars. Um, one is is the the
25:19 beginning content creator. So, uh, you know, somebody who's essentially just
25:23 getting started creating content and trying trying to be seen as some sort of
25:28 uh thought leader. Uh, I think number two is we have somebody who uh is a
25:33 thought leader who is just starting to create revenue or build a business. So
25:37 they've got the audience, they understand what people care about, they
25:39 just they don't know how to monetize. They're trying to figure that out. And
25:42 then I have, you know, five and six figure creators who want to go to be six
25:47 and seven figure creators and they need to understand the systems. They need to
25:51 understand the automation. Uh and so I think that that kind of overarching
25:54 covers the three different audience personas that I have. But if I think
25:58 about sort of how those are broken down, I would say it's it's probably like
26:03 702010, right? So most of my content is still aimed at helping people figure out
26:07 how to market themselves because the monetization comes second.
26:12 >> Awesome. Justin, we're finishing now. Thanks for the master class. Uh we're
26:15 going to be finishing with some rapid fire questions. >> Um so the first one is what's your takes
26:22 on building something bigger than yourself, but depending on your personal
26:25 brand and your name? How how do you envision that? Um, I think right now if you build a
26:35 business around a personal brand, as people probably can imagine, there is
26:40 less what I would call exitability from that. It's harder to sell that, right,
26:44 than it is a company or a company name or or company's assets. I think that's
26:49 changing. Um, I don't have any data point to back that up. I don't it's a
26:53 hunch more than anything. I think we will see creators exit their brands to
27:00 relevant companies in the next two to five years. Um I think that companies
27:05 will understand um you know I'm just using this as an example. It's just a
27:08 I'm picking a name out of a hat, right? don't don't see anything with this but
27:12 like some some company that builds a product will say oh my god if we
27:16 controlled Ali Abd doll's you know social media profiles right I'm not
27:20 again I know Ali he controls his own profiles but um in this example they
27:24 might say oh that's worth five or 10 million bucks over the next you know
27:27 five or 10 years to the business because we could point all of that content
27:31 towards growing our business and so I think you'll see people doing that
27:37 >> 100% we we saw Joe Rogan right uh with the the exit podcast rights.
27:40 >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. Next question would be, are we
27:45 going to see the first solo unicorn founder entrepreneur >> soon? Soon.
27:53 >> I think so. Um, the problem with most solopreneurs is
27:57 that they're not really solopreneurs, right? They they they use their face of the
28:03 business to say, "It's just me." And then behind the scenes there's lots and
28:06 lots and lots of folks. Um, I'm not one of those. It's just me. My wife helps
28:10 me. My wife helps me edit my newsletters and every once in a while she'll help
28:14 put together an in-person event or something like that, but it's just me
28:16 and my wife. I don't have any content creators or uh newsletter writers or
28:20 anything. I just prefer it that way. I managed people for many many years. Um I
28:24 think someone will hit a hundred million. I I don't know if someone will
28:28 be able to hit like a billion dollar business just solely by themselves, but
28:33 it'll be interesting to see it happen if if they can do it. So, what's the best
28:36 investment in your life and the best investment investment you've made for
28:41 under €50? >> Oh, wow. Um, that is a good question. Uh, I'd say the
28:49 best investment for under €50. I have two. Um, I have these reading glasses
28:54 that I'm wearing because I can't I can't see much anymore. And so, those have
28:58 been super helpful. So, I bought I bought like 10 pairs and sprinkled them
29:01 around my house so that I'm not blind. Uh, and I I really like this book. This
29:05 is like not a plug. I I have nothing to do with this book. It's called Write
29:10 Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. Um >> uh he literally wrote the book on how to
29:13 write useful books and I'm recommending it and that's exactly what the intention
29:17 was of his uh his thing. Uh so that's another one that's under, you know, 50
29:22 that's super helpful, I would say. Um outside of that, man, what's a good in
29:27 what's like my best investment ever? I mean, more so than anything, especially
29:31 now, knock on wood, is like the stock market. Um, you know, I every we my my
29:35 wife and I, we don't buy a lot of stuff. Like, we're not stuff people. We don't
29:42 have uh jewelry or fancy clothes or anything like that. We just we invest
29:44 everything that we make into the stock market. That's been my best investment.
29:50 >> Awesome. Um, what do you think? It's the greatest invention in human history and
29:54 the greatest invention in human history for the past 20 years. So, human history
29:57 and the past 20 years, greatest invention. I mean, for the past 20
30:01 years, I'd say AI is pretty darn impressive. Um, I was pretty skeptical
30:07 when it came out, and I think it's um it has certainly changed my mind um with the power of of
30:16 how fast I can do things and how often it solves problems. Uh for me, uh the
30:22 best invention of all time, I mean, to me, is this may be a kind of a silly
30:26 answer, but to me, it's just music. I like music. Like I like it helps me when
30:30 I'm irritated. It helps me when I'm bummed. It helps me when I'm feeling
30:35 good. Um I love to have music on. And so I don't know that that's necessarily
30:39 quote unquote an invention. Uh but the fact that it exists uh makes my life
30:43 significantly better. >> If you could dine with any personal
30:49 brand figure um like iconic figure in who would it be? It could be dead or
30:53 alive. there's a comedian that died a few years ago, probably 10 years ago, named Greg
31:07 Geraldo that I really liked. Uh I used to go see him perform when I lived in
31:12 New York City and I just thought he was a very good performer, really smart guy.
31:16 Used to he was a lawyer before he was a comedian and unfortunately he passed
31:19 away. So that would be someone that I would love to spend 60 minutes having
31:24 dinner with. Awesome. Um, so what what advice would you give a
31:32 >> Oh boy, I don't remember what it's like to be five and I don't have children.
31:36 Um, what advice would I give a 5-year-old? Uh, well, probably two things. Um, do
31:44 well enough in school so that your parents stay off your back. Um, but
31:48 spend your free time learning things that interest you on the internet. Um, I
31:53 just I don't know much about schooling nowadays. I don't have children. I'm not
31:57 close to any teachers. Uh, but I feel like, and it's not the teacher's fault,
32:01 it's the corre it's the curriculum's fault. I feel like a lot of people are
32:07 unprepared. Um, and so if you just pay attention in school and just get good
32:11 grades, you're sold this idea that life is going to be fine. And that's not
32:15 true. And I think that um if I could give people any piece of advice, it
32:19 would become an autodidact, which is just someone who teaches themselves
32:23 themselves things all the time and can learn on their own and apply on their
32:27 own. Um that to me would be a lesson I would I wish I wish I would have um
32:31 learned a little bit younger. >> In one sentence, what's your purpose in
32:38 life goal? to be a great son, a great husband, and someone who uh when I die, people will
32:46 say he made an impact on the way that I lived and worked. >> Awesome. So, yeah, the final one, what's
32:53 a quote, phrase you would leave uh young entrepreneurs, uh young content creators
32:57 perhaps? >> I'll steal it from my wife. My it's my wife's favorite saying. Um smooth water
33:06 is never made for a skilled sailor. So, um, basically what that means is if you
33:12 expect everything to go smooth smoothly and you think that's how you learn,
33:17 you're you're foolish. Um, the best thing that could happen to you in your
33:20 life is to go through a tremendous number of problems, challenges,
33:25 failures, because every single time that you go through those, you come out the
33:28 the other end, if you do come out the other end, much better. Um, so that's my
33:32 favorite. >> Awesome. Thank you very much Justin for your time for giving us this free
33:38 minutes also on the other hat and yeah it's a pleasure to have you inspire us
33:42 uh here in the other side the Spanish speaking community so thank you very
33:45 much we appreciate >> Jorge great great great to meet you
33:47 thanks for having me and appreciate the
$

Justin Welsh: How to Make $10M with No Team, No Office, No Investors

@JustinWelsh 33:48 21 chapters
[solo founder and bootstrapping][content creation and YouTube][fundraising and investment][revenue model and pricing strategy][open source and self-hosting]
// chapters
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In this episode, we dive deep into the mindset, strategy, and systems behind Justin Welsh — the solopreneur who built a multi-million dollar business without employees, offices, or investors. We explore how to monetize your knowledge, create content that sells, and stay consistent while building real authority online. If you’re building your personal brand, this conversation will show you exactly what works in 2025 and what to avoid. 00:00 – Intro 00:57 – High ticket vs low ticket: which strat

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[solo founder and bootstrapping][content creation and YouTube][fundraising and investment][revenue model and pricing strategy][open source and self-hosting]