What you can learn from Dan Koe's most valuable video ever...

Dan Koe’s most valuable video ever…

“The One-Person Business Model (How to Productize Yourself Full Guide)”

I condensed key ideas and frameworks from this video so that you can start a one-person business or if you have a one-person business skyrocket its growth.

Why a One-Person Business is the route 95% of people should take.

For 95% of people if you don’t start a one-person business you will be confined to a box. Your life’s potential will be limited and you will have trouble self-actualizing.

In a personal business.

You can make money while sharing your interests. As you evolve in your interests so can your business.

However, in a normal job, you are specialized which means you can be replaced and cannot explore other interests.

If you have not started a one-person business.

You might be wondering why it is a good idea to start one to make money.

There are a couple reasons you should start one:

A one-person business allows you to have 95% profit margins without needing to manage employees.

There is room for everyone to have a one-person business. There is room because everyone is unique which means that if your one-person business is around you, then saturation is not possible.

Everyone has different experiences which means different angles that they can approach problems from. Meaning that different people will have different ways to find solutions.

Here are the key ideas and frameworks of a one-person business:

1. People don’t view their experience as leverage

If you have solved problems in your life that others are still trying to solve you have valuable information.

The problem is that most people have not reflected enough to see the problems that they have solved throughout their lives.

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2. General overview of the one-person business model

• Use social media to build an audience of like-minded people

• Use software to host content and products. Ex. Social media scheduler or Website Builder

• Create a lifestyle design that is suitable for you

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3. Mindset shift on the idea of business

• Business is your life’s work

It’s not big companies with many employees.

It’s what you do throughout your life. It is a method of self-actualization.

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4. 3 paths for the one-person business

Path 1:

Learn a skill

Sell a skill

Teach others that skill

There are two problems with this first path

If you do not pivot you can become one-dimensional. (Humans are not one-dimensional)

In path 1 it isn’t easy to build leverage. Since you are likely doing cold outreach to sell your skill instead of building an audience.

Path 2:

Pursue your own goals

Solve problems related to those goals

Produce content around how you solved those problems

Sell the system to help others also achieve the goals you have achieved

The system is built to help people achieve their results faster.

How to build a system that helps people achieve their results faster:

Self Reflect on the mistakes you made

Self-reflect on the things that worked.

Create a system that doubles down on what worked and eliminates what didn’t

Path 3:

• Combine the paths 1 and 2

This allows you to develop high-leverage skills and build an audience.

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5. The 4 parts of a one-person business

You can see from this image that everything that you struggle with and learn can be used in your one-person business.

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6. How to offer your services

2 example options for offering your services

Offer your skill for 500-1000 dollars

4 consulting calls for 500 - 1000 dollars

Consulting calls are easier to scale compared to freelancing.

One benefit of these options is that you can start making money immediately.

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7. Entrepreneurial method

You can use this method whether you are an expert or a complete beginner. If you are a beginner focus on documenting what you are learning on your way towards your goals.

I am personally doing documentation as I lack authority as a 15-year-old.

Some ways I am documenting are:

• Curating what I learn from the podcasts/long-form videos • Reviewing what I am learning from journaling and sharing it • Finding problems in my life and then researching it and writing a newsletter on it

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8. 4 parts of a Value Creator

• Earn with their mind not their time • Focused on educating their audience • Study their interests and distill what they learn with content • Paid for collective knowledge and experience through digital products

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9. 3 steps to studying your obsession/interest

Step 1: Choose an obsession

If you don’t know what your obsession is explore and try different things. Try everything that piques your interest. This will give you room to explore and find what you obsess over.

A good exercise to find your obsession is to look at:

• The books you keep rereading

• Your YouTube watch history

• People you look up to

Step 2: Research obsession from all angles

• Follow people you disagree with

• Buy a book on the foundational principles of your obsession

You need the foundational principles before you try to get into the smaller details.

You need a big-picture understanding as a reference point when you learn the more nuanced details.

Listen to podcasts, and only follow accounts that give valuable information. Make sure to fully immerse yourself in your obsession.

Step 3: Note gold nugget ideas and your discoveries

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10. 5 reasons Twitter is the best platform to grow on.

Twitter is an idea-based platform

All you need is a computer and a keyboard

Comments are better on Twitter(it is similar to a forum)

Screenshotted tweets on other platforms do the best of any content.

It is easy for other people to share your content(all they have to do is retweet)

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11. Creator vs Consumer Mindset

The creator deconstructs tweets and mindfully consumes them.

While the consumer mindlessly consumes to get dopamine hits.

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12. 3 Principles of Compelling Writing

1. Compelling writing revolves around problems.

Problems are so powerful in writing because they open a loop. They open a loop in the reader’s mind because the reader wants to know what the solution is.

3 steps to writing about problems

• What is the problem

• How do you overcome that problem

• What are the benefits of overcoming that problem

2. Use numbers

Ex. I spent 4769 hours learning to write: Here is what I learned.

3. Use statistics

Ex. Only 5% of people make more than 10k a month: Here’s how to be in the top 5%

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13. 2 frameworks to use to create compelling writing

• AIDA

• PASTOR(Good for long-form content)

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14. You are the ideal reader

3 ways to implement this idea:

❖ Write to your past self

❖ Give your current self advice if you’re in a bad place(This can help you fix your bad behavior)

❖ If things are going well. Tell people why it is going well. (Can help to reinforce your good behavior

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15. 3 ways to use Twitter

❖ Treat it as a public journal

❖ Treat it as a public school for others

❖Treat it as your note-taking software

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Dan Koe’s first 9 steps to creating a one-person business around writing:

Pick a topic you are obsessed with

Brainstorm a novel and unique perspective

Write 1000+ words on the topic

Set up a blog or a newsletter

Repurpose an actionable section of the newsletter into other forms of content. Ex. Threads, Carousels.

Learn how to grow on a platform.

Turn impactful ideas from newsletters into tweets

Develop a personal writing system

Branch out to other platforms

Highly recommend watching the full video

Hope you enjoyed this newsletter