The Path of The Storypreneur (How to Thrive In The Digital Age)

Welcome to the Sunday Storypreneur!

Final exams are finally over, and now it’s time to ramp it up on the biz side.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Read time: 4 min

JAY'S PICKS:

6-figure entrepreneurs vs. 7-figure entrepreneurs (link)

12 ways the top creators write killer hooks (link)

How he made $300k in 2022 (link)

The $100,000,000 diet (link)

Mystery pick (link)

The Deep Dive:

Whenever you study history, you’ll inevitably encounter the rise and fall of those in power.

I’ve always found that to be interesting.

“What makes people rise to power?”

“What makes people fall from power?”

“And do those same principles apply to life now?”

You see, even if you don’t want to conquer the world or assert your dominance over another nation… power is still an essential part of our life.

Power is the difference between those who get what they want 90% of the time. And those who get what they want 10% of the time.

No one wants to admit it, but…

Power plays an essential role in achieving the things we desire.

In the past, power was reserved for the already rich, smart, and powerful.

But in the digital age - power is permissionless. It’s something you can build from scratch. Something you can learn to wield.

The Power of Stories

The truth is…

Accumulating power has never been easier. In the digital age, you’re no longer limited by how you look, what your background is, or where you live.

Building authority comes down to how you communicate.

And that’s where storytelling comes in.

The most influential leaders throughout history have all been great storytellers:

• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Brene Brown
• Winston Churchill
• Martin Luther King Jr.

As author Caitlin Johnston once wrote, “Whoever controls the narrative owns the world.”

The good news for you is:

While everyone is out worrying about the wrong things, you’ll cultivate power for free. Simply by improving how you communicate.

The Rise of The Storypreneur

I’ve been building online for the past 2.5 years - and I’ve met many creators, entrepreneurs, and builders in that time period.

Some of them were really good at writing and storytelling.

Others were really good at building products and execution.

But the ones who were doing the best all shared this in common:

They could do both.

They could tell engaging stories to capture attention and build valuable products to serve their customers.

In other words… they were Storypreneurs.

In a previous newsletter, we discussed the STAR Method to become a well-paid creator. Well, here’s how it all connects:

The Path of The Storypreneur

Step 1: Learn a marketable skill

You don’t rise to the level of your distribution, you fall to the level of your skill.

Growing an audience without simultaneously building skill is like only building half a bridge… you need both.

The skill I recommend?

StoryWriting.

No, it’s not storytelling.

And no, it’s also not copywriting.

It’s not about mastering one or the other, it’s about knowing when to master each.

(But more on this at the end of this newsletter)

A few action steps:

1. Start a Twitter account

2. Write A LOT

3. Start a newsletter

4. Write EVEN MORE

5. Build a product

6. Write AGAIN

7. Repeat

Getting good at any skill takes volume and iteration. Start small, start now.

Step 2: Create your own category

At the start, it’s okay to copy and imitate your inspirations when you’re learning.

But once you understand the foundations of building online, you have to create your own category.

Why?

Because the “creator economy” operates on a power law.

Simply put, the top 1% get paid well while everyone else scraps for the leftovers.

And I don’t want that for you. You don’t want that for you.

So here are a few action steps:

1. Define who you are
   - What do you stand for?
   - What do you stand against?

2. Find pain points
   - Attack the status quo
   - Be controversial

3. Get to work
   - Build offers
   - Share stories + lessons from results

4. Claim territory
   - Coin frameworks
   - Develop new methods

Creating your own category is hard. Scrounging for scraps is harder.

Step 3: Build a useful product

The reason why most creators can’t seem to make any money is because they face one of two problems:

1. They don’t have enough traffic

2. They don’t have a good offer

If you master the art of digital StoryWriting, then traffic won’t be an issue.

The problem is the second part of being a Storypreneur…

Building a useful product.

Here are a few action steps:

1. Talk to 10 super fans

2. Identify a common problem

3. Build an MVP

4. Send it to those 10 people at a huge discount

5. Iterate based on feedback

6. Launch

7. Add those 10 people as affiliates

You don’t need to be an expert to build a useful product. Validate a problem. Build your product. Refine as you go.

Step 4: Learn how to sell your offers

One of my creator friends is currently trying to launch her offer.

She has a ton of questions:

• When do I launch?
• How do I launch?
• How many emails do I send?
• What do I say in those emails?
• Do I promote on social media too?
• What if I come across as too pushy?

And while I can’t go into all the fine details in this newsletter, here are a few tips:

1. Build your email list before you launch

2. Drop hints about your product in the weeks prior

3. Consistently show behind-the-scenes sneak peeks

4. Build excitement by showing momentum during the launch

5. Don’t overthink it. When in doubt, follow your intuition

Alrighty, that’s a wrap!

This week’s newsletter was a big-picture holistic view of the 4 steps to becoming a Storypreneur.

I know this week’s newsletter was a shorter one, but it’s Mother’s Day weekend… and priorities are priorities.

See you next Sunday,

Jay “Whoever Tells The Best Story Wins” Yang

P.P.S. Thanks to everyone who responds to the satisfaction poll. I spend a good portion of my weekend writing these deep dives - so I appreciate all feedback (good or bad). Cheers!

P.P.P.S. What are you doing for Mother’s Day? Reply to this email, I wanna know! :)

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