I talk about digital writing, ghostwriting, and self-publishing. | Co-Founder Ship 30 for 30, Typeshare, Premium Ghostwriting Academy. | Author of 10 books.
Want to become a Digital Writer?
Here's everything you need to:
β’ Writing niche/viral content
β’ Rewrite your bio & claim your niche
β’ Master the fundamentals of headlines & hooks
β’ Turn your insights into digital products & services ($$$)
Start here:
Over the past 10 years, I have read over 500 business books.
99% were 1 idea stretched across 300 pages.
They should have been blog posts.
Save yourself the time and just read these 10 π
All these ChatGPT-4 threads are a joke.
The best AI writing prompts aren't 1 sentence. That's like having a Ferrari and driving it 5 mph.
Here's a 60-second masterclass on how to create prompts like a virtuoso writer:
Ghostwriting 101
Over the past 4 years, I have ghostwritten more than 2,000 articles for startup founders, C-level executives, Silicon Valley investors, and more.
Want to know a secret?
I use the same 5 templates every time.
π§΅π
I journal every single morning for at least 30 minutes.
I've been doing this since 2010.
But over the years, I've learned you can (very easily) overcomplicate the act of journaling.
Which is why now I only use 4 prompts:
π§΅π
It took me 4 years to write my 1st book.
And it took me 4 months to write my 2nd book.
Now, I can write a 60,000 word book in 30 days.
Here's the framework:
Over the past year, I have tweeted hundreds of small (but powerful) Writing Tips.
But these 19 accumulated more than 1,000,000 views and thousands of comments & shares.
Here they are all in one place π§΅π
Meet John Grisham.
Heβs the author of 49 consecutive
#1
bestsellers.
His books have been made into movies starring Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Here are 10 of his timeless writing insights (on talent, routine, and dealing with criticism):
In 2021, I published 4 books.
In 2022, I plan on publishing 8.
Here's the 5-step framework I use to write 60,000+ words in 30 hours or less (2,000 words per hour) π
@littlemissjacob
@stoolpresidente
I studied journalism at the University of Missouri for 1 year, way back in 2009.
At the time, the professor said: "Opinion blogs are a trend. They're never going to replace real journalism."
Pretty sure 98% of journalism today is just one giant opinion blog.
The average tuition for an MBA comes to $60,000 per year.
That means you're $120,000 in debt...
...before you begin your business journey!
Or, you could spend less than $250 and read these 8 legendary books on marketing, positioning, and copywriting:
I started writing threads on Twitter in 2019.
Since then, I've written more than 200 threads and accumulated over 50,000,000 views on Twitter alone.
Want to know a secret?
I (pretty much) use the same 7 thread templates every time.
π§΅π
In 2021, I abandoned Quora & Medium and started writing consistently on Twitter.
These 10 Twitter threads generated over 10 million impressions and 100k engagements.
Here's why I think they worked π§΅π
I have been writing online for 10 years.
In that time, I have gone viral more times than I can count.
And accumulated 250,000,000+ views.
These are the 5 rules I live byβto write things that reach the masses:
When I graduated from college, I moved into a small, studio apartment.
It was the size of a closet.
No AC. Heater from 1970s.
Making minimum wage.
8 years later, I just moved into my dream condo on the beach.
Here's what I've learned about the journey of "success" π§΅π
Out of 500 biz books, read these 10:
1/ Positioning
2/ Superconsumers
3/ Shoe Dog
4/ The Self-Made Billionaire Effect
5/ The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
6/ Manage Your Day-to-Day
7/ The Boron Letters
8/ $100M Offers
9/ Billion Dollar Loser
10/ Never Split The Difference
I've journaled for 30 minutes every morning for 14 years straight.
No fancy journal. No complex rules.
Just a pen, paper, and 4 simple prompts to help focus my mind and find clarity.
Here's the dead-simple system I use every day:
Looking to start making $5,000/mo as a Premium Ghostwriter?
I spent 100+ hours creating an email course to help you:
β’ Craft an irresistible offer
β’ Charge premium prices
β’ Land your first 5k client
Want access?
Like, retweet, & reply "π»" and I'll send it for FREE!
Every second, 6,000 tweets are tweeted on Twitter.
That's over 350,000 tweets sent per minute.
500 million tweets per day.
200 billion tweets per year.
Which means you've probably missed some of the best content this site has to offer.
Here are 15 you need to read: π§΅π
Ready to become an AI-powered Ghostwriter?
I spent 50+ hours creating a Prompt Vault to help you:
π Find a lucrative niche
π° Craft an Irresistible Offer
βοΈ Ghostwrite *anything* for *anyone*
Want access?
Like & reply "π€"βI'll send it to you for FREE!
Ready to make your first $1,000 as a course creator?
I spent 100+ hours creating 3 checklists to help you:
β’ Design a binge-worthy course
β’ Build your marketing strategy
β’ Sell your course on autopilot
Want access?
Follow, like, & reply "π’" - I'll send it to you for FREE!
Freelance Writing 101
In 2016, I was making $50,000 per year as a copywriter at an advertising agency downtown Chicago.
Then, I quit my job.
30 days later, I was making $20,000 per month as a freelance writer.
Here's my Ultimate Guide to writing & making money online π
I am getting married this weekend.
(Here's a picture of me and my soon-to-be wife on one of our first dates taking the Architectural Boat Tour in Chicago, 2016).
What marriage advice do you have for me?
After 19 cohorts of Ship 30, over 10,000 students enrolled, and millions of dollars generated in revenue, we've learned something about email marketingβand I want to share it with you.
Guess how many emails it takes for someone to buy?
Itβs not 1.
Itβs not 2...
On average,
7 ways to niche down:
β’ By industry (X for healthcare startups)
β’ By demographic (X for middle-aged women)
β’ By physical location (X for Chicago)
β’ By digital platform (X for Twitter)
β’ By price (X for free)
β’ By distribution (X but delivery)
β’ By problem (X but w/o Y)
2) Treat AI like a "Digital Intern" and invest in its training.
If you hired an intern tomorrow, you wouldn't give him/her 1 sentence of direction.
You'd...
β’ Create a checklist
β’Β Explain why
β’ Ask if he/she has any questions
Do the same with ChatGPT.
Copywriting tips to hang on your wall:
1. Don't sell. Help the customer transform.
2. Ditch formal language. Be simple.
3. Be a painkiller, not a vitamin.
4. Speak to 1 personβnot "everyone."
5. Emphasize benefits, not features.
6. Share 1 shocking stat.
7. Be clear, not clever.
In 2020, I set 3 rules for myself that changed my life:
β’ The biz must be scalable (products, not services)
β’ I must own a piece of the upside (no trading hours-for-dollars)
β’ My name must be on it (no more ghostwriting)
This year, I'm adding 6 more rules to my Laws List:
I studied fiction writing in college.
But I always tell people I didn't learn how to write in college.
I learned how to read, and I learned the importance of reading my work out loud.
Here's a mini-masterclass in what to HEAR in your own writing π§΅π
4 Morning Journaling Prompts That Will Change You Life:
1/ "What did I do yesterday?"
2/ "What am I working on?"
3/ "What's coming up?"
4/ "What am I grateful for?"
I have been self-employed for 6 years now.
The irony of "working for yourself" though is that more freedom doesn't always equal better choices.
Every year, I have to work harder to master my daily schedule.
Here's what I'm focusing on in 2023:
Little words (that) ruin sentences:
Do you know the difference between a good sentence and a GREAT sentence?
One of the most interesting βwriting rulesβ I came across in college was Hemingwayβs feelings on adverbs
Copywriting tips to hang on your wall:
1. Don't sell. Help the customer transform.
2. Ditch formal language. Be simple.
3. Be a painkiller, not a vitamin.
4. Speak to 1 personβnot "everyone."
5. Emphasize benefits, not features.
6. Share 1 shocking stat.
7. Be clear, not clever.
1/ Marketing
The vast majority of tactical marketing books become outdated after 1-2 years.
Some, after 6 months.
Positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout is some of the most mind-bending and timeless strategic marketing thinking out there.
Who wants to become an AI-powered Fiction Writer?!
I spent 100+ hours creating an email course to help you instantly:
β’ Pick your sub-genre
β’ Outline a story in 30 minutes
β’ Create unforgettable characters and worlds
Want access?
Like & reply "π€"βI'll send it for FREE!
I spent 50+ hours collecting takeaways from my bestselling book "The Art and Biz of Ghostwriting":
β’ 8 in-demand ghostwriting gigs
β’ 3 pricing fears holding you back
β’ How to ghostwrite anything for anyone
And more!
Follow, like, & reply "π»" - I'll send it to you for FREE!
Digital Writing 101
Over the past year, I have written dozens of "101" threads covering everything from ghostwriting, to freelance writing, to self-publishing, etc.
But these 14 threads were the best, and accumulated more than 5,000,000 views.
Here they all are in 1 place π§΅π
7 mistakes startups make with their messaging. 1/ They opt for formal language instead of informal language. Describing their product/services, they say, "We accelerate responsiveness and optimize for engagement." No one has any idea what that means. As a result, customers leave.
I started writing online when I was 17 years old.
Since then, I've...
β’ Written 3,000+ articles online
β’ Ghostwritten 1,500+ articles online
β’ Published 5 books & 30 "mini-books"
β’ Built two 7-figure writing businesses
If I had to start from $0 again, here's what I'd do:
10/ Negotiation
Never Split The Difference by FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss is an unreal read.
This book will change the way you think about asking for what you want.
Most MBA programs charge you $120,000+ to learn:
- Business 101
- Marketing 101
- Economics 101
Or, you could spend less than $100 and just read these 3 books:
Ghostwriters!
I spent 100+ hours on The Ghostwriter Content Blueprint to help you attract clients:
β’ 5 Essential Content Types
β’ 4 CTAs to hook your leads
β’ And the *biggest* mistake 99% of ghostwriters make with content
Want it for FREE?
Like & reply "π»" - I'll DM you!
Stephen King has published 83 novels and more than 200 short stories.
He is a towering figure in the world of writing.
All aspiring authors should memorize these 14 epic tips from his book "On Writing."
Meet James Patterson.
He is one of the best-selling authors of all time.
β’ 160+ novels
β’ 300+ million copies sold
β’ 144+
#1
NYT best-sellers
β’ $800 million net worth
Here are 9 of his best insights on writing, storytelling, and rejection:
6/ Productivity
I first read Manage Your Day-to-Day by 99U (Behance) back when I was 23 years old.
I still think about it all the time.
Curating productivity work habits from industry thought leaders, this is a playbook for creative thinking.
In 2017, Harvard Business Review published an article titled:
"Why Business Leaders Need To Read More Science Fiction"
Unfortunately, the sci-fi industry has more than 100,000 titles.
Where do you start?
Ignore the rest and read these 8 π§΅π
5/ Wealth & Happiness
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by
@EricJorgenson
is one of my fav biz books I've ever read.
It perfectly reconciles the often conflicting desire to get "really rich" with the desire to get "really happy."
4/ Aim to master the process, not celebrate the rewards or outcomes.
The only timeless reward is loving what you do, and improving at what you do, every single day.
"By the time you can afford it, the car ain't important." βNas
Lean Writing 101:
How to turn...
β’ A Tweet
β’ Into an Atomic Essay
β’ Into a Twitter Thread
β’ Into a long-form blog
β’ Into a free email course
β’ Into a paid digital product
β’ Into an online course
β’ Into an entire business.
π§΅π
The biggest mistake I made as a beginner writer:
Practicing In Private
Google Docs are a bad place to start writing.
Instead, write on:
- Twitter
- Medium
- Quora
- LinkedIn
- Anywhere with existing readers
Practice In Public!
Gather data.
Youβll grow 10x faster.
1) Create constraints. Don't encourage assumptions.
If you give AI vague information, it will give you a vague conclusion.
If you ask it a broad question, it will give you a broad answer.
People who say ChatGPT "creates mediocre content" are giving it mediocre prompts.
In the past 45 days, I have grown from 1,000 to 21,000 followers on LinkedIn.
By the end of the year, I bet I'll cross 100,000.
Here's my growth playbook:
3) You do the "thinking." Tell AI how to "do the doing."
You can't expect AI to think for you.
Instead, whatever you want AI to help you create, you need to first understand:
β’Β Why you want what you want
β’Β What, specifically, you need
β’ How you want it delivered
My friend
@AliAbdaal
made $4,600,593 on the internet in 2022.
His "Rule of 3" framework makes any content instantly memorable.
Here's how it works (with a ChatGPT prompt to help you create "Rule of 3" content in seconds):
I journal every single morning for at least 30 minutes.
I've been doing this since 2010.
These are the 4 prompts I use:
Question
#1
: "What did I do yesterday?"
Question
#2
: "What am I working on?"
Question
#3
: "What's coming up?"
Question
#4
: "What am I grateful for?"
So, enjoy wherever it is you are today.
Focus on mastering yourself, your habits, your state of mind, your ability to create no matter how hot the room is, whether you have Internet or not.
Your bed, your desk, and your apartment might change.
But the work won't.
3/ Motivation
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, founder of Nike, is one of the most inspiring business stories you'll ever read.
And it all started by selling high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan.
(A style nobody thought was "cool" at the time).
Books every writer should have on their desk to master the craft:
β’ Positioning
β’ On Writing
β’ Bird By Bird
β’ Save The Cat
β’ Snow Leopard
β’ The Artist's Way
β’ The Boron Letters
β’ Ogilvy On Advertising
β’ The Art & Business of Online Writing
Anything else?
I spent the last 2 weeks of November (including a week off-the-grid in London) re-reading my 2022 journal.
After 50+ hours of reflecting, these were my top 11 takeaways from the year: