The Way Out West Newsletter

22 April 2024

I used to be totally lost.

• No idea what my purpose was

• No idea what I could offer the world

• No idea how to combine what I loved with what would pay me

It seemed like everyone was doing what I dreamed of doing… except me.

That’s when I found myself on social media, looking for answers.

Here’s the thing.

Most people use social media wrong.

70% mindlessly scroll all day, hopelessly trying to numb their boredom and lack of purpose (this used to me).

10% are just posting content with no idea wtf they're doing. No offer. No strategy. Attention seeking (this also used to me).

10% ARE building... but simply copy what people are already doing, falling for every new hack or new promise of social media dominance (this was me too…)

5% are scammers.

5% are ACTUALLY creating real value and getting rich.

The truth?

If you're not a scammer or a true value creator:

You’re losing.

And it’s those two 5% groups capitalising on your boredom and insecurities.

They come up with a product, system or framework that worked for them, and sell it to you for a hefty price tag.

And it's always the same old stuff.

• Email

• Courses

• Ghostwriting

• Growth coaching

• Personal branding

These are all great skills, true.

But what if none of these skills align with your natural abilities and curiosities?

You're screwed.

You're stuck trying to ram a square peg in a round hole.

The "Copy & Paste" Economy

Know this.

Social media is an echo chamber.

A bubble.

Everyone is essentially pushing the same thing.

“Learn this.”

”Learn that.”

It's overwhelming.

It leads you to think you’ll never succeed unless you become a growth coach, a copywriter or a sales guru.

It’s non-sense.

This is Silo Thinking.

I spoke about this concept in depth in last week’s blog.

The reality is gurus are pushing these things because they want you to buy their product or service.

And people fall for it.

"Will this finally be the thing that works for me??"

Answer: probably not.

By adopting a Silo Mindset, you're falling into their trap.

You're being used.

Here’s an example of how insidious these traps are.

I was on a sales call just the other day with a young guy.

Bright. Eloquent.

He reached out to me because he’d finally got a signal from the market about what his offer should be…

He had a thread go viral on how he solved his porn addiction.

Then he told me that 10 people (10!!!) had reached out to him about helping them solve this problem for them too.

Confused, I asked him about what was troubling him.

His response:

“I only have 600 followers. And I’m worried I won’t be able to hold attention with this idea. I don’t think scaling it would be wise.”

WHAAAAATTT???

This guy had 10 inbound leads from one thread.

THAT, my friend, is a signal.

But he’s overwhelmed by the amount of content telling you to “learn copywriting! You won’t make money if you don’t do daily emails!” etc and on and on.

Social media creates a herd mentality, where everyone starts panicking and copying people who find an offer or system that works.

But don’t you get it?

It worked for them because they were true to themselves.

And who’s to say that your calling is on social media anyway? (more on this below)

Follow Your Curiosities

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.” ― Robert Greene, Mastery

You don't have to fall into the trap of learning things that don't excite you.

A few months ago I met a freelancer making $500 a day.

That’s $3500 a week.

He works half the year, then takes the other half of the year off travelling.

His offer?

Coding.

The wildest part?

He’s only been coding 1 year.

It made me realise something.

Everyone is chasing the same things on X and Linkedin.

Copying someone else's winning lottery numbers from yesterday.

Thinking that someone else's success and journey on social media can be copy-and-pasted into their life.

And that this will lead them to ultimate freedom…

They forget one thing:

Your business isn’t on social media.

It’s in your mind.

And you build the business in your mind by following your curiosities.

My friend that I spoke about followed his natural curiosities and strengths.

The outcome?

A job that pays him nearly $200K a year (if he wanted to work all year) with less than a year's experience in that field.

He doesn't even use social media.

Besides...

Let’s say X, LinkedIn or Instagram shut down tomorrow.

If you’d followed your curiosities and learnt skills that truly interest you, you could apply them anywhere – social media or no social media.

I’m not saying don’t hang out on social media anymore.

But don’t fall into the trap of thinking social media is your ticket to absolute freedom.

Instead…

Think of this place as somewhere to stack the skills required to achieve freedom.

I’m personally looking at it as a marketplace to aggressively learn and develop myself.

Yes.

I do get clients from social media.

But I also get clients OUTSIDE of social media.

And guess what…

They pay more.

Social media is your portfolio.

Your personal brand is your business card.

Your skills are what gets you paid.

Social media is a skill and a place to connect – not your business.

If you want to forge your own path, focus on developing yourself.

Prioritise learning more skills and combine them in creative ways.

Your Genius & Your Natural Path 

To succeed in life and business – you have to find your genius.

This means finding the lifestyle and work that lights you up because it feels most natural to you.

I'm currently reading The Millionaire Masterplan, which highlights the 4 types of genius.

The premise of this concept?

You don’t need to focus on your weaknesses to be successful.

You need to follow a path that plays to your natural strengths. 

I spoke about this in last week's letter where I highlighted the first step to carving your niche: understanding your own psychology.

Another great shortcut to discovering yourself and understanding your psychology is to pinpoint out your genius.

Here are the 4 types of genius:

1. The Dynamo Genius (Creator)
   

   • Characteristics: Innovator, creative thinker, constantly generating new ideas.

   • Focus: Thrives on creating new products, services, or solutions.

   • Strengths: Visionary thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, ability to disrupt industries.

2. The Blaze Genius (Star):
   

   • Characteristics: Charismatic, influential, excellent communicator.

   • Focus: Shines in the spotlight, adept at personal branding and promotion.

   • Strengths: Natural leadership, networking skills, ability to inspire and motivate.
     

3. The Steel Genius (Operator)
   

   • Characteristics: Analytical, organized, detail-oriented, process-driven.

   • Focus: Excels in managing systems, operations, and logistics.

   • Strengths: Strategic planning, efficiency optimization, risk management.
     

4. The Tempo Genius (Supporter)
   

   • Characteristics: Empathetic, nurturing, team-oriented, service-minded.

   • Focus: Flourishes in supporting roles, building relationships, and providing care.

   • Strengths: Collaboration, empathy, customer service, relationship-building.

Which one resonated with you most?

I’m personally somewhere in between Dynamo and Blaze.

Whichever one (or two) spoke to you, lean into it.

If it makes sense to you, pursue a path that aligns with you.

Use it as a filtering mechanism for discovering which path to take, and which skills to learn.

Forging Your Own Path

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” – Matthew 7:13-14 

Most people tell you you have to do X/Y to be successful in life and business.

Especially on Money X.

So everyone is copying each other.

This is your advantage.

The best thing you can do to stand out and get ahead is forge your own path.

Here’s how:

1. Observe the masses. Do the opposite.

If everyone is doing it, it's probably wrong.

I learned this at a very young age at school.

Everyone had short hair.

So I grew long hair.

Everyone had knee-high shorts.

So I went for 3/4 length shorts.

The result is that I stood out from the crowd.

I was memorable and my teachers loved me (not so much at secondary school lol)

The same is true in the marketplace.

• Become aware of the common behaviour

• Pledge to be radically different

Now you’re already standing out from the crowd.

Take the path least travelled.

2. Observe the masses. Do the opposite.

Likes won’t get you paid.

Viral posts won’t get you paid.

Skills will.

• Pick a skill based off your type of genius

• Find a mentor or community who can help you learn it faster

• Master it on to the next skill

The synthesis of a few different skills will help you create a true niche of one.

Escape competition with a unique skill stack.

3. Leave your hometown

Don’t get stuck living in the same little town your whole life.

Become an explorer.

• Travel

• Experience new things

• Meet new people

The more you can explore the more you’ll discover about yourself.

This is the key to knowing what you like and what you’d like to do to make money. This is how you find your passion.

New challenges, experiences and experiences spark new ideas and provide new insights.

If you want to forge your own path, get out there and live life.

4. Read classic books

Everyone on social media reads the same books.

The best books out there all stemmed from a few classic books.

No one reads these, but this is where all the gold is at.

• Instead of a business book – read Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

• Instead of a self-help book – read The Bible

• Instead of a philosophy book – read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Instead of consuming junk food, go organic.

Go the source of the source of the greatest ideas of all time – untainted and in their original form.

Bring these ideas to social media in your own way, and you will stand out.

5. Take breaks from social media

2 weeks ago I did a silent retreat.

While on that break, my mind was buzzing with ideas.

I stopped thinking like the crowd, because I was removed from the crowd.

This gives you an advantage over those who spend all their time on social media.

They're in a herd mentality, while you maintain a bigger-picture perspective.

This allows you to connect ideas more effectively.

• Take Sundays off

• Schedule 7-10 day break every quarter

• Give yourself a daily time limit

Bottom line?

Spend less time on social media.

6. Experiment (don’t be afraid to fail)

I’ve launched dozens of offers.

I’ve hopped from multiple different niches.

You have to be willing to “date” a little bit before you find love.

• Test new offers

• Try different job roles

• Experiment with different content ideas

Forging your own path is an experimental model.

It’s an iterative model.

Baked into every failure is a lesson.

All these failures and lessons add up to an impressive story.

Follow your curiosities and see where it takes you.

7. Don’t copy. Steal

Curate your feed with mentors and high-performing ideas.

Read books from your favourite authors.

Take the best ideas and write them down somewhere.

Then:

• Question why it resonated with you

• Think of the common perspectives & objections to it

• Rebrand them to make them your own

There are no “new” ideas.

It’s simply a matter of taking pre-existing knowledge and ideas and putting them together in a unique and different format.

The best material is all out there if know where to look.

Research > consumption.

8. Spend time on your own (alone)

Forging your own path requires that you know yourself.

The fastest route?

Spend long periods of time by yourself, quietly in isolation.

This is important because it gets you in touch with your higher (authentic) self.

Sit in your own company and stew in the experiences you had.

Ask yourself questions like:

What did I really like about that?

What do I really love about life?

What irritates me about life?

Why do I like that type of person, but not that type of person?

What do I really like that I’m already doing?

This is not something you do once.

This is something you do consistently.

Like I said, forging your own path is an iterative process.

If I could summarise this whole letter, it would be this:

Don’t follow the meta. Reject the dogma. Learn how to follow YOUR curiosities, and you will win.

There’s a lot of noise on social media.

Everyone is pushing THEIR agenda.

Learn to ignore it and follow yours.

And always keep top of mind that building a strong brand online is all about the person BEHIND the brand.

Your brand grows as you grow.

So my suggestion to you is this:

Treat social media like the gym.

You’re not in the gym to look good IN the gym.

You’re in the gym to look good OUTSIDE the gym.

Remember: 100% of the growth happens at rest.

Sure…

Stack skills.

Build an audience.

Build an email list.

Build a product.

But don’t get stuck in the gym.

Have a great weekend.

If you’re serious about forging your own path and crafting your own niche, you might want to check out Digital Odyssey.

It’s not open yet, but the waitlist is now open for a short window for my email list.

I’m only opening up 10 spots.

So spots are going to fly fast.

Here’s the plan:

If you're like me, you want a life of freedom, meaning and purpose.

So if you’re currently stuck doing meaningless work… you have a business or job but…

• You feel trapped (both physically and mentally) and are unfulfilled

• You’re on social media but have no idea how to monetise your passions

• You dream of a 4 hour work day, but it feels like you’re always working

And you want to get paid for being yourself?

Digital Odyssey is for you.

You'll get exclusive, unlimited access to me for 6 weeks.

This isn't a boring course or a huge cohort.

It's a tight-knit group of me, you, and a few other business owners.

This is the last time I'll open this Mastermind for a while.

And if it comes back prices will go up.

So this is the last time to get in before I close doors for a while.

If you want to secure your spot join the waitlist here.