Welcome to January’s business breakdown.

Each month we take a peak under the hood of my business, discussing:

• Freedom (leverage)
• Revenue (income and expenses)
• Growth (audience and newsletter)

Let’s dive in.

The Freedom Meter

The aim of 2023 was to disconnect my earnings from my time, so I set a target to get my ‘low leveraged’ income to below 10%.

I started at 35%. Gratefully — and unexpectedly — I hit the goal in November.

For 2024, I wasn’t sure what to aim for. I considered a writing target like 50 essays, but I didn’t want to jump on another hamster wheel. A friend suggested I shoot for 7 figures, but I have a rule of no revenue goals because I don’t like how I feel when I’m chasing money (it’s endless).

So this year’s aim is to continue what I started and get my ‘high leveraged’ income to 90%.

Here’s where we’re at now:

This goal forces you to keep playing higher leverage games and not get sucked into selling your time, so I’m excited for it.

Let’s look at the numbers.

January net income: $22,356.57

Gross Revenue

I’ve got two goals at the moment:

Get better at writing and get better at being an entrepreneur — both games that are incredibly challenging and enjoyable.

Now, when my business mentor asked what that looks like in 2024, I said I might hit 7 figures. He told me I was aiming backwards. This made me realise I was approaching the game with the same mindset I had when I started. I guess I still don’t believe how good things went in 2023.

We’ll have to see how things evolve, but $22k is a brilliant start.

Why?

Because I was on holiday for most of January!

This means that my systems are starting to spin by themselves. This is exciting because I see online business as ‘borrowing time’. You spend months or years building processes and systems, but once they’re built — all you have to do is create content and serve your customers (two things I love).

The main revenue sources were:

• Affiliating = $1,282.32
• 1-1 Coaching & Consulting = $1,000
• Digital Products = $20,070.75

The big win of the month was relaunching my new offer, the Magnetic Content Masterclass (MCM).

This is a weekly course breaking down the copywriting behind 5 great social media posts. It’s a recurring revenue product, and the big idea is to help you connect with your audience and create more fans through content.

When I beta-launched in November, I underestimated the time it would take (of course).

The project spiralled from a few templates to a video plus written breakdown for each post. Why? Because when people invest, you should overdeliver. Plus, products are about relationships. You don’t build a bond with templates. You build it with close contact and enjoyable ideas.

Selfishly, I’m learning a lot too because it forces me to think deeply about why stuff works.

It’s a nice win-win.

Originally 100 people signed up — $2k MRR — which meant my hourly rate was poor, $50-100/hour.

Now, I’m a huge advocate of Naval Ravikant’s concept of aspirational hourly rates. You decide what your time is worth before you make decisions and say no to everything that falls below it.

When I started my business, my hourly rate was $25. I didn’t care. I just wanted experience, so I whored myself out to anyone who wanted anything (classy).

But I’ve now cranked it up to $1,000, and I try to say no to everything that falls below.

At first, it felt ridiculous turning down good opportunities. But it freed me up to execute better ones. For example, High Impact Writing is now roughly a $2,000/hour asset through 1-2 weekly emails, plus my welcome sequence.

It could be even more, but I love John Bejakovic’s non-pushy approach to email marketing. Relationships and reputation are the top priority. You still sell, but you do it well — playing long-term games.

(By the way, I’d recommend you jump on John’s list. He sends some of the best daily emails I’ve seen).

Anyway, I now have 344 subscribers after relaunching at the start of the month, roughly $5,900 MRR (some pay yearly). I’ve built systems for filming MCM so my time input has dropped. It’s now at $590/hour.

Once I hit 500 subs that’s a $1k/hour offer and a brilliant start.

I told myself that if I didn’t hit 500 after 6 months, it was a failed offer. But we should blow that target away much earlier.

You must test offers often to find a good fit. With MRR, you must also consider retention. People think getting paid monthly is simple, but it takes work to overdeliver and keep churn low. Single-payment products can be a much easier ride.

It’s too early to tell, but not many people have left.

If you’re writing on social media to grow your brand and business, come see why.

Let’s talk about expenses.

Expenses

I bought a few courses, hired a bookkeeper (god bless her because my books are a mess), and hired someone to fix my DMARC (email back-end stuff).

I also hired a course expert, Craig Shoemaker, to tear apart High Impact Writing.

His feedback was everything I needed to hear. The feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive, but I wasn’t happy with the quality. I’ve heard that an excellent product can be a massive business catalyst and I’d like to nail it.

Audience Growth

The newsletter’s about to hit 30,000 (wild) and social media has slowed down because I’ve barely been on it.

I’ve started on Instagram and I keep telling myself I should be engaging more on LinkedIn, but I just don’t have the excitement that some creators have for social media growth. I used to, but it’s felt quite shallow and unrewarding lately.

I’m still creating content, which I love, but with less intensity and less about reach. I’m more focused on creating for my fans than chasing followers. This means emails, essays, and products.

I plan on starting video content after the launch — well, after I take a break after the launch — because, goddamn, it’s a lot of work. I figured the world needs more rugged British men on camera. It should be fun starting again as a beginner, too (any tips please reach out).

As always, I appreciate your attention.