You will never be free without this skill
It's lightly edited but otherwise untouched. I've kept them on the site to show how the journey has evolved.
Today's email is about getting more done with less.
But don’t worry my friend, this isn’t about productivity porn. Just the normal, good kinda porn:
Freedom.
You’re going to learn the real reason I quit dentistry, what I’m doing now to build my business fast, and what you need to do if you want better results with less effort.
This one’s a 7 minute read.
Let’s dive in.
The (Ridiculous) Power of Leverage
In ‘real life’, when people ask me why I quit my career to write, I joke about staring in mouths all day and losing my hair due to stress.
And whilst the hairline is true, it’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
The real reason?
I knew I was missing out on something massive.
See, I felt like a king when I graduated from university. Dentistry’s a prestigious profession. Parents were proud. Most dentists play golf and drive Porsches.
So it was very much Dr Kieran Drew in da house.
I was ready to give it my all.
Not for the flashy car or chasing a ball around a field (both seem pointless).
But for freedom.
I hate the idea of being a slave to a wage. I want to make sure my family never need to worry about money. And so the plan was to work hard, save harder, and invest the result.
But there was a problem.
The first year I qualified, the pay was good. In year 2, I took on a second job and the pay was great. And in year 3, I invested in a diploma in aesthetic dentistry to hit the big bucks.
But whilst my effort and hairline climbed higher, my hourly rate had begun to flatline.
I'd discovered the truth about real success.
It doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how hard you work, if you don't build leverage - you will always hit the same bottleneck:
Your time.
My issue was you can’t drill more than one mouth at a time (unless you enjoy prison, and I’m far too pretty for that). So by 2020, I was burned out, maxed out, and wanted out.
When I realised time is all you have, I began searching for a new career.
Which leads us to today's topic.
Leverage is a tool that helps you do more with less.
In dentistry, that's a drill.
But as a writer?
It's a keyboard.
And the difference between the two is massive.
Instead of working hard to see 30 patients a day, I now write for 4 hours to reach over 130,000 people. And because it's a different kinda leverage (explained below), it just keeps getting better. My income is almost back to dentistry levels, which is obscene considering I spent 10 years and 6 figures in education to get there.
If you want to be free, you need to stop chasing linear results.
To quote marketing legend Jay Abraham, ‘Shame on you if you live any facet of your life or business incrementally - it's sub optimal'.
So let's talk about going exponential.
The 4 Levers
According to investor Naval Ravikant, we have 4 types of leverage:
- Capital: Money
- Labour: People
- Code: Software
- Media: Content (like this email)
Dentists rely on labour leverage. And because the business depends on people, I’d spend my life putting out fires instead of enjoying the warmth of the Spanish sun.
(My girlfriend quit her 9-5 yesterday to go full time with me - the U.K. escape plan is in motion).
As creators, we enjoy a different kind of leverage.
Digital.
Code and media.
They have little-to-no marginal cost of replication. Neither do they need holidays or wages. This means you can scale from 6 figures to 7 figures with few adjustments in cost, effort, and fulfilment.
That’s insane.
This newest form of leverage is where all the new fortunes are made, all the new billionaires. The last generation, fortunes were made by capital. That was the Warren Buffets of the world. But the new generation’s fortunes are all made through code or media.
- Naval Ravikant
Leverage is the secret to disconnecting your time from money.
And to show you how crazy it can get, we'll run through one of my writing systems.
Then we'll discuss how you can build leverage today (note: you don't need to quit your job... yet).
How to get 1000x the result from one tweet
So look, if this is your first exposure to leverage, it might get a bit overwhelming.
Why?
Because it keeps going.
You can add lever upon lever until 1 unit of energy creates 1000 units of result (or more). No extra work, just extra impact.
It’s the difference between dropping a pebble and a boulder into the ocean.
They both hit the water, but only one makes a splash.
So let's start with a tweet.
A tweet is leveraged. A couple minutes of work can reach thousands of people.
But that’s just the start.
If you save your highest performers, you can repost them every 4-6 months to create 3-10x the result.
Better yet, you build a Hall of Fame.
Once a week, you take 30 minutes to go through your best content with a checklist of questions, and quickly repurpose the idea into 5-10 more. Because the content is proven to work, you amplify a great result.
One tweet is now highly-leveraged.
But here’s where it gets exciting.
I use Make (an automation software) to auto-import tweets with over 350 likes into Notion. Notion autogenerates the checklist so I don’t need to open any documents. I just log on, write the tweets, and click a button.
Then, my VA gets a notification.
She’ll schedule the new tweets over the next 4 months with Hypefury.
By taking media, code, and labour leverage I’ve turned very little effort into hundreds or thousands of followers (and subsequent revenue).
And all I’m doing?
The work I love most.
Writing.
I appreciate it’s Friday and you’ve probably got better stuff to do than watch me get aroused about leverage, so I won’t go much deeper. But I will say this:
When a rock hits the water, the impact is in every direction.
I’ve only described one.
This is what else is happening.
​Hypefury distributes 3 video courses I've built for free. These have been downloaded over 20,000 times. When you join my list, you get a 7-email welcome sequence. This gives more value and plugs my digital product.
These assets work day and night to build relationships, reputation, and revenue.
Exciting stuff.
If I wanted to take a month off, I can schedule everything my business needs to operate ahead of time.
— Kieran Drew (@ItsKieranDrew) February 8, 2023
I'd take 5 minutes a day to keep up with communication.
And my revenue would stay the same... it may even increase.
Gotta love digital freedom.
I haven’t even begun to repurpose my content across Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok. I have thousands of tweets, hundreds of threads, and all of my emails that I can turn into video content (no scripting required).
My friend, can you imagine the difference between a highly leveraged creator vs a ‘normal’ creator on a 10-year timeframe?
Insane.
So let’s make sure you’re on the right side of the equation.
Building Leverage
What I described above is what author Eric Jorgenson refers to as a 'mountain of leverage'.
It's great fun and effective, but don't try do it all at once. Layering levers takes time, and so I'd suggest beginning with the basics and working your way up.
The key is to find friction and fix it.
Take a look at your week and see what's holding you back. You want to maximise your energy on tasks only you can do (for me, that's learning and writing).
Think about it.
What's draining you?
What takes up most of your time?
What activities are non-creative and repetitive?
Set aside a few hours per week to work out how you can:
- Automate: Is there a software that can do this?
- Delegate: Are there people who can help?
- Systemise: Can I simplify the process?
- Eliminate: Is this shit even necessary?
Whatever holds you back.
Even a few basic levers will feel amazing if you're constantly busy.
If you don't have a routine, write Standard Operating Procedures so you can follow a process (media leverage).
If you speak with friends each week, why not do it on Spaces instead? Now you get to reach more people, and if you record it, you can turn it into a podcast (media, code, and people leverage).
If you spend 30-60 minutes uploading content, hire a VA and train them instead (mine is from the Philippines).
I can go on and on.
The secret is to start, and never stop.
The Need for Time
Leverage buys back time, but it's worth noting:
The cost of buying time later is time now.
Often, the investment has no immediate reward. SOPs won't make you money. Nor will they go viral. They're not sexy, but the delayed results sure as hell are.
Still stuck in your 9-5?
Perfect. Leverage will make every early morning count.
Already free?
Great.
Let me show you my routine to finish off the email.
In the morning, I spend 4 hours creating. Then I'll train and catch up on social. In the afternoon, I set aside time for the highest leverage activity of them all:
Thinking.
I’ll walk, read, journal, or speak to interesting people.
As someone who's used to hustling for any ounce of success, it's surreal. I feel guilty most days. But it only happens because the morning deep work session is highly leveraged.
A large audience, software, automations, systems, and a VA.
Build right, and you can take back control of your life in a way most people won't believe.
And isn't that the point? To live precisely how you want to? To make sure your time is spent on what excites you most?
I’ll leave you with this:
Leverage is not about getting rich.
It's about building wealth.
Time wealth. Energy wealth. Monetary wealth. Because with those, freedom quickly becomes a reality.
You got this.
If you want to explore more, I can’t recommend Eric Jorgenson’s course ‘Building a Mountain of Leverage’ more. I don’t affiliate for it. But it will open your eyes to what’s possible. Check it out here.
![Kieran Drew](/assets/kieran-avatar.png?v=cddfc38073)
About Kieran
Ex dentist, current writer, future Onlyfans star · Sharing what I learn about writing well, thinking clearly, and building an online business