Value Creation: The Single Skill That Built My $1M Solo Business

Building a Business with Social Media

In this section, the speaker talks about his experience creating digital art with Photoshop and how he used social media to grow his following. He also discusses the importance of monetizing your skills and building a sustainable income.

Using Social Media to Build a Following

• The speaker emulated larger accounts by tagging community pages that shared digital art, creating composites that would get shared, and remixing photographers' images in hopes of getting shares.

• This strategy is similar to mentioning a large account in a Twitter thread or tagging someone in an Instagram post based on an idea they gave you.

• By using these strategies, the speaker grew his following to 2500 followers on Instagram.

Monetizing Your Skills

• The speaker realized that while his art was valuable, it wasn't valuable enough to demand payment from others.

• He decided to learn a more profitable skill in order to start freelancing and build up from there.

• If he could go back, he would continue growing his audience as a traffic source and create a product or service to send that traffic to.

The Importance of Copywriting and Marketing

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of learning copywriting, marketing, and offer creation in order to position your product in the market.

• He suggests partnering with personal development creators to visualize their best ideas and become an authority in that space.

Leveraging Your Skills for Business Success

• The speaker uses the skills he learned from failed business models like Photoshop to create his own thumbnails, Instagram designs, and website.

• He emphasizes that one skill is responsible for 95% of his business success and has contributed the most to his brand sales content and revenue growth over the past 3 to 4 years.

The Essence of Being and Human Behavior

In this section, the speaker explains how knowledge is constructed from experience and how skills must be linked with human psychology or universal patterns to make money. The base of all human behavior is survival, evolution, and transformation.

Knowledge Construction and Human Behavior

• Knowledge is second order being while spirit is first order.

• Skills must be linked with human psychology or universal patterns to make money.

• Survival, evolution, and transformation are the base of all human behavior.

Mimicking Patterns in Created Things

• Storytelling, games, music, architecture mimic these patterns because everything created mimics that of being from reality.

• Purpose, path, priority framework explains human behavior.

Purpose Path Priority Framework

• Transformation goal equals purpose which equals desire.

• Shining a light on people's problems creates purpose not only in themselves but also in others.

• Creating a path that illustrates how to overcome a problem bridges the gap between the problem they're facing and the transformation they're trying to acquire.

• All problems are determined by perceived importance which makes priority important.

Understanding the Importance of Targeting a Customer Avatar

In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding your customer avatar and targeting them effectively.

Importance of Identifying Your Customer Avatar

• It is important to identify your customer avatar in order to create content or products that resonate with them.

• Turning yourself into the customer avatar and marketing to your past self can be an effective strategy.

• By targeting a specific customer avatar, you can create a shared perspective and attract people who share similar goals and visions.

The Value Creation Framework

In this section, the speaker introduces the value creation framework which consists of eight steps that help illustrate perceived value.

The Eight Steps of Value Creation

• The eight steps are: turning dirt into gold, identifying levels of awareness, creating a unique mechanism, developing a compelling promise, offering proof, crafting an irresistible offer, making it easy to buy, and delivering a transformative experience.

• These steps can be used as marketing firepower for landing pages, sales pages, opt-in pages, website content and brand bio.

• Applying these steps helped the speaker's business generate 1 million plus dollars in revenue over three years.

Levels of Awareness

In this section, the speaker explains levels of awareness and how they relate to marketing.

Understanding Levels of Awareness

• There are five levels of awareness: unawareness (the prospect has no knowledge or interest), problem aware (the prospect is aware they have a problem), solution aware (the prospect is aware there are solutions available), product aware (the prospect is aware of your product), and most aware (the prospect knows your product is the best solution for their problem).

• Understanding levels of awareness can help you tailor your marketing message to the prospect's level of awareness.

Understanding Awareness Levels

In this section, the speaker discusses the different levels of awareness and how to write and speak to people at each level.

Levels of Awareness

• Level 1 - Unawareness: People are unaware of a problem in their life. Most viral YouTube videos, Instagram content, etc., position themselves from this stage.

• Level 2 - Problem Aware: Readers are aware of their problem but may not understand it or aren't aware of a potential solution.

• Level 3 - Solution Aware: Readers are aware of a solution or your solution and you just need to put it in front of them or provide steps to overcome their problem.

• Level 4 - Product Aware: People are aware of your solution and other solutions on the market. Your job is to present an argument for why your solution is better than those on the market and its benefits.

• Level 5 - Most Aware/Ready to Buy Stage : They're sold on your solution. All they need is some form of incentive or promotion placed in front of them.

Writing for Different Levels

• To make people aware of a problem, show them how it's impacting their life. Use harsh language if necessary.

• For readers who are problem-aware, provide steps they can take to overcome their issue.

• For readers who are product-aware, present an argument for why your solution is better than others on the market using rich language.

• For readers who are most aware/ready to buy, use a limited time sale or other scarcity tactic to tip them over the edge.

Short Form vs. Long Form Content

• Short form content targets levels 1-3 in order to generate the most attention and capture the most of your audience.

• Save high-level or clever content for long-form so that you can present an entire argument, introduce them to the problem, make them aware of it, provide a solution, and help encourage them to act.

Crafting a Persuasive Message

In this section, the speaker discusses how to craft a persuasive message by understanding the levels of awareness and using the eight human desires as a framework for creating an angle in marketing.

Understanding Levels of Awareness

• There are four levels of awareness: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, and product aware.

• The internal markets are health, wealth, relationships.

• There are eight human desires that must be addressed in all content: survival, life enjoyment, freedom from fear, sexual companionship, comfort and clarity, perceived status, safety of community and social acceptance.

Creating an Angle in Marketing

• To create an angle in marketing you need to find a problem and attack it from a specific angle.

• You want to educate people on the problems they're facing in one of these domains relating to your product or service.

• You can frame your persuasive message through survival (need skills), life enjoyment (quality of life), or perceived status (six-figure income).

• Every single person's niche is self-improvement or self-actualization.

Identifying the Big Problem

• Identify a big problem from the level of awareness that people are sitting in.

• Depending on where you're writing the content and then whatever angle you choose to go from.

Raising People Beyond the Surface

In this section, the speaker discusses how depth comes after solving shallow problems in life and others. He emphasizes that people have to solve surface-level problems before they can reach a place of depth.

The Importance of Solving Shallow Problems

• Depth comes after you solve the shallow problems in your life and others.

• You have to raise people beyond the surface level problems that they have, but you can't just let them skip that.

• These are the stages of development that you have to raise people up through.

Creating a Unique Mechanism

• A unique mechanism is needed for a solution that stands out from everyone else's.

• It is recommended to figure it out for yourself by solving your own problems in a unique way and going through trial and error.

• Taking from multiple sources in order to solve your own problems will help create a unique solution.

Bullet Spray Benefits

• Once you have the big problem and unique mechanism, bullet points benefits are necessary to help people understand why it is applicable and relatable to their lives.

• Bullet points make it clear as to how it's going to benefit their life.

Benefits and Value Creation

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of listing compelling benefits and creating value for potential customers.

Listing Compelling Benefits

• List as many compelling benefits as possible to give potential customers a reason to buy.

• One benefit may be enough to convince someone to make a purchase.

Creating Value

• Personal experience can be used as proof when social proof or testimonials are not available.

• Research statistics and anecdotes online to form a compelling argument in your writing.

• Start with personal experience that illustrates the problem in newsletters or videos.

• The first product can be something created for oneself, talking about personal experience, the problem faced, and how it was overcome.

Big Idea

• A big idea is a one-sentence summary that illustrates the value of what you're providing.

• Hunt for big ideas by making them your own from content creation and reading in general.

Risk Reversal and End Result

• A compelling risk reversal helps close deals at the beginning of your journey.

• Spice up money-back guarantees by getting creative with desirable end results associated with risk reversals.

The Importance of Risk Reversal

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of risk reversal in business and how it can put pressure on both the seller and buyer to deliver results.

Pressure to Deliver

• Risk reversal puts pressure on the seller to deliver results, especially if they are a beginner.

• This pressure encourages the seller to try their hardest to make their product or service work.

• Through trying their hardest, sellers realize what is actually possible and improve with time.

Caveats for Risk Reversal

• Sellers can add caveats to their risk reversal policy, such as requiring buyers to execute every action in order to qualify for a refund.

• Buyers can prove execution by providing evidence such as screenshots of text messages or other relevant documentation.

Win-Win Situation

• Risk reversal creates a win-win situation where both parties benefit. The pressure is put on the seller to deliver while the buyer is encouraged to act on what they have purchased.

Using Marketing Legos for Value Creation

In this section, the speaker explains how marketing legos can be used for value creation and provides examples of where they can be applied.

Long Form Content

• Long form content follows a format that illustrates a problem, agitates it, gives context and raises awareness, provides actionable steps, and incorporates benefits.

• Long form content walks people through all levels of awareness.

Short Form Content

• Short form content is limited to one or two or three elements at a time.

• Short form content is usually limited to the problem and solution or the problem and unique mechanism.

Practicing Persuasion with Copywriting Frameworks

In this section, the speaker discusses how to practice persuasion using copywriting frameworks and structuring value creation steps within those frameworks.

Using Copywriting Frameworks

• To practice persuasion, pair the eight steps discussed in the video with copywriting frameworks like Pastore or ADA.

• Pastore is problem amplifier, story, testimony offer in response.

• ADA is attention, interest, desire and action.

• Pass is problem, amplifier and solution.

Structuring Value Creation Steps

• Structure all eight value creation steps within the copywriting framework for a landing page or sales page headline and subheadline.

• This is done above the fold on a website.

• Use these steps in a course curriculum to capture attention in each module and walk students through overcoming presented problems.

• Use everyday conversations to articulate points.

Conclusion

The speaker concludes by emphasizing that practicing what was discussed in this video can be extremely powerful for building brands and writing persuasive digital content.

• If you use what was discussed in this video and practice it, it can be extremely powerful.

• Digital Economics Masterclass has more information on this topic.

• Links are available in the description.

• Modern Mastery is a community that can be joined for five dollars with over 180 strategies on business and life.