The 5 levels of entrepreneurship

Today’s Tip: There are 5 levels to go from zero to winning in business (and content). Use this framework to figure out where to focus your time.

Every business owner I know is looking for an edge.

Every creator I know is looking for an edge.

It turns out, the best edge (across both) is being able to focus on the right thing at the right stage.

This framework has always been super valuable for helping me figure out the best place to focus at a given stage.

The 5 levels of entrepreneurship:

• Level 1 - Wtf do I spend my time on?

• Level 2 - Okay, I picked something, but I suck…how do I get better?

• Level 3 - Okay, I’m getting better…but how do I make money?

• Level 4 - Okay, I’m making a little money…but how do I make a lot of money?

• Level 5 - Okay, I know exactly what I need to do to make a lot of money…but can I stay focused enough to let it work?

• Level 6 - Rich

Every entrepreneur has to go through all 5 stages to unlock financial freedom.

The interesting part is that across every stage, there is only one core thing required to ascend to the next level. And it’s actually much simpler than it seems when you know what you’re doing.

Level 1

• Question: Wtf do I spend my time on?

• Answer: At this stage, all you have to focus on is market/skill selection. Figure out game or arena you want to play in based on your talent, interest, opportunity, and market conditions

Level 2:

• Question: Okay, I picked something, but I suck…how do I get better at this thing?

• Answer: At this stage, all you have to focus on is skill development. Figure out the best system for doing this thing, and only this thing, as much as you can, until you become great at it

Level 3:

• Question: Okay, I’m getting better…but how do I make money at this thing?

• Answer: At this stage, all you have to focus on is business model/offer. Figure out the most favorable business model to hook up to your chosen skill and build the offer nets to capture increasing value as your skill improves

Level 4:

• Question: Okay, I’m making a little money…but how do I make a lot of money at this thing?

• Answer: At this stage, all you have to focus on is systems. You have a high value skill and a validated offer, now you need to learn how to build systems around both to scale the supply & demand

Level 5:

• Question: Okay, I know exactly what I need to do to make a lot of money…but can I stay focused enough on just this thing without getting distracted?

• Answer: At this stage, all you have to do is focus, period. You have the shiny object already in front of you, but can you resist getting distracted by everything else?

I find this framework helpful because anyone can instantly assess where they’re at and know exactly what to focus on.

But of course…this newsletter is about content, content strategy and turning attention into dollars…

So what does this have to do with content?

It turns out, this framework is also super applicable to the content game…here’s how to use it as a guide:

The 5 levels of content:

Level 1 - What content should I make?
Solving for this is all about working backwards from your offer, understanding your ideal viewer avatar, and mapping their unique pain points. I cover this in depth in the first lesson of SFA

Level 2 - Okay, I picked a topic, but I suck at making content…how do I get better?
Solving for this is all about understanding the fundamentals of content at a base level. I cover this in depth on YouTube and in SFA

Level 3 - Okay, I’m getting better at making content…but how do I make money from it?
Solving for this is all about understanding the value stack and the business model options (CPMs, affiliates, brand deals, etc.) at the media layer. I cover this in depth here

Level 4 - Okay, I’m making a little money…but how do I make a lot of money with content?
Solving for this is all about understanding why value doesn’t not maximally accrue at the media layer and how to build offers/products/services that media funnels customers to. I cover this in depth in SFA

Level 5 - Okay, I know exactly what I need to do to make a lot of money with content…but can I build an operating system to help me focus elsewhere while maintaining traction?
Solving for this is all about understanding how to scale a content team (systems/tools/people) while maintaining quality and quantity of posting. I cover this in SFA

Regardless of whether you’re at level 1 or level 5, use this framework to guide your focus and things will get a lot easier.

PS - If you want more help improving your video hooks, you can check out my full breakdown of the 6 best viral hook frameworks (responsible for billions of views)