Want to build a lean, profitable one-person business?
One of the most powerful concepts you should know about is something I call “Digital Leverage.”
3 Components of Digital Leverage
There are 3 simple parts to this formula.
- Content: Ideate 1x, Distribute 10x
- Selling: Distribute 10x, Sell 100x
- Compounding Revenue: Sell 100x, Incentivize 1,000x
Part 1: Ideate 1x, Distribute 10x
With my audience in mind, I research trending topics, read industry insights, and engage on social media for an hour every day. And these activities help me identify interesting ideas to write about.
After I choose a topic to write about, I create one robust, long-form piece of content— sometimes it’s a newsletter issue (like this), an article, or a Twitter thread.
I break up my big, long-form content piece into smaller, more digestible pieces of content — like tweets, LinkedIn posts, Twitter threads, and Instagram posts.
Phase 2: Distribute 10x, Sell 100x
After I create 10 small pieces of content from one big idea, it’s time for distribution.
So I publish my smaller snippets in all the different places that make sense for each piece of content (Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, etc)
Every time you repurpose one strong piece of content into bite-sized posts for different platforms, you reach a wider audience with minimal effort.
Use these bite-sized social media posts as a “trojan horse” to promote your products and services.
Phase 3: Sell 100x, Incentivize 1,000x
Selling 100 units of your product may just seem like a milestone. But it’s also an opportunity to compound those sales with effective incentives.
Offer an enticing affiliate program, where your customers earn a commission for every new customer they refer to you. I made the decision to pay 35% rather than the standard 20% simply because I want people to feel empowered to earn.
But remember, you need 3 things for a win-win-win affiliate program:
- A high-quality product or service: People will only refer their friends if they truly got value from your offering.
- A good enough incentive: You can’t pay out pennies if you expect people to keep your affiliate program top-of-mind.
- Transparency: How does the program work? When do people get paid? What are some helpful tips for promoting or talking about your products?