💪 How To Turn Leverage Into Your Superpower

4 types of leverage that are easy to build.

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Now, onto today’s agenda…

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Physics in high school was boring. 

But physics in business is pure magic. Let me show you how.

And I’m not gonna use Sally with 1 apple and Tim with 2 apples kinda language. I’m gonna break down cold hard facts cause y’all are busy and wanna get back to your emails.

Introducing the idea of personal leverage. 

I was first introduced to it by a friendly email writer named Eric. 

He’s crafted a guide on business leverage and life principles called The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant. I fell in love with it last summer. 

His big spiel is that if you know how to build leverage, you can use it as a slingshot to accomplish anything.

Physics lesson 1: Leverage means less effort

Leverage simply means achieving more with less effort by using automation, simplification, delegation or elimination.   

It applies to: 

• People: Clients, contractors, fans, community, mentors, etc.

• Products: skews, software, process, invoicing, hiring, e-commerce, warehouse, etc.

• Tools: Gadgets, machines, chrome extensions, productivity flows, etc.

• Capital: cash, equity, profits, debt, and wealth creation 

(Stay with me)

Here are some leverage frameworks you can copy-paste into your life: 

#1 People Leverage

We’ve all heard about the friend that hires a virtual assistant. They rave about their life, they have so much time and they act like everything’s a breeze. Let’s pause and break down if this is fact or fiction: 

The ROI of hiring a VA might not be visible immediately, but once the flow is developed it can be of incredible value. You can:

• Outsourcing repeated tasks

• Up-skill your hourly allocation of focus

• Delegate client or staff requests in minutes

Understanding how to make the most of your time is the ultimate leverage. If you don’t make room for high-value tasks, you’ll be stuck with mediocre results. 

Entrepreneur, Andrew Wilkinson (who’s created ~1 billion in value through his Tiny Group mafia), once shared this crucial fact that stuck with me. 

He said in a podcast that the secret behind the immaculate growth of his Tiny Group was hiring people who loved doing the tasks he hated. (aka people leverage)

Turns out that friend with the VA system was onto something. 

If you want another chrome tab to open up, read this piece of advice on outsourcing from Justin Welsh to save 15+ hours per week. It’s packed with gold.

#2 Product Leverage

The big question in bucket # 2 is asking “what are some products you want to spin up? ? Products have a strong ROI as they help you:

• Build a side-income (an asset that keeps on giving)

• Gain a following that will advocate for you 

• Get more opportunities (my newsletter has got me tons of speaking and advising opportunities)

• Meet people and build  relationships 

Your next product could be any of the following: 

• A newsletter (paid/unpaid)

• A checklist

• A template 

• A digital course (long or short)

• An e-book 

• A book 

• A SaaS tool 

• A startup event with Elon Musk*

*Probably a rain check but hey, shoot for the moon 😉

If you need a product idea answer these questions: 

1. What’s something you want to solve for others? 

2. What’s something you have domain expertise in and could teach others? 

#3 Tool Leverage

Stay with me, don’t go to Twitter memes quite yet. Ask yourself:

“What do I do every week that can be automated via a tool or software?” 

The goal is to trim time from your tasks to get results faster. 

Some tool recommendations: 

• You can use Zapier or IFTTT to build customized workflows. Link your Gmail to your Slack or scheduling apps to your Slack and get notified about comments. 

• Enable color filters on my iPhone (B&W mode) to get less distracted. 

• Set up automatic grocery or coffee delivery and never have to worry again. 

• Use an invoicing SaaS that takes care of your finances. 

• Invest in a scheduling app, habit tracker or an email autoresponder. 

(All of these are low-hanging fruit you could set up on your laptop while you catch up on the latest episode of Ted Lasso.)

#4 Capital Leverage

Capital leverage isn’t just about building wealth but also about making capital work for you.

Think about: 

• Setting up a recurring investment account to leverage the power of compounding 

• Is there a property/part of the property that you could rent and create an extra income means?

• Could you be promoting products you love and earn via affiliates? 

• Automating your monthly income investment buckets. Could you explore angel investing 1-2x/year?

There are many many more levers that we often don’t see. Start thinking in terms of building leverage and you’ll find them. 

Hope you liked today’s breakdown and thanks again to Eric and his e-book for getting me hooked on the concepts.

💡 Riff of the Day

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Thanks for reading. I stay up late to make it worth your time. Loved it? Hated it? Let me know.

Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week.

✌🏻 Joel

P.S. Wanna ramp up your storytelling? I’m teaching a  1-day cohort class on  May 7th if you want to join the waitlist.