The Wolverine of Writing

As a kid, I’d be sitting in the classroom with my pencil sharpener.

Six new pencils.

Five minutes later.

Instant retractable claws.

Yes, I know…imagine a pudgy Chinese kid fantasizing about being the Wolverine.

Meh.

Towards the end of the century, the first live-action X-men movie I saw made my dreams come true.

Hugh Jackman made this character come alive in ways no one could even imagine.

And for the next two decades, he did just that…

I never thought I’d be presenting another version of Wolverine in a newsletter.

Never say never (and if you start humming that song, you’re definitely in my age bracket).

Ahem.

Let’s talk about Kieran Drew…the Wolverine of X.

Oh, and how he is helping me grow my own claws (clause?) in writing.

Why would you say that??

In case you’re not familiar with him, Kieran Drew blasted onto the writing scene over the past year after slaving away in relative obscurity for 3 years.

He’s got metal pins throughout his body.

He toughed it out through thick and thin and became stronger than ever from his surgery.

He overcame his perceptions of digital entrepreneurship to achieve freedom and fortune on his terms by developing a very sharp writing style that he shares in threes his “High Impact Writing” course.

To simplify:

• he probably had an impressive healing factor

• his body is now laced with metal

• he has razor sharp writing

Who does that sound like?

The defense rests, Your Honor.

Far be it from me to piss off the Wolverine…but I do want to share a few highlights from his course that have really helped me:

1. Structure - content planning and examples.

2. Niche - who are you, and what do you write about?

3. Monetization - what can you offer and why is it valuable?

Structure

I’m sure you’ve heard it endlessly in multiple forms by now as you can’t avoid running into one if you scroll through Money X for even a minute.

• Personality

• Advice

• Storytelling

Standard stuff that really does work if you aren’t filtering everything every 5 seconds…

What Kieran does in his course is provide a structured environment and a way to process all these ideas into frameworks that are approachable and digestible in short videos with notes.

He also provide examples and worksheets in his Writer’s Handbook Notion page that go a long way in enabling you to fill in what you’re doing.

Niche

As Dan Koe says: you ARE the niche.

Kieran’s approach to this is to guide you through the process of figuring out EXACTLY what you want to be known for.

The biggest thing I took from this: the rule of one.

You are a multi-faceted person, and nobody will take that from you.

BUT

You need to hone your message and master the delivery so that it’s centered around one topic, one person, one platform.

The freedom to show the other sides of you will come later.

You can grow much higher as a tree than as a shrub.

It also sets you up to easily discover endless topics and build your own personal brand that is flexible and evolves with you on your journey.

Long story short: you need to identify your one true fan and write to that person from your perspective and background.

The short form and long form modules are packed with information and examples on how to deliver them so that they resonate with that fan.

Again, Kieran provides worksheets and lots of examples for reference (not for templating or copying or any of that BS).

Monetization

As with all would-be entrepreneurs, this one is quite possibly the biggest hurdle.

I’ve had a hard time justifying charging anyone for the things that I find are basic and rudimentary. I always assume that since I know it, everyone else probably already does as well.

That’s true in academia and industry as you move from meeting to meeting, cohort to cohort, conference to conference with the same group of people who are all your peers.

That’s not true at all in the context of the bigger world.

Kieran reminded me in the course that I didn’t have to be the expert (as is required in my career field), but a guide.

He does caution that you need at least a few years to really have anything of substantial value to offer (which I definitely agree on).

This what really stands out to me about him. He’s not out to say his course will make anyone an expert in a matter of weeks, but that it’s the process that he used to get to where he is now.

Monetization is supposed to help establish the authority you have, not destroy it.

It serves no one if there’s no skin in the game.

The Takeaway

In summary:

• Kieran Drew is the Wolverine of X

• He provides a well-structured course layout

• I definitely am getting more than what I bargained for from it

As I mentioned last entry, it took me four months to get through his course the first time he offered it.

It’s taken me one week to go through it the second time.

And I intend to go through it at least once more.

Who knows? Maybe I can become an X-man someday as well!

Here’s this week’s actionable exercise:

• Do you know what you stand for and what you offer to the world?

• Do you follow a “rule of one” in your life that guides you in your actions?

• Can you articulate it well enough that you could easily create a variety of content from it?

This is an exercise in defining your identity.

Thought of the week:

An Inspirator strives to be centered in values and principles that guide in action and thought for maximum impact.

Next week, I want to share an excellent interview that Jay Clouse had with someone who makes viral short form content.

Vince

P.S. If you know the name of the movie that I referenced earlier, let me know!

P.P.S. Moving forward, I’m going to be a bit more oriented towards the video aspect of content creation.

P.P.P.S. In case you hadn’t figure it out, I’m a big fan of Kieran’s. I don’t promote anything unless I firmly stand behind it, and I am definitely seeing results from my writing from his course.

Take a look here if you’re interested!