THE DODDS LETTERS
How to Build a Business That Runs on 2 Hours of Writing a Day
The leverage principle behind my entire business, and how you can apply it to yours.
By Eric Dodds
It’s 8:06am.
Saturday morning here in San Diego.
I just got back from a coffee walk.
Checked the surf, said hi to some strangers, and now I’m settling down to write.
Last week we talked about having a signature narrative.
How documenting your progress toward a unique goal online turns you into a category of one, and is often the quickest way to grow on social and attract people to your mission.
I have a follow up thought on this I believe will be valuable for you.
It’s the concept of leverage.
It’s a foundational idea that I’ve designed my life and business around.
And if your goal is to build something of your own, to acquire some level of wealth, and ultimately “rig” the game in your favor, I can’t articulate how important this idea is for you to understand.
I’ll start with a quote by Archimedes:
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world”
Banger quote, but for clarity sake, I’ll also include the definition of leverage for you:
“Using a small force, tool, or resource to gain a much larger advantage or output.”
The way to think about this is, without leverage you are tied to the same inputs as everyone else.
Imagine your goal is to get a boulder up a hill.
If your plan is to just “work harder,” put in more hours, and brute force your way, you’re going to be there a while.
But imagine if you had a rope and pulley, a tool, that allowed you to use leverage to increase the force you could apply.
It would be easier, no?
The harsh reality is, hard work alone doesn’t matter if you’re not applying leverage.
Because if rewards went to whoever worked hardest, laborers in the fields would be the wealthiest people on earth.
But they’re not.
Because they have no leverage.
I know your goal is not to push a boulder up a hill, so let’s look at modern forms of leverage.
Naval Ravikant famously describes the four modern forms of leverage as
Capital
Using money to make money
Think investments, equity, and funding that work 24/7
Labor
Building teams to expand your output
The classic approach: more hands equals more impact
Code
Software that scales infinitely
Build once, works forever
Examples: apps, automation tools, platforms
Media
Content that spreads your message while you sleep
Podcasts, YouTube channels, newsletters, etc
Your ideas working for you around the clock
Without leverage, you’re stuck with the same 24 hours everyone else has.
With it, you can multiply your output with the same inputs.
So how does this connect to building a brand online?
To documenting your progress toward a unique goal?
Because it’s a form of media leverage.
The input it takes to make a video, write a post, or send a newsletter is the same whether it reaches 10 people or a million.
Take this email you’re reading right now.
When I started, 10 people received it.
Today ~4,000 do.
My input is the same, sitting down and writing.
But the reach and impact keeps multiplying.
Fast forward a year, three years, five years, and this can reach 10, 50, maybe even 100 thousand people.
This list is what my business runs on.
My private clients, the retreats I host, any future projects I decide to work on all come from this.
To get people here, I first had to document my progress on social media to attract people to my mission.
I give away free resources like my reading list, a “how to package your story and expertise” playbook for founders, and also highlight what I’m writing about each week to get more people here.
My north star is to elevate how others think, to help others design lives and businesses they love, and these inputs allow me to do that on a greater scale.
So if you’re pursuing your own thing, are feeling burnt out, like there aren’t enough hours in the day, think about where you can apply leverage to amplify your impact.
Obviously, I recommend media leverage as the easiest place to start because it’s permissionless.
If you have a smartphone and a wifi connection, you can start building it today. There are no gatekeepers.
And the more people who know, like, and trust you, the easier it is to get paid to help them solve problems.
Over time, you can stack additional forms of leverage on top.
Build software. Hire people. Raise capital for your projects.
Understanding and applying leverage to your life can change everything.
That’s all I have for now.
I hope you have a great day and we’ll talk more next week.
Rooting for you.
-Dodds