I talk about digital writing & personal progress

Here's a quick rundown of how I've spent my last 5 years:

1. Studied math and played football at Princeton. I graduated in 2018 with a degree in financial engineering and played center for the Tigers. In college, I was a 280-pound offensive lineman, so for the last 5 years, I've had to completely rewrite my personal operating system on the health & fitness front. I currently weigh 185 pounds and have learned a lot along the way!

2. Graduated and immediately started working for BlackRock in New York City. I worked as a junior hedge fund trader for 4 years, focusing on global macro markets. This was my dream job and the only corporate job I've ever had. In fact, it's the only job *interview* I've ever had (since I interned there as a junior in college).

3. Realized working for someone else was not going to be the long-term path for me. 12 months into working on Wall Street, I saw someone in their mid-40s ask their boss for permission to go to their son's Little League game. At that moment I realized I wasn't cut out to take directions or instructions from other people for very long.

4. Started to write on my old blog, then on Twitter. Rather than quit immediately, I started to passively explore other opportunities by writing online, starting out on my old blog (which no one knew existed), then transitioning to Twitter in July of 2020.

5. Changed my trajectory with a 30-day writing challenge, which led me to start Ship 30 for 30. In September 2020 I was ready to give up writing entirely. But I gave it one more shot, this time moving from a weekly blog post to a daily Twitter thread. The challenge was a huge success. It took me 9 months to reach 100 followers and 1 month to go from 100 to 2,000. And that personal writing challenge turned into the foundation of Ship 30 for 30, which started as nothing but a Slack accountability group to help people publish consistently.

6. Scaled Ship 30 while working remotely for all of 2021. I built and scaled Ship 30 with Nicolas Cole to over 2,000 students in 2021—all while continuing to work full-time (remotely) for BlackRock. But towards the end of 2021, Ship 30 hit an inflection point and it no longer made financial sense for me to continue working on Wall Street.

7. Left BlackRock in March of 2022 to write and build on my own. After weeks of weighing the pros and cons and trying to project my path forward, I made the decision to leave BlackRock and chart my own path. 15 months into making that decision and I'm confident it's the best one I've ever made.

Dickie Bush 🚢

This writer posted on LinkedIn about quitting his job.

And from that ONE post he got some epic results:

Booked 5 sales calls.
And closed a $1,000/month consulting deal.

Insane.

Especially since Stefan didn't:

• Go viral
• Use some secret LinkedIn hack
• Or do anything anyone else couldn't

All he did was:

• Say what he does
• For who
• And how he helps them

Now, this doesn’t mean if you just hit publish you'll book a bunch of sales calls (or any at all).

But every single LinkedIn post you publish is a lottery ticket.

Some will flop.
Others will only get you views.

And then sometimes, you get lucky and the right kind of high-paying clients resonate with your content.

Which is why you should be publishing consistently on LinkedIn.

It's an easy way to land high-paying clients & make 6+ figures as a ghostwriter.

But first?

You need to:

• Find your own lucrative niche
• Create an Irresistible Ghostwriting Offer
• Learn the secret to charging premium prices

So, I put together a 5-day crash course with everything you need to start making money ghostwriting on LinkedIn in 2026.

Click here to get instant access (for free): https://lnkd.in/ekBqPdQQ

Reminder to self:

You can focus on no more than 3 things:

• 3 habits
• 3 values
• 3 goals

And you can only do this over a 3-month time horizon.

I had to learn this painful lesson the hard way:

Every year, I would sit down and write out 10 goals for the coming year (like I was building some grand master plan).

Felt incredible in the moment.

Made me feel:

• Organized
• Ambitious
• Like I had my life together

But then I'd find that list 3 months later and realize I couldn't even remember what I'd written down.

Let alone tell you if I actually achieved any of it.

The truth is:

Any time I have ever made a plan beyond 3 months, it was basically a useless exercise.

It didn't change my behavior.
It didn't keep me accountable.
It just made me feel good for about 20 minutes.

Here's what actually works.

You can focus on no more than 3 things.

If you can't rattle off the three things you're most focused on right now without pausing to think, then you're unfocused.

Make them something you can actually track and measure.

And then ignore everything else until those 3 are handled.

You'll get further with 3 clear priorities than you ever will with 10 vague ones.

The Mini Book Guy | Smart Book Author | 21x Amazon Bestselling Author | Founder @ IA Path

95% of people who read nonfiction books never do anything with them.
Not because we're lazy.
Because books weren’t designed for action.

I don't want to simply create more courses either... who has time for another course.
Books and courses are designed to be consumed, not implemented.

With my last book, Mini Book Flywheel, I wasn’t trying to inform people.
I was trying to help them build momentum.

I wasn’t writing a book to be read.
I was building a system to be used.

That’s when it clicked.
I didn’t want readers.
I wanted doers.

Books aren’t broken because the ideas are bad.
They’re broken because nothing happens after belief.

So I started building Smart Books.

Where books are written for readers, Smart Books are created for doers.
They’re interactive and integrated, so action happens inside the experience.

The book responds.
The guidance adapts.
The system remembers.
Belief turns into behavior.

Smart Books collapse the gap between knowing and doing.
They turn ideas into systems.
Systems into outcomes.
Outcomes into momentum.

Books shouldn’t end with “The End.”
They should end with “Do this now" and "Done"

I build and teach Smart Books, bult on the back of short, focused Mini Books, for business owners and authors who want their ideas to actually work.

If you know how to improve the lives of your potential clients and don't want to dance on TikTok, get stuck chasing virality of video, if you'd rather use words to be a Revenue Writer, then lets talk.

I've built a business serving a micro niche of independent auto insurance adjusters to $700k/yr on the backs of Mini Books. 

I love sharing what I've learned.

Chris Stanley 🌀🏴‍☠️

Today I've been married 20 years and here is my biggest tip on having a marriage that lasts.

You must let go of who you are to become who your spouse needs you to be.

That's what the agreement of marriage is...

If I stick to who I am and refuse to change I'm not becoming one with my wife.

This led to me letting go of sports, video games, and a host of bad habits.

In return I got the best friend and love of my life,  3 beautiful boys, and a life filled with awe, wonder and adventure.

It wasn't easy or a quick change and the change continues.

To celebrate our anniversary we got our ring tattoos expanded.

I love holding my books in my hand for the first time... 

I dislike how often I find errors, but it's part of the journey.

The great thing with self publishing is that you can quickly update and fix any mistakes you find for your future customers.

This cover might be my favorite yet.

If you have a book you've been wanting to write don't let the Big Book Lie, that it takes months or years, and has to be 30k+ words, stop you.

If you know how to solve someone's problem you have a book that can be written in days... not months.

You can write a 5-15k word Mini Book and begin helping people fast while building your leads and credibility.

Big goals are a joke...I once set a goal to write 12 books in 12 months... then gave up.

Like most New Year's goals I set a big goal because I wanted to, but had no practical way to make it happen other than sheer will.

I woke up and wrote 6 days a week for 2-3hrs.

In 6 months in I'd written 5 books and gave up... I knew the goal would burn me out and break me.

What I didn't give up was the daily writing habit.

I kept writing but released myself from the audacious goal.

Month 11 I looked up and I'd written 11 books and smiled knowing I'd hit my goal and I did.

Not because of a big goal, but because I'd built the habit to make a big goal possible.

Lesson is this, a big goal without a system, without a habit, is likely just choosing a new thing to fail in.

Don't focus on the goal, focus on the habit that'll make it possible.

If you have a big goal of wanting to write a book, I have a system I've developed across my 32 published books.

Happy to share and answer any questions. But I don't have secrets, I publish what I discover in my Revenue Writer's Newsletter and in my Mini Books on Amazon.

Most people quit writing a book as soon as they say "I'd like to write a book."

The reality of what it takes to complete and publish a manuscript crushes their inspiration.

The Big Book Lie tricks people into giving up making them think,
- It has to be 30,000 words+
- You need a publisher
- They must spend months or years for it to be "good"

The reality is you can write a 5-15k Mini Book in days... not months.

My top 3 sellers (and top rated) of my 3 different book series all were written in less than a week, in 3 totally different genres.

- Independent Insurance Adjusting
- Christian Devotionals
- Mini Books

If I can do it, a college drop out, anyone can do it.

You just need to know who the book is for, what problem is solves, and how it solves the problem.

If you can help someone solve their problem, you can write a Mini Book about that process.

Quick thinking it has to be SO BIG and SO HARD.

Because it doesn't have to be, to be effective.

How to get hired without being famous, flashy, or even read...

A guy DM’d me about coaching.

He didn’t know me.
He hadn’t read my book.
He knew other, more established people.
And yet, he reached out anyway.

Why?
One thing in my tagline: Mini Books.

That category did more work than any website, video, or pitch ever could.

Most people think category design is “overkill.”

“I’m already in a market.” 
“I already have an offer.” 
“I don’t need a new label.”

That’s how you stay invisible.

Categories create mental shelf space.
If you don’t have a shelf, you’re crammed next to everyone else.

I didn’t invent Mini Books.
I just wrote books that built my business and borrowed the term when I found it.

I named it.
I framed it.
I built around it.

And now the category attracts clients for me.

That’s not marketing.
That’s category design.

If you want to learn how to do this for your business you can check out Mini Book Flywheel: How to Design a Category That Makes Your Business Unforgettable that was released this week.

Last year I was blessed to work with great people, clients, coaches, and mentors.

If you need help in any of these areas check them out!

Category Pirates teaches how to design a category for your business so you can earn 76% of the eventual market share. The team of Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️ Eddie Yoon with their rockstar support team including Bri Clark 🏴‍☠️ 

Ryan Musselman helps you build a pipeline that closes clients predictably (yes, it works it did for me)

Stuart Corrigan if you have an operations pipeline like a project or service (like a claims bucket) that is over budget, behind schedule, he can help you diagnose and fix it fast

Al Ramadan the legend in category design will walk you and your team through creating, designing and dominating your category with a lightning strike and avoid falling into the Existing Market Trap.

MICHELLE B GRIFFIN helps you own your lane so you have clarity of direction and message.

Tinsley English, CRM, CIC helps women executives navigate menopause 

Katrina Kirsch helps you get your frameworks and expertise out and into Mini Books that'll build your credibility.

Fernando Labastida 🏴‍☠️ positions you as memorable expert without the content treadmill with Strike Marketing (such a brilliant idea)

Peter Cooke can show you how to build a business cleaning grills for a living... and your grill will never look so good.

Luis Derechin will show you how to build a team of experts at a fraction of the cost using an offshore team.

Thank you all for working and helping me and allowing me to help you.

P.S. Hope I didn't miss anyone but will do a follow up post with others if I did.

We often overcomplicate what writing a book really is.

There’s a simple strategy for writing a book that I call the Book Bridge.

Instead of trying to “come up with content,” you document your process.

The Book Bridge works like this:
you take the steps you followed to get from being stuck to getting results, and you lay them out in order.

That’s the book.

Each step becomes a chapter.
Each chapter shows what actually worked.
And the full book becomes a clear path someone else can follow.

This is also why it works so well for attracting customers, because the Book Bridge naturally becomes the process you’ll coach others through.

You’re not selling ideas.
You’re showing the bridge.

And the best part?
You can write a Mini Book using the Book Bridge strategy in under 30 days.

I’ve seen it done in as little as 7 day.

After 10 years of having online businesses…. I realize business is not complicated, it just isn’t easy.

Here are 10 things I’d tell someone starting today about how to make $$$ online.

1. Before you start, you must know three things: the person you help, the problem they have, and your POV on how to solve it.

2. The easiest business to start is helping someone solve a problem you already solved.

3. If you can’t finish this sentence, you’re not ready: “I help ___ with ___ by ___.” (person, problem, POV)

4. If you’ve helped one person get a result, you can build a business.

5. Customers buy when they know you, like you, and trust you. That’s the whole pipeline, funnel, and business.

6. Content helps people KNOW you exist.

7. Consistent, quality content helps people LIKE you.

8. Helpful, actionable content helps people TRUST you.

9. Social posts disappear in hours. Books stick around for years.

10. Be radically human and radically accessible, it’s a superpower in the AI age.

Funnels don't work… unless you do this first.

If you’re trying to build a business with your words, it can feel frustrating.

You post on social.
You write newsletters.
You launch your first product…

And no money shows up.

At least, that’s how it went for me.

Everyone online was screaming about funnels.
“Build a funnel!”
“Launch a funnel!”
“Funnels make you rich in your sleep!”

Here’s what I learned the hard way:

Funnels only work when people already believe in you.

That stat we all hear, “it takes 6–8 touches to make a sale”, is about leads, not strangers. So you need something that spins and makes an impact on someone over and over again.

But most funnels go:
Ad → Funnel → Cart

That’s a one-and-done interaction with a random person who doesn’t even know you yet.

So what happens?
You throw up a funnel.
You drive traffic.
You get crickets.

Funnels don’t create belief. They borrow it.

Here’s what actually works:

A flywheel.

A flywheel is what builds belief and momentum around your category.
It makes your name, your offer, and your value unforgettable — even when you're not online.

I explain this in detail in my book Mini Book Flywheel: How to Design a Category That Makes Your Business Unforgettable, but here’s the core idea:

Funnels are like tornadoes. Flywheels are hurricanes.

Tornadoes spin up fast, then disappear.
Hurricanes build slowly, but they spin for days and reshape everything in their path. (hurricanes last 1000x times longer than tornadoes)

You don’t want to chase tornadoes (funnels).
You want to build the kind of system that spins for years.

I don’t have a massive audience.
I don’t run many ads.
But I’ve built a business through writing mini books in two different niches.

How?

I built a flywheel that generates trust, content, and customers, even while I’m anchored off a sailboat with my kids swimming nearby.

If you're tired of chasing the next hack or funnel...
If you're ready to build something that lasts...

Begin to build a flywheel.

taplio

The Battle

Dickie Bush 🚢

Chris Stanley 🌀🏴‍☠️

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taplio

The Battle

Dickie Bush 🚢

Chris Stanley 🌀🏴‍☠️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dickie Bush 🚢's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreChris Stanley 🌀🏴‍☠️'s LinkedIn Performance

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