The Most Valuable Skill You'll Ever Learn

Most entrepreneurs are creating content for people who will never buy from them.

Chasing followers. Trying to go viral. Posting 5 times a day to appease the almighty algorithm gods.

Meanwhile, premium buyers scroll right past.

Not because their content isn't good.

But because it's designed for the wrong audience.

Years ago, I created something called the Invictus Mastermind.

Named after William Ernest Henley's poem that ends with these lines:

"I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

The program was exclusively for six and seven-figure business owners.

Not because I wanted to be elitist or whatever, but because I'd finally figured something out:

There's a massive difference between working with people who are already successful, inspired, humble, and actually execute on advice...

And working with freebie seekers, opportunity junkies, and low-ticket buyers who scratch the itch by buying courses they'll never read.

Invictus is the only part of my previous company I'm still involved with.

Because I actually enjoy it.

And that realization changed everything about how I build businesses.

I'm not here to bash funnels, webinars, or traditional direct response marketing.

That shit works.

I've used it. Made millions with it. Still use it in my previous company.

Some months we’d crush. Other months we'd suck wind.

But it works.

That’s not the question, though…

The question is:

What game do you want to play?

Because there are two very different games happening in business right now.

Game #1: High Volume, Low Value

Optimize funnels for cold traffic.

Spend money on ads.

Convert low-ticket buyers.

Ascend them through tripwires, webinars, challenges.

Build elaborate email sequences.

It's a game of whack-a-mole trying to problem-solve and optimize campaigns to maintain profitability.

When it works… it's incredible.

When it doesn't? You're burning cash and time trying to figure out what broke.

And here's what nobody tells you:

The hardest part isn't getting volume.

The hardest part is making the back-end offers convert enough to offset ad costs.

Plus you're dealing with chargebacks from people who don't remember purchasing.

Refunds from buyers who never executed.

Support tickets from people who expected miracles.

Constant funnel optimization just to stay profitable.

You can absolutely build a big business this way.

Hell, I've done it multiple times.

But it requires a certain infrastructure.

Teams. Systems. Overhead.

Game #2: Low Volume, Premium Buyers

Lead with content that filters and qualifies.

Attract buyers who are already pre-sold.

No elaborate funnels needed because the content did the education work.

Fewer conversations. Higher deal values. Better clients.

Same revenue (or more) with a fraction of the complexity.

Here's the thing:

These aren't mutually exclusive strategies.

In fact, they work together.

But there's a critical difference in HOW you deploy them.

I still use funnels.

Heck, I'm giving away a lead magnet right now and building my email list.

(Speaking of which, you can grab the Magnetic Brand System right here and learn my exact process for turning ‘scrollers’ into qualified leads)

But here's what's different:

The RIGHT people are getting into my funnel.

Because my content filters for them first.

My conversions are higher.

My funnel performance is better.

Not because I'm some funnel genius.

But because premium buyers are entering a system designed for premium buyers.

Here’s the way I look at it…

When you lead with content instead of leading with funnels, everything downstream works better.

The people who make it to your offer are already qualified.

They've consumed hours of your content.

They trust you.

They're ready to invest.

At that point, selling is just a formality.

In the last week alone, four people reached out wanting my help building their business.

All of them six-figures minimum.

Some seven-figures.

These aren't cold leads who found me through a Facebook ad.

These are people who've been consuming my content.

Reading my newsletter.

Watching my thinking.

By the time they reached out, they were already pre-sold.

No elaborate sales process needed.

Just a conversation about whether we're a good fit.

Now contrast that with optimizing funnels for $27 ebooks.

Do you think those conversations would have happened?

Probably not…

Because I'd be attracting a completely different buyer.

Here's the real question you need to ask yourself:

Would you rather have $7 million in revenue with 40+ people on your team and 10% profit margins?

Or would you rather have a $1 million business with a small team (or zero employees) and 80% profit margins?

Both are valid choices.

There's no right or wrong here.

But for me at this phase of my career…

I'm going after option two.

For my personal brand (TimErway.com), my goal is simple:

I'll contract things out as needed, such as video editing when I launch YouTube (editing takes me forever).

I'll leverage AwesomeCRM where there's already a team that handles tech, marketing, and content support (AwesomePro Support is offered as a service for anyone).

But I'm keeping this thing lean, scrappy, and, most importantly, profitable.

That's the goal.

And I'm just not excited about building the same prison I've built in the past.

Where I'm growing and scaling a high-volume, low-value business that requires:

Been there. Done that. Got the stress-induced health problems to prove it.

This time I'm building different.

Again, I'm not saying funnels don't work.

They absolutely do.

But here's what I've learned:

When you lead with content, you don't need complex funnels.

Your content strategy does most of the heavy lifting:

By the time someone lands in your funnel, they're already 80% sold.

You're not trying to convince cold traffic to trust you.

You're facilitating a natural next step for people who've already invested hours consuming your content.

And that changes everything.

The skill that makes all of this possible:

Creating long-form, value-driven content.

It's the exact opposite of quick-hit short-form content.

Both in terms of goals and execution.

Because long-form content does something interesting:

It filters.

The tire-kickers, freebie seekers, and low-ticket buyers who won't even bother.

But premium buyers lean in.

They read every word and forward it to their business partners.

About three weeks ago, I started posting long-form content consistently.

1,200 to 2,200 characters per post.

Basically just… talking. But in text form.

On profiles that had been dead for years.

No dancing. No pointing at floating words. No "3 secrets to..." clickbait.

Just substance.

Here's what happened:

All organic. Zero ad spend.

Now, maybe you're thinking…

"Tim, 341 subscribers isn't exactly earth-shattering."

And you'd be right.

But context matters…

I'd rather have 100 newsletter subscribers than 10,000 TikTok followers.

Here's why…

If you're paying $5 per lead (which is pretty standard), 300 qualified leads who actually read and open your emails is $1,500 in free advertising.

But it's not just about the cost savings.

It's about the quality.

These aren't random followers who might see 3% of your posts if the algorithm gods are feeling generous.

These are people who opted in specifically to hear from you.

People who open your emails at a 57%+ rate.

(Industry average for newsletters is around 20-30%, by the way.)

And when people are actively engaging with long-form content, that means they’re serious.

My buddy Curt Maly did the same strategy earlier this year.

Long-form posts with images. No videos. Nothing fancy.

His organic Facebook reach in the last 28 days was 211,000.

He calculated what that traffic would cost if he had to buy it with ads.

His average CPM is about $45, which equates to $9,400 worth of ad spend.

All for free.

You just need a few hundred (maybe a thousand) of the right people.

Premium buyers who value what you do.

Who are willing to invest in real solutions.

Who don't need to be "ascended" through some complex funnel because they're already ready to buy at the right price point.

These are people who buy more stuff, buy more often, pay premium prices, stick around longer, and are actually enjoyable to work with.

That's how you build the $1 million business with zero employees instead of the $7 million business with 40+ people.

Again, both models work.

But only one gives you your life back.

Look, if you're currently running a high-volume, low-value business...

I'm not saying burn it down.

But I am saying you might want to pause and ask yourself…

What would happen if you focused on the 20% of the 20%… the 4% from Pareto's Principle that can dramatically improve your metrics across the board?

(I covered this in depth in my first newsletter issue here - see the Yield Leverage Matrix)

For most businesses, that means:

Make it more sustainable. More profitable. More enjoyable.

It's just a different way of thinking about things.

And it starts with one skill:

Creating content that attracts the buyers you actually want to work with.

Content that filters out the tire-kickers, pre-sells premium buyers before they ever see an offer, and does the qualification work so you don't have to.

That's the game I'm playing now.

And honestly…

It's so much more FUN!

And if you’re not having fun… what’s the f#cking point?

So, to recap:

Long-form, value-driven content filters for premium buyers.

The kind that attracts pour-over coffee drinkers instead of TikTok scrollers.

Now, you could spend the next six months figuring out how to create it consistently, without burning out.

Or you could build the entire system with me on November 22nd.

Which brings me back to what I mentioned last week (and quite a few of you raised your hands for)...

This is my final workshop for 2025.

If you want in, grab your spot.

If not, no worries.

Until next time,

—Tim Erway

P.S. If you know someone grinding in the high-volume game and wondering why it's so exhausting, send ‘em this newsletter. They'll either thank you or hate you for showing them there's a different path. Either way, you might save their sanity (and their business).

P.P.S. The people who successfully make this shift all have one thing in common: They stopped trying to optimize funnels for cold traffic and started creating content that attracts warm buyers. Just saying.