The Journey of the Value Creator
Embark on the path of making sense of the unknown and sharing it online.
Social media has transformed everyday enthusiasts into powerful creators who entertain, educate, and inspire millions.
The value creator is focused on creating pieces of content that provide their audience with educative value.
The mission revolves around exploring new ideas along the frontier between the known and unknown, evaluating their utility, and distributing them.
Metaphorically speaking, the value creator ventures into the dark recesses of a cave, seeking out golden insights to illuminate and share with the world.
Literally, this means engaging deeply with projects that spark your curiosity and chasing them down.
The way to get there is simple.
It is made up of:
Picking a mission that kindles your curiosity.
Executing on the mission and recording what you learn.
Reporting on what and how you did.
1. Pick a mission that kindles your curiosity
Don't know where to start?
There are 8B people in the world and you are not as unique as you might think. If something kindles your curiosity there is a pretty good chance that it will excite other people as well.
Pick something to learn, study, or build that excites you.
Articulate a tangible goal for the project, and write it down. This is your mission. Your journey will revolve around completing this mission.
The objective, at the end of your journey, is to create a piece of content that provides your audience with a place to start when they decide to embark on the same mission as you.
Example Mission:
Understand the mechanics by which creators can provide instructive value to their audience.
2. Execute on the mission and record what you learn
Once you've picked a goal - execute on it.
I like projects that take roughly 1-3 months. Once you start building momentum it'll feel effortless.
Make sure you record your progress. Take note of:
helpful resources
challenges
milestones
These notes will serve as references for the content you'll produce your conent.
3. Report on what and how you did
Once you've completed the project, it is time for you to put together a piece of content recounting your journey.
You succeeded? Congrats! You failed? Does not matter as long as you recorded the journey.
Remember, you either win or you learn.
I recommend starting by writing things out. Videos, tweets, blog posts, and even songs are all downstream of a written outline.
Don’t worry once you start writing the optimal content structure will lay itself out in front of you - you'll start flowing.
If you don't know where to start, take your notes from Step 2, and put them on paper in chronological order. This will serve as your first outline.
I'm a fan of writing a long-form article first.
Why?
You can start off by sharing the long-form content on a blog, then move to repurposing it in other content formats. If you'd like to produce a video, you can just read your article as a script, and it is easy to turn the key sentences of your article's paragraphs into punchy tweets.
All of which can link back to your blog and build up your newsletter sign ups.
Finally, it's time to publish.
Publishing is essential to make your review accessible to others.
Once you travel the journey of the value creator a handful of times and share what you find, you will start building an audience. This will build up your digital leverage over time.
The journey of the value creator is the same as the hero's journey.
The hero decides to descend into the chaotic abyss of the unknown to complete a mission. In the darkness, the hero faces unpredictable challenges. He finds a way to make sense of the obstacles presented to him and manages to turn chaos into order. After completing his mission, the hero returns to his people and shares the spoils of his adventure with his community.
When you embark on the journey of the value creator, you embody the hero.
Keep that in mind when things get hard - glory lies on the other side.