WTF is Hapitalist presentation record

* Listen/subscribe on Apple* Listen/subscribe on Spotify* Listen/subscribe on Pocketcasts* Listen/subscribe on YoutubeI ran a live breakthrough session at Author Nation, which meant I needed to introduce the whole Hapitalist system to people who’d never heard of it before. If you want to download that presentation, including a framework for running your own breakthrough session, you can do so here. Otherwise, here is the vibe of what’s in the video if you just want to read it. I’ve been writing about and studying creative businesses for 15+ years, and this is everything I’ve learned about building a successful creative career, condensed into one digestible system.Most authors feel stuck not because writing is hard, but because they’re solving the wrong problem with the wrong strategies.You’re pouring energy into building an audience when your real bottleneck is clarity about what you’re writing. Or you’re agonizing over your next book idea when what you actually need is a monetization strategy that doesn’t make you feel like a sellout.Hapitalist is how we break that cycle.* What we really mean when we say “why is this so hard?” isn’t “why can’t this be easy?” Easy is a measure of difficulty, and if we wanted something easy, we wouldn’t become authors. What we actually mean is “why is there so much friction?” Easy measures difficulty, but ease measures friction.* Easeful work removes unnecessary struggle, aligns with your natural strengths, and makes your effort matter. It’s still work, but it’s the right work, moving you forward instead of spinning your wheels in place. Most “this is hard” moments are actually “why am I stuck?” moments. The difficulty isn’t the problem. The friction is. When you’re stuck, more effort just digs the rut deeper.* Getting unstuck means finding the path of least friction that increases meaningful progress without eliminating effort entirely. Imagine yourself as a Jenga tower. Frictionless growth is when you find that block that slides out with barely a touch.* There are five paths we’ve watched authors repeatedly use to achieve frictionless, easeful growth: Virality (writing to market/social media), Thought Leadership (blogs/podcasts.speaking), Big Spectacle Launches (Kickstarter/virtual summits), Evangelism (ARC teams, Influncer marketing, referrals), and Partnerships (shared worlds, anthologies, publishing deals).* At least one of those paths will very likely give you frictionless growth. You can succeed with any of these, but spending 100% of your time in the most frictionless path will lead to the most growth in the least time. You might get growth from several strategies, but one will give you the most growth, which is where you should focus. * This is almost certainly the one that’s also the most fun for you and the one you enjoy most, because you’ll be getting a positive feedback loop, possibly for the first time in your entire career. Once you have one flowing beautifully, the other paths amplify and augment your growth.* It’s not that you can do anything, but that there’s something inside that you already love, which can lead to frictionless growth, and we just have to find it. Think of it a bit like Anton Ego’s famous line from Ratatouille “Not everything inside you can lead to frictionless growth; but frictionless growth could come from anywhere.”* Each of those paths has five stages. In Stage 1, you’re too overwhelmed/paralyzed with fear to do anything. In Stage 2, you are doing things, but none of them work particularly well. In Stage 3, you’ve found one thing that works really well, but you’re weighed down with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t work. In Stage 4, you’re honed in on what works, but capped out on how much you can grow. In Stage 5, you’re expanding and thriving.* If you’re in Stage 1, then your goal is to do anything. If you’re in Stage 2, then your goal is testing all the thing to find something that works. If you’re in Stage 3, then your goal is to shed things that don’t work. If you’re in Stage 4, then your goal is to start expanding into new paths. If you’re in Stage 5, then your goal is to build your team. * It is nearly impossible to grow your audience and monetize your work at the same time. The growth side means investing to reach more people and lower friction. The monetization side means maximizing revenue now through paywalls, premium pricing, and exclusive access, which inherently raises friction and limits reach. Both are valid, but they directly contradict each other. To grow, you need to reduce friction. To monetize, you need to increase friction. Pinpoint where you are on this spectrum, choose your path, and do it completely. Are you in a growth era or a monetization era? * Author business challenges usually show up in four buckets, which we call the HAPI Compass. (H)eart challenges come from the ideas, projects, and creative work that light you...