Hello Fellow Creators

Throughout your life you’re going to hit what I call “income ceilings” and in this newsletter, I’m going to help you

1. Break your income ceiling
2. Show you all of the income ceilings I’ve ran into

Let’s not waste any time, it's time to get started.

These are the points where no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try, you always hover around a certain number in your bank account or with your income.

Think of it almost like your financial thermostat…

The best way to adjust it to be a higher number, in my opinion, is to learn more skills and progress through the skill tree for your particular trade.

In other words, your job is to figure out what skills you’re missing that would help you solve the problem you’re currently experiencing.

The best decision I made in my entire journey was recognizing the need for progression and taking strategic steps to advance my skill sets.

In other words, I INVESTED my own $$$ into education so I could learn new skills and make more $$$.

Just for some recent proof, you can see just this year I've dropped $38,000 on 3 different consultants/coaches and that is LIGHT compared to some other years...

At this point, I just keep spending because the more I spend the more I make.

Spend more (wisely) = Learn More

Learn more = Better Actions

Better Actions = Higher Skill

Higher Skill = Better Results

Better Results = Better Pay

I LOVE spending money on education because it gives me access to information I otherwise could not get access to, also it's fun.

For instance, today I was at The Global Ambassador, a swank little boutique hotel here in the heart of Scottsdale…

And while I’m sitting there with some friends I see a guy named Brandon Dawson.

(Brandon Dawson has helped bring in over a billion dollars in revenue for businesses in all sorts of industries and is partnered with Grant Cardone on a business called 10X Ventures and a few other businesses. That’s wild, right?)

I don’t know Brandon, I just know of him because of the business he runs with Grant Cardone and I saw his book on Audible the other week.

When I saw he was walking to the valet I realized that now would be a good chance to meet this guy. So I walked up to him and introduced myself and after I greeted him, I asked him “If you had to say from your own words why someone should read your book?”

He responded “Have you made 9 figures?”

Me: “No”

BD: “I have. If you want to learn how to do it you should read my book.”

Me: “I run an info business that’s morphing into a platform business, will your stuff work for me?”

BD: “It works for any business. We’ve successfully implemented it with over 100+ different types of businesses.”

I don’t remember how but somehow we ended up on the topic of coaching and he said he’s about to go meet up with a group of his 1on1 members who pay him $250,000 a year just to do coaching with him.

Woah.

I charge people $60,000 to do a year with me ($5k a month)…this dude is doing a 400+% higher price than me and he’s about to pull off in a mean all-back Rolls Royce.

Fuck, I feel poor!

I would like to know what this guy knows, so I go to his website…

Click on events…

See a ticket for an event at the end of June.

$2,000.

Buy.

It really is that simple.

And it's fun too, now I get to go to a cool event and learn more stuff.

This is how I’ve continuously broken through to higher and higher income levels…

I’ve invested over $400,000 of my own money into the right mentors who are right for me at that moment in my life and in this newsletter, I’d like to share with you the set of skills that I learned on that journey (in the order that I learned them) so you can see how it affected my income.

I think this will give you a great representation of how the skills help you break through the income ceilings.

Stage 1

Skills: None

Income Ceiling: $4k mo.

Just like a majority of people starting out in marketing, I found myself starting many out in survival mode.

I desperately wanted to quit my day job and make a living through an online business. I tried everything I could think of to make money.

I explored creating a clothing brand, building websites for clients, and even dabbled in various other ideas.

It was a time of intense exploration and discovery, as I sought to identify my strengths and passions within the vast world of marketing and selling products and services.

One of my early ventures was a website agency, even though I didn’t really know how to make websites myself. I would buy templates and then pay someone else to build the site while I focused on writing the copy.

It was through this experience that I discovered my love for copywriting.

Stage 2

Skills: Copywriting, Digital Marketing

Income Ceiling: $10k mo.

As I continued to experiment and learn, I realized that copywriting was my true calling.

I immersed myself in books, courses, and practice, honing my skills and developing my expertise.

I studied the works of renowned copywriters and analyzed successful sales pages to understand the techniques behind persuasive writing.

Specializing in copywriting allowed me to stand out from the crowd and command higher rates for my services. I quickly became proficient in crafting JUICY sales copy, and my clients started seeing significant results from my work.

It was a game-changer for my career, I highly recommend everyone learn it.

Stage 3

Skills: Copywriting, Digital Marketing, Sales

Income Ceiling: $30k mo.

Once I had established myself as a skilled copywriter, I saw that my ability to generate revenue FOR MYSELF was the most critical factor in my success.

I shifted my focus to mastering the art of sales. I learned how to effectively find prospects and how to sell them services.

Gradually over time, I started increasing my prices, moving from small projects in the $2,000 to $3,000 range to larger deals worth $5,000, $10,000, and even $20,000. My biggest deal ever closed was for a staggering $75,000. (But I only collected $35k on it awhhhh).

It was a far cry from the small projects I had started with, and it showed me the power of mastering sales.

However, I also encountered a new challenge at this stage. I realized that I could only take on one big project at a time, as I was the sole person responsible for delivering the work.

I couldn’t easily outsource or scale my services, as my clients were paying for my expertise and my writing.

I knew I had to raise my prices, so what did I do?

I added to my skill set.

Stage 4

Skills: Copywriting, Digital Marketing, Sales, Production

Income Ceiling: $40k mo. (Actual Hell)

My mentor Ron is the main person. I learned Production from.

He’s directed some of the biggest infomercials of all time, has generated over $6,000,000,000 (that’s 6 billion) with his work, and has worked with household brands all of us in the United States know, and some even known worldwide.

I bought his course that taught what he did, I did every single assignment and communicated with him over email, and then I went to an event he hosted that was called Film Camp which is kinda like a crash course for production.

When I saw all the different rules in video production, I figured out how to sell that as a service to businesses and started calling myself “The VSL Guy”

This is when I took on some of my biggest projects and it was great for my skill set, it was great for my income, however, I was working A LOT.

Not just a lot.

A LOT A LOT.

Like 12-14 hours a day every day for weeeeeeeks on end which definitely took a toll on me health wise and mentally.

I kinda fell out of DFY services and transitioned solely to DWY because of the higher leverage.

Talking and explaining what to do is way less complex than doing it.

Stage 5

Skills: Copywriting, Digital Marketing, Sales, Production

Income Ceiling: $50k mo. (Way More Enjoyable)

This is where I was at in the beginning of 2024, it’s comfy for sure.

As my client base grew and my expertise deepened, I found myself reaching a point where I could no longer handle all the work alone.

Each project would take two to three months, and it became increasingly difficult to manage everything on my own.

I considered building a team or partnering with other professionals to handle certain aspects of my projects.

However, I didn’t want to build a business that solely focused on building other people’s businesses without having a strong foundation of my own.

With a wealth of experience and a proven track record, I made the transition into consultancy.

Instead of executing the work myself, I focused on providing strategic guidance and coaching to businesses. I worked with clients in a DWY capacity, helping them understand what they needed to do to succeed.

Consulting allowed me to work with multiple clients simultaneously and leverage my expertise…

And even though I was charging premium rates for my consulting services, I was only providing high-level strategies and game plans rather than just execution.

However, I discovered that consultancy still required my active involvement and communication with clients, which could be time-consuming.

I found myself on calls constantly, and once again, I couldn’t easily outsource this aspect of my business.

It was time for me to explore a new stage of progression.

Stage 6: Building a Platform

Skills: Copywriting, Digital Marketing, Sales, Production, Project Management, Hiring

Income Ceiling: ???

This is where I started in February this year.

The reason my income ceiling has ??? in it is because I don’t know what it is yet lol.

This final stage of my progression involves me creating a platform that hosts digital products, courses, and membership programs that provide value to my target audience.

Building a platform is a shit ton of work, but it ultimately leads to a highly scalable and sustainable business model.

So yeah that’s what I’m building now.

Looking back on my journey, I can confidently say that advancing my skillet was the only thing that allowed me to increase my income.

I know that if I could do it, you can too.

So, keep pushing forward, keep learning skills, keep building yourself up.

(It’s so simple)

All jokes aside, the journey may be simple, but it’s difficult and it’s definitely worth it in the end.

To Your Super Success,

Nick Verge - Founder @ 4Creators

‍