I want to help U build a corpus—a body of work meant to showcase your story and ideas, and to act as a beacon to summon friends, collaborators, and opportunities into your life!
A corpus is a body of work: an online body of work that explains your story, your thinking and worldview, your methods and techniques—ideally, in multiple mediums.
I’ve spent the last years of my life building a corpus: 73,000 tweets and counting, a blog with hundreds of posts, several self-published books, a YouTube channel with vlogs and podcast interviews and music videos, a SoundCloud with original tracks and recorded sets…
I’ve loved creating these projects, and sharing them with the world has brought so many wonderful people and unexpected opportunities into my life. The internet is magic!
Building a corpus creates the conditions for good consequences. It’s hard to predict in advance what specifically will come from having surface area on the internet. But U can virtually guarantee that something good will come of it.
Here are some of the kinds of things that might emerge, the kinds of magic U might summon into your life:
- new friends, collaborators, lovers and partners
- jobs, gigs, podcast interviews, interesting speaking opportunities
- free books, obscure PDF’s, relevant links being effortlessly sent your way
- invitations to special events and conferences
- offers to stay with people on their couches and in their guest rooms around the world
One of my favorite things that comes from building a corpus is what larger projects and possibilities U can build with each of the things U’ve created. It’s like each project or piece of content U put out into the world is a Lego block—and there’s a larger, cooler Lego set, waiting to assemble itself from the materials U are gathering.
Writing a blog post (or creating any content on the internet) is an investment. Visa and others call this “free real estate”. It’s relatively low effort and virtually free to, for example, post a tweet or a YouTube video of U talking. That piece of content has negligible value to start, but if U create abundant content of good quality, each piece of content grows exponentially in value over time, to potentially untold value in the future.
A single blog post may not be worth much, especially immediately. But if U draw it out over time, the value goes up. Moreover, if U make lots of blog posts, if U create a whole interwoven web of content, if U build a corpus—the value over time goes way, way, way up.
In other words, creating internet content is an appreciating asset class. It’s a compounding investment, where the returns on your investments themselves generate money, leading to exponential growth. It’s a convex bet, with limited downside and outsized upside.
I like to think of it in terms of seeds. As Jesus said, a piece of content is like a mustard seed: although it is the smallest of seeds, it becomes the largest of plants and herbs, so that birds come and perch in its branches…
OK, so Jesus was actually talking about the kingdom of heaven. U take my point.
The day U plant the seed is not the day U pick the fruit!
I’ve had people reach out to me about blog posts I’ve written years and years ago—writing that I’d completely forgotten that I’d created!
I want to help U build a corpus. I want U to see the magic that comes into your life when U share more of yourself with the world. I want to see the benefit that the world receives from having more of your ideas, stories, and gifts available to it.
Who?
This program is for someone who has things to say, and wants the world to know. U have a unique perspective, or have had unusual life experiences, or have some kind of technique or method that solves real problems for real people. They just need to know about it! In that case, this program could be a terrific fit for U.
Maybe U have already posted a fair bit of content online. That’s great! We’ll take a look at your existing body of work, and see how we can take it to the next level. We’ll clarify your direction, and see what we can do to 10x the amount of content U have out there, double your throughput, expand to new mediums and territories.
If U haven’t already published anything on the internet, or aren’t sure whether U want to, this program may not be a good fit for U.
Format
Here’s how it works:
- Fill out an interest form. The form involves making a video talking about your goals for building a corpus. I have a limited number of slots available, and I want to make sure this program is a good fit for U! Making a video will help me get a sense of your vibe and also show me you’re ready to put things out into the world.
- Once accepted, we’ll have an initial call to get to know each other and set intentions for building out your corpus.
- During the container, your main job will be to create content. Write posts, make videos—whatever mediums we decide to explore together, your job is to plant the seeds for tomorrow’s harvest.
- We’ll also build infrastructure to support U in creating high quality content smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. We’ll nerd out about content dashboards and kanban, WIP Limits, and how the Theory of Constraints applies to your efforts.
- I’ll be available for asynchronous support—U can text me with questions, ideas, obstacles, and I’ll offer all the help I can.
- To close out the process, we’ll have a check-in call to see how this process has been, debug any problem U ran into, and plot your next steps.
Outcome
After this offering, U will be on track to have a proper corpus on the internet: a clear, well-defined, and mutually-interlinked body of work, with abundant, high-quality, unique content, that’s easy for other people to find, navigate, share, and spread. A beacon that summons internet magic into your life, and the world!
Cost
This program costs $1,000 for two months. That includes two video calls and asynchronous support from me. It’s on U to make the most of this time by creating as much content for your corpus as U can.
If and when demand for this service goes up, I will increase the price to match it!
Call to Action
If this feels like a heck yes, fill out the interest form to apply:
The art in this post was created by Sílvia Bastos, and is licensed under a CC BY 2.0 license. You can support her work on Patreon.