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183. This is Boring But It’ll 10x Your Personal Brand in 2026 ft. Dan Koe

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Nov 26, 2025

Guest

Dan Koe

In this engaging discussion, Dan Koe, a writer and creator in the creator economy, shares his insights on building a personal brand. He highlights why 2026 is ideal for launching a creator business and the power of having 1,000 true fans over 25,000 followers. Koe emphasizes the importance of focusing on high-value content, using lived experiences, and effective strategies for social media. He also discusses his approach to newsletters as a crucial component for trust and monetization, all while advocating for intentional growth without the chaos.

02:16:54

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ADVICE

One Hour Of Lever-Moving Work

Start with one hour of lever-moving work per day if you have a full-time job and scale from there.
Use that focused hour to test ideas and iterate until they produce measurable results.

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ANECDOTE

15 Minutes Of Tweets Replaced Income

Dan wrote tweets 15 minutes before bed and one good post could drive product sales and replace income.
He used tiny daily habits to compound impressions into customers while still working a day job.

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ADVICE

Three Pillars For Content That Converts

Use three content pillars: growth (reach), authority (specific value), and authenticity (personality).
Repurpose growth content to drive people into your newsletter or free download for deeper conversion.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Dan's Motto: Work Less, Earn More

01:17 • 2min

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How to Reach Four-Hour Workdays

03:04 • 1min

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Moonlighting to Build Momentum

04:30 • 4min

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Knowing You're Working on the Right Things

08:03 • 3min

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First Steps for Entrepreneurs on Social

10:56 • 13sec

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Content Matrix: Growth, Authority, Authenticity

11:09 • 3min

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Pulling High-Performing Ideas from Competitors

You Are the Niche: Solve Your Problems

16:42 • 4min

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Specialization vs Generalization

21:11 • 57sec

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Early Posting Strategy and Curiosity

22:07 • 3min

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You Have Stories — Use Lived Experience

24:49 • 3min

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Repetition and Relatability in Content

28:00 • 3min

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Read Deeply to Think Better

31:07 • 4min

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Writing Routine and Idea Capture

34:57 • 3min

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Repackaging Ideas by Theming Weeks

38:02 • 2min

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Monetization Path: From Service to Productization

Product Mistakes and MVP Validation

48:51 • 4min

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Pricing, Communities, and Runway

53:00 • 2min

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Start Selling Early for Clarity

54:42 • 1min

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Why Newsletters Are the Highest-Leverage Funnel

56:07 • 7min

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Newsletter System: Movies, Products, TV Shows

01:03:27 • 4min

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Idea Density and Outlines for Newsletters

01:07:51 • 35sec

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You Need Better Filters, Not More Ideas

01:08:26 • 4min

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What Makes Content Go Viral: The Value Equation

01:12:47 • 5min

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Newsletter as the Biggest Needle Mover

01:17:23 • 5min

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AI in the Writing Workflow

01:22:09 • 7min

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Prompt Engineering & Building Meta Prompts

01:29:33 • 5min

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Saving Prompts and Eden as a Prompt Hub

01:34:25 • 1min

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Building Eden: Teaming and Rebuilding

01:35:44 • 3min

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When to Pivot: Trust Gut Over Sunk Cost

01:39:11 • 39sec

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War Mode vs Monk Mode Productivity

01:39:50 • 5min

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Book Recommendations and Intellectual Diet

01:45:14 • 2min

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Goals with Gravity and Anti-Vision

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Eugène Schwartz

Eugene M. Schwartz

Published in 1966, 'Breakthrough Advertising' by Eugene M. Schwartz is a seminal work in the field of advertising copywriting. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychology of consumer behavior and the five levels of market awareness: unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, and most-aware. Schwartz discusses key concepts such as the mechanism of desire, intensifiers, and the structure of advertising copy to maximize impact. He also stresses the need to identify and channel existing mass desires onto a product or service, rather than trying to create new desires. The book provides practical advice on crafting headlines, testing and optimizing ads, and aligning product benefits with customer desires.

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Think on These Things

Jiddu Krishnamurti

In 'Think on These Things', J. Krishnamurti presents thought-provoking discussions that challenge readers to examine their thoughts, beliefs, and societal conditioning. The book emphasizes the need for self-awareness, education as liberation, and living authentically. It encourages readers to think beyond norms and traditions, fostering personal freedom and mental liberation.

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Integral psychology

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Meet Your All·in·One Creator Store (Stan)

https://join.stan.store/the505podcast

The 10 Minute Personal Brand Kickstart (FREE): https://the505podcast.courses/personalbrandkickstart

What’s up Rock Nation! Today we’re joined by Dan Koe - writer, philosopher, and one of the clearest thinkers in the creator economy. Dan helps creators escape burnout, build deeper personal brands, and turn their lived experiences into real leverage.

In this episode, Dan breaks down why 2026 is the perfect moment to build a creator business, why 1,000 true fans beats 25,000 followers, and how to design a brand people subscribe to - not just scroll past. We also cover how to know what actually moves the needle, how to monetize without chasing virality, and why creators need better filters, not more ideas.

If you want to grow with intention, make money without the chaos, and build a personal brand that compounds for years, this one’s for you.

Check out Dan here:

https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@DanKoeTalks⁩

https://www.instagram.com/thedankoe/

Dan's A.I. Prompts:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YQ9c0vO2AWh9CBW6XuFdq488mxri5oo63dwujyjsf5U/edit?usp=sharing

SUSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: https://the505podcast.ac-page.com/rock-report

Kostas' Lightroom Presets

https://www.kostasgarcia.com/store-1/p/kglightroompresetsgreece

COP THE BFIGGY "ESSENTIALS" SFX PACK HERE:

https://courses.the505podcast.com/BFIGGYSFXPACK

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro

1:16 – Work Less, Earn More

3:04 – How to Reach 4-Hour Workdays

4:29 – Moonlighting & 9–5 Reality

8:02 – Knowing You’re Working on the Right Things

10:57 – First Steps to Build a Personal Brand

15:31 – Stan Store

16:44 – “You Are the Niche”

21:11 – Dan’s Early Posting Strategy

24:47 – For People Who Don’t Feel Interesting

27:57 – The Sam Sulek Effect

30:22 – Personal Brand Kickstart

30:46 – Read More to Think Better

34:54 – Dan’s Writing Routine

37:13 – Repackaging Ideas

39:54 – Using Lived Experience

48:49 – Best Place to Sell Digital Products

54:38 – Sell Now or Build First?

55:59 – Why Newsletters Matter

1:03:23 – Dan’s Newsletter Platform

1:04:17 – Make Your Newsletter Valuable

1:07:48 – You Need Better Filters, Not More Ideas

1:10:38 – The Hunting Trip Realization

1:13:35 – What Makes Content Go Viral

1:17:19 – Dan’s Biggest Needle Mover

1:19:35 – Escaping Cheap Dopamine

1:20:50 – Seth Godin Example

1:24:45 – How Dan Uses AI

1:29:22 – Learning Better Prompting

1:34:20 – Saving & Organizing Prompts

1:35:33 – Building Eden Lessons

1:38:50 – When to Pivot

1:39:52 – War Mode vs Monk Mode

1:44:55 – Book Recs

1:46:58 – Psychology Recs

1:54:46 – Post Pod Debrief

If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on.

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