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Ideas to Assets

In 2019 we spent Thanksgiving week in a two-bedroom suite outside New York City working on a customer-acquisition front end for a consulting client.

André flew to JFK airport from Gibraltar, and Shawn drove to NYC from Vermont.

MAD to JFK

That was our first experience writing collaboratively (ever).

Looking back, we had no idea what that week would help set in motion.

Five months later, in April 2020 we launched a course together (The Traffic Engine). And a month after that we became business and creative partners.

Since May 2020 we've been on a helluva creative journey together, creating hundreds of thousands of words of written and recorded content, creating new courses and workshops, and distilling decades of experience into actionable insights for our audience.

We call this course Ideas to Assets (ITA) because ideas, alone, are not enough. They're important — critically important — and generating ideas is easy once you know how to do it (and we'll show you how).

The skill that separates amateurs from professionals, however, is turning high-quality ideas into assets that create value for your audience (and, of course, for you).

In 2019 we showed a cohort of early adopters how we worked together for a client. You can read all about that in the original sales page for ITA below. (You'll get access to all of the original material when you enroll.)

In 2021, we updated Ideas to Assets to show how we work independently and together to create quality content consistently, predictably, and dependably, day after day, week after week, and month after month.

That content (available immediately after enrollment) includes screencast videos and written text where we dive deep into our individual (and wildly different) approaches to creativity, including how we:

  • Think about and consume inputs (books, podcasts, articles, courses, conversations, videos, and more).
  • Compile those inputs in our respective Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) systems.
  • Interact with our ever-accumulating knowledge so that connections are made and new ideas emerge.
  • Engage with the craft of writing.

We also recorded a two-hour (video) conversation where we explored our collaborative process that combines our individual work into emergent ideas that neither of us could create on our own.

Magic happens in our creative collaboration that neither of us understands (we both learned a lot talking about it out loud in that conversation).

Finally, the original and updated versions include extensive lists of the analog and digital tools we use, supplements we take (including some we'll call, um, “off-label”), tech we rely on, habits we've developed, and much more.

If turning ideas into assets that create value for you and your audience is important to you, enrolling in Ideas to Assets may be one of the best decisions you make.

We don't say that lightly. Creativity is our calling. It's our Magnum Opus — our Great Work, and we take it very seriously.

(And, if you disagree for any reason, just let us know and we'll refund the purchase price, no questions asked.)

Ideas to Assets will continue to evolve over time.

If ITA feels like a hell yes to you, then look for the order button below.

If not, no worries. We're all friends here and we have a lot of free content that we put our heart and souls into creating so please don't go away empty handed.

One last thing:

ITA will be open for enrollment from Friday, Oct 28 — 11:59 p.m. PDT Monday, Oct 31, 2022.

We do not know when we will open enrollment again.

We expect to turn Ideas to Assets into standalone business in 2023, and this is the last time we'll offer ITA with free lifetime upgrades.

If creativity is important to you, we're confident you'll love Ideas to Assets.

SORRY, ENROLLMENT CLOSED!
Fri, Oct 28 to Mon, Oct 31, 2022 (11:59pm PDT)

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Ideas to Assets (Original Black Friday 2019 Version)

Shawn and I have had a fun week together outside of NYC.

Stress has been low because we've been very intentional about applying a process to the work we came here to do for our client.

As we worked through our week, we shared the insights we uncovered each day in an email (archives below–so much value for you right there in those emails):

Ideas to Assets

The “unofficial name” (if this turns into a full course at some point, we may change the name) of what we're putting together is Ideas to Assets .

(Oh by the way: if this ever does turn into a full $495 course, everyone who enrolls now will be grandfathered in for life, and get all future updates for free. To be clear though, we're not promising this will turn into a full course. Only that, if it does, you'll be grandfathered in for life if you enroll in this Black Friday to Cyber Monday alumni round.)

The name seems fitting to what we came here to NYC to do.

Before coming over, we had worked with our client for two months doing deep research — customer development (needs, wants, desires, biases, understanding worldviews), unpacking their value proposition (the unique value they bring to the table), and how we can help them bridge the gap.

Although we came to NYC with a lot of research, we knew that taking the ideas and producing a real asset — connecting with the intended audience on a deep emotional level — was going to be the hard part, the challenge, the unknown.

Having a handful of ideas is one thing. But it's only potential for magic to happen, nothing more.

Producing something we can take back to our client, that was the million dollar question:

“Everybody has a plan till they get punched in the mouth.” — Iron Mike Tyson

As we write this, it's Thanksgiving evening (3:49 pm), and we did what we came to NYC to do. I guess in many ways it has been the perfect outcome considering that, at the beginning of the week, all was a big unknown.

Anyhoo…

Here's our offer:

WHAT YOU GET:

  • We'll document our creative process for taking intangible ideas, and producing an output. This will include tools, books, and other resources we have found valuable. (Delivered mid-December)
  • 90-120 minutes Zoom call recording of Shawn and I talking through everything that happened, and everything we learned; good and bad. (Delivered mid-December)
  • We'll do a follow-up live Q&A call with all our alumni, and we'll stay on the Zoom call until all questions are done and dusted. (Delivered late-January 2020)

WHAT WE'll COVER:

Research and idea generation:

  • Frameworks and techniques to gather the most important information quickly.
  • Tools to find and focus on the powerful ideas your audience cares about.
  • Techniques for ‘pressure-testing' your ideas to make sure you're focusing on what matters most to your audience.

Razor-sharp clarity:

  • Understand and use structure to make the creative process faster, more effective, and more enjoyable (for you and your audience).
  • Techniques to know when your ideas ‘flow' and when they don't.
  • Analog and digital methods (drawing skills are not necessary).

Reverse engineering “ah-ha!” moments for your audience:

  • Understand the emotions you want your audience to experience from beginning to end.
  • Create compelling, meaningful narratives that create excitement and build anticipation for the offer.
  • Eliminate the need for sales hacks and tricks.

Better (and easier) writing:

  • Know when you're ready to start (and when you're not).
  • Overcome the blank page.
  • Use ‘tag team writing' (even if you're working alone).

These four topics come together to help you create happy-customer-generating assets for your business (or your clients' businesses).

IMPORTANT: This is not about the words on the page, per se. It doesn't matter if you write in German, French, Spanish, Italian, English, etc. We will be teaching our creative process for finding and expressing ideas and the process is relevant in any language.

This is pretty unique.

Nothing like this exists on the internet. Not like this.

Ideas to Assets : The Messy Middle

If you're on the fence about whether you need or want this, we'll make the decision very simple for you — please don't purchase.

You need to be a HELL YES! If you're not feeling this offer as a HELL YES!, then it should be a no.

If you're a HELL YES! we would love the opportunity to blow your brains to pieces. 🤯

—André & Shawn Twing
Andre ChaperonShawn Twing

P.S.

To be clear:

I'm not a copywriter. Shawn is not a copywriter.

This is *not* a copywriting .

I am a writer, and so is Shawn.

We tell stories.

We write narrative-driven experiences that can move strangers and make happy customers.

That's what we do. We're sort of good at it.

But, make no mistake, we're not copywriters.

The only similarity is that we put words on the page. After that, our process is worlds apart.

FINALLY:

It should go without saying, but I'll make it crystal clear anyway, so there is no misunderstanding…

CLIENT PRIVACY MEANS EVERYTHING TO US.

We'll not be sharing any client sensitive data or insight that's specific to our client, and we'll not reveal who they are.

In truth, it shouldn't matter.

This offer is our process of taking ideas and producing something of value from it.

Our frameworks and processes and mental models and thinking and how we deal with the input of information, then creating an output.

Stuff you can take and apply to any creative knowledge-work.