On a mission to become a better writer, thinker, and entrepreneur • Ex-dentist, now building an internet business (at ~$500k/year)
📈 My business results from November (November 2025’s Monthly Memo)
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Welcome to November’s Monthly Memo. If you’re new here, each month I share my income, expenses and what I’m working on now. I’m making a big shift—today I’ll explain why. Grab a cup of tea, let's dive in. The Freedom MetreWhen I was a dentist, I hated how my income was tied to my time. As a writer, I began tracking leveraged income (scalable assets) because what you measure, you improve. I started the Freedom Metre in January 2023. I’d made $89,360.77, and 35.82% was low leverage. Today’s figures: I’ve loved the high-leverage journey so far. But it’s time to steer in a different direction. Let’s look at the numbers to explain why. November’s income:Gross: $31,443.82Expenses: $12,190.16Net: $19,253.66Income breakdown
The Partnership Program is my new 1-1 high-ticket offer. It’s 6 months long, focused on two goals: direction and execution. Two clients paid in November, and each gets a tailor-made strategy that we implement together. It’s high-touch, unscalable work, and I am loving it. For Black Friday, I bundled my products with a live training sharing the 4 phases for how to grow your business by writing online. This grossed $20,300 (the launch ended in December—the bulk of sales comes as doors close). While this result was half my previous Black Friday, it only took 10 hours to prepare. The training covered many principles from my upcoming book, Magnetic Writing. Customers emailed about frameworks they loved, and I caught structural issues that I would have missed if my ideas existed in private. It’s tempting to rush online, but quality is the only game worth playing. You must sharpen your ideas in public before you productize them. Every word is a robot that works day and night to build your reputation. Especially a book—done well, it lives for decades. Let’s look at expenses. Expenses: $12,190.16Notable Expenses:
It’s been 3 months since I started YouTube. I’ve found an editor and thumbnail designer. Our system is becoming smoother. I try not to think about ROI on new projects. It only makes me worry I’ll quit. But this is a chicken-and-egg scenario. The more I worry, the more I’ll likely quit. It’s the same with writing online. You can’t let anxiety win before compounding kicks in. Instead, you must optimise for a metric under your control. The purpose of my channel is to connect deeper with my audience. I’m having fun, and there’s 1,900 hours of watch time now, which is great for relationships. If you’re an entrepreneurial writer, you’ll love what I’m putting out. You can join 700+ subscribers here. I paid my VA a double salary this month. The Philippines has a mandatory 13-month paycheck policy. And while I’m not a Filipino company, Vim has been fantastic. I want anyone who works with me to feel like they are winning. Audience:Total followers: 268,119Followers Gained: 1,140This was my best month on X in a while. I mainly use X as a stream of consciousness, and a few posts went viral, including one with over 50,000 likes.
When I go viral, I find myself tempted to start chasing the algorithm again. But this makes me feel like crap, which makes me write like crap. The best data to follow is how you feel. This is how you keep playing long-term games. YouTube continues climbing. This month, I shifted my CTAs from my newsletter to YouTube to accelerate the initial growth. I’m also using the channel-building process to share lessons, which is a great way to attract subscribers without begging for views. I’ve always been a big fan of building in public—attraction attracts attention. We’ve been posting consistently on Substack for 3 months now. Vim is handling this, and momentum is building. Our strategy is simple: crosspost my social content and republish my newsletters 2-3x a week. I have hundreds in my backlog—make your words work harder! I know many brands have shifted entirely to Substack, but here’s my hesitation. You do not own your audience there, so you are at the mercy of another company. I learned this lesson the hard way when X traffic got slashed heavily. Substack seems to be booming, but there are early warning signs. For example, paid subscribers need to download the app to read your private posts. You want to reward those who pay, not add friction. This shows the true incentive. They care about their success more than yours. Full control is the aim of the game. It’s why I’m so bullish on Kit—it’s been consistently fantastic. Newsletter:Total readers: 32,459New subscribers: 602Unsubscribes: 657Net growth: -55This year, I’ve committed to spending 3 hours a day on my book. Being an author is my dream, and I hope to protect that time for the rest of my life. This means other areas have suffered: newsletter growth being one of them. Focus has a cost. But it’s also a great teacher. If you want to make your best impact, you cannot be a lone wolf. You need help to amplify your area of highest contribution. I've hired someone for paid ads, and I'm paying for more newsletter sponsorship slots. Meanwhile, we're building automated systems and tighter metric monitoring. (If you have a newsletter that you think I’d benefit from sponsoring, reach out). Unsubscribes spiked because of Black Friday promotions. This is normal. If people don't like what you sell, they're not your One True Fan anyway. A shift in direction: a connection-first businessI've spent most of my time building digital products. I love them because they let you serve at scale. But over the past year, I’ve paid more attention to my energy. And I feel most alive when I’m connecting with my audience. One-on-one calls and live trainings are so fun and fulfilling. It’s been humbling to admit that I was blinded by my old definition of freedom. Freedom is not a lack of commitments. It’s committing to the things you love. And I love making an impact. If I want to take my writing to the next level, I need more contact, not less. I launched the Partnership Program as a result of this realisation. I knew immediately it was a good choice. Sure, my calendar is busier. But I’ve been reminded of the doubts and fears I’d forgotten I had. And they’re taking chapters of my book. The real-world feedback is worth its weight in gold. This doesn’t mean I am abandoning leverage. I’m just trying to get smarter about it. I want people to know that when they invest in me, I am invested in them. And for that, I need to understand my reader on a deep level. You must too. In an AI-obsessed age, empathy is a great competitive advantage. My goal is to finish the third draft of Magnetic Writing this month. In 2026, I'm launching connection-first offers. The first is in January. It’s a cohort for entrepreneurs who want to share quality ideas to build a stronger reputation. If you want to take writing more seriously in 2026, you’ll love what I’m cooking up. There will be limited spots, so I can work with people who sign up. You can join 260+ people on the waitlist here. Otherwise, I’d love to hear from you: did any of today’s ideas stand out? Happy to explore them further in a future email. Cheers for reading, Kieran Some stuff you might’ve missed:
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Kieran Drew
On a mission to become a better writer, thinker, and entrepreneur • Ex-dentist, now building an internet business (at ~$500k/year)
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