Welcome to October 2025’s Monthly Memo.

If you’re new here, each month I share my income, expenses, and what I’m working on now.

Grab a cup of tea, let's dive in.

The Freedom Metre

When 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. We began the Freedom Metre in January 2023. I’d made $89,360.77, and 35.82% was low leverage.

Today’s figures:

For the previous year, I've been above 90% high leverage, sticking to a rule I set. But I’ve realised that setting yourself rules reflects a lack of trust in the moment. You should not let your past dictate your present. I’ve been enjoying higher touch, lower leverage work—so I’ve been doing more of it.

For example, this month, I released a 1-1 high-ticket program. The spots were snapped up in 2 days. And I’m loving working closely with new people. I’ll write more about that next month.

Let's take a look at the numbers from October.

October’s income:

Gross: $5,333.71

Expenses: $3,867.61

Net: $1,466.10

Considering I made a five-figure loss in the previous two months, it's nice to make a profit. You might be wondering why my income is so low. Well, it's because I shut down my OnlyFans. Just kidding (I don’t report that income).

Two reasons:

1. I'm becoming a resident of Paraguay, so I decided to hold off on launching offers until my business was outside of the UK
2. I'm running an experiment to see how I feel making less money

On the second point, Nicholas Taleb once said that, "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” I felt this pain first-hand as a dentist. It was terrifying to quit my job because I had a guaranteed income, so I stayed in it much longer than I’d like. But once I took the leap, I realised that fear was misplaced. I’d rather be 100% responsible for my income if it means I am 100% in control of my time.

But as an entrepreneur, I brushed against the same problem. I was terrified of making less money. But if you can't tolerate revenue dips, you will never take big swings. And I like big swings, because life is short, and fear is fun. So earlier this year, I closed my paid newsletter and have since made fewer offers. It’s been scary, but freeing. I re-invested the time into writing my book—I’m now halfway through the second draft. I also recorded 15 YouTube videos and wrote 8 essays.

You only have so much time. The mistake is getting stuck in the ‘money now trap’. Leverage is the driving force behind results, and so most of your time should be spent building long-term assets. Especially as a writer, every word is a robot that will work day and night to build your business.

I've written an essay exploring this experiment more. Keep an eye out in a few weeks.

I also used the time to set up an income stream I’m proud of—which is starting to pay off. Let me explain.

Income breakdown

• Products:
  • High Impact Writing: $2179.00
  • TBOW: $1008.00
  • AI Vault: $1005.00
  • Digital Products: $1057.96
• Affiliate sales: $83.75

The revenue came from automated product sales with my first paid ads funnel. I turned the thank you page for my Authority Asset, the SUCKS framework, into a salespage for The Business of Writing—a $14 e-book. Attached were upsells for my other products and a welcome sequence of my best content.

I’m now running ads (Meta and newsletters), and have a 1.6x return on ad spend within 30 days. It’s early days, but it feels great to have another system set up to work for me. I’m fleshing out my Writing World: combining assets and automations to let people immerse themselves in my ideas, whilst I focus on my craft.

This is one of the major frameworks I teach inside my upcoming book Magnetic Writing.

You can join 1000+ people on the waitlist here.

Expenses:

Expenses breakdown

• Monthly running cost: $3,286.93

No notable big expenditures this month. My major monthly cost is my lovely VA, Vim. She’s in the Philippines, and I pay her $2,000 per month. Vim began with basic admin, but now she plays a key role in the running of the business. For example, 2 months ago, I started on YouTube. She hired editors, thumbnail designers, and handles everything so I can focus on filming.

Every entrepreneurial writer needs a virtual assistant. You must create the space to focus on your area of highest contribution. My only regret was not hiring her sooner.

(I will record a walkthrough for how to hire a VA for my YouTube channel soon. To make sure you don’t miss it, can join 601 people subscribed here).

Audience:

Gained followers:

• ​X: 875
• ​LinkedIn: 202
• ​YouTube: 155
• ​IG: 35
• ​Substack: 19
• ​Threads: -9

Growth from written content is slow and steady. But almost all my content is repurposed from other assets. I spent around 60 minutes on social media in total last month (with almost zero time on timelines). It was a mental relief (and again, the importance of using leverage—make your words work harder).

​YouTube is the biggest win. It feels great to see it climbing much quicker than expected. Importantly, I’m having a lot of fun. However, I regret filming so many in one batch because the feedback loop is seriously delayed. I know so much more about filming now, but I need to wait a month to implement the advice. Once we’ve posted these, I’ll record 1-2 per week and continue slowly improving. When you are learning a skill, don’t batch too much.

Newsletter:

Total readers: 32592

New subscribers: 736

Unsubscribes: 578

Net growth: 158

Most unsubscribes come from new subscribers. This is because I have 12 daily emails when you join. Whilst I could send less, I love this as a filter. Those who stay know who I am and (hopefully) enjoy my vibe. Your newsletter is your inner world, so don’t be afraid to focus on your fans.

Now that we have a paid ads funnel, I plan on increasing ad spend slowly and tracking the lead quality. Otherwise, I’m hoping YouTube, Substack, and my other social platforms will begin increasing the rate of growth. In 2026, I’d love to grow my newsletter so I can get Magnetic Writing in front of as many people as possible.

But most importantly, I’d love to build a stronger reputation.

Which leads me to today’s final point.

A move I’m making: Long-form newsletter experiment

Last month, I decided to write longer-form personal essays.

I have no data to support this, but my intuition says depth is making a comeback. AI and social media have made the crowd a messy place to be. We’re drowning in information but devoid of connection. And I found myself craving writers who go deep, so I decided to scratch my own itch.

So far, it’s been amazing. The feedback is the best I’ve had—not just in the number of replies, but the quality of responses. I’ve been amazed by the vulnerability my readers have responded with, and high-calibre people have reached out to connect. This can only be good for business.

But the real win? I feel fantastic when I write them. I joke with my friends, it’s like having cocaine every morning. Perhaps it’s because I moved to South America and they put something in the coffee. But if something makes you come alive, pay attention. Joy is an overlooked tool for success. Nobody can compete with you if you’re having fun, and how you feel seeps through into the page.

Even if your approach isn’t ‘optimal’, don’t be afraid to follow a thought. Your curiosity will take you somewhere great if you let it.

Cheers for reading,

Kieran

Some stuff you might’ve missed:

• ​Why Creators Are Dying​
• ​How to Stop Comparing Yourself (One Simple Technique)​​
• ​I Lost $26,000 Last Month (Here’s What Happened)​​
• ​Why You Find It Hard to Focus​​
• ​Saying Goodbye to Life​​

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