The Empowerment Dynamic. It’s a framework. My first podcast episode was about it—all the way back in August 2020.
It has a ton of sentimental value to me. A graphic I made in Krita for Instagram. The conversations I had with Fabienne Egger—and the workshop we did in 2024. The Personality Hacker podcast, where I first heard about it. The rotting of my podcast archives last summer—one of the coolest temple myths, imho. The remastering of that very first episode once the money goals were met.
These are all elements from my personal lore, and it’s doubtful they mean much to my readers. But they mean everything to me, because I see the connections between them.
Cobra Kai. My sister. The pandemic. Each of these is a node in an elaborate network. The network is plain as day to me. Even if I have to tease it out. But it’s not plain as day to the reader, because the reader wasn’t there for any of it.
My job—as a writer, as a teacher, as a marketer, as an artist—is to *make* it plain as day. Not by info-dumping facts and the trivia of history, but by painting a clear picture. A relevant picture. A curated picture. A user-friendly picture.
My job is to give the reader an on-ramp into my world—into that complex network. It’s NOT to make them understand. They *can’t* understand—they weren’t there for it.
My job is to give them a fighting chance at making use of the network. The way a sign reading “gas station" gives a motorist a fighting chance of making it another hundred miles.
They don’t have to know how the pump works. They don’t have to know the history and economics of gasoline. But they need to know some of the nodes. The relevant ones. “Gas station.” “OPEN.” Stuff like that. Enough to get the job done. Enough to orient themselves in the network.
That’s how you do stellar copywriting. That’s how you onboard people into your way of thinking: you give the minimal nodes they need to get their job done. Then, you sit back and let them do it. You let them explore. You let them pay you for the privilege of exploring.
You get the money—and they get to make use of the network.
Here’s a practical exercise you can try:
Find an isolated node in your network. Something no one seems to understand. Something you’re really frustrated no one gets. Something no one ever asks you about but you wish they did.
Take out a blank piece of paper. Write down the name of the node. Then, write a sentence about why the node is important to you. Not them—YOU. We have to start where we are before we can get where we’re going.
Next, read what you just wrote, whatever’s on the page. You’re no longer the author—you’re a reader holding an artifact. Take it in.
Add another sentence that makes the thing *even more useful*. Don’t ask “to whom?” Don’t ask “for what?” Just make it *more useful*.
Keep going until you can’t think of any more sentences that will improve the usefulness of your artifact.
Congratulations. You just produced a useful piece of educational copywriting. The kind that hits both sides: (1) solving a problem the reader has, and (2) doing so in a way that furthers YOUR business goals.
There’s nothing to disagree with—my book *isn’t* for everyone. No book is. This is why Barnes & Noble has thousands of books on the shelves. This is why pizzerias have a menu of toppings to choose from. This is why colleges offer dozens of majors.
No single choice is right for everyone.
But in the wasteland, this idea sounds nuts.
“What do you mean my choice isn’t the best one?” gasps the demon. “Are you saying I’m *wrong*?”
The priest cannot entertain such foolishness. He must keep away from status games. He must continue honoring biology.
Some people love mushrooms. Others hate them. The reasons are complex and unknowable. But that cannot stop him from running the temple.
The fans are not “right.” The haters are not “wrong.”
This commenter clearly doesn’t understand the lineage and history of the video they’re commenting on. To them, it’s just more view-farming.
And that sucks for me. I put a lot of agony into that video. It goes back years. It’s a ton of personal mythology and lore.
The Random Talking Videos.
The 60-Second Insta Meditations.
The piano tutorials where I wore a tie.
The viral shorts.
The temple.
The reclaiming.
The book.
The yellow text videos.
You’d have to follow that whole chain to get what’s really happening here.
Fortunately, none of that is actually necessary. Because it’s all right here in this mini-essay. You can jump on the train at any moment. Welcome aboard.
Remember: we’ve rejected the normal creator/audience dynamics. We’re not trying to trick people by giving them entertainment for free and then forcing them into the paid funnel. We’re going back to the old-fashioned way of doing business. The way pioneered by the mom-and-pop pizzerias. The way pioneered by the great religions of the world. The way pioneered by Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.
We start by building a Place of Taste and then work backwards from there. We use con artist tactics to sell a thing of substance. It’s paradoxical—and that’s why it works.
We’re not concerned about every random stranger who doesn’t “get it” right away. We know there’s time for them to get it, should they wish to get it.
How do you get money from someone who won’t even spelling out the word “please”?
You can’t. Don’t even try. You’re dealing with someone who isn’t willing to commit even to the act of writing a comment—and making a payment is, strictly speaking, a more complex act even than that.
It’s not about money—it’s about the number of steps.
When I took voice lessons, I drove an hour each way, AND took the time to schedule the lesson, AND took the time to participate in the lesson itself. I could have just said “pls teach me” and left it at that, but that’s not where my head was—I wanted to learn singing.
I can’t draw any conclusions about this commenter—they haven’t leaked enough information. But I do feel confident asserting one fact: they’re not a regular follower.
They haven’t consumed enough of my content to start seeing me as a real human being. If they had, they’d respect my time a little more.
It’s not worth worrying about this person. They’re not in the running. They’re Noise.
They might be a kid, they might be an adult. They might self-identify as a builder, they might self-identify as a watchdog who keeps builders honest.
None of that really matters—they’re not even a follower.
They’re all here for the same basic reason: something fascinating is happening on Michael’s YouTube channel.
Most observe quietly and continue living their lives. But a small handful feels the call to be heard—to raise their hands and participate.
Out of this small handful, the adult builders buy the book. For them, it’s just the quickest and easiest choice.
But the kids and the non-builders reach for a myriad of other options.
Some reach for “ask a question”. Some reach for “level an insult”. Some reach for “assert how broke they are”. Some reach for “call Michael out for unethical business practices”.
Everyone’s hungry.
Everyone finds an option on the menu that suits their taste.
The more you see it, the more surreal it gets. You realize you’re the host of the party—everyone’s here because of YOU.
You’re the librarian—you stocked the shelves everyone else is browsing. But you’re not unbiased. You want them to choose certain books and pass over others. But you also know not every book is right for every reader.
Some might be drawn to “buy the book” and some to “make an unrelated joke”.
Some to “express skepticism” and some to “argue a technical point”.
Some to “leave a compliment” and some to “leave a ❤️”.
Everyone enters the library with their own histories, their own needs, their own tastes. But they’re all here because of YOU.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a kid—all adults were kids at one point.
But no matter your age, you should heed what I say. Because business is business and psychology is psychology.
There are options on the table. Many options. Each has a perceived cost and a perceived benefit. And these costs and benefits are relative to the person making the choice—they’re not intrinsic in the product itself.
Yes, the price tag may read $19, but $19 means different things to different people. To an adult with a job, $19 might sound the same as zero. To a kid, it might sound like infinity. Or anything in between. It’s all relative.
Commenting is a lot of work. If you have $19, it may be easier to just pay the toll—then you don’t have to write all the comments. Do you know how many books I’ve bought that I’ve never even *read*?
Yeah, my guess is that most of them are kids. It’s not an insult—it’s a hypothesis. And it seems reasonable: an adult could just pay the $19 and get all the benefits of feeling like a participant without having to do all the work of writing comments and monitoring my replies.
To an adult, “buy the book” may be CHEAPER than the free options.
Survey the competition. The REAL competition—not the idealized categories you see on Amazon.
As a social media creator, you already have an audience. Monetize them. Stop trying to sell to strangers. Find a decision point and map out all the options. Position your offer relative to *those*. Stop listing features of the THING and start thinking about the features of the CHOICE.
Look, bro, I’m open-minded—I accept that “buy the book” may not be right for you at this time. I’m guessing you’re either a kid without money, or you don’t self-identify as a builder, or both.
We know it’s not that you don’t feel implicated—this isn’t the first thing I’ve written directly in response to you.
Either way, thanks for considering our product line.
We’re sorry we didn’t have something that could meet your needs, and we wish you the best of luck with “call Michael a greedy scammer.”
Let us know if we can be of assistance in the future.
Michael Korman
The Empowerment Dynamic. It’s a framework. My first podcast episode was about it—all the way back in August 2020.
It has a ton of sentimental value to me. A graphic I made in Krita for Instagram. The conversations I had with Fabienne Egger—and the workshop we did in 2024. The Personality Hacker podcast, where I first heard about it. The rotting of my podcast archives last summer—one of the coolest temple myths, imho. The remastering of that very first episode once the money goals were met.
These are all elements from my personal lore, and it’s doubtful they mean much to my readers. But they mean everything to me, because I see the connections between them.
Cobra Kai. My sister. The pandemic. Each of these is a node in an elaborate network. The network is plain as day to me. Even if I have to tease it out. But it’s not plain as day to the reader, because the reader wasn’t there for any of it.
My job—as a writer, as a teacher, as a marketer, as an artist—is to *make* it plain as day. Not by info-dumping facts and the trivia of history, but by painting a clear picture. A relevant picture. A curated picture. A user-friendly picture.
My job is to give the reader an on-ramp into my world—into that complex network. It’s NOT to make them understand. They *can’t* understand—they weren’t there for it.
My job is to give them a fighting chance at making use of the network. The way a sign reading “gas station" gives a motorist a fighting chance of making it another hundred miles.
They don’t have to know how the pump works. They don’t have to know the history and economics of gasoline. But they need to know some of the nodes. The relevant ones. “Gas station.” “OPEN.” Stuff like that. Enough to get the job done. Enough to orient themselves in the network.
That’s how you do stellar copywriting. That’s how you onboard people into your way of thinking: you give the minimal nodes they need to get their job done. Then, you sit back and let them do it. You let them explore. You let them pay you for the privilege of exploring.
You get the money—and they get to make use of the network.
Here’s a practical exercise you can try:
Find an isolated node in your network. Something no one seems to understand. Something you’re really frustrated no one gets. Something no one ever asks you about but you wish they did.
Take out a blank piece of paper. Write down the name of the node. Then, write a sentence about why the node is important to you. Not them—YOU. We have to start where we are before we can get where we’re going.
Next, read what you just wrote, whatever’s on the page. You’re no longer the author—you’re a reader holding an artifact. Take it in.
Add another sentence that makes the thing *even more useful*. Don’t ask “to whom?” Don’t ask “for what?” Just make it *more useful*.
Keep going until you can’t think of any more sentences that will improve the usefulness of your artifact.
Congratulations. You just produced a useful piece of educational copywriting. The kind that hits both sides: (1) solving a problem the reader has, and (2) doing so in a way that furthers YOUR business goals.
Feel free to dump it here.
5 days ago | [YT] | 6
View 4 replies
Michael Korman
These comments are exactly the Noise of the wasteland. Read the book. Link in bio.
1 week ago | [YT] | 6
View 0 replies
Michael Korman
There’s nothing to disagree with—my book *isn’t* for everyone. No book is. This is why Barnes & Noble has thousands of books on the shelves. This is why pizzerias have a menu of toppings to choose from. This is why colleges offer dozens of majors.
No single choice is right for everyone.
But in the wasteland, this idea sounds nuts.
“What do you mean my choice isn’t the best one?” gasps the demon. “Are you saying I’m *wrong*?”
The priest cannot entertain such foolishness. He must keep away from status games. He must continue honoring biology.
Some people love mushrooms. Others hate them. The reasons are complex and unknowable. But that cannot stop him from running the temple.
The fans are not “right.” The haters are not “wrong.”
Not on matters of taste.
Never on matters of taste.
1 week ago | [YT] | 22
View 5 replies
Michael Korman
This commenter clearly doesn’t understand the lineage and history of the video they’re commenting on. To them, it’s just more view-farming.
And that sucks for me. I put a lot of agony into that video. It goes back years. It’s a ton of personal mythology and lore.
The Random Talking Videos.
The 60-Second Insta Meditations.
The piano tutorials where I wore a tie.
The viral shorts.
The temple.
The reclaiming.
The book.
The yellow text videos.
You’d have to follow that whole chain to get what’s really happening here.
Fortunately, none of that is actually necessary. Because it’s all right here in this mini-essay. You can jump on the train at any moment. Welcome aboard.
Remember: we’ve rejected the normal creator/audience dynamics. We’re not trying to trick people by giving them entertainment for free and then forcing them into the paid funnel. We’re going back to the old-fashioned way of doing business. The way pioneered by the mom-and-pop pizzerias. The way pioneered by the great religions of the world. The way pioneered by Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.
We start by building a Place of Taste and then work backwards from there. We use con artist tactics to sell a thing of substance. It’s paradoxical—and that’s why it works.
We’re not concerned about every random stranger who doesn’t “get it” right away. We know there’s time for them to get it, should they wish to get it.
We’re in no hurry. We’re playing the long game.
This is just one more brick in the wall.
1 week ago | [YT] | 6
View 0 replies
Michael Korman
How do you get money from someone who won’t even spelling out the word “please”?
You can’t. Don’t even try. You’re dealing with someone who isn’t willing to commit even to the act of writing a comment—and making a payment is, strictly speaking, a more complex act even than that.
It’s not about money—it’s about the number of steps.
When I took voice lessons, I drove an hour each way, AND took the time to schedule the lesson, AND took the time to participate in the lesson itself. I could have just said “pls teach me” and left it at that, but that’s not where my head was—I wanted to learn singing.
I can’t draw any conclusions about this commenter—they haven’t leaked enough information. But I do feel confident asserting one fact: they’re not a regular follower.
They haven’t consumed enough of my content to start seeing me as a real human being. If they had, they’d respect my time a little more.
It’s not worth worrying about this person. They’re not in the running. They’re Noise.
They might be a kid, they might be an adult. They might self-identify as a builder, they might self-identify as a watchdog who keeps builders honest.
None of that really matters—they’re not even a follower.
Next.
1 week ago | [YT] | 3
View 4 replies
Michael Korman
They’re all here for the same basic reason: something fascinating is happening on Michael’s YouTube channel.
Most observe quietly and continue living their lives. But a small handful feels the call to be heard—to raise their hands and participate.
Out of this small handful, the adult builders buy the book. For them, it’s just the quickest and easiest choice.
But the kids and the non-builders reach for a myriad of other options.
Some reach for “ask a question”. Some reach for “level an insult”. Some reach for “assert how broke they are”. Some reach for “call Michael out for unethical business practices”.
Everyone’s hungry.
Everyone finds an option on the menu that suits their taste.
And all the while, the temple grows in power.
Even if it doesn’t understand why.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 14
View 0 replies
Michael Korman
The more you see it, the more surreal it gets. You realize you’re the host of the party—everyone’s here because of YOU.
You’re the librarian—you stocked the shelves everyone else is browsing. But you’re not unbiased. You want them to choose certain books and pass over others. But you also know not every book is right for every reader.
Some might be drawn to “buy the book” and some to “make an unrelated joke”.
Some to “express skepticism” and some to “argue a technical point”.
Some to “leave a compliment” and some to “leave a ❤️”.
Everyone enters the library with their own histories, their own needs, their own tastes. But they’re all here because of YOU.
They’re all here because YOU set it up.
They’re all here because YOU forced the choice.
Even if you don’t understand how.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7
View 6 replies
Michael Korman
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a kid—all adults were kids at one point.
But no matter your age, you should heed what I say. Because business is business and psychology is psychology.
There are options on the table. Many options. Each has a perceived cost and a perceived benefit. And these costs and benefits are relative to the person making the choice—they’re not intrinsic in the product itself.
Yes, the price tag may read $19, but $19 means different things to different people. To an adult with a job, $19 might sound the same as zero. To a kid, it might sound like infinity. Or anything in between. It’s all relative.
Commenting is a lot of work. If you have $19, it may be easier to just pay the toll—then you don’t have to write all the comments. Do you know how many books I’ve bought that I’ve never even *read*?
Yeah, my guess is that most of them are kids. It’s not an insult—it’s a hypothesis. And it seems reasonable: an adult could just pay the $19 and get all the benefits of feeling like a participant without having to do all the work of writing comments and monitoring my replies.
To an adult, “buy the book” may be CHEAPER than the free options.
Survey the competition. The REAL competition—not the idealized categories you see on Amazon.
As a social media creator, you already have an audience. Monetize them. Stop trying to sell to strangers. Find a decision point and map out all the options. Position your offer relative to *those*. Stop listing features of the THING and start thinking about the features of the CHOICE.
That’s how you make tension.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 8
View 7 replies
Michael Korman
What am I supposed to do? Not be curious about my customers? Not notice what I notice about them? How do you build a business that way?
But I’m right, aren’t I?
You’re either not an adult, or you’re not a builder. That’s why you went with “tell Michael it’s a bad look” instead of “buy the book.”
If I’m wrong, I’ll eat my words.
2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 7
View 8 replies
Michael Korman
Look, bro, I’m open-minded—I accept that “buy the book” may not be right for you at this time. I’m guessing you’re either a kid without money, or you don’t self-identify as a builder, or both.
We know it’s not that you don’t feel implicated—this isn’t the first thing I’ve written directly in response to you.
Either way, thanks for considering our product line.
We’re sorry we didn’t have something that could meet your needs, and we wish you the best of luck with “call Michael a greedy scammer.”
Let us know if we can be of assistance in the future.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2
View 3 replies
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