What's Your Konami Code?

Hi Reader,

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A and start.

Many gamers know that button sequence intimately.

The Konami Code is a famous video game hack.

Japanese video game designer Kazuhisa Hashimoto built this code into his 1986 cult classic Gradius.

His game was too difficult for most people to play, so he created a cheat code.

After pressing these buttons, players received all available power-ups.

Since then, game designers baked the Konami Code into titles like Street Fight II Turbo, League of Legends and Metal Gear Solid.

Gamers (like me) pressed the Konami Code to cheat and get to the next level faster.

I loved Gradius but I don’t play games much these days.

But I discovered I could bake the Konami code in other areas of life, too.

I’d a six-figure gig as an in-house copywriter a few years ago.

I wrote about financial software for small businesses.

The job paid well.

And I worked from home.

But a 50-hour corporate gig wasn’t easy, with the endless product launches, Microsoft Teams calls, and deadlines.

I was also building my writing and self-publishing business on the side.

Now factor in two small kids.

And you’ve got me up every morning at 5 am to write for an hour or two before.

And finishing work every day at 6 or 7 pm.

One afternoon, my work friend asked me, “What happened?”

I didn’t know what she meant.

Then I looked in the mirror.

I looked like I had two black eyes, but not from a crazy Irish bar fight.

I was exhausted.

I knew I couldn’t keep working 80-hour weeks across my two jobs, no matter how lucrative my corporate job was and how I enjoyed building an online writing business.

I needed a Konami code.

So, one morning, instead of opening Scrivener to work on a book draft, I logged onto UpWork.

I set up a job ad for a virtual assistant.

I’m embarrassed to admit it now, but I hired the first applicant.

Thankfully, she worked out.

She helped me publish articles on my website and social media.

Easy to work with, she freed me up to write a book.

After a year, she moved to another line of work.

Now, I faced a new problem.

I knew I couldn’t hire like that again.

And I’d no easy way to hand over all her projects to a new hire.

I found a solution that saved me hours each week.

Since then, I’ve documented every part of my writing business work with team members.

That way, it’s much easier to hand over projects as goals change and hires come and go.

And I can focus on my most important writing project for an hour or two.

(These days, it’s my daily newsletter.)

Outsourcing and creating standard operating procedures is one Konami Code I use to run my writing business with a team of remote employees today.

I’ve a few other Konami codes too.

So why am I telling you all this?

I’ve created a Konami Code for amateur writers who want to turn pro. It’ll help you create more revenue-generating assets for your writing business… in less time.

It’s only for members of my Pro Writers Only community. Spots are closed right now, but you can reply to this email to get on the waitlist.

Write on,

Bryan Collins

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