The Digital Contrarian

TDC 048: A 12-Part Framework For Owning Your Category: Truth, Hell, & The Lie They Believe.

• Ryan Levesque • Episode 48

Share episode

#048: Truth, Hell, & The Lie They Believe: A 12-Part Framework For Owning Your Category

What if your most powerful business advantage isn't just what you know, but understanding the lie your audience believes?

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Digital Contrarian, host Ryan Levesque dives into a complete 12-part strategic framework for differentiating yourself in any market.

You'll learn how to identify your audience's "hell" and the lie they believe, discover why contrarian truths create more impact than incremental improvements, and get a strategic blueprint you can apply to any major project or business repositioning.

Question of the Day 🗣️

What was your biggest aha moment from this framework, and what are you most intrigued by from Ryan's early glimpse into "The Return to Real"?

Key Take-aways

  • Your big idea should frame the tension and articulate the problem you're uniquely qualified to solve
  • Great marketing mirrors unspoken pain – describe their hell better than they can themselves
  • The lie they believe sets up the tension that your truth and framework will resolve
  • Different is better than better, but only is best – define your category of one
  • Even the most meaningful message needs a sustainable business model behind it

Timestamped Outline ⏱️

00:00 – Introduction and spring on the farm
00:56 – Why this framework matters for any big idea
02:02 – The 12-part framework overview
02:41 – Step 1: Your Big Idea
03:53 – Step 2: Your Category
04:54 – Step 3: Your Big Goal
05:40 – Step 4: Your Champagne Moment
06:32 – Step 5: Your Bullseye Reader
07:53 – Step 6: Their Hell
09:48 – Step 7: The Lie They Believe
10:57 – Step 8: Your Truth
12:29 – Step 9: Your Signature System
14:43 – Step 10: Your Category of One
15:25 – Step 11: Why They Recommend Your Work
15:57 – Step 12: Your Monetization Path & ROI
16:07 – How to apply this framework to your work

Links & Resources 🔗

Next Steps & Subscribe 🚀

👉 Enjoyed this? Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

🎁 Join 100,000+ digital entrepreneurs who get Ryan's "Strategic Insights for Digital Entrepreneurs Who Think Differently" every weekend:
https://ryanlevesque.net/join-the-digital-contrarian/

Credits

Host: Ryan Levesque
© 2025 RL & Associates LLC. All rights reserved.

Truth, hell, and the lie they currently believe. A 12-part framework for owning your category. Thursday this week was one of my favorite days of the entire year here on the farm. 

It's the day that the cows go back on to pasture and after a long cold winter spent living on winter hay, the spring green grasses here on the farm have finally grown tall enough to let the herd back out on pasture and the girls love this day. They are bucking and bellowing in delight and I get to step into my role of grazier managing our intensive rotational grazing system, which is one of my favorite jobs here on the farm. Now, while Tyleen has taken lead on getting our seed starts going in the greenhouse this year, I've taken lead on fencing, which has served as a nice corporeal break from the cerebral work of the week, which is finishing my book blueprint for The Return to Real, my forthcoming book slated for release later this year.

So what I thought I'd do in this video is share something that's been supremely helpful for me and potentially for you in this book writing process, which is a 12-part framework that I've been using to map out this massive project. Now, the reason why I think this might be a useful, albeit somewhat contrarian strategic framework for you is because this isn't just a framework you can use for writing a book. Instead, it's a framework that you can use to map out practically any big new idea worth building, whether it's a new book, a new product, a new brand, or potentially even refining your entire business. 

Now, in full disclosure, this framework is something that I've been working through with the help of Charlie Hone, whom I've written about in The Digital Contrarian in issue 21, in issue 31, and in last week's issue 47, which by the way, I'll link to alongside this video in the description. And as I mentioned, Charlie and I just finished leading a two-hour private workshop together for members of my strategic advisory group mastermind last week, which received an NPS score of 9.905, which is our high watermark of the year so far. And by the way, if you'd like to get onto the waitlist to apply to become part of my mastermind, I'll make sure to include a link with this video to add your name to the waitlist. 

Just as a quick aside, I'll be opening up a handful of new spots by application in the coming weeks. So stay tuned for that. All right. 

With all that being said, let's get into it. Let's get into the 12-part framework, including how I'm applying it in my upcoming book, just so you can see an example of this process in action for inspiration. And at the same time, get a little sneak peek glimpse into what's coming in the book. 

Now, this 12-part framework all begins with step number one, your big idea. So what is it exactly? Well, your big idea is the core question or insight that your entire project is built around. Why does it matter? Well, your big idea is naturally at the center of everything that you do. 

It frames the tension. It sets the stakes. It articulates the problem that you're personally uniquely qualified to explore and solve. 

And if people remember just one thing from your messaging, you want it to be this. You want it to be your big idea. So let's take a look at an example from the return to real. 

The return to real is a post AI manifesto for entrepreneurs and creators that explores the question, can you build a business and a life that's both financially successful and deeply fulfilling by rejecting the digital race to the bottom? Or are these goals fundamentally at odds with one another? This book offers a contrarian third path, a pragmatic prescriptive framework for creating both meaning and wealth in the age of AI and in the age of artificial everything. Make sense? All right. So next up in this framework is step two, which is your category. 

What is it exactly? Well, this is the arena that your idea competes in and the lens through which customers evaluate your work. Why does it matter? Well, category is positioning. It determines how your work is judged, which conversations it enters and which audiences it resonates with. 

Choosing the right category is super important because you're essentially deciding what game you're going to be playing and who is going to be your competition. Let's take a look at an example from the return to real. So the category that the return to real will sit in is the wealth category, specifically within philosophical and strategic content for entrepreneurs and professionals seeking meaningful, profitable work in an AI saturated dehumanized world. 

Now, it's important that your big idea in your category is connected to step three, which is your big goal. So what is it? Well, essentially, this is the strategic outcome that you're aiming to achieve with your projects. Why does it matter? Well, your big goal brings direction and intentionality to your work. 

It ensures that your work ladders up to a bigger purpose, whether that's repositioning your brand or bringing a targeted audience or hitting a specific revenue goal or having some sort of measurable cultural impact with your work. This is how you know whether your project was a success as you define it when it's all said and done. So an example from the return to real, big goals are as follows. 

Number one, establish myself as a category leader in the post AI authenticity movement. And number two, attract high ticket advisory clients and fund a lean, impactful business. Make sense? All right.

Well, this takes us in turn to step four, what we call your champagne moment. Well, what is it exactly? Your champagne moment is an irrational, memorable outcome that would make it all feel worthwhile to you personally. Why does it matter? Well, this is not about ROI or metrics here.

Instead, your champagne moment helps you identify a cool experience that you'd love to see happen as a result of your work. And it reveals the kind of attention or influence that you actually want to achieve. It could be something like an invitation to speak on a TEDx stage or a personal note from a living idol of yours, becoming a customer and expressing their appreciation for your work. 

Let's take a look at how this plays out in the return to real as an example. Now, so for me, it might be a major feature in the Atlantic or the New York Times framing myself as a defining voice on a meaning and strategy in this post AI era. This in turn takes us to step number five, which is your bullseye reader. 

What is it? Well, your bullseye reader is the single person that you're writing for, you're building for. So why does this matter? Well, as we discussed in issue 47 of the digital contrarian titled the 100, the 100,000 or the one, when you write to one, you reach many defining a bullseye reader helps you move from vague generalities to real emotional precision and allows you to create content that resonates at a deep personal level. So what does this look like in the return to real in terms of a bullseye reader example? Well, for the return to real, it might be a successful digital entrepreneur who's achieved a degree of success and scale, but feels trapped in a machine that they no longer love and is now quietly burning out. 

They've made money, but they're asking, is this it? They're craving depth over scale, real overreach, and they're wrestling with how to evolve without blowing everything up. They're not looking to quit necessarily, but they want more of a grounded human way to lead and live. This in turn takes us to step number six, what we describe as their hell.

What is it exactly? Well, their hell is the pain that your reader, your customer, your client is currently stuck in and likely doesn't yet have language for. Why does it matter? Well, great marketing mirrors unspoken pain. And when you can describe someone's hell better than they can describe it themselves, it earns instant credibility and opens the door to talk about your solution. 

This by the way is ask method 101. So in the return to real, the hell example might be trapped in a business they no longer love, making money, but having to grind and feeling dead inside. They built the thing, they won the game, but now they feel like a prisoner of their own machine, drowning in the noise and automation and in a business that no longer feels like theirs.

And underneath all that is disconnection from what matters, a creeping sense that they've lost themselves, a quiet terror that this is as good as it gets. Now, once you have clarity here on their hell, this then brings us to step number seven, which is the lie they believe. So what is it? This is the mistaken belief that your audience holds that's keeping them stuck where they're at right now. 

Why does it matter? Well, your job is to break false assumptions. The lie sets up the tension that your truth and your framework will resolve. It's the internal script that you're helping your audience re-write through your work. 

So in the return to real, the lie they believe example might be the following, that the more efficient, outsourced and convenient my life becomes, the better it will feel. They've been sold a vision of total ease that automation, outsource, scale, repeat is the name of the game. This is the hidden operating system behind so many digital lives, but instead of fulfillment, for some reason, they feel empty inside.

So you see how this is starting to come together? Now, this in turn takes us to step number eight, which is your truth. What is it exactly? Well, your truth is the contrarian insight or core belief that your work is built upon. Why it matters is because your truth is the reframe that shifts everything. 

It's what makes your message not just interesting, but sticky. This becomes the aha moment that readers will quote back to you over and over again. So in the return to real, the truth might be that the more we automate, outsource and optimize, the more we risk losing the very things that make life worth living. 

You can't AI your way to fulfillment. What feels real, alive and human often requires friction, effort and presence. And we've been trained to eliminate all three of these things. 

The truth is this, the best things in life don't scale. The struggle is the solution and meaning is inherently inefficient. But your choices aren't to either go Amish or become AI. 

Instead, there is a third path, one that embraces tech, but which doesn't get consumed by it. So you see how this works? Your truth as a response to the lie and the hell that your client is facing. Now, once you've articulated your truth, this naturally leads us to step number nine, which is your signature system. 

So what is it exactly? Well, your signature system is the proprietary structure method or framework that your project delivers. Why does it matter? Well, ideas scale through systems. A signature system gives form to your message. 

It makes it teachable. It creates assets that you can license, you can coach, you can build products around. Now, in the return to real signature system example might look like the following. 

The return to real framework is actually a three part structure. Part one, we have the problem. The fact that efficiency has traded away meaning. 

There's a confluence of forces which has created a unique historical and cultural moment in time that we're facing right here, right now. Part two, the principles. Ten contrarian return to real truths like, for example, the best things in life don't scale. 

The struggle is the solution, et cetera, et cetera. And part three is the practice. How to apply these return to real principles across life roles as an entrepreneur, as a parent, as an investor, as a creator, to create both meaning and wealth in your life, in the age of AI. 

This in turn takes us to step 10, your category of one. So what is it exactly? Well, this is your unique angle, how you differentiate from others tackling similar topics. Why does it matter? Well, you don't want to be slightly better. 

You want to be unmistakably different. As my good friend Sally Hogshead likes to say, different is better than better, but only is best. Defining your category of one forces you to name what only you can offer and why now. 

So return to real, category one example, looks like the following. The return to real is a unique, albeit contrarian, strategic worldview with immediate practical utility. It advocates for a third path, not rejecting technology, not worshiping scale, but rebalancing based on physiological truths and artisanal wisdom. 

It synthesizes AI, analog and existential insight into a structured set of 10 actionable principles that span life, work, leadership, and culture. It speaks directly to successful, but soul weary entrepreneurs who need a new way forward presenting our current predicament within its historical context. It creates a prescriptive lens, not just a philosophical critique that helps readers take the road less traveled and make different life decisions, not just feel seen. 

It bridges cultural critique with commercial viability, making it both philosophical and pragmatic. And it treats analog, not as nostalgia, but as a modern strategy for post AI human differentiation. Is he tracking with me so far? All right. 

Home stretch time. Next we have step 11, why they recommend your work. So what is it exactly? This is the shorthand people will use to describe and share your project. 

Now it's somewhat aspirational, but you want to build with this intent. So why does it matter? Well, word of mouth is how big ideas spread. If you want to be recommended, you need to make it easy for people to recommend you.

This is essentially your viral packaging. So like, for example, in the return to real, it might be, it's like a philosophy book, a business book and a wake up call all in one. So you see how this is all coming together. 

Okay. One last step, last but not least, we have step 12, your monetization path and your ROI scenarios. So what is it? Well, this is where you have your strategic business model behind the project and its financial upside. 

And why it matters is because even the most meaningful message needs a path to sustainability. It needs a business model behind it. So this section connects your passion and your profits that your idea has a chance to thrive in the longterm. 

So for example, with return to real primary offer might be bespoke advisory for entrepreneurs and leaders at the 50 to a hundred thousand plus price point. Secondary tier might be a group mastermind or cohort in the 10 to $25,000 range. And you might have a wild card tier, like for me, select institutional advisory work for clients like meta up to seven figures and beyond. 

So for the return to real, a realistic ROI target might be $3 million top-line revenue in the next 24 months after book launch with a path that takes authority that leads to advisory and brings alignment in business and in life. Okay. I'll wrap today's video with a few closing thoughts from framework to field test, as I call it.

So before I get any further first, I'm curious going through this framework. I know these may be some familiar concepts, perhaps repackaged and reordered in a new and novel way. But as you've gone through this and you've hopefully been reflecting on your own work, what ideas is this sparking for you, for your business, whether you're writing a book or re-imagining your business or your personal brand, or trying to articulate the next version of who you are and what you stand for? I hope that this 12 part framework has been as helpful for you as it's been for me and is starting to give you a little bit of a clearer lens. 

And I'd love to hear from you. Two questions today that I'd love to ask. Number one, what was your biggest aha moment from this framework? Leave a comment and let me know. 

And number two, based on today's early glimpse into the return to real, what are you most intrigued by? What are you most looking forward to? What are you most looking forward to reading more about in the return to real? You can leave a comment right here in this video to let me know. I personally read each and every one and I'd love to hear from you. All right, I'll leave you with that for now. 

Remember to hug the ones that you love. And if you enjoyed this video or it's helped make you think, be sure to like, follow and subscribe to be notified for when the next video in this series drops. Until next week, I'll see you again soon. 

Take care and have a great day.