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The High-Income Skills Map: 18 Months, Month by Month
Most people post for three weeks, don't see it, and quit. These are the skills that pay you, in the order I'd learn them, month by month for 18 months: AI, hooks, offers, copywriting, sales funnels, webinars, ads and more, plus a prompt that turns any month into your plan for the next 4 weeks.
There's no such thing as quick money.
I worked at the post office for seven years. I made my first million in 18 months from zero. And nothing about those 18 months was quick.
Most people want to skip the steps. They post for three weeks, don't see it, and quit.
This is the other way. The skills that pay you, in order, over 18 months. You start on something to sell in month 3, because you need to learn how to make money early.
The skills, in order
There are 5 groups. Each month has one skill to study hard.
- Getting attention on social media. If nobody sees you, nothing else matters. Skills: AI and hooks.
- Holding it. Attention you can't keep is wasted. Skills: storytelling and short video scripts.
- Making a product or a service. Something real people pay for. A course, coaching or a service. Never just a PDF. Skills: market research, offers, pricing, making a small course, and selling it to people who asked.
- Building an audience that trusts you. People buy from people they trust. Skills: lead magnets, email marketing, proof and case studies, long videos and lives, and buyer research calls.
- Selling with your words. Posts, emails and pages that turn trust into sales. Skills: copywriting, sales pages, sales funnels, webinars, emails that sell, paid ads, high ticket offers, and reading your numbers.
Each one stands on the one before it. You don't stop using a skill when you move to the next. You keep posting the whole 18 months. The map just tells you which skill to study hard right now.
AI makes every one of those faster now. It doesn't skip any of them for you. So each month below has one thing to hand to Claude Code, and the work that's still yours.
Before month 1: pick your topic
Pick a topic you know a little better than a certain group of people. Something you've already been through.
You don't need to be the best in the world. You need to be a few steps ahead of the person you're talking to.
The map
Save this as map.md in a folder on your computer. The prompt after it reads it.
THE HIGH-INCOME SKILLS MAP: 18 MONTHS The rule: keep posting the whole time. Each month has one skill you study hard. You don't master it in a month. You learn enough to use it, then you keep getting better. Don't move on just because the month ended. Move on when you pass the check at the end of the block. From day 1, keep a list of every question people ask you, in their own words. That list becomes your product. GROUP 1. GETTING ATTENTION Month 1. AI and hooks. Set up Claude Code with files that tell it who you are, who you help and how you talk. Then learn hooks: the first line and the first 3 seconds. Post every day. Find 10 accounts in your lane and save the posts that did far better than that account's normal. Write 3 hooks for every post and pick the best. Hand to Claude Code: sorting those saved posts into topics and hooks, and 10 hook options for each of your posts, in your words. You pick. Guides: zachcrawford.com/guides/basics and zachcrawford.com/guides/posts Check before you move on: you've posted almost every day, Claude Code knows your business, and you know which hooks do best for you. GROUP 2. HOLDING ATTENTION Month 2. Storytelling and short video scripts. Tell real stories: what happened to you, what went wrong, what you learned. Every script makes one point. Cut every line that doesn't help it. Keep the 2 or 3 formats people watch longest and drop the rest. Hand to Claude Code: an interview that pulls your stories out of you, one question at a time, and cutting your scripts down to one point. Guide: zachcrawford.com/guides/button Check before you move on: people watch more of your posts, and some comment or reply asking for more. GROUP 3. MAKING A PRODUCT OR A SERVICE Month 3. Market research, offers and pricing. Group your question list and find the problem that comes up most. Find who already sells a fix for it, and read what their buyers complain about. Write your offer: who it's for, the problem and the result. Look at what the hot sellers in your niche charge. I like a first price of $47 to $97, but if your market pays less, match what it's proven to buy. Ask the people who asked you those questions, and people who follow you, if they would buy it. Do this before you make it. No messages to strangers. Hand to Claude Code: grouping those questions and looking up who already sells a fix. Guides: zachcrawford.com/guides/better, zachcrawford.com/guides/test and zachcrawford.com/guides/zero Month 4. Making a small course, and selling it to people who asked. Make one small course, coaching offer or service that solves that one problem. Small is fine. A short course beats a big one you never finish. Never just a PDF or an ebook: if that was your plan, turn it into a small course. Offer it to the people who already asked. Watch where they get stuck and fix that part. Hand to Claude Code: the outline, the lessons and the worksheets, built from what you know, then sorting buyer questions by lesson, so you know what to fix. Guides: zachcrawford.com/guides/split and zachcrawford.com/guides/fix Check before you move on: real people bought it or signed up, and you fixed what they got stuck on. If nobody did, go back to month 3 and pick another problem. GROUP 4. BUILDING AN AUDIENCE THAT TRUSTS YOU Month 5. Lead magnets and email marketing. Give away one free thing that solves one small problem, in exchange for an email. Use any email tool you like. Start emailing every week. Hand to Claude Code: building the free thing and writing the first 3 emails. Month 6. Proof and case studies. Share real results, yours and your buyers' (with their OK). Show the work behind them, and your mistakes. Never make one up. Hand to Claude Code: a proof file with your real numbers and stories, so it never guesses them. Month 7. Long videos and lives. Same days, same times. A weekly email, and a weekly longer video or a live. Say the same core message over and over, until people can't miss it. Hand to Claude Code: a content plan for the month, and turning one long piece into a week of short posts. Month 8. Buyer research calls. Get on calls with buyers and followers. Ask what they want next, what almost stopped them from buying, and write down their exact words. Hand to Claude Code: pulling the patterns out of your call notes. Check before you move on: people reply to your emails, share your posts, and ask what you'll make next. GROUP 5. SELLING WITH YOUR WORDS Month 9. Copywriting. Learn to write one clear promise in your buyers' words: who it's for, the problem and the result. Then learn headlines, proof, answering doubts and asking for the sale. Read every line out loud. If you wouldn't say it to a friend, cut it. Hand to Claude Code: 10 versions of your promise from your buyers' own words, and checking your copy for anything that sounds like AI. You pick and you make every line true. Guide: zachcrawford.com/guides/robot Month 10. Sales pages. Write a full page that answers every question and doubt your buyers have. Find a page you like in your market and study its order. Never copy its words. Hand to Claude Code: the first draft, from your offer, your proof file and your buyers' questions. Month 11. Sales funnels. Learn the path a buyer takes: the post, the page, the checkout, the thank you page, the emails. Get one product at one price selling first. Then add one order bump (a small add-on at checkout) and one upsell (one more offer right after they buy). Learn your numbers at each step, so you know where people drop off. Hand to Claude Code: drafts of each page, and finding the step where you lose the most people. Month 12. Webinars. Run a live workshop that teaches one thing well, then makes your offer. Practice the offer part the most. It's the part most people rush. Hand to Claude Code: the outline, the slides and the reminder emails. Month 13. Emails that sell. Write a short run of emails that teach something, answer the doubts, and ask for the sale. Send it to your list, and to everyone who came to the webinar and didn't buy. Hand to Claude Code: drafts in your voice. You make every line true. Month 14. Paid ads. Only run ads on an offer that already sells. Start with a budget you can afford to lose. Test one thing at a time: the hook first, then the offer. Search your competitors at facebook.com/ads/library to see what they run. Hand to Claude Code: 10 ad scripts from your best posts, and comparing your ad numbers each week. You decide what to spend. Month 15. Making a high ticket offer. High ticket means more help, more access and a higher price. Your buyer calls tell you what they'd pay more for. Pick one thing, build it small and offer it to your best buyers first. Hand to Claude Code: sorting your call notes and buyer questions into offer ideas. You pick. Month 16. Selling high ticket with an application page. Make a page where people apply and talk to you before they buy. Learn to ask good questions on those talks, and to say no to people you can't help. You don't need a sales team to start. Hand to Claude Code: the page, the application questions, and a summary of each applicant before you talk. Month 17. A webinar that sells the high ticket offer. Run a live webinar that teaches one thing, then sends people to your application page. Use what you learned in month 12. Hand to Claude Code: the outline and the slides, built from your buyers' words and your proof file. Month 18. Reading your numbers and fixing the weakest part. Look at what sold, what didn't and why, from the first post to the last sale. Fix the weakest step and sell again. Hand to Claude Code: comparing your numbers month by month, and naming the one thing to fix first. Check: you can get attention, hold it, make something people want, earn their trust and sell it with words. Now you keep getting better at all of it.
Your month, as a plan
The map tells you what to study. This turns one month into 4 weeks of things to do, built around your topic and your time.
Open Claude Code in the folder where you saved map.md. Fill in the brackets, then paste this:
Read map.md in this folder. It is my 18 month skills map. I'm on month [the month number you're on]. My topic: [what you talk about, and who you talk to] Time I have each week: [hours per week] Before you plan, ask me up to 5 questions you need answered, all in one message. Ask what I've already done, what's going well and what's not. Then wait for my answers. Then make my plan for this month: - The skill I'm studying, and the one thing that matters most this month. - 4 weeks. For each week: what I do, how many times, and what I hand to Claude Code. - It has to fit the time I have. If it doesn't fit, cut things and tell me what you cut. - How I'll know I did it: things I can count, like posts made or hooks written. Rules: - Use only what I tell you. Never make up numbers, results or stories about me. - Don't promise me money or followers. Plan the work. - Plain words. Short. Save it as month-[number].md in this folder, then show it to me.
At the end of every month
Before you start the next month, paste this. Fill in what you did.
Read map.md and my plan for this month. Here is what I really did: [what you did: how many posts, what you made, what worked, what didn't, any real numbers] Tell me straight: 1. Did I do the plan? What did I skip? 2. Did I pass the check for this skill in map.md? If not, what's missing? 3. Should I move to the next month, or repeat this one? Give me your pick and why. Use only what I told you. If you need something I didn't give you, ask me. Save your answer at the bottom of my plan file.
The limits, honestly
- This map doesn't promise you money, followers or a date. It's the order I'd learn the skills. How fast you go depends on your work.
- 18 months is a guide, not a deadline. If you need two months on hooks, take two months.
- Claude Code makes the work faster. It doesn't post for you, talk to your buyers for you or sell for you.
- Months 1 and 2 are short on purpose, so you get to your product fast. One month won't make you a master of any skill here. You learn enough to use it, then you keep getting better.
- Month 4 is when you offer your first product. It isn't a promise that it sells. If nobody buys, go back to month 3 and pick another problem.