7 Underrated Resources to Build Your Business in the Margins
The books, newsletters, and communities that shaped how I focus and build in the margins of a full life
Hey !
I’m writing to you from the edge of the lake this week.
I’ve been up here all week volunteering at a summer camp, and right now I’ve got my laptop open in front of a view I almost don’t want to interrupt.
Here’s what the evenings look like:
If you’ve been running flat out lately, consider this your permission to find your own version of a quiet shoreline.
Anyway, I wanted to drop a line and share a few resources that have genuinely shaped how I build my own business.
Let’s start with the one that changed how I think about selling without selling.
The Slippery Slide: Why You Couldn't Stop Reading That Article
Have you ever started reading something, an email, a sales page, even a random article, where the title made you curious enough to click,
…then you read the first line, and before you knew it you were at the end of a 1,200 word piece without ever deciding to stay?
That's not an accident.
It's the concept of the slippery slide, and the idea is simple: think of a slide at a kids' playground.
All a child has to do is sit down at the top and gravity handles the rest.
Great writing works the same way.
The only job of your headline is to get the reader to the first sentence, and the only job of that sentence is to pull them into the next, and down they go.
That concept was introduced by Joseph Sugarman in The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.
It’s the book I’d hand to anyone who writes to sell anything with content, whether that’s a newsletter, a sales page, or even a single Instagram caption.
This is the book that teaches you how a reader actually moves from the first line to the last.
It changes how you think about every sentence you put in front of a reader.
You can get it on Amazon here →
How to Persuade People Ethically
Of course, getting someone to keep reading is only half the work. The other half is understanding what actually moves them to say yes, and no one maps that better than Robert Cialdini in The Psychology of Influence.
It’s not about manipulation, it’s the psychology underneath every honest offer and good pitch.
Once you can see the patterns at work you genuinely can’t unsee them.
Can’t I Just Let AI Write It?
Now you might be thinking, why bother learning any of this when I can just have AI write it for me?
Fair.
I use AI in my own workflow every single day. But here’s what a season of leaning on it taught me: AI is only as good as the person directing it.
If you don’t understand why the slippery slide works, why one word choice pulls a reader forward and another repels them, you can’t tell whether what the AI handed you is actually good or just polished.
You end up with copy that reads fine and converts poorly, with no idea why.
The people getting real results from AI aren’t the ones who know the least about writing, they’re the ones who know better, because they can prompt with intention and edit with judgment.
Learning the fundamentals doesn’t compete with using AI. It’s the thing that makes your AI worth using.
How to Focus and 10x Your Productivity When Building Part-Time
Once you know what to write and why people respond, the last piece is actually protecting the time to do the work, which is where Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey comes in.
When you're building something in the margins of an already full life, the real challenge isn't a lack of ambition, it's that you're being pulled in every direction at once.
A pocket of time opens up and before you can drop into anything meaningful you're already switching between writing that email, the school pickup, and the idea you had in the shower that you're terrified you'll forget.
I picked this book up because I was looking for a way to actually 10x the little time I have while juggling multiple roles.
It gave me a real framework for guarding deep attention and getting into the work fast instead of losing half my window just trying to settle in.
If your problem was never effort but the constant task-switching that fragments the time you've fought to protect, start with this one.
An Anti-Guru Marketing Newsletter Worth Reading
For something you can follow rather than read cover to cover, this Substack publication is a favorite of mine on what works, how it actually works, and why it looks so different from what gets sold as what works.
If you've grown tired of reading the same five marketing tactics rebranded by a dozen different gurus, Man Bites Dog on Substack is the antidote.
The name comes from the old newsroom line: a dog biting a man isn't news, but a man biting a dog is, and that's exactly the kind of counterintuitive thinking the publication runs on.
It offers marketing and business lessons that cut against the noise. Because so much of the standard advice is right for the wrong person or right at the wrong time.
It's unconventional, which is precisely why it's valuable.
If you want one more funnel hack you'll be disappointed, and if you want to think differently about how you build, you'll find a home there.
Expert Secrets: The Book for Understanding the Online Marketplace
If you’re at the earlier stages of building an online business, Expert Secrets is a must-read. It helped me understand the inner workings of the online marketplace back when it all still felt like a mystery, and it gave me language for things I’d sensed but couldn’t name. I recommend it without hesitation for anyone still finding their footing.
The Best Free Community to Make Your First $5K Online
And if you're at the very start, trying to turn what you know into your first real income, Your First $5K by Arlan Hamilton is a community I'd point you to.
Arlan's own story is remarkable enough, going from homeless to running a venture capital firm.
But what actually matters here is that the whole premise is built on helping underestimated entrepreneurs make their first $5K using skills and knowledge they already have, rather than telling them to go learn something new before they're allowed to earn.
What I appreciate is that it's genuinely free and built around getting you to a concrete milestone instead of keeping you in perpetual learning mode.
If you've been sitting on an idea waiting to feel ready, this is the kind of room that helps you take the first actual step.
Your Pick For This Week?
If you look back over everything here, there’s a quiet thread running through all of it.
Each one is a piece of the same larger skill: learning to build something meaningful in the margins of an already full life, on purpose rather than by accident.
That’s really the whole point.
You don’t need more information, you need the right few things and a way to actually put them into practice.
Which is exactly why I built the Strategic by Design planner, to give this kind of thinking a place to live so it becomes a quarterly planning and execution rhythm
It’s on Amazon whenever you’re ready.
Your turn.
What's the one book that changed how you build? Reply or drop it in the comments and share. I'm always adding to my list.
TL;DR: Resources mentioned in this post:
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman: The book that teaches you how a reader actually moves from your first line to your last
Influence by Robert Cialdini: The psychology behind what moves people to say yes
Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson: For understanding the inner workings of the online marketplace when you’re still finding your footing
Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey: How to protect deep attention and 10x the little time you have to build
Man Bites Dog (Substack): The anti-guru publication for marketing and business thinking that cuts against the recycled advice
Your First $5K by Arlan Hamilton (Skool) — the free community for making your first real income from what you already know
Strategic by Design business planner: The quarterly structure that keeps you doing all of the above once the inspiration fades
The Intentional Growth Letter explores business execution through AI and simple systems, alongside the human side of building a business, so you can grow intentionally in your work, your life, and the spaces between.