The bait, then the rug-pull.
Tom Boyd, who actually produces short-form for creators, lays out the 30-item checklist he'd run BEFORE filming anything new with a client. The visual IS the checklist — viewers screenshot it. The closer is one line: 'Put the camera on your face.' Everything before that line is the work.
Six beats. One throughline.
Word for word.
The list IS the lead magnet.
Persistent-checklist overlay + single-take talking head + contrarian closer. One shot, one location, one graphic layer — saveable, screenshot-friendly, and the disqualifier IS the conversion.
- Pick a list with 20-30 items where the items themselves are the proof you know your shit. Bonus: a few must be counter-intuitive (Tom's '30-day content abstain' is the algorithmic accelerant).
- Put the list on screen the whole time. Make it look like a hand-drawn checkbox doc — viewer's screenshot is the lead magnet. Don't gate it; the screenshot IS the funnel.
- Hide the real thesis until the last 4 seconds. Tom's whole bit reframes the moment he says 'put the camera on your face' — everything before that becomes the lesson, not just the list.
- Build in a self-disqualifier mid-video. 'If I'm not your guy, here's how you'd know.' Reads as integrity. Converts the right-fit clients harder than a hard sell would.
- For Joe: same exact format, $6-Stack edition. Title: 'If I built your stack from scratch.' 30 checkboxes (domain, Vercel, Supabase, Contabo, etc.). Closer: 'And you'd still be under $6 a month.' The list is the lead magnet AND the proof of expertise.
- 60-day patience window (item 30) is the thesis to bake into MCN+ pitch. You're not testing one reel — you're testing the operating system. Don't judge before week 9.
Most of the work happens before the camera turns on.
The reason your content isn't landing usually isn't your edit — it's that you skipped the part where you figure out what you actually believe and what energy you want on camera.
- Spend an hour answering Tom's first four questions in writing: what do I believe, what will I never do, why am I doing this, what feels easy to me that exhausts everyone else.
- Voice-note for five minutes a day for ten days straight about your work. Don't edit, don't structure — just talk. Listen back for what you said with energy.
- Audit your own content from the last 90 days. Which posts brought in new people? Make a series out of the top one. That's your 'untouched gold.'
- Try the 30-day consumption fast — stop watching other creators' content. Tom's claim: most of what makes your stuff feel derivative is subconscious mimicry, not lack of skill.
- Don't judge whether short-form is working for you until you've been at it 60 days. One reel proves nothing. Ten reels show a pattern.







































































































































































