Live Build Workshop
Build Your
VSL
We build your video sales letter together, right now. I teach each step, you write your version in the box. You leave with a finished script that ends in a booked call.
Part 1 // The Brief
What We're Building And Why
Listen to this part. We start writing in Part 2.
What A VSL Actually Is
Think of a VSL as a microwave. It turns warm leads into hot leads. Notice the word warm. It does not turn cold leads into hot leads. It sits between your marketing and your sales, and its job is to take someone who already knows you a bit and get them ready to buy before they ever speak to you.
- Warm to hot, not cold to hot. It accelerates people who already know you. It does not create demand from strangers.
- It pre-sells. By the end they understand they have a problem, it's serious, you have a solution, they get it, and they like you.
- Position it as a free training, not "watch this and buy my thing". Same way you offer a strategy session, not a sales call.
- Shoot it once. It works for you forever. You will tweak and sharpen it, but version one already does the job.
The VSL works in the boxed zone: warm to hot. It cannot drag a cold stranger all the way up to hot.
Where It Sits
The journey runs along the top. What you build sits underneath it.
The VSL sits across your warm audience. They find it, or you send it at triage. The hypeman goes out every time someone books.
Wherever it lands, it drives one action: book the call.
VSL vs your pre-call warmup
The VSL sits before the call, and its one job is to get the call booked. If you run a short pre-call warmup video (a hypeman) that goes out after someone books, that's a separate asset doing a different job: killing no-shows and priming them to buy. Do not merge them. The VSL gets the booking. The warmup protects it. They stack, they do not replace each other.
The Idea Everything Hangs On
Your VSL is built to shift one belief. Get this right and most objections disappear before they ever come up.
The formula
There is a new opportunity that is the key to their dream result, and it is only available through your mechanism.
Watch what just happened
If you are sat here as one of my clients, I have already shifted a belief in you. Funnels to flywheels. You now believe the old way is dead and there is a better one, and that it runs through how I do it. That is exactly the move your VSL has to make on your audience.
Name The Mechanism: Proprietary, Not Naff
If you've done The I.P Unpacker, you already have this. Paste it in and move on. If not, give your mechanism a name that sounds legit and carries a hint of intrigue. Do not bolt nine words together until it sounds ridiculous. You write yours in Part 2.
Three Passes, Not Perfect
Nobody nails this first go. You make it up today, you make the video this week, and you make it better later. Version one still books calls, so do not wait for perfect. Today is about getting a rough, honest draft down fast.
Before You Build, You Should Have
If any of these are missing, the messaging will be off and the VSL will push the right people away. Tick them honestly.
Missing one? Write it today anyway. It just shows you where the homework is.
Rules Of The Room
Script every section. Write at fifth grade reading level. Frictionless beats impressive.
8 to 12 minutes. 15 at the absolute most. It's a microwave, not a slow cooker. Surface level across a lot, not deep on one thing.
Edited talking head, a screen-share over slides, an iPad walkthrough, or just you reading the doc on Loom. Whatever you'll finish.
They want sand through their toes, not the airport queue. Stay high level on the how. Sell the result.
Part 2 // Build It Now
Write Your Script, Box By Box
Fill each box in order. Do not aim for perfect. We are getting a full draft down, then you sharpen it later.
The 11 beats, in order. Pink marks the proof and the call.
Every grey sample below comes from one coach, so you can see it build. The sample coach helps busy professionals get lean on a packed schedule. Use it as a guide, then write yours.
Your One Belief
The spine of the whole thing. The single belief you need your viewer to swap. Write it as one sentence: the old way is broken, here is the new way, and it runs through your mechanism.
Your turn
One sentence. Old belief out, new belief in.
Your Mechanism Name
From The I.P Unpacker. If you named it there, paste it straight in.
Your Headline
The first words on the page. Fewest words, clearest words. Name the dream and the thing they want to avoid, in one line. The "how to" frame works every time.
Your turn
How to [result they want] without [the thing they dread].
Hook
Open by questioning the belief and plant a curiosity loop. Say something that makes them need to keep watching, but do not give the answer yet.
- A bold statement, a sharp question, or a shocking stat
- Make it personal. Go easy on gimmicky openers.
Your turn
"Here's why [the common approach] is costing you [the result], and what to do instead."
Promise
Give them a reason to stay. Tell them what they get, who it's for, and frame it as a training, not a pitch.
Your turn
"If you're [who] and you want [dream result], this short training shows you how I [the result], without [the thing they dread]."
Rapid-Fire Proof
Stack three to five quick client wins, fast. Name, where they were, where they got to. This earns the right to everything that follows.
- One line each. First names are enough.
- Slip in the ones who almost didn't join because money or time felt tight. That handles two objections before they're raised.
Your turn
"[Name] went from [before] to [after]. [Name] got [result], even though [objection]. [Name] got [result]."
Your Story Meets Theirs
Earn trust by linking their problem to your story. Lead with your own transformation, or with client results if you are service based.
- Lead with your transformation, or client results if it fits better
- Authority jacking. Point to other creators running the same model as proof, even if you've never worked with them.
Your turn
"[X] time ago I was [low point], same place you might be now. Then I [the shift]. Now I [the result]."
The Enemy (It's Not Your Fault)
Make friends by making the bad advice the enemy. List what they've been told to do, say why it's wrong, then let them off the hook. Do not name a real person.
- The big list of what they're told to do
- Why it fails for someone like them
- Finish with: it's not your fault, it's hard because...
Your turn
"You've been told to [the standard advice]. That's built for [who it actually suits], not you. It's not your fault you've stalled, it's hard because [the real reason]."
The Real Pain
Make them feel the sting of where they are now, in their words. Use a metaphor for their current state and name the emotional cost.
- A metaphor: feast or famine, a hamster wheel, treading water, getting left behind
- Their exact language, then the "for years I tried..." structure
Your turn (steal this structure)
"Right now it feels like [metaphor]. For years I tried to [result] by [what everyone tries], which meant [the low point]. Everything changed when I [the shift], which let me [the benefits], which meant [I finally felt ___]."
The New Opportunity
Introduce the new way and build urgency. Sell the category here, not your program. Not "my 12-week plan", but "being lean for good". Anchor to a core human desire: look or feel better, better relationships, make more money, save more money, or stay legal. They all tie back to status.
Your turn
"[A stat or hard truth]. There's a better way: [the opportunity]. Ignore it and [the consequence]."
Your Model And The Proof
Walk through your model, the three pillars that get the result. Name it, then pin one real client story to each pillar so the model is proven, not just claimed. Keep it high level.
- The name, the result it gets, and the three pillars (your attract, convert, deliver, or your three levers)
- One case study attached to each pillar
Your turn
"It's called [name]. It gets you [result] through three things. One, [pillar] (proof: [client]). Two, [pillar] (proof: [client]). Three, [pillar] (proof: [client])."
The Open Loops
Stretch the gap. Fire off the questions floating in their head that they cannot answer, and you can. Make the list long and intentional, then land it on your program.
Your turn
"You're probably wondering: [Q]? [Q]? [Q]? That's exactly why I built [program]."
How It Works, And What If Nothing Changes
A high level glimpse of how you deliver, so they're pre-sold on the mechanics, then turn the screw with the cost of doing nothing.
- Three parts, kept short. Sell the vacation, not the plane flight.
- Add a "this is not for you if" filter to repel the wrong people
- Then the slap: where they end up if nothing changes, in their language
Your turn
"Three parts: [____], [____], [____]. This is for [who]. It's not for you if [who]. And if nothing changes, in [timeframe] you're still [stuck], still [pain]."
Book The Call
One action, book the call. Tell them what happens on it, make it safe, and give a real reason to do it now. This always ends in a booked call.
- What happens on the call: where they want to get to, what's stalling them, a clear plan
- Risk reversal: they leave with a plan whether or not you work together
- Real scarcity, not fake: limited slots around your coaching
- The explicit final action: pick a time below
Your turn
"Book a call via [the link]. On it we'll [what happens], and you'll leave with [a plan] whether or not we work together. I only take [number] a week around coaching, so [final action]."
Part 3 // Ship It
Now Film It
You have a full draft. Last thing: get it on camera.
Film It Simple
Read your script, or absorb it and talk to camera. Pick the style you'll actually finish: edited talking head, a screen-share over slides, an iPad walkthrough, or just you reading the doc on Loom. Done beats perfect, and you can sharpen it on version two.
Optional polish pass
Export your script with the bar below, then drop it into your own GPT or AI tool and ask it to tease out any thin section in your voice, one chunk at a time. You've got the bones, the tool just fills them out.
Now Put It Live
A script in a doc earns nothing. Once it's filmed, it goes everywhere your warm audience already is.
The send
"I've got a short video that walks you through [YOUR METHOD]. It'll show you exactly where you're stuck and how I fix it. Want me to ping it over?"
Remember
Warm to hot, never cold to hot.
Shift one belief.
Be the painkiller.
There are people out there with headaches. Work with you, and they enter a world where the headache does not even exist. That is the frame for the whole video, and it ends with one thing: book the call.