Write Your Future
Write of Passage is a five-week, live online experience where you learn to unleash the full power of the Internet. You have access to thought leaders, mentors, an engaging writing curriculum, experts in content distribution, and more.
We promise three outcomes:
- Publish Quality Ideas
- Find Your People
- 2x Your Potential
Our next cohort begins Fall 2023.
Founder, Instructor
Hi, I’m David Perell
bEFore…
Five years ago, I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be leading an online writing school.
Believe it or not, traditional writing advice never clicked for me. I was a terrible student. I graduated high school with a 2.8 GPA and college with a 2.9, and my SAT scores weren’t any better. My first boss called me a bad writer and fired me. He wasn’t wrong. The traditional path wasn’t my path, and this was proof.
When I moved to New York City in 2017, I had no website, no newsletter, and was invisible on Twitter.
after…
I saw what was happening to other people who started writing online – they were growing their audience, so despite not knowing how to be a “great writer,” I was determined to start a consistent writing practice, which changed everything for me.
My writing improved. My confidence grew. Suddenly the brightest minds were reading my words, and people from around the world began reaching out to me. I became an opportunity magnet!
Now, I have an audience of over 300,000 people. I have the opportunity to explore my ideas to my heart’s content. And it hasn’t just worked for me. I’ve successfully taught thousands of people how to change their trajectories by writing online—just like I did.
Make Your Writing Uniquely Yours
The Internet has been flooded with bland writing. Content farms, tips-n-tricks, SEO clicks. The incoming wave of auto-generated articles will only add to the glut. To have impact writing online, you must write something only you can write.
David Perell has attracted nearly half-a-million readers with writing that bursts with personality and sizzles with insight. As a student in Write of Passage, you’ll learn to:
- Identify what makes your voice unique
- Infuse your personality into your writing
- And mix playfulness with keen insights.
Introducing, Write Of Passage
An Online Writing Course
Where You Learn to…
Publish Quality Ideas
Thoughts like, “I’m not a writer…” will disappear when you have a proven system for collecting, writing, and publishing consistently—and every aspect of your life is better for it. Your best ideas will reach people all over the world.
Find Your People
You’ll make friends who share interests, join conversations with your idols (heck, you’ll even become someone’s), and build an audience that trusts you. You will belong to a community of like-minded people that is exceptional.
2x Your Potential
You’ll be off the sidelines and in the action. You’ll be a creator, not just a consumer, and you’ll become a magnet for opportunities. You’ll be blown away by your potential and live on your terms writing about your passions.
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
Who Is Write of Passage For?
It’s for smart people tired of waiting for the traditional path to reward them. It’s for people who trust the better you write, the better you think. Whether you’re a photographer, investment banker, or stay-at-home parent, there’s no situation in which writing won’t make a difference in your life—not one.
Write of Passage IS for You If:
- You want more out of life and you are committed to getting it.
- You want to build a brand around your personality, skills, experience, and strengths.
- You seek freedom in time, money, and creative expression.
- You’re tired of consuming other people’s content without creating your own.
- You want to grow your circle of influence—meet friends, connect with experts, and build an audience who trusts you.
- You know that improving your writing improves your ideas, thinking, and how you communicate and, therefore, your life.
Write of Passage is NOT for You If:
- You’re looking for precise pre-written essay formulas and one-size-fits-all tips & tricks.
- You’re hoping for shortcuts and cheap tricks that don’t take time.
- You prefer to learn in isolation over group connection. Write of Passage is a social experience.
- You’re tied to traditional academic styles or old-school thinking, measuring success in degrees, certifications, and corporate titles. Write of Passage drives unconventional success.
- You’re internet averse—someone who doesn’t believe you can truly learn and connect virtually. The course is entirely online.
SEize Opportunity
Change your trajectory with the right curriculum
Write of Passage teaches a curriculum specifically designed for writing online. This isn’t memoir writing or an Oxford education—it’s a writing experience dedicated to building an audience online and growing it exponentially.
You’ll learn to write from abundance, from conversation, and in public, using digital tools like—Evernote, Google Docs, and Otter—to convey your best thinking and attract great people.
Join thousands of writers and Write of Passage students worldwide who are turning their writing into revenue and opportunities.
COURSE pillars
Write of Passage Teaches You
Writing from Abundance
Learn to build a bank of inspiring ideas while you’re away from the computer and before you sit down to write. Writing from Abundance is the art of collecting ideas in your daily life, so you never stare at a blank page again. Taking the fear out of what to write is half the battle for most successful writers.
Writing from Conversation
Learn to use conversation to identify great ideas, tweak their delivery, and confess your true thinking on a subject. Writing from Conversation is the art of using dialogue to identify good ideas and double down on the best ones. You’ll be surprised who says, “I feel that way too!”
Writing in Public
Learn to overcome the feeling of invisibility and finally hit publish. Writing in Public is the art of broadcasting your ideas online so you become a beacon for people, opportunities, and Internet serendipity. You will attract peers and new conversations that lead to recognition and revenue.
Course Philosophy
Writing Education Like You’ve Never Experienced
Write of Passage is NOT school. It’s a high-energy, global community where your enjoyment is valued and your growth is prioritized.
We encourage you to be you. To draw from the artists and thinkers across history who inspire you. To bring forward your obsessions. Share what moves you and your audience.
This is unlike any education you’ve known.
Enjoy Learning in A High-Energy Environment
Writing is social. The course’s group learning structure will unleash your inspiration like a firehose. Write of Passage is not pre-recorded learning in isolation. If you’ve been trying to write alone and it’s not working, Write of Passage is the cure!
Attend Exhilarating Live Sessions With Hundreds Of Students
Taught by David Perell, these air-tight, highly exhilarating live sessions are held twice a week. They’re 90-minute live experiences that combine presentations, discussions, exercises, and breakout rooms in an inspiring setting, surrounded by community.
Join Top-Tier Alumni Mentors For Expert Deep Dives
Deep Dives are run by Guides — Write of Passage alumni who are experts in their fields. Looking to master distribution? Develop your unique voice? Build a note-taking system that you’ll actually use? Attend as many of these engaging mini-courses as you’d like.
Break a Mental Sweat in Weekly Writing Gyms
We will hold daily “gyms” across various time zones to help you make progress on your assignments. You will generate ideas from conversation (Sparring Gyms), draft in deep-work sessions (Writing Gyms), and get live feedback from peers (Feedback Gyms).
Get Extra Support from a Small, Dedicated Peer Group
You will join a group of 15–20 peers who share your interests and writing goals. A Mentor will lead your Peer Group through short, focused sessions designed to keep you accountable to your weekly writing goals, while building close relationships.
Receive Quality Feedback on Every Piece
Every student, every essay, receives quality feedback from a trained editor. We know you’ve always wanted to write and hear people say, “Wow, that was incredible!” Who doesn’t? Feedback is our course’s secret weapon. Without a doubt, your writing will improve considerably, and you’ll deepen your friendships along the way.
What You’ll Have
After Five Weeks
At the end of five weeks, you’ll have a collection of essays published on your personal website, which will become a serendipity-magnet that attracts opportunities while you sleep.
You’ll continue writing long after the course is over, publishing quality ideas, broadening your reach through your newsletter, and building a community.
Website
Your Online Home
You’ll create a website in your first week, and we’ll be there to help with step-by-step instructions. We call it your serendipity vehicle. This is your very own spot on the Internet where you’ll show up as you, express yourself, post articles, and attract interesting people (long after the course has ended).
Five Articles
A Collection of Your Best Writing
Go from zero to published, five times over. Each week, you’ll get a thought-provoking prompt so you can go from idea to published in seven days.
Audience
A Following Who Trusts You
As you write, your Personal Monopoly will emerge. Write long enough, and you’ll become the expert on your area of interest. In time, this is how you build an audience who trusts you, and growth begins with your first article.
Email Distribution
A way to grow and share with your audience
You’ll build a system to easily collect email subscribers and seamlessly share your writing with them. Imagine every time you publish something, it arrives in the inbox of hundreds of people, triggering conversation, collaborations, and opportunities.
Info-Capture
A system to organize your thoughts.
You’ll learn how to find, save, organize, and retrieve high-quality information within your digital note-taking system. Your daily life is rich with ideas. Capture and refine them, then write from abundance.
Community
A Tribe of Collaborators
Writing online leads to more friends. Deep, meaningful friendships with like-minded folks who double as friends and accountability partners, helping you go from idea to polished piece—with pleasure.
THE SECRET
Writing is Social
- Gone are the days of sitting alone in a cabin, struggling to pen your finest body of work—no offense, Hemingway.
- Writing in the Internet Age is collaborative. Through Write of Passage, you’ll make life-long friends, reach the experts, and build an audience.
- If you’ve tried writing alone and it’s not working, this is the cure—a community of writers at your back, by your side, propping you up.
- Belonging to Write of Passage changes everything about how you see yourself. No longer in isolation, you’re now intellectually stimulated in ways you never dreamed were possible.
Weekly Schedule
Make a Schedule That Works For You
Whether you’re devoting yourself entirely to learning or juggling many responsibilities at once, we guarantee the course is worth your time. We’ve built the program so you can join as little as two live sessions per week or as much as a full-time accelerator program.
The Core Program Schedule:
- Live sessions every Monday and Wednesday from 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET. (Recorded, if you miss them.)
- Article prompts are given each Wednesday.
- You write on your time.
- Submit your draft for feedback on Monday.
- Edit and publish on Wednesday.
- Repeat five times.
- If you get stuck, we have tons of support to get you over the hump—mentors, trained editors, peers, community events, etc.
Additional Support For When You Want It:
Deep Dives and Peer Groups:
- Join one-hour Deep Dive sessions on topics like Personal Monopoly and Distribution, led by expert alumni — Monday-Sunday. Come to as many as you’d like.
- Be part of an intimate Peer Group and meet with the same students week after week. Get to know each other and support one another throughout the journey.
Writing Gyms:
Need more accountability? Join our silent writing room. Writing together, even silently, is incredibly motivating.
Sparring Gyms:
Test and shape your ideas through the power of conversation. Within an hour, you’ll go from an ethereal sense of an idea you might want to write about to a clear statement and an outline.
Feedback Gyms:
Everything you write will be reviewed by a trained editor. For even more input, join our live Feedback Gyms for 1:1 writing feedback.
real STUDENTS
Three Successful Students,
Three Schedules
We’ve built the program to be as simple as two live sessions a week or as expansive as a full-time
accelerator program. You pick your level of engagement. We provide the system and support.
Charlie Becker did Write of Passage while taking care of a newborn and returning to his full-time job as a professor.
“At the time of the course, I was caring for my newborn daughter and returning from paternal leave to my job as a Professor. I joined three mentor sessions each week. I got up earlier and used my lunch breaks for coursework. It wasn’t easy, but it was very doable temporarily.”
Joojo Ocran mentored Write of Passage while juggling a new job and moving to a new country.
“Viewing Write of Passage as a five-week sprint helped me embrace the intensity. I looked at the firehose of information as a buffet, which helped me curate an experience I could fully engage in without feeling like I was missing out elsewhere.”
Mujidat Oladeinde did Write of Passage while studying for an engineering course and working part-time as a content writer.
“I found ways to schedule my time so I wouldn’t miss out. Since the live sessions were at 12 am for me, I made sure to nap so I’d be well rested. It was only for five weeks. I reasoned, could I sleep once it was over.”
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Benefits of Writing Online
Overcome Obstacles To Publishing
You might be asking, “Who am I to put my thoughts into the world?” We want to know, “Who aren’t you?!” Even the smartest, most successful, and hardest working people often succumb to the challenges of writing online. We help students break through the barriers and start publishing compelling and consistent pieces—in a supportive community.
Perform At Your Prime
Watching others get closer to theirs can hold you back when you’re not moving toward your dreams. We give you an energetic jumpstart towards your goals so you can move off the sidelines and prove to yourself that with intentional effort—it’s not too late to make life-changing moves.
Bust Creative Blocks
There’s something inside you pleading for expression. You have an impulse to create, but what? And how? A flow state sounds incredible, yet impossible. If you’ve been trying to create in isolation and it’s not working, we have the cure!
Build Your Intellectual Legacy
No matter your job, hobbies, or passions, you’ll own intellectual property you can take wherever you go. Your very own body of work that reaches people worldwide while you sleep.
Communicate Clearly and Confidently
Good writers are better off. Period. This makes writing one of the most valuable skills in the world. The more clear and confident you are in your writing, the more so you are in life—the two are inextricably linked. Master language, master your mind.
Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Imposter syndrome (or its evil twin perfectionism) will stop you before you start. You can’t bear to put your ideas into the world for fear you’re unqualified. Or worse, fear that the perfect idea will come to you if you wait long enough. We show you exactly what you need to truly write with clarity and confidence.
Connect With Peers Who Challenge You
You’re intellectually and emotionally starving for like-minded people to share your ideas with, but your current circle leaves you wanting more. We have the answer—hundreds of whip-smart, curious folks at your back, encouraging you to succeed.
Go From Consumer To Creator
You won’t find freedom in building someone else’s dream. We help you move through imposter syndrome, and get off the sidelines so that you can find, curate, and publish compelling ideas consistently.
Re-Connect With Your Dreams
You’re living with unmet desires. What are they? What happens when you let them surface and go towards them, not away from them? Writing helps unearth hidden dreams and break through limiting beliefs so you can finally acknowledge you crave freedom, meaning, and influence.
Earn Recognition For Your Ideas
The more you write, the better you think. As your ideas sharpen and you continue sharing in public, you become known as the very best thinker in your unique area of interest. Over time, you attract like-minded people. Then, one day, you’re the expert!
FAQ
What is this course about?
This course will help you accelerate your career by writing online. We give you the tools to create and distribute your ideas to people in your professional network, so you can create personal and professional opportunities for yourself.
By the end of the course, you will have a robust note-taking system, a proven system for writing, and a series of published articles featuring your quality ideas. Armed with those assets, you’ll learn how to use the Internet to connect with people who can change the trajectory of your life. You’ll transform from a passive consumer to an active creator.
Why should I take this course now?
Now is the perfect time to start writing. The number of people consuming information online is rising much faster than the number of people creating it at a high-level. You are not too late. The tools to organize, publish, and distribute knowledge have improved dramatically in just the past five years. You no longer need to be an expert to create your own website or start an email newsletter. But it still requires some strategy, accountability, and support to go through all the steps needed to set up these platforms and link them together. In the future, we will look back at this moment and marvel at all the people who took advantage of this explosion of online publishing, and started now. This course is like a virtual writing group that not only keeps you on track with your writing, but also everything else you need to get it out into the world.
Are there any prerequisites for this course?
This course does not have any formal prerequisites. With that said, you will have the best results in the course if you can devote the time and energy needed to develop your writing skills and share your knowledge with the world. Above all, this course is about taking action. The lessons and exercises provide a step-by-step roadmap to producing and distributing your ideas. The more aligned you are with that goal, the better.
What if I can’t make a live session?
Don’t worry. Write of Passage is more like a festival than a concert. Yes, there is the main act, but there’s a whole lineup of sessions, experiences, and opportunities for you to enjoy during the five weeks.
Each cohort has dozens of students who watch the Live Sessions’ recordings separately — either because of time-zone differences or other constraints — and get a ton of value out of the course.
Here’s how that works:
- All session recordings are available to watch the following day. Those will include a short recap of the session, highlights of the session, top chat comments, notable moments, and a screenshot — giving those who can’t attend a sense of how the session felt.
- New to this cohort are Watch Parties. Watch Parties will take place the morning after each Live Session, where we’ll re-watch the recording of the session the night before and go through the writing and breakout exercises as a group — live on the call. This way, if you miss the main Live Session, you will still be able to benefit from live engagement and interaction with the community, and you won’t have to watch the recordings by yourself (unless you want to!). We expect our international students in particular will love this new addition to the course!
- Deep Dive sessions and Gyms are mostly scheduled in European-friendly time zones to make up for the Live Sessions. You can join as many Deep Dive sessions as you’d like, which are highly interactive and have breakout exercises and group discussions.
On top of that, we’ll have daily Gyms at convenient times for international students.
When are the main live sessions?
The course has twelve 90-minute Live Sessions over the five weeks. These take place on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7 pm to 8:30 pm EST. We highly encourage all students to attend the first Live Session, even if it means staying up late or waking up early. It’s energizing to see the entire student body together as a group as we start the course. But if that time is inconvenient, recordings of all Live Sessions will be available the following day.
What if I can’t make the live sessions?
Write of Passage is designed to work with your schedule. We strongly encourage you to attend the live kickoff call on Wednesday, October 5th at 7pm EST. We also encourage you to attend the other live calls, but it’s not a problem if you can’t. The main thing you’ll miss are the “breakout rooms,” where students give writing feedback in small Zoom groups. Otherwise, you’re able to watch the session recordings and participate in discussions and feedback on the forum. Some of our strongest students in past cohorts have missed the live calls, including those from the UK, Hungary, Nigeria, Poland, and Ukraine.
We also offer bonus live sessions on the weekends. We’ve expanded our offering to include calls on Saturday and Sunday:
- Saturdays at 12:00pm EST, 5:00pm GMT we have live writing workshops (“Crossfit for Writing”). You’ll gather on Zoom to write the weekly assignment in a rapid-fire series of steps over two intense hours. You’ll also receive feedback from classmates as you go. It’s a lot of fun!
- Throughout the week, at various times, you can join as many or as few one-hour mentor sessions as you’d like. Led by our stand-out alumni, we have 13 mentors for you to choose from. Across time zones, personality types, and writing interests, there’s an abundance of options. We recommend at least one, why not two, if you can swing it, and some even go for three, four, and five groups.
What are mentors and what are the mentor groups for?
Each week you’ll meet with your mentor for Q&A, group discussion, and exercises. These groups will help you implement the Write of Passage method and overcome roadblocks with someone who’s been there before.
We offer mentor groups to help you find your people. Mentor Groups offer a small-group environment where you’ll get to meet others personally. You’ll have honest conversations about what’s exciting, where you’re struggling in the writing process and your areas for growth. You get to choose which mentor group you’d like to join based on time zones and shared interests.
How much time will I spend on the course each week?
At least 7-10 hours per week, for the 5 weeks of the course. This course is a sprint, and you’ll be asked to write and publish more than you ever have before. The live sessions will be 90 minutes long. They’ll take place on Monday and Wednesday evenings (ET). We also offer bonus writing workshops on Saturdays, and mentor-led Mentor Groups throughout the week. This course was created for ambitious and intellectually curious people, who have the discipline it takes to write online. The workload is intense, but you don’t need to take time off work to participate. The program is designed to slot into your current life and schedule. With that said, you’ll need to block off time each week for focused writing, collaboration, and individual course work. Growing up, your best teachers always pushed you harder than you would have pushed yourself. That’s what will happen in Write of Passage. Most online courses don’t lead to results because they ask for too little from their students. But as you know, quick hacks and cheap tricks are ineffective. They don’t stand the test of time. This course is the opposite. There are no secrets or shortcuts. Instead, the course offers a proven roadmap for publishing and distributing ideas. Discipline, consistency, and persistence is the key to success in the course.
What are Deep Dives and Peer Groups?
Deep Dives are run by Guides — Write of Passage alums who are experts in their fields. Each Deep Dive track centers around a specific topic area, like Personal Monopoly, POP Writing, and distribution.
Peer Groups are led by Mentors, and are designed to help you work through writing blocks and build relationships. At the start of the Cohort, you will be assigned a Peer Group and will meet with the same small group week after week.
What’s included in tuition?
This course takes place online, so no travel is required. With your tuition, you’ll have lifetime access to all the pre-recorded video lectures, recordings of the live cohort sessions, prompts for the writing deliverables, and a private online forum where you’ll interact with your course mates. You’ll retain access to the course materials and forum indefinitely after the course ends.
I’m not an entrepreneur, freelancer, or senior level in my career — is this course right for me?
Absolutely. While the majority of Write of Passage students are at an advanced stage of their career, the walls that separated career categories are breaking down. Career paths are changing. Whether you plan to start your own business or not, writing on the Internet will give you magnificent leverage in your career. It will create serendipity, such as attracting new friends and professional opportunities you wouldn’t find otherwise. If you have ambitious plans for your future, this course is for you.
I run my own business, I’m a senior executive, or I’m already creating content – is this course right for me?
Perfect! We created the Premium Edition of this course (called “Accelewrite”) for people like you. It’s the fastest way to implement the techniques of publishing online. With bonus guest interviews and business-oriented advanced tutorials, and lifetime access to future cohorts, Premium Edition will help you reach your professional goals faster.
What’s the full difference between Essential Edition and Premium Edition (Accelewrite)?
Premium Edition and Essential Edition students both receive:
- 7-module curriculum
- Guided writing deliverables
- Actionable templates
- Five-week live cohort
- Access to student-only online forum
All students will always have access to the course materials (video modules, session recordings, course forum, templates), indefinitely after the live sessions conclude.
Premium Edition students receive the following additional benefits:
- Lifetime access to all future Write of Passage live cohorts
- Exclusive guest interviews (ex: James Clear)
- Advanced Tutorials (ex: How to Use Twitter)
- Future updates to course content
How much access do I get to David?
I can’t promise that I’ll reply to every single message, but I will be active during the live sessions. I’ll answer questions, provide feedback, and share my private notes to address common pain points.
Which industries are the course geared toward?
Right now, only a handful of industries have fully migrated online. The more an industry touches the Internet, the more public the writers from that industry tend to be. On the digitally savvy side of the spectrum, there are industries like venture capital where many of the top investors have built their reputations by writing online, which attracts a steady stream of investment opportunities. In the middle, there are industries like financial planning, where financial advisors attract clients with personal blogs and email newsletter.Then, there are industries that are late to the Internet, such as energy, healthcare, and real estate. People are starving for quality information about these industries. The frontier is wide open for pioneers like you to settle the land and build an audience with little competition. We’re still in the early innings of the Internet migration, so now is the time to start writing.
Can’t I find all the content online for free?
The Internet is littered with excellent advice about writing, editing, and audience building. In fact, you can find much of it on my website for free. I encourage you to check it out. With that said, the majority of what you find online is superficial. It’s written by content marketers who are paid for mass appeal and quantity, not quality. Many of them are paid by the word, which means they have an incentive to rant and ramble. Even if they give you the “right answer,” it’s not worth very much without the structure and support needed to implement what you learn. Rather than spending years of your precious life searching for and reading those articles, you will find the best information distilled here into a coherent and actionable framework. Better yet, you’ll have a global community of writers who can support you emotionally and intellectually. By the end of the course, you will have a proven system for cultivating ideas, publishing articles, and sharing them with the people who matter most to you.
What’s your refund policy?
This investment is 100% risk-free. If you watch the video lessons, complete the deliverables, and still don’t find the course valuable, we’ll happily refund your full payment within 30 days of the start of the course.
What if I can’t afford the course?
We want to make Write of Passage accessible for qualified students of different ages, backgrounds, and life situations. We offer discounted enrollment for a set number of scholarship recipients in each cohort.
Is Write of Passage the same every time?
Nope! We are constantly evolving the cohort based on feedback, things we learn and experience, and team member input.
Check out the evolution of Write of Passage Cohorts in our version notes.
The Best Choice For You
Feel Confident In Your Decision
Peace of Mind
Money-back Guarantee
We want this investment to be 100% risk-free. If you watch the video lessons, complete the deliverables, and still don’t find the course valuable, we’ll happily refund your full payment within 30 days of the start of the course.
Real Experiences
Reach Out To Our Alumni
We want you to have the resources to decide if Write of Passage is the right fit. Feel free to check out our student portfolio page, search online for other reviews, sleuth through Reddit forums, or search Twitter. We have nothing to hide and you have everything to gain from hearing first-hand how this course changes lives.
Ask Us
Get an Honest Opinion
The success of our course and our business depends on having students enrolled that will succeed. We have an “honest opinion” policy where we will only recommend students join we think will be a great fit. Speak to an alumni and hear directly from our students about the cohort experience. Email us anytime for more information.
What are you waiting for?
There’s No Better
Time to Start
The Internet is still young, and thousands of people are waiting to hear from you. If you start now, where will you be six months from now? What about six years?
How often do we kick ourselves thinking, “If I had just started before this niche blew up. ”Whenever you think you’re late to a new technological trend, remember Walt Disney thought he was late to animation in 1923. Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape thought he was too late in 1994.
The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time to start is now.
Enrollment Window is Now Closed
Our next cohort will be in Fall 2023.