Michael Korman

I thought this was just a collection of mini-essays. Now, a structure is starting to emerge.

Back to the kitchen.

12 hours ago | [YT] | 16

Michael Korman

We’re not the same. I’m building the temple—you’re sitting in the comments watching me build the temple.

This would be 500 times easier if you hadn’t abandoned the temple while you were building it. Now I’ve inherited a pile of half-assed rubble and it’s up to me alone to make it sparkle.

Don’t wait for me to find the right trajectory—it may never arrive.

I can only hope those who follow in my footsteps have it easier.

1 day ago | [YT] | 9

Michael Korman

“See?” says the apprentice. “I knew it would get ugly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” says the priest.

“How can I not worry? They’re literally twisting your words against you.”

“Because this matters.”

1 day ago | [YT] | 7

Michael Korman

“Making progress?” Are you kidding me?

I’ve been permanently banned from Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.

My most valued colleagues do not return my messages.

Years of work, gone.

Google my name and read about mental illness and predatory behavior.

Instead of engaging in the work, my most ardent followers are telling me stories about bread pudding and offering reassurance.

That’s what you call “progress”? Does that sound like money to you? Does that sound like influence? Does that sound like this is *working*?

No. I reject your premise. If you want to stay in the kitchen, raise your expectations.

The Quarto project is unfinished.

I’m going back to work.

1 day ago | [YT] | 13

Michael Korman

The heckler sees only what he wants to see.

“What good fortune!” he says. “A whole YouTube channel made just for me.”

He doesn’t see the videos from the master’s degree recitals.

He doesn’t see the 60-Second Insta Meditations—the series on social media as a mindfulness practice.

He doesn’t see the livestreams where I demonstrated the benefits of making mistakes in your gaming.

He doesn’t see the Instagram classes that were reposted on YouTube.

He doesn’t see the Alan Watts excerpts that were converted from Buddhism to piano.

He doesn’t see the drawing lessons.

He certainly doesn’t see anything that requires the slightest bit of digging—the parables and lore, the hand coordination exercises, the Discord server, the Temple Cursive font, the musical archive recordings, the album.

He’s a heckler—conditioned by the Internet to prefer a moment of being despised over a lifetime of being ignored.

The priest rolls his eyes. He goes back to building.

The Latent Leads are too distracted for this mess of a construction site to command their attention.

1 day ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

Michael Korman

My deal? I guess it’s that I think performative marketing is bullshit. If you don’t have something real to say, you have no business saying anything at all.

Also, if you *have* something real to say, you have no business keeping your mouth shut.

Also, my deal is that you have to be smart about it—don’t just shout into the wasteland. Build something. Let gravity do the work.

Say no to status games.

Train.

Turn Noise into Signal.

Make stuff for the Latent Leads, not the Spectators.

That’s my deal.

2 days ago | [YT] | 11

Michael Korman

How can I stop the priest thing? It was always here.

Since I posted my first 300 Random Talking Videos on Instagram in 2020, the priest thing was here.

Since I did the meditation Zoom classes at the beginning of the pandemic, the priest thing was here.

Since I made the No Problem meditation course and hand-lettered certificates of completion—and stamped them with a freaking wax seal—the priest thing was here.

Since I recorded my first podcast episode with my MXL 990 mic—and went on to have conversations about yoga, awakening, marketing, the Bach Toccata & Fugue, and acting—the priest thing was here.

Since I banged out my first ebook at Starbucks and saw the PayPal notifications roll in after sending a single email, the priest thing was here.

Since painstakingly reserve-engineering a formula for getting millions of views on short piano videos, the priest thing was here.

Since reaching out to individual solopreneurs—after spending hours in solitary meditation—and forging real working relationships, the priest thing was here.

It was here before any of those.

It was here before you knew me.

It was here before you ever heard me say the word “temple”.

This far into the game, the only way out is through.

Let’s go.

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2 days ago | [YT] | 1

Michael Korman

No, the problem is that you’ve chosen to make a hobby out of heckling some random guy on the Internet.

I don’t care how many business classes you’ve taken. I’m not a business professor. I’m just a random guy.

By your own admission, you don’t have the faintest clue what I’m talking about or what I’m doing. Normally, that would cause someone to shrug and keep scrolling. Yet, you persist.

I don’t know why you’ve chosen to be a heckler, and I’m too obsessed with my own stuff to care.

But if you’re getting something out of it, cool—it’s benefiting me too. As long as you keep coming at me, I’m going to keep making lemonade out of lemons. That’s what master chefs do.

Alright, break’s over.

Back to the kitchen.

2 days ago | [YT] | 9

Michael Korman

“I’m confused about something,” says the apprentice.

“What’s up?” says the priest.

“Earlier, you told me my friend doesn’t do weird business stuff because he’s normal. What did you mean by that?”

“Well, what does he sell?”

“Mangos.”

“There you go.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Where did he learn to sell mangos?”

“His family.”

“Exactly.”

The apprentice thinks for a moment.

“So…”

“So what?”

“So why don’t we sell mangos?”

“Because my family didn’t have a mango farm.”

“But they had a temple?”

The priest thinks for a moment.

“No,” he says. “The temple came from somewhere else.”

3 days ago | [YT] | 12

Michael Korman

Don’t underestimate the power you have if you’ve built something with gravity.

My stuff isn’t good enough yet to reach the Latent Leads organically—without my direct intervention. They’re too busy working on their own businesses for these posts to penetrate.

Likely, a few have taken an interest and are currently experimenting with these ideas on their own. To keep things clean, though, I’m operating under the assumption that this is not happening. It’s a form of intellectual honesty.

But look what *is* happening.

We’re got people who have no prior interest in business or marketing or copywriting who are actually reading these posts—thousands of words on the topic.

Several are even scrambling on top of each other to get their hands on the mic.

They’re not Latent Leads—not yet, anyway. Ten years from now, who knows?

In the meantime, the temple grows in strength.

And soon, thunder will roll.

3 days ago | [YT] | 3