Sign in Subscribe

How I Turned 10 Years of Notes Into a $10K+/Month Training Academy (2,500+ Hour Breakdown)

Hassan K. Khan B.Eng., PMP

• 4 min read
How I Turned 10 Years of Notes Into a $10K+/Month Training Academy (2,500+ Hour Breakdown)

Why Listen to Someone Who Just Figured It Out the Hard Way

Creating a training program is a long, messy process. The obstacles are still raw and fresh when you hear it from someone who just stumbled through it.

My name is Hassan Hammer. I’m an aerospace engineer turned project-management consultant. I run deadlyconsultant.com, its associated job board, and a training academy that teaches AI-proof data and fintech project-management consultants how to land $10K+/month contracts.

I have over 10 years in the industry, multiple professional certifications, and I productized that knowledge into a full academy.

Today I’m walking you through exactly how I did it - step by step, mistakes and all.

Phase 1: Ideation - Gather Every Idea You’ve Ever Had

Start by collecting every stray thought you’ve ever had about your topic.

  • Keep a journal (I’ve used the same system for 10+ years).
  • Mark ideas with a simple symbol (I use a little flame icon).
  • If you haven’t been doing this, start today. Old to-do lists are gold - flip through them on a walk and new ideas will surface.

Pro tip: Write by hand. Research shows it activates more of your brain than typing.

Track Your Time Ruthlessly - The Focus Log

You will underestimate how long this takes. Track focused hours daily.

I built a simple “Focus Log” in Excel:

  • Columns = weeks (Sun–Sat repeated).
  • Enter daily focused hours (center-justified).
  • Conditional formatting (my rule: ≥11 hours = green).
  • Key metric: running total of the last 7 days (prevents the “this week is already ruined” excuse).

Download focus log, here.

Be vigilant: the moment an idea appears, capture it. Ideas are clouds - miss them and they’re gone.

I went extreme: 3+ months of winter solitude on the Cabot Trail (East Coast Canada), 10,000 km of scenic driving, zero distractions.

You don’t need to go that far, but create conditions for serendipity:

  • Read your old notes for 2 hours.
  • Drive/walk/explore to let your hindbrain process.
  • Repeat.

Location can infuse magic into your product (Enzo Ferrari built his empire in Modena for this reason).

From Idea Dump to Master Course Outline

  1. Dump everything into a giant “Master Excel” (columns: Date, Category, Idea).
  2. Read the full list 2–3 times → categories will leap out.
  3. Create a second sheet: “Master Course Outline.” Transfer only what excites you.
  4. Read that sheet again → ruthlessly cut more.
  5. Turn the tight outline into a visual roadmap in Lucid.app.

You are sculpting. Chip away everything that isn’t your masterpiece.

Professional Project Management - Gantt + Jira

  • Gantt chart = bird’s-eye view (Excel calendar with milestones and duration blocks).
  • Jira board = daily task management (free for <10 users).

Jira is a collection of to-do lists. Use lanes (To Do → Doing → Done), tickets with sub-checklists, epics as containers for to-do lists, and a backlog (essentially a staging area, for the containers, of yes you guessed it, off your to-do lists). Jira is an excellent to-do list management platform - if you look at it from that lens.

Big lesson: spin up Jira on day one. Normal to-do lists explode out of control.

Hiring Virtual Assistants ($4–5/hr from the Philippines)

Hire 1 - 2 part-time VAs early (task-by-task, not full-time).

  • Post clear job descriptions.
  • Interview fast (15-minute call as soon as they send a resume).
  • Start with small tickets, desktop-share training via OBS Studio.
  • Pay via Wise, ticket-by-ticket.

I interviewed ~10 and rotated a few out before landing reliable talent. The Philippines has produced some of the best English-speaking, pleasant-to-work-with VAs I’ve found.

Working with Your Team – Advanced Jira Habits

  • Every task, no matter how small, lives on the board.
  • Export RSS/XML weekly → feed to AI (I use Grok) → ask it to adopt a Scrum Master persona and prioritize your backlog.
  • Document everything in Confluence (built into Jira) for future training.

Execution Habits: Stay Razor-Sharp

  • Strength training every other day.
  • 15-minute HIIT (stair sprints) on off days.
  • 10-second ice-cold shower finish.
  • Brown noise + constant-tempo track (my go-to: “Faxing Berlin” by Deadmau5) → gym-grind AI music when needed → one emotional “hit-you-in-the-gut” song on repeat (mine: Pink Floyd – Time).

Task-switching kills momentum. Aim for 12–16 hour focused days, 6 days/week. Treat this as a season of your life.

Gear & Filming Setup (Keep It Simple)

  • Old DSLR on tripod + large soft light (Amaran-style) at 45° 2-feet away with "light box".
  • Free OBS Studio for screen capture and training videos.
  • Descript for editing (point-and-click works well; avoid the buggy AI features). This software can be maddening to use.
  • NanoPrompter app + Glide Gear teleprompter rig.
  • Dark background + small accessory lights.

Outsource editing to VAs once trained.

Training Portal - Why I Chose Skool.com

Sign up as late as possible (I paid $100/month for 6 months while barely uploading). Build everything in folders first, then migrate when ready.

Advertising & Offers – Study These Two Books

  1. $100M Offers – Alex Hormozi
  2. Sell Like Crazy – Sabri Suby

Key takeaways:

  • Avoid commodities - differentiate or die.
  • Choose a growing or neutral market.
  • Features → Benefits table with real monetary value.
  • Layer bonuses + strong guarantees (I use double: outcome + satisfaction).

Motivation, Burnout & Final Truth

Push to failure. Track resting heart rate (deep sleep) via Oura or similar. When it spikes 20+ bpm above baseline → forced recovery.

Pain is your compass. If you’re breathing heavy at the keyboard, you’re on the right path.

Turn the overthinking brain off. Enter Ultra Instinct: plan in the morning, then execute on pure instinct like a pro gamer, no thoughts, typing/clicking away max speed on instinct. Fight the urge to constantly plan. Read your planning notes a few time in the morning, then attack for big chunks of hours ( 8hrs in one go if you do it right with exercise and cold shower)

If you’re a coder, tactical PM, or business analyst facing AI displacement, the blog and job board are free. The accelerator program exists for those who want to move faster.

Good luck.

Hassan Hammer
deadlyconsultant.com