The Art of the Pivot: Going From Freelancer to Entrepreneur | with Nick Milo
The Zack Arnold Podcast
How Nick Turned a Hobby into a Product
Nick describes launching a free starter kit, running a Discord community, and converting early interest into paid cohorts in 2020–2021.
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Today's guest is Nick Milo, a long-time Optimizer OG who’s transitioned from the entertainment industry to the realm of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). Nick worked as an assistant editor on popular shows like Better Call Saul, Coyote, and Blindspot. But he’s since left the industry to focus on helping others organize their ideas and knowledge more effectively.
Through his educational site and YouTube channel, Linking Your Thinking, Nick shares the strategies he once used to piece together complex narratives in television. Now, he’s teaching those same techniques to people from all walks of life, helping them boost their creativity and produce more meaningful work.
In our conversation, Nick and I discuss what PKM is and how it can transform the way you approach your work. We explore the challenges of information overload in today's generation and discuss practical ways to manage it. Nick also sheds light on how his approach to knowledge management stands apart from Tiago Forte’s concept of building a second brain.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and ideas in your life, this episode is for you. Nick’s journey from Hollywood to helping others harness their creativity is also a testament to the power of diversification and the value of transferring skills across industries.
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Here's What You'll Learn:
- How Nick found Optimize Yourself and how he and Zack reconnected years after
- Why and how Nick transitioned from editing to becoming a personal knowledge management geek
- How Nick bridged the gap between ‘this is interesting’ and getting paid
- KEY TAKEAWAY: People don’t pay for solutions, people pay for results
- How Nick grew his email list
- What creativity is according to Nick
- KEY TAKEAWAY: Organization leads to ideation
- Better questions to ask if you have a collection of ideas
- How to better manage your knowledge and ideas
- KEY TAKEAWAY: We don't need more new knowledge every second, instead we need to get better at developing the knowledge that we already have.
- How to avoid adding more information and becoming overwhelmed
- How to overcome the limiting belief of ‘other people are already doing it’
- How to converge ideas to spark the ideation process
- The difference between PKM and Tiago Forte’s second brain
Useful Resources Mentioned:
Let’s Stop Talking About “Productivity” and Start Talking About Balance | with Mike Vardy
How to Master the Metaskill of ‘Ultralearning’ | with Scott Young
What Creativity Is, How It Works, and the Laws to Learning It | with Joey Cofone
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Find Your Creativity by Finding Your Why | with Dr. Mark Shrime
How to Live a Better Life Simply by Asking Better Questions | with Marc Champagne
Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’ | with Cal Newport
FOCUS: The Superpower of the 21st Century | with Cal Newport
The Zen-like Art of ‘Getting Things Done’ | with David Allen
Winning at The Ultimate Game of Life | with Jim Bunch
How to Become ‘Indistractable’ | with Nir Eyal
Guest Bio:
Nick Milo
Nick Milo has spent the last 15 years using digital notes to create and grow a fitness boxing into an international company, produce two independent feature films, and become a TV and film editor. Most importantly, as he shares in his website, his use of digital notes helps him calm his thoughts and make better sense of the world.
He has tested and stretched the limits of linked notes in the real world from the fitness industry to the film industry, the football field to civil engineering,
strength training to the boxing ring, public speaking to content creation and learned that being effective at managing knowledge is a superpower—and linking your thinking supercharges it.
Today, he teaches through his educational site, Linking Your Thinking, the frameworks to unlock your ability to work with ideas in a way that is fast, flexible, and future-proof.
Show Credits:
This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.
The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).
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