Nicolas Cole, one of the internet's most-read writers, shares insights on category creation, the importance of finding a unique niche, and the myth of views as the sole measure of success. They discuss transitioning from service-based to software-style businesses, the Ship 30 for 30 consistent writing challenge, and the progression from level three to level four thinking in content creation. They also explore competing on differentiation, the concept of demand creation, and strategies for category creation.
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Cole's Career Path
Nicolas Cole's career progression began as a teenage World of Warcraft player, then a bodybuilder, and now an entrepreneur and viral writer.
He built Digital Press, a ghostwriting business, and later founded Ship 30 for 30, Category Pirates, and Typeshare.
insights INSIGHT
Linear vs. Infinite Scaling
Service-based businesses, like ghostwriting, scale linearly, requiring more resources for each new client. This leads to high overhead and limits scalability.
Cole transitioned to education products and software tools for infinite scalability.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Challenges of Scalable Businesses
Building scalable businesses presents a different set of challenges. Create strong processes to protect your time and attention.
Avoid reverting to personalized service, which hinders scalability.
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“Writers without niches are starving artists. Because again, they’re just competing in these massive competitions. Writers with niches are category kings.” — Nicolas Cole
Nicolas Cole shares the lessons he’s learned as one of the internet’s most-read writers, including why he’s fascinated with reverse engineering written work—from James Patterson novels to Twitter threads—into templates writers can use, why all great writing changes the reader, why his superpower is his ability to endure boring things for longer than others, and so much more.
EPISODE GUIDE AND TRANSCRIPT
https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/140
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CHAPTERS
(00:00:00) - Introduction
(00:07:37) - Service Businesses, Linear vs Infinite Scaling, and Picking a Bag of Problems
(00:10:02) - Ship 30 for 30 and Finding Your Niche
(00:17:01) - The Origin Story of Category Pirates and Snow Leopard
(00:20:13) - Category Creation, Competition, and Being Different vs Better
(00:28:48) - Content-Free Content and Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious
(00:35:34) - The Content Pyramid: Levels One, Two, and Three
(00:49:44) - The Content Pyramid: Level Four (Making Non-Obvious Connections)
(00:55:32) - Debunking Common Myths About Writing and Category Creation
(01:04:10) - The Difference Between More Views and More Dollars
(01:11:37) - What is Category Creation?
(01:14:27) - How to Create a Category: Weird Problem + Weird Solution
ABOUT THE BOOK
Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create A Category Of One by Category Pirates (Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead, and Eddie Yoon) shares why all legendary writers who stand the test of time create a category of one. In decades past, David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, Leo Burnett, Gary Bencivenga, Al Ries & Jack Trout, and many more master communicators have all written about the psychology behind how messages spread. Snow Leopard builds on their work with dozens of new insights and frameworks, and brings category creation and design into the digital age.
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