Steph Smith

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Mediocre goals = goals that you already know the result of

Mediocre goals = goals that you can’t impact

Mediocre goals = goals adopted from someone else

Mediocre goals = goals that don’t inspire action

Mediocre goals = goals w/o a clear definition of success

Anxiety to complete a task does not come from the magnitude of work at hand.

It comes from the lack of clarity in how you'll get there. The less sure you are, the greater the anxiety.

That's why the minute you start taking action, anxiety drops off a cliff.

Just get started.

Information is the new “oil” that you can create, refine, and trade… bringing us full swing into the attention economy.

People misinterpret saturation: it is not the sheer number of people in a space that matters, but the likelihood that you can out-innovate what already exists.

On the contrary, even if a space has only 5 competitors, if you have no real differentiator, you’re playing a losing game.

Many things in the world can be modelled by the diffusion of innovation curve, which “seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread”.

ask the following questions: 
What space can I be an innovator in? (the new, should it be relevant), or 
How can I disrupt an existing space, such that I am starting a new curve? (the old, should it be even just 1% better)

In other words, can I either identify a new problem or be better at solving an existing one?

(In JTBD, what Job can I complete in a new or better way?)

“There’s always room for high-quality thoughts/opinions.”

It’s a long and arduous journey that you should only embark on if you’re willing to have a long-term approach and more importantly if you have a differentiator.

“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely..” — E. O. Wilson

I should note that with content, people often confuse quality with length. High-quality does not mean longer. It means more effectively satisfying the reader’s needs.

The same mechanics exist with digital. If you can create content that does one thing better than anyone else, you’ll have an audience. It can be more deeply researched, funnier, more opinionated, more contrarian, more visual, more oriented around a specific persona, etc—so long as it differentiates along some vector that people care about. If you’re doing this right, people should be able to say, “this is the most X blog I know”, where X is some adjective, like thoughtful, punchy, or funny.

The web is a game of infinite leverage, meaning that the best stuff captures a disproportionate amount of eyeballs. This is true for most creative work, where a single high performer is worth magnitudes more than the average performer (a well-known philosophy from Netflix’s culture deck). For this reason, to benefit from these mechanics, you need to be in the top 5%.

If you’re below this threshold, you no longer get the benefit of the Internet’s infinite leverage, because even 0*14B eyeballs is still 0. Once you have earned the right for people to care about you, you have outsized gains because that right extends to people all over the globe. It’s like having the superpower.

Remember, if you’re unsure what your “edge” might be, quality is the easiest way to differentiate yourself online because it is surprisingly scarce. As Harry Dry put it, who has succeeded in an extremely competitive space with Marketing Examples, “I never paid much attention to the space being crowded. I just believed I would be the best.” And the best way to create high-quality work is to operate in your domain of expertise, ie: your personal monopoly.

Anything that you’ve spent an above-average time learning about can be translated into information that is going to be valuable to the average person.

That’s what a personal monopoly is: a differentiator, whether it be a skill, an experience, or an understanding that only you (or few people) can do.

As Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad, says, “You don’t become interesting by copying interesting people. You become interesting by following your own interests, going deeper down the rabbit hole than anyone else, and surfacing something new for the rest of us.”

In an article about my writing process, I describe this concept as“idea ikigai”. It’s a simple concept, where you ask yourself, “What is something that I can uniquely contribute?” that is at the intersection of (1) interesting, (2) doesn’t exist in its exact form, and (3) that you have unique exposure to.

Idea ikigai—when done right—can also be articulated as a “moat”, because while anyone can create content, you’re creating content that you are uniquely equipped to produce, meaning it will be that much harder to displace. Having a personal monopoly is by nature the best moat, because no one can replicate you (for now).

Here’s another underrated reason that you should invest in a topic that you know a lot about. If you know a lot about something, you’ve willingly invested a great deal of time into it already. In other words, you enjoy working on it. Building a publication is just like building a company and the biggest risk is that you—the founder—gives up. So instead of trying to identify what you think other people may care about, start with your obsessions and then work backwards.

So, if you’re considering what your blog could be about… consider the following questions: • 
What is something that you have done that 95%+ of the population hasn’t done? Or, what unique insight do you have that 99% of the population doesn’t have? 
What is something that you have spent 5+ years on that you can translate to others in significantly less time? 
What is something that you could create that you would’ve loved to have exist 5 years ago? 
What is something that I think about in the shower?

With this in mind, you should be able to convey your personal monopoly in one sentence. The same practice is often recommended for products, but rarely done with content. It should touch on these two things: 
1. Identifies the biggest pain point that you’re solving 
2. Differentiates you from your closest competitor

Don’t write just to “make money”. Write to solve problems. Money should always be a byproduct of your creations, not the original intent.

Just like building a product, your blog should in some way be solving a problem for people. It sounds obvious, but many people jump into creating content without really sitting down to think about this.

Just like a good product sells itself, a good article can do the same. You don’t have time to be creating content that doesn’t serve a purpose.

The best way to create a high K-factor is to solve problems for your audience. Said another way: be an aspirin, not a vitamin.

People often treat marketing like it’s just a game of numbers, but remember that each one of your readers has their own life and their own needs. Even as you scale, remember that it is your job to provide them value and if the value is world class, they will reward you by passing along your pieces. So, as you’re considering which articles to write or what blog to start, ask yourself:

Would someone reading your article go and share this with someone? Would they tweet it? Would they return to the article themselves?

In the end, you must consider not only whether something is shareable, but whether there are platforms that your audience is active on, to support such distribution. Without the right channels, you’re going to have a much harder time growing your digital footprint, because the flywheel needs to start somewhere.

Make a habit of noting intrigue. Each time you see something really interesting online, after you read it, go to your spreadsheet and jot it down. In addition to writing that thing down, make a note of why you find it interesting.

And when you’re lacking inspiration, don’t be afraid to ask your readers what problems they are facing. If they have a problem, chances are others do too.

When people buy something from a brand, they expect it to be of a certain quality. They expect LuluLemon fabric to feel good and last a long time. If LuluLemon leggings end up itchy or rip within a month, LuluLemon loses a customer. Well, the same thing happens with a newsletter. You enter into a contract with people that is unspoken, but important. This contract ranges from how often they expect to hear from you, to what they expect in the newsletter, but also more important things like whether they will receive spam or see content from someone they’re not expecting.

What’s important is to identify your non-negotiables. These are things that if messed with, would end the contract with you and your audience. Often, these non-negotiables tie directly to your original value prop.

Keeping a long-term view can help hold you to your values, so that you don’t focus on what may look flashy today, and you keep your eyes on what brings your readers value.

Since the beginning, I chose to always focus on quality and only release articles I was truly proud of. I would not pump out an article just to “hit a publish date”, unless it was “ready” (AKA: it became an article that I would want to read). Quality over quantity, always.

If you don’t identify your non-negotiables at the beginning, someone will end up writing a contract for you.

You need to write until the point where it no longer feels like a chore, but instead a compulsion; the point when you’re excited to document a new idea.

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Steph Smith

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