Ali Abdaal - Nicolas Cole

1) Nicolas Cole discusses how he got into writing. He recalls having a strong interest in writing since grade school when his mother signed him up for a Poetry Club. Despite struggling in math and science, writing always made sense to him. While in college, he learned from a locally famous professor about the difficult task of becoming a successful writer in the traditional publishing route, which did not sit well with him. Cole was determined to figure out how to monetize his craft on his own, and he stumbled upon the platform Quora, a social Q&A site where he began honing his writing skills and realized he didn't need someone else's permission to become a successful writer.

2) Nicolas talks about his experience with trying to monetize his writing. He discusses how he initially believed that simply publishing a book would lead to financial success, but learned that this was not the case. Cole spent years studying other digital marketers and working to understand concepts such as funnels, ads, and email courses. He also talks about how he used platforms such as Quora to gain exposure and how his commitment to writing every day led to a breakthrough moment where one of his answers went viral and gained over a million views.

3) Nicolas explains how to monetize writing by trading information for money through a non-fiction lens. He shares his experience of creating e-books that answered two common questions he received, which led to his first successful sale of $5,000. Cole emphasizes the importance of starting with the needs of the reader or viewer, instead of only focusing on personal interests. He also suggests finding a niche by analyzing what people want and how to serve them, rather than trying to compete with every other interest.

4) Cole speaks about his daily writing goal and the importance of commitment and consistency. He compares it to his YouTube weekly commitment, and mentions that being curious is key. Cole highlights that most people are afraid of wasting time when choosing to do something themselves, but in reality, we all acquire skills in different areas when committing to something we enjoy. Instead of just focusing on the outcome, Cole is obsessed with mastering skillsets, something that is essential for all types of careers and hobbies.

5) Nicolas discusses the importance of focusing on skill rather than titles and the benefits of making the first dollar on the internet as a writer. He emphasizes that the goal is not to make a million dollars but to start somewhere and explore the different possibilities. He suggests that creating at unlikely intersections is what creates a new thing and brings about opportunities. Even though it might be uncomfortable to pursue a path that has never been taken, that is exactly where all the opportunities lie.

6) Nicolas talks about the importance of combining different interests to create a new subcategory and how it can help someone stand out in the market. For example, in YouTube, channels that have succeeded have combined gaming with ecology, aviation, or productivity with gaming and health instead of trying to dominate a single-word category. Nicolas points out two types of games people can play to be successful: one is a competition work ethic game and the other is a creativity, have fun, expression game. To be successful at the latter one, one needs to overcome the fear of standing out and fit in and start by being in a community of people who are doing the same thing.

7) Nicolas discusses one of the ways he made money as a writer before he quit his job, which was ghostwriting. He then transitions into talking about the five ways to make a million dollars as a writer, with the first being his own experience of earning money through republishing Quora answers onto large publications, such as ink, Forbes, Fortune, and others. He explains that he researched how to make his answers more likely to get republished and wrote in a style that these publications favored. He was then able to get a column with ink magazine and got paid per page view.

8) Nicolas describes his experience as a copywriter for an ad agency, where he was responsible for writing social media copies for brands, proofreading proposals, and other writing tasks. He explains that while the real definition of copywriting is in the context of sales copy, his job was primarily to write social media and proofreading copy. Cole was earning around $45K per year at his job when he started earning three to five thousand dollars monthly from Inc magazine. He saved his earnings instead of upgrading his lifestyle, knowing that he wanted it as a runway when he quits his job.

9) Nicolas discusses the increasing need for ghostwriters and how it has become less stigmatized, highlighting that many people are willing to hire a ghostwriter for writing tweets, LinkedIn posts, articles, newsletters, etc. Cole suggests that ghostwriting involves extracting important information from their client and organizing it while removing all the tangents and fluff. Furthermore, he emphasizes that if someone can get good at it, they can make a good living from it. He also recommends that a good starting point for earning extra cash is writing or video editing, and suggests people start by offering their services for free, then gradually working their way up the ladder.

10) Nicolas discusses the importance of providing free valuable content before trying to sell something to consumers. This way, potential customers will understand the value of what they are buying before they pay for anything. He also explains that people are not just buying information when they purchase a course or a membership. They are purchasing implementation, accountability, and access to the person teaching it. Cole also emphasizes that people who have a business or make a lot of money tend to value money differently than those who do not.

11) Nicolas discusses the idea of being compensated on the outcome that you drive rather than the effort you put in. In terms of sales copywriting, the key is to get paid based on the outcome you generate rather than the effort you put in. Sales copywriters can charge per asset, such as rewriting a landing page or redoing an email course, but the real money comes from being paid for driving an outcome. Legendary sales copywriters, such as Gary Halbert and Eugene Schwartz, took a piece of the upside they unlocked for the business or the product to make their fortunes. To become a successful sales copywriter, individuals should study the greats, write a lot, and try to sell something themselves to understand the value of driving an outcome.

12) Nicolas and Ali discuss the importance of keeping team size small, with the ideal number being around 12 people or less. They note that this size allows for greater fun, freedom, and flexibility while avoiding the pitfalls of being too big to be small, yet too small to be big. The mistake they both made in their businesses was equating success with headcount and thinking that hiring more people directly equates to growth and success. Instead, they advise thinking about the levers that contribute directly to profitability and hiring full-timers who are revenue-critical while contracting others for part-time work.

13) Nicolas advises against the idea of scaling a freelance writing business into an agency and highlights the benefits of operating solo as a writer rather than managing a team. He emphasizes that scaling horizontally might not always mean increasing earnings and that building an agency requires a different skill set. Instead, he suggests that talented writers should focus on charging more and working with higher quality clients to increase their earnings. Cole also emphasizes the importance of analyzing how you want to spend your time and encourages writers to do what they enjoy rather than managing an agency if they prefer writing.

14) Nicolas discusses the different levels of earning in writing, from five to seven figures and potentially beyond. He emphasizes the importance of figuring out which business you want to focus on and which align with your values. Cole talks about the two main ways to make money through writing books: self-publishing and traditional publishing. He explains that traditional publishers give an advance predicated on an author's existing audience, while self-publishing is becoming increasingly popular and easy to do, especially on Amazon where an author gets a split every time a book is sold.

15) Nicolas explains why self-publishing can be more profitable than traditional publishing for writers. He advises writers to do the math on how many books they need to sell to make a decent profit, which is often more challenging for traditionally published authors. Cole also notes that building an audience should not be the primary concern of writers who want to get their work out there. Instead, writers must produce quality content consistently and analyze feedback to identify their niche, and double down on content that resonates with their target audience.

16) Nicolas discusses lean writing and how successful writers like Ryan Holiday and Mark Manson leveraged it to their advantage. He emphasizes that writers should focus on creating data points and doubling down on the winners, rather than trying to be a genius at the table. Cole also advises writers to aim at addressing their audience's problems and answering their questions, rather than making themselves the main character. He brings up one of his favorite quotes from Chip 30's writing course: "you are not the main character of your story, the reader is the main character." Lastly, Cole discourages bloggers, describing them as "the digital equivalent of being a legacy writer," with no distribution flywheel to get their writing in front of readers.

17) Nicolas explains the fallacy of thinking that just by writing on a blog, one can rank on Google. He clarifies that there are two different goals - writing for the sake of writing versus writing to own a search term on Google or any other search engine. The former is enough for many writers, but the latter requires optimizing content around a specific keyword. Cole mentions that it is easier to get millions of views publishing on LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, or Quora, instead of having a website. Finally, he explains how social media platforms work similarly for everyone because the quality of content is what determines distribution, not audience size.

18) Nicolas discusses how important it is to have a target audience in mind when building an audience as a writer. He emphasizes that you should create a specific niche and try to cater to one person's problems and interests. By doing so, you'll attract all the people who are like that person. He advises starting with social media as an attention engine to write and generate a bunch of data points. Cole highlights that email list is an inflection point, and it's a decision to be made after clarifying your writing in social environments and getting a clear understanding of your audience. Finally, he suggests focusing on the process instead of the outcome while keeping in mind the long-term goal to change your life.