Hey Reader,

Often the hardest thing with creating content is coming up with new topics to write about.

Whether it’s a newsletter, thread, or video script, the blank page can feel overwhelming.

It’s much easier to start with a topic in mind. But where do you get ideas?

I want to peel back the curtain and go behind the scenes on how I create content.

Most of us have a core focus we tend to stick to. We usually have 3–4 main topics we cycle through and revisit from different angles.

While this is good, after you’ve rehashed these topics a bunch of times on podcasts, videos, or in speeches, they can start to get stale.

So when you feel like it’s time for something new, where do you find inspiration?

Let’s look at 3 places to come up with new topics:

1. Listen to your audience
2. Join existing communities
3. Give your take on what’s trending

1. Listen to your audience

My favorite way to source topics is to let your audience ask you questions. If you’ve ever spoken on stage, you know that Q&A is one of the best ways to get new topic ideas.

But if you don’t have any speaking opportunities, you can always get questions from your email newsletter.

That’s where the Content Ideas Flywheel comes in.

Imagine having a steady stream of new topic ideas added to a spreadsheet. That’s exactly what this flywheel does.

In the welcome email of your newsletter, ask new subscribers to reply to the email with the biggest struggle they’re facing right now.

You can even automate the capturing of those questions using something like Zapier where any responses to your welcome email get added to a spreadsheet.

Whenever you sit down to write, just look at the spreadsheet and answer one of the questions.

But what do you do if you don’t have an audience?

2. Join existing communities

If you don’t have an audience, something you can do is source questions shared in existing communities. Reddit is one of my favorite sources.

Choose 1-3 subreddits in your niche and make it your mission to be the most helpful person in those communities. This does three things:

1. It builds your writing muscles
2. It gives you topic ideas since you’re answering something specific (rather than a generic topic)
3. You build a reputation over time as some people will look to learn from you on other channels.

I talked to someone yesterday who does this in the bio tech space.

Jason Lemkin did this on Quora for every topic related to SaaS growth for years. After he had a huge library of content, built a reputation, and was a prolific writer, he started to build his own audience. Now, he’s considered the #1 expert in SaaS and has a 5,000-person annual SaaS conference.

3. Give your take on what’s trending

While it’s a good idea to make sure most of your content is evergreen, so it will be relevant for years to come, it can also be good to mix in commentary on the latest news in your industry.

What’s happening in your industry that everyone is talking about right now?

One way to keep a pulse on things is to subscribe to newsletters in your niche. Pay attention to what people are talking about on social media. Look at common themes in the latest videos your favorite YouTubers are publishing.

Content on current events will capture people’s attention in the short term if you’re able to publish soon enough for it to still be relevant.

While it’s difficult to create content entirely about current events, doing so occasionally can help more people discover you and find your more evergreen content.

Bonus: Get topics by going live

If you don’t have a podcast, newsletter, or speaking opportunity coming up, but you do have an audience, one quick way to get questions is to go live on your favorite platform.

You can also tell people to leave a reply on the recording with any questions if they missed the live stream.

And while we’re on the topic of letting your audience ask you questions, I want to check in with you:

What questions do you have for me?

What topics would you like to hear me talk about more?

Hit reply and let me know what’s on your mind.

Your question may make it onto a future episode of my podcast, or I may dedicate an entire newsletter issue to answering it.

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PODCAST

Inside Mark Manson’s $2,500,000 Creator Business

Mark Manson returns to the podcast in Part 2 as we unpack his $2.5M+ business.
​
He shares:

1. His roadmap from broke and unemployed to selling 17 million books​
2. Why traditional media is dead and why he's betting it all on YouTube
3. Behind-the-scenes of co-writing Will Smith’s book

​Watch or listen to episode »​

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If you’re a serious creator looking to build a more valuable business, this quick overview video will show you how to:

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X POST

Sam Altman on How To Be Successful

On X, I came across this abbreviated version of Sam Altman’s blog post on How to Be Successful that was shared by Jay Yang.

In the full post, Sam goes into 13 key principles he believes contribute to outlier success—including the importance of self-belief, independent thinking, and taking calculated risks.

​Read full blog post »​

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Have a great week!

—Nathan

P.S.

Got questions for me or topics you’d like to hear me talk more about?

Feel free to reply to this email.