Hey Reader, You ever wonder how some people just seem to speak in perfect soundbites? They always have the right thing to say, delivered in exactly the right way. At our Craft + Commerce conference this summer, Tristan de Montebello from Ultraspeaking taught something called "The Accordion Method"—a technique for learning to speak this way by compressing your thoughts down to 30 seconds, then expanding them back up to 2 minutes. Watching creators practice this made me think: Most of us are...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, In last week's issue on how AI fixes what I won't, I touched on how AI transcription is getting so good that I talk more than I type these days. Today I want to go deeper on my actual writing process with AI. My three-tool setup When I'm writing anything substantial, I open the same three tools every time: Google Docs Claude NotebookLM Then I start talking instead of typing. I use speech-to-text software—I share the exact tools I use below. The back-and-forth process Once I have a...
18 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, For someone who considers himself a writer, I'm embarrassingly slow at typing. I can type, but I'm not fast. I still look down at the keyboard more than I should, and I've never developed the muscle memory that proper touch typists have. It's been this way for years, and I've always told myself I should learn to type properly. But now I don't have to. I use an app that lets me hold down a function key and speak my thoughts. What comes out is perfectly punctuated text—complete...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Most people consume content their entire lives but never create any. There's an unwritten rule that explains why some people build influence while others stay invisible. I call it the 1% Rule of content creation. 90% of people just consume 9% actually do something Only 1% document the journey and share what they've learned That final step—documenting your journey—is what separates those who get things done from those who build leverage through an audience. My friend Delphine Le...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, In February 2017, Barrett Brooks and I had a crazy idea: We should start the best business conference for creators. Each of us had our own careers transformed by who we met at conferences. The right event led to the right connections, which would accelerate your creator career by years. I wanted to create that opportunity for every creator in our community and there wasn’t an event that blended business strategy, connection, and inspiration. At the time, we were a software company...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, I just published a new essay called The Audience Shortcut that explores how the right people paying attention changes everything. But there's something I see holding back most skilled professionals from building an audience. It's what I call the credibility gap. You know that feeling when someone asks what you do, and you stumble through an explanation? Or when you want to create content but worry people will think, "Who are you to talk about this?" That's the credibility gap in...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I’m excited to share something I’ve been working on for over a year: My new essay, The Audience Shortcut: How the Right People Paying Attention Changes Everything. This is the core idea behind how I went from a string of failed startups to building a $45M/year company with no outside funding. It’s not about going viral or gaining millions of followers. It’s about getting the right people to pay attention—and how that changes everything. In this essay, I share the exact framework I...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, There are 50 things you do in a given week, but what are the 5 that actually matter? Most creators I know are drowning in their own to-do lists. They're posting on seven different platforms, running three different courses, testing five marketing channels, and wondering why nothing seems to gain real traction. The harsh reality is that 80% of what we do doesn't move the needle. We're busy being busy, but we're not building the business we actually want. The antidote to this chaos...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Here's where we're headed: Soon, AI will write podcast scripts optimized to hook attention and deliver perfectly timed punchlines. AI voices will narrate them. AI avatars will perform them, A/B testing whether audiences prefer a 25-year-old woman, a 50-year-old man, or the podcasting baby. AI will cut the clips, write the titles, and push everything to every platform. And then AI bots will consume it all, share it, comment on it. We'll have content that’s: Created by AI Performed...
2 months ago • 5 min read