How To Never Run Out of Profound Ideas (The Content Web)
You need a direction to move your readers in, if you don't want to niche down hard.
A Quick Note Before We Begin:
This post is a continuation of:
I highly recommend reading those before reading this.
This guide will help you with never running out of profound ideas to write about.
There are a ton of perspectives on how to pick your niche.
AI will tell you one thing.
Certain creators will say “you are the niche” - an idea that has been beaten to death online - which I think is true.
But I want to give you something to work with, something that’s much more novel than that standalone piece of advice, that is no longer as profound as it once was.
It’s ok to question your own sanity wondering if there’s even a point trying to talk about saturated topics like productivity, self-improvement, fitness, well-being, or even philosophy.
If everybody is talking about it, what’s the point?
(hint: that’s where all the attention is)
And what if you have multiple interests?
This is a natural to ask yourself, since most people do.
And not many creator perspectives show you what to do when want to talk about productivity and self-improvement and philosophy and learning and writing... and so on.
Human beings are multi-dimensional creatures.
Locking yourself down into one dimension for life will actively work against your own nature.
Try lifting the same weight in the gym without ever adding 5lbs for the rest of your life.
Nobody wants to feel that level of boredom after 2-3 months. It would kill you.
So, for the reasons stated, picking a niche can seem like a tricky thing.
Because it is.
Most creators have no clarity on what their brand is, what it will look like in the next 1-5 years, and what ideas their audience even associate with their brand.
And not knowing what to lock in on in terms of “niching down,” just makes this whole problem worse.
If you don’t deliberately define what your brand is about, your audience will make their own associations for you. And it probably won’t be what you wanted.
Not solving this problem can turn into a bit of a pickle down the road.
You will either end up with a brand you didn’t choose, or no real brand at all.
So.
What if you could write about topics that genuinely interest you every single week.?
Without needing to guess at what content topics will attract the fake customer avatar you made with Claude ;)
What if you didn’t have to box yourself into one topic forever, but rather had a clear direction that people could follow you along instead?
I think it is possible to build a brand that is both intentional and free at the same time. I believe this because this is what I’ve done in the last 10 months with my own brand, talking about anything I want in my newsletters without restriction.
And I grew an audience of almost 30k newsletters subs in that time, without needing to talk about fucking audience growth to grow that audience :)
So it works. But you have to stick to it.
This is how we’re going to help you do the same.
You need a Direction, not a niche
Niching down does make a lot of sense.
During the Industrial Revolution, specialized training - or specialization - was used for improving the efficiency of factory workers. If the workers could specialize in certain roles inside a factory system, the factory could produce outputs more effectively.
The human mind does not work like this.
The internet is not a bloody factory.
You (yes, you) are not a product sitting all smiley on a store shelf.
You are a person with a human brain that best learns associatively.
Making connections with ideas across all domains of life.
This is one of the many reasons as to why creators suffer from burnout, and give up before they reach the level of skill needed to escape beginner hell.
Creator burnout has many causes, I know that, but forcing a generalist or polymathic brain into a specialized container is doing nothing but asking for trouble.
You will get bored always talking about “productivity tips for 6th year Irish students” eventually.
But what if we tackled this problem of “niche” from the angle of learning science? How the brain actually fucking works?
This will all make sense in a second.
Memory works like this:
Information gets encoded into memory by being connected to prior knowledge, through the process of encoding. The newly encoded information gets stored in memory, which can then be retrieved when it is needed to solve various problems, pass an exam, win the jiu-jitsu fight, or whatever.
The brain does not learn in isolation.
It learns by making connections between ideas.
Naturally, when you restrict yourself to just one narrow topic to talk about, you are starving your own brain from doing what it naturally wants to do, and do well.
It is not always the case, but niche restriction can cause burnout... for this reason.
If this is you, there’s a problem with how you are looking at niche in terms of a coherent structure.
This is what will give you a better one to create and build from.
I call it the Content Web.
This will be your personal system of interconnected topics, sub-topics, ideas, and interests, that all connect toward a single direction - your own Mountain to climb.
You can view climbing this mountain as your mission, more-or-less.
A topic-based niche can make every single creator look the same.
Look at them... you can’t tell them a part.
But having a directional mission is what will alienate you from 99% of creators who all look the same, but in the rightest way imaginable.
I want you to think about Dan Koe and Tim Denning.
Both of whom are writers, building the things they wish existed, to an audience following them in the direction they are moving in.
And while they both teach “writing,” they are both moving in distinct directions, which is what differentiates them from one another.
Dan Koe’s direction is toward becoming future-proof. All of his content is aimed toward helping people move in that direction, and climbing the mountains necessary to achieve the peaks and beneficial outcomes that make that happen.
Tim Denning’s direction is toward helping people achieve freedom through obsession.
See the difference?
Although it’s the same broad topic of writing, both creators have completely different content webs, brands, and directions to move people in.
This is what the difference is between having a niche and having a direction.
But here’s an important point we have to understand:
Without having a direction, your content web will mean nothing.
Going viral is great... but only when you want a ton of attention on a piece of content promoting something you’ve built, like a product. That’s when going viral can be handy, but not in its own right.
You absolutely need both a content web and a direction to make this work.
Another objection I can think of is the following:
What if I’m not an expert at the topics I want to talk about?
This is a brilliant objection.
Mainly, since the one thing that alienates an audience faster than you can blink, is pretending to be someone you’re not, like an expert, when in reality, you are still a learner.
I say, lean into being who you are, either the expert or the learner - or both!
People follow you because your content educates, entertains, or inspires them. Because you speak about ideas they care about, or because they believe you can help them change their life for the better. Moving them in a better direction.
You should use your content as a vessel to share what you are or have been learning about.
If you have the proof, the credentials, or something to show for you being an expert at a topic, great! If not, don’t be afraid to admit that you are still learning about your topics.
People will trust you far more if you actually be honest with them.
This is why I personally like to view my writing as me just... writing to my past, present, and future self. Because I know that person best better than any customer avatar I have ever made.
No algorithm will save you if you are not doing these things, too.
Remember: You don’t need credentials or tons of proof in the beginning. That comes by doing and sharing your work in public across months and years, while also being curious and honest in every piece of content you create.
Let’s build out your own content web now.
How to build a Content Web
You will need a pen and paper for this.
Preferably, if you can, use a mind mapping software with infinite canvas. That will speed up this process.
This is not meant to be the end-all-be-all of content strategy.
It is, however, a great exercise for getting some ideas flowing, and it should take about 1-2 hours to complete.
Consider this a mini content strategy to test out.
Also.
Don’t underestimate the power this can have. Even if you are already a seasoned creator.
It will give you a boatload of clarity on what to spend your mornings, afternoons, or evenings writing about.
Step 1: What is your Mountain?
Your Mountain is the specific transformation you are moving your audience toward, stated in one sentence.
It’s not a single topic.
Rather, it’s 2-4 broad topics with 2-4 sub-topics for each, that are absolutely necessary in helping move your audience in that direction. Up the mountain to the positive outcomes they desire.
Think of reaching the top of a mountain.
Every piece of content you write, both long and short form, should help your readers move One Step Closer (greetings, Linkin Park fans) on that trail.
And no one else will be able to help the reader move in your own specific direction, with anything other than your own unique knowledge. That’s what makes you stand out from every other creator’s direction and advice.
This is what gives people a reason to choose you.
Your topics can vary - as long as you can connect them to your direction in some way - but your direction should not vary.
So instead of feeling paralyzed by the question of “what is my niche,” now we get to ask ourselves, “where am I trying to help other people move toward?”
Don’t feel like you have to get this solidified right now. It will evolve in time, as all things do.
Spend 15 minutes tops trying to write down your direction or mission statement in just one sentence.
Step 2: Map your Interests and Experiences
I want you to brain dump every idea you have under the following headings:
Topics and sub-topics
Interests/Curiosities
Favorite books, thinkers, creators, frameworks
Problems your past, present, or future self have or have had
Keep it unorganized for now. Spend 15-30 minutes doing this.
Here is my attempt as an example:
