Audacious Introverts: Study Digital Writing

Digital writers are audacious.

(And if you prefer making money from your thoughts + laptop, chances are you’re an introvert too. Just saying.)

Take Nicolas Cole as an example.

Cole started as a top writer on Quora, where he gained millions of views, and later expanded into ghostwriting and online education. Now, he also cultivates a considerable audience on Twitter and Linkedin.

Cole and Dickie Bush created a writing curriculum that teaches you to deliver 30 short-form essays in 30 days. Not only that but you need to get them out for the world to see.

I took their flagship course Ship 30 for 30 in January this year, and I have thoughts.

Why would anyone write for 30 days straight ??

Habit formation is not about time, but about repetition,

says James Clear.

And I really wanted to commit to writing on Linkedin.

But I also know that I need accountability to do so, aka skin in the game.

My way to do it? Spend money on a 30-day digital writing course.

(there are more cost-efficient ways to do it of course. Understand what works for you).

With every day I was writing, I felt some pretty heavy burden fall off week by week.

• Week 1: I stopped thinking about what other people would think.

• Week 2: I quit perfectionism and prioritized delivering.

• Week 3: I ran out of ideas, but kept going.

• Week 4: I fell in love with storytelling. I can’t stop now.

Turns out, I got myself a new habit.

But what now?

Digital writing is a high-value skill

Nowadays not having an internet presence is suspicious.

I can’t imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t first Google a new person I just met, a company I’d never heard of, a restaurant that seems okay but let’s check the reviews, or a person I need to hire: electrician, dog walker, taxi company…

(I am creepy like that)

Judgment happens on the internet, whether we like it or not.

And you want to sell yourself the best you possibly can.

Being a great communicator is the biggest cheat code in life.

Because you hold the power to

• Build yourself a personal brand

• Make meaningful connections

• Monetize your knowledge

‚Everything is downstream of writing in business’

But digital writing follows different rules than what you normally learn in school.

Here are 5 to get you started:

1. Digital writing needs to be skimmable: embrace blank spaces, mind your rhythm, use lists and bullets. Format is as important as content.

2. Go to the point - fast. Snooze = loose.

3. Your first two sentences (hook) need to stop the readers from scrolling.

4. You build your expertise by stealing from others. Steal structures, frameworks, and topic ideas (don’t steal content please, everything else is fair game).

5. Repetition is key. We think people see everything we post. They don’t. Repeat, reframe, repurpose.

Writing on the internet means your expertise builds up as you show up every day.

When you are starting, all these cliches are true:

• quantity > quality

• Intensity > overthinking

• be different > follow the crowd

• showing up > perfection

There is no such thing as being good or bad at writing digitally.

There is skill and there is no skill (yet).

The way to build up skill?

Write for 30 days.

Keep up the audacity,

Laura