2 October 2023
This week's additions focus on strategy, leadership, and mindset, with new digests from Cameron Herold, Rob Walling, and TK Kader. Highlights include The only employee whose job is at risk ignores AI entirely. Reach out to 10–20 people who might use the product; email, DM, or Zoom all work Ask: do you have this problem, how big…
Showing 33 digests for 2 October 2023.
Should you publish pricing on your freelance website?
Joanna Wiebe
October 5, 2023
Pricing searchers are closer to buying than almost any other visitor.
Publish a range with explanation — not a fixed price — to avoid anchoring low.
Own your pricing keyword niche with a focused 800-word, search-optimised post.
Brian Balfour: 10 lessons on career, growth, and life
Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth
October 5, 2023
Niche selection
8
Hiring & recruitment
7
Resilience & grit
6
Inspect work outputs over conversations to hire and evaluate people accurately.
Start from ideal end state and give enough activation energy to make new bets meaningful.
Scale mental model: more success brings bigger problems, not easier ones.
How to find low-competition keywords in competitive niches
Ahrefs
October 4, 2023
SEO
9
AI tools & automation
6
Generic seed keywords are already claimed — use ChatGPT for unique ones.
Wildcard pattern filters can unlock 1,500+ keywords from a single insight.
Reverse-engineer low-authority competitors to find validated untapped topics.
Equifax: credit bureau oligopoly and the Work Number's data moat
Business Breakdowns
October 4, 2023
Business models
9
Case studies
7
Unit economics
6
The Work Number — not the credit bureau — is Equifax's real crown jewel.
95 million exclusive employment records create a near-unbreakable data moat.
The 2017 breach accelerated Equifax's pivot to its most profitable business.
Why titles matter and how to flip the org chart
Cameron Herold
October 4, 2023
Management
9
Culture building
6
Titles aren't the problem — top-down authority is.
Flip the org chart so leaders serve beneath their teams.
Hierarchy helps when leaders remove obstacles instead of issuing orders.
How Karl Hughes built a $2.5M/year productized content agency
Starter Story
October 4, 2023
Case studies
9
Niche selection
7
Prospecting & outreach
6
Deep niche plus premium pricing beats broad agencies every time
A 50-person relationship spreadsheet landed his first ten clients
Buying an existing business lets you skip years of early-stage work
Abundance mindset as the foundation of a thriving implementer community
EOS Worldwide
October 4, 2023
Culture building
9
Identity & self-belief
6
Community building
5
Referring clients to competitors is the norm, not the exception
Peers who share your work fill a gap family never can
Year one is hard — community support bridges the gap to year three
Prospecting & outreach
YouTube
Four Proven Ways New Freelance Copywriters Find Paying Clients
Joanna Wiebe
October 4, 2023
Prospecting & outreach
9
Growth hacking
6
Announcing your copywriting services to your existing network generates immediate leads.
Brie Weber's targeted cold-pitch process achieves roughly 60% conversion rate.
ADA formula in Facebook groups earned Abby Prendergast $10,000 in new projects.
Why launching a second product is usually a bad idea
Startups For the Rest of Us
October 3, 2023
Business models
9
Niche selection
6
Slow growth is almost never fixed by launching a second product.
Three conditions that make a second product worth the risk.
Split focus kills momentum even at 170 employees and $38M raised.
Jimmy Buffett: building a billion-dollar brand through persistence and self-belief
Founders
October 3, 2023
Origin stories
10
Business models
6
Resilience & grit
5
Two decades of rejection by Nashville became Buffett's competitive advantage.
Live music loyalty compounds across generations — no radio required.
A $150/month Key West apartment launched a $2 billion lifestyle empire.
Organic social media is the only free lever for bootstrapped e-commerce founders
GaryVee
October 3, 2023
Social media
9
Growth hacking
8
Prospecting & outreach
6
Press coverage builds no infrastructure — organic social does
Post at volume, fix your store, DM 100 people to get one yes
Every brand you admire ate shit for years before it looked overnight
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
How to determine employee market value and prevent poaching
HR Party of One
October 3, 2023
Hiring & recruitment
9
Processes & SOPs
6
Why high performers leave — and what market research prevents it
Four-step process to benchmark compensation against comparable roles
A levels document makes pay transparent and undercuts competitor poaching
Open body language and trust as foundations of effective leadership
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
October 2, 2023
Communication
9
Remote teams
6
Unconscious micro-expressions broadcast contempt and fear before you speak
Trusting employees to manage their own time and environment drives results
Authentic imperfection builds more trust than polished leadership performance
Content marketing
YouTube
Why in-person podcasts outperform remote recordings
Neil Patel
October 2, 2023
Content marketing
8
Communication
6
In-person storytelling is measurably better — clips perform higher on social
Zoom fatigue kills energy; physical presence makes it night and day
Guests you meet in person become real relationships — remote ones blur together
Four leadership styles every CEO needs to master
Cameron Herold
October 2, 2023
Adapt your style task-by-task, not person-by-person.
Micromanaging experts is patronising; delegating to novices is negligent.
Skill and confidence on a specific task determine which style to use.