Issue 25

Help shape the 1-year anniversary issue of Model Thinking

Next issue will mark 1 year of this newsletter. For this one, I want you to steer the conversation: Ask me anything.

If you want to know more about running my own business, writing and growing this newsletter, more about past topics, career paths, industry trends, Austin FC, books I’ve read, whatever—send it my way. AMA, as they say.

As you probably know, Model Thinking comes out every other week. Through 28,000+ words, I’ve mostly been the one picking the topics. For Issue 26, it’s your turn.

You can ask one question or several. Short or long. Whatever’s useful to you.

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Top of mind

Things that are bouncing around in my head as I synthesize a range of ideas

Running a content business

Last week, I went to an event in downtown Austin hosted by Kit, the platform which powers Model Thinking to watch a live podcast (episode not yet live) of Kit founder Nathan Barry interviewing best-selling author Ryan Holiday. It reminded me of how the creator mindset complements independent consulting.

Holiday is probably best known for his writings on stoicism, including his newsletter Daily Stoic, but he runs what seems to be a successful content empire with podcasts, a Youtube channel, and so on—the creator life.

In the early days of Daily Stoic, Holiday did the natural thing and bought ads, eventually spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. But he learned that his content was more valuable and stopped most of his advertising.

Holiday said a few things made a difference during that pivot. First, he asked two questions: “how can you make stuff that the algorithm likes?” and “how can I bring things from the books to these other mediums that people want?”

He also said he only makes things he wants to make. One big challenge has been figuring out how to make one thing that can be cut into many things.

“I like to take on projects that, regardless of how they will do commercially, they will make me better,” Holiday said.

Both Holiday and Barry are friends and investors in Cerro Gordo ghost town in California, where Brent Underwood has built a very successful Youtube channel and written a New York Times bestseller book. Referring to that and Holiday’s Painted Porch Bookshop in Bastrop, Texas, Barry pointed out how everything is in service to that content empire.

“Every content creator needs a set, and it’s even better if it’s a set that people can visit,” he said.

Other highlights from Holiday:

• “I don’t think writer’s block exists. I think you don’t have enough material.”
• Writing is a lagging indicator of something you’ve learned or prework you’ve done. (Some good insight there, but it’s also a way of working out your learning, in my opinion.)
• A book needs to be timely, but timeless. Timely is your way in.

“Making stuff changes you,” Holiday said.

CMS Experts

Earlier this week, I went to Houston to attend a CMS Experts meeting with participants from Vercel, Optimizely, Jahia, BlueModus, Crowd Favorite, and a few business owners like myself.

There was, as usual, deep discussion. This time, we pondered (reaching no conclusions) the role of the CMS in the age of LLMs and vibe coding. We talked about storytelling in digital web experiences, and we got a look at the future of Drupal.

For me, one of the themes of the day was the cyclical nature of tech. AI and its implications on SEO and staffing may seem bigger (or is it recency bias?), but similar disruptions happened with headless CMS and static sites and even the dawn of the internet, etc.

You may feel destabilized, but I think everything will mellow eventually. Or maybe you feel energized. If so, may you find and make the opportunities that are surely there.

Or maybe you’re just riding it out. I surely get that, and that’s OK too. Regardless of where you are, we’re the ones who can, to an extent, shape the path of the new AI world.

Practical PIO

A quick update on my new venture I shared in Issue 23 combining my background in journalism, content strategy, and emergency services into something to help emergency services spokespersons.

I’m still doing content strategy and architecture consulting, but I’m spending most of my time right now on building Practical PIO. I’m so excited by this work.

I mention it again here, not because you’re my audience for it, but because you may be interested in what I’m doing and learning.

Since Issue 23, I have:

• built a small waitlist
• launched an Instagram account​
• conducted user research
• vibe coded for the first time
• put my vibe coded prototype in front of real emergency workers for feedback
• attended an emergency management expo in Houston, and
• learned a boatload about building and marketing a SaaS product

Up next:

• launching a Practical PIO newsletter in a few weeks
• prioritizing additional features for my “Minimum Viable Product”
• building those features
• putting the product out for some beta feedback, and
• tweaking my approach to Instagram by getting into creating Reels and leaning into that “creator lifestyle” that I learned about at the Kit event

Ultimately, I’m itching to start selling version 1 ASAP.

Thankfulness

Next week is Thanksgiving in the United States, and what’s better for mental health than being thankful. Here’s a few things on my list:

• Upcoming time with family for some special events and holiday traditions
• The resources to have made this career pivot to running my own business. It’s got a lot of room for growth, but in many ways this has been a good life change.
• Peers and people I look up to who I can meet with to seek advice, bounce ideas off, get feedback from, or even just have regular check-ins to talk about whatever. I’ve been doing this for years, but it means even more now that I’m an independent consultant.
• For all of you subscribers. I’m honored that you find value in what I write, and I hope to continue doing so. It’s always a joy to see replies to the newsletter email or comments on LinkedIn posts.

If you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear what’s on your list. Just reply to this email!

John Collins

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