Nicolas Cole narrates how Ryan Holiday pivoted from marketing writing to becoming a leading modern writer on stoicism. After early success with Trust Me, I’m Lying and later marketing-focused work, a guest post titled "Stoicism101" on Tim Ferriss’s site went viral, producing reader demand that convinced Holiday and (reluctantly) his publisher to back what became his bestselling book, The Obstacle Is the Way. The clip highlights how writing can reveal a niche rather than the other way around.
Chapters
Ryan Holiday is my favorite example of how you don't pick your niche and then start writing. You start writing and then your niche reveals itself. Okay, so if you don't know the story. Ryan Holiday's first book wasn't about stoicism, which is what he's known for today. His first book was called Trust Me, I'm Lying and it was about how to manipulate the blogosphere to get free media. So fun fact. Ryan actually used these strategies way back in the mid-2000s to help Tucker Max, the author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell hit the New York Times bestseller list. Anyways, in the beginning, Ryan thought he wanted to be a marketing writer. So he comes out with his second book called Growth Hacker Marketing Flops. Doesn't even come close to what his first book sold. And all of a sudden Ryan goes, oh, I don't know if this is the niche I want to be in. So he takes some time, is still working as a marketing consultant to pay the bills. And then one day he writes a guest post for Tim Ferriss website. Do you know what the blog post was called? It was called Stoicism101, a beginner's guide for Entrepreneurs. And it goes viral. All of a sudden, Ryan starts getting all these emails from readers saying how helpful it was to read a modern take on the age old topic of stoicism. So what does Ryan do? He goes straight to his publisher and he says, I know what my next book is going to be about. And they say, that's great, Ryan. What's the marketing angle this time? He says, no, not marketing. Stoicism. And they practically throw him out of the building because this would mean pivoting to a completely different niche. But Ryan has data. He has this proven blog post that he knows for a fact has resonated with tons of people. So he finally convinces his publisher to take a flyer on the idea and they give him a really small advance. And he's told this story in interviews. It was nothing special at the time. And do you want to know what he turned that blog post into? His bestselling book ever called the Obstacle is the Way. And today Ryan Holiday completely dominates the category of stoicism.
