Category: Creator Confidential
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Rethink your product’s price, packaging, and promotion
A few weeks ago, memory chips got more expensive. This would affect pricing for a lot of companies that needed these chips for their devices. Nintendo was one of these companies. In one view of the world, a deeper vertical integration would’ve helped solve this problem; if Nintendo made its own chips, it would have…
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Reflecting on creative consistency
When some of my friends set their minds to something, they don’t stop. They make it look easy. I know friends who commit to publishing a newsletter every month, and they’ve been doing it for years. Though I write this blog post every day, there are many times when I consider quitting. The path is…
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Ira Glass, and the gap
A few days ago, I published an essay convincing you to be prolific. I was elaborating on the idea that focusing on quantity will lead to better quality, a lesson I learned in 2013. When I was writing that original post, I came across a useful metaphor from Ira Glass, about how people experience a…
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Vinyl isn’t just about the sound
In 2025, people bought over 45 million vinyl records, spending over $1 billion in the process. What’s more surprising: a stat from 2022 suggests that 50% of vinyl buyers in the US don’t own a record player. To a vinyl collector, this is absurd, and perhaps even heresy. What would a person do with a…
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Why I’m prolific, and why you should be too
In 2013, I came upon an idea that quantity was a reliable way to find quality. It was one of the most useful lessons I have learned, and I’ve aimed to be prolific. It’s why I write every day, and I choose to spend much of my time making as much new work as possible.…
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A house with its own website
The other day, I saw a house for sale with the usual realtor’s name, company, and usual other info, and then a dedicated URL for its address. For example, 123SohoAvenue.com. First of all, this was new to me, which piqued my curiosity. I also liked that it suggested the house deserved its own website, which…
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Obviously AI, totally acceptable
Some people have a policy about AI slop: “If you didn’t write it, I don’t want to read it.” I generally agree, though that kind of work existed before AI anyway. My policy is more like this: If you didn’t put yourself into it, I don’t want to read it. I know a few friends…
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A restaurant’s evolution
Several years ago, if you had lunch or dinner at Kingyo Izakaya, you would likely sit at a table on its main floor. Perhaps your seat would be in part of its big booth, or at the communal dining table with a tank containing the restaurant’s namesake, goldfish, in the middle. You might find yourself…
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Be mindful of renting capabilities
“For a while, he even makes you believe that his power has become yours. Irresistible power… that makes every desire’s fufilment seem inevitable.” When I heard this line from Rings of Power, it reminded me of this: Sometimes, business partners want to make you rely on them in order to gain leverage on you—as if…