Second Brain

@ index

"Just Use Common Sense": Advice to His Younger Self
"Self-Worth = Net Worth": The Vulnerable Moment
"Shit I'm Fucked" Live Events
"Someone Should Write About This"
^ 1 + Subhead Introduction
$1K Salary at $22K MRR: The Portfolio as Runway
$50M in Ad Spend Before Going Solo
1-3-1 + 1-3-1 Introduction
1-3-1 + Bullets Introduction
1-3-1 Introduction
1-3-2-1 Introduction
1-4-1-1 Introduction
1-5-1 Introduction
1-5-2-1 Introduction
100K Words in 30 Days: The SEO Experiment That Broke Down
15 Years of Reading Before "Overnight" Success
2 options for beginner writers without credibility
259 PRs in 30 Days, 2 Bugs: The "Vanilla" Setup
3 steps for Category Design
3.7x Growth and 7x Salary: The Compounding Year
4 types of search intent
4-Hour Websites That Made €10K+ Each
5 forms of online writing
70% of the Work Is Visual
A capitalist state
A foundational philosophy for business
A good lead magnet
A method to choose between alternative business priorities
A stable job is the biggest risk
A strike is an extortion
A trade is the only win-win interaction
Acquiring Black Magic for $128K During the Shakeout
Add lead magnets to Pillar Pieces
Always Present Three Options (The VP Picks the Middle)
American Pickers Store: Where the Hot Dog Idea Was Born
An example of non-obvious idea
Analysis-Paralysis
Anchor text and keywords
Anger
Anxiety
Anything can be a game
Art revolutions open the door to intellectual revolutions
Atheism vs Religion vs Christianity
Atomic notes
Audience hacking
Automate Your Code Reviews: The Lint Rule Spreadsheet
Backlink ideal sources
Banned from Reddit for Being Too Clever
Basic language rules
Basic rule for the main points of an article online
Basic structure of every written content
Beer with the Skeptics Before Pitching the Idea
Beliefs and Limiting beliefs
Best marketing books
Best note-taking apps
Best paid autoresponder
Big stories aren’t optimal
Big stories vs Interesting stories
Brandon the Data Scientist Who Taught Himself
Broke Both Arms, Discovered TypeScript
Building a Factory, Not a Voice
Building in Public: The Competitor Betrayal That Backfired
Bunk: His First (Tiny) Acquisition
Business proposals and personal goals
Buy now or wait for better
Can you relinquish your rights
Career is crucial for life
Claude Code: The Side Project That Got 2 Likes
Cold-Call Desensitization: 100 Random Phone Calls a Day
Combine Positive and Negative thinking
Compound Engineering: Only Document Mistakes
Confidence is a self-fullfilling prophecy
Confusion decreases productivity
Content Roadmap Template
Cover of a sales page
Create a social media persona
Create interesting connections on Twitter
Creativity ≠ Improvisation
CSS basics
Customer’s trust
Daisy's 20-Claude Swarm Weekend
Data & Writing
Deal breakers in love
Decision journal
Decision tree
Decision vs Result
Delegate What You Love, Not What You Hate
Demand perfection
Depression
Digital Gardens are useless
Disagree, Commit, Then Reverse
Does a man need a moral code
Don’t fight on Twitter
Don't Watch the Competition
Double-side crime story
Early Hustles: Moonshine, Fake YouTube, and a $50 PDF
Earned Credibility
Earned Credibility gives you leverage
Earned Credibility has more value because you can’t buy it
Economics Student Who Taught Himself to Code
Emotions can be good or evil
Endless Idea Generator for content topics
Engagement hacking
Envy (or jealousy)
Ethics and reality
Evil is anti-life
Examples of lead magnet
Examples of websites with a minimalist design
Exit Intent Popups: 50% of All Signups
External links
Extreme peace
Facebook Group Stealth Strategy: Zero Branding, Maximum Reach
Failed His Own Audition for His Own TV Show
Failed Pre-Med, Became a History Major
Failure celebrations
Fear
First 100 Subscribers: No Silver Bullet
First Dollar Online at 14: MP3 Sites and a Check in the Mail
First email, first offer
Fleeting notes
Focus on your value without guilt
Follow up after the proposal
Follow your passion
Foreign politic of a capitalist government
Forms of guarantee
Forms of meta-scarcity
Forms of scarcity
Founder Loneliness: Hampton's Origin Story
Fox Optioned His Script. It Never Got Made.
Freelancing, Maserati, Not Happy
From “wants” to “needs”
From 600 to 5,000 Followers: Eating Your Own Cooking
From Creator to Closer: Using Engagement as Intent Data
From Personal System to Productized Agency
Gaming Server Side Hustle: Paid Back the Debt in 6 Months
Generate more ideas
Give people a greater vision of themselves
Give priority to creativity
Give the customer only 2 options
Go after the leader
Gold as a long term investment
Gold as a safe haven
Growing a business is a continuous balancing act
Growth flows
Growth strategies for social platforms
Guerrilla User Research in the Cafeteria
Guest post requirements
Guilt
Hand-Copying Sales Letters: The Unfair Advantage
Happiness
Hard decisions are in fact, easy
Hashtag stacking
Hatred
He Deletes Underperforming Tweets
Headlines that target both a niche and a broad audience
Hired at The Hustle Without a Twitter Account
Hiring Weirdos: The Bottom of the Resume
His Great-Grandfather Was Vietnam's Leading Independence Activist
Hope
How does a lead magnet work
How many g of proteins to gain muscle
How people see money
How to “win” the game of online writing
How to ask qualified external opinions
How to budget best practices
How to budget for couple
How to budget with an irregular income
How to build an emergency fund
How to buy an ETF
How to choose your business priorities
How to communicate what makes your new category different
How to create a Pillar Piece
How to create a unique writing style
How to create contrarian opinion
How to find friends on Twitter
How to find good questions for your notes
How to get useful testimonial
How to invest in gold
How to kill impostor syndrome
How to make a better content
How to make faster AND better decisions
How to make money in the stock market
How to measure infoproducts effectiveness
How to measure your languaging
How to organize an online challenge
How to rule men (quote)
How to self-promote online
How to use the Writing Data Flywheel
How to write 10.000 words per day
How to write a good tweet
How to write conclusions for an online article
How to write headlines people can’t help but read
How to write introduction
How to write the main points of an article
How writers create their own categories
HTML basics
Human life is an end in itself
Hustle Con: $6K Invested, $56K Revenue, 400 Tickets in 7 Weeks
Hype marketing
If a Stranger Could Have Posted It, Delete It
If you’re not first
Image optimization
Immigration in a capitalist state
Implied Credibility
In online writing, volume wins
Index funds for bonds
Index funds investing principles
Infoproducts that you can create quickly
Integrity
Internal links
Interrupt the buyer
Irrational humans vs the rational ones
JS basics
Kakha Bendukidze
Keep a tiny price difference between the offer packages
Keyword density
Keyword mentions in an article
Keywords to use in an article
Kitchen X: The Food Tech Startup Before LinkedIn
Knowledge and confidence
Knowledge creators marketing triangle
Knowledge vs Effort
Languaging
Languaging & Uniqueness
Latent Demand: How Facebook Marketplace Was Born
Leadership BS
Learn by teaching
Life as the standard of value
LinekdIn story post
Link notes together
LinkedIn ads vs organic
LinkedIn KPI
LinkedIn post structures
LinkedIn post themes
LinkedIn resource post
List of digital independents in the Italian web
Little stuff can bother you disproportionally
Looong lead magnet
Love
Mailing list
McMenu effect
Mindset for an infobusiness
Money as a motivation
Morning Agents from the Phone: Boris's Full Daily AI Workflow
Moved to Rural Japan for Love
Moved to Vietnam with $6,000
Mutual funds vs ETF vs Index funds
My First Million Nearly Died, Then Found Its Format
Mystery + Conspiracy + Unnatural
Necessary resources for an infobusiness online
Never Tell Anyone What to Do
Nobody believed in Michael Jordan
None of My Ideas Are Original: The Curation Method
Note-taking through defined questions
NotebookLM as a Second Brain
Notes & content
On-Page SEO best practices
One Great Article Is Worth 50x Average
Online writing is a game
Only Build What Passes Three Filters
Optin form and lead’s name
People Buy From People: Rebranding to Harry's Marketing Examples
Perceived Credibility
Perceived Credibility signals can backfire
Permissionless Creation vs. Hollywood Gatekeepers
Pilot License, Then Teaching at the Flight School
Plan for chaos
Platforms to sell online courses
Poor moral character is a deal breaker
Populist approaches
Post and Ghost to Community Builder
POV + Languaging = Messaging
Power phrases on headlines
Practice your writing in public
Prediction and comprehension
Prediction and risk
Price justification for consulting services
Price table position
Pro-life principles
Problem → Result → Solution
Problem headline examples
Productivity tricks
Proposal sequence
Proteins in food
Proven headlines format
Pseudo-truism in marketing
Publishing hacking
Qualified external opinions
Quantity ≠ Quality ≠ Usefulness
Question framing
Questions are the currency of writing
Questions as Index notes
Questions for useful testimonial
Quit Banking, Got Sued, Paid €15,000
Quit Corporate After Eight Months of Posting
Quitting is an option
Ranked #1 in Google, Made No Money
Rational and irrational values
Rational mis-integrations
Reader Acquisition Flywheel
Reddit Comments Are Gold Mines
Reduce complexity
Requirements for a good business test
Requirements to sell infoproducts
Rick Rubin's Lesson: Create Without the Audience in Mind
Risk Killer, Not Risk Taker: Harry Dry's Crowdform Exit
Rules to invest
Rules to invest in ETF
Sam's List: From a Tweet to $99.5K in Year One
Satisfaction
Screenwriter + Equity Analyst + CFA = Hidden Advantage
Self-promotion vs attention
Sellable knowledge
SEO is not enough for content marketing
Setup business experiments
Shoot for the star
Six Months Invisible Before Traction
Sleep time
Small bets pave the way to better knowledge
Small lead magnet
Smart note-taking process
Smart Threads and Dumb Memes: The Barbell Strategy
Sobriety as a Business Advantage
Sources of confidence
Sponsorships as Education, Not Ads
Spreadsheet VS automatic tools for budgeting
ß Storyworthy
ß The Art and Business You of Online Writing
Steps of a moral judgement
Strategy to buy ETFs index
Structure of a sales page
Sunday Was the Best Day (Data, Not Assumption)
Surviving the Twitter API Apocalypse
Sydney: The Dog Who Changed His Life
Tell your side of a story
Temporary suspend distractions
Test in the Newsletter, Then Productize
Testimonial vs Case study
The “company or industry audience” content bucket
The “general audience” content bucket
The “niche audience” content bucket
The “problem” with capitalism is moral
The “right” woman (or man)
The 101 Viral Thread Hooks Giveaway
The 3 content buckets
The 3 kinds of personal credibility
The 5 Ss of attention
The 60-Minute Daily Engagement Circuit
The 70/20/10 Content Funnel
The 80% Kill Rate on Prototypes
The Advantage of Being Under-Leveled
The Affiliate Stealing Their Own Traffic
The Airbnb Rejection That Sparked Everything
The Alter Ego Controversy: Fake Writers with LinkedIn Profiles
The Ambassador Program: 300K Subscribers from 4,000 Superfans
The Bad First Hire They Kept Too Long
The benign universe
The best stories are personal
The bonuses of the most expensive option
The CHEF Framework: AI as Kitchen Equipment
The Co-Founder Relationship: "Like Marriage Therapy"
The Content Stack: Memes > Threads > Newsletter > Product
The CTA inside an online article
The Design Competition That Solved an Impossible Problem
The Finance Website: €30K from Buying Intent
The first 6 months of online writing
The Greg Egan Sci-Fi Lunch at Anthropic
The Growth Loop: Newsletter Feeds Twitter Feeds Newsletter
The Headlights Philosophy: No Five-Year Plans
The heart of a business proposal
The HubSpot Deal: Radical Transparency as a Negotiation Weapon
The Humble Brag
The Indie Hackers Post: "I'll Work for Free for 2 Months"
The Manager Who Codes Again
The marriage decision
The meaning of contradictions
The Mega Prompt That Cut Newsletter Time by 80%
The moral is the practical
The Mystery CEO Call
The One-Click Affiliate Button
The origin of “positioning”
The Price Increase That Spiked Churn to 15% But Boosted MRR 50%
The problem headline
The problem with business priorities
The product presentation in the sales page
The Profile Picture That Changed Everything
The purpose of a State
The purpose of philosophy
The Reddit-First Growth Strategy
The Rejected Pull Request
The right bonus
The right content legth
The right topic for a lead magnet
The risks involved in bonds
The role of principles in decision-making
The role of productive work
The role of reason
The Salmon Sashimi Thread: 24K Likes from a Podcast Episode
The story section of a sales page
The Undux Bicycle Campaign
The value of experience
The Writing Data Flywheel
There is no strict order to follow in the development of an online business
Thinking through writing
Three "Ugly" Graphics Got 480K Impressions
Three Generations of Programmers: From Punch Cards to AI
Three Modes of Working With AI
Timely vs timeless writing
Tiny digital product
Title as a question about the reader’s problem
To elicit emotions highlight yours
To make your business solid, do not focus only on the immediate ROI
Trash talk and confidence
Trend jacking
Trends.co: $30K on Day One, $1.2M at Launch
Tripled Revenue Without Writing a Line of Code
Turn Pillar Pieces into products
Twitter growth strategies
Twitter profile best practices
Twitter purpose
Understanding yourself through introspection
Uniqueness examples
University AI Project to Secret AI User
Unshipping Features at Instagram
Use notes for content creation
Value + Question Tweet
Value proposition
Visitors → Subscribers → Customers
Wealth and intelligence (IQ)
Web design best practices
Web development basics
Weed Review Site: First Startup at 18
What bonds are
What is a lead magnet
What is a mutual fund
What is a value
What is an ETF
What is an Index fund
What is an outline
What is copywriting
What is ethics
What is happiness
What is morality
What makes life possible
What to tweet about
What’s a culture
When is the right time to invest in a bond index fund
When to use your emergency fund
When to write on a blog, and when not to
When to write Pillar pieces
Where to buy an ETF
Where to insert the main keyword
Where to write online
Whim and ethics
Why a personal budget fails
Why an ETFs index instead of a Mutual Index Fund
Why people don’t practice their writing in public
Why people pay for premium content
Why to create a lead magnet
Why to invest in bonds
Why to invest in the stock market
Why to watch news
Work-life balance BS
Write 10 ideas every day
Write down your fears
Writing is thinking, but not just that
X Charging $1/Account: The Death of the Free Plan
Yeezy Dating: Viral With No Plan
Yes-Yes Pricing Table
You Need Languaging
Your Emails Should Sound Like You're Messaging Your Mom
Zoofy: From Amsterdam Emergency Plumbers to €3M Revenue

Boris Cherny
Charlie Hills
Coding
Decision making
Fitness
Harry Dry
History
How can I become a writer
How can I create engaging content
How do I create my own category
How do you develop confidence
How does SEO work
Infoproducts
Is there a process to generate new ideas
LinkedIn
Mailing list
Marketing
Negotiation
Personal finance
Personal growth
Pricing
Productivity
Sam Parr
The state
Themes
Trung Phan
Twitter
Web design
What is a moral life
What is a romantic relationship
What makes a story interesting
Why does a career matters
Yannick Veys

The 5 Ss of attention

5 ways to grab attention:

Stunts
Slogans
Stats
Stories
Snapshots (visuals)

Backlinks

How can I create engaging content

don-watkins