Yesterday @moseskagan shared advice for young folks building small media businesses in domains one isn't already an expert or practitioner in.

I wanted to share my thoughts on running @ThinkLikeOwners podcast without being an SMB expert.

Thread below: https://twitter.com/moseskagan/status/1391480599316246534

First, the playbook Moses describes is the one I've followed thus far. It's worked for me (hence my bias) and I think the playbook can be applied to endless niches.

Starting a public learning project like a podcast or blog has only upside, especially for folks starting out.

The upside potential is huge: job offers, new businesses, partnerships, creating a business around media.

What's failure? Nobody listens? That's the default!

I think real failure is when someone gives up and quits before the engine has really gotten going.

Starting a podcast is a long-term project, with few if any short term benefits. It's hard to push through the early days of your project when nobody listens or cares about it.

Some of the most successful creators aren't necessarily experts or special, they just didn't quit.

One fun experiment I'd love to see someone try:

Create a podcast with the goal to fail.

How would you purposefully design a podcast to fail? Bad audio, poor interview/episode quality, inauthentic interest.

If you avoid those pitfalls though, how could you not succeed?

Back to @moseskagan, this tweet is spot on.

I was intellectually curious about buying and operating small companies, committed to making regular episodes, had no money, and was not an expert.

Luckily, running a podcast is cheap and curiosity is free. https://twitter.com/moseskagan/status/1391482675568029709?s=20

While a podcast is technically a small business, I do not have employees, carry SBA debt, have to manage countless customers and vendors, or do the job of a traditional CEO.

I am not an SMB practitioner, and I will not pretend to be. https://twitter.com/moseskagan/status/1391492318860034055

But I'm curious and have a strong desire to become an expert over time.

I created @ThinkLikeOwners because I wasn't an expert. I wanted to learn from professionals in the space and starting a podcast felt like a scalable way to achieve that.

I see opportunities for many of the next growth steps Moses mentions at @ThinkLikeOwners. I'll be releasing new projects in the coming months.

Paid content and events can be part of the project's future.

To the point of not being an expert: 2-3mo ago I announced my intention to invest in searchers.

I have since decided to put investing on the shelf for now, in large part because I don't feel like an expert at investing. I believe I can get there one day, but I'm not ready yet.

Building on the investing point above, there's so much I'm not an expert, or even knowledgeable, in.

But learning is the whole point to creating a project like a podcast! Operating with a student's mindset is incredibly fun, and I'll be a student indefinitely.