What I learned from Tiago Forte and Building a Second Brain

This week's episode of Creative Elements spoke with Tiago Forte and it was a massive hit. Here's what I took away from that conversation...  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Creative Companion]( Presented by [TimStodz.com](=) Hello my friend! This week's episode of Creative Elements with Tiago Forte got a LOT of love on Twitter. And not just an anecdotal positive response – the Spotify data shows that this episode may have the highest listener retention ever! [Spotify Performance]()​ If you don't know Tiago, he's the creator of [Building a Second Brain](=). One of the earliest cohort-based courses (CBCs) that really shaped online education. Building a Second Brain is a five-week course that helps you organize your digital life and unlock your creative potential. And in an effort to be more creative and successful in promoting the episode on Twitter, I put together [a Thread]() with several of my takeaways (it didn't take off). But here are my biggest takeaways: Lean into your interests Building a Second Brain exists because Tiago was reading a popular article about how to organize your Evernote. He took the comment section to "rant" (his words) against the use of Tags in Evernote. People in the comments section loved his points and wanted to learn more. This led him to write an article in February 2015 called [Tagging is Broken](=). [Tiago on Twitter](=)​ That one rant started it all. He was following his interests and beliefs, and his unique viewpoint on tagging is what caught the attention of the market. That blog post was re-shared by Evernote themselves and it was off to the races. Start niche – even if you see a broad future Building a Second Brain began as a course to teach people a better way to use Evernote (i.e. without tagging)!. Talk about niche. That's a specific outcome (better notes organization) for a specific person (Evernote users). And Tiago, because he had experience as a teacher, decided to teach it live over Zoom for the sake of "making up for his own deficits." I really like this approach – it's faster to bring the "product" of his course to market. It also made the course resilient in that anything students found unclear they could ask about directly. And it was easier to iterate and improve because he didn't have the pain of throwing away videos from a pre-recorded course – he could just teach it differently the next time. This is still true of CBCs today, by the way. And why I'm bullish on cohort-based courses as a step in the process of developing a self-paced course. Listen to the market Tiago noticed that students in Building a Second Brain weren't always using Evernote – they were using other note-taking software. And they didn't join by mistake, they just realized that they could apply Tiago's same methods to other software. This began the transition to "better note-taking in Evernote" to "Personal Knowledge Management," the term Tiago uses today. He realized that his methods weren't about the tool (Evernote) itself...but about a way of thinking about managing your digital files. Those insights keep coming – and now he says his students are using PKM as a way to manage their businesses as creators. But here's the thing – if Tiago hadn't started so niche, focusing simply on Evernote...he may not have gotten enough traction to eventually broaden out. Blow people's minds Tiago talks a lot about building an excellent student experience in the course. When I argued that a lot of CBCs seem to be valued for their community more than their content, Tiago pushed back. To him, that assertion wasn't indicative of the CBC model failing to provide good education. It was indicative of creators failing to provide a good education within their CBC. He says the best way to blow peoples' minds is to underpromise and overdeliver...but he sees many creators "promising the moon" with their course. Borrow first, build later A few months ago, Tiago began publishing on YouTube and already has 32K subscribers. The videos are super high quality, and he actually [invested $100K](=) in building a home video studio. [Tiago Forte on YouTube]()​ Why? Because he noticed that a huge number of his traffic and course students came from other creators on YouTube – guys like Ali Abdaal and Thomas Frank. While focusing on building a great curriculum and great writing served him in the past, he realized he now has the resources to stop relying on OTHER creators' channels for traffic and could build his own. Financial results aren't linear Tiago made a really important statement that is easy to miss... "Cohorts 1 through 9, were...almost negligible in revenue compared to each cohort since then. So in cohorts, 10, 11, 12 and 13, each one of those, we made quite a bit more in revenue than all of cohorts 1 through 9 combined." 🤯 🤯 🤯 Building a Second Brain has had up to 1,000 students per five-week cohort. And right now, the base price to join is $1,500. If all 1,000 students paid only the base price, that's $1.5M in revenue for a five-week course. Those are CRAZY numbers. Tiago and his team run several cohorts per year, and I've seen other estimates of the business bringing in about $5M per year. But what I want to really call your attention to here is the highlighted part of that quote. The first NINE cohorts were negligible in revenue compared to EACH cohort since then. So, if you're just starting today...keep at it. Your results can compound in the same way. Listen to the full episode 👇 CREATIVE ELEMENTS • EPISODE 102 Tiago Forte [Signals] How Building a Second Brain went from public rant to thriving cohort-based course [Play episode]() Apple Podcasts]( Spotify]( ​ Share This Essay: [Share via facebook]( [Share via twitter]() [Share via whatsapp]( Your personal share link: [ ​ ​ CLICK WORTHY 🔥 Consume This ❓ [Eat My Words Free Name Evaluation Test](=) – I've been playing around with brand names for something new 🤫 and came across this awesome framework and tool for evaluating your name ideas. --------------------------------------------------------------- 📘 [Craftsman Creative by Daren Smith]( – I'm currently reading through Craftsman Creative by Daren Smith. It's written to help creators like you build resilient, profitable businesses. It's really well-made, self-published, and very modern-feeling for a book. He gifted me a copy at CEX, and I'm glad he did! --------------------------------------------------------------- 🎥 [How I Answer My Email in 17 Minutes a Day](=) – In researching my interview with Tiago this week, I spent a lot of time watching his new YouTube videos. This video in particular stood out as having a bunch of practical tips for improving your system of managing email. (17 mins) ​ ​ [Sponsor Image](=) PRESENTED BY TIMSTODZ.COM Stop trading your time for money. Instead of trading your time for money, you can build assets that do the work for you. And long-time creator and entrepreneur Tim Stoddart is here to help with a weekly newsletter that teaches you how to create multiple streams of income. Tim is the CEO of Stodzy Inc, the owner of Sober Nation, and partner in Copyblogger. He just shared [a fantastic update](=) from his own business. And every Friday, Tim will send you 10 best resources to help you generate more income by creating productized services, building niche media sites and investing in online companies. I'm a recent subscriber myself! [Sign up for free](=) ​ ​ LAST WORD 👋 Thanks for reading! We are less than two weeks away from our wedding! 😱🤵‍♂️👰‍♀️ To prepare for our honeymoon, I'm starting to get ahead on my editorial calendar for the next several weeks. I've been really upgrading my Notion workspace over the last few weeks, and it's really starting to help me plan ahead. That said, there are a few slots open if you want to sponsor an upcoming issue of this newsletter. [Learn more and become a sponsor here](! And on a related note, if you've been thinking about [booking a 1:1 call with me]( there are only a few spots left before I go offline. Those proceeds are going directly towards my honeymoon, and I would love to help! Cheers, Jay PS: Check out [this incredible new testimonial]() for the [Creative Companion Club]()! --------------------------------------------------------------- [Photo of Jay Clouse]( Jay Clouse [Say hi 👋 on Twitter]() or [Instagram]( ☎️ [Book a 1:1 call with me]( Thanks for subscribing! You can reply to this email or [contact me]( anytime. This email was sent with [ConvertKit]() and designed using [Palladio](=). [Change your preferences]( or [unsubscribe here](. Want to say thank you? ☕️ [Buy Me A Coffee]() or send a note to P.O. BOX 797, Worthington, OH 43085. [Sponsor this newsletter]( to reach 12K+ creators.