The Content Polymath Podcast

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. If you want to see all my tags, check it out here: https://polyinnovator.space/tags/

This livestream covered what I planned for creating content in the near future. Not just on my Substack, but probably even more prudently… on my main website.

I need to do a sort of blitz again, if at least a few sprints to get it all done. However I think it will be helpful to have that baseline again.

Substack has been motivating for me, but it isn’t enough, and I cannot let my other streams of content falter too.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. I’m going to be going LIVE everyday, no set time as of yet, and I’d love for you to join in!

I’ve been treating it as free creator coaching calls too in case you want to ask me something! Here is a screenshot of what my Obsidian vault looks like, and if you want to see more check out the video above.

I’ll go into more detail about my planning system in a dedicated video down the line! Let me know if I should make it sooner!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

I hope you join me in the next one, as I really want to answer more questions.

An update on YouTube horizontal/vertical?

https://x.com/nuttylmao/status/1957619349000482966

The Restreamer tool mentioned:

https://github.com/datarhei/restreamer

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. I am trying to do more coaching, but in larger groups via the Livestreaming. If you have questions about content creation, then come in the next LIVE and ask!

I’ve been experimenting lately with live streaming on Substack—not because I’m fully comfortable with it (I’m not), but because I know that practice creates progress. The beauty of streaming is that even if no one shows up live, the session itself can become a clip, a video, or part of a larger series later. Every rep counts.

You have three types and three formats, each intersect, and ALL are important.

They are as follows:

* Video

* Audio

* Written

* Short

* Long

* LIVE

Why is it important to do all six?

Not everyone is going to consume the content you make the same way you do. Personally I like watching videos for consumption but I am a writer for creation. Do I listen to podcasts, or read blog posts? Yes. Will I choose a video first? Also yes.

Your follower might be the same way, or even opposite. Thus it is wise to be creating content in all 3 types.

The other angle is where you meet that person, and on what platform. Depending on the type you choose it might change the format. I.e. video and livestreaming. However you could go onto Clubhouse and do LIVE Audio that works too.

The thing is to try to go for all of the types and formats.

We will get more and more into the How to do it in later posts.

However for now think of it like a workout. You have Upper, Lower, and Abs. You know you need to do all three, but maybe you skip abs some weeks. Eventually that is going to catch up to you.

Even if you have to do only a little bit of abs each week, just as long as you are doing them, that is what matters.

At first it will be difficult, but you gotta put in the reps!

100 Videos, 100 Podcasts, 100 blogs… 100 shorts, 100 long form (for each), 100 LIVEs.

Highlighted Tool of the Week: VDO Ninja

https://vdo.ninja/

This is a tool to help you have an interview show on a free tool like OBS or Meld Studio. Which are livestreaming/recording apps, that you can also use with Substack LIVE. I thought this would be an interesting tool to highlight for those who are going LIVE like me but not on the mobile app.

As on desktop it is pretty hard to have on guests.

🥡 Takeaways

What is the point of this post? I really think that regardless if you are just starting or have done it for a while; That it is a good idea to keep in mind the areas that you are lacking. I’ve been trying to do this myself, so you know that no one is perfect. We all have to put in the work!

What I want you to try is to pick one of the six things that you haven’t done yet. A podcast, or a livestream, or maybe a short if you haven’t yet for some reason. The point being put a step towards it.

Overall I would consider myself a writer first, before that of a YouTuber or Podcaster, which surprises many people. I’ve tried out nearly every main tool on the market for blogging and newsletters, yet I keep coming back to a couple of them. Wanted to share with you as to why!

Firstly, just a quick note on Revue.

I really think it could have been a serious competitor to Substack when it came to the social blogging-newsletter space. Now that Ghost 6.0 has something like Substack Notes built in, then maybe we’ll see that again.

This is a “sequel” post to one I made a bit back:

https://polyinnovator.space/substack-vs-beehiiv-vs-ghost-vs/

Something I said in the last post that I wanted to bring back here. Yes I consider Linkedin Articles to be on the end of life for most people. If you get lucky or work with the company they can work. However I do not think it is wise to use it otherwise.

Note: I do not want to include more archaic solutions, or ones that don't really fit into this writing form niche. Those would include: Wordpress, Medium, Linkedin Articles, Quora, Airtext.xyz, or something that is similar in nature to these but does not fit the newsletter format.

Revue as a Comparison to Substack

What I find really interesting is the comparison to the late “Revue” platform that Twitter owned. It was a newsletter bridge, where people would find it via your twitter/x profile, and then be brought to the newsletter platform Revue to read. However it also helped you connect to your actual email marketing tools too.

What I find peculiar is why they dropped it in the first place, as to me it seemed to be going smoothly. Now we can see for a fact that Substack and Ghost 6.0 both do this, and it helps tremendously with growth.

Who knows, maybe it will come back, since there are rumors that Vine is coming back. Something that Twitter also acquired.

Quick Takes on the Various Platforms:

This post isn’t meant to be a full review of each newsletter tool, but I do have some strong feelings towards each that I felt I should share.

Some might be good, some might be bad, and in the end you should decide what you think is best. Although if you’re reading this I’m going to safely assume you are on Substack one way or another.

Substack

I both praised and jeered at the minimalism of Substack when I first wrote about it. It was nice for having a public journal, which is what a lot of people still treat it like today. However I found that the potential for real niche content (i.e. like the aforementioned Swimming), such as the content niche I am doing now. Those are the types that would THRIVE on the platform.

I tried many different iterations, and I may try more later on. Originally starting with my Fireside Codex, which was for me a public journal. Moving on to the Swimming Academy newsletter, then “PolyInnovator Social Blogs” which was an interesting concept on its own, I temporarily wanted to do Knowledge Management posts too, and then most recently my travel content. Prior to changing it to the current The Content Polymath series you are reading/watching/listening to.

Even back when I wrote about Substack as a platform I spoke of it highly, even as the 2nd best platform in my opinion. I’m really curious to see how this experiment continues to go.

I wrote more in this related post if you’re curious: https://polyinnovator.space/my-experience-with-substack/

The one thing that could be bad is the pricing model… ONCE you get to a certain level. Until then I think it is fine.

Paragraph

While I would include images, the platform changed on me in the last year drastically. I was having good and bad experiences with the new updates over the couple years I ran my gaming blog there.

One issue I had was with the way blog posts were listed, and how you interacted with each of them in the backend. Eventually things changed so much, and for the worse on the frontend (sort of breaking my site’s flow). That I ended up moving everything to my main Ghost site again.

This was one that I kept probably one of the longest, and maybe the UI has improved since then. Or you might not have issues with it.

Beehiiv

Fun fact THIS channel, this series or newsletter, whatever you want to call it; Started technically on Beehiiv. I was trying out all of the platforms, and wanted a blog on each of them. Swimming on Substack, Gaming on Paragraph, and Content on Beehiiv. Everything else was on Ghost combined together. Eventually I realized that I could not stand writing anything in Beehiiv because of the atrocious UI/UX.

Which still doesn’t seem to have improved to this day much. Even going as far as to note in the previous comparison post: UPDATE - I have continuously had usability issues on the user experience front. Having to click through multiple layers to do something simple, or even couldn't find what I was looking for at all.

As you may have guessed I’m not a fan. I quickly moved the newsletter to my Ghost instance, and eventually to a separate Ghost site. Then back. Now to here, but without moving the old posts.

Not much else to say on this platform, moving on.

Ghost CMS

Ironically probably the BEST one on this entire post, and I still stand by that despite quite loving Substack right now. This is sort of why I wanted to make this post next. In fact I’m writing it before making the video because my brain was thinking about all the comparisons.

There is a reason I kept taking my newsletters from all of these other platforms, and putting them all on one site. That was because I felt it was best to have a holistic place for all of my content. Links to the whole ecosystem, and multiple newsletters in one place.

The interface on both the backend and frontend is unparalleled, the speed of the site is fantastic, the selection of themes is only 2nd to wordpress, and they do keep adding more features too as time goes on.

Why am I on both Substack and Ghost?

Probably a good question to ask considering that I am here. There are a few lines of thinking, and I figured sharing them might help you on your journey too.

Firstly, I’ve gone on and on about all of the various features on Substack, and I think those are a great way to automate what I am doing. Especially with my written/audio/video combined strategy.

The second angle is that SEO is a finicky thing. I actually have one of the best SEO results for content repurposing to my knowledge. A lot of my posts, like my How to Go Omnichannel has garnered a lot of attention. It is only going to keep growing too because I plan on making more content creation related content on there, that isn’t going on this site. Just didn’t fit into my plans for the trajectory here.

Meaning I’ll probably keep up the Digest newsletter on Ghost at the same time as here. HOWEVER I did feel that I could build a semi-isolated brand more quickly, if I had it on its own little island.

Being on Substack allows for me to tap into the amazing people network on here, and to build out a new SEO history.

Alternative Platforms

Look I’m going to tell you that Substack and Ghost cms ARE the Best. However I always believe in choice. As a tools geek too I have a long list of links anyways, so I figured I’d share!

After the main platforms talked about above, these are my top three alternatives for those curious:

* https://kit.com/

* https://typeshare.co/home

* https://buttondown.com/

* Honorable mention: https://superblog.ai/ Similar to Ghost

Here are the web3 platforms, which sort of stand out in the case of futureproofing. However please note that now Ghost cms has joined the fediverse too. So it has access to the decentralized networks as well!

* https://www.sigle.io/ No experience with

* https://paragraph.com/ Mentioned before, but wanted to put with the blockchain ones

* https://svbtle.com/ too mysterious for how competitive the market is tbh.

* https://mirror.xyz/ One of the major players other than Paragraph.

He…

Today I wanted to test out the Livestreaming feature here on Substack. I was pretty astounded when I was scrolling one day seeing a conversation live on here. I didn’t know that was a feature until very recently.

While I’m not surprised, it was still pretty cool to experience it so natively that way. Now there are two ways to go LIVE, one through the mobile app, and one through the rmtp key/url on a streaming tool on desktop.

I find that the desktop would lead to higher quality, especially in audio, so that is what I went for. While it is limited in features, i.e. I can’t bring up comments, or invite people in (after starting). You can invite people prior to starting, and it does do a pretty good job notifying people in a variety of ways.

One thing I found out as a creator, that I want to tell you right off the bat… Is that you don’t get notified that your recording is saved. Thus when I ended I tried going back to the substack notes post (which was broken, Substack team please fix that). It turns out the live video gets put into your drafts, which wasn’t inherently obvious at first.

Might I also suggest to you upcoming creators, that you consider recording it natively on your computer as well if you are using Meld Studio (like myself) or OBS. That way you don’t get the bitrate drop from streaming, and you have a copy on your computer already (instead of downloading from Substack servers).

Takeaways:

* Live streaming can enhance content creation and audience engagement.

* Substack offers unique features for video and audio content distribution.

* Ghost is a preferred platform for its versatility in hosting multiple topics.

* Polymaths should consider niche focus for effective content strategy.

* Monetization requires a multi-faceted approach for content creators.

* Building a personal brand is essential for connecting with audiences.

* Content creators should experiment with different tools to find the best fit.

* Engaging with like-minded individuals can foster collaboration and growth.

* Understanding the polymathy niche is crucial for targeted marketing.

* Creating digital products can provide additional revenue streams.

The Power of Substack and Ghost for Creators

In the call I touched on a variety of topics from polymathy or multi-niche marketing, ghost cms versus substack (particularly in the angle of polymathic creators), and even shared some tools that I thought were helpful:

* Meld Studio (Alternative to OBS)

* VDO Ninja (Podcasting Through OBS)

* OpusClip (Clipping Tool - Aff link)

I am trying to test out any feature I can on Substack currently, as I want to grow as rapidly as possible. Particularly using the skills I’ve acquired over the last decade of making content. If you’re in on that, then please chat with me, leave a comment, and subscribe to the Content Polymath!

Perhaps the next Livestream I’ll test out on mobile so I can see the difference.

If you want to be notified when I go LIVE in the future, then Please Subscribe!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

It does not matter if you are only beginning or well-sailed in the content journey. If you have a platform or more. Then you have a content ecosystem of your own making.

This entails that you have a presence or reputation, and as one part of the system evolves so does the other parts. Each arm acts on its own, but also as a whole.

Your content ecosystem thrives when you operate it holistically.

Everything falls under the umbrella

When you create something online, then it will be coming from YOU. Unless you’re doing some sort of faceless or ghostwriting.*

If your name is on it then it is part of YOUR ecosystem of content. Your personal brand, your online reputation.

Now this goes even for faceless brands, as even if it isn’t your face, there is some sort of logo or AI face being the figurehead of that content umbrella. You created an isolated ecosystem, but it is still an ecosystem nonetheless.

This is the lesson I want to impart on you today, as you need to start thinking more holistically about your content creation, repurposing, and strategy.

For the Beginners

You need to start somewhere, and while a few people out there may want to start with all three content types; You’ll most likely need to pick just one to start off with, and make a 100 posts. Set the first entities of your content ecosystem forth. Let them grow and evolve a bit on their own.

Honestly you probably need to let it grow for a while too, or if you want shorter time put in more reps sooner.

Only THEN can or should you start doing other content types or formats. From there more entities fill up your content ecosystem. At this stage they are not feeding into each other that much, and you may not have a great strategy.

Over time you’ll learn how to syndicate better, repurpose one type into another effectively, and repurpose the main pillar pieces into micro-content.

For the Advanced

Nothing beats a jet2 holiday…. If you’ve been hearing that as much as I have lately, then I know you are active in the space. If you’re just a writer, then probably you haven’t, but if you were just a writer more than likely you wouldn’t be in the “advanced” category (debate in the comments).

Not only do you Need to create content across all the mediums and platforms, but you should be consuming it as well. Sure, there is a point of doom scrolling, and not letting yourself “waste time”. Although there comes a point where you cannot progress without knowing what all else is out there.

Understand OTHER creator’s ecosystems, what are they doing, and they aren’t going to be telling you like Gary Vee. You’ll have to watch closely.

When I was making my personal brand website again back in 2019. I looked at all of the major players in the market for their personal sites. GV, Lewis Howes, Oprah, etc. I studied how they had their priorities set up, for was it their book, their podcast, or what?

From there I created a spreadsheet comparing each of the sections of their sites. Then I created my own. The same will go for your strategy for the most part too.

As an advanced creator, only YOU will really know what your audience truly likes, and what they’ll respond to. However we don’t always get it right, so experimentation is crucial even at the highest levels (look at Mr. Beast, he is always experimenting).

For most of you however, beginner or advanced, the Content Polymath strategies will be more than fitting. Then from there you can add your own twists to it.

In the end it is the same.

As I mentioned a moment ago the strategies you’ll learn from this newsletter will be your key to growth.

I’m not just saying that either, as I know this ^ whole line has been used by all those gurus out there. However what makes me different is that I watched those gurus, I watched the Gary Vee’s, the Alex Hormozi’s, and better than that I’ve talked to the people on their teams.

Whether it was at conferences, and then later on the PolyTools Creator Spotlight… or even just through outreach. I have created, conversed, interviewed, and most importantly I think: WATCHED CLOSELY. How the best of the best do it, and I have experimented so much as a creator myself. Even this newsletter came to be after four other attempts at making a Substack prior.

In the coming issues I’ll be building the foundation, the basics of what the Content Polymath is all about. I’ll remake (fresh) the Best posts from my old content newsletter, the PolyTools Digest. I’ll be making more content around this idea of the Digital Renaissance, sharing tools, the Creator Equation, and most importantly of all the Content Polymath Creation Strategy.

Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already! Catch it while it is early!!

While I do not think it is “too late to start”, or that you have to be “perfect” right away. You do however need to start yesterday, and you need to get to perfect as soon as possible.

The saturation is higher in most platforms now, and while there are ALWAYS going to be platforms where you can get the First-Move or Second-Mover advantage. You’ll need to be paying close attention to where those are. Really the advantages come from new features on the platforms now.

Such as Trial Reels on Instagram or Video/Audio distribution on Substack, as two current examples in my opinion.

Note: The topic in the video and in this blog post are the same, but what I talk about may end up being quite different, so you should watch/read both!

I started blogging in around 2013, which back then would almost seem to be “too late”, as the blogging really rose in the 2000’s right? Well look at Substack and Ghost CMS now, they’re both blowing up more and more.

Newsletters as blogs in particular, like this one, do very well now and have resurged written content interest.

I started podcasting in around early 2018, and people thought it was too late then. Then after the covid podcast boom, they thought it was “too late” in 2021 or 2022.

Don’t get me started on video and YouTube, as that becomes “too late” almost every two years.

The point I am making is that it is NEVER too late, and you’ll wish you had started sooner! I have been making hundreds of podcasts and videos, and about 800 written posts at this point. Yet I still feel like I’m only scratching the surface of what I can offer the world in my content.

That is all execution and how much effort you put forth, but that isn’t all that matters.

Over the course of creating content you’ll learn better and better strategies to employ. I found myself struggling at some points with posting content across the mediums, as there weren’t good tools for it.

I’ve scoured the social media marketing tool market for literally a decade and half ever since I started blogging. Yet I could not find a damn tool that could do RSS to Social media automation worth its salt.

Eventually some tools had some prowess like Coschedule back in the day or Nelio Social, and now I have Nuelink which has been amazing.

Another issue I came across, even before I started using OpusClip, but was to be able to bulk schedule short form videos.

Literally no tool could do it, they often had CSV bulk upload. However that failed to do a lot of what bulk upload needed to do. I.e. on instagram selecting to ONLY post to Reels feed, not the main feed, or rather the traditional post to Reels and Main feed together. As I found my content performed better that way.

Not to mention you still had to upload all of your content to a cloud drive first. Instead of uploading to the SMM tool’s servers. Which increases chances of bitrate compression.

Note: Nuelink can now do BOTH of my important needs!

That brings us to the Current state.

I think there are a lot of lessons that even experienced creators could learn from this series. Although new creators will get a huge step up in understanding. Please don’t forget to sign up for future editions!

The video sums it up quite well, but I wanted to explain further in this post! Firstly, a bit of history of me for your context:

I started blogging way back in about 2012/13ish, and that was a dedication to world unity and philosophy. I was eager to create in the written word, so that I could reach people like me out there (the polymaths as I later realized).

Over the next few years I didn’t make content much, and it wasn’t until 2017 where I brought back my blog. Even created a podcast! However I realized I could not create the organization with my limited notoriety as a person. Thus I pivoted towards building a personal brand, PolyInnovator, and from there I started doing All Three content types. Written, audio, and video (the latter taking quite a while to get used to).

Since then I’ve made other brands, such as a gaming one, or this brand “The Content Polymath”. For historical SEO purposes I’d like to list out the previous names: OmniContent, PolyInContent, and PolyTools. As the brand evolved from being about a Strategy, to taking a Polymathic approach to content, and then about the Tools you can use as a creator.

I feel that the PolyTools was the closest to success that I dreamt of, as it was the “Polymath’s Toolkit”, a spin off of my personal brand around polymathy.

However it confused people on what it was about, and lacked the search engine appeal that I think this new branding brings.

Back to that Original Strategy from the OmniContent era… I am thrilled to be on Substack once again (half a dozen times later), as I realized that I think it is finally time for me to fully use that Strategy once more. As I told my creator friend, Doc Williams, whom I share a show with called the Brand Doctors.

Super interesting with the whole strategy thing. Back in the day my old omnicontent strategy basically entailed this, but I couldn't do it. Based on mostly Automation tool limitations (or lack of tools), and also my execution. Now that I'm niched down to just the content creation topic I think the execution part will be easy, and the automation tools have finally caught up.

What I mean by this is that I would create a blog post (I’ve always been a writer first), and then create a video from that. Usually using the bullet points as a guide. Then cut out the audio from the video. I’d try to formulate what I say in the video to be useful as audio only too, such as describing any visuals on screen.

From there you could create clips, quote images, tweets, etc from all of the 3 Content Pillar Types.

HOWEVER…

It sort of failed. For one my series was the niche, and thus any episode could be any topic. Leaving momentum out the window, as for me it was more about creating a certain baseline of content back then.

The tools were not up to par, this being prior to the quarantine and all. Now with tools like Substack (video and podcast distribution), OpusClip, and Nuelink. I think I could accomplish this goal phenomenally. Of course once I get a taste of how it works, then I’ll make some posts on it as well.

I created the Content Polymath channel to teach people how to grow as creators. Particularly in this time of a Digital Renaissance of sorts.

That is all for now, and I hope you subscribe today to get a head start!

Also, if you would be so kind as to share this intro post to your world, then I would extremely appreciate it!