Every 4 weeks, I publish deep dives into B2B thought leaders, breaking down the content strategy they used to go from unknown consultant to top tier personality.
Does the expert become a writer, or the writer become an expert?
Before you answer that question, let's talk about Dan Runcie.
Dan founded Trapital in 2018, a newsletter on the Business of Hip Hop.
He had zero experience or connections in the music business. He worked in EdTech sales. Literally, you and I are just as qualified as he was to write about Hip Hop.
What he did have was a passion for writing in his free time and a casual interest in the Hip Hop business model.
So, he starts writing a weekly newsletter.
Every article is backed by secondary research: listening to podcasts, reading articles, and following artists on social.
Then, he'd formulate his own analysis of the business and marketing.
He wasn’t writing about what he knew. He picked topics based on what he wanted to learn. Curiosity led him to understand how and why the music business worked.
Music execs signed up for his newsletter, learning with him. They were too busy in their day-to-day to curate like Dan was. Within a short space of time, those execs started offering Dan consulting work.
He'd positioned himself as a music business expert, not through a label or positioning statement, but implicitly through his writing and thinking.
Fast forward to the time of writing, he now has a successful podcast and media business with 30k+ subscribers.
This month, Dan Runcie hosted his first event–Trapital Summit. It was sponsored by Warner Music, Soundcloud, and Tidal, amongst others.
Through his newsletter, he’s also attracting and investing in early-stage startups ‘solving problems in music.’
He's been featured in WSJ, The New York Times, CNBC, and Bloomberg.
Notice: Around 2 million people are directly employed by the music business. In 2018, every single one of those people was better positioned and better connected than Dan Runcie to build a successful music newsletter and all that comes with it.
Dan Runcie now has more influence in the business than most of those 2 million people because love for the game, insatiable curiosity, and commitment to hone a craft beats expertise and experience, every time.
But, knowing how far Dan Runcie has travelled in such a short space of time, I wonder, if someone with ten years experience, knowledge, and connections in the music business had taken Dan’s approach, how far would they go?
If you take all that you know with your decade+ experience, then start analysing market events in your industry, say healthcare, in public, where would that take you?
And when I say analyse, I mean through the lens of your expertise. If you’re in sales, show me how the most successful brands in healthcare became successful through particular sales strategies and tactics.
Or maybe you sell branding, and you want to specialise in sports fashion. Write thought pieces on branding with all examples and case studies focused exclusively on sports fashion.
Apply your knowledge. Show me how it works in the wild, in your niche. Give me examples that support your thinking. Learn and think in public.
This Dan Runcie approach is a genuine path to quickly becoming and being recognised as a market expert.
The timescale gets even shorter when you're already an expert with an existing network.
Want to become a thought leader?
Every 4 weeks, I publish deep dives into B2B thought leaders, breaking down the content strategy they used to go from unknown consultant to top tier personality.
