The Information Advantage Path
Monetize the knowledge you take for granted by selling a service to affluent buyers
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
Cole argues the fastest route to $5-10K/month is not a viral audience or a $200 course but a service sold to affluent buyers in an industry where you already have an 'information advantage.' Step one is recognizing the knowledge you take for granted precisely because everyone in your immediate circle shares it; removed from that circle you know a great deal. Step two is aiming that advantage at the wealthiest customer segment (a biotech startup, a pharma exec, a private-practice surgeon) for whom a $3-5K fee is negligible, rather than at price-anchored consumers like tutoring clients. Because low price points demand high volume, a single service client willing to pay several thousand dollars replaces months of product sales. The mechanism converts existing fluency directly into revenue without first building attention.
Origin
Cole built a ghostwriting agency from zero to ~$180K/month and now teaches this path in his Ghostwriting Academy and Premium Ghostwriting Academy. Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal.
Core principles
- 01You already know more than you think relative to the whole population, not just your peer group
- 02The fastest path to income is a high-priced service, not a low-priced product
- 03Sell to buyers for whom your fee is trivial, not to price-anchored consumers
- 04Skill and credibility compound faster than audience
How to run it
- 1
Identify your information advantage
Find the subject where your experience makes you inherently more knowledgeable than the general population. It is usually the thing you dismiss because your peers all share it.
Pro tip Ask what a company would rather hire: someone fluent in your industry's language or a random person who knows none of the terms.
Watch out Do not imagine the most legendary future version of yourself; start from what you already know.
- 2
Choose the affluent buyer
Map who would pay a premium for that fluency. Target businesses and executives, not individuals anchored to low price points.
Pro tip To a startup that raised $30M or a pharma exec, $5-10K is nothing; to a tutoring parent it is a fortune.
Watch out Avoid services already price-anchored cheap, like hourly tutoring.
- 3
Package one service
Pick a single, concrete deliverable you can produce for that buyer using your advantage rather than trying to offer everything.
Pro tip Services beat products because one client at $3-5K removes the volume problem entirely.
- 4
Pitch a single client
Go find one buyer who will pay you several thousand dollars rather than building an audience of thousands first.
Pro tip You can become a viral creator later; income comes faster from one paying client now.
In the wild
A 26-year-old NHS doctor feels she has no skills beyond medicine. Instead of tutoring med-school applicants (price-anchored low), she recognizes her information advantage in medicine and pitches a family-friend spine surgeon on creating educational LinkedIn content to attract higher-quality patients. The surgeon's private practice easily values that at several thousand a month.
→ One warm client at $3K/month replaces roughly half a full-time income.
Common mistakes
Chasing followers before revenue
Believing you need a million, 100K, or even 1,000 followers before you can monetize keeps you from the faster service path.
Selling to the wrong wallet
Aiming your skill at individuals who value money like consumers instead of businesses that value it like an investment.
Is it for you?
Best for
Employed professionals with domain expertise who want to replace or supplement income quickly.
Not ideal for
People with no accumulated domain knowledge who genuinely need to build a skill from zero.
From the transcript
“the fastest path though is not selling a product it is selling a service”
“step one is you have to identify your information Advantage”
“you don't need all the doctors you need one doctor”
From the episode
How to Make $10k/Month as a Writer - Nicolas Cole
Nicolas Cole