Introducing the Writer's Flywheel
Of Writers, Digital Products, and Toolkits to Create Momentum.
Have you heard of the term "flywheel" as it relates to brands?
It’s a concept made famous by Jim Collins, in his book ‘Good to Great’ to illustrate how some companies succeed, while others fail.
What is the Flywheel?
In Collins’ concept, the flywheel represents a massive metal disk that takes immense effort to push initially.
But as it gains speed, it becomes easier to keep spinning.
After enough turns, it achieves a “breakthrough”—its own weight drives it forward, making it “almost unstoppable.”
He concludes:
“You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster … compounding your investment of effort .. with almost unstoppable momentum.”
Collins uses this idea to explain why companies like Amazon and Vanguard excelled—they focused on small, consistent actions that generated compounded returns over time, instead of relying on singular, major changes.
He contrasts this with companies stuck in a "doom loop" of massive, short-lived changes that fail to create lasting momentum.
Lately, I’ve been wondering: What would a writer’s flywheel look like?
What if there’s a flywheel effect in creating a system that helps you achieve consistency, generate creative output, and expand your reach in meaningful ways?
The Writer’s Flywheel: How It Could Work
In writing, your small, daily actions can also build momentum.
Each new piece of content—whether short or long form—every interaction with your readers, and each strategy you employ adds energy to your wheel.
Over time, this momentum becomes self-sustaining, helping you grow your audience, increase your impact, and build a lasting body of work.
Consider two interlocking flywheels: the Process Flywheel and the Product Flywheel.
Each supports the other, creating a sustainable system that propels your writing forward.
Whether you’re just starting out or already established, the flywheel effect would still apply.
In upcoming posts, I’ll explore how technology can support each flywheel and create a sustainable system to fuel its momentum.
Through TechMadeSimple, you’ll find the resources and guidance to choose the best tools and strategies to drive your flywheel forward for creative satisfaction and financial growth. Until October 31, upgrades are at a lifetime 50% off discount.
The Process Flywheel: Building Consistency
At the core of any successful writing journey is the Process Flywheel. This is where your writing habits, systems, and discipline come into play. The steps might look like this:
Research: Dive deep into topics that matter to you and your audience.
Ideate: Develop new ideas based on your research, interests, and market trends. Stuck for ideas? Try this tip.
Create Content: Transform your ideas into actionable, high-quality posts, articles, or books. Keep a research and ideation journal using your preferred journaling, note-taking, or mind-mapping tool.
Publish: Share your work with your audience through platforms like Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, or your website.
Engage: Interact with your readers, gather feedback, and build relationships.
Reflect and Iterate: Assess the impact of your work, adjust, and repeat.
The more consistently you follow these steps, the faster your flywheel will spin.
Over time, the writing and publishing process becomes second nature, and your ability to generate new ideas accelerates, steadily building momentum.
The Process Flywheel fuels the Product Flywheel.
The Product Flywheel: Creating Impact
This is the flywheel representing the tangible outputs of your writing and how they evolve over time.
Here’s a progression you might follow:
Single Post: Every piece of content starts with a single post—whether a newsletter article, visual, poem, or blog.
Series of Posts: Expand on these ideas into a series of posts, diving deeper into specific themes.
Larger Projects: Compile these series into larger bodies of work, like eBooks, books, or guides.
Courses, Workshops, or Webinars: Monetize your content by creating online courses or workshops.
Memberships and Subscriptions: Offer exclusive content or perks through paid memberships.
Each step of both flywheels pushes the wheels forward to create momentum, allowing you to expand your content, reach new audiences, and create additional revenue streams.
Importantly, the success of the Product Flywheel feeds back into the Process Flywheel, requiring you to consistently follow through to meet audience demands, but with no greater effort than before.
For example, crafting a quality post takes the same amount of time whether it's read by one person or a thousand, right?
How to Get the Flywheel Moving
The key to building momentum is small, consistent actions over time rather than infrequent large actions.
Here are a few ways to start turning the wheel:
Strategize your writing process: Develop a content strategy and a repeatable process for creating and distributing content. Set up a content management system that works for you using tools like Notion, Microsoft Office or Google suite .
Automate where possible: Streamline repetitive tasks with automation tools or genAI. For example, use templates, automate email flows, schedule posts in advance, create landing pages, generate video captions, or summarize meetings and podcasts. This frees up time for your creative work.
Distribute strategically: Focus your efforts on platforms that offer the most value for your audience. However, to grow your audience, you may need to diversify.
Engage in the Community: Write daily on Substack Notes (or a similar platform), reply to comments, ask questions, and maintain an active presence. This practice not only keeps you engaged but also helps you develop themes and seek valuable feedback while consistently producing short-form content. Reading and interacting with others builds connections that may amplify your content and brand.
Building Momentum: The Key to Long-Term Success
The hardest part of the flywheel is getting it to move. But once it’s spinning, each new action builds on the momentum you’ve already created.
Writing is no different.
Small, consistent actions—writing daily, publishing regularly, growing an audience, and engaging with readers—compound over time.
The effort required to generate results decreases as the impact of your work grows.
Selecting the Right Toolkit for Your Writer’s Flywheel
What digital tools will help you on this journey?
Every writer has their favorites, but it’s essential to assess them based on key criteria:
Strategy: Does it align with your writing goals—whether for fun, a side hustle, or building a long-term business?
Cost: Is it affordable given your revenue? Are there more budget-friendly or free alternatives that work just as well?
Features: Does it provide essential functionalities for the specific process step? Is it future-proof, especially regarding AI integration?
Ease of Use: Is it intuitive, or does it have a steep learning curve? How user-friendly is the product?
Long-term Value: Does it scale with your needs? Is the investment justified?
Reviewing tools based on consistent criteria will help you establish a deliberate strategy and avoid the pitfalls of random selection.
Given the variety of options available online, consider categorizing your toolkits by process to ensure each choice aligns with the criteria above rather than being a random starting point. Tools like Scrivener provide authors with an all-in-one solution, supporting every stage from research to drafting a book.
In future posts, I’ll explore how technology fuels the writer’s flywheel, detailing specific strategies and tools to streamline your writing process and scale your content.
Conclusion
One fundamental question underpins all of this: Are you writing for the long term?
If you’re serious about your journey, then strategizing, designing systems, tracking progress, and making adjustments is crucial for generating a flywheel effect.
Whether you’re a one-person business or a large company, the right flywheel strategy and execution can lead to sustained success.
p.s. If you found this article helpful, and would like to support my work, please consider upgrading or contributing to my Kindness Jar! Your generosity helps keep TechMadeSimple going! Thank you!
Through TechMadeSimple, you’ll find the resources and guidance to choose the best tools and strategies to drive your flywheel forward for creative satisfaction and financial growth. Until October 31, upgrades are at a lifetime 50% off discount.
Absolutely Brilliant, this was Exceptionally written, Well Presented, Organized, Focused, Productive, Insightful, and Insightful article.
Great Presentation.
Wow! What a great 'how to'! Thanks so much for this article!!!