Dickie Bush went from 0 to 377k followers on Twitter in 3.5 years.

He's well-known as the co-founder of Ship 30 for 30, an online writing group.

Alongside his partner, Nicolas Cole, he owns several digital properties that he leverages to build authority and generate leads for Ship 30.

These include:

• ​Ship 30 for 30​

• ​Premium Ghostwriting Academy​

• ​Typeshare (a social writing platform)​

• ​Write With AI​

• ​Fiction Writing With AI​

• ​Million-Dollar Questions

Dickie’s journey as a beginner creator was initially slow. He struggled to grow his Newsletter. It took him six months to get 150 followers.

However, in just five months, he grew his Twitter following to 3500. How?

Keep reading.

Table of Contents:

1. Life Before Content Creation

2. How Dickie Started Creating

3. How Dickie Started on Twitter

4. First Big Money

5. Advice from Dickie for Beginners

6. Dickie’s SIDE (Strengths, Interests, Demand, Execution)

7. How Beginners Can Apply the Lessons

1. Life Before Content Creation

Dickie graduated in 2018 from Princeton University with a degree in financial engineering and played college football.

His work ethic was shaped early, driven by his belief in Parkinson’s Law — staying busy to eliminate free time. Dickie would switch between football and studies, intentionally living on the edge of chaos.

His obsession for personal development reflected in his efforts to lose 100 pounds in 3 years.

Every day, Dickie logged his weight, alertness, motivation, and morning gratitude on a Notion spreadsheet. He wrote a 50-word blurb and rated his day from -2 to 2.

Every two months, he reviewed the numbers.

Dickie began working for BlackRock as a junior hedge fund trader, focusing on global macro markets. During that period, he started reading extensively on self-improvement, wellness, and growth.

2. How Dickie Started Creating

Dickie began creating content by summarizing interesting things he read or listened to each week, resulting in about 40 pieces of 1000-word summaries by the end of 2019.

Newsletter Launch

Since Dickie had written so much, he was looking for asymmetric upsides with minimal extra effort. So, he launched Dickie’s Digest—a weekly newsletter hosted on Substack.

In 2020, he committed to writing 52 editions—one each week.

What inspired beginner Dickie to write? Here’s the answer:

Dickie thought, even if no one read his stuff, at worst, he was doing what he'd already do. With a bit more effort, he could find great opportunities online.

Writing online was a nice break from his usual work with charts and numbers.

For six months, his newsletter didn't do well, only gaining 150 followers. Unhappy, he switched to Twitter.

3. How Dickie Started on Twitter

Dickie’s first Tweet on July 23, 2020 was about what he knew best - podcast summary.

First Spike

The following post he shared on the 5th day attracted a lot of engagement.

It's important to note that the original thread concluded without any CTA (call-to-action). Dickie added a CTA six months later. By that time, Ship 30 for 30 had begun to expand, making it a fitting addition.

The majority of the 85 comments on this post flooded after that CTA. This illustrates the enduring power of quality content as your evergreen source of authority.

Have a look at the CTA that was added later.

Frequent posts and engagement

Dickie continued posting multiple tweets and threads for some time. The topics included podcast summaries, Twitter growth hacks, Dickie’s Digest stats, his learnings, habits, and thoughts.

He actively engaged with other creators. Here’s one chain with Dan Koe.

Communities driving growth

He joined a writing group early. It probably planted the seed for him to make his own community later.

Just in 2 weeks, Dickie gathered 340k impressions. That’s the power of great content and consistent posting.

Building in Public

Dickie started making interesting tools already, months before floating the Ship 30 idea.

After just a month on Twitter, he revealed his approach of building in public.

The Beginner’s Luck

Recognizing the Twitter audience, he committed to writing 30 threads in 30 days in Aug’20. It consisted of summaries of podcasts he consumed.

By September, Dickie was on the brink of giving up.

On day 28, just as he was about to quit, Naval liked his thread, doubling his small following overnight.

It was a thread about the investor, Balaji Srinivasan collated from multiple podcasts.

This shows when you consistently write good content and engage with the community, you increase your luck.

This personal writing challenge evolved into the foundation of Ship 30 for 30, starting as a mere Slack accountability group to assist people in publishing consistently.

4. First Big Money

From there, he was off to the races. He discovered later that it’s the flywheel of content creation — where you find new ideas, share them, meet people interested in those ideas, they show you more ideas, and it becomes a flywheel that spins faster and faster.

Effortless Monetization

Dickie leveraged his podcast collection to earn $510 with little extra effort. Check this out.

The Beginner’s Break

In Nov’20. with about 1000 followers, Dickie asked his audience if anyone needed help with online writing. He got 91 signups in just 3 days. He wrote:

Originally, the plan was to keep it free, but on participants' request, he made it $50. People would get their money back if they completed the writing challenge: 30 200-word essays in 30 days.

Here's the impact of Ship 30 after 1.5 months.

Check this out if you want to read the essays from the first 60 members to feel inspired and start your writing journey.

Growth of Ship 30 for 30

Ship 30 for 30 became the main money-maker for Dickie. It got bigger and better. Now, he runs the Ship 30 cohort with his partner, Nicolas Cole. Dickie quit his job in March 2022.

The course, which started at $50 three years ago, now costs $800, and over 10,000 people have taken it.

Imagine paying such a big amount for writing online. That's the power of packaging a product as simple as the writing habit.

5. Advice from Dickie for Beginners

Whenever Dickie enters a new domain, he swiftly learns the essential 80/20 for optimal performance.

Use Pareto Principle

Dickie says the most efficient approach is not attempting to figure it out independently but rather observing others.

This involves noting:

• Who is already excelling in this domain?

• What factors contribute to their success?

He recommends creating a list of approximately 10 individuals excelling in your field and inquire about:

• What are their daily and weekly routines?

• What sets them apart from others?

This is also how I started Beginner Creator. I love studying my favorite creators. I lose track of time doing so. This case study is just a small part of what I learned.

Write to Solve Problems

He suggests posting multiple tweets per day, using them as data points to understand what resonated.

Before starting to write, he "prepped the page" with six questions:

1. What problem is he solving?

2. Whose problem is he solving?

3. What are the benefits of solving the problem?

4. What promise is he making to the reader?

5. What emotion is he trying to generate?

6. What’s the next action he wants his reader to take?

One of his most viral threads was recorded in real-time, providing a unique and valuable glimpse into his writing process. You can watch it here.

6. Dickie’s SIDE

Any creator can succeed when they get their SIDE right. It’s a simple framework beginners can use to start creating online.

SIDE = Strengths + Interests + Demand + Execution

Let’s look at Dickie’s SIDE.

Strengths

1. Note-taking from podcasts

2. Relentless work ethic

3. Sales and Marketing

4. Quick learning

5. Writing

6. Trading

Interests

1. Insane love for podcasts and books (He listened to all the Tim Ferris podcasts)

2. Organizing knowledge

3. Obsession with growth

4. Data-orientation

5. Self-reflection

6. Writing

Demand

1. Curation of knowledge

2. Getting started with online writing

Execution Milestones

1. Starting “Dickie’s Digest” (Jan’20)

2. Writing on X (Jul’20)

3. Networking on X (Jul’20)

4. Initiating Ship 30 for 30 (Nov’20)

Pause here for a moment.

Think of what can be your SIDE. Write on paper or digital notes.

Use it as a starting point to pick what you want to create.

7. How Beginners Can Apply the Lessons

1. Capture Value

Identify if what you love doing is also valuable for others. If in doubt, ask your friends. Sometimes, slight tweaks to your existing work can open up a window of opportunity. Dickie started publishing his podcast notes as an experiment.

2. Commit and Start

The simple rule is to commit to a specific task for a certain period and start without overthinking. Don’t complicate and avoid creating too many vague goals.

Dickie follows James Clear’s advice - consistency wins over intensity.

3. Track Progress and Pivot

Look for signals. Dickie moved from a newsletter to Twitter because he wanted faster progress.

4. Build in Public

While it’s not absolutely necessary, building in public can fast-track your growth by tightening the learning loop. Dickie was a master of this even as a beginner.

5. Join Courses and Communities

Courses help bridge the knowledge gap. Communities help you with accountability and motivation. You can do it on your own but at the cost of time, effort and frustration.

6. Steal Ideas from the Best

Find the best people and ideas in your niche. Take action. Dickie used David Perell’s Personal podcast concept to come up with the idea of Ship 30.

Every week, I share stories about how successful creators started their digital journey as beginners. I explore only the early part of their growth to make it less overwhelming and help you start creating online.