Guilty.

Are you saying I shouldn't have bought all these Beanie Babies

Definitely still kicking around, deep in idea territory. I have at least 20 other videos I want to do first 😅

I’m not super familiar with how they monetized prior - did they have managed services they offered?

IMO Sync - especially in the context of multi-player - has got to be a very compelling paid offering for team/corporate use

3 and THUG are my two favorites, but I do think 3 deserves the remake first. I'm not sure how well THUG's story would be received by audiences today without some major reworks

I'd guess that Sync is paying the bills enough for them to see this decision as viable. (Perhaps Publish too, but I think Sync is a real must for a lot of folks)

Putting effort into helping yourself make your friends feel loved feels like a win to me!

As long as there isn't cat litter!

What’s fire smart?

Thanks for the recommendation! We're also about to put the full 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades book online as well (It's already free, just only available in PDF/epub forms. We want to make it more like a doc site)

Very nice change to see! I'll have to play around and see if this makes them workable, though I still have doubts if they'll work with a dual Projects-Tasks db setup.

Overall, I think a big part of it is that Ali did it more successfully than anyone before him, providing a more visible model than ever – especially for folks with a similar background.

I was focused on college, specifically, until around 2016-2017. My perception is that Ali was as well, and started his shift toward more general content slightly later.

It's after Ali blew up that I noticed a ton of med school students/doctors doing this type of content. Not many before him.

Honestly, a huge chunk of modern productivity/lifestyle influencer culture has its roots on the circle of people who attended World Domination Summit events (Chris Guillebeau's event). E.g. Matt D'avella's start was working with The Minimalists, who were very close to that event

I should also that the modern crop of lifestyle/productivity influencers were heavily influenced by a circle of folks who wouldn't really be labeled "productivity" creators – Marie Forleo, Chris Guillebeau, Pat Flynn, Steve Kamb, the Minimalists, etc.

General productivity also really wasn't much of a space. There were two channels that did a lot of stuff before me – Art of Manliness, and another I can't remember the name of. Both stopped making videos.

...enjoyed getting nerdy about them and writing about them online. Still no money in the space.

When I got into YouTube, the only other people making study skills content were our friend Simon Clark and his friend Jamie Miles. Pretty much no one else.