12 Ways To Stand Out In 2026

**Jay Clouse** (0:14)
Hello, my friend, welcome back to another episode of Creator Science. It's just me and you today, just me on the mics doing a little solo episode. I wanted to hop on and share where I think some of the opportunities lie in 2026 I think it's undeniable that the world is changing faster than ever before, that things feel extremely uncertain. And what does that mean for creators like you and I? What does that mean for our businesses, our business model? Sometimes it feels like things just aren't working the way they used to. So where are those opportunities? I wanted to share some of the things that are on my mind as opportunities in 2026 to hopefully give you a nudge in the direction of what feels the most right to you. I have 12 of these, 12 ideas that have come up with that I think are opportunities in 2026 You don't have to go after all of them. I know I will not, but it's good to keep a running list of options, things that feel like there's opportunity there in a world where maybe opportunity feels a little scarce now that content feels so abundant. So, 12 ideas, starting with long form writing. I'll get to all 12 of those after this quick break.
Okay, idea number one. I think there is opportunity in long-form writing today, which is not something that I would have expected if you would ask me in 2025, do I think long-form writing is becoming more or less valuable? I think it's becoming more valuable. Part of this is due to a surge that I'm seeing on X now. You know, Substack has been a good destination for long-form writing for a while now, and I think Substack is still a good destination for long-form writing. I think your website, I think whatever newsletter tool you use is a good vehicle for long-form writing, but we're seeing renewed interest because of this recent competition that X ran, where they're giving away a million dollars for the most read article. It seems like as a platform they are pushing long-form writing, but what is encouraging to me is that there seems to be genuine hunger and interest in it on X as a platform. I think that's real. The numbers seem fairly inflated, and a lot of the comment activity still seems kind of body. It looks like there's a bunch of bots commenting on it. But I think we're starting to see the pendulum swing in the opposite direction as people are realizing that short-form content, what performed well there, didn't necessarily nourish us a lot of times. And I think people are interested in going a little bit deeper, at least some people. So I think there's opportunity in long-form writing, and that extends to bigger projects like books as well. It seems like the narrative is that readership is on the decline and book sales are down, but there's not actually a lot of data to support that is true. It seems like maybe there's a slight trend downwards in terms of long-form readership in the form of books, but not so different than we've seen in past decades. It seemed like there was a much sharper decline at the advent of the cell phone, but since the cell phone, the year-over-year decline hasn't changed much. So, you know, I'm reading more than ever before, and I think people are getting more interested in a more analog world, and I think that there's an opportunity for books to come back. What will that look like, though, in an AI world where research and writing is getting easier and easier? Will there be a boom in published books? Probably. If I were to guess, I would say probably. I don't know that traditional publishers are going to use this moment to become gatekeepers of non-A.I. created materials. I think they could, but anyone can self-publish that as well. So all this to say, I think in this moment, there is more appetite for long-form writing. And if you want to indulge in it, I think this is a good time to do so on X, on Substack, in your newsletter generally. And if you're pulled towards doing a book project, I would encourage you to try it. I'm really enjoying the process as long and slow and painful as it is. The people in the book world really care about the quality of the craft and the writing. And I find that to be very, very refreshing as a creator and an artist right now. So number one, long-form writing. I think there's opportunity there. Number two, demonstrations. I'm finding that of the long-form content, I am still personally consuming and not simply asking Gemini to summarize the video or the podcast. There are two categories of long-form video and podcasting that I really like. Number one, being demonstrations. This really needs to be video and this is idea number two. Sorry for confusing all the numbers. This is idea number two, demonstrations. This is one of the forms of long-form video I am still consuming at its own pace without trying to compress it through summaries. And the reason being, we like to see how other people do things. It's magical that I can ask AI how to explain how to do just about anything and it gives me a step-by-step, but there will always be other human beings that I hold in some level of esteem and admiration. And I'm saying, I am directing my life to be more like this person. I want to work towards having their lifestyle, their career success. And if I'm trying to chart my course towards that person, I'm going to be uniquely interested in seeing how exactly they do certain things. And so an over my shoulder, behind the scenes, watch me do this kind of demonstration, I think is really good content right now. I'm seeing a lot of it in the AI space. Of course, I'm seeing a lot of content of all kinds in the AI space. But watching people use these new tools helps to kind of turn on a light bulb and give you some ideas for how to use it yourself. So I think this show don't tell style of demonstration content is a big opportunity in 2026, which is kind of interesting because it's almost like a return to tutorials and early style of YouTube content. But I think it's interesting. I think for an interview podcast like mine, demonstrations is going to be something that I'm going to try more of this year on the channel. Idea number three, verifiable human experiences. I took a pause in watching the Olympics today and am recording this podcast episode before watching the Super Bowl tonight. And I've really enjoyed both those experiences. Why? Because those are verifiable human experiences. These are people doing things that are hard, that is stretching them, people at the top of their game, and you don't know what the outcome is going to be. AI can't generate that, at least not exactly. You know, like they could simulate it. But the level of attachment we feel to teams or our country, and it's hard these days, but the way we feel attached to a team that we identify with or a person we identify with, watching them struggle and succeed, and sometimes not succeed, that is really, really interesting. I don't exactly know the straight line to draw between what we do as creators and what we see in the world of sports, because what we're seeing in the world of sports is that there is so much demand for that content. If you look at the deals that are being done for streaming services and cable networks around live sports, it's bananas, because this is the thing that routinely brings in appointment viewing to these services, because people want to see other people have a human experience that they know is real and unique, and there are stakes, and there are people who have trained for this. I don't know what that looks like for creators, but I do know that there's an appetite for it. And if you can figure that out, you'll be successful. Idea number four is online community. This isn't going to seem new or surprising to you, but listen, the world is crazy right now. I think everyone can agree that everything in the world feels heightened, and a lot of people are having a really hard time. As an empathetic person, as a sensitive boy, I have a hard time seeing so many people have a hard time. And the only thing that has kept me going and moving forward is that I have people around me, offline and online, that I feel like I can lean on, I can talk to, I can commiserate with, I can relate to. I think it's really, really important. And aside from just the political climate here in the United States and abroad, I am really worried for what AI is going to do to jobs. Just in two weeks of playing with what's possible in AI today with Cloudbot or whatever agentic tool you're using, I'm worried about people's jobs. I really am. And I don't think we're doing anything to look forward and say, what are we going to do when layoffs go beyond big tech and into smaller tech and small businesses? I'm really worried about it. And I think it's going to be more important than ever that people have community around them to catch them and support them and keep them going. I think it's really, really important. So no matter who your people are, I have a sense they need community in their lives. And if that does not exist for people offline, then online is the next best option. If there's not an online space where your people tend to gather and hang out and support each other, that could be an opportunity. And I think in 2026 and 2027, we're going to see more of a bridge between online communities and offline communities going both directions. I'll talk more about that here in a second. But I don't think we're going to feel a huge chasm between online and offline communities. I think the best online communities will have offline components. And I think the best offline communities will have online components. It's really about can you attract and sustain a group of people who need each other. The hardest thing about this, by the way, isn't just that you need to have a community mind or have someone on your team that can kind of manage this. It's that even in the best communities, there will be conflict. There inevitably will be conflict. And as a community creator, you have to be the mediator, and it's the worst part of the job. Nobody likes doing it. It's my least favorite thing when I have to send somebody a message in the lab and say, hey, this is against our code of conduct or I heard this. It's just the worst. But it's important. You have to do it. And because it's hard and because it is uncomfortable and because most people won't do it, that's why there's still opportunity in creating community online. Education is changing. I don't think that self-paced courses, as we've known them, will hold the same value or be as core to your business model as it may have been in the past. In a couple of years, there's a lagging indicator here. There's a lagging time period. But I do think that the way we learn will be hyper-personalized responses from some sort of AI-powered tool to our specific situation. You know, step by step, here's how you should do it based on your context. And also, we will continue to learn from people. People that we believe have done the thing we wanted to do, whose advice and perspective we trust. And that will likely happen either in one-on-one conversations if you know that person or within communities if you don't know those people and you need a way of reaching them. So I think online community continues to be a big opportunity. And if you're well-suited for it, it's a rare skill set that people really value. And I would encourage you to explore it. Idea number five is live learning. This is kind of similar to what I was saying about online communities. But because I don't think self-paced courses will have the same value that they used to, I do think people will still value learning in a group setting. We've been doing it forever. There was this hype around cohort-based courses a few years ago, which is hilarious to me because literally learning in groups with a teacher in the front, that's just education. That's the way we've done things for forever. Doing it online really isn't that different. But the great thing about live learning is not only are you getting the instruction, but you get bespoke, personalized support at times from the instructor or the people around you. A good live learning experience will bake in opportunities for you to do the work within it. So there's like this accountability mechanism to kind of force forward progress. And there's the community aspect to it. Anybody who is joining the same live learning experiences probably have something in common. And by hosting that live learning experience, you are now the hub that has created new relationships between people. And that's really, really positive. So live learning is great. It tends to be valued more highly than self-paced learning. So the price points are typically higher. The price sensitivity is typically a little bit lower. And it's a good way for you to kind of kickstart the community building that you may be considering doing. Now, there's a big caveat to that, which is, I'll keep this short, if you are doing cohorts, if you're doing live learning in a cohort setting, and at the end, people are going to want to continue the community in some way, do not just have some free, always open community experience in the back end that now you are promising to sustain forever because that is not a sustainable model. It ends up being something that the more successful your cohort is, the more people you have in the community, the more expensive and time consuming it is to maintain that free community that you're no longer being compensated for. The incentives aren't super aligned for you to make that a good experience, and it can sour the positive experience of the live learning if the back end isn't better. So I really am a huge proponent of a two offer system where you have live learning on the front end and then a membership on the back end for people who want to continue. But that is for another episode to dive into that more. We've got idea number six here, and then we'll take a quick break. Idea number six is local media and community. For the last few years, I've seen more and more local newsletters pop up, but I think there's still a ton of opportunity there. I mean, depending on where you live, if you're not in a major, major metro where there's already a bunch of this, there tends to be such an appetite for people to be tapped into what is happening around them, locally. It's a great way for you to become one of the central characters in your community, but also provide a huge community service of connecting people in the community to businesses and events and causes and interesting things happening. It's difficult to get the infrastructure up and running of printing and distributing physical newspapers in your hometown. Maybe you've had a newspaper in your hometown that went out of business. But doing it digitally with a newsletter, super easy to do. I've seen people pair their local newsletter with a local Instagram account. I think both of these things have a huge opportunity for a membership component, let alone the advertising component to it. I think that as things feel more crazy and were sucked into national news all the time, providing people a positive community experience in person with their neighbors is really, really powerful and really appreciated and really important, honestly. Connecting people to their neighbors, to their community, giving them a sense of belonging and joy and getting out of the big, giant national issues or wherever you live, the larger region, getting out of that and just remembering that, okay, here in our community, this is what our life is like and what we value and how I connect to these people around me. All that is so important. And I think as the world became more globalized, people started spending less time in their local communities and investing there less. And so being a local media entrepreneur and community builder, I think there's opportunity there. That is probably going to be opportunity that you can capture quickly with very little competition, which is great. After a quick break, I have six more ideas for you. They get actually weirder and weirder as we go. So stick around. We'll be right back.