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Deep Dive with Ali AbdaalHow To Build A 1.5 Million Following Online As A Writer - The Cultural Tutor
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
From McDonald’s shifts to viral threads: building The Cultural Tutor
- Sheehan Quirke recounts going from a law graduate working McDonald’s maintenance shifts to quitting and committing fully to writing online after a moment of realizing work was blocking time with close friends.
- He explains that The Cultural Tutor began as a straightforward brand name to support a cultural tutoring service, but the writing itself drew attention and became the core offering.
- He details an early Twitter growth playbook centered on daily threads, direct outreach to engaged users, and persistence through low-performing posts until a breakout thread created critical mass.
- He describes a creative philosophy of writing primarily for himself, using the internet’s rapid correction as a tool to improve, while trying to make posts “interesting, useful, and beautiful.”
- He discusses the tension between art and business, warning that excessive optimization and overscheduling can squeeze out creative spark, and he argues that fame and metrics aren’t the basis of a meaningful life.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasA single “spark moment” can convert long-building dissatisfaction into decisive action.
He describes a moment of clarity after missing a friends’ meetup due to a McDonald’s shift, which pushed him to quit and commit fully to making writing work online, trying multiple paths (listicles, tutoring, applications) until Twitter writing clicked.
Sometimes the audience reveals the real product after you start shipping.
He says he started the Twitter account primarily to drive traffic to a cultural tutoring website, not to “conquer Twitter,” and only later realized people wanted the writing more than the tutoring.
Early-stage growth came from a high-output, high-hustle distribution strategy, not just writing quality.
He attributes early growth to extreme consistency (aiming for a thread daily), aggressive outreach (following niche communities and messaging prior engagers), and increasing the odds of a breakout post by publishing frequently.
Publishing accelerates learning because feedback is immediate, unavoidable, and corrective.
He argues credibility is best tested by audience response, and that being corrected publicly forced him to research more and improve faster than writing privately; he also says you must ignore both praise and hate and focus on whether you stand by the work.
Non-political, meaning-oriented content can stand out amid outrage and distraction.
He claims part of his resonance is that his topics (art, architecture, history) provide “timeline refresh” relief from politics and empty doom-scrolling, offering content he frames as meaningful, uplifting, and apolitical.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesBecause I had no money in my bank account. I had nothing. I had nothing to lose, nothing to fall back on. It was like, it's either do or die.
— Sheehan Quirke
When you write online, the internet, um, is a beautiful, flawed, strange, incredible place. But if you say anything slightly wrong on the internet, everyone will let you know immediately.
— Sheehan Quirke
Being a writer isn't about having a book, you know, on the shelf. It's not about having a million followers on Twitter. Being a writer is about, um, what defines somebody who we can say they are a capital W writer is whether or not they wake up and they write that day.
— Sheehan Quirke
Ev- every action is an expression of our priorities.
— Sheehan Quirke
You can optimize the spark within you that makes you suddenly decide to say, "This is what I'm doing today."
— Sheehan Quirke
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SPEAKERS
Ali Abdaal
hostDoctor-turned-YouTuber and creator who hosts the Deep Dive podcast, focused on productivity and personal development.
Sheehan Quirke
guestWriter and creator of @TheCulturalTutor, known for building a large following by sharing culture and philosophy content online.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
