Yep, after thinking about this and trying my hand at being the first "engineer" at a pre-product fit startup, I decided that this kind of thing is fine and even sensible advice for people who just want to run a successful business, any business at all, but just very much isn't for me. I like thinking about how to scale up software, not how to get more engagement. I'm just a better fit for more established companies that have a product with some amount of existing flywheel and need to keep it working, improve it, and expand it.

I think the advocacy for these content based businesses would honestly make more sense directed to people whose direct interest is in business and marketing who just need to learn how to do some simple "low code"ing to turn their ideas into businesses. I don't think most of us here got into the programming game to start blogging and book-writing businesses!

Edit to add: I do really like The Pragmatic Engineer by the way! I'm glad the author is interested in this kind of business, because I benefit from it. It just isn't the right sort of thing for me to work on. Different strokes for different folks.