Don't 'Pitch Slap' Me

Last week I posted an example of a connection on LinkedIn who immediately pitched me. The post did ok for 2 days and then the algorithm found it’s audience and since then it blew up to 40,000+ impressions and 33k+ Members reached.

Why does this matter? Putting out content can bless us and our businesses tremendously. There are so many benefits I regret not starting sooner. I hope something I write here today inspires you to start putting out content now, at your own pace.

Learning Faster

Like a standup comedian perfects their craft by performing over and over at small clubs, feedback we get from other smart people can accelerate the development of our business philosophies. And in case you’re thinking “I already have all of my business philosophies nailed down, Mark” or “Bro, it’s not that deep.” I urge you to consider that we will never ‘arrive’ with our final philosophies in life. Plus, it’s the journey of learning and growing that brings the most joy, imo.

Ray Dalio in Principles (highly recommend!) describes how he is always looking for “the smartest people who disagree with [him]”. What a powerful mindset! LinkedIn gives us access to so many smart people, (some of whom are willing to disagree with us). This is a major positive benefit for putting ourselves out there and engaging with content.

Engaging on LinkedIn (where I’m told fewer than 2% of people ever post anything) has helped me crowd source challenges to my way of thinking. This is has been super valuable to me.

Connecting Faster

The most important thing for the future of our businesses are the people we have yet to meet.

All the people it will take to make our grandest visions a reality, we haven’t met yet. Some of them (perhaps the most important ‘some’) we don’t yet qualify to lead but it’s not too early for us to stretch our vision and leadership… through creating content and leading the conversation.

The opportunity cost of not meeting our future leaders is massive. Putting ourselves out there with content allows people to move through the know → trust → like stages AT SCALE.

The most important part about putting ourselves out there is this.

It builds OUR confidence in who we are,

that we are:

good enough
worthy enough
smart enough
(and whatever else you want to put in this two word combo → _________ enough.)

Seeking Discomfort

What would happen if we could re-wire our thinking and motivations to intentionally seek out maximally sustainable positive/productive discomfort in our lives? If we want our lives to have maximum meaning and maximum impact is this the right mindset?

Let’s say the answer to the above two questions is ‘yes’. Could content-creation play a pivotal role in that positive/productive discomfort? What is the difference to our lives if we intentionally seek out discomfort?

In this (exceptional) video, my favorite Ultrarunning videographer Billy Yang, chronicles his first 100 mile race and questions happiness through comfort. He posits the opposite is true. I agree.

1.5 years ago I was in a mastermind group lead by Tony Cline focused on content creation. While in that group I decided I was going to lean into the then-terrifying experience of being in front of a camera. At the time I felt I was perhaps a bad blend of perfectionism and self-consciousness that made it nearly impossible for me to record myself talking about anything.

I learned in that group (and from others) reps is what helps. Do something over and over and over until the discomfort, self-consciousness and perfectionism are no longer debilitating… So I decided to record and post 10-15 videos per day of myself for one week to an anonymous Youtube channel no one knew about (it’s uncomfortable for me to share the link here).

Guess what? It worked. It worked enough to get me over the hump and start building some level of momentum. It might work for you too.

Popular Posts last 28 days

Best Pitch Slap Yet - Viral post about how it’s not effective to sales pitch people on LinkedIn. Also maybe it’s not a great idea to cold outreach pitch anyone… 42,000+ impressions

2. I need to send you money even though you didn’t ask for it - The audacious idea of finding our errors and paying owners for the associated financial losses without them asking for it. 5300+ impressions

3. I left my girls home this morning - My personal struggle with time and how it played out one morning when I left my girls home (with mom) for my own mental/emotional health. 4200 impressions

4. Evidence for God - My personal relationship with my faith and how it intersects with my relationship with my agnostic son. 3600 impressions

5. We are kicking you out of this school - My right now his-stakes struggle with my other son who is grappling with his neuro-divergence in a world that both doesn’t understand him and he doesn’t understand. 3400 impressions

6. Guy sent us a nude in his mid-lease inspection - Can’t make this stuff up… Apparently it’s not illegal in Arizona to send someone a nude photo of yourself. It is a criminal act, however, to forward that nude to someone else. 3000 impressions

Moving Up

This week I am moving to Logan Utah, temporarily, to be with and find support for my son Drew who was recently kicked out of college and who needs some help he doesn’t think he needs. This is going to be the most uncomfortable thing I have done possibly ever. Drew can get very intense and I worry I won’t have the patience I need to give him he support he needs.

I will continue to work and create content and share from up north for an indeterminate amount of time. I pledge to do my best to lean into the flame of transformative discomfort and challenge you to do the same as we both pursue the joy that comes from resulting character development. Maybe this is my emotional ultramarathon race.

Maybe you’re running your own emotional ultramarathon race right now. If you are, please know there are dozens of amazing people ready and willing to extend support and prayers and resources to you. We just have to be vulnerable and brave enough to ask for it. For most of my life it has been uncomfortable to do so. My encouragement to you is: lean into the discomfort and see what happens.

Run your race, feel the burn, embrace the blisters—and maybe DM me when you cross the finish line (just don’t open with a pitch 😄).