Reading time: 3.43 884 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Say it with me: MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS. You cannot tell me that the algorithm isnāt literally (and I do mean literally) damaging our brains. I open up Instagram and LinkedIn (and I donāt even go near TikTok) to see the following in this order: āI asked ChatGPTā Frogs doing frog things Wars Ads for plastic shit from Temu Sabrina Carpenter opinions (at the same intensity as wars) Manufactured outrage about a vulnerable...
4 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Reading time: 5.08 1,220 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, We need to talk about bestsellers. Bestsellers are hyped; books are written. Lemme say that again. We donāt write bestsellers, we write books. Then we market the shit out of them in hopes theyāll become a bestseller. There are courses out there that proclaim promises like āwrite your bestseller with usā or even āwrite your bestseller in a week/month/insert improbable time periodā and they really grate my carrot. Letās...
7 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 6 min read
Reading time: 1.24 330 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Occasionally I wake up at 4am in a cold sweat, as I vividly recall that time I silenced a crowded restaurant by making the following suggestion to my friend: āWell why donāt you just open up your legs and stuff it all in?ā Itās not what youāre thinking. It really isnāt. What had happened was, weād been talking about weird things adults say to kids, like ācuriosity killed the catā and āyou must have hollow legs because...
8 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Reading time: 5.06 1,213 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Things I donāt miss about the past: Cassette tapes getting tangled up and ruining the mix-tape you made DJs talking over the end of songs when you tried to record the Top 40 Rotary phones (who has time to wait for it to click all the way back round from 0) Things I do miss about the past: Not being instantly contactable (leave me alone) Proper snow Listening to albums the way the artist intended Iām so happy vinyl is...
11 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 6 min read
Reading time: 2.34 608 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, My signature course, MicroBook Magic, wouldnāt even exist without this brilliant human: So of course she came along and wrote a couple of books with me. Hereās her story: Misty is Executive Director, North Durham Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Trifecta Sales Systems. Sheās also the author of How to Be a Thick-Skinned Email Marketer and the upcoming How to Be a Thick-Skinned Salesperson The problem: Sales was sabotaging...
12 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Reading time: 2.24 569 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Youāre not for everyone. Nor am I. And thatās not only okay, itās brilliant! Thereās not enough time or energy in the world for one person to help everyone. So, you probably donāt wanna work with me if: You want a guaranteed bestseller (check out my upcoming Tuesday email for ALL the details on bestsellers and how they happen) You want a book in a weekend (Iām not here for that ā you can tell when someoneās written...
13 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Reading time: 1.57 463 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Sometimes, when Iām feeling super enthusiastic or fired up, I want to change the world. I want to fix everything thatās wrong with it. Eliminate suffering caused by humans. Eradicate war and hunger. Nuke from orbit people who watch YouTube videos on their phones on full volume without headphones in public places. Eradicate horseflies. That kind of thing. Then I think about the magnitude of that task and want to crawl...
14 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Reading time: 1.14 292 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Letās imagine, just for a moment, that we live in a Star Trek-esque utopia. Thereās no money (except maybe Ferengis with Gold Pressed Latinum), everyone has their basic needs met, and everyone has a role or a job or a function that suits who they are, what they can do, and what they want to do. Given all that, hereās my question: What would you create if money wasnāt an issue? Really give this some thought. Iām not...
15 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Reading time: 5.01 1,193 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, I love train journeys but I swear to the little baby frogspawn that some people need yeeting out of the train window. Like the woman I sat across from on the way to Newcastle on Monday morning. Who was clipping her nails. On the train. AND THE NAIL CLIPPINGS WERE PINGING ACROSS THE TABLE. What in the world of dragged-up-by-trash-pandas was happening here? My coffee tasted just fine without the piquant coffee art of...
18 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read