Thread by @awilkinson

This is a story about how I went from letting down hundreds of young entrepreneurs and being a douche...

To raising tens of thousands of dollars for charity, while saving myself a ton of time.

Here's what I did:

When I was younger, I’d cold email entrepreneurs I admired.

It always meant a ton to me when they responded, and I built some amazing relationships this way.

Flash forward to this year, the tables were turned.

Now I'm the one getting emails from young entrepreneurs....

A couple at first. But now it's like 5-10 cold emails a day from people wanting feedback on their companies, random advice, to get on the phone, etc.

I was drowning in emails already and barely keeping up.

So I started going something shitty:

1. I ignored or deleted them.

2. I'd send back one line responses, which almost always make people think you're a douche/dismissing them.

It made me feel really guilty, so I came up with an idea...

I created a template for my assistant to automatically respond to cold emails with.

Which invites them to a monthly AMA (ask me anything) podcast that Chris and I do.

podcast.tinycapital.com

And we ask anyone who submits a question to donate to charity—any amount they can afford.

It's win/win/win/win

1. We batch all these emails/questions and answer them all at once over the course of an hour or two.

2. We get to share our answers with everyone.

3. We don't have to answer a gazillion emails.

4. We raise money for charity.

So far we've raised almost $60,000 for 3 hours work.

Crazy, right?

Before:

1) I was miserable, wasting time and emailing douche responses.

2) The entrepreneur didn’t get the response they deserved and I felt guilty.

3) A charity wasn’t even part of the equation.

Now:

1) I save hours per month and provide feedback I’m proud to share.

2) The entrepreneur gets the advice they were looking for.

3) Charities reap the benefits.

How's that for a productivity hack?