In the past 30 days, I've closed 15 clients for my new service offer. That's a new $200k+ ARR revenue stream.

Honestly, I'm shocked.

Let me share how I did this while it's top of mind: First, the service is called Content Sparring 🥊 .

I'm helping seasoned solos take their content quality up a notch, influence more people, ditch bad for better clients, and feel more creatively aligned.

I had the worst experience at a restaurant today.

We walked out and I left a 1 star review cuz it was that bad.

Their response is holy-fucking-shit level snarky.

So I got curious and filtered by all the 1 star reviews.

And people, every single response is SO SNARKY: So the above response was to my review.

We walked out after 20 minutes (not 5) cuz instead of giving us a menu, the staff were arguing with each other about how to stabilize a table.

And when I said something, the waitress was super defensive.

Anyways, let's look at more:

“What do I actually mean by this?”

This one question can transform your writing.

But writers don’t ask themselves it nearly enough.

Check out this simple edit that takes 2 minutes (seriously) but can make your writing 1 million times better.

SHORT THREAD: When you ask yourself, “What do I mean by this?” I promise your answer will be more specific than what you wrote.

And specific > general every damn time.

You just have to:

-Know to ask yourself this question
-Know how to find the gold in your answer

I'm declaring these hooks overused.

Avoid these if don't want to sound like a clickbait bro:

1/🧵 2/🧵

💩X sentences that'll improve your writing more than X years of English class.

💩Give me two minutes, and I'll teach you more than you'll learn in X years of a degree.

💩It took me X years to learn this skill. I'll teach it to you in 2 minutes.

Social is a tricky bitch to master.

But once you do, your audience is captivated by everything you post.

Credibility, meaningful connections, and money soon follow.

Here's how I mastered social writing (& how you can too): First, to win the long game, you need to prioritize value.

The long game = consistently making a meaningful impact.

The short game = quickly making a shallow impact.

The former feeds your soul and bank account (yay).

The latter feeds your ego (boooo).

A scroll-stopping hook is critical.

But once you earn attention, you need to keep it.

I've edited 3 million+ words and taught 100s of writers how to compel audiences.

Here's how to engage readers from start to finish with content that flows, educates, and drives action: A hook answers:

-What’s in it for me?
-Is this worth my time?
-What will I learn?
-How will this help me?
-Is this person credible?

A body answers:

-Why does this matter to me?
-What does this mean?
-How does this work?
-Can I do this myself?
-How can I take action right away?

Everyone has editing "to-do" lists (cut filler, check sources, ...)

But no one talks about editing "don't do" lists.

Without one, you risk wasting tons of time and energy.

How to avoid Doom Editing: Item 1: Stop when you've reached your "I think I'm done" point

Once you feel done, you're done.

If you go past this moment, you risk making nominal tweaks that don't add or detract from value.

You're just playing.

Take a step back and accept it's good enough.

Trust your gut.

23 things I wish I knew before I started posting on social media (or building a personal brand if you’re fancy): 1. Fun is the most important metric. If you stop having fun, growth (personal & professional) will stagnate.

2. Things that ruin fun: caring more about impressions, followers, likes, engagement, and revenue than making an impact, helping people, and making valuable connections.

I review 10k+ words a week over dozens of projects.

Inexperienced writers make these 6 mistakes over and over again.

Here's what they are (so you can avoid them): 1. Rely on bold & italics to emphasize points

This is a crutch.

You don't need to pepper bold and italics throughout your content.

It makes it look like you're trying too hard.

If you make your point well enough, the writing will do the heavy lifting on its own.

I grew to 40k+ followers in 11 months by helping people.

It's the golden ticket to quick + valuable growth.

Here are 17 ways you can build authority while building others up: Before we dive in, why is helping people so effective?

Bc your audience has problems to solve & goals to achieve.

They need to:

-Come up with & execute ideas
-Break through barriers
-Learn from others' failures & successes
-Feel empowered
-Take a next step

Help = A roadmap

21 things I wish I'd known before starting a career in content marketing & social writing:

1. People will tell you it's easy to make money from writing. 9/10, it's the opposite. You'll work long hours and struggle more than you think before seeing results. Hard truth. 2. Writing is more about thinking than writing. You'll end up writing in your head all the time. While cooking, walking, falling asleep, dishwashing, etc. Get ready to think a lot. And kick yourself when you forget to write it down.

WTF even is a "personal brand"?

The term has always made me feel weird.

It makes me picture our avatars projected on a window display. We're smiling at people walking by, going, "Tap my face to show me some love! You won't regret it."

Eek a deek.

So I dug into the history: The term comes from a 1997 essay called "The Brand Called You."

Here's a quote:

"We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."

I actually like (most of) the essay.

Exactly 1 year ago, I wrote my first post on LinkedIn.

It blew up.

A few months later, I figured Twitter out.

Now I have 51k followers across both platforms + massive credibility + a profitable side hustle.

All I did was follow these 4 writing principles: 1. Write an attention-grabbing hook
2. Prioritize structure
3. Make it about your audience
4. Deliver on your promises

Let's get specific ↓

I've been a professional writer for 5 years.

These are the top 8 writing principles I live by to create best-in-class content: Every sentence must add value and forward the narrative. If it doesn't, cut.

Else you risk disrupting flow and breaking your reader's concentration.

Keep the ride moving, or they'll get off.

The best writers master these 5 things: 1. Logical arguments

The best content compels readers to think, feel, nod along, & know what to do next.

To do this, it must be structured:

-Set the premise
-Support the claim
-Include a takeaway

You can't do that without:

-Topical knowledge
-Audience knowledge
-A POV/angle

One of the biggest mistakes I see when editing 2000+ words/day:

Filler.

Needless words create friction and harm readability.

Here are 5 filler sentences (edited with changes explained): ❌ The last interaction a customer had before purchasing is likely the thing that put them over the line.

✅ The last interaction likely motivated the purchase.

-'a customer had' is implied
-'is likely the thing that put them over the line' is vague and wordy

Most people aren’t ready to buy on day 1. Especially in B2B.

To stay top of mind, you need to plant persuasive seeds.

Here's how to do that in content: If you don't learn the art of subtle persuasion, you're leaving money on the table.

The key is to make it into the consideration set.

So when prospects are ready to buy later, you're a viable contender.

E.g.

"We got an X budget increase. Remember [biz]? Let's reach out."

I've edited 3+ million words in 5 years.

"Step away for 12 hours, then edit" is elementary advice.

Here's the 3-step process pros use to polish drafts to (near) perfection: There are three editing types.

1. Developmental editing
2. Copy editing
3. Proofreading

I do them in that order.

Start with the big picture, then zoom in.

People make split-second decisions about what to engage with on social.

-What’s in it for me?
-Is this worth my time?
-What will I learn?

I've helped 100s of people write scroll-stopping hooks that resonate with & engage their audience.

It all starts with this 1 key principle: Get. Freaking. Specific.

The more specific, the more it will resonate with/captivate/intrigue your *intended* audience.

You want to speak to a common problem or desire.

In the language that they use.

And present solutions they need/desire.

Let's get meta:

Most writing advice tells you how to do something.

But leaves out why to do it.

"Use these hook templates" ⬅️ WHY?
"Follow these 5 rules" ⬅️ WHY?

Knowing why empowers you to make intentional decisions.

And get better results.

Here's why: Disclaimer: I know what I'm talking about because I've been a content marketer for 5+ years.

I work at a content marketing agency that has unreasonably high editorial standards.

We manage top B2B SaaS blogs.

And I've grown my audience to 36k+ on Twits & LinkedIn in 7 months.

31 sentences rooted in realism that will teach you more about life than 31 sentences rooted in platitudinal BS by anon accounts and bros: 1. Don’t let someone else dictate your value. You’ll become reliant on them, and they can use that power to take advantage of you. Your value comes from you. Don’t give it away.

2. You can't control what people think about you. Be your best self. Hope others see your truth.