Tell stories

Tell about yourself with examples.

You are not self-motivated, you have started your own solo business and grown it to 200k ARR.

You are not a team player, you have joined a team and found a way to help your peers get the recognition they deserved.

You are not a marketing professional, you have researched audiences for five companies and found the most effective way to build a connection with their audiences.

Don’t tell about labels, tell stories.

That’s how you are going to win us over.

Note: It’s just as valid for products and services.

The importance of systems

If you are late and cannot find your trousers in the mess you have made of your wardrobe, most likely you will be even more late.

If your pipeline dried up and you need a few more deals to close the year, most likely you will close the year short.

If you have many employees leaving because your culture is toxic, most likely a couple of new benefits will not reverse the trend.

The point is, when shit hits the fan, it’s late to make changes. Not “too late”, because you can still organize your wardrobe before the next appointment, or start building pipeline for the next year. But still late for whatever it is you want to achieve now.

That’s why systems are so important. They support you (and others around you) when things don’t go according to plans.

And things rarely go according to plans.

Important to whom

When you want to do things that matter, things that change the status quo, things that make an impact, a great place to start is to own your own schedule.

Even if you are in an entry-level role, if you keep bouncing from one task that is important to your senior colleague to the next task that is important to the manager, you will never get to what is important to you.

And that, in the long term, matters more than anything else.

Silence is not weakness

A problem needs a solution.

A hunch needs clarity.

An idea needs execution.

An opinion needs an audience.

The point is, you can’t treat them all in the same way. If you share a hunch with an audience, most people will find it pointless and fail to understand. If you try to execute on a opinion, most of the times you’ll end up going alone. If you give your audience a problem, they will look at you for a solution.

If you are unsure what you are about to express, it’s ok to take some time to think it through.

Silence is not a sign of weakness.

Plenty of choices

More instructions.

A little longer text.

One more pop-up to tell users where to go next.

A tooltip with some additional information.

An example to explain what you mean.

These are all things that (almost) nobody will read. Ever. People are not on the web, they don’t use tools and services, they don’t download apps because they lack stuff to read. They do all that to help their own personal and professional journey. And if the website, the tool, the service, the app is designed in a way that requires hand-holding, they will just leave and move on.

The world is full with alternatives.