Aussie writer with 1B+ content views in 10 years | I teach people to use writing online to create career opportunities | Let's connect: tim@timdenning.com

I quit my eCommerce startup with 100+ employees. Then got depressed, developed an eating disorder, and got a minimum-wage job in a bank. I now work for myself and make 7-figures writing.

I'm not that smart and have no college education. The way I used the internet made the difference.

And going to a Tony Robbins event changed my mindset. He taught me to go from being a victim to be in control.

This led to:

• 1B+ content views
• Financial freedom
• Book deal with a major publisher
• Meeting my heroes (like Tony Robbins)
• Quitting my banking career forever in 2021
• Multiple successful businesses fuelled by obsession

My mission: Help 100,000 people start online businesses. 

My beliefs that drive everything I do:

- Anything is possible
- Positivity above all
- Ego is the enemy
- Challenge the status quo
- Chase obsession, not passion
- Always be kind, grateful, and a good person

How can I help you?

• Social media audience building
• Starting or growing an online business

Join my email list with 200,000+ other high performers for more helpful insights:
https://timdenning.com/start-social-hustle-linkedin-bio/

Tim Denning

Most individuals get a degree, enter the workplace, then cease learning

Accomplished individuals turn after-work education into a routine. They enjoy learning and challenging themselves.

When I initially worked in finance, I considered my position dull. One day my supervisor during our meeting showed some Ted Talks on his tablet.

He motivated me to gain knowledge from people outside of finance. He provided me a collection of books to study, conferences to participate in, and individuals to observe.

During the following 2 years I took his guidance. My professional advancement accelerated. Because of him I attended a Tony Robbins seminar.

It transformed my mind. I was permanently changed. It assisted me in recovering from psychological struggles. Education isn't a single-time event.

Utilize self-education to enhance your profession and boost your worth.

<<<>>>

♻️ Share this if you recognize a self-educator.

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Aussie writer with 1B+ content views in 12 years | Teaching high performers to build million-dollar digital businesses | Let’s connect: tim@timdenning.com

If you need 36 interviews to make a hiring decision, you don't know what you're looking for.

The best candidates won't wait for your corporate theater.

━━━━━

Friend just withdrew from a Google process after round 12.

4 months. 12 interviews. 6 take-home projects. 3 presentations.

They offered him 10% less than his current role.

He took a startup offer instead. 2 interviews. 1 week. 40% raise.

━━━━━

The hiring circus exposed:

Round 1-3: "Getting to know you" (Could be one conversation)
Round 4-6: "Technical assessment" (Should take 2 hours max)
Round 7-9: "Culture fit" (You mean politics?)
Round 10-12: "Final stakeholders" (People who won't work with you)

It's not thoroughness. It's incompetence hiding behind process.

━━━━━

What long interview processes mean:

• Nobody wants to make a decision
• Everyone's covering their ass
• The role isn't clearly defined
• Too many cooks, no chef
• They're hoping you'll drop out so they don't have to reject you

Companies that can't hire efficiently can't operate efficiently.

━━━━━

I hire in 2 weeks. Always.

Day 1: Phone screen (30 minutes)
Day 3: Real conversation with me (1 hour)
Day 5: Meet the team (90 minutes)
Day 10: Final decision

That's it. No committees. No consensus building. No theatrical performances.

Success rate? 85%.

━━━━━

The top talent timeline:

Week 1: They're interested
Week 2: They're engaged
Week 3: They're questioning your competence
Week 4: They're interviewing elsewhere
Week 6: They're gone

Every week you waste, your competition gets stronger.

━━━━━

Real story from last month:

Candidate had 8 offers. EIGHT.

The companies with 2-week processes got her attention.
The companies with 6-week processes got ghosted.

She chose the company that respected her time. Made $300K first year.

━━━━━

The interview marathon red flags:

• "We need buy-in from everyone" = Nobody owns anything
• "Just a few more stakeholders" = Endless politics
• "One final round" (for the third time) = Disorganized chaos
• "Take your time with this project" = Free consulting
• "We're being thorough" = We're terrified of decisions

Run. These companies are where careers go to die.

━━━━━

Here's what actually matters in hiring:

Can they do the job? (One technical interview)
Will they fit the team? (One culture conversation)
Do they give a sh*t? (You'll know in hour one)

Everything else is corporate masturbation.

━━━━━

To every hiring manager:

Your 36-interview process isn't finding better people. It's filtering out anyone with options.

You're not being selective. You're being stupid.

The best people have choices. Respect their time or lose them.

━━━━━

To everyone in interview hell:

A company that takes 6 months to hire takes 6 years to promote.

Find companies that move fast. They're the ones actually going somewhere.

What's the longest interview process you've endured? 👇

Join my unconventional Substack newsletter with 165K others: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

Just f*cking do it.


If you want to level up your career faster, then join my unconventional Substack newsletter with 171K others: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

Most bosses manage your output. The rare ones manage your potential.

One builds careers. The other builds empires.

━━━━━

Had 2 bosses in the same year. Same company. Different universes.

First boss: Tracked my hours. Reviewed my work. Gave me raises when HR approved them.

Second boss: Introduced me to CEOs. Pushed me into speaking gigs. Fought for my promotion when I wasn't even asking.

Guess which one I still text on holidays?

━━━━━

A boss who actually gives a sh*t does things differently:

They don't ask "What did you accomplish today?"
They ask "What do you want to accomplish in life?"

They don't manage your calendar.
They manage your trajectory.

They don't protect you from failure.
They ensure you fail at things worth failing at.

━━━━━

The VP who changed my life did 3 things no other boss did:

1. Told other companies about me (while I worked for her)
2. Connected me to her competition
3. Said "You're going to outgrow this role. Let's plan for it."

She knew I'd leave eventually. She accelerated it.

I've sent her millions in business since.

━━━━━

Bosses who don't care about your future:
• "That's not your job"
• "Stay in your lane"
• "You're not ready"
• "Be patient"
• "We'll revisit next year"

Bosses who do:
• "You should meet..."
• "Have you considered..."
• "I nominated you for..."
• "Take my spot at..."
• "You're ready for..."

One keeps you small. The other makes you unstoppable.

━━━━━

Real conversation with my best boss:

Her: "You're going to quit in 18 months."
Me: "What? No, I'm happy here."
Her: "You will be. But not in 18 months. Let's make sure you leave for something incredible."

She was right. Left after 20 months. For a role she helped me get.

━━━━━

The compound effect of a boss who cares:

Year 1: They teach you their job
Year 2: They introduce you to their network
Year 3: They push you toward bigger things
Year 5: You're running something they helped you build
Year 10: You're hiring their other protégés

Every great leader has this tree of success beneath them.

━━━━━

The test for whether your boss cares about your future:

Ask them: "Where do you see me in 5 years?"

If they say "Right here, killing it!" - they care about themselves.

If they say "Running your own division, maybe your own company" - they care about you.

The answer tells you everything.

━━━━━

To every manager reading this:

Your job isn't to keep your best people. It's to prepare them for what's next.

The ones you develop will build your legacy.
The ones you trap will destroy your reputation.

Be the boss people thank at their IPO.

━━━━━

To everyone with a boss who doesn't invest in you:

They're not going to change. You are.

Find someone who sees your potential and fights for it

Your career is too short for bosses who keep you small

♻️ Repost if great bosses build futures, not just teams

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9 uncomfortable career truths people lie to themselves about:

━━━━━

1. A salary won't make you wealthy

Your $200K salary? It's keeping you comfortable enough not to quit.

Meanwhile, the guy making $60K with three rental properties is building actual wealth. The freelancer with equity in 5 startups. The consultant who owns her business.

Wealth = ownership. Your paycheck is designed to rent your time, not build your empire.

━━━━━

2. Your boss doesn't care about your career growth

They care about their quarterly bonus. Their next promotion. Their ass staying covered when sh*t hits the fan.

I had 7 bosses in 10 years. Know how many checked in after I left? Zero.

Your growth threatens them. Your success makes them nervous. Your potential reminds them of what they gave up.

━━━━━

3. Company loyalty is a dumb decision

25 years at the same company? Congrats, you left millions on the table.

Job hoppers make 50% more over their careers. While you're waiting for that 3% annual raise, they're getting 30% bumps every 2 years.

Companies are loyal to shareholders. Not you. Act accordingly.

━━━━━

4. People go to jobs cause they don't know what else to do

"I love my job!" No, you love the security of not having to figure out your actual purpose.

━━━━━

5. Most people have no idea what their passion is, so they lie

"I'm passionate about supply chain optimization."

Really? That's what you dream about? That's what you'd do if money didn't matter?

Passion isn't found in job descriptions. It's discovered by doing sh*t that scares you.

━━━━━

6. Hours worked has nothing to do with value created

I worked 80-hour weeks for 5 years. Know what I accomplished? The same as the guy who left at 5 PM sharp.

One good idea in the shower beats 20 hours of busy work. One strategic "no" beats 100 tactical "yeses."

Time in chair ≠ value delivered. Stop confusing motion with progress.

━━━━━

7. Job titles are meaningless. They're just ego

Vice President of Nothing Important. Senior Director of Bullsh*t Nobody Cares About.

I've met "executives" who can't execute anything. And "junior associates" running entire departments.

Titles are participation trophies for adults. Cheap ways to make you feel important without paying you more.

━━━━━

8. You're not entitled to a raise, promotion... or anything

The market doesn't owe you sh*t. Your company doesn't owe you sh*t. Your boss definitely doesn't owe you sh*t.

You get what you negotiate. What you have leverage for. What you make yourself irreplaceable for.

Expecting fairness in business is like expecting honesty in politics.

━━━━━


9. Most of the stuff you buy keeps you tied to a job

That BMW lease. The house that stretches your budget. The lifestyle you can barely maintain.

You're not working for freedom. You're working to pay for sh*t that imprisons you.

Simplify your life. Watch your options explode.

ATS Critical Facilities

CF Engineer 1

Ainsworth Inc

• Assists Delta Connects in designing and selling control systems for commercial buildings.
• The idea is to move into a sales role after mastering the basics of construction project management, to include working with contractors and designing building plans.

Estimator

Urenco USA

Building Operator III

Entest of Testforce Systems

• Commit to growth and development by participating in supplier and training workshops (technical andsales).
• Travel (as required) throughout the United States of America and Canada.
• Demonstrate strong technical competence in our suppliers’ products and how they can benefit the
customer.
• Build strong working relationships with customers and suppliers.
• Identify and prioritize accounts by developing a deep understanding of customer profiles including details on the customer’s businesses, strategies, operating methods and needs.
• Identify new sales opportunities with existing or prospective customers.

Technical Account Manager

Testforce Systems

SolarWinds

As a Sales Development Represenative, I make 60-100 cold calls + e-mails a day to schedule discovery calls and demos of Solarwinds products. I use a variety of tools in order to prospect, such as Sales Navigator, Salesforce, Outreach, Netsuite, and Zoominfo.

While my job primarily involves cold calling for meetings, with almost no inbound, management trusts me enough to do Solarwinds product demos as part of discovery calls before I qualify a meeting. My programming experience helps a lot with demoing some of the more involved software such as security and database analysis.

I bring a level of technical expertise and engineering knowledge to. My goal for the next 3-6 months is to build my business acumen with sites like CIO and Harvard Business Review to give even more value to clients.

Sales Development Representative

OEM Group, LLC

Managed relationships with emerging and established customers of OEM Group, a semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer. Provided integrated product solutions from tools to customer support contracts for semiconductor customers from universities to microelectronic manufacturers.
* Used a combination of inside and outside sales techniques to assist senior engineers, C-level executives, and VPs with purchasing multimillion dollar tools, upgrades, and services from the Lead to the Close stage.
* Maintained pipeline predictability and forecast accuracy via face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, and phonecalls for 80+ FABs and foundries.
* Covered a sales region to include TX, CO, NM, AZ, and MN.

Account Executive

DRS Technologies, Inc.

Designed procedures and test fixtures and used these to executed tests on Naval power electronics such as overload relays,controllers, contactors, meters, circuit breakers, and switchgear. Tests include thermal, humidity, computer operational tests,hi-impact shock, and withstand and interruption testing. Able to repair and troubleshoot the hardware and software of units under tests to MIL-SPEC and customer requirements.
* Developed, reviewed, and tested over 2000 hours worth of procedures to test military hardware according to Navaland customer specifications.
* As needed, worked closely with a rotating team of technicians and other to support continuous testing, procedurerevision, and test fixture construction.
* Instrumental in re-qualifying the N2000 DRS Overload Relay under budget and on time through the use ofprogrammable power supplies and customized AC Controllers.

Electrical Test Engineer

CSID

Led and developed an electrical engineering graduation project, under the supervision of CSID, a peer-to-peer botnetinfiltrator called CAP2P. Project required several months worth of server sandbox assembly, malware decrypting, and programming.

Software Engineering Intern

US Navy

After 18 months of schooling at Nuclear Power School/Prototype, served the rest of my career at the USS John C. Stennis stationed in San Diego, CA and then Bremerton, Washington.

Senior reactor operator during deployment, along with being chosen as the reactor operator for the ORSE workups. Position required months of downtime training to culminate in a multi-week performance where difficult and esoteric plant conditions are simulated to test divisional readiness and level of knowledge.

Nuclear Reactor Operator

I wish to share others' thoughts and raise questions on the aspects of sales and business culture that I feel get overlooked for being too counterintuitive or obscure. Which is why I also have a fondness for sales and marketing leaders who think at a more systemic level like Dave Brock and Keenan and Hank Barnes. These leaders specifically see the value in focusing on details and trends we overlook and try to bring our attention to them, and I want to one day be one of their peers.

As for my personal history, I enlisted in the Navy as a Nuclear Electronics Technician/Reactor Operator for six years, then received my electrical engineering degree in a Top Ten university. I spent two years with DRS Naval Power as an Electrical Test Engineer and afterwards transitioned from Engineering to Sales with Solarwinds as a Sales Development Representative (SDR). After working at TestForce as a Technical Account Manager, I spent some time in Operations as a Building Operator over at Urenco, which provides enriched Uranium. Worked as an Estimator at Delta Connects, but left shortly after ChatGPT came out in March 2023 after seeing the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Prompt Engineering. I am currently looking for a role that will allow me to leverage my past experience in sales, engineering, and the military in a way that develops AI through the magic of LLMs.

I know it seems strange to say that becoming a prompt engineer is a lifelong dream, but it is. The technology just wasn't there to give me clarity of vision until ChatGPT got released, but now that it's here, I know exactly what I want. I want a job that engineers and creates, but not just a surface-level on requirements. Having been on both sides of the vendor and customer table, I know how frustrating it is not to be able to precisely execute a project the way you want due to real-world friction. And LLMs promise to change that.

As far as teaching goes, I've had quite a bit of experience. As a B2B sales rep who gave customized solutions to customers, such as semiconductor capital equipment or commercial HVAC plans, I know how to explain my proposals and give post-sale support to customers. I also had to train other people while I was in the Navy. And I don't just teach as part of my career, one of my favorite things to do is to write guides. I have a couple of guides I am particularly proud of in this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgCcjuHcuq1aoZl0Z0ljVxchV6WPOZ8F5DYBqn3vTRk/edit

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tim Denning's LinkedIn Performance

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