My marketing career in 28 sentences:

1. Quit job at Sam's Club to start an eComm business

2. Borrow $40k from my dad

3. Lose $35k in the first four months

4. Realize you suck at marketing

5. Spend $4k+ on useless marketing courses and masterminds

6. Use your last $300 to buy Breakthrough Advertising (yes, it cost $300 in 2013)

7. Read the book three times in 2 weeks

8. Make $200k in 6 months

9. PayPal shuts down your account and keeps half the money for another six months

10. Quit eCommerce and spend a year reading, thinking, and writing

11. Start freelancing and get fired from your first client

12. Double down on consulting and double your rates

13. Get three retainers and feel on top of the world

14. Blow up your retainers by taking on too much work

15. Get so stressed you get shingles at 26 years old

16. Take a month off to heal

17. Get hired as a full-time content marketer at an agency

18. Spend a year and a half learning the ropes of content marketing

19. Start a content marketing consulting business on the side

20. Get so busy you have to quit your agency job

21. Marketing starts to make sense

22. Close a 6-figure content marketing deal with a big brand

23. Rethink everything you knew about marketing

24. Design a "unified theory" of marketing and put it together into a 20,000-word PDF

25. Get better results for clients and yourself

26. Post about your experiences on Twitter and LinkedIn

27. Build a following of people who are interested in what you're doing

28. Learn to deal with haters and trolls

---

Want a content engine that converts right off the bat and positions your brand for the long term?

Shoot me a DM.

Josue Valles

Curationlabs

We partner with VC-backed founders to turn their voice, vision, and experience into a high-trust LinkedIn presence that accelerates hiring, sales, and fundraising. This isn’t ghostwriting. It’s strategic amplification. We make sure the right people believe in what you’re building.

Founder

Marketing(Curated)

Learn marketing from the world's best marketers

tulkit. inc

Partner

Founder at The-Flyer-1™

I build curated assets that last.

If you're a founder or C-level exec looking to build your personal brand, I can help you build a curated library of assets that'll help you grow fast without sacrificing quality.

If you're a consultant or agency who wants to incorporate curation into their marketing arsenal, I offer a 12-week workshop where I guide you through my entire process.

Want to learn more?

Send me a DM.

In 1984, J. Walter Thompson ran this copy test once. Thousands took it. Only 10 people landed jobs. Those 10 people went on to become the brightest creative stars in the business. 

Here is the exact test they had to pass:

1. The Poppy Putrid Song 

"You are the songwriter for hitmaker Poppy Putrid. She's just had three recent No. 1 hits. All love songs. For her next hit, Poppy wants a song about moldy pizza, rancid butter, and flat beer. Her agent is convinced it should be another love song. Make it both."

This tests your ability to handle Cognitive Dissonance. Can you marry two conflicting concepts to create something memorable. Does your brain break when the pattern is disrupted?

2. Dialogue in a Dark Alley

"Write a Dialogue in a Dark Alley. (Not more than 200 words.)"

This tests your ear for dialogue. Great copy doesn't sound like writing; it sounds like speaking. 

3. The Taxi Strike 

"The Transit Authority has denied a request by the city's taxi drivers to increase fares... The cabbies have gone on strike... As a rookie reporter, it's your opportunity to shine. Write the banner headline and a story not to exceed 500 words."

This tests Persona Adoption. They want to see if you can inhabit the mindset of a hungry, ambitious rookie.

4. The Martian Speech 

"A delegation of Martians has just landed in Central Park... Prepare a short speech (comprised of pictures and symbols) to welcome them..."

This tests Simplification. Do you actually understand the core concept well enough to draw it?

5. Walletsize Books 

"You are a writer for Walletsize Books. Describe the history of the United States in 100 words or less."

This tests Editorial Judgment. Anyone can write a 10-page essay. It takes a master to decide what to cut. 

6. The Trappist Monk 

"You've heard the story about the man who made a fortune selling refrigerators to Eskimos... how would you sell a telephone to a Trappist monk who is observing the strict Rule of Silence?"

This tests Benefit vs. Feature. You must sell the benefit relative to the specific user's worldview.

7. Gun Control vs. NRA 

"Design/draw two posters. One is for legislating strict gun-control laws. The other is in support of the NRA."

This tests Radical Empathy. To be a great copywriter, you must be able to detach from your own ego and advocate effectively for the client, regardless of your personal beliefs.

8. The Dime Campaign 

"Develop a script for a popular network television program that will convince the show's millions of viewers to each send in a dime. (You have 30 seconds to be convincing.)"

In a 30-second script, you need urgency and a psychological hook immediately. You must trigger an emotional response in seconds.

---

We have become obsessed with tools, hacks, and algorithms.

But the fundamentals of persuasion haven't changed in 40 years.

- Simplification
- Empathy
- Brevity
- Psychology

Which of these prompts would be the hardest for you to answer?👇

Founder of markmind.co | Follow me for content on writing, thinking, and personal communication as a meta-skill

In 2014, I found a copywriting book so rare I had to pay $900 for it. The author, Gene Schwartz, died in 1995. But it's still the best copywriting advice I've ever seen:

CONTEXT

The book is "Breakthrough Advertising" by Gene Schwartz. 

Back in 2014, they weren't printing new copies, so you had to buy it from a reseller. I paid $900 for a beat-up paperback that looked like it survived a hurricane. These days you can buy it for $199 or so. 

1. Sell at the identity level

People want to become someone who doesn't need your product anymore. A founder buying productivity software doesn't want better time management. They want to become the type of person who naturally prioritizes the right things. Sell the identity shift, not the tool.

Just look at Marlboro. They didn't sell cigarettes - they sold the rugged, independent identity of the "Marlboro Man." They sold that same identity for 30 years straight. 

(Not endorsing the product, just analyzing the marketing.)

2. Match awareness levels or die

People exist at 5 different levels of awareness. Some don't know they have a problem. Others know the problem but not the solution. Others know both but don't know you exist. Your message HAS to match their awareness level or it bounces off. 

3. The most sophisticated markets buy based on mechanism, not results

When markets mature, everyone promises the same outcomes. Weight loss, more revenue, better productivity…boring. 

Sophisticated buyers want to know HOW you deliver those results differently. 

They're buying your unique mechanism, not your generic promise. So, if you’re in a mature market, spend more time refining the HOW instead of the WHAT.

4. Amplify existing beliefs instead of changing them

It's easier to amplify what people already believe than to change their minds. If your audience believes "networking is everything," don't try to convince them otherwise…show them how your product amplifies their networking. 

If they believe "content is king," position yourself as the kingmaker. 

Swim with the current of their existing beliefs, don't fight against it.

---

When it comes to books, I typically look for old ones, especially if they're still popular in inner circles. They're usually founded on principles, and principles never change.

While everyone's reading "AI Marketing for 2025" and "TikTok Growth Secrets," the fundamentals haven't budged in decades.

Some other books worth reading:

1. Made to Stick - Chip & Dan Heath
2. Scientific Advertising - Claude Hopkins
3. Contagious - Jonah Berger
4. The Copywriter's Handbook - Bob Bly
5. Oversubscribed - Daniel Priestley
6. Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
7. Tested Advertising Methods - John Caples
8. Thinking Fast & Slow - Daniel Kahneman
9. Purple Cow - Seth Godin
10. The Brain Audit - Sean D'Souza

What else would you add? 👇

Found this old manifesto about writing with style. Here's 7 writing rules from 1980 that will change how you write in 2025 (and beyond):

1) Find a subject you care about

Vonnegut says genuine caring, not games with language, should drive your writing. If you don't give a damn about what you're saying, why should anyone else? Your passion (or lack of it) shows through every sentence.

2) Do not ramble, though

Caring doesn't mean endless paragraphs. Vonnegut warns against writers who "reveal almost nothing about themselves to readers" because they go on forever without saying anything meaningful.

3) Keep it simple

Shakespeare and James Joyce could write complex sentences because they were geniuses. The rest of us should write like normal humans. Vonnegut's favorite sentence? "She was tired." At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.

4) Have the guts to cut

"Eloquence should be the servant of the ideas in your head." If a sentence doesn't illuminate your subject, delete it. Most writers are too attached to their own words to kill the ones that don't work.

5) Sound like yourself

Vonnegut says the most natural writing style is "bound to echo the speech you heard when a child." Don't try to sound like Shakespeare or a corporate press release. Sound like you.

6) Say what you mean to say

Don't make readers guess what you're trying to communicate. If you mean "The results were disappointing," don't write "The outcomes failed to meet predetermined benchmarks."

7) Pity the readers

They have other things to do besides decode your writing. Make it easy for them. They're not trying to win a literary prize - they just want to understand what you're saying and move on with their lives.

---

Writing with style boils down to caring enough to be clear, without feeling the need to prove how smart you are.

In 2011, this article was published to celebrate David Ogilvy's 100th birthday. It asks: 

"What can a man who never heard of the internet teach us about advertising?"

Well, IMO, quite a few things:

1. Deep research is still the only competitive advantage left in the AI era

In 1951, a small shirt manufacturer called Hathaway was on the brink of obscurity. They couldn't afford a celebrity. 

Ogilvy didn't just "get creative." He went to the library and researched for WEEKS until he found a photo of Baron Wrangel wearing an eye patch. He realized the patch added "story appeal."

He put an eye patch on the model for the shirt ad.

This campaign ran for 21 YEARS and made Hathaway famous.

I see so many copywriters using ChatGPT to "speed up" their process. Meanwhile, Ogilvy claimed to "pursue knowledge the way a pig pursues truffles." He studied EVERY SINGLE variable before writing a word. 

2. Spend 80% of your energy on the headline

This one is a bit cliché, but still worth repeating.

For his famous Rolls-Royce ad, Ogilvy wrote 104 headlines. He threw away 103. He finally came up with: "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock."

If you haven't written at least 20 variations of your hook, headline or whatever, you haven't started working yet.

3. Replace "fluffy" adjectives with concrete facts

Ogilvy despised adjectives. He believed words like "good," "best," and "innovative" were signs of a lazy mind.

Notice the Rolls-Royce headline above.

He didn't write: "This car is very quiet."

He gave you a concrete fact about an electric clock.

If you can't back your claim up with a number or a noun, delete it.

4. Stop making ads that look like ads

Ogilvy noticed people read editorial content 6x more than they read ads.

So he stopped making ads that looked like ads.

He used the same fonts as the newspaper. He used drop-caps. He organized the text into columns.

He tricked the eye into reading.

This is the principle of "camouflage."

And the reason organic posts coming from a personal profile are so powerful.

5. Write like your dinner depends on the click

Before Madison Avenue, Ogilvy sold stoves door-to-door in Scotland. He learned that if the pitch wasn't perfect, he starved. You need to write as if you're standing on a doorstep in the rain, trying to feed yourself.

6. Long copy still sells (if you solve a painful problem)

People say, "In 2025, attention spans are too short for long copy."

That's just lazy.

People binge 12-hour Netflix series in one sitting.

They don't have short attention spans. They just have ZERO tolerance for boredom.

If you solve a bleeding neck problem, they will read every word.

---

Ogilvy didn't have ChatGPT.

BUT he had "ungovernable curiosity" and a deep respect for the wallet of his client.

Today, we have 100x the data but 1/10th of the empathy.

Maybe there's a lesson there.

After nearly 4 years of writing LinkedIn content, I've boiled my philosophy down to 8 core principles:

1. The best content comes from people who've done something specific that most people haven't. If you haven't lived it, researched it deeply, or failed at it spectacularly, you probably shouldn't be teaching it.

2. There's only 2 ways to write damn good content: a) Personal experience  (you tried something, it worked/failed, now you share the lesson and b) information arbitrage (you found insights in one industry/medium and translated them to another). Everything else is just commentary on commentary.

3. Your audience size doesn't matter.  I know creators with 100K followers who can't sell a $50 product. And creators with 2K followers who do $500K years. The difference is just the "audience intent." 1000 people who found you because they have the exact problem you solve or believe what you believe beats 100K randoms.

4. Everyone wants to learn from your disasters. The campaign that lost $50K. The hire that almost killed your company. The strategy that backfired. Mistakes just feel a bit more honest and authentic. 

5. Great content makes people feel like they're in the room when the thing happened. Use sensory details, share the exact words people said, and describe how you felt in your stomach. People will always remember how you made them feel.

6. You need an enemy more than you need an audience. The most memorable brands are AGAINST something. Apple vs. boring computers. Tesla vs. gas guzzlers. Your content should have a clear villain. Outdated thinking, bad advice, lazy competitors, whatever. People don't rally around neutral positions. That's just how it works.

7. Your personality is your distribution strategy. Don't get too caught up in algorithms, hooks, templates, and all that stuff. Yes, it matters. But it's just table stakes. It's your personality - your beliefs, stories, and opinions - that will truly make a difference.

8. Don't apologize for having bold opinions. If you believe something works, say it works.  If you think something is stupid, call it stupid. Conviction creates conviction in your audience.

---

In a nutshell, everything boils down to "doing cool stuff" and documenting it. 

The real problem isn't that you can't write. It's really not that hard. The problem is that you haven't anything to said yet.

Read books, fail big, start a company, meet interesting people.

Then worry about the writing.

🫡

If you work in a creative role (writing, design, marketing, etc.) and you don't spend AT LEAST 20% of your time wandering, playing, or just doing absolutely nothing…

IMO, you're on the fast track to slop.

And yes, for a 40-hour work week, that'd be 8 hours of absolute "unproductivity."

If you're spending 100% of your time "working," you're spending 0% of your time thinking.

And if you're not thinking, you're not creating.

Which is fine if you want to be a production machine.

But if you want to produce quality work, you MUST allocate time for rest and recovery.

Real creativity requires INPUT.

New experiences. New perspectives. New stimuli.

And it requires PROCESSING TIME.

Your subconscious needs space to connect dots that your conscious mind can't see.

The best ideas I've ever had didn't come from sitting at my desk, grinding away for 8 hours straight.

They came from:

* Staring out the window for 20 minutes
* Taking a walk without my phone
* Reading something completely unrelated to my work
* Having a random conversation at a coffee shop
* Literally doing nothing and letting my brain wander

Here's what that looks like in practice:

(1) Block off time in your calendar for "thinking time" and protect it like a client meeting
(2) Take walks without your phone (seriously, leave it at your desk)
(3) Read things outside your industry…fiction, history, science, whatever
(4) Have conversations with people who do completely different work than you
(5) Stare out the window and let your mind wander 
(6) Take a real lunch break away from your desk
(7) Stop checking Slack/email every 5 minutes
(8) Say no to meetings that don't absolutely require you

Your boss/client might not understand this.

But I’d bet my life savings on this:

The person who spends 32 focused hours creating + 8 hours wandering will produce WAY BETTER work than the person who grinds for 40 hours straight.

That’s just how it works.

Because creative work isn't about time spent.

It's about the quality of thinking that goes into it.

And quality thinking requires space.

Fin.

After 1,000+ posts and 3+ years of working with 100s of B2B founders, I've realized LinkedIn can be surprisingly predictable if you pay attention to the right signals. Here's 5 observations on what moves the needle:

1. When the algorithm detects post engagement concentrated from a cluster of similar profiles (e.g., 15 comments from SF-based Engineering Directors), it categorizes your content as “High Relevance” for that specific persona.

It then promotes your post to more people who match that profile.

You have a hard cap of 30,000 LinkedIn connections. So, whitelist the accounts most VALUABLE to your business and connect to them using Geographic and Role Clustering.

For example, if you're targeting marketing leaders, don’t just connect with “VPs of Marketing.” 

Break it down into sub-audiences.

- Connect with every VP of Marketing in San Francisco.
- Once saturated, move to every Head of Marketing in San Francisco.
- Only then do you move to New York or Austin.

Density drives distribution.

2. Generic "thought leadership" will never trigger the density you need in a specific cluster (like SF Engineering Directors). You must speak their specific language. After every sales call, internal slack debate, or investor update, record a 2-minute voice memo.

“I just spoke to a VP of Sales who is terrified of X...”
“My co-founder and I just argued about Y feature...”
“A Head of Marketing I work with just told us our pricing is too high, but what she meant was...”

Transcribe it using AI.

That is your hook. That is your post.

This ensures your content is raw, specific, and deeply relevant to the people you are trying to target.

Create a simple document with:

- ICP Profiles: Their specific pains and objections.
- Hook Library: Great opening lines you can reuse.

3. The algorithm optimizes for who engages with you. If you chase broad reach, you train the algorithm to show your content to randoms. You cannot measure "influence," but you can measure the signals that lead to it: 

- Comments: Are your ICPs commenting? One comment from a target C-level exec is worth 100 “Great post!” replies from randoms. 
- DMs: Are people starting conversations with you?

Train your team to ask, “How did you hear about us?”

If you start hearing, “I follow your content on LinkedIn," you're on the right track.

--

Pro tip: Paid Ads are the tax you pay for being boring. 

If you have to bribe people to look at your product in 2026, you might be doing something wrong. BUT you can use paid to pour gasoline on a fire that is already burning.

Promote the organic posts that already have proven engagement using thought leadership ads. 

They look organic and they convert higher.

--

The end.

I could go on, but I maxed out the character limit ✌

What is your worst nightmare?

For most people, it’s public failure. It’s bankruptcy. It’s being laughed at.

But there is a fate much worse than failure.

It is to rank among those "cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

These are the gray people. 

The ones who never bet on themselves. 

They didn't lose. But they didn't live.

The world is filled with gray people - the critics.

They sit in the cheap seats. They watch the game. They keep the score. They point out the stumble. They sneer when the quarterback throws an interception. They write the think piece on why the startup failed. They laugh at your LinkedIn posts.

It feels like power. It feels like intelligence.

But it is actually cowardice.

Roosevelt called it out 100 years ago: "It is not the critic who counts."

The critic is safe. The critic is clean. The critic has ZERO skin in the game.

The only person who matters is the one whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. 

The one who is actually in the fight.

If you are building something...a company, a movement, a family...you are going to look stupid. You are going to trip. You are going to err.

Good.

That means you aren't observing life. You’re creating it.

Stop listening to the people in the stands. 

They aren't playing the game.

I hate the word "viral." I can't stand it anymore. It makes you think you're winning because the numbers are going up to the right. But virality creates ZERO defensibility. Anyone can go viral tomorrow. Literally anyone.

Fidget spinners went viral. Bird Scooters went viral. HQ Trivia went viral. Even Tiger King went viral.

None of those are still relevant in 2025.

Compare that to the most boring stuff you can think of:

Telephones are still here.

Email is still around.

Millions still use Microsoft Excel even though it looks like it belongs in a museum.

Heck, Craigslist hasn't updated its UI since 1999 and it's worth $3 billion.

Study network effects a bit and you'll realize how misleading "speed" really is.

Great things take time. They are slow. They are often incredibly unsexy.

If you're building in the dark right now, remember that the "overnight success" you are jealous of was likely 10 years in the making.

Don't believe everything you see on LinkedIn.

Take a look at this letter.

It's the UGLIEST piece of marketing you will see today.

Courier font, no headlines, no design, and looks like it was typed by your grandma.

Yet, in 1971, this single page was mailed 600M times and generated over $40 million in sales. The campaign was so successful they had to hire 40 full-time employees just to make the bank deposits.

Here's the story:

Gary Halbert is arguably the greatest direct response copywriter who ever lived.

But in the early 70s, he was DEAD broke.

He had no electricity, no running water, and his wife was packing her bags to leave him.

He needed money NOW.

He had been trying to crack the code of direct mail for years. He was obsessed. He once shared that he bought every book on advertising ever written, read them all, and took notes.

Then, he read a news story about an elderly woman who made pocket money by researching family names in the library. She would sketch the family "coat of arms" and mail postcards to people sharing that name, offering a painting.

Gary saw an arbitrage opportunity.

“I just need to scale the old lady,” he thought.

He realized that if he could make a mass-produced letter feel like it came from that little old lady, he would be rich.

So he sat down at his kitchen table and wrote the most famous letter in history.

He didn't use a corporate logo.

He signed it "Nancy" (his wife).

He typed it on a typewriter.

He used a plain envelope and a real stamp.

Then he mailed it.

The result was VIOLENT.

The local post office in Bath, Ohio, was overwhelmed. They literally couldn't fit the mail in the building.

That single letter was mailed 600,000,000 times.

It generated 20,000 checks a day.

They had to hire 40 full-time employees just to make the bank deposits. Eventually, they stopped counting the money and just started weighing the mail sacks.

Gary Halbert went from having no electricity to becoming the "Prince of Print."

To be honest, I’m not sure if there’s a “lesson” here.

It sits right on the line between genius and manipulation.

But it is hands down one of the most interesting copywriting stories I've ever heard.

faraday-agency

clientpunch

Talks about #curation, #philosophy, and #contentscience

Founder of Markmind.co | Follow me for content on copywriting, thinking, and personal communication as a meta-skill

Real innovation rarely survives a boardroom. Committees optimize for safety, so they smooth edges. They kill the weird.

The breakthroughs come from individuals,  stubborn enough to protect their strange vision from the gravity of consensus.

If you want to innovate, start looking inward.

The most valuable thing you can offer the world is something only you can see.

There are only 3 types of copywriters. Here is the breakdown of which path you should choose (and why):

1. Brand Copywriting (The Slow Burn)

This is "delayed response" copy. Its goal isn't to make a sale today. It's to build awareness, trust, and legitimacy so that when the time comes to buy, your brand is the only one the prospect thinks of. Think big company Super Bowl ads, billboards, and glossy magazine spreads.

You're a Brand writer if:

- You enjoy storytelling and think in terms of "brand awareness."
- You're patient and don't mind that your work has fuzzy, hard-to-measure results.

2. Direct Response Copywriting (The Killer)

This is "sales in print." Its only job is to make the cash register ring. Right now. Think sales emails, landing pages, and anything with a "Buy Now" button.

You're a Direct Response writer if:

- You're obsessed with results and need to see the immediate impact of your words.
- You want to "eat what you kill" and get paid for the revenue you generate.

3. The T-Shaped Copywriter

This is the new lane.

Historically, the advice was "pick a lane and stay there." That advice is now officially dead, because AI has commoditized the average version of both.

- AI can spit out generic "Brand" fluff in seconds.
- AI can write a standard "Direct Response" email in seconds.

To survive, you have to become T-Shaped.

1. The Vertical Bar (|): Deep, undeniable mastery in ONE path (Brand or DR).
2. The Horizontal Bar (—): Broad, functional competence in the other.

You're a T-Shaped writer if you realize:

- As a Brand Writer, AI will eat your lunch if you can't prove ROI (that's the DR part).
- As a DR Writer, AI will make you sound like a spam bot if you don't understand narrative and empathy (that's the Brand part).

---

Big companies still hire Brand specialists. Small businesses still hire DR specialists. But the highest-paid writers of the next decade won't be purists.

The mistake new writers make is trying to master both at once.

The mistake old writers make is refusing to learn the other side.

Pick your primary path, go deep, and master it.

Then use AI to help you build the bridge to the other side.

taplio

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