Thank you Carol Pilkington, Frank, Teodora Gaydarova, Heather Dawn, Kevin Alexander, and many others for tuning into my live video with Max Pete!
This was a totally unplanned Substack Live from this morning and was totally not planned for Max Pete to join as well, but hey, sometimes things work out!
Reaching out is a practice, not a strategy. Inspired by Carly Valancy, Max and I talked about the value of consistent, direct outreach. Not just “cold pitching,” but also genuine check-ins and asks. Max shared his “5x5 rule” from his freelancing days: five people a day, five days a week, 100 people a month. These days, though, he’s doing one a day (and this live chat counted haha)!
Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you. Max is pitching his high school and college to speak as an alumni, committing to one reach-out a day. Instead of waiting for things to fall in your lap, make the first move!
Seeds take time to grow. Max and I both noted that outreach rarely pays off in the moment, but three months later when a client drops, (maybe) something shows up. Podcasts, interviews, random YouTube uploads… it’s stuff that people can find months or years down the road.
The live element sharpens everything. Doing things live makes you sharper. That could be a Tuesday night gig in front of four people or a Substack stream in the middle of the day.
My closer: you don’t have to be the best drummer, you have to be the drummer a band wants to hang out with. Posts aren’t about getting clients directly, they’re about showing potential clients who you are, and hopefully somebody that they wanna work with someday.
