LinkedIn

The office view today 🌞"
""
"Noise cancelling headphones only work so well when there's two growing boys at home."
""
"Very lucky to have the grandparents nearby and these hills."
""
"#wfh #flexibleworking

I've met a LOT of people since writing my book on mental illness and sexuality."
""
"It was 11 years ago."
""
"I don't hide from it, and feel more comfortable talking about it."
""
"The awkward thing when it comes up is the fact people don't read books - let alone a self-published memoir from someone they've recently met."
""
"Conversations go like this:"
""
""You wrote a book?!""
""Yeah!""
""What's it about?""
""My experiences with bipolar, psychosis, and bisexuality""
""Oh...""
""
"Mental illness is still taboo. "
""
"It's oversimplified in media, the medical system is over-relied on and broken, and for all of the proliferation of wonderful concepts like "self-care", "lived experience", and "trauma-informed" - people are still hurting, struggling, and dying."
""
"So I don't blame people for saying "oh"."
""
"What can you say? "
""
"Our world is built around us being well - and doesn't really know how to navigate these kinds of conversations."
""
"There's some great work being done out there."
""
"I'm on the Lived Experience Advisory Committee for SANE - their Guided Service is delivering game-changing supports and their forums provide a sanctuary for people to ask questions they might be afraid to ask."
""
"Another initiative is Kintsugi Heroes - a podcast built around the concept that once something is pieced back together it is more beautiful than it was before."
""
"When I met Ian Westmoreland and he mentioned building it - he shared that often people's problems can be traced back to childhood trauma."
""
"I said - "I know" and agreed to sharing the story on the podcast."
""
"The fascinating thing is this was recorded in January 2023 and my twin boys hadn't been born yet."
""
"You can hear the excitement in my voice and now that I'm on the other side - it was even more soul achingly gratifying than I was anticipating."
""
"It's also heavy content, so look after yourself if stuff comes up for you - and happy to chat/message/point to help if required."
""
"https://lnkd.in/gfMHGukz"
""
"#podcast #childhoodtrauma #mentalhealth

There's NEVER been a better time to build a marketing team."
" "
"That's my contention featured recently in Athyna's blog."
" "
"📝 Here's the TL;DR:"
" "
"Challenges of a scaling marketing team:"
""
"🐗"
"Talent wars and attrition, made worse by pushy sales team or inexperienced founders who fail to value strategy"
""
"💾"
"Martech debt - committing to expensive and comprehensive stacks like Hubspot and Salesforce without the ability to shift quickly"
""
"🔎"
"Because marketing is so visible - everyone has an opinion. This slows things down, creates unnecessary friction, and detracts from sound strategy"
" "
"But what if you're starting out?"
"Well I think you've got the upper hand because..."
" "
"✅ Smart junior talent can grab new tools and run with them - see emergence of AI"
"✅ They also tend to be fast learners - as the rate of change increases this becomes even more valuable"
"✅ They also have no pre-existing skill sets or hangups that makes them eminently coachable"
" "
"The existing marketing team has two options:"
""
"1) Continue with BAU and wait for market maturity with new AI tools"
""
"2) Brief a new hire to figure out how to optimise your existing processes and procedures with the goal of optimising - I spoke with Bridget Cleary at BRX recently and this how they're winning"
" "
"A new marketing team can:"
""
"✔ Define what their goals are"
"✔Run some mini-test campaigns to see what works"
"✔ Hire a senior marketer who can set a strategy"
"✔ Hire a new marketing team that embraces new world, and"
"✔ Lead with a culture of continuous improvement"
" "
"Tools like Loom, Notion, and ClickMinded make documentation and SOPs SUPER easy these days."
" "
"My focus over the next year is working with software founders and launching these processes and training teams out of my job."
" "
"I'm in discovery mode and talking to as many as I can - if you know one let me know 🙏🏻"
" "
"Sheesh - that was a meaty post for a Tuesday, I'll need to tone it down for the rest of the week ✌🏻"
" "
"#growthstrategy #aitools #saasstartups "
""
"Link to post:"
"https://lnkd.in/gKwePKaH"
""
"--"
""
"I'm on a mission to build 1,000 growth marketing teams by 2028."
""
"I do this by building teams for startups + scaleups, teaching what I know, and collaborating with the sector."
""
"DM for a capabilities doc, requesting a lunch and learn, or a collaboration idea.

5 things you can do after being ghosted after an interview: "
"👻💨"
" "
" "
"🗒️"
"Send a note thanking the interviewer and hiring manager for the opportunity. It was great to learn more about the business. You'll connect with them on LinkedIn and keep them posted on your movements."
""
"🖇️"
"Connect with these people on LinkedIn. A personalised connection request - thanks and would love to keep following how their careers progress."
""
"📅"
"Put a note in your calendar for 3-4 months time from now (regardless of response to you) with a commitment to update them on where things are at for you, where you've landed, and what you learned from the interview process and applied moving forward."
""
"📩"
"Subscribe to the company newsletter (if you haven't already) and follow their company page to keep tabs on what they do in the future and to see if anything else comes up that you can help them with."
""
"🤗"
"Don't take it personally. It's a crap experience. A lot of factors outside of what you did that can contribute to this. Handling it with grace and conscientious follow-up may help in ways you can't possibly foresee."
" "
"Good luck out there 💪"
" "
"#careerdevelopment #coaching

I'm lucky to know a few exceptional social media ghosts. 👻"
""
"One of these ghosts is Rachel Samuel."
""
"You're not going to find out a hell of a lot about Rachel online and that's by design."
""
"She's too busy running DonateDirect Australia."
""
"They put beds, couches, and other home essentials into new homes for people in crisis."
""
"They do this by receiving the goods online by people who want their home items to go to someone in need, and then connects these intentions to front-line workers in charities across Australia."
""
"When I met Rachel, she was doing all of this manually. "
""
"As in emails, back-and-forth phone coordination, training of the volunteers - everything."
""
"This was being managed from a spreadsheet! "
""
"There had been frustrating experiences with IT and my no-code brain went no-no-NO!!! "
""
"I spun out a prototype in Airtable that took all of a couple of hours and said: "See! It doesn't have to be this way"."
""
"We fell out of touch (yada, yada - I moved back to consulting, got divorced, met someone and had twin boys) and reconnected recently."
""
"Well - Thoughtworks got involved and pro-bono'd a system that works far better than a prototype, and makes managing DonateDirect smoother, more effective, and up-to-date with a person in 2023's expectations of how tech can work."
""
"All off the back of someone rolling up their sleeves and going "we can help with this" and a spreadsheet."
""
"Rachel will always be a social media ghost I think, but I've got a few asks please:"
""
"✌🏻"
"If you know someone looking to volunteer in a marketing capacity - please let me know and I can put them in touch (writing articles, managing social media, community building etc.)"
""
"♻️"
"If you know of any commercial/larger partners with an interest in circular economy - let me know"
""
"💰"
"If you have any philanthropic-style funding avenues that get behind things like helping power crisis support with tech - again, let me know and I'll put in touch or pass on the lead"
""
"Thanks in advance and onya Rachel! 💫"
""
"#nfp #techforgood #philanthropy

Here's a recipe for grads/juniors looking to break into an industry or make a sideways move 🧑‍🍳"
""
"🔎"
"1. Identify entry-level roles and set up alerts for particular roles. "
""
"Set up the alerts to go to your Gmail. The reason I say Gmail is because you can add a "+word" to your email alert. For example, "Luke+salesrep@" still sends the email to luke@gmail, but now enables you to filter all sends to a different folder easily."
""
"You now have a "flow" of PDs being sent into your inbox that will help you get familiar with jargon, what's being asked for regularly, and give you things you can ask about for the below."
""
"🪜"
"2. Look for people on LinkedIn who are one-rung higher and local. "
""
"By this I mean people that got your job 1-3 years ago and have since been promoted. "
""
"Here's your personalised connection request pitch:"
""Hey - I noticed you're at X company and progressed. I'm researching how to break into your industry - can I grab a 15min coffee/digital coffee to ask a few questions?""
""
"Do this at least 10 times. "
""
"☕️"
"3. Do the coffees. "
""
"Ask 3-4 thoughtful and specific questions (see point 1). "
""
"Example of a crap question:"
""OMG how did you get into Google?!""
""
"Example of a thoughtful question:"
""I noticed that a lot of the PDs I've seen ask for experience managing ad budgets, what did you do in order to navigate past that?""
""
"Then ask them if they can keep an eye out for you, promise to keep them updated, and then repeat the same process with the other 10 people you asked for help from."
""
"Now, for any interview you get, use everything you've learned and make sure one of your closing questions is for feedback - and what could have been done to present better."
""
"Listen hard for anything you've missed and do what they say to the letter (and follow up and thank them for the advice 3-6 months later). "
""
"--"
""
"Nobody does this."
""
"So when you do it stands out."
""
"Demand for junior talent that are doers is higher than ever. "
""
"Because the skills can be learned but the initiative is harder to come by."
""
"LinkedIn makes it easier than ever to find these people and research ideal companies."
""
"Do you know how companies find great talent?"
""
"They ask the person who got promoted if they know anyone good for X, and those new people you connected with are much more likely to remember your name."
""
"You've got this 💪"
""
"And if you're reading this, have applied it, and get stuck - DM me three months after this was posted and I'll help you."
""
"#career #grads #personaldevelopment

Great question from Dave yesterday."
""
"Some excellent answers in the thread too. "
""
"I understand the appeal of "Fractional" and can understand why it appeals to senior leaders who are looking for more variety, engaging in interesting projects that they're normally priced out of, and can get looks at exciting projects."
""
"But what about the startups that work with them? "
"Do they feel they're getting a good deal too?"
""
"It sounds like there's a mix of good/bad out there. With more bad."
""
"I've avoided the term - but I have added 1-2 day p.w. engagements in the past - these usually go for 3-5 months and are negotiated with the goal of leaving them better off than when they're started."
""
"I'm now focused on documenting the process, reaching out for more discovery chats with founders in similar situations, and building out some clear deliverables around what a marketing leader can deliver for a nascent company and handover to a trained team."
""
"Some of the problems I see (and are digging deeper into):"
"- Lack of clarity on what they're saying they are doing"
"- Running around trying lots of tactics and getting frustrated by lack of traction"
"- Committing to expensive martech solutions (CRM) without validated traction"
"- Paying for expensive service providers (SEM, Social Media, PR) without a broader strategy"
"- Unable to make sound hiring decisions and build a team to help"
""
"Would love to hear from others what they see or go chime in on Dave's thread."
""
"Thanks for coming to my LI talk! 🙏🏻"
""
"#fractionalcmo

How do you get started with consulting?"
" "
"I get this question regularly, so here's one of the ways it starts:"
" "
"Get curious about business problems."
" "
"These aren't handed to you on a silver platter. If you're delivering a service, you're being engaged to do the service. Not to help larger problems."
" "
"There's lots of value created in contributing to solving the larger problems, but you've got to demonstrate that you have that ability."
" "
"That starts by getting curious about them."
" "
"To do this, I'm working my business curiosity into every conversation I can. "
""
"I only work with a fraction of the business owners I know or meet. Yet I'm asking them how things are, what they're focused on at the moment, what they did to solve the challenge they mentioned last time, and listen to what they say."
" "
"I'm not listening with the goal of finding problems I can solve. "
""
"I'm developing my curiosity as "practice". The discipline grows over time and instantly adds value when the stars align and I am meeting a new potential client."
" "
"I know what to ask, how to ask, what questions I can lever through to in order to demonstrate I understand my client and their problem more deeply."
""
" Usually I can add value right away by pointing out what I'm observing, or pointing towards a solution they haven't considered."
" "
"I overlay this curiosity with my knowledge of tech, marketing, sales, and working on hundreds of clients."
" "
"I did this for a hardware startup a few months ago."
" "
"I just knew what to ask, where to look, and how to lever."
" "
"#consulting #growthstrategy #howto

Want to know what I Learna-ed while having coffee last week?"
""
"Lisa Lie is an old colleague. "
""
"She is doing amazing work with Learna app. "
""
"Let me break down what happens at a busy company:"
""
"😅 Staff are stretched and tell you there's not enough training and upskilling"
"⛪️ You put on training sessions with an expensive L&D professional and barely anyone shows up or follows through"
"💨 Staff get frustrated and disappear"
""
"Learna is different because it meets staff where they're at."
""
"They're working from home."
"They're on the tools in the office."
"They learn in short scrollable bursts."
""
"So it delivers soft-skills training in micro-lessons that staff can actually tuck into and develop from on their terms."
""
"Your organisation benefits because you see what teams are jumping into and design further L&D solutions that resonate and contribute to your culture."
""
"Win-win."
""
"I've watched Lisa's startup trajectory with interest from afar."
""
"Because of my own interest in the sector - we had a LOT to catch-up on."
""
"I think reconnecting with old colleagues is one of the best #careerhacks there is."
""
"What's stopping you?"
""
"📩 Here's a template:"
""
""Hey Giovanni - I've got no idea what you're up to these days but enjoyed our time at the Biscuit Company. Should we grab tea and a biscuit in the next few weeks? Just before 9am is good for me. -Marshy""
""
"Adapt and deploy at your leisure."
""
"And if you're a leader that's nodding at the L&D problem I described then reach out to Lisa Lie - she'd love to give you a demo 🫶🏻"
""
"#careertips #learning #startups"
""
"p.s. Urban Provedore is a great cafe for a South Yarra sitdown.

Do other people keep a Dream Team list?"
""
"After my morning routine with the boys, I put them back down and bring my partner tea + toast in bed."
""
"I have my own breakfast and we get a morning chat in before our days diverge."
""
"I have a lot of energy in the mornings and today was no different."
""
"We were talking about awesome people we've received services from. "
""
"G was talking about the new yoga teacher and how their method was exactly what resonated with her."
""
"That prompted me to share about my Dream Team list."
""
""You have a list?""
""
""Yep""
""
""What's it for?""
""
""Well - the list is of people I've worked with in the past that I'd work with again in a heartbeat. They're on my Dream Team.""
""
""It's written down somewhere?""
""
""Yep""
""
"It's an actual text file of people I'm like - yep - we're doing this. One day I'd love to start something and put some/all of those people on the team. "
""
"Or just as good, if one of them called me up and said:"
""
"Them: "We're getting a band togeth-""
"Me: "LET'S BOOGIE BABY!" 🤘🏾"
""
"So do you have such a list? "
"And if so - why not? "
"Are you afraid to DREAM and GO BIG?"
""
"Enjoy your humpday 💥"
""
"#mindset #coaching

Dear Client,"
""
"I'm not your digital marketing services guy."
""
"I don't provide SEO, I'm not telling you to run social ads, and I'm not asking you to set up a lead magnet."
""
"I'm the guy you call when there's a mess."
""
"You're calling because it's not working."
""
"Or not working well."
""
"Or you can't figure out what's working and what's not."
""
"You were told: you need SEO."
"So you went and found an SEO agency and they said "you need SEO" and now 6 months have passed and you're not sure you do."
""
"So you were told: you need social ads!"
"So you got a recommendation for a social media consultant and now you're not sure what it's for."
""
"So then you were told: you need a funnel."
"You got the page, lead magnet, and some nurturing set up but now what do you do?"
""
"It's not your fault."
""
"The market is engineered to tell you what you need as soon as you start looking for it."
""
"I'm not in the blame game either. I have friends that work in SEO, social media, and funnels and they're just doing their job."
""
"My job is:"
"🔖 Assessing the mess of what's happening and been done before"
"🗾 Putting together a marketing roadmap for getting things back on track"
"🏋🏻‍♂️ Training myself out of a job by hiring, setting up processes, software, and capability, and getting out of the way so you no longer need me"
""
"This is what growth marketing strategy does. "
""
"It works with scaling organisations because of the messy. It needs pragmatism, fast decision making, and a breadth of technology knowledge your service proiders don't have."
""
"Success for me is handing over the reins and moving on to the next interesting challenge."
""
"Things are filling up to the end of the year Client, so if you'd like a mess cleared I'd be happy to have a chat to understand what's going on and at least point you in the right direction."
""
"Thanks 🙏🏻"
"-Marshy"
""
"#growthmarketing #mrfixit

There's a point in your career where business travel can start. 🛫"
""
"For me it was traversing South-East Asia."
""
"I'd relocated to Singapore to get out of Sydney and take things to the next level."
""
"I got what I bargained for and then some."
""
"I moved from the agency I was at and joined Google's creative team to support the region and help grow YouTube."
""
"It was at the right time in my life and a lot of fun."
""
"I got to showcase video's capabilities, launch advertising with a popular platform in countries it wasn't launched in yet, and do back-to-back presentations with my wise friend Anand Tilak."
""
"There's another point that some people get to where the novelty wanes."
""
"Life happens at home. The repetitious rigamarole grows tiring. You're sick of losing your presentation adaptor to another meeting room."
""
"I never got to "I must optimize my points"-level but I'm sure if I kept pushing in that direction I could have."
""
"Then all travel became impossible and the world changed."
""
"I'm based near Melbourne and like it that way, but have been on a quick trip for a new client and am at that excited stage about travel again."
""
"The vibing in the room, asking challenging questions, and seeking better answers so you can get to an even better outcome."
""
"For travel I believe less is more, and less is far better than none at all."
""
"#travel #reflection

Are working in or a supporter of the startup ecosystem in Australia?"
""
"Then please complete the Startup Muster survey to help."
""
"There's less than a week to respond and contributing to a body of information makes everything we love about this space easier."
""
"- Easier to make the case for government support"
"- Easier to make the case for additional resources/supports"
"- Easier to identify what services are critical and what gaps need to be filled to help Australia do better"
""
"Australia is an amazing country with an enviable quality of life that ranks putrid on innovation."
""
"Sam Altman was here recently and couldn't name a single Australian startup when prompted."
""
"There's a lot more that can be done and small amount of effort completing a survey can collectively enable big things."
""
"That's my rant for this week."
""
"Try the chickpea + daal curry, it will blow open your taste buds."
""
"Link - https://startupmuster.com/"
""
"#survey #startup #australia"
"

Let's be honest: the thought of producing dozens of pithy posts for social media makes most people's skin crawl. 🪳"
""
""
"It feels yucky. "
""
"There's resentment at even having to do it. "
""
"Most prefer to be working on their product, or talking to customers, or solving challenging problems that actually help people."
""
"The reality is - the less time spent posting the better."
""
"And on their own, posts don't do much."
""
"But when they ladder up to something bigger, say - a marketing strategy - then posts can do more work for you."
""
"But that doesn't solve the posting is a pain in the *rse probelm."
""
"So I've teamed up with bMightie to share how that problem can be helped."
""
"I'm doing a lunch and learn next week called:"
""How to Multiply Your Marketing Output with AI Tools"."
""
"It won't involve PrOmPT engIneErinG!"
""
"But I will share over 30 brain-busting minutes 🧠 :"
""
"🪓 How to generate fresh ideas with sound knowledge management processes and tools"
""
"⏱️ How spending the time creating a hero piece of content can be laddered down into many more pieces of content"
""
"🪜 How to stretch content even further by playing with storytelling mechanics, prompts, and some suggested tools"
""
"This content would suit startups, scaleups, or smaller businesses looking to do more with limited resources. It would also suit anyone interested in learning more about AI tools and what can be done today to complement existing marketing efforts. "
""
"You can register via the link and shout if you've got any questions 👋"
""
"https://lu.ma/5csma50a"
""
"p.s. I actually don't mind writing pithy posts (and even sh*t posts) but I'm a weirdo, and chances are you are not"
""
"#aitools #growthmarketing #digitalmarketing

Last night I visited the Melbourne Innovation Centre to see the Beyond Zero film 🎬"
""
"I hadn't heard the story of Ray Anderson or Interface before and was blown away by a company striving to turnaround their focus towards the environment long before CSR, social enterprise, or tech for good were known things. "
""
"The film highlighted:"
""
"👀 the importance of visionary leadership - Ray continually brought things back to the mission and was honest about not knowing the answers"
""
"🤝 entrusting teams and smart people - Interface sourced environmental experts and then heeded what they said and did it - there wasn't a roadmap and they built it as they went"
""
"🙏🏻 patience - turning around a company that invented glues, non-reusables, and waste in order to create carpet tiles does not scream "environmental company" yet with patience and dedication the Interface team were able to do this over a 25+ year time span"
""
"I had a crack at this with Whispir a couple of years ago and despite my best intentions was unable to build something lasting within a company who had a leader that desired it."
""
"Driving this sort of change is hard and requires a collective effort of incluence, buy-in, resourcefulness, and persistence. "
""
"It was inspiring to see this at work and so early in the piece and I encourage anyone with even a passing interest in the climate and innovation to watch the film and draw some lessons."
""
"Thanks to Emma Watton at Shared Value Project for sharing her passion for driving change and to David Williamson and Nadia Foti at Melbourne Innovation Centre for orchestrating something informative and local to my hood."
""
"#socialimpact #corporate #csr

List of things I like to share on LinkedIn:"
""
"👋. What's interesting to me and what I think might be interesting to others"
"🪮. When I see a question in a community I'm in and answer it, I'll save the answer and turn it into a LinkedIn post"
"🎥. Video explaining something I'm talking about (when I'm feeling brave 🫣)"
"🗞️. Updates about my newsletter"
"💹. Updates about things I'm noticing in the market"
"📙. A story about an awesome exchange I've had with an old colleague"
"🗣️. A shoutout for someone else's project that I think is awesome and why"
"🧠. Something mindset-ty and personal about a change in myself that I've witnessed"
"🏹. Something out there that's bizarre and weird and I own it"
""
"I don't get to the post section and think - farrrrrr OUT - what on earth do I write today."
""
"Anything related to the above that pops into my head at any time of day gets saved in Notes."
""
"I lie - I use Craft writing app, but most people overthink the software and Notes is fine. There are heaps more out there. I know because I've rabbit-holed a huge amount of them since Evernote came out."
""
"What I've learned is that the software doesn't count for much. "
""
"Taking action does. Motivation follows action and the rest follows. It builds a habit."
""
"Is it worth it?"
""
"Well imagine it like this:"
""
"You've got 500 to 5,000+ on your email list. Your open rate is pretty crappy (3-15%) but you can appear in someone's life every day they're on here."
""
"All you have to do is keep sharing things that fit your criteria."
""
"The best bit is you get better and better over time ⏱️"
""
"Okay no, the actual best bit is when you talk to someone you haven't spoken to in 18 months and they say - "wow Marshy, I love what you do on LinkedIn, I feel like I can keep up with what you're doing"."
""
"Spoiler alert: this person is an awesome human being, and hasn't engaged, commented, or TOUCHED any of my posts. And there are vast multitudes of these human beings in my world."
""
"So is that worth it?"
""
"In today's fractured attention economy - how can you argue that it's not?"
""
"p.s. you don't need to be a marketer to do this jazz, you can make music in any industry - recruiters are REALLY good at it unsurprisingly"
""
"p.p.s. I skim for wording mistakes, but usually just edit them out later when I come back online to my post - nobody cares"
""
"#writingtips #linkedin #marketing"
"

Are you one of those people with 15+ open tabs that don't get read?"
""
"I used to keep firing them up ☄️"
""
"Lying to myself that I'd get to that interesting piece on startup that thrive with asynchronous cultures..."
""
"The reality is they would never get read."
""
"Either would my newsletter subscriptions."
"Or the PDF downloadables that got saved in my Dropbox."
"Or my Amazon Kindle Highlights."
""
"Here's how I manage it today:"
""
"- Moved old Pocket articles to Reader"
"- Save new articles to Reader"
"- Amazon Highlights go to Reader"
"- Newsletters are filtered into a folder scanning for "unsubscribe""
"- Good ones get emailed to Reader"
"- PDFs sent to Reader"
"- Cycle through Reader and highlight fresh articles"
""
"I cycle through Readwise each day, and anything that's really interesting gets punted to Craft app (it's like Evernote by cleaner)."
""
"From there I can file it or use it based on Projects I'm working on, Areas of interest, or useful Resources."
""
"-- "
""
"It's a far easier way to manage the deluge of content we're exposed to each day, and keeps my brain connecting things habitually."
""
"Comes in handy for newsletter content or thinking "what should I say?" if I want to keep the posting habit going 🤙"
""
"Posting screenshot of recent productivity conversation to show I'm not the only one who thinks like this 🤓

I LOVE my morning routine 🌞"
" "
"Yet my twin boys (👶🏻👶🏻) arrived and things were thrown out the window 🪟💨"
" "
"An interesting battle unfolded upstairs in my noggin 🧠"
" "
"One part of me fought this change. "
"I miss my routine. I love structure. This sets up my day. Woe betide me."
" "
"Another part - that took a while to kick-in mind you - recognised those days were gone. "
"That I'm so lucky to have new people in my life. That I'm responsible for adapting to this. That there are ways to involve them and that I actively should try to do that."
" "
"So I'm up early and do the morning feed."
" "
"But now I've added more:"
"📖 I read them a book"
"🫓 Set them up with some tummy time"
"⏎ Flip them and do my morning meditation"
"🏋🏻‍♂️ Roll out and do an adjusted workout next to them"
"🍳 Then they go back down or supervise my making breakfast for my partner and I"
" "
"The funny part is that I LOVE this morning routine even more."
" "
"All I had to do is accept that I was the one who could change."
" "
"#mindset #coaching

One of my old bosses sends me a personal gmail each year for my birthday and against a sea of Facebook notifications I am all for it."
""
"He's on the other side of the world and I haven't worked with him in over 10 years 🤯"
""
"Never underestimate the impact an old manager check-in can have."
""
"The best do it and stay in touch because they genuinely care about your success."
""
"#leadership

Here's some ways to help a candidate showcase their strengths during an interview:"
""
"💫 Remember - interviewing isn't a natural process; some candidates may only interview a few times in their career."
""
"This is because they've only needed to interview 2-3 times. "
""
"They thrive in a great role, outgrow it, get snapped up again, and outgrow that role."
""
"To help them succeed, try some of these during the interview process:"
" "
"1️⃣ Try and loosen them up with some "get to know you questions" to warm up. One way you can allay nerves is reflecting back their answers with higher energy. (e.g. "That's awesome! Tells us more about that! I love how you're into this" etc.)"
""
"2️⃣ Give them time. Allow candidates to explain an answer in their words. Assure them that you're just there to listen and learn about how they do things in their way. Let them know that capturing all the detail in their answer helps make the case to the rest of the business. Demonstrate this with lots of nods, smiles, and note-taking and give them confidence."
""
"3️⃣ Normalise things. Remind them its an unnatural process and awkward for everyone involved. So be human."
""
"4️⃣ Highlight their strengths by summarising their answer and remarking on it. "
""
"Here's a recent example:"
""
""So your client thought you were so good, that they approached you after the project and offered you a job to move over to them?" "
""Ugh - yeah" "
""I think you're underselling your client service and problem-solving skills here!""
" "
"If you've got any other tips I'd love to hear them."
""
"The goal is to avoid letting talented candidates slip through the cracks due to interview jitters 😬"
""
"The worst-case is a candidate who would have MADE IT RAIN 🌧️ at your organisation walking away because they fumbled the answer in front of an interviewer who was too brusque or intimidating."
""
"Even when they're not a fit - you get to build up someones soft-skills for their next role."
""
"You'll also want to stay connected with (via LinkedIn 😉) to keep track of their career just in case something else pops up in the future."
""
"#interviewtips #careercoaching

It's a new fin year 👏"
""
"Here's three things I'm helping my network with:"
""
"🥪 free lunch and learns showing teams how to grow marketing output with AI tools - for any professional services providers, accelerators, educators, or member associations "
""
"🧳 content! Webinars, speaking, and articles on no-code, AI tools, and building marketing teams - I'm working through my list of ideal partners but if you want to have a collabo then jump into my inbox 📫"
""
"🛠️ building a higher-ticket item funnels. I want to build a couple of these for established businesses with decent turnover but no marketing budget - I'll absorb all costs to produce the assets, collateral, processes, testing, and page building - until revenue is generated to a negotiated split. 📫 again."
""
"Have a great week 👋"
""
"I'm still BEAMING from visiting the mighty Bulldogs with my TWO 10 week-old sons ❤️⚪️💙"
""
"#aitools #fy24 #digitalmarketing "
"

Shower thought 🚿"
""
"🎂 If you make a big announcement about taking away 30% of the cake..."
""
"What happens when further reductions are made to the cake months after the announcement?"
""
"Where does the cake go?"
""
"I feel for the slices of cake that didn't get an announcement."
""
"It's like the opposite of having your cake, and eating it too."
""
"🍰"
""
"If you're feeling like this is a missed cake, I'm here for you and happy to help you with all your post-cake needs."
""
"#techlayoffs

Is anyone else noticing all the weird things happening with AI? 😬"
""
"Well if not I've got you covered 🫶🏻"
""
"This week's 🤖 AI versus Marshy 💪 features:"
""
"🦃 The Verge shares an awesome temperature check for the state of the web right now: generative AI is gobbling up all of our normal sources of information - but I argue all of our creativity shouldn't have been corralled through narrow gatekeeping anyway"
""
"🛠️ A new Tool of the Week: Literally Anything with an insight generator thanks to ol' mate Reevesy"
""
"💔 Is nowhere safe? "
"AI Dating co-pilots and why this becomes Black Mirror-esque"
""
"I share my latest video play as well."
""
"I wasn't sure if I could follow-up after landing seeing Sam Altman talk live - yet here we are."
""
"If you're noticing anything weird about AI as well let me know - I'm obviously nerding out on it hardcore and love what we're all embarking on with a healthy pinch of terror."
""
"And Happy Friday because it's the best day of the week and I'm not taking "no it isn't for an answer" 🔥"
""
"It's because it's a healthy BLEND of work stuff and fun stuff and you've got a whole weekend to tuck into."
""
"I will die on this hill ⛰️"
""
"Hit me up if you want this kind of news in your inbox every week 🙏🏻"
""
"#aitools #aiethics #newsletter

Last month I tested out a business idea."
""
"I noticed as some startups scale, they get caught by a marketing trap."
""
"It goes like this:"
""
"❓ We need marketing"
"🚫 We can't hire anyone good"
"🤷🏼‍♂️ We can't outsource to anyone good because we don't know what good is"
""
"When there's no senior expertise in-house, it becomes a vicious loop of throwing money around for talent, or briefing agencies poorly and setting them up for failure."
""
"And it comes back to the word "good"."
""
""Good" is a trap - because if you're scaling you have no idea how to define it, what it is, or whether what you need is actually that."
""
"In that case - what is needed is pragmatic direction, shipping fast, and measuring what gets traction to define what is "good"."
""
"Then use that to inform what talent is hired, what you outsource, and what tools and resources are needed to do it."
""
"Shipping fast is hard. "
""
"There's a minimum barrier for shipping that requires graphic design skills, coding skills, copywriting skills, data analysis skills, and video production skills."
""
"Not to mention - stupid levels of confidence in those skills to be able to tell the founding team to back off and trust and the process."
""
"This is why junior #startup marketing ads for #unicorns became a running joke."
""
"There's no one person that can do these things - it became a myth 🦄"
""
"I see that kind of changing."
""
"#aitools are making it easier to test a marketing engine before committing more resources."
""
"So my business idea was: https://lnkd.in/geDXf5gX"
""
"I got 3 pilot clients and shipped in 3 days for 3 clients:"
""
"- a white paper for B2B outreach"
"- 5x email pitches targeted to their respective prospects"
"- 6x social ads including 5x variants of copy"
"- a corporate pitch deck"
"- an outreach list"
"- artwork for a fridge magnet "
"- 6x social videos (3x square, 3x vertical)"
"- 30sec pitch video"
"- 30sec explainer video"
"- research assistant PD "
""
"The tools still require oversight - but the output available has increased significantly."
""
"I don't think this is the end point."
""
"I believe big-tech and digital advertising solutions are encountering big moments of reckoning where some may lose their oligopolies."
""
"That's not a bad thing."
""
"I do believe the onus is on marketers to continue learning, adapting, and communicating clear messages for those whom they serve - so where I'm focused right now is:"
""
"1. Telling people how to do this (speedmarketing example)"
""
"2. Teaching people how to do this (building + seeking partnerships now)"
""
"3. Doing this for other businesses (if they want to pay for it)"
""
"4. Jumping into a business and building a marketing team for them to do this repeatably and own the process (seeking clients now)"
""
"I've got no idea if any of the above will stick but it's an exciting time to be a marketer with:"
""
"- a track record of communicating new tech clearly"
"- no-code and building experience"
"- loves the game yo"
""
"If you can help: let me know, get in touch, engage with my posts, or send me a carrier pigeon 🕊️ k-kaw!"
"

🧳 shipping in Australia is a ridiculously hard problem to solve"
""
"🤷🏽‍♀️ Australia's reticence to support and fund teams with female co-founders is mind-boggling"
""
"🚜 Tractor Ventures draws in some very smart cookies"
""
"I went to Growth Game in Melbourne by Tractor Ventures last night and heard from Kate (Glow Capital Partners), Ath (July), and Eric (Swoop Aero)."
""
"I didn't know much about investment and great to hear 3 differing perspectives yet all grounded in being real. "
""
"I was there to learn and great to tag-team with my old partner-in-crime Elizabeth Anderson 👏"
""
"I loved Eric's story about a company all-hands changing the mind of the founders and turning down an acquisition. It takes serious leaders to be focused on one direction, heed their people and take their views into account, and then change course. Goosebumps."
""
"Kate's journey is incredible. I didn't know the full story and I think you can count the amount of people in Australia that have gone from 10+ years of bootstrapping, IPO on the ASX, handover, into private equity on one hand (and I suspect - one finger). Amazing."
""
"Ath had a tough act to follow and stole the room with spicy zingers 🔥 Underneath it though was some true humility and understanding of what makes his customers, his team, and his product tick. Imagine betting the house on a travel company and having COVID hit 8 months later 😬. Epic."
""
"Thanks for the great show and I learned heaps."
""
"#startups #melbourne #growth "
"

One of my favourite kinds of hires is a hungry digital marketing grad."
""
"There's so much competition at this level. "
""
"This means the ones that stand out are head and shoulders above."
""
"Here's some I've hired:"
""
"💼"
"Had run their own successful crowdfunding campaign. We were a crowdfunding platform."
""
"📈"
"They brought in an example of a report they did during their internship, and asked me if I would like to see it when I asked them about their confidence with data."
""
"🕸️"
"They built a website and started applying SEO to help their band, and explained it to highlight their interest in digital."
""
"All of these people are out their slaying years later."
""
"As more and more #aitools become available in the marketing landscape, the ability to figure it out and get more done is only going to increase."
""
"I'm excited to see what the next wave of hungry and curious figure-outers are going to do as the capabilities get better and better."
""
"#careers #marketing

I'm loving being out in Diamond Creek. "
""
"If anyone is near local (Eltham + surrounds) and feels like a coffee over the next couple of weeks nearby just holler for a Marshall and I'll bring the energy ⚡️"
""
"#coffee #networking

I know there's people on the hunt at the moment, and what could be better than articulating, communicating, and driving the value prop for hunting bugs at scale?"
""
"Plus you get to work with Steve and he tells awkward jokes (big fan!)."
""
"#hiring

I just had an engaging chat about electronic music, solopreneurship, and the book creation process with Fred in the US."
""
"It got me thinking about something else that begins with F... 🤔"
""
"A couple of weeks ago I thought aloud about positioning and how I go about it."
""
"Several things have transpired since:"
""
"🧱"
"An accredited LEGO Serious Play practitioner kindly offered to take me through the process and see where we can land on this - I've got a session tomorrow!"
""
"🛫"
"I ran with my speedmarketingdemos idea and am blazing through some work for some pilot clients"
""
"📖"
"I came across an incredibly practical book called "The Positioning Manual for Indie Consultants" by Philip Morgan and highly recommend it"
""
"⚪️"
"Joined the Starter Story community - there's some good vibes and the course on Lean SEO was worth the price of admission alone - thanks Pat Walls!"
""
"✅"
"Some lasting things on my to-do list that have been put off (fix spelling and grammer in StartMarketing book and set up blog section on my website) got done"
""
"It's all good stuff and I can feel momentum."
""
"The bit that is sticking out for me on this positioning stuff (and from my chat with Fred) that's not front and centre is a magical word:"
""
"🔥⚡️ FUN 🎧 🐉"
""
"I'm enjoying myself and hitting a groove, but I think I can dial this higher."
""
"I enjoy the messy starts."
"I enjoy challenging conversations."
"I enjoy being able to go fast and GSD."
""
"Fun is really important and I think as the next few weeks progress I'll see how much more of it I can weave into my work - both how I talk about it, how I do it, and how my clients benefit from it."
""
"This stream of consciousness was brought to you by the letter F."
""
"Thanks 🙏🏻"
""
"🪄"
""
"#community #positioning #startups "
"

Here's something I tested while getting back into the swing of work things."
""
"1️⃣ Before our bubs came, I ran an experiment with an offer in a startup group."
""
"2️⃣ I offered "speed marketing" - some fast thinking on how to crack customer acquisition for a nominated business, knocking something out with AI tools, and seeing what the result was - "not bad!""
""
"3️⃣ Last week I tweaked the offer to a "marketing kit" - working with 3 pilot clients to give them a fast go-to-market strategy supported by marketing assets (pages, videos, graphics etc.) - again, aided by AI tools."
""
"4️⃣ I've met all 3 now and chonking out the deliverables for next week."
""
"The benefits to the startups? 🙋🏼‍♂️"
""
"🤷🏽‍♀️"
"They're not sure how to turn on or scale-up their marketing. You can outsource to an agency, recruit in-house, bring in a freelancer, and still be flailing 6 months later. A fast strategy with the right eyes and assets can add results that point to where to invest."
""
"🤝"
"They're getting CMO-level thinking without the hands-off. Fact: most senior practitioners can't and won't roll their sleeves up."
""
"📈"
"High value, low-cost. Committing to anything is hard as you're scaling and mistakes on talent are more costly than ever. They're getting bite-sized expertise and letting the impacts inform their future decision-making."
""
"--"
""
"I'll share next week where I get with it. The clients have agreed to testimonials and feedback and there's winds in these sails. "
""
"A decade ago I had a crack at something like this with "hackdigital.net" and I did OK - working with pozible and YourGrocer before moving into the next job."
""
"What's interesting to me now is the market for and capabilities for growth marketing is now better than ever with:"
""
"⬆️ more startups/scaleups, "
"🛠️ no-code tools up the wahzoo, and"
"👾 generative tools arriving faster than laser shots - pew, pew"
""
"I'm prepping a newsletter on this progress and it's not quite ready for showtime but DM if you want to be added when it is."
""
"🚀

One of my favourite life hacks is seeking book recommendations 💫"
""
"I don't take them and fly off into the sunset, I do this:"
""
"📝"
"Make a note of who recommended it and why, and add it to the reco list."
""
"🔬"
"I filter out the oft-recommended books. "
""
"Not because they're bad books, but because they're common. I've read a good chunk of them (oh wow, you've heard of The Power of Now?!) and the ones I haven't I hold out stubbornly until it wears me down and I cave into it. "
"I'll enjoy the read, but I'm deliberately creating space for the nuggets (see below)."
""
"🪨"
"A nugget is a left-field book recommendation from a smart person that completely bypasses my book devouring radar. It's absent from my bubble and I have never heard another soul breathe a word about it. "
""
"That kind stops me dead. I feel a pull. I get a flutter of butterflies and think - I must have what's in this tome..."
""
"--"
""
"This is rare but changes the game."
""
"I'll share one of those now."
""
"I was listening to Chamath Palihapitiya on a podcast called The Knowledge Project. "
""
"His intensity is interesting. At Facebook, they played one of his rev-up videos as part of my APAC induction. He'd already left the company by then - but it was that good."
""
"He's part of a Silicon Valley hype machine that bores me yet I still listened right to the end of the 120 minute show."
""
"A book got mentioned in the last few minutes that Chamath said changed his life - Adult Children of Alcoholics by Janet G Woititz. "
""
"I never heard of it, but followed that thread and have a lot to be grateful about since."
""
"But I forgot the best bit about those left-fielders. "
""
"When it's someone you know - you can follow up with the person after you've read it."
""
"It's ALWAYS a fun occasion because you now share a story that resonated."
""
"That shared experience is one of many ways you can build relationships in this world."
""
"The relationship-building part of my career is one of the things I love the most!"
""
"#goodreads #relationshiptips

Collaborating is better than going it alone."
""
"I'll break down why with 3 dance music practitioners, social media, and a tiny festival called Coachella."
""
"Try ChatGPT-ing THAT 🎤💨"
""
"Enter Four Tet. An older DJ with a huge musical range. Chillout, electronica, techno, and some of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. "
""
"Kieran has been around long enough to see when something is hot."
"So when Skrillex (EDM demigod) and Fred Again (most exciting DJ/producer in the world right now) teamed up with him and sold out a club gig with a day's notice, he knew he was onto something really HOT."
""
"The gang repeated this mechanic in city after city around the world - including Melbourne, Sydney, and New York's Madison Square Garden."
""
"The wave of tours culminated last month with a surprise appearance at Coachella on the 23rd April."
""
"All three DJs are professionals and would easily slide into the lineup at this festival."
""
"But only all three of them working together could hijack such an event and take a premium timeslot to play to 100,000 people unannounced."
""
"What an experience."
""
"The best part? "
""
"It was enabled with a low-stakes collaboration to begin with - it would have gone something like this:"
""
""Hey - we're having fun, let's pop something up on our socials and see if we can fill a venue for tomorrow?""
""Aight - cool""
""
"That's it."
""
"Low-stakes, high-reward."
""
"A collaboration doesn't have to be rocket science. 🚀🧪"
""
"Do something quick and easy together and see if it sticks."
""
"If it doesn't - you lose a little bit of time."
""
"And if it does - it could lead to having the time of your life."
""
"Hello FY24 - LFG 🔥"
""
"#partnership #collaboration

👶👶 = ♥️♥️"
""
"We welcomed Leo and Pip into the world last month and I couldn’t be more pleased."
""
"Seeing them raised above the gown, with light beaming over their gooey bodies, reminded me of The Lion King when Rafiki shows off Simba to the animal kingdom."
""
"I’m not in a hurry to leave this world yet - but I’m popping my head up above the parapet to say “hi” 👋"
""
"Let’s do a call if we haven’t connected in a while, you have a hunch or lead on something, or you’ve got some weird, hairy, or unusual challenge you want to partner on in FY24."
""
"🫶

My digital marketing career started when Steve Irwin died 🤯"
"..."
"I was temping at an agency helping the team organise and set up their digital function."
" "
"📝"
"The memory still stands out - because when the news about Steve broke, it travelled across the office like wildfire."
"The pace of information - even back then - was awe-inspiring."
" "
"Comparing that moment to the rate of change today is mind-boggling - I can't even - and I'm more prepared than most 💪"
" "
"A lot of my peers or people before me look at digital comms, tech, and marketing and get intimidated."
""
"I don't blame you - it's weird. Putting yourself out there feels alien. Selling ideas feels icky. Why can't this stuff be based on merit?"
""
"Like it or not - the world now values the COMMUNICATION of ideas just as highly as the ideas themselves."
""
"This goes for products, businesses, organisations, and your career as well."
""
"There's an intimidating call-to-action at the start of Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power:"
""
""If the world is like a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it, there is no use in trying to opt out of the game." 🔥"
" "
"But even if you acknowledge there is a game - "
"🤔"
"How do you learn it?"
""
"🤷🏾"
"What if it doesn't come naturally?"
""
"🥴"
"Searching for something like "learn digital marketing" doesn't help."
" "
"--"
""
"I was frustrated by this gap, and in-between - broken arms, a redundancy, a pregnancy, and a broken foot - found the time to write about it."
" "
"My book Start Marketing is now available, and in it is 70+ chapters and 40,000 words seeking to answer these questions for you."
" "
"Not sure if posting on LinkedIn is for you? "
"➡️ Try it at least 10X and heed the 1-10-100 rule"
""
"Looking to collaborate with someone but not sure how to ask? "
"➡️ The Collaborating for Success section has your back"
""
"Looking at a report from your agency and wondering if its useful? "
"➡️ The priority ladder tells you what to focus on and what to disregard and why"
" "
"There's heaps more in there and I'm glad to have it dusted as due date was a week ago 😂 😅 "
"(we're booked in for Monday!)"
" "
"You can get 100% off the book for the month of April by using the code APRILSUPPORTER - "
"https://lnkd.in/gArPFU-i"
" "
"📸 taken yesterday after hitting publish and doing a dance"
""
"#win

I meet all sorts of interesting people by nature of the work I do."
""
"Kylie Wallace 🌱 🌸 runs Seedling Giving - an initiative that connects high net-worth donors to vetted and high-quality grassroots charities to see tangible impact."
""
"More about what they do in the video, and if you're interested in learning more or have a collaboration idea - get in touch with Kylie!"
""
"https://lnkd.in/gDPgMjjH "
""
"#philanthropy #givingback

Over and out for a while 👶🏻👶🏻"
""
"Some things I'm grateful for in the last week:"
""
"🎁 I wrapped all my freelancing projects."
""
"What a finish. I was stretched in the spirit of taking more paternity time off when my twin boys arrive, what I didn't bank on was breaking my foot and still needing to wrap things up. I'm glad it all worked out and was able to pass the baton and leave my clients in better shape than when I started with them."
""
"🥴 Getting the plaster off my broken foot."
"I was bracing for the worst. Fortunately it's healed better than expected and I can hobble around and have started physio. I wish there was something funny to say about breaking 3 limbs in one year - but there really isn't. It was terror-bubble."
""
"⛑️ Friends and family stepping in to help us."
"Care packages. Food deliveries. Visitors. Trips to appointments. People to vent to. I have to say there's some darn good peeps in my life and its times like this where it shines. You are appreciated!"
""
"Things change really soon and I’ll be enjoying a few months off. "
""
"I'm planning to schedule some posts to help me look for the next thing - more consulting? a tech for good leadership role? more speaking? "
""
"Who knows and am happy to put things out there and see what happens (and slides into my DMs)."
""
"📸 taken the day after the plaster came off - I cooked up some fish because I can't un-shake habits baked in from a Catholic school education"
""
"#freelancemarketing #paternityleave

The other day I had a rant about Universal Basic Income and the thought-worm wouldn't go away."
""
"I'm a fastidious hoarder of interesting articles and sure enough I'd squirrelled one away by a turbo academic who had committed five years to unpacking the subject from multiple perspectives, the article is from 2020 and called "The Capitalist Production of Consciousness"."
""
"Here's what I liked most:"
""
"↘️↘️ The description of a shift from capitalism (industrial production) to hyper-capitalism (production at pace accelerated by digital tools)"
""
"↘️↘️ Where as units of production used to be material - like wood or metals, some of the most valuable companies today have a more valuable unit of production - our minds"
""
"↘️↘️ Apple, Google, Meta, et al. trade off attention. Because of how they make money, they succeed when more time is spent engaging with them (advertising, frequent usage, desire to use more)"
""
"↘️↘️ This capturing of "share" - has seen a complete and utter commodification of time. We work to support ourselves and enable free time. But market conditions mean the volume of work we do remains relatively static. This is because any surplus labour time, gets reinvested back into production to create more value - the surplus time does not go to less work - it goes to preserving the system"
""
"↘️↘️ This means that as more time is made available by new technologies, they continue to be "reclaimed by the logic of capital""
""
"UBI is one way to stymie this inexorable cycle. By freeing up the need for people to stay in the system to simply survive - they can have a base-level of support that enables people to survive or focus on things they enjoy (say creating poetry, or looking after a sick loved one)."
""
"This also de-homogenises the collective buy-in from global markets that the current way is the only way."
""
"It's a meaty read and I'm going to keep barrelling through this topic as I think it's important. "
""
"There's some great critique as well - and it's important to aggressively seek dissent in order to get to contest the best ideas and get to a better solution for everyone. "
""
"There's also an amusing reference to a book called "Bulls*** Jobs" - a form of paid employment so pointless and meaningless to society that even the employee can't justify its existence 😂 "
""
"The Four-Day Work Week movement is one initiative that gives me hope, as are pockets of thinking like this."
""
"I do think the need for more systems-wide thinking is going to increase as technology accelerates - because there's no guarantee the world will be net-positive better off without challenging questions to issues we've collectively shied away from over the last century - ethics, taboos, arguing to navigate complexity instead of convincing of a particular side."
""
"I seem to be unable to post web URLs any more - so happy DM the article if you can't find it, and happy to noodle on this topic more if anyone is interested (or knows more people who are interested!)"
""
"#universalbasicincome #brainfood

Can someone explain to me why it wouldn’t be a good time to reintroduce debate about the need for Universal Basic Income?"
""
"🎉 four day work week increases productivity and output"
""
"🔌 remote working largely works"
""
"🧬 neckbeards are heralding the dawn of a new era with the advent of AI that can actually provide you with something to screencap and post on social media in response to your dumb question"
""
"Every time I hear an argument *against* UBI, my mind visualises a monkey clapping cymbals."
""
"You’re 👏 just 👏 saying 👏 that 👏 to protect 👏 a 👏 disproportionate 👏 amount 👏 of 👏 your 👏 wealth 👏 from 👏 others 👏 in 👏 need."
""
"Am I wrong?"
""
"What am I missing?"
""
"How does it get off the ground? "
""
"Because I’m picking up what you’re throwing down and would like to subscribe to your newsletter."
""
"It’s not going to come from technology companies. "
""
"Even if that’s what Mr Gates wants."
""
"🎤💨"
""
"#rant

Something I'm noticing across NFPs - funding causes/work/aid/research is getting harder."
" "
"The pain of jumping through a grant process or corporate sponsorship is often low-to-no reward."
" "
"This makes committing to a bigger organisation's processes a gamble."
" "
"A leader gambles with their time and their people's time against for a low percentage shot at getting more funding."
" "
"A leader will take meetings with larger organisations with the hope that it will convert to something but the power and leverage all sit within the corporate."
" "
"I've sat on both sides of the coin, and if you're a big player who is serious about creating impact - there's an opportunity to step-change what that is."
" "
"But let me share what it isn't: giving with strings attached."
" "
"In their 2020 letter from the trustees, Thankyou group wrote about donor dysfunction. "
""
"When you focus your money on one specific thing in a system you don't deliver impact - you deliver a surplus of effort that doesn't change the whole."
""
"Systems - especially ones that struggle to support humans in need - can't be fixed by zeroing in on one part."
" "
"Fortunately there are smart people working hard at addressing this and the solution is to give and let go:"
""
""It’s nice to feel in control. It’s nice to have the best seat at the gala. It’s nice to feel like you understand all the things you’ve funded. Specifically for social business and corporates, it’s nice for consumers to love all your decisions. It’s nice to have a catchy marketing claim that helps get more people onboard to help you sell more product. It’s nice to know that none of your money funded something that didn’t work, and the list goes on."
"But to be honest it also feels nice to walk away from some of that and realise that you are giving in a way that will see the end of some of humanity’s greatest challenges.""
" "
"Untethered giving - giving and trusting that systems are in place to put that money to the most good is a far more effective lever and creates more options to impact needs from a systemic-level down to the struggling person right now."
" "
"It's no surprise more forward-thinking organisations like Canva have partnered with GiveDirectly - unconditional cash transfers going to the world's poorest households - people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose what's right for them to how best improve their lives - and cash enables that."
" "
"There's nothing wrong with marshalling resources from government and corporates. The vast bulk of the world's resources sit within these organisations and humanity needs some of that to be redistributed to those in need."
" "
"I'm only speaking from my own experience, but I'm pretty sure giving unconditionally feels better too."
" "
"#csr #NFP #giving

I finished Tim Urban's new book a few weeks ago - "What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies""
" "
"It's a clarion call advocating for nuance in a world that's become increasingly black and white and polarising."
" "
"He shares new ways to articulate things we're all seeing, but haven't been able to articulate."
" "
"It was a challenging read. "
""
"It was incredibly US-centric and needed to be, but that hyperfocus on the issues within that world don't translate entirely for the rest of us. "
""
"There's also a huge chunk of the book dedicated to social justice "fundamentalism" and the increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels."
""
"It's a bold move, and in getting into the weeds Tim unearths something that's not okay - regardless of your political stance, it shouldn't "have the power to destroy a person’s livelihood or reputation at will.""
""
"Example after example is listed across NFP, big tech, government, academia, and corporate where someone makes a challenging point with nuance - and it gets gobbled up, reduced, disseminated across online media, and the person is castigated and loses their job."
""
"My own biases got caught in this."
""
"It was closer to my own time working there, and I could vividly remember the Google engineer who released an internal memo querying some of the hiring practices. "
""
"What I remember is a complete pillaging of the individual across news outlets, Twitter, and Google Plus (yes it was a thing lol)."
""
"Yet the original memo is nowhere near that. "
""
"It points out the merit of debate - and that a difference of opinion is not the same as infringing on psychological safety."
" "
"To unpack these ideas he introduces concepts like the ladder with high-rung thinking vs low-rung thinking, the digital cudgel, and the marketplace of ideas and idea lab."
" "
"They're delivered in a style that's easy to absorb, and makes the weeds a bit easier to navigate."
""
"The book becomes a manual for unpacking group-think, tribalism, and challenging our own bubbles."
" "
"The section on US academia was particularly frightening where contesting political ideas has been more and more challenging."
" "
"The book did help me see opposing political views to my own with more compassion, and also why they're needed."
" "
"If we can't argue and debate on merit to get to a better place then we are all doomed. Period."
" "
"A week or so after reading it I received an email from University of Melbourne, where I learned Media & Communications and loved being challenged."
" "
"In relation to upcoming constitutional change - they specifically called out "creating a safe space for expressing differing opinions" and it restored some faith after quite a gloomy read."
" "
"I've deliberately avoided reading anything about the book since release, so keen to see what other people thought as well."
" "
"What a tome!"
""
"#goodreads #waitbutwhy"
"

Excited to see the start of AFL - Australian Football League this year and I think it’s really generous of Chemist Warehouse to offer $1 off scripts for the 4m+ pensioners we have in this country."
""
"Knocking a dollar off might not seem like much, but strategically spending $100m in donations is a small gesture to grow share of a segment that could conservatively spend half of $1 billion over the counter each year."
""
"Good of them to let me know with expensive TV ads their monopoly enables as well."
""
"Bring on 2023! Go Doggies!"
""
"♥️🤍💙"
""
"#afl

Blind spots."
""
"What's something you were sure of 12 months ago that you've since changed your mind on?"
""
"It’s is a killer question in a senior interview."
""
"At higher levels, you're assessing the person in front of you for fit just as much as they are you."
""
"We all have them."
""
"In the spirit of some recent conversations I thought I'd share an old one, one I'd do differently, and a recent finding."
""
""
"👴🏽"
"Old one"
""
"The start of my career was in media agencies. "
""
"I specialised in digital and setting up ads, crunching reports, and graduated to managing clients and staff."
""
"I thought this was all I could do. The skills in a media agency were exclusive to that realm and couldn't possibly transfer."
""
"Talking with a friend the other day I noticed they still held a version of this view."
""
"It's blinkered."
""
"I now know the speed and tenacity you develop for pushing things through for a commercial outcome transfer VERY well not just into adjacent services, but completely different industries."
""
"Those skills slay in slow-moving corporates."
""
"SLAY I tell you 🐉"
""
""
""
"⛑️"
"A recent one"
""
"I joined Whispir during COVID and set up a new function to harness the pockets of good witnessed and focus it into a sustainable social impact program."
""
"My blindspot was not being sustainable from Day One. "
""
"The program was a cost centre detached from the rest of the business. "
""
"I caught this a year in, and threw myself into a pure sales focus to save it."
""
"But it was too little too late and there was no chance of surviving significant layoffs."
""
"Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer at Twilio.org points out a program like this needs to be built into the core (article in comments)."
""
"I still believe in CSR and the huge need for intrapreneurs so consider that my lesson learned."
""
""
"🔥📰"
"Hot off the press"
""
"A few weeks ago, I answered a few questions for Melissa Rosenthal as part of a research call."
""
"I groaned about my skill set. "
""
"The fact 99% of the work I get as a freelancer is referral through hot and warm contacts who already have a sense of who I am, what I can do, and how I can help."
""
"Whenever I'm in a position to where I need to convince someone of that cold, it doesn't land and requires too much work..."
""
"Mel smiled - "do you have to?""
""
"I wasn't expecting that - "well ahhh, you know I need to keep new coldies coming in...""
""
"Mel smiled again - "do you?""
""
"Which prompted a whole new way of looking at the systems I have that I was blind to."
""
"--"
""
"Uncovered anything about yourself lately? "
""
"And if you haven't - what are you missing? ;)"
""
"#coaching #csr

My first week "back to work" after my foot injury is nearly complete as I look to wrap up my freelance projects before end of the month."
""
"Here's a few things I'm grateful for:"
""
"✨ it's almost the end of the week!"
""
"It's been manageable but don't recommend breaking your foot - it stinks."
""
"🤗 the support of friends and family"
""
"Key people have stepped into help myself and my pregnant partner and we're so lucky that it's an option and there are good people around us."
""
"🤝 colleagues across the clients I work with"
""
"There's been understanding and a readiness to adapt to things and help get things through - I'm determined to leave clients in better shape than when I arrived, and am pleased to see things growing and being delivered."
""
"--"
""
"It's a long weekend down here in Victoria so I hope you enjoy some extra R&R if you've got that additional public holiday."
""
"Thanks!"
""
"#freelance #gratitude

It's very rare for me to post twice in a day (because you post enough on here already amirite Marshy?) - but its for a good cause - I have a pretty killer marketing role in tech for the right person."
""
"One of my clients needs a senior marketing lead to pick things up, create a GTM, and build a marketing department destined for global expansion."
""
"That kind of ask needs:"
""
"...someone comfortable in a startup environment. "
"This means undaunted by ambiguity and comfortable directing things with confidence and finding data to inform along the way."
""
"...can source, identify, and nurture junior talent."
"This means coaching, explaining the why, educating as you go, and growing a department into a curiosity and hypothesis testing hotbed."
""
"...pragmatism and discernment about pushing things through."
"This means sometimes you're going to have to ship things and let the data decide, and other times you're going to halt the press release because you know the timing is off."
""
"--"
""
"There is too much on my plate and I'm focusing on fatherhood for a while - but can vouch for the crew and give you an unfiltered POV if you DM for more details."
""
"They're well funded and in a territory that will continue to grow in relevance and importance. "
""
"Melbourne-based and hybrid - job ad going out soon."
""
"Thanks!"
""
"#hiring #digitalmarketing #melbourne

I broke my foot playing basketball on Thursday night."
""
"6 weeks of moonboot and no driving, which is challenging because our twin boys are due in 6.5 weeks."
""
"A few thoughts have popped in as I start the week:"
""
"- I’m again reminded of how our working world is built around being able. I had a pretty smooth run in and out of casualty, family nearby to help ferry, deliveries, ample income, and emotional supports - yet it’s still frustrating. Imagine living your life continuously adapting to a system that doesn’t accommodate you."
""
"- Stress and other feelings are natural and it’s important for me to be honest about them. Things suck right now and there’s no hiding that. What gives me solace is knowing feelings pass and I can always shift the focus to what I can control: resting, healing, making the necessary phone calls, and asking for help where I need it."
""
"- It was weird going to post a video this morning (I have so many prepped I’m keen to keep shipping 😂) when this has happened, so I didn’t. Not big in the scheme of things, but its a weird tension between wanting to execute against a plan versus simply being upfront."
""
"—"
""
"Back to some rest and reading more of Tim Urban’s new book now - it’s very thought-provoking.

Do you know who Tim Urban is?"
""
"Maybe not."
""
"He is the writer of WaitButWhy."
""
"I loved his writing. "
""
"He went DEEP on provocative topics like AI, selecting a partner, and the feeling of loss we get as an adult when we're interacting with our parents (hint: it's because most of our time together is already spent). "
""
"I supported him on Patreon - in a shut-up-I-have-to-support-this-kind-of-writing kind of way. "
""
"Then he ghosted and didn't release anything for TWO YEARS. "
""
"I cancelled my Patreon subscription, and still clung to the hope he would RELEASE MORE WORDS."
""
"Then out of nowhere he releases this series of posts questioning what the hell is going on with the world. "
""
"It looked at things like:"
""
"⚔️"
"Why collectively we've grown into being more adversarial than interested in common good"
""
"🤪"
"How comically partisan media is today, and how it fans the adversarial fire"
""
"🗿"
"Tribalism - and why groups of smart people get emotionally hijacked"
""
"--"
""
"It was an excellent read."
""
"Before Tim finished the series, he announced "this is way too deep m8s - I'm going book-mode"."
""
"Then he disappeared for another THREE years."
""
"Until an email arrived this morning - it read:"
""
"BOOK"
""
"I clicked on the subject header and swore under my breath - "don't effing do this to me Timmy, I've waited too effing long for an update m8""
""
"Only it was an update of the best possible kind."
""
"Tim threw down his book announcement and it's ready for pre-order with a full release on the 21st February."
""
"I read voraciously."
""
"There are very few online writers that I insta-purchase what they're throwing down."
""
"One of them was James Clear - he had been so conscientious delivering knowledge on his blog that I KNEW his book would be gold dust."
""
"Atomic Habits has gone on to sell 10m copies and counting."
""
"Another is Matt Inman of The Oatmeal fame. No other writer has been able to make juicy and delicious tears pour out of my face with laughter so hard that my survival mechanisms trigger."
""
"Did you know he's been in hiding the last few years as he works on his fully animated movie? Goodness me that will be good."
""
"But back to Tim."
""
"This is going to be big. "
""
"It's a pretty elite group I'm vouching for here (and I'm open to more diverse suggestions for the future) so trust me when I say this book will blow your mind."
""
"Link in comments."
""
"#writing #society #waitbutwhy

Do not underestimate the power of being easy to use."
""
"Here’s a quote from Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun:"
""
""In terms of underlying techniques, ChatGPT is not particularly innovative," from a small gathering of press and executives on Zoom last week."
""
"🤦🏽"
""
"This is missing the point."
""
"📱"
"The iPod used existing technology, and found a new and innovative way to position the MP3 player that blew it far into the mainstream"
""
"💕"
"Dating apps were around long before Tinder set fire to match-making, yet they introduced a way to make it far more appealing to a connected generation"
""
"🚪"
"AI’s capabilities have been immense for years and years, and ChatGPT created a way to make some of that capability accessible to the everyday user"
""
"--"
""
"From the same meeting:"
""
""It's nothing revolutionary, although that's the way it's perceived in the public," said LeCun. "
""It's just that, you know, it's well put together, it's nicely done.""
""
"HOW things are used is just as important as WHAT it does."
""
"Disruption happens when people have enough of an old way of doing things and create a better way."
""
"Seeing this play out is fun to witness - and I’m not surprised we're seeing Kodak-like hubris playing out either."
""
"--"
""
"I'm extremely interested in how this space can deliver social and societal benefits - rather than big tech's standard cycle of leveraging expertise for outsized profits and increasing the gap between rich and poor."
""
"#ai #chatgpt #nfp

Great to see an abundance of Aussies in my LinkedIn choosing to work on the 26th January. Me too!"
""
"There's a heck of a lot more work to do in order to help First Nations people and I'm sorry it comes up each year."
""
"I implore everyone to continue to show up every day, listen with an open heart, and be as helpful an ally as you can."
""
"Australia always was, and always will be Aboriginal land."
""
"⚫️🟡🔴"
""
"#australia

Fun fact:"
""
"In 2014 I attended a conference called the World Domination Summit. "
""
"It was hosted in Portland, Oregon - and full of people who identified with being unconventional."
""
"During that week there was a spin-off session for “knowledge management nerds”."
""
"I am one such nerd."
""
"Do you remember Evernote?"
""
"It was an early notetaking app I combined with David Allen’s Getting Things Done method."
""
"I loved Evernote because it felt like the Pensieve in Harry Potter."
"You could have a thought, and pop it into your system so it’s not forgotten or lost."
""
"Unfortunately Evernote became a bloated piece of software. "
"It was more of a chore to use than functional."
""
"Last year I read the book “Building a Second Brain” and was impressed with a more systematic way of looking at the “Pensieve method”."
""
"The author Tiago Forte condensed his expensive course down into this book, and it took me through an approach for capturing and synthesising notes that was clean, easy to maintain, and got better over time."
""
"The core concept is simply categorising everything into Projects, Areas of interest, Resources, and an Archive - PARA."
""
"I wasn’t hot on coughing up thousands of dollars for a course on this subject, but got more than my money’s worth from the Audiobook!"
""
"A good 6 months has passed and the system continues to click and make sense in a satisfying way. "
""
"My brain is continually identifying things that interest me and having a system for channelling it has been awesome."
""
"If that tickles your brain-cumber 🧠🥒 :"
""
"Have a read and then follow-up with me to let me know what you learned, fellow knowledge management nerd 🤓"
""
"I never did get far into World Domination... but I met a TONNE of interesting people."
""
"#basb #knowledgemanagement

Here's three things I learned over the break:"
" "
"🔗❌🔗"
""
"Disconnecting feels luxurious."
""
"Between Boxing Day and New Year my partner and I visited family just near Benambra. It's remote as it gets. We slept in a shack for a few nights and I swam, kayaked, ran, read, lazed, and tried to find platypus. It's in the high country and something about not being connected to the outside world felt even better than other times."
" "
"❤️‍🩹"
""
"The body needed a break."
""
"It was a limp at the end of the year and lingering first-time COVID symptoms around like an unwelcome guest at a kick-on. Accepting that was therapeutic and honouring the healing process was necessary. This meant I had to pull out of one of my favourite runs (Two Bays) and rest. I'm glad I did."
" "
"🤝"
""
"Trust the goals I've set and let the rest go."
""
"I love the #TechForGood space but am happy biding my time until an appropriate leadership role comes my way at the right time. I'm fortunate that I have secured freelance jobs that I can instantly start adding value to. I've been very upfront about protecting my time first half of this year with twins on the way, and that's helped longer-term conversations bubble up, and gently directed the rest to drift away."
" "
"--"
" "
"I've enjoyed writing on here and will continue this year."
""
"I will add some other things over the course as well - including my book Start Marketing and some interesting speaking opps."
""
"Have a great 2023 everyone - you've got this 💪"
""
"#marketing #writing #lessons