The Mindful Creator | I talk about mindset, creativity, & content writing | Building The Mindful Creation Blueprint

I wasn’t supposed to be here.

Five and a half years ago, my life was going the other way...

I was: 

🔹Drinking every day
🔹Running from myself

And one night alcohol took my right eye in a freak accident

That was my wake-up call.

I had two choices: 

1. Keep spiraling downwards (and potentially die) 
2. Rebuild myself

I chose to rebuild.

I got sober. 

Which forced me to face the sides of myself I’d been running from. 

And in the process, I discovered something most people never realize...

Your identity shapes your whole reality. 

Who you believe you are determines what you're capable of creating. 

That lesson became the foundation of everything I do now.

When I started my consulting business...

I was in college studying audio engineering.

Just a normal guy who had to figure it out from scratch.

Since then... 

I built my consulting business to six figures organically on LinkedIn.

And I've watched my clients break through the same walls I had broken through in my own life.

Today, my mission is simple:

To help established leaders and creatives get to $20K/m by doing the inner work combined with the business work.

Because I know what it feels like to lose everything.

And I also know what it takes to build yourself back stronger.

Darion Rae

Delusional self belief...

That's where it all started for me.

Not everyone is going to support you.

Not everyone is going to believe you can do it.

(Some people might secretly want you to fail).

One of the few things you can control though...

Is betting on yourself.

(Huge shoutout to Kelsey Schaefer for having me on Inspired Idiots. If you haven't seen what she's up to... check her out)

Helping you master → yourself, value creation, & productizing your knowledge

If what you're working on doesn't:

🔹Fire you up
🔹Get you obsessed
🔹Excite you when you wake up

You're headed in the wrong direction. 

You can think it's idealistic for me to say it.

You can even disagree...

But I know one thing for certain:

Life is too short to spend your time doing sh*t you don't care about.

--

🔷 If you love self-mastery, value creation, and productizing your knowledge, follow me Darion Rae

I don’t want an easy life.

I want a meaningful one.

Easy now gets harder as you go.

A meaningful life is the exact opposite.

It’s hard now, but gets easier later. 

That’s the trade most people never consciously choose.

If you’re even thinking about this…

You’re already playing a different game than most people.

People who feel unfulfilled usually aren’t lazy…

They’re misaligned.

They never chased excellence in what they’re meant to do.

(Their life’s task)

So they stay stuck going through the motions.

Working on things they don’t enjoy and aren’t passionate about. 

This is why I’m so committed to chasing mastery in what I love. 

And why I believe we all need to be. 

When you remove distractions and commit to one path long enough…

Meaning and fulfillment come naturally. 

Yes, being a polymath is important.

Yes, having multiple skills is important.

But you need to go deep into 1 or 2 things.

Mastery requires it.

--

🔷 I recently ran a workshop teaching my 6-figure content system & strategy.

If you're struggling to write content that feels aligned with you while still attracting your dream clients on LinkedIn...

Catch the free recording here:

https://lnkd.in/eUqPr7vK

I never mastered my early passions as a kid.

I got above average…

Then moved onto the next thing that excited me.

Every time.

Now that I’m older, I see why.

Magic, breakdancing, basketball, rapping…

They were my training wheels.

Looking back at all those passions I was able to see similarities. 

They were all rooted in:

🔹Self-expression
🔹Technical skill
🔹Performance

And best of all they were permissionless. 

They all led me here to creating value online and productizing my knowledge. 

And now I’m chasing mastery for the first time in my life, and it feels damn good. 

So this is my reminder to you…

Yes, go wide in a bunch of things, follow your curiosity and interests.

They’ll help you realize what you need to go deep in.

--

🔷 If you love self-mastery, value creation, and productizing your knowledge, follow me Darion Rae

In the digital age, nothing is more important than mastering:

🔹 Yourself 
🔹 Value creation
🔹 Productizing your knowledge

Yourself because there's never been more distractions.

Value creation because the internet allows everyone to build their own business. 

Productizing your knowledge because to reach as many people as possible... you need scale.

Tactics don't mean sh*t if you don't become the personal capable of getting the outcome you want.

--

🔷 I recently ran a workshop teaching my 6-figure content system & strategy.

If you're struggling to write content that feels aligned with you while still attracting your dream clients on LinkedIn...

Catch the free recording here:

https://lnkd.in/eUqPr7vK

Ever since I was a kid I was chasing mastery without even knowing it.

My first passion was magic. 

I wanted to be a magician so badly after my uncle did some magic tricks for me and my friends at one of my birthday parties. 

I would practice in front of the mirror for hours every single day after school.

Just me working on my slight of hand and all the angles. 

I even pretended my reflection was the person I was performing for. 

Then I found breakdancing when I was 10. 

It opened a whole new perspective for me on self-expression.

It was creative, technical, and performance based (just like magic).

There was always another move to learn, or another way to do a move that I’d never seen anyone else do. 

It kept me hooked. 

Then a couple years later I found my greatest love…

Basketball.

It consumed me.

And when I say consumed me… I mean I was absolutely obsessed. 

I woke up at 5 AM before school to practice.

I slept with my ball.

I trained at lunch between classes, after school…

Pretty much anytime I wasn’t eating or in class,

I was practicing. 

This has been a trend my whole life.

After basketball it was rapping…

Then 3.5 years ago, I found online entrepreneurship and never looked back. 

Here’s why I’m telling you all this…

---

🔷You can read the full post on my blog here: https://lnkd.in/ewa_Aq4m

Last year something felt off in my business.

Which is strange because the year before in 2024 I:

🔹Hit 6 figures
🔹Thought I was building my dream biz
🔹Helped a lot of people get clients on LinkedIn

So I couldn’t quite put my finger on what didn’t feel right…

All I knew was I wasn’t inspired to write content anymore.

I didn’t get fired up to start work in the morning like I did the year before. 

My obsessiveness over my craft pretty much disappeared. 

And my business took the hit. 

After a lot of self reflection and brutal honesty with myself,

I realized what happened...

🔷You can read the full post called 'Most People Never Discover What They're Meant To Do (How to find your heart's task)' here:

https://lnkd.in/eiATk8Km

Abby struggled with her writing business for 3 years before we started working together.

Before we met she:

🔹Had no strategy or repeatable systems
🔹Offered every type of copy you can think of
🔹Only signed a couple one off ‘project’ clients
🔹Didn’t feel like a business owner who ran an actual business
🔹Was ready to give up because she thought maybe it wasn’t for her

Now in less than 10 months she:

🔹Feels like a real business owner
🔹Is working with 6 clients she’s aligned with
🔹Has a specialized offer built for recurring revenue
🔹Has a system and strategy she can wake up and execute on without guessing
🔹LOVES what she does

So if you’re a leader or creative who wants mastery over 3 key areas:

💎 Yourself
💎 Value creation
💎 Productizing your knowledge

I show you exactly how inside my community here → https://lnkd.in/gnn6TGAe

The curious content marketer who cares ✨ Partnering with purpose-led small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs to connect through storytelling and collaboration.

My ability to spot a good story is what landed me my first job in journalism. But it was my decade of profiling startups, small businesses, nonprofits and some of San Francisco’s most influential people that taught me how to tell one. 

A move into marketing and another decade dabbling in the creator economy—first with a food blog, then a motherhood magazine—taught me how to use those stories to build communities through content and collaborations.  

Now my mission is to help purpose-driven people and brands build loyal audiences who don't just want what you offer, but love what you stand for.  

Founders and business owners come to me when they need a strategic storyteller and networked creator. 

The results?

1. A clear brand narrative.
2. A simple, sustainable plan and process for consistently sharing that narrative through content across all channels. 
3. A bank of differentiated ideas pulled from stories and experiences to use everywhere. 
4. A shorter sales cycle. 
5. A community of collaborators.
6. An overall less time-consuming (and more enjoyable) way to do content marketing. 

In short: I help you figure out what you need to say and where you need to say it to develop your brand, find a community of collaborators, and connect with the right people.

Because with so much noise and competition, we all need a reason to care—we need to feel a connection. 

If you can do that, not only will you stand out, you will find exactly where you fit in. 

Ready to get started?

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

I have proof that this is the best (and fastest) way to stand out on LinkedIn. 

First, take a look at all the top accounts. People like:
Justin Welsh
Neil Patel
Lara Acosta

Study them closely. 

Read their advice. Note their content style, structure, and talking points. Create templates from their hooks. 

And then?

Do the complete opposite.



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Now that I (hopefully) have your attention, I'd like you to know that enrollment for the February cohort of my Short-Form Storytelling for Brand Building workshop is now OPEN. 

In 4 weeks, you'll learn how to not just capture attention, but deeply resonate with your target audience and unlock a world of opportunities online, in-person, and anywhere you want to build trust.

Renee Lynn Frojo

They tell you to tell your story. I show you how. | Brand storytelling, strategy, and training to help you get heard or hired. | Ask about my Short-Form Storytelling Workshop for your community or organization.

If the first week of January is any indicator of how the rest of this year is gonna go, then 2026 is shaping up to be a doozy.

On a globals stage, the leader of the free world just kidnapped another country's president for oil.

More locally, a perfect storm created by the moon’s proximity to the Earth, a rising tide and nonstop winter rains released a monsoon of unprecedented flooding in several cities in and around San Francisco, forcing evacuations of dozens of families—including my very own kids who were supposed to be at their dad's house through the weekend.

So instead of a quiet, focused first day back at work I'm playing the role of host and refugee shelter for my ex-husband, his 120-pound Swiss Bernese Mountain dog, and our two kids while grapling with how the world order is about to change.

While there's nothing quite like starting a fresh new year with exciting news and unexpected events, I'm focusing my attention on the light and opportunity in it all.

Bunking with my ex—which benefits my kids above all else—didn't seem possible to me when we were going through our breakup seven years ago.

Lots of things that are reshaping our relationships with each other and the world  as we know it didn't seem possible seven years ago. A lot has changed. 

And while change is scary and confusing, it's coming for us whether we're ready for it or not. Actually, it's here. We're in it. And I can already sense how it's changing people from what seems like a more grounded place.

Something big has shifted in all of us. I can't articulate it just yet, but I think many of us are tired of moving fast, playing the game and ready to rewrite the rules from a greater sense of self awareness. 

I still think it's going to be a doozy. But a good one.

If you write a newsletter, you know you’re doing it right when the same issue gets both the most replies you’ve ever received and the most unsubscribes. 

That’s what happened with the last issue of A Good Reputation. 

I spoke to my people and shed the rest.

...And I’m only just a little bitter about it.

I keep meeting smart, thoughtful, experienced people who want more visibility to grow their business, and yet everything in them resists hitting publish.

And it’s usually because they're:

-Out of practice with writing
-Afraid of being judged, misunderstood, or taken out of context
-Spent years doing great work quietly and behind the scenes for someone else
-Don’t want to sound like everyone else on the internet
-Unsure what they can share (especially with client confidentiality)

These solos, founders and job seekers know visibility matters, but they just don’t know how to make it feel safe or sustainable.

So they comment instead of posting, and draft all this content that never sees the light of day.

If this is you, I see you. You’re telling yourself you’ll get to it eventually. 

But the longer you wait, the longer it takes to build the type of visibility that creates real inbound opportunities—from clients and customers coming directly to you to job offers you get to vet.

This is exactly who my February storytelling for brand building cohort is for.

Over four weeks, we focus on:
-Finding your unique point of view 
-Writing in a way that sounds like you
-Building confidence through practice, feedback, and support
-Leaving every session with something you can actually publish

This is not a content creation program. It’s a small, intimate space to learn storytelling for short form.

We focus on how resonance works, how specificity helps others feel seen, and why being understood is what actually builds trust.

The doors close in 5 days. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/gv6sVEK5

In the meantime, I’m going to bully all of my friends into commenting on this post so that it gets some reach.

Want to be funnier and faster on your feet? Me too, my friend. Me too.

Not only does being funny make you more likable and relatable, it also helps release the pressure valve during unstable, chaotic times. (Yes, like the one we’re very much living in.)

So that’s why I decided to kick off my community speaker series with an Improv Masterclass taught by the one and only Amanda Austin. And boy, did she deliver.

In an hour(ish), Amanda gave us the upshot on what it takes to be funny. She led us through a handful of unpredictable, ridiculous games to get over ourselves and unlock a buttload of new ideas for turning our personal experiences into story drafts.

One thing I took away is that all humor comes down to surprise. We laugh because:

1. We can see ourselves in you or the thing, or
2. We can’t relate at all, and what you just told us is totally absurd or novel.

Either way, the element of surprise is the mechanism for the funnies. 

So, if you want to be funnier, start by trying these 3 things:

1. Become a better listener and observer so that you can notice that surprising thing that sticks out (known as the “bright, shiny object” in improv), and build on it.
2. Say “yes and” to all of your dumb ideas. Good, funny ideas start with a lot of imperfect volume. 
3. Let go of your ego and trust the process. Related to number 2, we are our biggest blockers to great ideas. Just start writing that draft without getting attached to where it’s going.

The most profound takeaway for me was that instead of trying to “be funny,” you simply need to be more observant and honest.

It’s the same thing that makes you a better storyteller. 

Funny how that works, ey?



-------------------

If you’re looking for an extremely fun and practical workshop for your community, I highly recommend you GO HIRE Amanda RIGHT NOW. (Sorry to yell.)

And if you want to become a better storyteller and learn from a diverse range of speakers like this, you can join my next group in Short-Form Storytelling for Brand Building. 

Next month, we’re hearing from the CIA’s former head of content (!!!) on how to tell stories about top secret or sensitive stuff. It's going to be fascinating. Enrollment for the February cohort closes in 6 days.

Did the Bay Area just survive a real-life Sharknado?

Last weekend, a perfect storm created by the moon’s proximity to the Earth, a rising tide, and nonstop winter rains released a monsoon of unprecedented flooding in several cities in and around San Francisco, forcing evacuations of dozens of families that live on a lagoon.

As drone footage of the flooding circulated on the internet and group chats, so did this image of a spotted leopard shark swimming around the high school parking lot. 

Possible, I guess, since the lagoon backs into the bay.

Some people (myself included) immediately questioned whether the image was generated by AI, while others jumped in to defend the plausibility of a shark in the neighborhood.

While some obsessively dug to find the truth and set the record straight, others didn’t bother to fact-check or care—they just loved the story.

And that's how the story spread. 

Either because it made for fun dinner conversation or justified a feeling that the world is, in fact, coming to an end.

This is the moment we’re all navigating. It's a moment where we have to trust our instincts and intuition more than our eyes.

Ultimately, where we get our information, how we shape our belief system, and how we build our worldview come down to whom we choose to align with and trust.

So, as brands, business leaders, and creators, how do we get anyone to trust us?

A few ideas in this week's issue of A Good Reputation Newsletter.

Now, you tell me: Real or not?

taplio

The Battle

Darion Rae

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

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taplio

The Battle

Darion Rae

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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

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