I talk about digital writing & personal progress

Here's a quick rundown of how I've spent my last 5 years:

1. Studied math and played football at Princeton. I graduated in 2018 with a degree in financial engineering and played center for the Tigers. In college, I was a 280-pound offensive lineman, so for the last 5 years, I've had to completely rewrite my personal operating system on the health & fitness front. I currently weigh 185 pounds and have learned a lot along the way!

2. Graduated and immediately started working for BlackRock in New York City. I worked as a junior hedge fund trader for 4 years, focusing on global macro markets. This was my dream job and the only corporate job I've ever had. In fact, it's the only job *interview* I've ever had (since I interned there as a junior in college).

3. Realized working for someone else was not going to be the long-term path for me. 12 months into working on Wall Street, I saw someone in their mid-40s ask their boss for permission to go to their son's Little League game. At that moment I realized I wasn't cut out to take directions or instructions from other people for very long.

4. Started to write on my old blog, then on Twitter. Rather than quit immediately, I started to passively explore other opportunities by writing online, starting out on my old blog (which no one knew existed), then transitioning to Twitter in July of 2020.

5. Changed my trajectory with a 30-day writing challenge, which led me to start Ship 30 for 30. In September 2020 I was ready to give up writing entirely. But I gave it one more shot, this time moving from a weekly blog post to a daily Twitter thread. The challenge was a huge success. It took me 9 months to reach 100 followers and 1 month to go from 100 to 2,000. And that personal writing challenge turned into the foundation of Ship 30 for 30, which started as nothing but a Slack accountability group to help people publish consistently.

6. Scaled Ship 30 while working remotely for all of 2021. I built and scaled Ship 30 with Nicolas Cole to over 2,000 students in 2021—all while continuing to work full-time (remotely) for BlackRock. But towards the end of 2021, Ship 30 hit an inflection point and it no longer made financial sense for me to continue working on Wall Street.

7. Left BlackRock in March of 2022 to write and build on my own. After weeks of weighing the pros and cons and trying to project my path forward, I made the decision to leave BlackRock and chart my own path. 15 months into making that decision and I'm confident it's the best one I've ever made.

Dickie Bush 🚢

This writer posted on LinkedIn about quitting his job.

And from that ONE post he got some epic results:

Booked 5 sales calls.
And closed a $1,000/month consulting deal.

Insane.

Especially since Stefan didn't:

• Go viral
• Use some secret LinkedIn hack
• Or do anything anyone else couldn't

All he did was:

• Say what he does
• For who
• And how he helps them

Now, this doesn’t mean if you just hit publish you'll book a bunch of sales calls (or any at all).

But every single LinkedIn post you publish is a lottery ticket.

Some will flop.
Others will only get you views.

And then sometimes, you get lucky and the right kind of high-paying clients resonate with your content.

Which is why you should be publishing consistently on LinkedIn.

It's an easy way to land high-paying clients & make 6+ figures as a ghostwriter.

But first?

You need to:

• Find your own lucrative niche
• Create an Irresistible Ghostwriting Offer
• Learn the secret to charging premium prices

So, I put together a 5-day crash course with everything you need to start making money ghostwriting on LinkedIn in 2026.

Click here to get instant access (for free): https://lnkd.in/ekBqPdQQ

Reminder to self:

You can focus on no more than 3 things:

• 3 habits
• 3 values
• 3 goals

And you can only do this over a 3-month time horizon.

I had to learn this painful lesson the hard way:

Every year, I would sit down and write out 10 goals for the coming year (like I was building some grand master plan).

Felt incredible in the moment.

Made me feel:

• Organized
• Ambitious
• Like I had my life together

But then I'd find that list 3 months later and realize I couldn't even remember what I'd written down.

Let alone tell you if I actually achieved any of it.

The truth is:

Any time I have ever made a plan beyond 3 months, it was basically a useless exercise.

It didn't change my behavior.
It didn't keep me accountable.
It just made me feel good for about 20 minutes.

Here's what actually works.

You can focus on no more than 3 things.

If you can't rattle off the three things you're most focused on right now without pausing to think, then you're unfocused.

Make them something you can actually track and measure.

And then ignore everything else until those 3 are handled.

You'll get further with 3 clear priorities than you ever will with 10 vague ones.

I build decks (sales & pitches, not patios) | professional magician | out here makin' friends

I used to help founders raise/sell millions with beautiful decks.
Now, I’m using AI to help humans heal their inner world.

Same storytelling skills. Different stakes.

I’m Head of Product & Ops at a stealth mental wellness AI startup, building games that help humans heal their relationship with self (the ‘what happened to you’ pieces).

On here, I talk about:
- Mental health & dopamine: the games our brains play, how tech makes it worse/better
- Storytelling: whether it’s a deck, a product, or a habit… story drives behavior
- Ops & product in the wild: what’s working (and not) as we build
- Books: I read 100+ a year and steal the best ideas shamelessly

For you? Well, you tell me…

Founder? Need a deck or website → DM and I’ll intro you to my partner. 
Ops/prod person? Follow for ops + AI wisdom from the trenches. 
Interesting human? Send me your favorite book rec.

Now we’re friends!

John Linford

My girlfriend's reaction to cancer? 
She started a non-profit.

Carrie was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma almost exactly a year ago. I, like most of us, would have considered this a time to turn inward, focus on myself and my healing.

Carrie is not like most of us.

When she got her diagnosis, she also received news that because of the terrible things about to be done to her body, it was in her best interest to undergo fertility preservation.

Problem: she’d only graduated a few months prior.
And fertility preservation is usually ~$10K.

Obviously, didn’t have that kind of money.

Thankfully, her parents were able to help.

But most women aren’t so blessed. 
Most will forgo preservation entirely.
Focus on their cancer treatment starting soon.

And hope they can still have kids.

Carrie started Future Blooms to fill in this huge financial gap, one that is covered by almost zero health insurances, and comes in a critical (and fast!) whirlwind of emotions as you get a diagnosis, need to start treatment immediately, and somehow need to come up with funds to cover fertility ASAP. 

Why am I sharing all of this?

Carrie’s launched two months ago.
She’s already had a half dozen applicants.
Just finished helping out two different gals.
While juggling full-time work & marathon training.

And right now she’s out of funds.
And had two that applied yesterday.

Because of a sweet partnership with Utah Fertility Centers, fertility preservation for cancer patients is only $3K apiece. 

So I’m looking to help her raise $6K today.

I want to help these women have peace of mind as they are already grappling with the terror of a cancer diagnosis, and the impending unknowns of treatment and recovery.

So, calling on my network.
Any generous individuals or businesses.
I’m committing $1K to donate myself, 
Looking for the other $5K.

Who’s with me? 

You can donate here! https://lnkd.in/d3rqw4c2 

Utah (and everyone else) LFG!

Helping humans heal | talking ops, AI, & books | professional magician | out here makin’ friends

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Dickie Bush 🚢

John Linford

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The Battle

Dickie Bush 🚢

John Linford

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Posts

Engagements

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

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