My marketing career in 28 sentences:

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

2. Borrow $40k from my dad

3. Lose $35k in the first four months

4. Realize you suck at marketing

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

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

7. Read the book three times in 2 weeks

8. Make $200k in 6 months

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

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

11. Start freelancing and get fired from your first client

12. Double down on consulting and double your rates

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

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

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

16. Take a month off to heal

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

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

19. Start a content marketing consulting business on the side

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

21. Marketing starts to make sense

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

23. Rethink everything you knew about marketing

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

25. Get better results for clients and yourself

26. Post about your experiences on Twitter and LinkedIn

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

28. Learn to deal with haters and trolls

---

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

Shoot me a DM.

Josue Valles

Founder at The-Flyer-1™

The best creative work doesn't come from staring at a blank page. It comes from staring at two different things and finding the connection between them. It comes through curation, synthesis, and lateral thinking.

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https://curationlabs.substack.com/

Founder

I build curated assets that last.

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

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

Want to learn more?

Send me a DM.

If the world's biggest brands were 100% honest, what would their ads say?

1. Apple

"You will pay a 40% premium for this phone because of the color of text bubbles."

2. McDonalds

"Calorie-dense sustenance available in three minutes. You are here because you are drunk, broke, or in a rush."

3. Google

"We are an advertising firm that offers you free tools in exchange for a complete log of your location, curiosity, and private thoughts."

4. RedBull

"An elevated heart rate in a can. We are a marketing company that outsources beverage production."

5. Coca-Cola

"A mixture of carbonated water and high-fructose corn syrup capable of eroding tooth enamel and contributing to Type 2 diabetes."

6. Nike

"Marketing athletic excellence while outsourcing manufacturing to the lowest bidder in developing nations."

7. Zara

"Clothes designed to fall apart after six washes so you are forced to buy the next trend."

8. Louis Vuitton

"We sell coated canvas at a 2,000% markup to signal your social status to people you do not know."

9. Visa

"We take a 3% tax on almost every transaction in the global economy."

10. Starbucks

"A milkshake disguised as coffee, serving as a socially acceptable sugar addiction for adults."

What else would you add? 👇

Honest Advertising

David Ogilvy built a $363.2 million advertising empire with one secret weapon: writing. In 1982, he sent this internal memo to 3,000+ employees that's better advice than anything you'll find on LinkedIn today:

Here's his exact advice:

"The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches."

Then he gave them 10 rules:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious as*.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning - and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

---

Most business writing today is terrible, and AI is making it worse. Ogilvy understood that clear writing is clear thinking, and clear thinking builds better businesses.

P.S. Which of these 10 rules do you break most often? I'm definitely guilty of publishing stuff the same day I write it. What about you? 👇

Anyone who communicates ideas for a living should read Made to Stick at least once a year. I distilled the book from 304 pages to 7 principles that changed how I write, think, and sell new ideas:

1. Fight "The Curse of Knowledge"

Once you know something, you can't imagine not knowing it. You subconsciously tune your frequency to "Expert," using jargon and skipping foundational steps. 

To win, write like you are explaining things to your smart but impatient grandmother.

2. Simple: Find the Core

Proverbs survive for centuries because they pack maximum wisdom into minimum words. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" beats a 500-word essay on risk management. 

Southwest Airlines didn't have a 10-point strategic plan; they had one proverb: "THE low-cost airline." If a decision didn't help them be the low-cost airline (like serving chicken salad), they didn't do it. 

If you can't explain your value prop in one sentence after three beers, it is too complex.

3. Unexpected: Break the "Guessing Machine"

Violate expectations. Instead of "excellent customer service," say "We don't answer emails on weekends because we want our staff to love their lives." Instead of a statistic about safety, show a safety video that gets interrupted. 

4. Concrete: Use "Velcro"

Never say "we offer high-performance solutions." 

Say "our battery saves you 47 minutes of charging time per day." 

The Heaths use the example of the "kidney heist" urban legend. We remember it because it has a bathtub, ice, and a note. It is visceral. Stop selling "solutions" and sell "bathtubs and ice."

5. Credible: The "Sinatra Test"

You don't need a PhD to be credible; you just need to pass the "Sinatra Test": 

If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

If you catered a dinner for the White House, you don't need to tell me your food is safe and delicious. The credential speaks for itself. Don't drown people in statistics. Give them one immense, verifiable proof point. "We power the security for the Pentagon" beats a 20-page whitepaper on encryption standards every time.

6. Emotional: The "Mother Teresa" Principle

"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

Stop trying to get people to care about "the industry" or "the metrics." Make them care about one person. Don't say "We help companies reduce turnover." Say "We help the VP of HR stop dreading exit interviews." 

Lead with the feeling, then justify with the logic.

7. Stories: The Flight Simulator

A great story is a flight simulator for the brain. When you tell a story about how a problem was solved, the listener mentally rehearses that success.

So walk the prospect through the simulation: "Imagine it's Monday morning. You open your laptop. Instead of 50 unread tickets, you see zero. You pour your coffee..." You are letting them "practice" the solution before they’ve even bought it. 

TAKEAWAY

Test your current messaging against these 7 rules.

If it fails half of them, rewrite it.

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

The book is "Breakthrough Advertising" by Gene Schwartz. 

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

1. Sell at the identity level

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

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

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

2. Match awareness levels or die

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

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

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

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

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

4. Amplify existing beliefs instead of changing them

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

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

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

---

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

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

Some other books worth reading:

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

What else would you add? 👇

The state of LinkedIn content in 2026 👇

Founder, CurationLabs | I write about communications, branding and the creator economy, and how ideas from other fields can make us better at them

Found this 1980 ad about writing clearly. 45 years later, it's still the best writing advice I've ever seen:

1) Know exactly what you want to say before you start

Most people start writing and figure it out as they go. That's why most writing sucks. Thompson says outline first, write second. Revolutionary concept, apparently.

2) Start where your readers are, not where you are

Don't assume people know what you know. Meet them at their level of understanding, then bring them along. Most "experts" write for other experts and wonder why nobody gets it.

3) Use familiar word combinations

Thompson's example: 

A scientist wrote "The biota exhibited a one hundred percent mortality response." Translation: "All the fish died."

Stop trying to sound smart. Start trying to be clear.

4) Arrange your points logically

Put the most important stuff first. Then the next most important. Then the least important. Seems obvious, but most people do it backwards.

5) Use "first-degree" words

Thompson says some words bring immediate images to mind. Others need to be "translated" through first-degree words before you see them.

"Precipitation" => "Rain"
"Utilize" => "Use"
"Facilitate" => "Help"

6) Cut the jargon

Thompson warns against words and phrases "known only to people with specific knowledge or interests." If your mom wouldn't understand it, rewrite it.

7) Think like your reader, not like yourself

Thompson asks: "Do they detract from clarity?" Most writers ask: "Do I sound professional?" Wrong question.

---

This ad is from 1980.

The internet didn't exist. Social media wasn't even a concept. But the principles of clear communication haven't changed.

Most people still can't write clearly because they're trying to impress instead of express.

If the world's biggest brands were 100% honest, what would their ads say? (Part 2)

1. YouTube: "You wanted to watch a 30-second clip, but first, here are two 15-second unskippable ads for car insurance."

2. Microsoft: "Our software is mandatory for corporate employment. It will decide to restart your computer during your most important presentation."

3. Spotify: "We pay musicians fractions of a penny per stream so you don't have to buy albums anymore."

4. Procter & Gamble (P&G): "We own 65% of the items currently under your bathroom sink under 40 different brand names."

5. Tesla: "A battery company that sells cars. You are essentially beta-testing our software on public roads."

6. Pepsi: "We are the beverage you settle for when the restaurant does not have Coke."

7. Burger King: "You are only here because the McDonald's drive-thru line was too long."

8. Frito-Lay (Lay’s/Doritos): "Bags that are 40% potato product, 60% nitrogen gas, and coated in engineered powder to ensure you cannot eat just one."

9. PayPal: "We are holding your money for 'security reasons' for the next 180 days. Good luck reaching customer service."

10. BP / Exxon / Shell: "We knew about climate change in the 1970s and spent decades funding disinformation campaigns so we could keep selling oil."

11. Disney: "We own your childhood nostalgia and will monotonously remake it into live-action until it holds no emotional value."

12. Lego: " The most painful thing you will ever step on."

13. Gillette: "We sell razor handles at a low cost so you will purchase our proprietary replacement blades."

14. Rolex: "Mechanical timepieces that maintain high resale value due to artificially controlled supply chains."

15. Nvidia: "We accidentally powered the global AI revolution while trying to make video game water look more realistic."

16. Sephora: "We sell hope in a jar. You will spend $80 on a cream that is mostly water and glycerin."

17. EA Sports (FIFA/Madden): "We release the exact same game every year, but you must pay $70 to update the player roster."

18. Harley Davidson: "We sell cosplay costumes and noise machines to dentists who want to feel dangerous on the weekend."

19. Rolls Royce: "A car for people who do not drive themselves."

20. Purdue Pharma: "We told doctors our opioids were non-addictive. We were lying."

Honest Advertising - Part 2

It pisses me off that people frame using AI as some sort of cheating or moral failure. There seems to be this idea that if you aren't bleeding over your keyboard, you aren't working. Refusing to use a tool doesn't make you holy, and using one doesn't make you a villain.

I mean, you can love the creative process (I do) and still recognize that not every single task requires blood, sweat, and tears.

​I stumbled across this old magazine clipping from Donna Brazile this morning. It’s titled "Smartest Advice I Ever Got." Point #4 stopped me in my tracks:

​It’s a story from Gloria Steinem about a geology class field trip. A student saw a giant snapping turtle on a dirt path. 

Thinking the turtle was lost and suffering, the student "rescued" it by wrestling it back down the embankment into the river.

​The professor walked up and asked what she was doing.

When she explained her good deed, he told her:

The turtle had probably spent a month crawling up that dirt path to safely lay its eggs in the mud... and she had destroyed all that effort with her "rescue."

​The lesson?

"Always ask the turtle."

​It’s such a gut check. 

How often do we try to "save" a team member or a client with a solution they didn't ask for, only to ruin the progress they were making?

​Here are two other rules from the list that I needed to hear today:

​1. Be the Buffalo

Wilma Mankiller (Chief of the Cherokee Nation) explained that cows run away from a storm. Because they run with the wind, they actually stay in the storm longer.

The buffalo charges directly toward the storm...and gets through it quicker.

Don't prolong the torment. Charge it.

​2. Organize the Small to Make Room for the Big

"Our lives are spent in moments...how many of them do you want to waste looking for your cell phone?"

If you organize the small stuff (keys, files, calendar), you free up the brain power to pursue the big stuff.

​My takeaway:

We usually think leadership and all that stuff is about having the answers.

But sometimes, it's just about knowing when to charge the storm, and knowing when to leave the turtle alone.

Founder, CurationLabs | Exploring the intersection of Media, History, and the Creator Economy.

If you have great ideas but struggle to get people to pay attention, here’s 8 books that will make your message impossible to ignore:

1. Resonate by Nancy Duarte

Most presentations are boring because they lack conflict. Duarte analyzes great speeches (from MLK to Steve Jobs) and reveals the underlying structure: a constant toggling between "what is" and "what could be." It turns a presentation into a movement.

2. The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto

This is the gold standard for McKinsey consultants for a reason. Most people bury the lead. Minto teaches you to start with the answer first (BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front) and group your supporting arguments logically. If you pitch to executives, this is mandatory reading.

3. Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield

The title hurts, but it’s true. Pressfield teaches the ultimate lesson in empathy: readers are busy and distracted. You have to earn their attention with every single sentence. This changed how I view the "hook" in every piece of content I create.

4. Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath

The "Curse of Knowledge" is the single biggest enemy of communication. Once you know something, you can't imagine what it’s like not to know it. This book provides the SUCCESs framework (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) to make your ideas impossible to forget.

5. Influence by Robert Cialdini

You can’t move people with logic alone. Cialdini breaks down the 6 scientific principles of persuasion (Reciprocity, Commitment, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, Scarcity). This isn't about manipulation; it's about understanding the psychological shortcuts the human brain uses to say "yes."

6. On Writing Well by William Zinsser

"Clutter is the disease of American writing." Most communicators use fancy words to sound smart. Zinsser teaches you that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. It taught me to strip away every word that serves no function.

7. Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

Most brands position themselves as the hero. Miller flips the script: The customer is the Hero; you are the Guide. If you confuse, you lose. This framework clarifies your message so customers listen.

8. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

Most creatives wait until the idea is "perfect" to share it. Kleon argues that the process is as interesting as the product. This book helps you get over the fear of self-promotion by teaching you to become a documentarian of your own learning.

---

What else would you add? 👇

Over the last 12 years, I have published thousands of pieces of content (no kidding), and I can tell you with certainty that 90% of them were bad or mediocre. But that was the price of admission for the 10% that changed my career.

The gap between your taste and your talent is where most people quit. You know what "good" looks like, but you can't produce it yet. This is what Ira Glass refers to as the "Gap." There is no shortcut across. You have to fill the gap with a massive volume of work. You have to produce bad work to get to the good work. 

Keep going.

It's never too late to chase the "stupid" idea. The side project you talk about at dinner parties but never start because it "doesn't scale" or "isn't serious." Do it. Trust me, the energy you get from working on something you actually love will bleed over into everything else.

In 1978, architect Frank Gehry was drowning in safe, boring projects that paid bills but killed his soul. So he bought a pink bungalow and did something that would either make or break his career. Here's what happened:

1) He stopped trying to please everyone

Gehry wrapped his house in corrugated steel, added chain-link fencing, and made the kitchen floor tilt at 7.5 degrees. While other architects were horrified, artists and film directors got what he was doing.

2) He alienated his corporate clients on purpose

The same work that drove away his "sensible" clients became a beacon for people who wanted something extraordinary. Within 5 years, he stopped taking corporate work entirely.

3) He turned his weirdest ideas into premium services

His new clients - museums, concert halls, foundations - didn't just pay more. They gave him complete creative freedom because they valued his distinctive approach.

4) He used controversy as marketing

His neighbor's lawsuit over the "ugly" house? Best marketing he ever got. Today that house is studied in architecture schools worldwide.

5) He proved that distinctive work attracts the right clients

The math isn't: Good Work = More Clients
It's: Distinctive Work = Right Clients

6) He made his constraints into features

Those tilted floors and metal walls weren't mistakes. They were signals to his real audience - people who wanted something nobody else could deliver.

7) He learned that pushing away wrong people finds the right ones

By refusing to water down his ideas, Gehry attracted clients who appreciated exactly what made him different.

---

Most of us live in a prison of our own making.

We water down our ideas to please everyone and call it "being professional."

But Gehry proved that your weirdest ideas might be exactly what the right clients are looking for.

I was looking at this campaign from WLM (West London Mission) and it’s honestly a piece any communicator should study. Here's why:

The ads introduce a "dad of two" who is "excellent at conkers" or a girl who takes "two and a half sugars" in her tea. From a design perspective, your eye is likely drawn to the bold red text first: "He is... sleeping in the park". You see the "Label" immediately.

But the layout physically forces the grey text to interrupt that label. It wedges a human reality directly between the subject ("He is") and the condition ("sleeping in the park").

This creates instant cognitive dissonance. The ad doesn't ask you to be empathetic. No. It forces your brain to reconcile two incompatible facts: How can a Brentford fan who is good at conkers also be sleeping on the street?

Ironically, the confusion creates empathy.

My takeaway: 

You can't destroy a bias just by arguing with it. You have to interrupt it with a detail so specific and human that the label no longer fits - a tiny, undeniable detail (a "conker") that makes a stranger feel real.

10 old-school ads every copywriter must study:

1. Volkswagen "Think Small" (1959)
Turned a hated car into a counter-culture icon.

2. U.S. School of Music "They Laughed When I Sat Down..." (1926)
The headline became a cultural meme for a century.

3. Rolls-Royce "At 60 miles an hour..." (1958)
Sales jumped 50%.

4. Avis "We're only No. 2" (1963)
Turned a massive deficit into profit in one year.

5. Sherwin Cody "Do You Make These Mistakes in English?" (1918)
Ran successfully for 40 years.

6. Gary Halbert "The Coat of Arms" (1970s)
Mailed 600 million letters. Built a fortune.

7. Joe Karbo "Lazy Man's Way to Riches" (1973)
Sold 2.7 million books.

8. Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends..." (1930s)
One of the best-selling books in history.

9. Listerine "Halitosis" (1920s)
Revenue grew from $115k to $8M.

10. Patagonia "Don't Buy This Jacket" (2011)
Sales rose 30%.

What else would you add? 👇

10 old-school ads every copywriter must study

🚀 Building Growth Engines for Early-Stage Startups through Educational Content ✨| Building the Future of Education & Aligning Tech with UNSDG at Nitwitt 🎓 | Creative Learning Architect 🔖| Long Distance Runner 🏃🏼‍♂️

I didn’t go viral.
I didn’t raise funding.
I didn’t quit my job and scale to 6 figures in 90 days.

I stayed.
And I wrote.

Writing became my way of surviving — then solving.
Through writing, I learned how to pitch, how to design systems, and how to build retention engines that worked in the real world, especially early-stage startups.

That’s how I built ERX — a simple retention-first framework to help early-stage SaaS founders turn users into long-term believers:
Engage → Retain → Expand → Execute.

Right now, I work with founders to design onboarding, activation, and lifecycle systems that drive growth by reducing churn and increasing product love.

And everything I learn gets documented for Praglabha — my long-term project to build a free, decentralized university for the AI and information age.

If you're a founder struggling with activation, retention, or user education — let’s fix that.

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🧑🏻‍🚀 Bharath Kodancha 🌮

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