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

Curationlabs

We partner with VC-backed founders to turn their voice, vision, and experience into a high-trust LinkedIn presence that accelerates hiring, sales, and fundraising. This isn’t ghostwriting. It’s strategic amplification. We make sure the right people believe in what you’re building.

Founder

Marketing(Curated)

Learn marketing from the world's best marketers

tulkit. inc

Partner

Founder at The-Flyer-1™

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.

In 1984, J. Walter Thompson ran this copy test once. Thousands took it. Only 10 people landed jobs. Those 10 people went on to become the brightest creative stars in the business. 

Here is the exact test they had to pass:

1. The Poppy Putrid Song 

"You are the songwriter for hitmaker Poppy Putrid. She's just had three recent No. 1 hits. All love songs. For her next hit, Poppy wants a song about moldy pizza, rancid butter, and flat beer. Her agent is convinced it should be another love song. Make it both."

This tests your ability to handle Cognitive Dissonance. Can you marry two conflicting concepts to create something memorable. Does your brain break when the pattern is disrupted?

2. Dialogue in a Dark Alley

"Write a Dialogue in a Dark Alley. (Not more than 200 words.)"

This tests your ear for dialogue. Great copy doesn't sound like writing; it sounds like speaking. 

3. The Taxi Strike 

"The Transit Authority has denied a request by the city's taxi drivers to increase fares... The cabbies have gone on strike... As a rookie reporter, it's your opportunity to shine. Write the banner headline and a story not to exceed 500 words."

This tests Persona Adoption. They want to see if you can inhabit the mindset of a hungry, ambitious rookie.

4. The Martian Speech 

"A delegation of Martians has just landed in Central Park... Prepare a short speech (comprised of pictures and symbols) to welcome them..."

This tests Simplification. Do you actually understand the core concept well enough to draw it?

5. Walletsize Books 

"You are a writer for Walletsize Books. Describe the history of the United States in 100 words or less."

This tests Editorial Judgment. Anyone can write a 10-page essay. It takes a master to decide what to cut. 

6. The Trappist Monk 

"You've heard the story about the man who made a fortune selling refrigerators to Eskimos... how would you sell a telephone to a Trappist monk who is observing the strict Rule of Silence?"

This tests Benefit vs. Feature. You must sell the benefit relative to the specific user's worldview.

7. Gun Control vs. NRA 

"Design/draw two posters. One is for legislating strict gun-control laws. The other is in support of the NRA."

This tests Radical Empathy. To be a great copywriter, you must be able to detach from your own ego and advocate effectively for the client, regardless of your personal beliefs.

8. The Dime Campaign 

"Develop a script for a popular network television program that will convince the show's millions of viewers to each send in a dime. (You have 30 seconds to be convincing.)"

In a 30-second script, you need urgency and a psychological hook immediately. You must trigger an emotional response in seconds.

---

We have become obsessed with tools, hacks, and algorithms.

But the fundamentals of persuasion haven't changed in 40 years.

- Simplification
- Empathy
- Brevity
- Psychology

Which of these prompts would be the hardest for you to answer?👇

Founder of Markmind.co | Follow me for content on writing, thinking, and personal communication as a meta-skill

When Alan Mulally took over as Ford's CEO in 2006, the company was bleeding $12.7 billion a year. So he made one simple rule: 

Everyone HAD to attend his weekly meetings. No exceptions.

Every leader had to report their progress.

When a prominent executive skipped the first meeting, Mulally confronted him.

"That's okay. We can still be friends. But you can't work here," he said.

The results were staggering:

1. Ford went from a $12.7B loss in 2006 to a $6.3B profit in 2014.

2. The stock price soared 1,640% from its crisis low.

3. Ford became the only Detroit automaker that didn't need a government bailout.

Mulally's weekly meetings created what he called a "One Team" culture.

He forced executives to stop playing politics and start solving problems together. He built accountability through radical transparency and relentless implementation.

Most CEOs avoid confrontation.

Mulally made it the cornerstone of his turnaround.

Founder of markmind.co | Follow me for content on writing, thinking, and personal communication as a meta-skill

When Cheryl Bachelder took over as CEO of Popeyes in 2007, the company was a dumpster fire. The stock had crashed from $34 to $13. Four CEOs in seven years.

Your average CEO would've come in swinging.

You know...firing people, slashing costs, and demanding results.

Bachelder did the opposite.

She chose to SERVE her franchisees.

"How can we help you raise your bottom line?" became her standard question.

She traveled city to city, meeting one-on-one with franchise owners.

Not to lecture them.

To listen.

She treated them like partners.

And they were floored.

Here’s what happened over the next decade:

* Restaurant sales shot up 45%.
* Restaurant profits more than doubled.
* The stock price soared from $15 to $79.

Bachelder's philosophy was "serving the people and the enterprise is by far the best path to superior financial performance."

She built a culture where leaders served, instead of waiting to be served.

Most companies demand loyalty from the bottom up.

Cheryl earned it from the top down.

In 2011, this article was published to celebrate David Ogilvy's 100th birthday. It asks: 

"What can a man who never heard of the internet teach us about advertising?"

Well, IMO, quite a few things:

1. Deep research is still the only competitive advantage left in the AI era

In 1951, a small shirt manufacturer called Hathaway was on the brink of obscurity. They couldn't afford a celebrity. 

Ogilvy didn't just "get creative." He went to the library and researched for WEEKS until he found a photo of Baron Wrangel wearing an eye patch. He realized the patch added "story appeal."

He put an eye patch on the model for the shirt ad.

This campaign ran for 21 YEARS and made Hathaway famous.

I see so many copywriters using ChatGPT to "speed up" their process. Meanwhile, Ogilvy claimed to "pursue knowledge the way a pig pursues truffles." He studied EVERY SINGLE variable before writing a word. 

2. Spend 80% of your energy on the headline

This one is a bit cliché, but still worth repeating.

For his famous Rolls-Royce ad, Ogilvy wrote 104 headlines. He threw away 103. He finally came up with: "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock."

If you haven't written at least 20 variations of your hook, headline or whatever, you haven't started working yet.

3. Replace "fluffy" adjectives with concrete facts

Ogilvy despised adjectives. He believed words like "good," "best," and "innovative" were signs of a lazy mind.

Notice the Rolls-Royce headline above.

He didn't write: "This car is very quiet."

He gave you a concrete fact about an electric clock.

If you can't back your claim up with a number or a noun, delete it.

4. Stop making ads that look like ads

Ogilvy noticed people read editorial content 6x more than they read ads.

So he stopped making ads that looked like ads.

He used the same fonts as the newspaper. He used drop-caps. He organized the text into columns.

He tricked the eye into reading.

This is the principle of "camouflage."

And the reason organic posts coming from a personal profile are so powerful.

5. Write like your dinner depends on the click

Before Madison Avenue, Ogilvy sold stoves door-to-door in Scotland. He learned that if the pitch wasn't perfect, he starved. You need to write as if you're standing on a doorstep in the rain, trying to feed yourself.

6. Long copy still sells (if you solve a painful problem)

People say, "In 2025, attention spans are too short for long copy."

That's just lazy.

People binge 12-hour Netflix series in one sitting.

They don't have short attention spans. They just have ZERO tolerance for boredom.

If you solve a bleeding neck problem, they will read every word.

---

Ogilvy didn't have ChatGPT.

BUT he had "ungovernable curiosity" and a deep respect for the wallet of his client.

Today, we have 100x the data but 1/10th of the empathy.

Maybe there's a lesson there.

If you work in a creative role (writing, design, marketing, etc.) and you don't spend AT LEAST 20% of your time wandering, playing, or just doing absolutely nothing…

IMO, you're on the fast track to slop.

And yes, for a 40-hour work week, that'd be 8 hours of absolute "unproductivity."

If you're spending 100% of your time "working," you're spending 0% of your time thinking.

And if you're not thinking, you're not creating.

Which is fine if you want to be a production machine.

But if you want to produce quality work, you MUST allocate time for rest and recovery.

Real creativity requires INPUT.

New experiences. New perspectives. New stimuli.

And it requires PROCESSING TIME.

Your subconscious needs space to connect dots that your conscious mind can't see.

The best ideas I've ever had didn't come from sitting at my desk, grinding away for 8 hours straight.

They came from:

* Staring out the window for 20 minutes
* Taking a walk without my phone
* Reading something completely unrelated to my work
* Having a random conversation at a coffee shop
* Literally doing nothing and letting my brain wander

Here's what that looks like in practice:

(1) Block off time in your calendar for "thinking time" and protect it like a client meeting
(2) Take walks without your phone (seriously, leave it at your desk)
(3) Read things outside your industry…fiction, history, science, whatever
(4) Have conversations with people who do completely different work than you
(5) Stare out the window and let your mind wander 
(6) Take a real lunch break away from your desk
(7) Stop checking Slack/email every 5 minutes
(8) Say no to meetings that don't absolutely require you

Your boss/client might not understand this.

But I’d bet my life savings on this:

The person who spends 32 focused hours creating + 8 hours wandering will produce WAY BETTER work than the person who grinds for 40 hours straight.

That’s just how it works.

Because creative work isn't about time spent.

It's about the quality of thinking that goes into it.

And quality thinking requires space.

Fin.

After nearly 4 years of writing LinkedIn content, I've boiled my philosophy down to 8 core principles:

1. The best content comes from people who've done something specific that most people haven't. If you haven't lived it, researched it deeply, or failed at it spectacularly, you probably shouldn't be teaching it.

2. There's only 2 ways to write damn good content: a) Personal experience  (you tried something, it worked/failed, now you share the lesson and b) information arbitrage (you found insights in one industry/medium and translated them to another). Everything else is just commentary on commentary.

3. Your audience size doesn't matter.  I know creators with 100K followers who can't sell a $50 product. And creators with 2K followers who do $500K years. The difference is just the "audience intent." 1000 people who found you because they have the exact problem you solve or believe what you believe beats 100K randoms.

4. Everyone wants to learn from your disasters. The campaign that lost $50K. The hire that almost killed your company. The strategy that backfired. Mistakes just feel a bit more honest and authentic. 

5. Great content makes people feel like they're in the room when the thing happened. Use sensory details, share the exact words people said, and describe how you felt in your stomach. People will always remember how you made them feel.

6. You need an enemy more than you need an audience. The most memorable brands are AGAINST something. Apple vs. boring computers. Tesla vs. gas guzzlers. Your content should have a clear villain. Outdated thinking, bad advice, lazy competitors, whatever. People don't rally around neutral positions. That's just how it works.

7. Your personality is your distribution strategy. Don't get too caught up in algorithms, hooks, templates, and all that stuff. Yes, it matters. But it's just table stakes. It's your personality - your beliefs, stories, and opinions - that will truly make a difference.

8. Don't apologize for having bold opinions. If you believe something works, say it works.  If you think something is stupid, call it stupid. Conviction creates conviction in your audience.

---

In a nutshell, everything boils down to "doing cool stuff" and documenting it. 

The real problem isn't that you can't write. It's really not that hard. The problem is that you haven't anything to said yet.

Read books, fail big, start a company, meet interesting people.

Then worry about the writing.

🫡

What is your worst nightmare?

For most people, it’s public failure. It’s bankruptcy. It’s being laughed at.

But there is a fate much worse than failure.

It is to rank among those "cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

These are the gray people. 

The ones who never bet on themselves. 

They didn't lose. But they didn't live.

The world is filled with gray people - the critics.

They sit in the cheap seats. They watch the game. They keep the score. They point out the stumble. They sneer when the quarterback throws an interception. They write the think piece on why the startup failed. They laugh at your LinkedIn posts.

It feels like power. It feels like intelligence.

But it is actually cowardice.

Roosevelt called it out 100 years ago: "It is not the critic who counts."

The critic is safe. The critic is clean. The critic has ZERO skin in the game.

The only person who matters is the one whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. 

The one who is actually in the fight.

If you are building something...a company, a movement, a family...you are going to look stupid. You are going to trip. You are going to err.

Good.

That means you aren't observing life. You’re creating it.

Stop listening to the people in the stands. 

They aren't playing the game.

I hate the word "viral." I can't stand it anymore. It makes you think you're winning because the numbers are going up to the right. But virality creates ZERO defensibility. Anyone can go viral tomorrow. Literally anyone.

Fidget spinners went viral. Bird Scooters went viral. HQ Trivia went viral. Even Tiger King went viral.

None of those are still relevant in 2025.

Compare that to the most boring stuff you can think of:

Telephones are still here.

Email is still around.

Millions still use Microsoft Excel even though it looks like it belongs in a museum.

Heck, Craigslist hasn't updated its UI since 1999 and it's worth $3 billion.

Study network effects a bit and you'll realize how misleading "speed" really is.

Great things take time. They are slow. They are often incredibly unsexy.

If you're building in the dark right now, remember that the "overnight success" you are jealous of was likely 10 years in the making.

Don't believe everything you see on LinkedIn.

2025 is basically over. 

If you're a copywriter, designer, or any type of creative...

...and you're not a little nervous about 2026. 

IMO, you're not paying attention.

The industry is going through a massive correction.

People losing jobs, companies reducing budgets, and the definition of "quality" becoming blurrier by the day.

It's not just AI (though it plays a role). It’s the economy forcing many companies to choose "fast and cheap" over "great."

I hate to say it, but junior creatives are the most vulnerable because they are now competing against tools that are faster, cheaper, and "good enough" for the bottom line.

So, let's do something about it...

1. Hiring Managers: If you are hiring skilled creatives (or know of an open role), drop the link or details below.

2. Juniors: Introduce yourself. Tell us your role and the one specific skill you bring to the table that AI can't replace.

3. Seniors/Vets: Drop the ONE piece of advice you’d give your 20-year-old self to thrive as a creative. 

In times of uncertainty, the best thing we can do is lift each other up. Go. 👇

1. Liquid Death is valued at $1.4B. It's literally just water. In a can. A commodity in a market that couldn't be more saturated. Their innovation? They branded it like a heavy metal concert.

2. IKEA makes well over $5 BILLION/year. Their genius innovation? They tricked you into doing the assembly line's job for free.

3. A24, an indie film company up against giants, is valued at $2.5B. Their innovation? They found all the "weirdo" directors Hollywood was too scared to bet on and gave them creative freedom.

4. MSCHF has hit a $200M valuation. Their innovation? They built a whole business model around selling completely impractical prank products that go viral.

Not a single one of these companies was built on a line of code.

They were built by avoiding "Groupthink."

Real innovation doesn't come from a committee. 

Committees are designed to find consensus. 

And consensus is where weird, billion-dollar ideas go to die.

Innovation Has Nothing to Do With Tech

Note to self: Be careful with your words.

Senior Partner Manager at Hootsuite | Enterprise Alliances with MarTech SaaS | Head of Sales & Marketing at MyRisk | Board Director | Author of "Connect & Act - Systematic Social Selling"

The world is working in a hybrid mode - many continue to commute to their workplace while others work from home. How to find technology to enable and manage this new way of working?

The Australian ICT industry is unique: it is an ideal test market for new technologies and services. I moved to Sydney in 2016 to apply my 20 years of European ICT industry experience to the Aussie cloud and software business combining sales and marketing activities, mostly with partner companies.

Since I came to Sydney, I developed myself as a strategic networker bringing people together face to face and online using Social Selling techniques. I became an educator sharing this passion especially while serving the channel in Australia and Asia Pacific in the Software-as-a-Service industry.

I am passionate about the transformation of modern workplaces to embrace new ways of collaboration. Cloud based tools, mobility and Artificial Intelligence enable these trends. I consult and guide my audience as a trusted advisor along the change journey, to prepare for a connected tomorrow.

In addition to modern IT trends I care about heritage architecture, enjoy cultural activities and write about travel. As a published author of 22 books including two hotel guides, I combine these streams together.

Adapting my subject matter expertise and leadership experience to the next level, I serve as Board Director of my favourite hotel in Sydney.

Gunnar Habitz

Fun to be in the sales profession if you see these photos from yesterday‘s LiveHaus  event!
🥂
But not all have reasons to be happy as 42% of salesreps don‘t make quota and 91% in APAC report burnout (highest in the world).

Where to find out what to do with it?

Yesterday‘s SalesHaus event at The Commons in Sydney was the place where Australia‘s top #B2Bsales people came together.

Joe Hindmarsh MBA from Highspot set the scene with shocking facts line those reported above - but shows how #salesenablement platforms can improve the revenue impact (especially through partners).

Here are my key takeaways from some of the panelists, well moderated by 🚀 Saurabh Kaura: 

- Ricky Pearl: The best performing salesreps didn‘t change their approach radically from AI

- Steve Tolen: People still buy from people, we can‘t automate the relationship building process

- Adem Manderovic: Quota-hitting teams don‘t try harder, they engineer certainty in an GTM architecture approach (launching his book in 2026!)

My two cents: Authencity as sellers - also through #partnership - is key to win client trust. Using AI-powered tech tools is a short cut to be more efficient and creative - but not a replacement for the power of human connection.

What‘s your tip to remain connected in the sales profession?

Helping boutique marketing agencies scale through human connection, automation & AI-powered workflows | Agency Ecosystem Lead @ ActiveCampaign (APAC)

No alternative text description for this image

Who do you know who can help organise the typical digital chaos of small businesses?

My tip is Suzanne Disher, the founder of Digital Dish - an expert in setting up a strong digital foundation, to catch and nurture more leads.

We met as the 87th guest in my #42coffees series at Code Black Coffee in the vibrant suburb of South Melbourne.

Coming from digital agencies serving the brands across Australia and New Zealand, Suz is now working with e-commerce and service-based businesses to turn disconnected systems into  a simple customer data growth engine that saves you time and $.

While she can execute brilliant digital marketing strategies, Suz is educating her clients beforehand - knowing they are not digital experts.

Here are my notes from enjoying excellent coffee during typical Melbourne weather:
 
1. Most businesses like to buy leads but don‘t know how to catch and nurture them - that‘s where Suz comes in.

2. Solve the digital frustration for her clients, give them clarity and their time back, so they can focus on what they do best.

3. If you don’t know how your customers behave, your marketing turns to guesswork.

4. Converting leads is like dating… you can’t jump straight to the commitment.

How do you turn chaos into clarity?

The moment every agency founder laughed last week 😄 

At both ActiveCampaign agency events I ran over the last two weeks, the same moment kept happening:

I’d make an observation about how agencies grow… and the room would burst into knowing laughter.

Less about making fun but rather because it was true for everyone in the room.

Here are the three responses that got the strongest reactions:

1️⃣ “You have more work than ever and somehow less space to think.”

2️⃣ “Every agency has one process that only lives in someone’s head.”

3️⃣ “Your team doesn't burn out from client work, they’re burnt out from context switching.”

Every event break had variations of the same story, such as:
- “We added clients but our delivery rhythm didn’t change.”
- “We know what ‘good’ looks like but we’re just too underwater to do it consistently.”
- “We’re not disorganised, just operating in different worlds.”

What I loved most about the conversations was how shared the feedback was; nobody felt alone in the room.

And it fits to this slide: We're sitting in the same boat.

Let me ask something that everyone can answer without naming tools, processes or platforms:

What is the part of agency life that always makes you laugh because it is universally true - like the 37th revision of “final_v4” or the unpredictable Friday 4:55pm request?

Drop yours in the comments, keen to learn and share!

#partnerships #digitalmarketing #agencylife #agencyleaders #agencygrowth

Do you know the sentence: "The shoemaker wears the worst shoes?" Sounds familiar especially in marketing?

This week I did something I haven’t done properly in a long time: I rebuilt my own LinkedIn profile from the ground up - not for vanity or keywords.

I wanted to answer one question I often ask agencies:

“Does your profile express who you actually are or rather the version you created three years ago?”

Here’s what surprised me when I looked at my own: My identity had evolved, but my language hadn’t. The work I’m doing with agencies today is partially visible in the content but not reflected clearly enough.

That's what agencies told me about their clients but often don't do that for themselves. They grow but their own website and LinkedIn profile stay in the old lanes.

Here are my tips after that exercise, noted in this 367th episode of #socialsellingmonday all about using #LinkedIn to stand out and be relevant to the right people in an #AI sea of sameness within the feed.

1. Start with your identity, not job titles. Nobody cares how roles are called internally, it need to be understandable for the readers.

2. Write the content in the jargon of your clearly defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) as they need to get it (e.g. "He talks about my challenges").

3. Craft your About and Experience sections accordingly. Not corporate KPIs achievements but rather what the outcome means for the reader.

4. Add learning from outside of your core role as a flavour of your character and capabilities instead of a second or third job (good learning for me).

In the view of my "Happy Habits" book: Positioning is a rhythm, not a one-off project. That rhythm becomes a regular habit.

Thanks to Matt Lakajev for the inspiration and urgency to tackle that task.

When was the last time that you changed your profile?

What is the key activity as event organiser, main speaker or MC? Hint: it's not about the content.

Running our two ActiveCampaign Evolving Agency Series events in Sydney and Melbourne recently I discovered my main task:

Connecting people (remember the good old Nokia slogan)?

This event format is designed for marketing agencies - in theory they all compete. In reality everyone can add something extra to the table.

Here are my tips in this 368th episode of #socialsellingmonday in a #socialselling or #networking approach for events.

1. Research about the participants beforehand - easy as organiser, possible also as an attendee with a bit of social listening.

2. Prepare conversation starters for 1:1 and group discussions to ensure you contribute and learn at the same time.

3. For organisers: prepare moments for introductions, enhance breaks to allow networking, give the participants a task to discuss.

4. Create a post afterwards sharing your learning with our audience. That way you can position your expertise and connect with relevant people.

Bonus tip: I created name tags with their names and companies large enough to read plus a QR code with their LinkedIn profile - so easy to connect!

What's your tip to connect during events like this?

One of the biggest conversations in last week's agency events wasn't about AI, campaigns or tools. Instead we talked about niching and productisation.

These two topics made every founder sit up a little straighter.

And I learnt that agencies are not afraid of choosing a niche, it's rather difficult for them to choose the wrong ones.

I heard comments like
- "We can do so much for everyone but where do we draw the line?"
- "If we niche too hard, what if we lose the clients we already have?"
- "Our work is custom-built so how do we productise something that changes every week?"

But then something shifted as founders began recognising what they already kind of knew deep inside: You niche so that the right clients recognise you instantly.

And productisation helps giving your team breathing space through rhythm and repeatability.

I remember one founder told me: "We solve the same five problems every month but we describe them like 42."

Then I learned by myself that niching lives in repeatable work. We just have to find enough businesses who suffer from repeatable problems.

Hyper-niching means focusing your energy where it actually creates momentum.

What is the repeatable problem your best clients always return to you for?

#marketing #marketingautomation #EvolvingAgencySeries

Public speaking gets easier when you treat it as a good habit, not a star performance. Here's how to get there.
🎤
Over the last two weeks I spoke at two ActiveCampaign Partner Events in two cities, first in my home town in Sydney, then in Melbourne 🇦🇺.

My global teammates delivered the same concept in London, Copenhagen, São Paulo, Boston and in San Diego just yesterday.

Each room was different, each conversation took its own direction. And because I had already spoken so many times before, it all felt natural in my events down under.

That is the quiet benefit of public speaking: the more you do it, the less you need to prepare for it - simply because you’ve built the muscle.

You know how to read the room, adjust your pace, and follow the energy. You neither freeze not overthink. You simply step in and start.

Speaking often removes the drama from speaking at all. And when you treat public speaking as a good habit worth building instead of the heroic star performance, it becomes something you can rely on.

Whether it’s a panel panel, a fireside chat or a short presentation in front of a small group, you carry the same rhythm with you.

Please check my "4-2-1 Habit" episode (my weekly version of James Clear's famous 3-2-1 newsletter):
4️⃣  mini insights what public speaking can help you achieve
2️⃣  habit building actions to perform regularly
1️⃣  reflection question

👉 https://lnkd.in/g5tqvuc3

How do you build your #publicspeaking muscle?

Where is the place to meet startup founders, entrepreneurs, professionals, students and people in the #startup community for relaxed morning #networking?

Happy to invite you to the last session of Open Coffee Sydney at the Charles Darwin University near Central Station this Friday morning.

Why would you want to attend? It is the right place to look for a mentor, investor, client, co-founder, employer, vendor, inspiration, or a new friend.

Proud to volunteer at Open Coffee alongside Raghav Ravisankar, Kieran Longhurst, Peter Do and team for this monthly event.

Event Details:
📅 Date: Friday, 5 December 2025
⏰ Time: 8.30 AM - 10 AM
📍 Location: Charles Darwin University Sydney Campus, 815 George Street, Haymarket NSW 2000 (Level 8 Room 8.04/5)

I love the discussions with participants - met a range of marketing agencies over the last year as well.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to engage with Sydney’s vibrant startup community. 🌐

👉 Reserve your spot now: https://luma.com/pxxyuyi5
(RSVP is essential!)

See you there!

Three years ago, ChatGPT 3.5 was released and AI shifted from a niche tech topic only known by nerds to a true mass phenomenon.

Since then, AI has flooded our feeds, our tools, our workflows, and our minds.

Besides the obvious usage of gaining efficiency there are so many voices against the over usage of AI.

The 3-year anniversary was the right moment to review the book "Everyday Ethical AI" by Karen Smiley.

Most AI books are either written for engineers or tech geeks - or they are carried away by the hype.

Karen did something far more useful: she explains AI ethics in plain language and shows how everyday people can make responsible choices.

In my latest book review, I share why this book is especially valuable for parents & families, for founders & solopreneurs and also for non-technical professionals.

The review comes with an interview where Karen also shared her experience about writing the book with tips for fellow authors.

How confident do you feel about the ethical side of the tools you use every day?

#learnfrombookswithgunnar #bookreview #AI

AI is everywhere these days with the majority of social media content being either written or influenced by generative AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, G

Open article: How to Navigate AI in an Ethical Way by Gunnar Habitz • 9 min read

Do you also receive a lot of sales messages as DMs in LinkedIn and email about buying something with urgency?
🤔
As we prepare for the festive season or the end of year period where hardcore business activities shall be less in the centre of social media, there are other values in life we should care about.

This photo shows us on Norfolk Island 🇳🇫 where we spent two weeks covering Christmas and New Year for digital detox due to limited internet, admiring the origin of the Norfolk Pine trees which are all over mainland Australia as well.

Here are my suggestions what we can start now in this 369th episode of my #socialsellingmonday series:

1. Close the loop on open LinkedIn related topics worth getting out before it gets slower, incl. accepting connection requests where relevant.

2. Prepare an Away message directly in LinkedIn to tell others when you will be fully back on (Premium only). Yes, we can have a break from social media!

3. Show some gratitude to people who matter. Have a friend struggling after facing a layoff? Good time to write a recommendation now.

4. If you want to say "hello" to someone, just endorse them for a skill or two... they will receive that notification and most likely respond.

This period in the year follows the GLUE model which I created for my 2026 book, "Celebrate Your Network" (launch on 4 May). These letters stand for:
- give
- listen
- unite
- enhance

This works very well for the upcoming weeks. Less about us, more about others. Givers gain. Uniting regardless of background.

Let's make social media a good place, starting with LinkedIn.

taplio

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taplio

The Battle

Josue Valles

Gunnar Habitz

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);}Josue Valles's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJosue Valles's LinkedIn Performance