UK #1 Sales Coach Live from Bali🏝️ Neuroclose™ The New Psychology of B2C Persuasion | DM me for Home Improvement, Real Estate & Solar Live Video Direct Sales Training that Gets Your Buyers Closing The Sale For You👊

NeuroClose™ Inception Selling is where experienced closers come to become masters of persuasion in a single day, not a single quarter. 

This is award-winning, neuroscience-based sales coaching for business owners with sales teams OR serious sales pros who want an unfair advantage in 2026, without the generic fluff of traditional training.

2026 Program for Sales Teams or 1:1's for Sales Pro's Ready For The Ultimate Sales Skills Upgrade:

In one intensive VIP day, we dissect your current sales conversation, map it to your Myers-Briggs profile & rebuild it into a personalised, Inception-style system that gets buyers closing themselves as if it was their idea. 

You walk away with a fully scripted playbook in your words & style, plus a complete personal learning hub and 30 days of direct support so you implement fast & see ROI on your very next deals.

What you get:  

- 2 x 90-minute 1:1 or Team Zoom sessions (diagnostic, redesign, rehearsal & refinement)  
- Full personality profiling integration (MBTI) so your system fits how you naturally sell  
- 100% custom NeuroClose™ Inception Selling playbook (scripted word for word)  
- Personal Learning hub: videos, audios, slide decks, infographics, mind map, flashcards, quizzes & more 
- 30 days WhatsApp Q&A implementation support
- 30-day 90-minute Zoom Results Review session  

Value £5K

Career track record:  

- Age 7: Door-to-door car-wash business  
- Age 19: World record insurance sales – questions, not pitches  
- 1990s: Top UK consumer finance sales trainer  
- 2000s: Led 500+ Everest Closers to £100M+ per year, built a £10M kitchen business in 2 years  
- 2013: Launched my own sales coaching business & The Award Winning 'StressLess Sales Method'
- 2014 : Awarded UK Sales Coach of the Year in My First Year
- 2015-2018 : Scaled My Sales Coaching Business to £1M+ 
- 2019-2026 : Moved to Bali : coaching clients between dawn & sunset meditation sessions
- 2022-2026 : Launched NeuroClose™ Inception Selling, battle-tested & proven across home improvement, real estate, solar, B2C & B2B sales teams & sales pro's. Turns Experienced Sellers into Masters of Persuasion In 1 Day  

Proof: 60+ LinkedIn recommendations.

Creds: APCTC UK Sales Coach of the Year, Tony Robbins Mastery Graduate, Certified MBTI Coach, NLP Coach (trained with Dr Richard Bandler).

Ready to unlock your full sales potential this year? 

Check my Featured section for full NeuroClose™ Inception Selling Feb '26 One Time Offer, DM me to turn your sales team (or yourself!) into masters of persuasion in one day.

Paul
Whatsapp +62 85875241002

Paul Atherton

Copywriter/SEO Content Specialist/Storyteller/Journalist for Hire

Do you want mediocre content? If you answered yes to that question (although I can't imagine why you would), then you should probably scroll past my profile. When you choose to work with me, you get top-notch content that speaks to your target audience. 

Interested in boosting your visibility online through the power of SEO? Drop me a DM and let's chat. But I'll warn you now - I'm not like other SEO experts. Long before there was a Google Helpful Content Update or Google AIO, I understood the value of putting people first and search engines second. It's my mission to help your target audience do more than find your brand online. Every piece of content I craft makes your customer a part of your story to build strong connections that lead to brand loyalty. 

As a trained journalist, I know how to tell a compelling story. I also have handy interviewing and researching skills that allow me to provide value in every piece of content I produce. Let me work my magic to position you as an industry expert to help build trust in your brand. 

My people-first promise extends beyond the content I produce to the relationships I build with my clients. When you choose to work with me, we're forming a partnership. We'll conduct brainstorming sessions and choose the path forward together. 

If you're ready to produce brand-changing content, drop me a DM. I can't wait to hear from you.

Your brand’s story is waiting to be written. Let’s make it a bestseller. 

P.S. - All content is written by humans, for humans, so you never have to worry about sounding like every other brand out there.

Shari Berg

Independent journalist.

It's a phrase that's slowly starting to rub me the wrong way. It's not because I think every journalist must be affiliated with a reputable news organization. It's that the word "independent" has become synonymous with an inability to fact-check before reporting. 

Let's take the example of Nick Shirley. This "independent journalist" has filled our news feeds over the last couple of days. He claimed in a series of reports that federally funded facilities are posing as daycares in MN. 

There's one major problem with his reporting. 

It's unverified. 

Now, I'm not saying that nothing hinky may be going on with the businesses he's highlighted in his reports. But unless you want to find yourself on the business end of a defamation lawsuit, you'd better have the receipts before you go public with accusations. 

Properly trained journalists understand this. We undergo specialized training about defamation (and how to avoid being sued for it). 

However, like many others claiming the independent journalist title, Shirley eschews traditional editing, fact-checking, and other guardrails that trained journalists follow before sharing any news with the public, claiming it makes them more trustworthy.

If you're shaking your head right now, join the club. I'll never understand how failing to verify accusations makes one more believable. 

Abandoning the practices designed to ensure accuracy (rigorous fact-checking, editorial oversight, and verification), these self-proclaimed "independent journalists" undermine the credibility they claim to possess. Real journalism is about more than being first or unfiltered. It's about being accurate. And accuracy requires doing the hard, unsexy work of verification before publication.

The term "independent" should signify freedom from corporate or political influence, not freedom from accountability and professional standards. Until that distinction becomes clearer, we'll continue to see reckless reporting dressed up as brave truth-telling, and the public will be worse off for it.

Award-Winning Journalist / Copywriter/ Content Strategist / Content created by humans, for humans

There's no such thing as an unbiased journalist.

Yes, I really just said that.

Journalists are human beings. And as humans, we all possess inherent biases that shape our every thought and action.

However, trained journalists are taught how to suppress those biases to report the facts (even when those facts counter their personal views).

Here's how they do it:

- They actively seek sources who disagree with their initial assumptions. Before writing a story, journalists are trained to ask themselves, "Who would see this differently?" and then interview them with genuine curiosity.

- They separate reporting from opinion. News articles stick to verifiable facts using attribution like "according to" and "officials said," while clearly labeled opinion pieces or editorials are the only place for personal views.

- They apply the "smell test" to their own work. Experienced journalists read their drafts, asking, "Could someone from the opposite perspective recognize themselves fairly in this story?" If not, they revise.

- They use precise language instead of loaded terms. Rather than writing that a policy "devastated" or "rescued" a community, they report the measurable outcomes and let readers draw conclusions.

- They document everything. Phone calls, interviews, data sources, and documents are all carefully tracked so that every factual claim can be verified and challenged if needed.

- They submit to editorial review. Multiple editors review stories specifically looking for unsupported claims, missing perspectives, or language that reveals bias.

- They make corrections prominently and quickly. When errors are found, ethical journalists publish corrections with the same visibility as the original story, not buried in the fine print.

Perfect objectivity may be impossible, but the discipline of suppressing bias through rigorous process is what separates journalism from commentary. And in an era of increasing polarization, that discipline matters more than ever.

LinkedIn and every other platform under the sun keeps telling us that video is the future. But is it? Is it really?

I came across this little gem last week, and it's not wrong. 

As a certified member of GenX, I can attest that most of us dislike video. We'd rather skim a quick summary or pick out the parts of a larger text document we want while ignoring the rest. Video doesn't give you that option. 

You can be stealthy when reading copy versus trying to listen to a video. You either must put in your earbuds to listen (with everyone noticing), or be one of those annoying people in public who loudly plays videos on speakerphone. 

And don't even get me started on the inaccessibility of some videos. Depending on the platform, you may or may not get closed captioning. And even if you do, it's likely not correct. 

Is this a generational thing? I'd love to hear from others how they feel about video being crowned the proverbial "king" of all content formats.

Screenshot of social media discussion about disliking video and being forced to watch it on every channel. 

Reason 437 on my growing list of why you shouldn't trust AI without question. This is a suggested edit Grammarly made for a section of an article I'm writing (see image below).

Grammarly's AI editing tool clearly can't discern between reader as a noun and Reader as a proper noun (someone's last name), the same way a human editor can.  

I know there are people out there who depend on tools like this to edit their work. Please don't. They aren't infallible.

Screenshot of a suggested edit from Grammarly that makes the sentence unreadable and incorrect.

We talk about the dangers of AI and its misuse frequently on this platform. If ever there was a perfect example, this is it. 

The White House recently posted a digitally altered photograph of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong's arrest, manipulating the image to show her crying with tears streaming down her face when the original photograph depicted her with a neutral expression.

This wasn't a case of misidentification or technical error. It was a deliberate alteration of visual evidence by an official government agency. The implications of this action extend far beyond a single photograph. 

When government agencies use AI to manufacture false emotional narratives, they fundamentally undermine public trust and the integrity of the historical record. Digital forensics expert Hany Farid noted this represents a troubling trend, stating that sharing such deceptive content makes it increasingly difficult for the public to trust anything official channels share with them.

This manipulation serves as a stark reminder that AI is not merely a tool for efficiency or creativity. In the wrong hands, it becomes an instrument for distorting reality and shaping false narratives. The alteration violated basic ethical standards by changing the substance of the scene and conveying a false impression, especially problematic when distributed through official government channels.

I unequivocally support the Society of Professional Journalists in its stance calling on journalists to rigorously vet all information in light of such manipulated content. The integrity of visual documentation is essential to preserving truth and accountability in our society. We must remain vigilant against the misuse of AI technology, particularly when wielded by those in positions of power.

View company: Society of Professional Journalists

The SPJ Ethics Committee calls on the Trump administration to remove the fake image that the administration apparently doctored and published online to make a Minneapolis immigration enforcement protestor appear to be crying during an arrest.

The SPJ Code of Ethics, often referenced as the gold standard of journalism ethics, reminds journalists to vet all information and avoid press release journalism that merely regurgitates official sources.

The Committee also calls the Trump administration hypocritical for decrying “fake news” while knowingly distributing an image of attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong that misrepresents reality and pollutes public understanding.

The Trump administration’s apparent falsification of Levy Armstrong’s image serves as a reminder that journalists must rigorously vet all information, including material originating from official sources. Throughout journalism’s history, authority bias has too often led news organizations to republish government-provided text or imagery with little scrutiny. That practice undermines the public’s trust and the news media’s watchdog role.

🔗 Read the full statement: https://bit.ly/45Yc5gW

It's a sad day for the Pittsburgh region. We've lost two print newspapers in the span of a week. First, City Paper, and now, the Post Gazette. 

Print journalism has struggled for decades. It was called a "dying industry" when I landed my first full-time reporting gig in 1996. Papers have closed over the years, but these two hit differently. 

The PG is America's oldest continually-published newspaper. It's existed for 240 years. City Paper was a local staple for 34 years. Both were owned by Block Communications. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that (I certainly have some I'll keep to myself for now). 

This is bad news for our region. As newspapers disappear, so does public accountability for our local government and other taxpayer-supported institutions. 

For now, I send my support to the hard-working folks who have kept the PG going and who will now be in the unemployment line. Maybe the Tribune Review Newspaper will step up and fill the void.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the modern iteration of a newspaper that has informed the region since 1786, will cease operations in May, according to an announcement released today by its ownership, Block Communications, Inc.

The paper “plans to publish its final edition and cease operations on May 3, 2026,” according to a release distributed today by Senior Director of Marketing Allison Latcheran. “Over the past 20 years, Block Communications has lost more than $350 million in cash operating the Post-Gazette. Despite those efforts, the realities facing local journalism make continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable.” #Pittsburgh

https://lnkd.in/ey2RYSdb

Open article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says it will cease operations in May by publicsource.org

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says it will cease operations in May

It's been 20 years since I've seen most of these lovely people. And I can't think of a better reason for the reunion than the celebration of Donna Sybert's retirement this past weekend.

Donna's 43-year-career at the Butler Eagle was impressive. She started out as an intern with the paper in the early 80s and ended her legacy in journalism as its managing editor. (If you want to read more about her experience, I've dropped a link in the comments to an article about her retirement.)

When I met Donna, she was the head of the newly-formed copy desk. I was still a cub reporter. I had just one year of real-world experience under my belt when I began working for the Eagle as its education reporter. 

It didn't take me very long to realize that Donna knew her stuff. She was firm with her corrections of your work but always had your best interests at heart. She took her job of helping the reporters grow their skills seriously, and I became a better reporter because of her dedication to her craft. 

Seeing some of these folks that I worked with over my decade at the Eagle reminded me why I love community journalism. These faces you see in this photo are the past - and the future - of what it means to dedicate your life to telling the stories that matter most to the people who live them.

Community journalism isn't about chasing national headlines or viral moments. It's about showing up consistently for your neighbors, documenting the school board meetings and Friday night football games, celebrating local heroes, and holding power accountable at the (local) level where it affects people's daily lives. It's about being the institutional memory of a place, the chronicler of ordinary days and extraordinary moments that might otherwise go unrecorded.

The people in that photo understand something that's easy to forget in our age of algorithmic feeds and 24-hour news cycles. Someone needs to care deeply and specifically about this town, these families, this community. They've chosen to be that someone. Donna was that someone for 43 years, and something tells me that retirement won't change that about her. You can take the journalist out of the newsroom, but you can never take the newsroom out of the journalist.

Happy retirement, Donna!

A group photo of past and current employees of the Butler Eagle newspaper during a retirement party for its managing editor Donna Sybert.

Yanno how us writing professionals are always saying to be clear and concise and just get to the point with your copy?

This ad right here is the embodiment of that advice. 

I've seen plenty of ads for this company. This one got my attention in a good way. It was part of a social media series promoting the company's colostrum powder. It clearly states a problem and a (potential) solution. 

What ads have you seen lately that follow this pattern? Do you find them more effective at convincing you to buy them?

An ad for Armra about how it's product keeps you regular. 

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Shari Berg

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The Battle

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Likes

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