I am obsessed with making sense of the non-sensical.

I talk about human potential:

- Productivity, focus, flow
- Philosophy & spirituality
- Finding enjoyment in the mundane

Lifestyle design:

- Workflow optimization
- Working less & earning more
- Habits, routines, and iteration

And one-person businesses:

- Creators, coaches, and solopreneurs
- Content creation systems
- Modern marketing & sales
- Free social media traffic

If you are into any of those, follow along for the ride.

Here's a bit about me:

I’m a brand advisor for 6-7 figure creators and influencers.
I’m the guy they come to when they want to go from starving artist to highly-paid (and highly-praised) internet phenomenon.

I help them systemize their workflow, marketing, and content so they can work for 2 hours a day, charge more, and sell their products & services on autopilot.

I’m good at what I do because I test things on myself so I know what works and what doesn’t.

Because of this, I’ve grown my own personal brand to 150,000+ followers across different platforms, work for 2-4 hours a day on average, and have systems in place that keep the creative income flowing.

(Scratch that, I'm updating this bio 1.5 years later and have grown to 2.6 million followers with the strategies I have been writing about for that time).

It feels like I’m boasting... but I guess that’s a hit I’m willing to take to ease your worries of trusting some random dude with your time and attention.

I will, however, never apologize for aiming to be as transparent as humanely possible.

Here is some of my work:

My articles: https://thedankoe.com/blog
The Koe Letter: https://links.thedankoe.com/#letter
My website: https://thedankoe.com

If you are looking for more, you can find me on all socials @thedankoe

Or check out my links in the pinned area of my profile.

Glad to have you here!

Dan Koe

Notes to myself. Building Eden, the AI canvas and creative workspace.

Try everything until you find that one thing

Notes to myself. Building Eden, the drive that handles your busywork.

Aussie writer with 1B+ content views in 10 years | I teach people to use writing online to create career opportunities | Let's connect: tim@timdenning.com

I quit my eCommerce startup with 100+ employees. Then got depressed, developed an eating disorder, and got a minimum-wage job in a bank. I now work for myself and make 7-figures writing.

I'm not that smart and have no college education. The way I used the internet made the difference.

And going to a Tony Robbins event changed my mindset. He taught me to go from being a victim to be in control.

This led to:

• 1B+ content views
• Financial freedom
• Book deal with a major publisher
• Meeting my heroes (like Tony Robbins)
• Quitting my banking career forever in 2021
• Multiple successful businesses fuelled by obsession

My mission: Help 100,000 people start online businesses. 

My beliefs that drive everything I do:

- Anything is possible
- Positivity above all
- Ego is the enemy
- Challenge the status quo
- Chase obsession, not passion
- Always be kind, grateful, and a good person

How can I help you?

• Social media audience building
• Starting or growing an online business

Join my email list with 200,000+ other high performers for more helpful insights:
https://timdenning.com/start-social-hustle-linkedin-bio/

Tim Denning

Most people chase the wrong version of success.

I know because I used to be one of them.

When I worked in banking, I had a colleague named Steve who bought a brand new Mercedes. He parked it in the premium spot every morning. 

Made sure everyone saw him get out of it. He talked about the leather seats, the sound system, the way it handled on the freeway.

Steve also worked 60-hour weeks. He missed his kid's school plays. He had to ask permission to take a long weekend. He was stressed, tired, and trapped by a car payment that demanded he keep showing up to a job he hated.

I remember sitting in a meeting with him one afternoon. His phone buzzed. He glanced at it and his face dropped. It was a photo from his wife. 

His daughter had just lost her first tooth. He missed it. He was stuck in a conference room listening to quarterly projections while his kid was at home wondering where daddy was.

Steve had the car. But he didn't have the life.

━━━━━

When I got fired, I lost the salary. I lost the title. I lost the security that comes with a corporate job.

But I gained something I didn't expect. Time.

I started building my own business. The first year was brutal. I made less money than I ever had. But I also had something Steve never did. 

I could be home on a random Tuesday afternoon. I could take my daughter to the park while other dads were stuck in meetings. I could watch her discover the world instead of hearing about it secondhand.

That's when I realized the Lambo dream is a lie.

It's not about the car. It's about what the car represents. People think if they get the Lambo, they've made it. They've won. They can finally relax.

But the Lambo requires the income to maintain it. The income requires the job. The job requires the hours. The hours steal your life.

You end up working for the car instead of the car working for you.

━━━━━

I've coached thousands of business owners since leaving my corporate career.

The ones who are actually happy aren't the ones with the flashiest stuff. They're the ones who built businesses that give them flexibility. 

They're the ones who can pick up their kids from school. They're the ones who don't have to ask a boss for permission to live their life.

The pattern is always the same. The people chasing status symbols are running on a treadmill that never stops. The people chasing freedom figured out how to get off the treadmill entirely.

━━━━━

My daughter just turned 3.

Today I took her to get ice cream at 1PM on a Monday. The shop was empty. We sat outside in the sun. 

She got chocolate all over her face and laughed about it. No rush. No meetings to get back to. Just a dad and his daughter enjoying a random afternoon together.

That moment is worth more than any car

I don't want the Lambo. I want more Tuesdays like that

What does success look like to you?

If you want to level up your career faster, join my unconventional Substack newsletter with 181K others: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

Aussie writer with 1B+ content views in 12 years | Teaching high performers to build million-dollar digital businesses | Let’s connect: tim@timdenning.com

I gave a company 10 years of my life. They gave me 2 weeks notice.

When I got made redundant, I remember sitting in that meeting room thinking about all the times I'd stayed late. All the weekends I'd worked. All the family dinners I'd missed because something "urgent" came up at the office

I thought loyalty meant something. I thought if I just kept showing up and doing good work, the company would take care of me. That was the deal, right? Work hard, stay loyal, and you'll be rewarded.

Turns out I was the only one who believed in that deal.

━━━━━

There was a guy in my office named David who'd been at the company for 22 years.

He started there straight out of school. He trained half the managers in the building. He knew every system, every process, every client relationship. The company was his entire identity.

When they restructured his department, they let him go with a standard severance package. Same as everyone else. Twenty-two years of loyalty got him the same exit as someone who'd been there for two

I watched him clean out his desk. He looked confused more than anything. Like he couldn't understand how this had happened. He'd done everything right. He'd been loyal. And none of it mattered when the spreadsheet said his role was redundant

━━━━━

I used to judge people who job-hopped.

I thought they were disloyal. I thought they didn't understand the value of commitment. I thought staying at one company and working your way up was the honorable path

Now I realize those job-hoppers understood something I didn't. They knew the relationship between employee and employer is transactional. Always has been. The company will keep you as long as you're useful. The moment you're not, you're gone

That's not cynical. That's just how business works

━━━━━

Loyalty to a company that would replace you in 2 weeks is insanity

I'm not saying be a bad employee. Do great work. Hit your targets. Be reliable. But don't confuse being good at your job with owing your life to an organization that sees you as a line item on a budget

Your company is not your family. Your manager is not your friend. Your job title is not your identity. These are business relationships. Treat them that way

━━━━━

The only loyalty that makes sense is loyalty to yourself

Be loyal to your own growth. Be loyal to building skills that travel with you when you leave. Be loyal to creating options so you're never dependent on one employer's decision about your future

I spent a decade being loyal to a company. Now I spend my time being loyal to what I'm building. The difference in how I feel every morning is hard to describe.

━━━━━

Stop sacrificing your life for an organization that would post your job listing before your desk is cold

Build something that's actually yours. Or at least build skills that nobody can take away

That's the only job security that exists anymore

P.S: Have you ever felt burned by corporate loyalty?

Join my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

Most people's version of freedom looks like this:

Work 40+ years. Save enough. Retire. Do nothing.

They call this "the dream."

I call it a slow death.

━━━━━

Retirement isn't freedom. It's delayed living.

You spend your best years trading time for money. Your healthiest decades sitting in meetings. Your most energetic moments answering emails.

Then at 65, you finally get permission to live. Except now your body hurts. Your energy is gone. Half the things you wanted to do require a younger version of you.

The math doesn't work.

━━━━━

I watched my friend’s dad do this.

He worked his whole life for a company that didn't care about him. Saved diligently. Did everything right. Finally retired at 64.

Two years later his health started failing. The travel plans got shelved. The bucket list gathered dust.

He traded his best years for a retirement he couldn't fully enjoy.

━━━━━

Freedom isn't an age. It's a feeling.

It's waking up and deciding how your day goes. It's saying no to things that drain you. It's having options instead of obligations.

You can have this at 35. Or 45. Or right now.

But not if you keep waiting.

━━━━━

I used to think freedom meant "not working."

I was wrong.

Freedom is working on what matters to you. It's building something you own. It's choosing who you spend time with and what problems you solve.

The people I know who "retired early" and did nothing? Most of them are miserable. No purpose. No growth. Just endless days of golf and Netflix.

That's not freedom. That's a comfortable cage.

━━━━━

Society sold us a broken definition.

Work hard now. Sacrifice now. Live later.

But "later" isn't guaranteed. And even if it comes, you'll be a different person with a different body and different energy levels.

Stop optimizing for a future version of yourself that may never exist.

━━━━━

Redefine what freedom actually means.

Freedom isn't quitting everything. It's designing a life where work doesn't feel like work. Where Monday doesn't feel different from Saturday.

Start building that now. Don't wait for some magical age when you're finally "allowed" to live.

The permission slip you're waiting for doesn't exist.

Give it to yourself.

If you want to level up your career faster, then join my unconventional Substack newsletter with 176K others: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

The exact moment I knew my "safe" career was killing me.

I sat in a hospital gown waiting for results.

The doctor walked in. His face told me everything before he spoke.

They found 2 tumors inside my guts. The kind that usually become cancerous. The surgeon removed them right away.

━━━━━

I was working in banking at the time. The "safe" career. The one my parents celebrated. The one society told me would give me security.

And there I was, sitting in a hospital bed, realizing my body was breaking down while I chased someone else's definition of success.

The stress. The long hours. The constant pressure. The feeling that no matter how hard I worked, I was building someone else's dream.

My body kept score. It always does.

━━━━━

I went back to work two weeks later.

Same desk. Same meetings. Same bullsh*t.

But something had shifted. I couldn't unsee it anymore.

The "safe" career wasn't safe. It was slowly killing me. The stability was an illusion. The security was a lie I told myself so I didn't have to face the risk of doing something different.

━━━━━

I stayed in that job for a while longer. Fear will do that to you.

But the tumors gave me something I didn't expect: clarity.

I realized I'd rather fail building something I believe in than succeed at something that was destroying me from the inside out.

━━━━━

I'm still in the high-risk category. I get regular checkups. The anxiety before each appointment never fully goes away.

But I'm no longer trading my health for a paycheck. I'm no longer pretending that a salary and a job title equal safety.

━━━━━

Your body is keeping score right now.

The stress you're ignoring. The passion you're suppressing. The risks you're too scared to take.

It all adds up.

Don't wait for a hospital bed to give you clarity.

Take the risk. Build your own thing. Stop calling it "safe" when it's slowly killing you

If you want to level up your career faster, then join my unconventional Substack newsletter with 177K others: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

taplio

The Battle

Dan Koe

Tim Denning

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Performance ScoreDan Koe's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Dan Koe

Tim Denning

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);}Dan Koe's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreTim Denning's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreDan Koe's LinkedIn Performance