The Long Con(dren) #4 – The Search Begins

It was a pathetic sight to behold.

On the table the two people were sitting at, one looked at the other with a puzzling look.

“Uh… are you… alright?”

A slight groan was muttered from the person opposite them, as their face was buried onto the cool glass surface of the table he was laying on.

He looked up, his face as sour as 6-year-old vinegar.

“Why am I back hereeeeee” TLI muttered.

“I thought you'd be happy to see how we've been doing since you left?” Algo responded.

“You don't leave what you're happy with, you turd” TLI said, quite bastardly.

“Ok, rude” Algo pouted. “It's not the same as back then, we've built our own place through your design!”

“Look over there, see. Carousels, selfies, personal posts, it's all a wonderful wonderland!”

“It is… a bit different, I guess. But why do you look so different?!” TLI asked.

“We all grow up, creator”. Algo said.

“I'm sure it'll be a riveting plot point in the 11th edition of this newsletter, I guess” He whispered sarcastically, knowing the author has the memory of a goldfish.

“Anyway, you want to find someone? You're the finder, so if the finder can't find, how can I find what the finder can't find?” TLI said, saying more words than you really should when asking a question.

“Let's just say there's quite a few more people here. And the majority seem more interested in how I find people than actually offering usable advice.”

“Sounds like a you problem, chief. Systems get exploited, the smart prevail, what's the issue?” TLI Asked.

“Yes, I get that, creator, it's all gone Pete Tong. Also, why are Pete Tong mentions a part of my base code?”

“Don't ask. Seeing as I'm destined to be here for some reason, what is it you need from me?”

“Like I said, I need to find someone. You know me at my core, and that hasn't changed for the last 2 decades. What do they need to do to find me?”

“Oh, that's easy. All they need to do is…”

Mwuhahaha! Cliffhanger! Throw all your hatred onto me! I can take it!

Jesus, what a week. I'm hoping there comes a point where epiphanies just stop happening. Where you've reached the peak. Nothing else to know, everything you're doing right now is correct, that sorta thing.

But, alas, I am only one monkey in a sea of baboons. The epiphanies aren't gonna stop anytime soon. I'll explain the epiphany I had at the bottom.

Anyway, as usual, here's what's in this newsletter.

1. A continuation of The LinkedIn Man's journey.
2. My top posts of the week.
3. People I think you should connect with or follow.
4. Another cold email tip!

Just to remind you, you are pretty dang awesome, and you deserve to be alive. If anyone tells you the opposite, you send them to me. I'm a black belt in origami.

On with the newsletter!

Posts I think you should take a look at…

1. Damn you, Matt Barker !

Look, I'm a cheeky chappy, alright? Matt's been making it work, throwing everyone at his LinkedIn post templates.

So, I commented on one of those posts, saying I might reverse engineer it, adding an obligatory winky face.

Obviously, Matt clearly didn't give a shit, and I absolutely did not spend 10 minutes scrolling my comments in the activity log trying to find the response. Honest.

(Also, Matt, if that tag brings you to this newsletter, just know that I will fight you, and you will beat the shit out of me.)

So, I did. I took a few looks at those who were using his templates, and reverse-engineered it. The result is that post.

And it did well. Better than the recent posts. Dang it!

All it's taught me is that maybe, just maybe, there are certain post types that people crave. But the question is, do you sacrifice your style? Can you meld them together? Maybe my own posts could use a structure…

Anyway, I'll figure it out eventually! NEXT POST!

2. It's OK to be where you are right now.

Just your obligatory motivational post about not letting fear stop you from taking action!

See, we could spend years studying something. Waiting for the moment when you feel ready. But have you ever felt ready? When does the studying stop?

It doesn't. You work, and you keep studying. For me, my day consists of this:

1–2 hours prospecting.

4 hours doing the work.

1–2 hours studying.

Yep. I technically only work 4 hours a day. Don't tell my clients!

But with copywriting, you'll always be finding new things that work best. It's a craft that nobody masters, not even the greats. Even they fuck up more than they win, and that's a fact.

So you, behind the screen, if you've been waiting for some golden moment to begin, here's your golden moment.

And know, I'll be in your corner if you need me. I am VERY approachable in those DMs. Slide in there, bby.

3. Believe in the heart of the cards! I DRAW!

What am I even writing, nobody on LinkedIn has watched Yu-Gi-Oh! Bad headline, Joe, bad headline!

Anyway, I was going to post something from my critique posts, but I like this post better, so it's going in! I'm the owner of this newsletter here! You can't stop me!

But yes, I can read tarot, and I did a few 1 card readings for the commenters.

It was nice. I'm not your Mystic Meg type, I just think they're cards. Rather than pulling from some divine, mystical realm of energy, they just mean something.

And when they mean something, you apply them to the person's question. You put them together and out comes an answer!

Simple, harmless fun, and I think they're cool as heck. I always take readings! Message me for one!

Only stinky people don't follow these guys…

I love Kendrick Co . There's just something about him I can get behind.

Is it an air of confidence? An assurance of quality? Probably both of those two. I feel like I could ask him for a quick favour, and he'd oblige. No idea if that's true, so don't go asking him for quick favours, you monsters!

But his posts absolutely slap, and from my own conversations with him, I can't find a bad bone in his body. Just an all-round amazing guy, who deserves the success he's worked hard for.

Go give him a follow! He's good!

Chris is cool. Really cool. Probably one of the coolest people on this platform.

What can I say, he's got style! And it's been a while since we've talked, so this mention will be coming out of nowhere. And I am absolutely unashamed of crawling out of the woodwork to highlight this man.

I LOVE his branding style. Black and gold are always killer, and this man puts it to damn WORK!

It also helps that I'm a massive gamer, and he works in that industry. So all the more reason to brown nose the man. Don't know what for exactly, I don't write for the gaming industry, apart from the odd project here and there.

(Mainly writing a foreword for an Elden Ring book that I did recently, and I love that game eeeeeeeeeee!)

But I do know he's a person to know. And that's exactly why you should click on his profile and tap on that follow button. You'll see why it's a good choice.

Ahh, Scott Frothingham . Scott, Scott, Scott.

Oh, come on, of course you know who Scott is! Who doesn't know who Scott is!

On the very slight off chance that you DON'T know who Scott is, Scott is someone who I would describe as a sage of writing.

There's people who talk about writing. Then there are people who know what they're talking about, talking about writing.

Scott is the latter, and I don't think I've read a post of his that doesn't have me sitting in introspective silence.

His posts, and even his comments, always bring an air of... what's the best word for this... ruminating? Is that even the right word for that sentence. Scott, help!

But he's the man to follow if you want deep, thought-provoking topics on your feed.

Fun little fact, when I started taking LinkedIn seriously, Scott was one of the first to connect and chat with me! I'll never forget that first push, and I still haven't.

Thank you, Scott! I'll stop writing your name now, I've said it 12 times now.

Cold Email Tip #2 – Keep your DIC in mind.

Ha ha ha. Funny copywriting word. No, I'll never stop, and neither should you.

DIC is a copywriting framework. You probably already know what it is, but just in case:

Disrupt

Intrigue

Click

To make it even easier for you, use this instead:

Grab Their Attention

Tease The Product/Service

Tell Them What To Do.

And that's the easiest, most essential framework for a cold, or sales, email.

Disrupt is about getting them to click on your email. You do this with your subject line and, generally, the first 2 lines of your email. I say generally, as it's dependent on the screen size of the person you're emailing.

Intrigue is making them want to find out more. Of course, let them know what the product is, but the features? Leave that to whatever is next in your funnel, whether it's a landing page, or a discovery call.

Click is simply telling them what to do to find out more about what you've intrigued them with. It's mostly a simple effort, but changing one word could change the effectiveness of the email. But don't overthink it in the early game.

And there you go. When making your emails, use DIC! Because everyone loves a good DIC in their box. Trust me, I know.

You've finally reached the end of the newsletter! Well done, my hearty congratulations to you!

Anyway, here's the epiphany I mentioned at the start.

I was performing better on LinkedIn when I was having fun.

Recently, I've had a bit of a serious streak, with serious posts. Yeah, didn't do so well outside of my regular LinkedIn fam, who'd comment on my posts if it was simply a picture of a fish and the post said blub blub.

And that's the thing! I'm sometimes serious, but I'm sometimes fun! Yet, the market has decided that having fun is the way to growth. I mean, my top-performing post is about a hamster. Should say everything, really.

It's clear that I need some sort of template or structure. I should stop winging it. Like Matt's posts, they're consistent, and they work. The next step in my process is making it fun and staying consistent with that. Even if I have to brute force it.

But anyway, thanks for not noticing that I didn't write last week's newsletter! Wait, you didn't know that? OH CRA-

(Bye guys! Love choo all and keep doing your best for me. I'll always be your #1 fan!)