Don’t Pitch Me, Bro – I Don’t Appreciate It

This post is an example of the content I share every Friday in my Living by Experience Magazine. If you’d like your free copy, just click here.

It appears that LinkedIn is becoming the new Facebook and Facebook is becoming the new LinkedIn. I’m so tired of the social media bullshit. There’s nothing social about it. On Facebook I’m lucky if I see one post from a friend for every ad they force down my newsfeed. But those friends are more so acquaintances, or lately immensely popular groups led by people trying to get you to buy their advertising schemes for either Facebook, or, you guessed it, LinkedIn.

They’re Fake Monks, People

Browsing your social media feed is like walking down a farmers market. Every food vendor possible is trying to force a “free” sample into your mouth. Or worse, have you ever been approached by those pesky street vendors when you’re traveling? They roam the streets in popular cities around the world, and often without asking they block your path and put their “made in china” products in your way. Super annoying. The worst are the “fake monks” that roam parks and streets around the world. The picture to the side was taken on a random street in New York City. One of the main premises of Buddhist monks is that they live without money. Take it from a guy with a religion degree: They’re fake monks people, stop giving them your time (and money).

When they don’t back off, I find the best remedy against those vendors is to yell at them in an unfamiliar language to them. Usually Dutch works well. If they can’t understand what I’m saying, I might as well be completely crazy – and usually they’ll get out of my way before the interaction becomes too intrusive. In the case of the monks, since they’re fake to begin with, I think my karma won’t be affected too much.

Don’t Pitch Me, Bro

I’m digressing. Back to social media. The other day someone added me as a “friend”. I didn’t know him. But, according to Facebook, we knew some mutual people, so I accepted the requested. It took the guy a wholesome three minutes from there to add me to his sales group for a LinkedIn promotion. Don’t pitch me, bro. I don’t appreciate it. Networking is not about forcing your stuff down my newsfeed. What’s the true priority of connecting online (and offline)? It’s about making meaningful connections and having meaningful conversations. That’s what matters most, at least to me. By immediately pitching me, you’re already not meaningful to me anymore. Bye bye, new wanna-be “friend”.

As usual, I’ve learned how this works the hard way. When my first book found a publishing home I got really excited and wrote individual, personalized emails to hundreds of connections. In my unbridled enthusiasm I imagined they all wanted at least one copy. I was certain if anyone of my connections had written a book I would certainly buy one, even if the writing were bad. It would just be cool to have a book on the shelf from someone you know. I think I might love books more than people. Those hundreds of messages resulted in two sales, and cramped fingers from all the typing. With the amount of money authors make on book royalties I could barely afford my usual quad shot black Americano for breakfast the next morning. Self-doubt kicked in. Did the lack of buy-in say something about people’s perception of me, or about the quality of my writing?

The New Networking

In my book about relationships, The Freedom Project Love, I share how on a small scale, you can start to change the way you network. Think about what you do and offer as a way of being of service: how can you help as many people as possible and be of value to your network?

Conversely, when you’re looking to hire someone or buy something, consider your own direct network first. Chances are someone is making some product, or offering their expertise that can be of immediate value to you. The new networking isn’t just about the traditional exchange of give and take, but changes the perspective to support. Networking is about being supportive whilst being supported.

Reverse The Flow

Stop wasting money on stuff that doesn’t work. Take the fast track to structurally improve your online presence and develop the essential skills to turn your personal brand into your own legend. Thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners are reversing their social media “flow” by using something that’s working very well right now for anyone looking to add a little “magic” to their branding and marketing message. But don’t worry, this is not another get-rich-quick-scheme. Overnight results don’t exist if you’re looking for sustainable growth. But if you’re willing to do a little work… click here to find out more.

P.S. Questions, comments, compliments? Join the conversation and text me: 604-210-8668. I’d love to hear from you.

If this post helped you, please consider buying one of my books, or checking out a more in-depth course on one of the topics I talk about. Thanks! 🙂