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Stop saying hello!
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Hi Reader, I discovered a fun website the other day, nohello.net, which offers some contrarian netiquette. When you’re DM-ing or messaging someone, stop saying hello, hola, heya or Dia Dhuit (that’s Irish for hello). Excessive politeness is the equivalent of answering a ringing phone, greeting the caller, and putting them on hold. It’s maddeningly frustrating. I’m on board with the contrarian piece of netiquette for two reasons. Reason 1: It rings alarm bells I get messages from scammers via X, email, my DMs, and comments almost every day. They use maddingly polite openers like “Hello dear” alongside AI-brushed profile pics of their sun-drenched avatars lounging at the beach. I engaged with a few of them for kicks. After about twenty minutes, they were making promises about crypto coins with billion-dollar tech and asking for my funds asap. People I know and trust? They get to the point. “Beers later?” or “Can you pick up the kids at 2?“ Reason 2: It’s throat-clearing “Stop clearing your throat,” he said. “It’s boring to read. Cut out that filler and get to the point.” Usually, I can cut the first 20% of whatever I write. The DM message template I’m using to grow my account on LinkedIn with clients uses this no-fluff approach. I even code my ChatGPT bots to avoid fluff and pre-amble. Politeness has its place, but the most polite thing a creator can do is respect the time of their audience or clients. So, the next time you’re DM-ing someone, get to the point. Your potential clients are busy. They want the equivalent of the skip intro button on Netflix. What can you do for them? If you want me to get to the point, you’ll love my Telegram group for creators. There’s no charge for joining and no preamble once you’re inside. 100+ people joined over the past week or two. I share insights about how I’m scaling my creator business. Join Write on, Bryan Collins |
Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins
Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
Hi Reader, Forget the algo. Don't worry about going viral. The real action lies in building an email list or newsletter. Many paths to monetization exist for newsletter owners. Here's one: Build an email list, and you'll get invites to 3rd party bundles and promotions. I say no to most 3rd part promotions. They're either not a good fit or I don't believe they'll convert. But, I regularly partner up with InfoStack. If you haven't heard of them, they bundle courses and products from across the...
Hi Reader Google is facing BIG problems in 2025. And I don’t just mean the US Justice Department telling the boffins at Mountain View to sell off Chrome. Search is one of Google’s core products, and frankly, it’s broken. As a search user, finding what I want is harder because the results are often wrong, unhelpful, or take ages to wade through. As a content publisher and creator, ranking a site in search is harder because the algo favors Reddit and giga-chad brands like our ex-friends at...
Hi Reader, I was sitting in a pub a few days ago with a copy of The Power Broker by Ron Chernow. A man sitting beside me said, “Can you write a book report on that for tomorrow?” He was joking about the size of the book. It’s over 1200 pages. In between scoffing mince and polishing off a cheeseboard, I’ll spend the next few days making inroads on it. Wish me luck, I could still be reading it next Christmas. Here are the 5 best books I read in 2025 (4 new, one old). Shattered by Hanif Kureishi...