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Humor | Writing | Career
Asking for Free Writing Advice is The “Send Nudes” of My Profession
A true story, unfortunately.
Him: Hey Sean — love your writing! Long time reader!
Me: Thanks! Appreciate you.
Him: By the way — if we can align our calendars, do you have time for a short intro call? I’d love to talk shop.
I agreed under the assumption that talk shop meant we’d be discussing potential business. Talking shop turned into me handing over 45 minutes of free consulting, because I was too nice to stick it to him. I’m not entirely bitter, although, I am still here writing about it. I chalked the call up as a teachable write-off. I’d gone full-time with writing only a few months prior, after years of doing it on the side. I’d banked on making a few mistakes.
However, I vowed these talking shop episodes would be exceedingly rare and only for good friends. But it hasn’t been without a fight.
Invasion of my LinkedIn Inbox
“Hey, can you look at my writing and provide some feedback?”
“Want to come on my podcast and we can analyze my writing?”
Welcome to my inbox. This is a good chunk of the messages. There’s a noticeable…
