Category: InterviewCategory: Interview

I got to do a Substack Live with Julie Laufer (she interviewed me on her Be Cringe Podcast here), and we covered the NY Knicks, finding work, being in alignment, and more.

THREE BIG IDEAS

Trust is a credential. Julie landed a social media strategy client, not because that’s their background, but because of the trust that the client had in them. Build trust, build relationships, and see where that takes you!

Being a generalist can be an asset. There’s a role for the generalist, the problem-solver, the hard-working Josh Hart of the New York Knicks position, but most places / teams are hesitant to hire since it’s so non-quantifiable. It’s easier to hire someone who has done a certain role for a decade rather than the person that can pull together a team.

Alignment feels GOOD. Find bits and pieces where you can squeeze in moments of alignment throughout your day, and then do that over and over again over many weeks, months, and years.

TWO ACTIONS:

Stop waiting for the perfect positioning! Pull together what you can, do what you have to do, and stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect alignment of everything that comes together, to start doing the thing that you want to do. Stop waiting!

Trust your gut! The “right” choice is tempting, and lets you off the hook. But picking the path with more risk just might be the thing that’ll get you where you need to be.

ONE QUOTE:

“It’s like, well, I’m supposed to want a job,” said Julie. “I’m supposed to want health insurance. Like, I have a three-year-old. Yeah, yeah. Like, so, it’s hard to make those opposite choices. But I find comfort in the fact that they feel so right.”

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In this conversation via Substack Live with Dr. Zeest Khan, we talk about leaving social media, building community that actually matters, and why chasing joy beats the heck out of chasing metrics.

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From my interview with Julie Laufer and her Be Cringe Podcast (edited slightly for readability), on the difference between hoping the algorithm smiles upon you versus putting your hope in the work you’re doing.

Spend a sliver of the time you waste on social media on your art and your craft. That way, when people do notice what you do — maybe 75 people, maybe a hundred — they turn their heads because you’re genuinely that good.

That’s what you want. Not constantly promoting. Just being undeniably good at the thing.

Yeah, yeah — “be so good they can’t ignore you.” Easy for Steve Martin to say.

But challenge accepted.

Be so good that you can have the conversation. Be ready for the opportunity, in all the ways it might show up — not scrambling to make 12-second clips hoping the algorithm throws you a bone.

The hope is in the work.

Reach out to some people just outside of your orbit. Ask to be on a podcast. Talk with someone about a collaboration. Do things that are lot more fun than trying to entertain strangers on platforms that don’t exist to send you free traffic.

Watch the full interview here.

Scott Perry (who I met via Seth Godin’s Akimbo workshops years ago) and I love talking about escaping social media, something he’s achieved after my incessant nagging over the last few years during his Creative On Purpose membership calls! Hah!

Escaping social media requries leaveing behind the idea of trying to reach everyone. It’s not about volume, it’s about the right people coming into your orbit.

Before we worry about marketing or growth, Scott says we need to ask, “who are you, what are you good at, where do you belong?”

Do we belong on crowded apps, mashing our creative round pegs into algorithmic controlled square holes for the likes?

Or do we belong in places more suitable for the work we’re trying to make?

Tweaking headlines, re-writing copy, adding testimonials, changing the color the button – you’ve done all these things, but you’re still not making the sale.

Two things – maybe your offering isn’t something that people need, or maybe there’s not enough trust yet.

I got talking about this in my conversation with Deanna Seymour, about sales pages. Well, long sales pages. You’ve seen them; two miles longs, 9000 words, and they don’t say anything.

Like Deanna says during this conversation, by the time she’s on a sales page, she already knows she wants the thing, to which I replied:

“I think it’s a trust thing. The trust that (is) built. Like, there are people that we both know, they could send a Google Doc with a PayPal button on it. Yes, I’m signing up because we built that trust. We trust them now. I don’t know that an 18-page sales page builds trust. I think the trust comes way before someone clicks on your sales page.”

You don’t fix trust with more copy. You fix trust by, well, building trust.

You build trust by showing up and doing what you say you’re going to do. By fixing the things you say you fix, and showing how you do it. Every step of the way, you’re reinforcing the belief that you’re the right person for the job.

I’ve seen a bunch of coaching websites with the “click here to book an intro call,” but not a single video showing their face, their tone, their vibes.

How do you build trust with a “book now” button?

Why would any woman hop on a call with a man in 2026 without seeing some videos?

Why would anyone sign up for a virtual yoga class without hearing your voice, or seeing how you manage an online session?

These things aren’t fixed with 5,000 word sales pages, or reading testimonials from people we don’t know. Trust is built brick by brick, by showing up as your full human self, and sometimes that includes seeing your face and hearing your voice.

Listen to “Building a Business Without Social Media with Seth Werkheiser” on Deanna Seymour’s Big Fun, Small Business podcast here.