When Doing The Right Thing Could Be Dangerous | Thinkwell Issue #5
What I did when I found myself in a potentially dangerous situation, a new way to introduce yourself to others, and how to write a good pitch.
Geia sas!
I’m officially changing the day of this newsletter to Tuesday. I’ve struggled to get it out on a Sunday. I liked the idea of people reading it on a Sunday evening to get into a productive mindset for Monday morning, but Sunday and Monday are the days that I record and edit my podcast and I’ve realised that I’m overloaded on those days.
On thriving as a nomad 🍃
I want to talk about a difficult situation that arose last month.
I’d been at a writer’s meet that went on later than planned. It was past midnight when I left alone, and I had to get to the other side of Athens. The metro doesn’t run this late, so I waited for a bus. There were two other people at the bus stop, and I was in unfamiliar territory late at night- I had my guard up.
One of the other people at the stop, a young girl, approached me and said something in Greek. “Milas Anglika?” I replied, asking her if she spoke English. She asked in English if she could borrow my phone to call her mum. The bus wasn’t for another 40 minutes, and she wanted to get picked up.
I immediately sized up the situation. Is this a young girl in need of help, and a worried mother who can’t get a hold of her daughter late at night?
Or are there sinister intentions at play? Is this a trick to steal my phone, or worse?
I checked my environment to see if anyone else was nearby and couldn’t see a giveaway that this was a trick- but maybe that was the point. Either scenario was possible.
I knew I couldn’t hand my phone over. But you can’t let your paranoia get in the way of helping people. I would ensure this girl got home safe, but I wouldn’t be baited into a trap either. I asked the girl to ask the other guy at the bus stop for help, and if he declined, then to come back to me. I didn’t know what I would do if she came back.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to figure it out. She was able to make her phone call, and 15 minutes later a car picked her up.
She was telling the truth.
What would you have done in this situation? What if the other guy at the bus stop didn’t help? Would you have handed over your phone? Reply and let me know because I’m still not sure.
On building a business of one 🤹🏾♂️
I came across an interesting idea about self-identification recently, here’s the hook:
Domino’s isn’t a pizza company
It’s a delivery company, that does pizza. It started as a pizza restaurant, but over the decades they pivoted into providing not great pizza, but great delivery.
Many companies start with one idea but find real success in another. We can take the same approach with ourselves. To make sure you’re aware of the direction you’re growing in, identify yourself by what you’re doing, not what you are.
I, for example, am not a writer. I’m “building a freelance writing business”. In a year’s time once my business is stable, I’ll still be a writer, but I’ll probably be working on something new. Introducing yourself by what you’re doing reminds you of the progress you’re making even if your job title isn’t changing.
On creating content that impacts 💥
I want to share some things that I’ve learned about pitching. Look at this email- it’s one of the first pitches I sent:
This is an okay pitch. It’s generic and could be sent to anyone with a few changes. It shows that I’ve researched the site and identified where my content would fit. But that’s it. This pitch is built on “could” and “maybe”.
Now look at this more recent pitch:
What does this do better?
Addressing the Editor by name
Direct links to more relevant clips from my portfolio
Clear evidence of research on the site- identifying a bottleneck and offering to help.
Clear proposal for a new type of content, with a full pitch for the first article including headline, hook and setting expectations for turnaround.
This is miles better. It’s no longer “I could” or “maybe”. It’s a matter of “here’s a problem, here’s my solution” and “this is what I have to offer”.
The first pitch didn’t get a response. The second turned into a promising lead. I’m still mastering the craft of pitching, but the improvements are evident.
Can you think of any ways that you would improve the second pitch?
Loved this weeks read, it’s given me more of an understanding of your work and, it’s great to be able to see clear development in your pitches.
The bus stop situation is definitely a tricky one….
You’re a stranger in a strange land! To act without caution could lead to a much worse situation than what you encountered, I think you did the right thing. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.