I just audited a digital agency that had a 'ghost town' social media presence (37 Facebook followers, months-old Instagram posts) while trying to sell social media services to clients. It got me thinking about my own blind spots...

The Barrier to Video Creation Just Dropped to Zero Had a podcast episode with Dani Dufresne, an Emmy-winning producer who literally started her career cutting physical film by hand. And it got me thinking about where we are right now with AI video tools. I've been experimenting with Sora 2 lately, and I gotta tell you—it's wild what's possible now. I pulled out some old lyrics I wrote back when I was fronting a rock band in Japan (yeah, that was a thing). These songs never got recorded. Never saw the light of day. Just notebooks full of words that used to mean something. So I started creating short music videos for them using Sora 2. And here's what hit me: We're living through the death of gatekeeping in video production. What This Means for Your Brand Ten years ago, if you wanted video content for your business, you had two options: 1. Hire a production company (expensive, slow, requires lots of planning) 2. Do it yourself with whatever camera you had (often looked amateur) Today? You can create video content that looks professional without: - Hiring a crew - Booking a studio - Learning complex editing software - Spending thousands on equipment The Tools Are Here. Right Now. I'm not saying AI video replaces high-end production for major campaigns. Dani's team will still create work that blows AI out of the water for big brand projects. But for the rest of us building our brands? The barrier just vanished. You can now: - Turn blog posts into video content - Visualize customer testimonials - Create product demos without filming - Make educational content without being on camera - Test creative concepts before investing in full production What I'm Learning Playing around with Sora 2 has taught me a few things: 1. Your creative ideas have value, even if they're old. Those lyrics sat in a notebook for years because I didn't have the resources to do anything with them. Now they're becoming something visual and shareable. 2. Experimentation is easier than perfection I can try 10 different visual concepts in the time it would take to plan one traditional shoot. That means I'm learning faster about what resonates.

I get 15 cold pitches every single day on LinkedIn. Every. Single. One. Goes straight to trash. You know what gets my attention? The person who authentically commented on my AI tools post last week. The one who had something interesting to say about the Harlequins' rugby match. The entrepreneur who asked if the Jays will win the world series. That's not selling. That's being human. I just published a new blog breaking down why cold pitching is dead and what actually works in 2025. Here are the key points: The Visibility Goldmine Everyone Ignores: Your comments on other people's posts are free real estate. When you drop a thoughtful comment on a post from someone in your niche, hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people see your name, face, and headline. But "Great post!" doesn't cut it. You need to bring something real to the conversation. The Familiarity Formula: My warm outreach response rate? Over 95%. Why? Because people already know who I am before I reach out. They've seen my content. They've engaged with my ideas. By the time I message them, it's not cold - it's continuing a conversation we already started. The 5-Step Play: 1. Post valuable content consistently (4x per week is my recommendation) 2. Engage authentically on posts from people in your space 3. Build visibility through thoughtful comments 4. Notice who's engaging back 5. Reach out with context - not a pitch The Time Reality: I'm at a point where I'd rather spend Saturday morning coaching my kids' rugby than sitting on a 3-hour sales call for "extra cheese." My Saturdays are for family. My time is non-negotiable. When you ask for a 30-minute meeting, you're not asking for 30 minutes. You're asking me to give up something I can't get back. That better be worth it. Bottom line: The relationship comes first. The business comes second. LinkedIn isn't a slot machine. You can't automate your way to relationships or cold pitch your way to trust. Drop your worst cold pitch from this week below. 👇