Some day in 2024, I was at Starbucks, writing a LinkedIn post for a client. I was obsessing over the hook, because apparently it’s the most important part.

I was a well-paid LinkedIn ghostwriter. I helped founders build a personal brand by bringing their ideas to the world.

What could be more fulfilling?

And yet I was agitated. Subtly. I couldn’t wait to get done with the post and do more ‘exciting work’. I was never a big LinkedIn fan, but my work demanded that I pay attention to it. More importantly, LinkedIn was the most downstream tactic in marketing, and I wanted to help my clients solve more upstream problems.

The feeling that I wasn’t doing my best work had been there for quite some time. Changing jobs hadn’t helped.

A big chasm existed between “what I thought marketing should be” and “what I actually did for my clients.”

Always start with their problem

My approach to finding “best work” had been market-driven. “Know your audience’s problems and then solve them” is what they say. Otherwise, why would they pay you, right?

LinkedIn ghostwriting had been the product of the same thinking. Founders had a problem – they needed to be on LinkedIn. They were happy to pay. I had some writing skills. It was a match.

But clearly, this wasn’t making me happy.

The frustration got too much

One day, it crossed a threshold. I snapped. I wish I could say some innate wisdom guided me. It didn’t. The anger, the frustration, the impatience got to me, and I ranted about everything I thought was broken in marketing.

What do I believe in?

Forget the money for now. Forget the positioning. Forget how I’ll be perceived.

What makes me angry?

As I ranted, a direction emerged. Like many others, I was frustrated with the noise, the AI slop, the algorithm. The genuine lack of connection and authenticity in the market.

Those who hated this game were told by experts to showcase their expertise. But even these good-hearted people were struggling, because simply talking about expertise wasn’t resonating anymore. When AI can write a “5 ways to ___” post in seconds, expertise starts to look like everyone else’s.

Tips and tricks on LinkedIn, or yet another listicle video on YouTube, weren’t helping their businesses. Expertise alone wasn’t the answer.

What my clients needed was what I needed too. A perspective. What if I could help them find theirs? Their Big Idea? And discover mine in the process?

I committed to this direction and gave myself 3 months to experiment.

Worst case, I could always go back to ghostwriting.

But for those 3 months, I wouldn’t worry about getting paid.

3 months turned into 2 years

I’m writing this in November 2026. Since that decision, I’ve worked with tech consultants, business consultants, coaches and other experts. They have a ton of expertise, but they don’t see the common thread: the single idea that ties it all together. I call it the Big Idea. I help them find it and bring it to the world.

Eventually, all my income came from advisory work. Thinking and coaching, not implementation.

I was playing it safe

Looking back at my ghostwriting days, I can see that starting with the audience’s problem drowned out the part of me that craved better work.

Part of me wanted to stay true to my beliefs about marketing, but fear kept telling me, “Play it safe. Check what the market wants and offer it to them.”

I wanted a guarantee that my very first idea would make me money. That did a disservice to my taste, my opinions and my perspective.

It’s not that the audience’s problems don’t matter

They do. To build a successful business, we need to solve expensive problems. But we usually start with their problems and suppress our taste. What worked for me was the reverse: leaning into my perspective first, then building a bridge to the audience and their problems.

It’s the sequence that matters.

Of course we want the market to pay. But chasing your perspective and a paycheck at the same time is a terrible idea.

Inside out, not outside in.

These days, I still spend my mornings at Starbucks. But I’m not obsessing over hooks anymore. I’m working on upstream problems for my clients. How do I help them find their Big Idea? How do I help them spread it?

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