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On Pretending To Be a “Pro”
One writer’s dilemma on starting a mailing list
Before I spent a lot of time on Medium, I was blissfully unaware of the “pro” types.
You know the ones I’m talking about. Some smarmy-sounding rich white guy, who’s name you’ve never heard before, but everyone on the platform absolutely raving about.
He gives the best advice! His platform changed my life!
So you go and check their blog, and, almost instantly, your bullshit detector starts going off like a Geiger counter at Chernobyl. Everything, everything, everything on their website has this highly polished Look how much better than you I am veneer.
They throw around marketing speak in casual conversation, talking about their upflow and their audience retention and their divesting streams, and their automations. But, somehow, beyond all belief, this guy managed to make $14 million last year doing — something?
Now that catches your attention. Because bullshit is one thing, but money is another. Money is nice. And if they’ve got a grift going on, you want to get in on the inside.
Of course, it’s not too difficult to figure out how they get that money. Every piece of writing they ever write has big, drastic popups telling you how much your life is going to change if…
