Ty Magnin

Attention: you have been hacked. This article is nothing but a job posting for a NYC Growth Hacker, upvoted by the team at Work Market.

Work Market is one of the fastest growing enterprise startups in the world, providing software for companies to find and manage onsite freelance workforces.

Now you know why you are here, we’d like you to join our USV and Spark Capital funded startup and help grow our database of freelance onsite professionals.

Apply here! https://www.workmarket.com/ats/view?id=90

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Work Market Growth Hacker Enthusiasts

When you have a personal problem with someone, it’s incredibly hard to problem-solve with them. It can be difficult to not feel that “the best outcome” is the one that hurts them the most.

Making forward progress can feel incredibly frustrating. You want to get to a solution, but you feel as if you are being attacked or wanting to attack every step along the way.

Here’s the problem: you’re playing different games. You are trying to get something, and they are trying to get something else. If someone is filibustering your progress by hurling insults or naysaying your productivity, you’ve got to find another way to resolution.

You’ve got to play their game, and you’ve got to lose. But if you’re clever in playing their game, and you stay on track to your own objectives, you can get what you set out to do and leave them feeling feel like the winner.

First Step: Disarm them by acknowledging your weakness

They are attacking your personality. Admit to your faults. It may be too small a deal to even feel necessary to address, or it may be so large it’s hard to swallow. The important thing to do here it make sure you reflect a deep understanding of where your antagonist is coming from.

This acknowledgement turns the tables. Once they see that you understand, they will feel validated in their accusations and feel empowered. This will lead to moments of heightened self-awareness in which they your antagonist may be better suited to problem solve, so once you see they are ready, move as quickly as you can onto the next steps.

Step Two: Address the problem objectively

This seems obvious, but laying out the common goal that you are trying to solve is helpful. It repositions the conversation and helps you clear the air. As an added tip, I think it’s best to write this down so you can both visualize it. The more naturally you can pull this off the better. 

Step Three: Establish objectives you can agree on

Here’s where you have to set the rules. The rule you need to make is essentially for each party to act selflessly in their evaluation of ideas. You are both after the best solution to the problem, not the best solution for yourself.

Step Four: Brainstorm all solutions

Here’s the fun part. Take turns as best as you can to write down all of the possible solutions. Don’t rule any out. Again, write these down if you can. That makes the next step even easier.

Step Five: Eliminate and highlight

Start crossing things off the list. Take turns again here to cross them off, and listen to each other’s reason why they are to be crossed off. Make sure their objections follow the rules. Circle the good possible solutions and don’t get overexcited about your solutions. Here’s where being a good listener and an objective problem-solver pays off.

Step Six: Let them choose

Alright, so you’ve probably made your case while going through the list a few times, and they understand where you’re coming from and why you believe the circled solution is the best one. Let them choose the solution here. Make them the hero. 

It may be nerve-racking. It may be hard to relinquish control, but if your solution was the right one from the start and you’ve done a good job listening and presenting your ideas objectively, you have less to worry about.

Often you may see a new solution through this process that you didn’t even think of in the beginning, and that is a blessing. Be thankful for the exercise and for your argumentative partner. 

Step Seven: Make an action plan

Before you both go your own way, for the afternoon or for life, be sure to create an action plan before you leave. Write it down/add it to your calendar/do what you do to not forget. Make sure you both understand when it is this will be solved and who is in charge of which next steps. 

I hope this helps you give the skills to resolve your more complex arguments with others. I am no master of this, but with more practice I will certainly improve.

The things that are truly good for you in life will always hold your attention. Love them and hold them dear.

Find more love in your heart to love them deeper and practice with conviction and perpetually newfound passion.

Give love, get love and in return give more.

You know that moment of uncertainty when you click “send” on an important email that you haven’t proofread? Or worse, you publish a blog post without that “left it all on the field” level of confidence? Maybe it happens at the end of a long day. Or when you think you are multitasking, but you are really just doubled up on coffee and fumbling between distractions.

I know. I’ve been there—as has probably every one who regularly creates content. But guess what? There’s a method for overcoming that bout of doubt the second after you click publish—consider crowdsourced copyediting.

This practice furthers traditional peer edits by leveraging your networks of trusted peers, engaged readers and your broader audience. It has saved me time and helped me create better content through the years. I never publish anything without discussing it with several interested parties first. This process saves me decision time, and it helps me build on relationships of all types. Here’s how it works:

First publication: trusted peers

Your most trusted audience is most likely your colleagues, peers and mentors. Share your content with them first.

You can expect your most trusted copyeditor to read your content at a high level for form, tone and purpose. From experience, I’ve learned that those closest with you read your content with a wider lens, meaning they are more interested in how it fits into your story or your company’s story than how much sense it makes or how powerful it is.

I’m not condoning handing your trusted peers a sloppy first draft, but getting them involved in the earlier stages of writing is generally a good idea. There’s nothing worse than working hard on something only to trash it later because it didn’t serve the right purpose or uphold your brand’s image.

Second publication: interested clients

Leverage your closest clients/early adopters. They are already deeply engaged and will have conversations around the subject matter of your content. Why not crowdsource feedback further and push your next content to them before everyone else?

Content often comes from customer interactions. Wouldn’t that same customer be flattered that they inspired a blog post? I’m sure they would have something more to say on the topic, and you may have more to learn!

Read between the lines when receiving feedback about a publication. It’s not always what your audience says about your writing, it’s often what they don’t say.

Third publication: general public

Your general audience will be able to appreciate your content for what it’s worth. They will digest your brand, purpose, and subject matter. If you do it right, your audience will feel engaged in all of the conversations you had around your content.

Additionally, your widest audience will review your content for effective SEO (did they find it effectively), for strong call to actions (did they end up where you wanted) and help you write more effective copy next time.

There you have it—the three steps to crowdsouce you copyediting. I am sure that this art can become increasingly granular in its steps over time, so as we content markets engage this practice further, let’s share our findings for best practices.