This week, I attended Corey Wilks' new workshop 'Permissionless Writing' which took place over Zoom.
Corey is a Psychologist & Executive Coach, so it was interesting to hear his take on how writers and creators (who are too often overcome with imposter syndrome) can showcase their expertise without needing to 'seek permission'.
'Permissionless Writing', as per Corey's definition, is about finding prominent examples of problems where your specific expertise can help, and sharing real solutions, unsolicited.
Don't seek permission.
Don't make promises of what you 'could' do for them.
Instead, just do the work and deliver, with no expectation of reward.
"Find people who are sharing their problems, and help,"
The most common resistance to this is the inner voice that says "Nobody asked you- who are you to offer 'your work' here?" But all of us have benefitted from someone who offered their work online without waiting for permission.
Because the internet is a noisy place, we can easily forget that the vast majority of users and profiles are quietly consuming in silence, offering anything in return.
People don't often raise their hand, hit reply or generously offer anything proactive or helpful.
One of my favourite lines from the workshop was:
"When you help one person publicly, you can help many others privately,"
My slight build on this is to reframe the 'permissionless' bit as the fun part, and lean into it:
"Go looking for trouble,"
i.e.: Seek out real life problems posted in public, then break the rules (and your own resistance) by boldly answering back.
