<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Brilliant Weirdo with Robyn Sayles]]></title><description><![CDATA[A haven for Brilliant Weirdos. A repository of rants, both unapologetic and unhinged. Home of the Brilliant Weirdo Manifesto Builder - turning your "unprofessional" traits into your unfair advantage. Subscribe to get access. 🤘🎤✨]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KXw4!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc310ab55-b121-4557-b1d7-93596d85766f_1080x1080.png</url><title>Brilliant Weirdo with Robyn Sayles</title><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:01:25 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[robynsayles@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[robynsayles@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[robynsayles@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[robynsayles@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Dirty Underwear, Howling, and the Future of Podcasting]]></title><description><![CDATA[What On Air Fest Taught Me About Fear, Vulnerability, and the Nonlinear Path to Your Most Authentic Creative Self]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/dirty-underwear-howling-and-the-future</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/dirty-underwear-howling-and-the-future</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:07:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KXw4!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc310ab55-b121-4557-b1d7-93596d85766f_1080x1080.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>I knew On Air Fest would be small. </strong>I&#8217;d done my homework. I knew the footprint would be intimate, the attendance modest, the whole thing more curated gathering than a massive industry expo. What I wasn&#8217;t prepared for was the care.</p><p>My first clue came before I&#8217;d even found my seat. I&#8217;d been mildly anxious about where to check in. On Air Fest is spread across multiple venues in Brooklyn, and the logistics of a multi-location festival can get messy fast. Turns out they had check-in at every single location. You just showed up, got your armband, and walked in. No central registration bottleneck. No lanyards with corporate sponsors dangling from your neck. Just an armband and a warm body pointing you in the right direction.</p><p>That simplicity set the tone for everything that followed.</p><p>Because here&#8217;s the thing: what <a href="https://www.onairpresents.com/onairfestbrooklyn2026">On Air Fest</a> didn&#8217;t spend on organizational infrastructure, they poured directly into the experience itself. The stage lighting. The screen displays. The music cues. Every single presentation felt like a million bucks. I didn&#8217;t see a single tech hiccup across the entire festival, and if you&#8217;ve been to enough conferences, you know how rare that is. They&#8217;re a production company, and it showed. The production was flawless. And there were people everywhere, actual human beings, guiding you, making sure rooms were set, making sure you knew where to go.</p><p>There weren&#8217;t any name badges. Which meant you were constantly asking, &#8220;What&#8217;s your name? What&#8217;s your name?&#8221; and honestly, I wonder if that was on purpose. Because it forced a different kind of interaction. Not the conference scan where you glance at someone&#8217;s lanyard and decide if they&#8217;re worth your time. An actual human introduction. Eye contact. A real exchange.</p><p>Simple. Intentional. Deeply cared for. And it set the stage for what turned out to be one of the most transformative creative experiences I&#8217;ve had in years.</p><h2><strong>THESE ARE MY PEOPLE</strong></h2><p>Before I get into the sessions that rewired my brain, I need to talk about the humans.</p><p>I love storytellers. I love podcasters. I love people who live in that particular frequency where a conversation isn&#8217;t small talk&#8212;it&#8217;s an event. And On Air Fest was wall-to-wall with them.</p><p>These are people who will stop dead in their tracks in a hallway to have a twenty-minute conversation about something real. Not a pitch. Not a networking play. A genuine, leaning-in, I-see-you-and-I-want-to-hear-more conversation. These are people who will thrust their phone into your hands and say, &#8220;Call yourself on my phone, now you have my number.&#8221; No QR codes. No LinkedIn requests. Just the beautiful, impulsive, deeply human act of saying: I want to stay connected to you, and I don&#8217;t want to lose you in the shuffle.</p><p>There is something about audio creators, people who have chosen the most intimate medium, the one that lives inside someone&#8217;s ears while they&#8217;re driving or doing dishes or falling asleep, that makes them wired differently. They listen harder. They ask better questions. They understand, on a cellular level, that connection isn&#8217;t a metric. It&#8217;s the whole damn point.</p><p>And the looks! God, I love Brooklyn fashion. But I love these people more.</p><h2><strong>SOME OF US ARE MAKING ART</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.blakepfeil.com/">Blake Pfeil</a> and I originally met when he graciously lent his time and expertise to a webinar I was hosting for <a href="https://www.thepodcastacademy.com/">The Podcast Academy</a>. He&#8217;s one of those people you respect immediately through a screen, so to meet him in person was a genuine delight. But watching his presentation was something else entirely.</p><p>Blake and <a href="https://www.dylanthuras.com/">Dylan Thuras</a> performed a live production of an episode of <a href="https://www.blakepfeil.com/aar-podcast.html">abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast</a>. In a small, dark room lit only by the audio tracks displayed on the screen behind them, they took us on an immersive adventure. It was like watching an old radio play being recorded, except it felt more like art than production. Following along with the audio track, getting lost in the sounds, the layering, the pacing, it was mesmerizing. The kind of experience where you forget you&#8217;re sitting in a conference venue, and you&#8217;re just&#8230; there. Inside the story.</p><p>And it gave me a new, deeper respect for the work that audio creators do. Because here&#8217;s the thing we don&#8217;t say enough: while some of us are making podcasts, some of us are making art. And the line between those two things isn&#8217;t about budget or production value or the size of your team. It&#8217;s about how deeply you&#8217;re willing to inhabit your own creative vision. It&#8217;s about craft. It&#8217;s about care. It&#8217;s about giving yourself over to the work completely.</p><p>That kind of creative surrender? It requires something most productivity frameworks don&#8217;t account for. It requires the willingness to go somewhere you can&#8217;t fully control.</p><h2><strong>THERE IS NO STRAIGHT LINE TO YOURSELF</strong></h2><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Carl Jung once wrote that the goal of psychic development is the self and that there is no linear evolution. There is only a circumambulation of the self. Uniform development exists, at most, at the beginning. Later, everything points toward the center.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote><p>I heard those words at On Air Fest, spoken and echoed between two voices like a ritual incantation in a session called &#8220;Ritual for Creative Destiny.&#8221; And something in my chest cracked open.</p><p><em>Circumambulation. </em>It means walking in circles around a sacred center. Not a straight line. Not a ten-step plan. Not a &#8220;just niche down and post consistently&#8221; trajectory. A spiraling, looping, sometimes maddening orbit around the thing that matters most: <em>who you actually are.</em></p><p>We&#8217;ve been sold this lie that success is linear. That if you just follow the formula, you&#8217;ll arrive at some gleaming destination called &#8220;making it.&#8221; But anyone deep in creative work knows the truth: it&#8217;s circles. It&#8217;s revisiting the same fears, the same questions, the same doubts, each time from a slightly different angle. Each time a little closer to the center. That&#8217;s not failure. That&#8217;s the work.</p><h2><strong>PERMISSION TO BE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL BUFFOON</strong></h2><p>The Ritual for Creative Destiny session presenters, <a href="https://zakrosen.com/">Zak Rosen</a> and <a href="https://sharonmashihi.com/">Sharon Mashihi</a>, named two forces that govern the creative life: fear and connection. They embodied these forces by giving half of the presentation with dirty underwear on their heads (talk about vulnerable). Then did something I&#8217;ve never seen at a professional event: they made a room full of adults close their eyes, clutch a piece of white fabric, and repeat an incantation out loud.</p><p>Sharon had described her own creative process with an honesty that made the room collectively exhale: go into a room, hate yourself, scream and cry a little, add a few minutes to whatever you&#8217;re working on, and if you&#8217;re lucky, do it again the next day. She named the fear most of us carry but never say out loud, the terror of entering the irrational creative space where your rational self can&#8217;t protect you, because it&#8217;s your irrational self that has the best ideas.</p><p>And then came the incantation. The part I haven&#8217;t been able to shake:</p><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;I can walk that fucking road. I can have self-acceptance. I can allow myself to be a complete and total buffoon. In the privacy of my own singular and sacred creative process. Anything is possible.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote><p><strong>A complete and total buffoon in the privacy of your own singular and sacred creative process.</strong> I spent decades trying to be anything but a buffoon professionally. Trying to be polished, taken seriously, proving my unconventional approach was legitimate. And here was someone saying the thing that took me decades to figure out: the path forward isn&#8217;t through more polish. It&#8217;s through more permission.</p><p>Zak and Sharon also introduced a concept I carried out of that session like stolen treasure: the idea that art is a process of &#8220;being with.&#8221; </p><p>Not making. Not working. Not optimizing. </p><p>Just hanging out with the thing you&#8217;re working on and trusting that if you stay long enough, the work will emerge without you forcing it into existence.</p><p>I had just experienced this very thing. I&#8217;d arrived in Brooklyn a day early, intending to do some sightseeing in Manhattan, and instead I got snowed in by a blizzard. That snow day turned out to be some of the most productive and creative work I&#8217;ve done in months, because I&#8217;d been sitting with these big ideas for a long time, and in the middle of a New York blizzard, they all came pouring out. No forcing. No optimizing. Just being with the ideas until they were ready to move.</p><p>This concept of &#8220;being with&#8221; is the opposite of the grind-and-optimize approach that&#8217;s burned out an entire generation of creators. It&#8217;s the permission to trust your own creative rhythm instead of someone else&#8217;s productivity framework.</p><h2><strong>KILL YOUR DARLINGS</strong></h2><p>Journalists <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rachelnpr/?hl=en">Rachel Martin</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/brihreed/?hl=en">Brian Reed</a> sat down for a conversation that took everything the Creative Destiny session had opened up. They drove it straight into the real world of professional stakes, public criticism, and the actual cost of leading with vulnerability.</p><p>Brian Reed created <a href="https://stownpodcast.org/">S-Town</a>, one of the most talked-about podcasts of the last decade. It also drew a lawsuit and a searing critique from an Australian career journalist named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Alcorn">Gay Alcorn</a>, who called the work &#8220;morally indefensible.&#8221; Not boring. Not poorly reported. Morally wrong to have been made.</p><p>When Brian launched his new show, <a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1258547263/question-everything-with-brian-reed">Question Everything</a>, he wanted it to be a space where people felt comfortable being self-reflective and self-critical. But he knew he had to go first.</p><p>So he did something most of us would never consider. He flew to Alabama to sit on the couch of the man who had sued him. A lawyer of twenty-five years who said he&#8217;d never once spoken to someone he&#8217;d sued. They talked for five hours. Brian was certain this would be the episode that launched his show.</p><p>His editors listened and said, &#8220;This is something you needed to do for yourself.&#8221;</p><p>It didn&#8217;t work as an episode. It was too inside-baseball, too mired in legal specifics that mattered deeply to Brian but wouldn&#8217;t land for a listener. All those years of questions, all those hours of conversation, and the thing he needed most turned out to be something he couldn&#8217;t package for anyone else.</p><p>If you&#8217;ve ever poured yourself into a creative project only to realize it was for you and not your audience, you know exactly how that feels. And if you&#8217;ve ever dared to accept that truth and pivot rather than force it, that&#8217;s a kind of professional bravery that doesn&#8217;t make anyone&#8217;s highlight reel.</p><p>What Brian launched with instead was the scarier conversation, the one with Gay Alcorn herself. The critic. He couldn&#8217;t even call it an interview because it was genuinely unclear who was interviewing whom. They didn&#8217;t agree in the end, but they found common ground, and the conversation went somewhere neither of them expected, all the way down to how you feel about death and legacy, what it means to tell the stories of people who are gone.</p><p><strong>He went first. </strong>Not because it was comfortable, but because he understood something essential: you cannot ask others to be vulnerable if you&#8217;re not willing to go there yourself. You can&#8217;t build a space for authenticity while keeping your own walls up.</p><p>That&#8217;s exactly what we&#8217;re asking our clients, our audiences, and our communities to do every single day. And this conversation made me think about how often we&#8217;re willing to ask it of others without doing it ourselves.</p><p>The conversation between Rachel and Brian kept circling back to the difference between genuine curiosity and performed professionalism. Brian put it plainly: the minute you start asking questions you think you&#8217;re supposed to ask, it&#8217;s over. Even when there are questions you feel obligated to ask out of duty, out of professional expectation, the work is finding what you genuinely want to know within that obligation. Not the performed version. The real one.</p><p>Think about how radical that is in an industry that runs on formulas. We have templates for everything now. Sales call scripts. Content frameworks. Engagement strategies that tell you exactly what to post and when. And none of it, not a single word of it, accounts for the fact that the most powerful thing you can do is ask a question you actually care about the answer to.</p><p>Rachel said something that I want tattooed on the inside of every content creator&#8217;s eyelids: it&#8217;s amazing what will happen if you just sit in silence.</p><p>She learned this as a news journalist, where the job was specifically not to emote, not to share your own loss, not to make it about you. The work was to allow silence, to be a safe place, and to let your body language and your listening do the heavy lifting. When you stop trying to fill every space, people share.</p><p>Now, on her current show <a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510379/wild-card-with-rachel-martin">Wild Card</a>, she&#8217;s built a different model, one where mutual vulnerability is the architecture. She shares, the guest shares, and together they build something. By the end of an hour, they&#8217;ve gone somewhere real. And maybe someone listening hears their own experience reflected back.</p><p><strong>But here&#8217;s the critical balance she named: </strong>you don&#8217;t want it to be the you show. Vulnerability isn&#8217;t content. Vulnerability serves the conversation. You share not for the sake of sharing but because it&#8217;s embedded in a question: &#8220;I&#8217;ve been thinking about this, here&#8217;s why, how have you made sense of it?&#8221;</p><p>That distinction matters enormously for anyone building a personal brand. There&#8217;s a difference between performing vulnerability for engagement and genuinely sharing your experience in service of connection. One is performance. The other is presence. And your audience can always tell the difference.</p><h2><strong>YOU&#8217;RE NOT DOING IT WRONG</strong></h2><p>I need to interrupt the inspiration for a moment of honesty, because I think it&#8217;s important and because nobody else seems to want to say it.</p><p><strong>The people making money in podcasting are the outliers.</strong></p><p>I posted this during the festival because the gap between what we see celebrated on stage and what most creators experience behind the scenes was impossible to ignore. Most shows, even the ones from larger studios and networks, are still trying to figure out consistent funding. Public radio is looking at how to be profitable for the first time. No one has solved the funding problem. Not the big players. Not the indie creators. Not the networks with teams and budgets and institutional backing.</p><p>And yet somehow, independent podcasters walk around feeling like they&#8217;re the ones failing.</p><p>You&#8217;re not. You&#8217;re not doing it wrong. The model is still being invented. The rules haven&#8217;t been written yet because the old rules, the ones borrowed from radio and television and traditional media, don&#8217;t map cleanly onto a medium this intimate, this decentralized, this stubbornly resistant to scale-at-all-costs thinking.</p><p>This is actually liberating if you let it be. If the biggest players in the industry haven&#8217;t cracked the code, then the playing field is more level than anyone wants to admit. Your scrappy, authentic, recorded-in-a-closet show isn&#8217;t behind. It&#8217;s just operating in the same uncertain landscape as everyone else, with the added advantage of not having institutional overhead and shareholder expectations dictating your creative decisions.</p><p>Rachel talked about organizations needing to stop duplicating efforts and double down on their core competency instead. She was talking about NPR. But she could have been talking about every creator I&#8217;ve ever coached who&#8217;s spreading themselves across seven platforms instead of going deep on the thing only they can do.</p><p>The lesson is the same at every scale: stop trying to be the New York Times when you&#8217;re actually doing something they could never pull off. Big media can outspend you, but they can&#8217;t out-YOU you.</p><h2><strong>ONE LISTENER AT A TIME</strong></h2><p>Across multiple sessions, a theme kept emerging that flies in the face of every growth-hacking playbook: audiences are built one listener at a time.</p><p>One person who discovers your work and thinks, &#8220;Where has this been all my life?&#8221;</p><p>Not through viral moments because what goes viral is not up to you to decide. Not through algorithmic manipulation. But through the slow, patient, deeply human work of being so authentically yourself that the right people can&#8217;t help but find you.</p><p>The Patreon Discovery Panel discussed listener communities as the modern equivalent of old internet forums, places where people gather not because of an algorithm, but because of genuine connection. Give people a place to go beyond the hour they spend listening to your show. Create a space that&#8217;s theirs, not just yours. That&#8217;s how communities grow, not from the top down, but from the center out.</p><p>This is where conventional marketing advice falls apart for people like us. The playbook says optimize, scale, hack, automate. But the evidence keeps pointing to something simpler and scarier: be undeniably yourself, and give people a place to gather around that.</p><h2><strong>YOUR WEIRD IS THE POINT</strong></h2><p>Here&#8217;s what I keep coming back to, days after leaving Brooklyn.</p><p>Brian Reed flew to Alabama to talk to a man who sued him, then sat sweating through a late-night conversation with a critic who called his work morally wrong, because he believed that going first was the only way to build something honest. Rachel Martin admitted that distance made hard questions easier, because pretending you&#8217;re not human doesn&#8217;t make you more professional. A roomful of strangers howled together and chanted about being complete and total buffoons, because sometimes the most sophisticated creative strategy is permitting yourself to be ridiculous. And in the hallways between sessions, people were shoving phones into each other&#8217;s hands and stopping mid-stride to have the kind of conversation that changes how you see your own work.</p><p>None of this looks like a growth strategy. None of it fits in a content calendar template. None of it follows a formula. And that&#8217;s exactly the point.</p><p>Jung was right. There is no linear evolution. There&#8217;s only this spiraling orbit around the center of who we are. And the center holds. It always has.</p><p>So here&#8217;s your permission slip:</p><p><strong>You&#8217;re not doing it wrong. </strong>The model is still being invented, and your way of doing it is as valid as anyone&#8217;s.</p><p><strong>You don&#8217;t need a straighter path. </strong>You need a more honest relationship with the one you&#8217;re on.</p><p><strong>You don&#8217;t need to ask the questions you think you&#8217;re supposed to ask. </strong>You need to find the questions you genuinely care about the answers to.</p><p><strong>You don&#8217;t need to perform vulnerability for engagement. </strong>You need to show up with enough presence to let silence do its work.</p><p><strong>You don&#8217;t need to be everywhere. </strong>You need to go deep on the thing only <em>you</em> can do.</p><p><strong>And you don&#8217;t need to tone it down. </strong>You need to turn it up&#8212;on your terms, at your frequency, in your singular and sacred creative process.</p><p>Allow yourself to be a complete and total buffoon. Allow yourself to get stuck in a blizzard and let the ideas pour out. Allow yourself to shove your phone at a stranger in a hallway because you just had the kind of conversation you refuse to let end. Allow yourself to spiral, circle, loop back, and try again.</p><p>Because everything points toward the center. And the center is <strong>you</strong>.</p><div class="native-video-embed" data-component-name="VideoPlaceholder" data-attrs="{&quot;mediaUploadId&quot;:&quot;eeb315b3-3cac-4105-9585-daabc22a48d2&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:null}"></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Improv Beats Formal Business Training. Here's the Proof.]]></title><description><![CDATA[When Everything's Unpredictable, Improvisation Becomes Your Superpower]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/improv-beats-formal-business-training</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/improv-beats-formal-business-training</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:07:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KXw4!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc310ab55-b121-4557-b1d7-93596d85766f_1080x1080.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg" width="618" height="347.316" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:281,&quot;width&quot;:500,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:618,&quot;bytes&quot;:28894,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;a black and white image of four original cast members of Who's Line Is It Anyways&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/185469475?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcfd07c33-44bc-48fe-814d-69b9489b9d87_500x281.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="a black and white image of four original cast members of Who's Line Is It Anyways" title="a black and white image of four original cast members of Who's Line Is It Anyways" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-DD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd200e2f-64d3-4036-a0bb-f08304f0eef3_500x281.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>It&#8217;s the time of year when well-meaning executives and entrepreneurs are creating annual goals and strategic plans. All those carefully crafted scripts and perfectly rehearsed pitches are lovely in theory. But the moment you&#8217;re face-to-face with a nervous interviewee giving one-word answers, or a client who just took your pitch in a completely unexpected direction, all that beautiful preparation can actually work against you.</p><p>Enter improv, not as entertainment, but as essential business infrastructure.</p><p>I recently attended <a href="https://podfestexpo.com/">Podfest Expo</a>, where I moderated a panel with <a href="https://horseradionetwork.com/podcast/horses-in-the-morning/">Glenn Hebert of Horse Radio Network</a> and <a href="https://twinflamesstudios.com/">Tina Dietz of Twin Flames Studios</a>. Our session covered the basics of improv and how it benefits podcasters. When we opened it up to the audience, the question everyone <em>actually</em> wanted answered was:</p><p><strong>&#8220;How do you use improv skills to help people relax and open up during interviews?&#8221;</strong></p><p>And that&#8217;s when I realized we weren&#8217;t just talking about podcasting anymore. We were talking about authentic human connection in professional spaces, and how improv might be the antidote we didn&#8217;t know we desperately needed.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif" width="456" height="255.36" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:224,&quot;width&quot;:400,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:456,&quot;bytes&quot;:273322,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/185469475?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtWK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01694a72-e655-46d2-80e5-1f6a8370a92c_400x224.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>The &#8220;Yes, And&#8221; Myth You Need to Unlearn</h2><p>Everyone thinks they know improv&#8217;s golden rule: &#8220;Yes, and.&#8221; Accept what your scene partner offers, then build on it. Here&#8217;s what actually matters more: <strong>never say no when you&#8217;re trying to maintain momentum.</strong></p><p>The difference is subtle but seismic. &#8220;Yes, and&#8221; sounds like a formula you mechanically apply. But understanding that your job is to <em>avoid shutting things down</em>? That changes how you approach every interaction.</p><p>When an interview subject clams up, when a brainstorm hits a wall, when a client takes the conversation somewhere unexpected &#8211; your instinct shifts from control to collaboration. From &#8220;how do I get this back on track?&#8221; to &#8220;okay, what if I follow this and see where it goes?&#8221;</p><p>You start yes-and-ing your way through difficulty, MacGyvering solutions with whatever&#8217;s in front of you, instead of insisting everyone return to the script. That&#8217;s not just a podcasting skill. That&#8217;s a <em>surviving modern business without losing your mind</em> skill.</p><h2>Listen, listen, Linda&#8230;listen.</h2><p>During our panel, we played a simple improv game where pairs had to build ideas together, one sentence at a time. The kind of thing that looks deceptively easy until you actually try it. And that&#8217;s when it clicked for people. They weren&#8217;t actually listening to their partners. They were waiting for their turn to talk, mentally rehearsing their next brilliant addition, completely missing what was being offered.</p><blockquote><p><strong>True listening, the kind where you&#8217;re genuinely present and building on what you&#8217;re actually hearing rather than what you expected to hear, is rarer than finding matching socks in the dryer.</strong></p></blockquote><p>We talk about active listening in every leadership workshop, but improv forces you to <em>actually do it</em>. Because if you&#8217;re not truly listening in an improv scene, the whole thing collapses into incoherent nonsense. There&#8217;s immediate, undeniable feedback.</p><p>When you bring that skill back to your interviews, client calls, and team meetings? People <em>feel</em> it. They relax. They open up. They start saying the interesting stuff instead of the rehearsed stuff. Because finally, someone is actually hearing them instead of waiting to deploy pre-loaded talking points.</p><h2>This is Your Brain on Improv.</h2><p>Here&#8217;s the part that sounds like I&#8217;m overselling a miracle cure, but I promise it&#8217;s not: <strong>improv will rewire your brain to be more flexible and adaptable.</strong></p><p>Not metaphorically. Actually, physiologically rewire it.</p><p>When you practice improv regularly, you&#8217;re training your nervous system to perceive uncertainty as opportunity rather than threat. That panicky feeling when things don&#8217;t go according to plan? It starts to dissolve. Your stress response recalibrates. Things that used to feel like catastrophes just become... things that are happening. Problems to solve. Scenes to navigate.</p><blockquote><p><strong>And that adaptability is more valuable than any formal business training you can get right now.</strong></p></blockquote><p>Think about it: we&#8217;re operating in an environment where entire industries shift in months, where expert consensus from last quarter is already outdated. Rigid expertise has a shorter shelf life than fresh produce. The ability to pivot and find opportunity in chaos? That&#8217;s the skill set that actually translates across every conceivable future. Business school teaches you frameworks. Improv teaches you how to function when the frameworks fail.</p><h2>Why This Matters More Now Than Ever</h2><p>We&#8217;re in a profoundly weird moment. Everyone&#8217;s more connected than ever and simultaneously more isolated. Professional interactions have become increasingly transactional and oddly performative. We&#8217;ve optimized the humanity right out of communication.</p><p>Meanwhile, audiences are <em>starving</em> for authentic connection. They can smell manufactured authenticity from a mile away. They&#8217;re exhausted by the polish, suspicious of the perfection, desperately seeking something real. Improv skills help you show up as a full, flexible, actually-present human being in spaces that increasingly demand robotic predictability.</p><p>When you can transform awkward moments into authentic ones, when you stop over-scripting and start dancing with the unexpected &#8211; you&#8217;re not just becoming a better podcaster or business leader.</p><blockquote><p><strong>You&#8217;re becoming someone people actually want to talk to.</strong></p></blockquote><p>And in a world where AI can generate perfectly adequate scripts and perfectly predictable responses? Your humanity, flexibility, and genuine presence become your most valuable differentiators.</p><p>The beautiful unpredictability that makes great podcasts unforgettable is the same quality that makes great business relationships and meaningful work possible. It&#8217;s what makes people lean in instead of tune out. Things stop being such a big deal once you&#8217;ve got an improv mindset. And in a world that feels increasingly unpredictable, that might be the most valuable skill of all.</p><p><strong>So here&#8217;s your homework: sign up for an improv class.</strong> Just one. See what it feels like to yes-and your way through actual scenes instead of just watching it on TV. There&#8217;s a  difference between understanding improv intellectually and experiencing it in your body. That&#8217;s where the magic lives.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif" width="419" height="290.0769230769231" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:225,&quot;width&quot;:325,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:419,&quot;bytes&quot;:2048528,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/185469475?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F7_D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb631754b-4f10-4d06-bfcb-89572aa969cf_325x225.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Happy Holidays from Your Favorite Weirdo]]></title><description><![CDATA[End of the year wishes, entertainment recommendations, and early 2026 schedule of events]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/happy-holidays-from-your-favorite</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/happy-holidays-from-your-favorite</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:11:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/NRvtOGLzpvE" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As we ease into the final days of 2025, I wanted to pause and say something simple: <strong>thank you</strong>.</p><p>Thank you for reading these posts/emails. Thank you for showing up as your whole, weird, wonderful self. Thank you for trusting me with your brands, your questions, and your brilliant ideas. Whether you&#8217;re a client, a workshop participant, a podcast listener, or just someone who occasionally opens these when the subject line catches your eye, <strong>you matter to me</strong>.</p><p>This year has been a wild ride. I&#8217;ve had the privilege of working with some genuinely extraordinary humans who are building businesses that refuse to be boring. Watching you claim your space and make noise in your own unique way is the gift that keeps on giving.</p><p>Whatever you&#8217;re celebrating this season (or not celebrating, I see you too), I hope you find moments of genuine joy, rest, and connection. I celebrate Christmas, but my wish for you is universal: may your days be filled with warmth, your stress be minimal, and your weird be celebrated.</p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Speaking of celebration, I present my unhinged holiday entertainment recommendations.</strong></h3><p>If you&#8217;re looking for something to watch between now and the new year, here are my personal recommendations for delightfully unconventional holiday viewing:</p><p>&#127876; <strong><a href="https://youtu.be/NRvtOGLzpvE?si=BcJdxi2FfzVMTliO">Pee-wee&#8217;s Playhouse Christmas Special</a></strong> - Wonderfully weird and packed with absolutely bonkers celebrity cameos. It&#8217;s chaotic joy in its purest form.</p><div id="youtube2-NRvtOGLzpvE" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;NRvtOGLzpvE&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NRvtOGLzpvE?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>&#128640; <strong><a href="https://youtu.be/L4SZyeUGSM4">Santa Conquers the Martians</a></strong> - The epitome of Atomic Age cinema. This 1964 masterpiece is filled with wry humor and the kind of earnest absurdity that makes it impossible not to love.</p><div id="youtube2-L4SZyeUGSM4" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;L4SZyeUGSM4&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/L4SZyeUGSM4?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>&#128123; <strong><a href="https://youtu.be/vKbK-R5jsSI">Scrooge (1951) with Alastair Sim</a></strong> - My favorite version of A Christmas Carol, hands down. Sim&#8217;s absolutely unhinged behavior when he wakes up Christmas morning is unmatched. Pure manic joy.</p><div id="youtube2-vKbK-R5jsSI" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;vKbK-R5jsSI&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vKbK-R5jsSI?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>&#127925; <strong><a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NpwVAKlXQkWDBDagS0c_EL9DOtSAONH&amp;si=zrAlImJHj-qryaQH">My Xmas Background Playlist</a></strong> - 18+ hours of holiday LoFi, ambiance, classics, ending with a cozy yule log. Perfect to have on in the background on Christmas Day (or any day you want that warm, festive vibe without the overwhelm).</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NpwVAKlXQkWDBDagS0c_EL9DOtSAONH&amp;si=zrAlImJHj-qryaQH&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Open Playlist on YouTube&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NpwVAKlXQkWDBDagS0c_EL9DOtSAONH&amp;si=zrAlImJHj-qryaQH"><span>Open Playlist on YouTube</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>What Are You Doing New Years?</strong></h3><p>I&#8217;m hitting the podcast conference circuit in early 2026, and I&#8217;d love to connect in person if you&#8217;re planning to be at any of these:</p><p>&#127897;&#65039; <strong><a href="https://podfestexpo.com/">Podfest Expo</a> - podcast conference in Orlando, FL</strong><br>&#127942; <strong><a href="https://www.ambies.com/">The Ambies</a> - The Podcast Academy&#8217;s annual awards</strong><br>&#128251; <strong><a href="https://www.onairpresents.com/onairfestbrooklyn2026">On Air Fest</a> - Media conference in Brooklyn, NY</strong></p><p>If you spot me at any of these events, please come say hi. I promise I&#8217;m exactly as weird in person as I am online (maybe more so).</p><div><hr></div><h3>In Keeping With The Situation</h3><p>Here&#8217;s to closing out this year with gratitude, good entertainment, and the people who make our weird worlds feel a little less lonely.</p><p>May your holidays be exactly what you need them to be. &#10084;&#65039;</p><p>With genuine appreciation,<br><em>Robyn </em>&#129304;&#10024;</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Spent $2K to Watch Dudes Throw Paint at Cars]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Field Report from Bro Marketing Hell]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-spent-2k-to-watch-dudes-throw-paint</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-spent-2k-to-watch-dudes-throw-paint</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2025 11:30:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3767529,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Robyn grimaces and holds up a middle finger next to a graphic that says Fuck Bro Marketing&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/158004627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Robyn grimaces and holds up a middle finger next to a graphic that says Fuck Bro Marketing" title="Robyn grimaces and holds up a middle finger next to a graphic that says Fuck Bro Marketing" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-YC5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F233abd9c-536d-413b-a0ec-3e1216afb683_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Let&#8217;s talk about those marketing formulas and sales funnels that keep sliding into your DMs with promises of six-figure success. You know the ones &#8211; they come wrapped in blue and gray branding, packaged with a perfectly scruffy headshot, delivered by someone who&#8217;s never had to consider whether their proven system works for anyone who doesn&#8217;t look exactly like them.</p><p>I just returned from a conference that was essentially a live-action demonstration of everything wrong with this industry. And I need to tell you about it because if one more person tries to sell me outdated manipulation tactics disguised as revolutionary marketing, I&#8217;m going to lose my shit.</p><h2>The VIP Experience That Wasn&#8217;t</h2><p>They advertised custom VIP hoodies. Exclusive. Limited. The kind of thing that makes you feel like you&#8217;re part of something special when you drop that extra cash.</p><p>Except they ran out 30 minutes after registration opened to the public on day one.</p><p>Let that sink in. They took VIP money, promised VIP perks, and gave those perks to vendors and sponsors instead. What did actual VIPs get? A can of Red Bull and a flyer in a so-called swag bag. Not very swaggy.</p><p>But wait &#8211; it gets worse.</p><p>The opening night ball featured a Vanilla Ice-looking kid custom painting an expensive car. His method? Mean-mugging the crowd, grabbing cups of paint from trays carried by shot girls (I wish I were joking), then yelling, jumping in the air, and throwing paint at the car while the crowd went absolutely nuts.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif" width="320" height="439.2727272727273" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:302,&quot;width&quot;:220,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:79501,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/158004627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Deh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436e1a7e-60f9-408a-95fd-2f52ee15447f_220x302.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>And then it all made sense. That&#8217;s where the VIP money went. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m standing here with a fucking energy drink instead of the experience I paid for. They blew the budget on performative masculinity theater.</p><p>Look, I&#8217;ve been to dozens of conferences, even been behind the scenes at a few, and I know that you cannot please everyone all the time. Fair. But ordering enough swag for everyone who paid for it is basic shit. If budget constraints are real, don&#8217;t offer the item on a first-come, first-served basis; give it out as a spontaneous extra. Surprise &gt; Disappointment. Don&#8217;t sacrifice paying customers for sponsor optics.</p><p>And before you blow your wad on an over-priced spectacle, consider whether your &#8220;entertainment&#8221; appeals to your entire audience or just a specific demographic. Maybe skip the shot girls and aggressive car painting and invest in experiences that create connection. Imagine if everyone had an opportunity to throw paint at the car?</p><p>So many of the organizers&#8217; choices made it clear that they were not considering their attendees. So what the hell did we pay for?</p><h2>The Manipulation Masterclass Nobody Asked For</h2><p>The bropocalypse continued on the stages as well. One of the sponsors &#8211; a ticket-selling agency &#8211; had the audacity to take the main stage and explain their &#8220;proven system&#8221; to a room full of people who had just been victimized by it.</p><p>This guy stood there and detailed his old-school, manipulative, phone-call-heavy sales process. Want to buy a ticket? Get on the phone so we can convince you to upgrade to VIP. He literally explained to a room full of attendees exactly how he manipulated them into spending money they now regret. Then pitched his services so we could all manipulate our own audiences the same way.</p><p>I whipped around to my companion and said, &#8220;This is so dumb&#8221; &#8211; apparently louder than I thought, because heads turned with nasty looks. But I wanted to shake everyone in that room and say: </p><div class="pullquote"><p><strong>If you&#8217;re falling for this, I feel sorry for you. This is not how you sell in 2025. </strong></p></div><p>Not if you want long-term relationships. Not if you want repeat customers. Not if you give a damn about building something sustainable.</p><p>Here&#8217;s what does work<strong>:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Create a transparent buying process that respects people&#8217;s time and autonomy.</p></li><li><p>Offer clear pricing tiers online.</p></li><li><p>Let people self-select into the experience that fits their needs and budget.</p></li><li><p>If you want to encourage upgrades, show value&#8212;don&#8217;t trap people on phone calls.</p></li><li><p>Build a sales process that attracts enthusiastic participants rather than cornering reluctant ones.</p></li><li><p>Spend your energy developing relationships with people who actually want to be there from the beginning, not manipulating fence-sitters into regretful purchases.</p></li></ul><p>Notably, even a few of their target demographic &#8211; yes, the white dudes this whole circus was designed for &#8211; walked out muttering that the presentations were stupid. When your ideal audience feels like they wasted their money, you&#8217;ve fucked up spectacularly.</p><h2>The Problem with Bro Marketing Blueprints</h2><p>I used to be so fucking proud that I could hang with the sales guys. I highlighted those recommended business books like sacred texts, trying to fold their rigid frameworks around my decidedly non-linear approach.</p><p>Spoiler alert: It was like trying to fit a Renaissance painting into a corporate PowerPoint template. Something beautiful got lost in the translation. Looking back, I realize it was the worst version of myself.</p><p>Those &#8220;fool-proof&#8221; marketing formulas were built in a very specific laboratory called privilege. That step-by-step blueprint? It assumes you&#8217;re starting on the same step as its creator. That viral visibility strategy? It&#8217;s banking on you having the same algorithm advantages as its architect. That sales script? It was written for a voice that sounds nothing like yours.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>Bro Marketing doesn&#8217;t work if you&#8217;re not a bro. Full stop.</p></div><p>It&#8217;s not because you&#8217;re doing it wrong &#8211; it&#8217;s because it was never designed for you to do it right. What you need are frameworks that acknowledge different starting points. Marketing education that asks &#8220;What resources do you actually have access to?&#8221; instead of assuming everyone has the same network, capital, and visibility advantages. Sales training that teaches principles and adaptation rather than rigid scripts. Systems that recognize multiple paths to success instead of presenting one privileged perspective as a universal truth.</p><p>I know this shit doesn&#8217;t work because I&#8217;ve done it. I&#8217;m certified in more sales methodologies than these guys have even heard of. I know it can be built better because I&#8217;ve built it. I wrote a more comprehensive sales program seven years ago that&#8217;s still being used today by one of the largest SMB sales teams in the US, and it doesn&#8217;t have any of this hard-close bullshit in it. It&#8217;s based on genuine connection and problem-solving, not manipulation and volume games. It creates teams where value comes from what you contribute, not who you know. And it measures success by customer satisfaction and retention, not how many people you stuffed into your funnel. Zero manipulative phone trees. Zero pressure tactics. Zero spray-and-pray. And they love it because it works.</p><p>I&#8217;ll never understand why anyone would waste time, energy, and resources trying to convince people. Why not spend that effort developing relationships that attract people who want what you&#8217;re offering from the beginning?</p><h2>Stop Giving Credit to Douchebags</h2><p>While we&#8217;re here, let&#8217;s address something that makes my soul itch: When I see brilliant professionals giving credit for their success to some basic AF business book they had to completely reinvent to make it work. You know the kind &#8211; those &#8220;essential reads&#8221; that feel about as inclusive as a country club in 1952.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>Listen closely because this is important: <strong>YOU did that work.</strong></p></div><p>YOU figured out how to take those outdated frameworks and transform them into something that serves your vision. YOU built the bridges over the gaps in their guidance. That success? It&#8217;s yours, babe. All yours.</p><p>Stop giving credit to people who couldn&#8217;t care less about you. Stop trying to squeeze your brilliance into someone else&#8217;s blueprint. The most powerful thing you can do is recognize that your unique approach isn&#8217;t a deviation from the path to success &#8211; it IS the path to success.</p><p>Your future clients don&#8217;t need another <a href="https://youtu.be/4frJxfrj_88?si=N24gKWrT3Po5YEb-">copy of a copy</a>. They need you &#8211; your perspective, your experience, your way of doing things. And trust me, they&#8217;re out there looking for exactly what you bring to the table, not another repackaged formula from the bro marketing assembly line.</p><h2>Here&#8217;s What To Do Instead</h2><p><strong>Find better mentors.</strong> Look for people who share your lived experience, who&#8217;ve navigated similar obstacles, and who&#8217;ve built something authentic despite every template telling them they were doing it wrong. These are your guides &#8211; the ones who understand that your unique path to success might not fit neatly into a pre-packaged course module.</p><p><strong>Question the assumptions.</strong> When you encounter a &#8220;proven system,&#8221; ask: Proven for whom? Under what circumstances? With what resources? What privileges does this assume I have?</p><p><strong>Adapt, don&#8217;t adopt.</strong> If you find useful frameworks, extract the principles and rebuild them for your reality. You&#8217;re not broken if the blueprint doesn&#8217;t fit; the blueprint is incomplete. Frameworks are where you start, not the finish line.</p><p><strong>Build transparent systems.</strong> Whether you&#8217;re selling, marketing, or teaching, create processes that respect people&#8217;s autonomy, acknowledge their intelligence, and deliver actual value. No manipulation required.</p><p><strong>Measure what matters.</strong> Track satisfaction, retention, and genuine impact, not just volume metrics that make you feel productive while burning through goodwill.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>Marketing is like fashion; one size does not fit all. </p></div><p>So why are you trying to make that cheap off-the-rack formula fit you? Your story is one of a kind. You deserve handmade, bespoke success.</p><p>Not a Red Bull and a flyer.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png" width="577" height="221.52678571428572" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:559,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:577,&quot;bytes&quot;:320524,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/i/158004627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ek3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73cf7ca3-80c6-496b-8a95-fb084edeca8c_2240x860.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>If you also think Bro Marketing sucks, grab a F*ck Bro Marketing button or shirt over at the Brilliant Weirdo store: <a href="https://stuff.brilliantweirdo.com/">stuff.brilliantweirdo.com</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 13 | #ShowUpWeird | Testing Budget Equipment]]></title><description><![CDATA[Next month, I'm headed to Orlando for CreatorHub Live, but first&#8212;I'm on a mission that's equal parts MacGyver and audio nerd.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-13-showupweird-testing-budget</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-13-showupweird-testing-budget</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:06:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/168958291/5d40583a19fd40b5130dbd4d1fd95491.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Next month, I'm headed to Orlando for CreatorHub Live, but first&#8212;I'm on a mission that's equal parts MacGyver and audio nerd. I'm torturing inexpensive microphones and wrestling with budget gear to see just how far these scrappy little devices can be pushed before they cry uncle.</p><p>Because here's my philosophy: the barrier to entry in podcasting shouldn't be your bank account. Your voice matters more than your gear budget, and I'm on a mission to prove that diamonds in the rough exist in the sub-$100 audio world. I&#8217;m throwing myself on the sword of subpar equipment so you don't have to.</p><p>I&#8217;m also testing out some new ways to connect and communicate. My brilliant pal Mat and his partners over at Conntap.com are doing things with NFC tags that would make a tech wizard weep with joy. We're talking "wait-you-can-DO-that?" level innovation. I&#8217;m learning how to make these tiny chips perform digital magic tricks that'll blow your mind sideways.</p><p>Stay tuned for the full equipment autopsy report in a future video, complete with battle scars, surprising victories, and probably at least one spectacular failure that'll make us all laugh.*</p><p>*Yeah, that already happened. Turns out the mic I used to record this video is not good for fidgety hand-talkers. (&#8592; Me)</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 12 | #ShowUpWeird | Quirky TV Obsessions]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sometimes you need television that's the equivalent of mac and cheese for your soul &#8211; and that's exactly what Good Witch delivers in spades.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-12-showupweird-quirky-tv-obsessions</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-12-showupweird-quirky-tv-obsessions</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2025 20:54:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/168420099/ca1923746a1dfff32774972c53a28dd4.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sometimes you need television that's the equivalent of mac and cheese for your soul &#8211; and that's exactly what <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3906732/">Good Witch</a> delivers in spades. This delightfully cheesy Hallmark Channel gem is like wrapping yourself in the world's most predictable blanket, where the biggest crisis involves pumpkin carving and whether the impossibly zen protagonist is <em>actually</em> magical or just really good at timing. The stakes are lower than a limbo bar at a toddler's birthday party, and that's precisely the point. When you're feeling under the weather (literally or metaphorically), you don't want prestige television demanding your full attention &#8211; you want something that'll spoon-feed you comfort while your brain takes a much-needed vacation.</p><p>What makes this show even more perfect is its beautiful simplicity wrapped in soap opera dramatics. The acting is so wonderfully over-the-top that it circles back to being charming. Plus, there's something deeply satisfying about discovering that the slightly annoying mayor character is the same actress who played the vampire-befriending medical examiner in the gloriously ridiculous 90s show <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103417/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1">Forever Knight</a> &#8211; because apparently, helping supernatural beings navigate their existential crises is just her brand. Good Witch isn't trying to change your life or make you think deep thoughts; it's just there to be your reliable friend who always knows exactly what to say to make you feel better, even if what it's saying is absolutely bonkers.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 11 | #ShowUpWeird | I Want To Be Sincere]]></title><description><![CDATA[Today&#8217;s post is brought to you by Capacity and Priorities.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-11-showupweird-i-want-to-be-sincere</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-11-showupweird-i-want-to-be-sincere</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2025 20:49:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/168333844/408764a74a800e841c1d3d2c46fefd9a.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We're not quite at the halfway point of my #ShowUpWeird challenge, but I've already learned something valuable about how I operate. I should have factored in my actual human capacity and real-life priorities before boldly declaring I'd make 31 consecutive videos.</p><p>Can I make 31 videos? Absolutely. Can I do them back-to-back without my chronic illness tapping me on the shoulder and my family time becoming collateral damage? That's a hard nope. Now I know better.</p><p>Here's where we stand: You last saw me on Thursday, it's now Monday, and I'm faced with a choice. Do I pretend the weekend didn't happen and call this Day 11? Or do I fast-forward to Day 14 and gaslight myself into believing time works differently in content creator land? I'm choosing authenticity over perfectionism. This is Day 11. I'm not a content creation robot, and I'm not apologizing for being human. (Neither should you.)</p><p>The mission continues; the remaining videos will happen. They just won't be happening on some arbitrary consecutive timeline that ignores my life and priorities. Showing up weird means showing up real. And real life doesn't follow content calendars. In the indelible words of Jack Kerouac, from Canto Uno of McDougal Street Blues, <strong>I want to be sincere</strong>.</p><blockquote><p>They are strolling to Their death<br>Watching the Pictures of Hell<br>Eating Ice Cream<br>Of Ignorance<br>On wood sticks<br>That were once sincere<br>In trees <br>But I can't write, poetry<br>Just prose<br>I mean<br>This is prose<br>Not poetry<br>But I want<br>To be sincere</p></blockquote><p><em>Listen to the whole thing here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-GKKJ8RyIa74" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;GKKJ8RyIa74&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/GKKJ8RyIa74?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 10 | #ShowUpWeird | No Spoons]]></title><description><![CDATA[Today's video comes with a side of radical honesty.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-10-showupweird-no-spoons</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-10-showupweird-no-spoons</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2025 17:53:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/168011605/b071ec3efbe159f86a57f4c4df813172.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today's video comes with a side of radical honesty. I woke up this morning and my body decided to stage a rebellion. <a href="https://www.thyroid.org/hashimotos-thyroiditis/">Hashimoto's</a> rolled up like an uninvited party crasher and said, "Remember me?" Chronic illness doesn't give a fig about your carefully curated content calendar. It just shows up, steals all your spoons, and leaves you wondering if existing counts as productivity. Instead of pretending everything's fine, I'm sharing the truth: today is a minimal-effort day.</p><p>To my fellow chronic illness warriors: You're not broken. You're not lazy. You're human beings with bodies that sometimes need a software update, and that's perfectly valid. Tomorrow I might have more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory">spoons</a>, but today I am championing the revolutionary act of doing just enough. See you on the flip side &#8211; hopefully with my energy levels somewhere above "houseplant" status.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 9 | #ShowUpWeird | Show & Tell]]></title><description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s Show and Tell day!]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-9-showupweird-show-and-tell</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-9-showupweird-show-and-tell</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 19:33:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167932540/d5e7f4aeb2a73ac11f5dded2bad129f4.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s Show and Tell day! Some treasures I hoard like a sentimental dragon. But then there are the keepsakes I clutch onto purely because their origin stories are so gloriously absurd they deserve their own Netflix documentary. The story of how I got this clapboard involves working late at <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/bathandbodyworks/comments/13lgwji/who_else_remembers_the_store_that_always_used_to/">Garden Botanika</a>, calling into the <a href="https://www.theboneonline.com/drew-garabo-live/">Drew Garabo</a> show, and winning the grand prize to take 10 friends to <a href="https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/events/mardi-gras">Universal Orlando Mardi Gras</a>. Sometimes the universe rewards you for saying stupid sh*t on live radio! </p><p>What did you bring for Show and Tell?</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-9-showupweird-show-and-tell/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-9-showupweird-show-and-tell/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 8 | #ShowUpWeird | Travel Stories]]></title><description><![CDATA[We're diving into my travel vault today, and honey, it's PACKED with the wonderfully bizarre adventures that happen when you say "yes" to the universe's weirdest invitations.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-8-showupweird-travel-stories</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-8-showupweird-travel-stories</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:36:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167850925/bc7d50450b2e60c9cb509e710f87f236.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We're diving into my travel vault today, and honey, it's PACKED with the wonderfully bizarre adventures that happen when you say "yes" to the universe's weirdest invitations. The lineup of chaos includes: Midwest Roadtrip Chronicles (art and cheese and baseball and the House on the Rock), Savannah Graveyards (and almost getting locked in one in America's most haunted city), and Denver Dinner with Rappers (that time my bestie and I somehow ended up sharing appetizers and life stories with hip-hop artists in the Mile High City).</p><p>Vote below for which tale you want me to unpack in all its gloriously unhinged detail. Fair warning &#8211; whichever wins gets the full treatment: every awkward moment, every plot twist, every "I can't believe this is my life" revelation.</p><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:343208}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><p><em><strong>Tell me your most unhinged travel tale:</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-8-showupweird-travel-stories/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-8-showupweird-travel-stories/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 7 | #ShowUpWeird | Bad Vampire Jewelry]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, what happened to Days 5 and 6?]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-7-showupweird-bad-vampire-jewelry</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-7-showupweird-bad-vampire-jewelry</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:56:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167763845/9fa1a01aa508efb02128b296ad06ff5c.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Listen, I'm a ride-or-die vampire media devotee. Give me <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Universe">Anne Rice's Immortal Universe</a>, <a href="https://www.lionsgate.com/franchises/the-twilight-saga">Twilight</a>'s brooding sparkle brigade, or the <a href="https://jrward.com/the-black-dagger-brotherhood/">Black Dagger Brotherhood</a>'s leather-clad chaos&#8212;I'm here for all of it.</p><p>But holy hell, can we talk about the absolute tragedy that is vampire jewelry in most productions? You're telling me this ancient, immortal being, who's had literal <em>centuries</em> to accumulate wealth and develop exquisite taste, is walking around with a "mystical" ring that looks like it fell out of a Spirit Halloween clearance bin?</p><p>Come on.</p><p>If your 100-year-old vampire's signature heirloom jewelry couldn't pass for authentic at a middle school Renaissance fair, we have a problem. These are beings who allegedly witnessed the rise and fall of empires. I mean, Dracula didn't spend 500 years perfecting his dramatic cape swirl just to accessorize with something that screams "plastic fantastic." The disrespect is real, people.</p><p>Props departments: your vampires deserve better. We vampire nerds <em>definitely</em> deserve better.</p><p>End rant. &#129499;&#8205;&#9794;&#65039;&#10024;</p><div><hr></div><p>What's your most oddly specific media pet peeve? Drop it in the comments. Let's bond over our beautifully bizarre obsessions.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-7-showupweird-bad-vampire-jewelry/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-7-showupweird-bad-vampire-jewelry/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>&#8220;Hey Robyn, what happened to days 5 and 6?&#8221; Great question. Please see <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@talksforaliving/video/7524437412689251598?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7484348740243228203">this TikTok video</a> for the answer(s) plus cute dog photos.</em></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 4 | #ShowUpWeird | Satchel]]></title><description><![CDATA[Of all the obscure and underrated bands I could have introduced you to today &#8211; and trust me, my mental catalog of criminally overlooked artists runs deeper than a David Lynch fever dream &#8211; I chose Satchel, specifically their 1994 album EDC.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-4-showupweird-satchel</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-4-showupweird-satchel</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2025 19:34:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167543259/ac69737c7ac512ea90b7d4a3a906bf0c.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Of all the obscure and underrated bands I could have introduced you to today &#8211; and trust me, my mental catalog of criminally overlooked artists runs deeper than a David Lynch fever dream &#8211; I chose Satchel, specifically their 1994 album EDC. The whole album is essentially a love letter to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs</a>, peppered with quotes and references like Easter eggs for film nerds and music geeks alike.</p><p>Here's where it gets interesting &#8211; and a little heartbreaking. The song "More Ways Than 3" features what I consider the most perfectly deployed quote from the movie, delivered with that signature gravelly menace that only <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000514/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Michael Madsen</a> could pull off. We lost Madsen this week, and suddenly this random deep cut from a band most people have never heard of feels like a time capsule, a little sonic memorial to an actor who specialized in making villain roles feel disturbingly human.</p><p>There's something beautifully weird about how art connects across mediums like this &#8211; a mid-90s indie band grabbing a piece of cinematic lightning and weaving it into their own strange tapestry. It's cultural cross-pollination at its finest, the kind of creative DNA mixing that makes you wonder what other hidden gems are out there, waiting to soundtrack your next existential moment.</p><p><strong>The full quote from the movie (nsfw, obviously):</strong></p><div id="youtube2-_0pwoLjXcEk" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;_0pwoLjXcEk&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_0pwoLjXcEk?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><strong>Listen to the entire album: </strong></p><div id="youtube2-JeBVW4QbRsM" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;JeBVW4QbRsM&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JeBVW4QbRsM?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 3 | #ShowUpWeird | Home Office Tour]]></title><description><![CDATA[Welcome to the creative chaos that is Launching Your Success HQ.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-3-showupweird-home-office-tour</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-3-showupweird-home-office-tour</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:52:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167455254/9e2766b0b8c67c63cfa97d4e5847c50a.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome to the creative chaos that is Launching Your Success HQ.</p><p>Step into my home office sanctuary, a space that's been through more plot twists than a Netflix series. My husband hand-built this space. Not once, but twice. Because apparently, Hurricane Milton decided my office needed a dramatic renovation last year. But here's what I learned during those 9 months of operating from makeshift spaces: your work isn't defined by your walls. Your brilliance isn't contained by your environment. I coached clients from kitchen tables, crafted strategies from coffee shops, and built brands from borrowed spaces.</p><blockquote><p>The hurricane didn't stop the revolution&#8212;it just relocated it temporarily.</p></blockquote><p>Now that I'm back in my rebuilt sanctuary, I feel that familiar electricity. This is my creative conspiracy headquarters. Every corner holds evidence of battles won against conventional wisdom. Every surface tells the story of another brilliant weirdo who refused to play by someone else's rules. I'm ridiculously proud of this space&#8212;not because it's perfect, but because it's perfectly imperfect. It's functional chaos. It's organized rebellion. It's exactly what you'd expect from someone who helps brilliant weirdos claim their space in the world. From the coffee station that fuels late-night strategy sessions to the couch where I've talked countless brilliant minds off the ledge of conformity, every inch of this office reflects my energy.</p><p>Come take a peek behind the curtain. Fair warning: you might leave inspired to redesign your own creative command center.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 2 | #ShowUpWeird | Duranie 4 Life]]></title><description><![CDATA[Today, I confess my completely unhinged obsession with Duran Duran.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-2-showupweird-duranie-4-life</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-2-showupweird-duranie-4-life</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2025 16:52:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167367051/481c7b3fc6a7d4f19484220caf581242.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today, I confess my completely unhinged obsession with Duran Duran. They're my patron saints of staying resilient and relevant without selling your soul. They thrived by staying authentically weird while everyone else was desperately chasing trends.</p><p>Simon Le Bon never tried to be anyone else's version of a lead singer. John Taylor's bass lines were unapologetically complicated and melodic. And don't get me started on Nick Rhodes' synth wizardry&#8212;the man turned electronic music into art.</p><p>They taught me that longevity isn't about reinventing yourself every five minutes. It's about being so authentically you that you become timeless instead of trendy. Stay weird. Stay relevant. Stay utterly, unapologetically yourself.</p><p><em>PS - <a href="https://youtu.be/n0rt2dlfhbk?si=5YYkORA_oalg0iq_">(Reach Up For The) Sunrise</a> is a perfect pop song, I will hear no arguments.</em></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Day 1 | #ShowUpWeird]]></title><description><![CDATA[Watch now | I don't want to do this and that's exactly why I need to.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-1-showupweird</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/day-1-showupweird</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2025 21:07:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/167298771/20378a0099827b2ee3af782794e24a2b.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Day 1 of #ShowUpWeird. For 31 days, all of July 2025, I'm showing up with whatever's on my mind.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[#ShowUpWeird for 31 Days]]></title><description><![CDATA[I'm challenging myself to show up every damn day for a month. Wanna play along?]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/showupweird-for-31-days</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/showupweird-for-31-days</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:06:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3314550,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/167292159?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YcUk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36bf91f6-f581-4c8e-b578-03468346f075_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>Here's the Deal</h2><p>I've been sitting on the sidelines for months now. What started as legitimate delays (hurricanes, health issues) turned into overthinking every video before I even hit record. Sound familiar?</p><p>So I'm calling myself out. Publicly. For 31 days, all of July 2025, I'm showing up with whatever's on my mind, whatever I'm working on, whatever weird thing I'm obsessed with this week.</p><blockquote><p>No grand strategy. No content calendar perfection. Just me, being me, consistently.</p></blockquote><p>And if you're tired of your own bullshit excuses about why you're not showing up either, jump in. Let's be messy together.</p><h2>My Very Loose Rules</h2><ol><li><p><strong>One video per day.</strong> Even if it's terrible.</p></li><li><p><strong>Whatever's on my mind goes.</strong> Business stuff, random obsessions, childhood trauma from 80&#8217;s movies, all fair game.</p></li><li><p><strong>Phone only.</strong> I'm not buying equipment for this experiment.</p></li><li><p><strong>Post it and move on.</strong> No 47 takes. No endless editing.</p></li><li><p><strong>Be weird.</strong> Because trying to be normal is exhausting.</p></li></ol><h2>What I'm Going to Talk About</h2><p><em>(And you can steal these ideas or make up your own&#8212;I'm not your content manager)</em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s8Je3cl4lQ9Rt_6_e-xM9qVV1RPn5TTT?usp=drive_link&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Download This List&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s8Je3cl4lQ9Rt_6_e-xM9qVV1RPn5TTT?usp=drive_link"><span>Download This List</span></a></p><p><strong>Day 1: Why I'm Doing This</strong> Real talk about why I've been hiding and what finally made me say "fuck it, let's try."</p><p><strong>Day 2: My Favorite Band That Everyone Knows</strong> Talking about my favorite mainstream band and why they matter to me. Probably getting emotional about lyrics.</p><p><strong>Day 3: Behind My Desk</strong> Showing you the chaos of my actual workspace. The coffee rings, the random sticky notes, the pile of books I pretend I'm going to read.</p><p><strong>Day 4: Band No One Talks About</strong> Introducing you to an obscure band I love and playing their best song while I drink coffee and probably dance badly.</p><p><strong>Day 5: Concert Story Time</strong> A concert memory and what it taught me about life.</p><p><strong>Day 6: Software I Can't Live Without</strong> Walking through a software I love and why it saves my sanity weekly. </p><p><strong>Day 7: Random Pet Peeve</strong> The thing that annoys me more than it should. Probably something weirdly specific.</p><p><strong>Day 8: Travel Story Monday</strong> Telling you about a trip and the random thing that happened that I still think about.</p><p><strong>Day 9: Show and Tell</strong> Grabbing something from my desk/house that means nothing to anyone else but makes me happy. Explaining why I keep it.</p><p><strong>Day 10: What I'm Working On</strong> Actually showing you a project in progress. Mess and all.</p><p><strong>Day 11: Gadget Love</strong> The random gadget I bought that changed my life. (Spoiler: it's probably embarrassingly simple.)</p><p><strong>Day 12: TV Show Obsession</strong> Current binge or old favorite I keep rewatching. Why it's perfect and why you should watch it too.</p><p><strong>Day 13: Something New I'm Trying</strong> The experiment I'm running on myself right now. Could be business, could be personal, could be both.</p><p><strong>Day 14: Weird Habit Confession</strong> The strange thing I do that I'm pretty sure no one else does. Or maybe everyone does and we just don't talk about it.</p><p><strong>Day 15: Music Currently On Repeat</strong> The song/album/artist I can't stop playing and what it's doing to my brain.</p><p><strong>Day 16: Childhood Food Weirdness</strong> That thing I ate as a kid that I miss but can't find anywhere or would be judged for buying as an adult.</p><p><strong>Day 17: Industry Hot Take</strong> Something that pisses me off about how business/branding/marketing is taught. Going off about it.</p><p><strong>Day 18: Random Skill Demo</strong> Something I can do that has nothing to do with work but might be interesting. Or terrible. We'll find out together.</p><p><strong>Day 19: Client Reality</strong> Story about a client interaction that taught me something important about people or business.</p><p><strong>Day 20: Halfway Point Honesty</strong> What this process is doing to my brain. The good, the weird, the uncomfortable.</p><p><strong>Day 21: Overrated Thing Everyone Loves</strong> The popular thing I just don't get. Prepare for controversy.</p><p><strong>Day 22: Thing I'm Avoiding</strong> The project/conversation/decision I keep putting off and why I'm telling the internet about it.</p><p><strong>Day 23: Tool That Changed Everything</strong> The simple thing (app, process, mindset shift) that made my work life significantly better.</p><p><strong>Day 24: Unpopular Opinion</strong> The thing I believe that makes other people in my industry uncomfortable. Doubling down on it.</p><p><strong>Day 25: Story That Shaped Me</strong> The random experience that influenced how I think about business/life/people.</p><p><strong>Day 26: Current Obsession</strong> Whatever I'm deep-diving into lately. Book, podcast, rabbit hole, new interest.</p><p><strong>Day 27: Process Reveal</strong> How I do something important in my business. The real version, not the polished explanation.</p><p><strong>Day 28: Book/Podcast That Broke My Brain</strong> The thing I read or listened to that completely changed how I think about something.</p><p><strong>Day 29: Childhood Memory That Still Makes Me Laugh</strong> Random story from being a kid that I probably tell too often but still cracks me up.</p><p><strong>Day 30: Thing I Bought That I Didn't Need But Love</strong> The impulse purchase that turned out to be genius or the silly thing that brings me joy.</p><p><strong>Day 31: Final Thoughts</strong> What this weird experiment taught me about showing up, being myself, and doing things consistently.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Why I'm Really Doing This</h2><p>It's not about building an audience or growing my business (though if that happens, rad). It's about proving to myself that my thoughts are worth sharing. That consistency matters more than perfection. That showing up as myself&#8212;not some polished version&#8212;is actually more interesting.</p><p>I'm tired of overthinking every piece of content until it dies from perfectionism. I'm tired of having good ideas and letting them sit in my notes app forever.</p><p>Mostly, I'm tired of my own excuses.</p><h2>Want to Play Along?</h2><p>You don't have to follow my topics. Talk about whatever's on your mind. Share your favorite weird snack. Rant about customer service. Show us your pet. Teach us something random.</p><p>The only rule is: show up. Consistently. As yourself.</p><p>Use #ShowUpWeird if you want to find the rest of us doing this thing.</p><h2>What You Actually Need</h2><ul><li><p>Your phone</p></li><li><p>Something to say (doesn't have to be profound)</p></li><li><p>The willingness to be imperfect in public</p></li></ul><p>That's it. No ring lights, no scripts, no content calendar.</p><h2>When It Gets Hard</h2><p>Because it will. Some days you'll have nothing to say. Some days you'll feel stupid. Some days you'll wonder why anyone would care about your random thoughts.</p><p>Remember: this isn't about them. It's about you proving to yourself that you can show up consistently for something you say matters.</p><h2>Let&#8217;s F*cking Go!(?)</h2><p>I'm starting on July 1st, 2025. Day 1 is happening whether I feel ready or not.</p><p><em>NOTE: In typical &#8220;life happens&#8221; fashion, I am getting this article out late; therefore, video #1 will be late. BUT I&#8217;M DOING IT ANYWAY!</em></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Follow along:</strong> I'll be posting daily and probably overthinking it less as we go.</p><p><strong>Join the weirdness:</strong> <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s8Je3cl4lQ9Rt_6_e-xM9qVV1RPn5TTT?usp=drive_link">Download the list</a> if you need ideas. Tag your videos with #ShowUpWeird so we can cheer each other on.</p><p><strong>No pressure:</strong> Seriously. This is an experiment, not a competition. Show up how you can, when you can, as you are.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Great Ketchup Conspiracy]]></title><description><![CDATA[Or Why Your Customers Are Drowning in Choices]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/the-great-ketchup-conspiracy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/the-great-ketchup-conspiracy</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 11:15:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2237089,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;a title card for the article&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/164663983?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="a title card for the article" title="a title card for the article" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EF4p!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F325434bd-1880-4c25-84fe-f74d38bd23d7_2240x1260.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Have you ever thought about ketchup? Not just any ketchup &#8211; all 50+ fucking varieties on the grocery store shelf. Yes, fifty. I wish I were making this up. I recently went down the rabbit hole of ketchup comparison articles (because that's a thing now), and holy information overload, Batman! But here's where this condiment chaos connects to your brand's story.</p><p>We're living in the age of infinite options, where every consumer is supposedly an expert detective with a PhD in Google searching. Your customers are suffocating under an avalanche of choices. They don't want more choices. They don't need another spreadsheet of features. They're drowning in data but dying of thirst for something else entirely.</p><blockquote><p><strong>What they need is a lighthouse in the chaos.</strong></p></blockquote><p>I witnessed a humorous moment of decision paralysis a few months ago. This poor guy was standing in front of the ketchup shelf, staring into the void like he was trying to decode the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@plutotv/video/7400517361436036394">Matrix</a>. Three whole minutes passed (yes, I timed it, because I'm that kind of weirdo). When I finally broke the silence with "Who knew there were so many, right?" his response hit me right in the gut: "I just want ketchup."</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif" width="480" height="366" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:366,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2127705,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;a GIF of Mr. Burns being overwhelmed by ketchup choices&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/164663983?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="a GIF of Mr. Burns being overwhelmed by ketchup choices" title="a GIF of Mr. Burns being overwhelmed by ketchup choices" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NYmw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e8b3693-b6fe-4aa8-8126-16d1daaef603_480x366.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">I swear I didn&#8217;t know this GIF existed before writing this, but once again, The Simpsons proves to be a predictor of the future.</figcaption></figure></div><p>Let me pull back the curtain for a second. I've been deep in the trenches lately, crafting a custom sales training program for a B2B sales team. And let me tell you &#8211; the data is screaming one truth: decision paralysis isn't just a cute marketing term. It's the monster under every consumer's bed. They've got all the information in the world at their fingertips, but they're frozen in the headlights of endless options.</p><p>Stop being another choice in the sea of sameness. Instead, be the guide who helps people navigate through the bullshit. Your customers already know they need what you're offering &#8211; that's not the problem. Your job is to light up the path that leads them straight to your door and show them why your unique flavor of awesome is exactly what they've been craving.</p><p>Think about Ketchup Guy for a minute. He knew he needed ketchup, but the wall of options might as well have been written in hieroglyphics. Imagine if one brand had been bold enough to cut through the noise with "Hey, looks like you could use a hand navigating Condiment Canyon." Not only would they have made the sale, they would have earned themselves a loyal advocate who remembers the time someone gave a damn about their ketchup crisis.</p><p>When I talk about setting your brand apart from the competition, this is what I mean. Not by overwhelming them with options, but by being the clarity they're desperate for. That's how you build a brand that sticks.</p><p><strong>Tell me about your own 'ketchup moment' &#8211; what's the most ridiculous case of choice overload you've encountered in your industry?</strong></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/the-great-ketchup-conspiracy/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/the-great-ketchup-conspiracy/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>A version of this article originally appeared on Launching Your Success in 2017.</em></p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://ub-strategy-lab.heysummit.com/" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png" width="497" height="279.5625" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:540,&quot;width&quot;:960,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:497,&quot;bytes&quot;:656380,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;an ad for my upcoming workshop&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://ub-strategy-lab.heysummit.com/&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/164663983?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="an ad for my upcoming workshop" title="an ad for my upcoming workshop" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Ggr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24ef22aa-e0d6-4d7c-95d4-43f133250286_960x540.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">A 4-week journey from invisible to unforgettable.</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Know Your Value]]></title><description><![CDATA[How Soggy, Smudged Notes Reminded Me Why I Fight]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/know-your-worth</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/know-your-worth</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 13 May 2025 11:30:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/wBsHGEMzAnQ" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I found them buried under a stack of folders at the bottom of a soggy box &#8211; my scribbled notes from 2016, complete with a smudged reminder of "NO CURSING." I was finally cleaning out the last few damaged boxes from my office after fucking <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2024-10-09-hurricane-milton-forecast-landfall-florida-storm-surge-wind">Milton</a> blew through town when these pages tumbled out, instantly catapulting me back to that Saturday morning when I stood before a room of young women with fire in my eyes and hope in my chest.</p><p>You know what's better than sleeping in on a Saturday? Watching a room full of young women light up when they realize their worth isn't defined by anyone else's rulebook.</p><p>Let me paint you a picture: It's the Young Women's Leadership Symposium, and instead of doing something way more fun, these future leaders showed up EARLY and ready to shake things up. I had the incredible opportunity to talk about something we don't discuss nearly enough &#8211; knowing your damn value.</p><p>And because, even back then, it is my nature to be a bit extra, I reached out to some brilliant women in my community &#8211; the kind who've been there, done that, and aren't afraid to tell it like it is. I asked them to film themselves answering one question that hits right in the gut:</p><blockquote><p><strong>"What do you know about your value now that you wish someone had told you when you were in high school?"</strong></p></blockquote><p>The result was pure magic, their wisdom outshone my amateur editing skills. But the real moment of truth came when the video ended. You know how sometimes people do that polite, awkward clapping because they feel like they have to? Yeah, this wasn't that. These young women erupted in genuine, spontaneous applause &#8211; the kind that comes from that place of "holy shit, I needed to hear that."</p><p>It's the kind of reaction that reminds me why I do this work. Why I keep pushing against the boxes society tries to stuff me into. Why I keep having these conversations that make the status quo uncomfortable.</p><p>Fun fact: this was the very first video I ever uploaded to my YouTube channel. My digital firstborn. Different hair, different logo, same unapologetic enthusiasm. Watching it now hits me with a one-two punch of nostalgia and a certain kind of sadness. We were so earnest, so convinced the world was bending toward justice &#8211; it makes my chest tighten a little.</p><p>But there's hope tangled up in that feeling, too. Those young women in the audience that day are 25-28 now. They're making decisions, leading teams, maybe even running for office. I can't help but wonder how many of them carried those messages forward. How many times have they stood their ground in a meeting because they remembered their worth isn't up for debate? How many moments have they refused to shrink themselves to fit someone else's expectations?</p><p>Looking at these soggy, smudged notes now, nearly a decade later, I'm struck by how the message hasn't just remained relevant &#8211; it's become urgent. In a landscape where women's rights are being actively rolled back, where access to healthcare is diminishing, and where the spaces we fought to claim are being challenged, knowing your value isn't just empowering &#8211; it's a survival skill.</p><p>We're not just fighting for seats at tables anymore. We're fighting to keep the tables we built. We're fighting to protect our bodily autonomy. We're fighting against systems deliberately designed to make us question our worth.</p><p>If you&#8217;re reading this, I want you to know your value. Hit play below. And if you know someone who needs this message (spoiler alert: we all do), share it. Because sharing knowledge is how we create change that sticks. That's how we claim our space. That's how we make enough noise that they can't possibly ignore us.</p><div id="youtube2-wBsHGEMzAnQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;wBsHGEMzAnQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/wBsHGEMzAnQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Punched Keanu Reeves]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Love Letter to Pop Culture's Greatest Hits That Never Existed]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-punched-keanu-reeves</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-punched-keanu-reeves</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:24:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Hey weirdos! Taking a little detour from my usual brand strategy talk today. A song on my playlist sparked this whole train of thought that I just had to share. Sometimes we all need these creative side quests, right? So indulge me for a minute...</em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg" width="728" height="409" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:409,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:198765,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/161991524?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LOJV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6564e171-6956-4562-b979-5f3cd3406eef_728x409.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>Fictional Bands That Deserve Real Fame</h2><p>Look, I'll just say it: some of the best bands in existence never actually existed.</p><p>That hit me today when a fictional track crashed into my playlist and I realized just how much these make-believe musical acts have shaped my actual taste. So, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate a few of the bands that broke through the fourth wall and into my heart.</p><h2>Hello Peril</h2><p><em>Movie: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7374948/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Always Be My Maybe</a></em></p><p>If you haven't seen this film yet, stop reading this right now and go watch it. It's one of the most genuine rom-coms to emerge in the last 15 years, and I won't apologize for my obsession.</p><p>Randall Park's Hello Peril isn't just adorable, their songs are catchy as hell. "I Punched Keanu Reeves" doesn't just slap; it stays with you long after the movie ends.</p><p><strong>Fun Trivia:</strong> Randall Park has a real-life hip-hop background! Before his acting career took off, he was part of a rap group called <a href="https://youtu.be/QgFgUWZ8gtE?si=RcBCAcm_fGdC3bYu">Ill Again</a>, which explains why he's so damn convincing as a musician in the film.</p><div id="youtube2-9P21JMPymNc" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;9P21JMPymNc&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9P21JMPymNc?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>Sex Bob-Omb</h2><p><em>Movie: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Scott Pilgrim vs. the World</a></em></p><p>When <a href="https://www.beck.com/">Beck</a> writes songs for your fictional band, you're already operating on a different level. Sex Bob-Omb embodies that raw garage-band energy that makes you want to start your own band despite having zero musical talent.</p><p><strong>Fun Trivia:</strong> The actors playing in Sex Bob-Omb (Michael Cera, Alison Pill, and Mark Webber) learned to play their instruments specifically for the film and performed the songs themselves during filming rather than miming to a backing track. Talk about commitment to the bit!</p><div id="youtube2-wsN1VsRmbXg" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;wsN1VsRmbXg&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/wsN1VsRmbXg?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>The Beets</h2><p><em>TV Show: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101084/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Doug</a></em></p><p>The Beets prove something vital: fictional bands from kids' shows often go harder than they have any right to. (<em>I&#8217;m looking at you, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0852863/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Phineas and Ferb</a></em>)</p><p>"Killer Tofu" still lives rent-free in my brain decades later, and I'm not even slightly sorry if reading this puts that earworm back into your head for the rest of the day.</p><p><strong>Fun Trivia:</strong> There is a real-life band called The Beets, but they are not related to the cartoon band. They are an indie rock/punk rock band from Queens, New York.</p><div id="youtube2-p7c3bQQmwVE" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;p7c3bQQmwVE&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/p7c3bQQmwVE?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>PoP!</h2><p><em>Movie: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758766/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Music and Lyrics</a></em></p><p>I just adore this movie. It&#8217;s the perfect nostalgic rom-com for Gen Xers that were obsessed with bands like Wham and Duran Duran (It&#8217;s me, hi.) Hugh Grant's fake '80s band PoP! delivered songs that outshine many real '80s hits. "Pop Goes My Heart" isn't just a pitch-perfect parody; it's legitimately better than many songs it's parodying.</p><p>The fact that I've caught myself humming it in grocery stores is both embarrassing and a testament to its power. Try not dancing to it. I dare you.</p><p><strong>Fun Trivia:</strong> The music video for "Pop Goes My Heart" in the movie was directed by the actual film's director Marc Lawrence, who studied authentic '80s videos obsessively to nail every cheesy visual trope from the era.</p><div id="youtube2-xVkU8dDSC9w" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;xVkU8dDSC9w&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xVkU8dDSC9w?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>Ellen Aim &amp; The Attackers</h2><p><em>Movie: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088194/">Streets of Fire</a></em></p><p>Young Diane Lane fronting this fictional band delivers what might be the most criminally underrated fake song in cinema. The energy, the staging, the pure rock and roll attitude&#8212;it all combines into something magical.</p><p>The movie is gorgeous, neo-noir meets retro future western. Pretty sure my love of bizarre anti-heroes began with Willem Dafoe&#8217;s villain, Raven Shaddock.</p><p><strong>Fun Trivia:</strong> The songs were written by Jim Steinman, the legendary composer behind Meat Loaf's biggest hits!</p><div id="youtube2-_RiddOphPKs" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;_RiddOphPKs&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_RiddOphPKs?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>Why Fictional Bands Rock So Hard</h2><p>There's something special about these fictional bands. They're the idealized version of what we want music to be: immediate, emotional, and unforgettable. They exist solely in the universe of our favorite movie or television show, so they can&#8217;t ever disappoint us. They connect us to a place and time in our lives&#8230;like a perfect pop culture time capsule.</p><p>What fictional bands live in your playlist? What made-up musical act captured your imagination? Drop your favorites in the comments&#8212;the weirder, the better.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-punched-keanu-reeves/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/i-punched-keanu-reeves/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Calling All Industry Troublemakers: Rebel Roundtables Launch This Month]]></title><description><![CDATA[I've got a confession, and it might shock you.]]></description><link>https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/calling-all-industry-troublemakers</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.brilliantweirdo.com/p/calling-all-industry-troublemakers</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robyn Sayles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:31:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png" width="1456" height="823" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:823,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:429584,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://robynsayles.substack.com/i/161426070?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-o1!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf06df36-3cce-42aa-b758-1774aace193c_1472x832.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I've got a confession, and it might shock you. There's actually one thing I miss from my corporate cardigan days. No, not the branded swag, though my collection of Tervis tumblers could stock a small caf&#233; at this point.</p><p>What I miss? The electric chaos of a real brainstorming session. That raw, unfiltered energy when the right professional weirdos collide to solve an impossible problem. Before the suits would march in with their creativity-killing "parameters" &#8211; a fancy word for boxes they built to keep brilliance contained. </p><p>Those managers and VPs were like creativity vampires, sucking the life out of the wildest ideas because they couldn't handle anything that wouldn't fit neatly into their quarterly projections. I got tired of watching unconventional thinkers try to squeeze their colorful ideas into beige-shaped boxes. Now, I'm creating something new.</p><p>Introducing REBEL ROUNDTABLE &#8211; monthly brand &amp; content sessions where no question is too weird and no idea too wild. This isn't another dull virtual networking with recycled advice. It's a high-voltage gathering of professional weirdos ready to transform industry limitations into their greatest assets.</p><p>The first rebellion kicks off April 24th at 11:30 AM EST. Completely free. Entirely unapologetic. Bring your messiest branding challenges and walk away with clarity that feels like YOU. Let's create spaces instead of trying to fit into them.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://rebel-roundtable.heysummit.com&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;GRAB YOUR SPOT&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://rebel-roundtable.heysummit.com"><span>GRAB YOUR SPOT</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>P.S. Here&#8217;s a rebellious playlist for those days when the beige starts creeping in.</em></p><iframe class="spotify-wrap playlist" data-attrs="{&quot;image&quot;:&quot;https://image-cdn-fa.spotifycdn.com/image/ab67706c0000da842f4c9ecc8ab72b8037a41bab&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Rebel Roundtable Jam&quot;,&quot;subtitle&quot;:&quot;By launch_success&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Playlist&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Uwmw45goPc4xKwJLnCDLF&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;noScroll&quot;:false}" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/1Uwmw45goPc4xKwJLnCDLF" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen="true" allow="encrypted-media" loading="lazy" data-component-name="Spotify2ToDOM"></iframe>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>