2 comedians pitch their jokes

So…. I went to a pub quiz this weekend (a classic Friday night activity for us Brits).

But not your average pub quiz.

This was a pub quiz which involved darts, pint-sinking competitions, comedy acts, and an absolutely STEAMING pile of bangers and mash which I ordered ( and then proceeded to demolish in about 2 minutes flat, utterly eviscerating the skin on the roof of my mouth).

I’ll dive into the “comedy” acts in a second.

But first…

Here’s my performance:

• Questions answered: 25 (at least)

• Questions answered correctly: One (managed to recognise Sienna Miller on one of those “whose this celebrity?” cutout card things)

• Darts score: 0 (in fairness, I had had a few G&Ts at this point)

Anywhooooo…

The part of the quiz I want to talk about was the “comedy” section.

To get you up to speed… here’s how it worked:

Every team submits their “chief comedian” to represent them, give the crowd some shits and giggles, and (hopefully) bring home a whopping 50 points bonus for their team (a high stakes affair indeed).

And we’ve got two competitors (there were more — ignore them for the purpose of this email).

First up is…

Nervous Nessa.

She fucking REEKS.

Not of kebabs.

But of neediness.

You can literally SMELL how much she’s desperate for the crowd’s approval.

And, as soon as the first word leaves her mouth I can tell, with absolute certainty, that this is going to be like watching that dude who blocked up the Suez Canal with a fucking container ship back in 2021 — a proverbial shipwreck, in slow motion.

Sure enough… she absolutely BOMBS.

It’s one of those moments where you can actually feel your skin crawling because of how awkward you feel for that person.

By the time she got to the last joke, I’d honestly stopped paying attention — it was something about Mick Jagger, a hotel, and some weird Elephant toy. Idk. I simply couldn’t face it anymore.

We’ll get onto WHY she bombed in a second (plus, how it relates to your brand, your content, and, most importantly, your bank account).

But before that…

Our next competitor is about to take the stage:

The ground starts to tremble.

Glasses start to clink together as the tables they sit atop creak at the seams.

A low shadow washes over the room.

As, in wades…

Gigantic Gareth.

The man. The myth. The legend.

An absolute titan of comedy.

This man quite literally sweats eau de la “I don’t give a fuck”.

Somewhere in his mid-50s. And not only is he dressed head-to-toe in Superdry attire (which is wife definitely didn’t pick out for him).

But…

He hasn’t even got a fucking joke to tell.

Instead?

He whips out a deck of cards (which I can only assume he carries round in his back pocket for opportune moments such as this) and begins to perform what can only be described as one of the most tragic magic tricks I’ve ever seen.

But that doesn’t matter.

Because he’s just got this “vibe” that screams “I honestly couldn’t give a fuck whether you find this funny or not, I’m here for my Friday night fun, and you’re coming along for the ride”.

Result?

Crowd in absolute HYSTERICS.

And now here comes the analogy:

Why did Gareth get such a roaring applause (and romp home with the 50 bonus points for his team), while Nessa was left with a silence only topped by the Anne Frank household in World War 2?

Because Gareth didn’t need approval.

He was fine whether people liked his “joke” or not.

He had, what people in the online bizness space refer to as an “abundance mindset”.

And if I could give you ONE tip about how to improve not only your business, but your life as a whole, it is to start cultivating an abundance mindset as your number one priority in the entire world.

Because, picture this:

You’ve just read a post by a Creator or business owner who, in an ideal world, you would LOVE to work with.

And now you’re furiously hammering away at your keyboard in the comments section, telling them how amazing they are, how much you want to be like them one day.

Well, while that all seems fine and dandy on the surface…

Here’s what’s going to happen in their brain:

They’ll get a nice “warm” feeling (we all have an ego, and we all love being told how great we are)

They’ll send you a nice reply (99.9% of people on social media are GOOD people in my experience, despite what most would have you believe).

But…

They will immediately disqualify you from working with them.

Why?

Because you have shown you are not operating on the same “level” as them (either psychologically, or in your business).

You’ve positioned yourself beneath them.

And now they see you as a friend, sure. But that’s all — a friend. No chance in hell they’re ever considering working with you (at least for several months until you’ve upped your game).

And this doesn’t just apply to commenting on people’s posts.

It applies to ALL aspects of your business.

Sales calls — you go in “needing” to sign a client, I can guarantee you are not going to sign said client (Aaron Will, who runs a $50k/mo personal brand has emailed about this in the past).

Emails — you go in “needing” to make a sale, I can guarantee you are not going to make a sale (Zarak, a $220k/month copywriter, has emailed extensively about this in the past).

Neediness. Kills. Businesses.

And the sooner you can start making it clear who your content and offers are not for (rather than accepting anyone and their nan who shows the slightest bit of interest in working with you), the sooner you will start attracting the people you ACTUALLY want to work with (and who will help grow your business in the long term).

I know this sounds counterintuitive — believe me.

But once you’ve spent a LOT of time studying and observing human psychology (as I have), you begin to realise that, like it or not, this is how humans operate.

And, just to point out — I’m not saying you’re going to be able to “flip a switch” and instantly become Mr (or Mrs, for the 1% of women who read my emails, lol) Abundance Mindset.

I’m just reminding you to be INCREDIBLY conscious of what you’re signalling when you pitch your offers, leave comments on people’s posts, or write your own content.

We are all playing a status game, after all.

And I want you to win.

Talk soon,

Harry

PS. I’m “speccing out” my next product — my “Email Masterclass” course.

I want to help you write BANGING emails (just like this one, hopefully…) so you can start landing clients and selling your own products to a list of people who have specifically elected to let you into their inbox each morning.

But, to do that, I need to know EXACTLY what you’re struggling with when it comes to your email game.

So…

Please take 30 seconds to fill out this quick survey and tell me what you find hardest about writing emails (the more info you give me, the better I can help you!)