Let Your Mess Be Your Message 🤕

Author

Damon Brown
October 01, 2025

In partnership with

This edition is also brought to you by Shortform. Learn more at the bottom 👇🏾

Hi reader,

My favorite album this year is Clipse’s “Let Got Sort Them Out”

And the best song on the album is “The Birds Don’t Sing”

And the best line from the song is from one of the two rapping brothers, Malice:

Boy, you owe the world

Let your mess be your message

Think about your favorite mentor, the one you look up to

What are the biggest lessons you learn from them?

Is it hearing about their triumphs, wins, and trophies?

Or seeing the vulnerability in their eyes when they talk their near misses and failures?

The lessons are in the crashes, not the victories 💥

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I recently went through some tough stuff

And any of us parents, leaders, or mentors has to make a choice.

Do I solder on the mask tighter, running through this moment like I’m Teflon?

Or do I share that things are heavy on my heart to those that look up to me?

It’s a trick question

Because the answer isn’t binary

You can show things are hard and show confidence that we can make it through

You can admit you’re having a bad day and that this, too, shall pass

You can be sad and be bad-ass.

You can share the blueprint.

And that’s way more valuable to others than pretending to be Superman

As that gives them permission to be human, too ❤️‍🩹

Ready to level up your freelance business to today’s dynamic environment? My friends at the Institute for Independent Journalists has lots of stuff happening right now!

The IIJ's popular Business of Freelancing course returns this fall, taught by IIJ founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis and investigative journalist Lisa Armstrong. This eight-week live, online course combines real-world strategy with personalized guidance, covering topics such as rate setting, finding new clients, and long-term planning. Participants receive feedback between sessions and a toolkit of resources to support their business goals. Registration is open now at https://theiij.com/biz25.

You can also catch IIJ’s 2025-26 webinar series. From September to February, the Institute for Independent Journalists holds FREE monthly webinars to foster connections between freelancers and editors and unpack thorny subjects. Webinar topics include reporting on your own community or identity, pitching op-eds and national outlets, and finding journalism-adjacent work. Registration is free but space is limited.

Share the mess 🫟

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🙋🏾 I’m Damon! (http://www.damonbrown.net) I help side hustlers, solopreneurs & others like yourself bloom. As a bestselling author, 2x startup founder & 4x TEDTalker, I co-founded the popular connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year while being a stay at home dad with my infant son.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏿 Today, my boutique coaching business Bring Your Worth supports hundreds through one-on-one virtual and in-person support, as well as behind-the-scenes services for TED, HEROIC, and other impactful organizations. You can catch this free weekly newsletter as well as the 18,000-subscriber strong television show BringYourWorth.tv.

🚀 Think coaching could help you get to the next level? Reach out and let’s chat.

📚 You can also grab my 27th book, The Complete Bring Your Worth Collection, everywhere books are read, heard, and sold.

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