Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Go offline to beat the pile
Go in person
When traditional online applications and outreach aren't working, the way out is offline. Go to a conference or industry event and drop off an application, proof of work, and resume in person. It may feel weird, but it stands out from the normal LinkedIn application pile.
Retreats and masterminds
Another route is saving up for a ticket to a retreat or mastermind where a few of the attendees or speakers are people worth spending time with. Doing things the hard way stands out from the traffic jam of people doing them the easy way.
Where AI fits
None of this is anti-AI. Where utility is the goal, such as uncovering a piece of information, brainstorming, pressure testing, and thinking, AI fits. Where personal connection matters and showing real humanness is an edge, doing it by hand is clear proof of taking the long way, and it avoids the traffic jam.
Why is asking in person so much more effective?
Psychologists Mahdi Roghanizad and Vanessa Bohns ran experiments published in 2017 comparing requests made face to face with requests made by email. They found that in-person requests were about 34 times more likely to succeed. People find it much harder to say no to someone standing in front of them. Email senders also tend to underestimate how often strangers will say yes in person.
Where does the word mastermind come from?
Author Napoleon Hill popularized the term in his 1937 book Think and Grow Rich. He described a mastermind as the coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people working toward a shared goal. Hill said he drew the idea from interviews with industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie. Modern masterminds are usually paid groups of peers who meet regularly or at a retreat.