The dangers of the friend zone: how to avoid it in love and business

To pitch or not to pitch?

This morning, I got on a 30-minute call with a tech founder.

But it left me with a bad taste in my mouth because of a mistake I made. So today, I’d like to share that mistake with you, so you can avoid it in your business and love life.

Your high school crush

Maybe you remember having a crush on someone in high school.

When I was in school, I had this one friend who was always head over heels for a new girl. But instead of telling her, he’d befriend her, wait about three months, and finally reveal his big secret.

After the reveal, he usually had no girlfriend, and no friend… because girls found it creepy.

Why?

It just feels icky. When you realize someone had secret motives for being your friend, you start to question everything.

Oh, was he just laughing at my jokes because he wants to sleep with me?

You see, the same thing happens in business.

Back to the Tech Founder

When I got on the call today, there was no agenda.

But on the call, I became VERY impressed with his new product.

So impressed, that by the end of 30 minutes, I wanted to leverage my small but growing Twitter account to partner with him. The only problem is, I mentioned this at the END of the call.

Had I started the call with a pitch, no big deal. Business is business.

But to mention it after 30 minutes of chatting came off as sleazy, almost as if I had it up my sleeve the whole time. I immediately realized my mistake and felt embarrassed.

Now, I’ve decided on a new principle:

Pitch upfront, or don’t pitch at all

If you like someone, tell them. Don’t befriend them and scheme for a few months, like my buddy from high school.

Similarly, if you have a business proposal, be direct. If you’re just there to network, don’t pitch.

Pitch upfront, or don’t pitch at all.

P.S. I finally hit 1000 Twitter followers. If you wanna join the party, come by:

https://twitter.com/CopyWriteConnor

Thank you for reading!