Not everybody wants to be looked at, but everybody wants to be seen—and that fear shows up fast online, especially when friends and family might judge us.

In this episode we also discover that we fall into a new category: “all bite, no bark”—doing real work without talking about it—and why success often needs both strong work and smart marketing.

00:00 Not Looked At, But Seen: The Quote That Sets the Tone
00:42 Looking vs Seeing: Why Visibility Feels So Scary Online
02:15 Art History Lens: The Active Work of ‘Seeing’
03:40 Amanda Palmer & The Art of Asking (Plus How We Save Quotes)
04:59 All Bite, No Bark: Doing the Work Without Talking About It
08:03 Bark vs Bite in the Real World: Billionaires, Brands, and Balance
11:34 Useful Not Famous: Why Fame-First Usually Fails
12:59 The Iron Law of Stardom: The 3-Year Fame Window
15:43 Turn Fame Into a Business: What Actually Sells
18:09 Proof in the Age of AI: Real Humans, Real Trust, Better Output
22:07 AI as a 10x Team: Scaling Creative Output Without Hiring
23:23 Beyond “AI Slop”: Taste, Intentionality, and the Dead Internet Problem
25:09 Proof You’re Real: Why Authentic Local Presence Matters More Now
27:02 Human Slop & Trend Chasing: Why Copycat Content Builds Nothing
27:54 The Influencer Money Myth: Views, Burnout, and the Hamster Wheel
30:19 Own Your Audience: Escaping Algorithm Dependence with an Ecosystem
33:22 All Bark vs All Bite: Start, Keep Going, and Manage Your Time
37:39 No Magic Pills: Temporary Fixes, Root Causes, and Getting to Work
39:41 Resulting & “Thinking in Bets”: Luck, Variables, and Long-Term Compounding
43:10 Closing + How to Support the Show

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Useful Not Famous is the podcast for people who care more about making money than getting likes and subscribers.

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