#87: How to Turn Content Into Clients (By Building in Public)

Preston Sharpston (00:00.45)
I won't lie to people and say it's super exciting and there's no fear because there can be. Just hearing stories of other people who have gone on their own can help others maybe take the leap for themselves. I have to have strategy behind what I'm posting and putting out there in a way that eventually brings me business and clients. Even if sometimes it feels, you know, maybe like nobody's out there listening.

Rhona Pierce (00:19.116)
Yeah, I can feel like nobody's listening, there's always someone who is.

Preston Sharpston (00:24.042)
really helped their personal recruiting process. I was just so humbled that they found my advice to be helpful. That turns into coaching clients or me working with your team. Would love that. Maybe that's kind of weird advice, but...

Rhona Pierce (00:35.47)
A lot of people talk about leaving corporate someday. Preston Sharpton actually did it, walking away from a decade long HR leadership career to build a coaching business from scratch. But he's not waiting until he's figured it out to share the journey. He's documenting the wins, the flops, and everything in between in real time. And that's what we're talking about today. What does it actually look like to build in public? Preston, welcome to Workfluencer.

Preston Sharpston (01:02.606)
Thanks for having me.

Rhona Pierce (01:04.578)
So for folks who haven't met you yet, what's the Preston Sharpton story in 30 seconds?

Preston Sharpston (01:12.03)
I would say the Preston Sharpton story is I always start off by talking about my career, of course. And I like to say that I didn't discover HR or fall into it by accident like so many of us do. I chose this on purpose for some reason. And 10 years later, here I am. In that 10 years, I've been recruiter, head of talent four times, led people functions, done all the things. Academically, I've got the degrees, working on a doctoral program as of this recording. So

Not sleeping a lot lately. And I just love all things HR and talent. I think it's a really interesting field. just love the people that work in it.

Rhona Pierce (01:50.294)
It's so, it's always interesting to me, people who didn't fall into it. I was pushed into it. And like many people, it's like, it wasn't the original plan, but it's always interesting to me to find folks who were like, yes, this is what I want to do. And I think it brings so much passion and like a different side of things. So I'm excited to talk to you more about that today. So can you take us back?

Preston Sharpston (02:12.856)
Yeah.

Rhona Pierce (02:15.598)
to like how you got started with creating content. Like what was your original intent behind it?

Preston Sharpston (02:22.988)
Yeah, talk about a throwback. Gosh, I mean, I'd always posted on LinkedIn, you know, just as a recruiting HR professional, you know, it's what you do, you post on LinkedIn, but I didn't really have a theme around that. would just share some things I find interesting for a number of years. And then I eventually decided that I wanted to just give advice to job seekers. You know, I think this was probably circa 2021 was when I really first started posting things. I had a couple of things I put out there that, you know,

The typical one, maybe five people see it, one person likes it. Yeah. And then I had a really cool experience with a hiring manager where we had a candidate that was expecting probably 20 or $30,000 below what we offered them. And we offered them the job. They were just so over the moon excited. And so I shared it on LinkedIn because it was a good feel good moment. Yeah. And for me, it just took off. You know, I think it had almost 4000 interactions, know, hundreds of shares. It blew up in a way I didn't expect it to.

And so many of the comments were just talking about, you I wish we saw more of this, you know, we never hear the good things from HR people. It's always don't do this, don't do that. And that really stuck with me. So since then, I've tried to make my platform around kind of educating and helping TA and HR professionals.

Rhona Pierce (03:38.81)
Hey, have you subscribed? Let's fix that. It's the easiest way to support this show. I love that. And that's such it's the best feeling when a candidate gets more than what they were even expecting. It's just it's a feeling that unless you've been there, you can't really explain it. And I agree with the people that were saying that in your comments. That's like, we really don't hear about the good things from HR people. So I'm glad that

you've made your platform around like, yeah, we do a lot of great stuff. Yeah, we see a lot of problems and stuff, but that's not the majority of what we do.

Preston Sharpston (04:18.327)
Exactly.

Rhona Pierce (04:19.698)
And you've recently left corporate to go all in with guideline talent. Why was content central to that decision? Like not just as a marketing tactic, but like core to how you're building this.

Preston Sharpston (04:34.222)
Yeah, I would say, you for me, my focus is really enabling TA and HR professionals. So I do that through leadership coaching, one-on-one, group development, anything related to training and enablement. And for me, first of all, all of us live on LinkedIn. So it was kind of a natural place to be. But I'm a very firm believer in what I have seen and people I've worked with, including my own personal coach, and what they put out into the world as far as content. So sharing that knowledge.

And I think there are just so many unique perspectives in our field because all of us come from different backgrounds, right? So, you know, putting it out there can really give people a light into how you work and what you know and how you approach things. And for me, it's pretty central to my, you know, my business development strategy, really just getting to meet new people is just talking about what I think, you know, talking about what I see in my impression and throwing my two cents into it, even if sometimes it feels, you know, maybe like nobody's out there listening, at least putting my opinion to the world.

Rhona Pierce (05:34.636)
Yeah, I can feel like nobody's listening, but there's always someone who is. So what type of content do you typically create?

Preston Sharpston (05:45.304)
So I have found success in two primary avenues. The first is memes. But I always tie the memes back to an educational content. So for example, I may post something about, you those hiring managers. And I tie it back into a lesson of one way I've worked with hiring managers that were difficult, for example. And the other piece that I'm experimenting with are infographics. So giving people kind of like a tool they can take away from LinkedIn. Maybe they save it. Maybe they make a print out of that tool, that diagram.

and hopefully it helps them to be able to do some type of specific task. For example, today I think I shared a post about how do you establish confidence with your leadership team and how do you really build credibility? So ways to just leave LinkedIn having learned something that you can use immediately.

Rhona Pierce (06:32.416)
And if you haven't seen any of Preston's infographics, you really need to go check out his LinkedIn profile, which I will link in the show notes. But your infographics, I have infographic jealousy. Let's just put it that way because I really, I can come up with a concept, but I can't execute it. I have someone amazing on my team who can for me, but I just wish I had like that infographic.

scales and yours are always so on point. I'm sure you see lots of saves and sends when you look at your analytics for infographics, right?

Preston Sharpston (07:08.802)
Yeah, no, thank you. I've experimented with AI creation and I haven't seen a notable difference in reception of either, but something about just taking the time to put together my own thing and has my branding and it's all pretty and I've obsessed over it for three days. I mean, it is more fulfilling to do that versus the AI content. But yeah, I appreciate the compliment.

Rhona Pierce (07:30.592)
Yeah. So how has your approach to content evolved now from when it was a side thing where you still had a nine to five to now where it's central to your business development and how you're building your business?

Preston Sharpston (07:46.636)
Yeah, you know, I think if you're looking at my profile as an observer, you may not see a substantial difference in the way I've approached it. However, on the inside of Preston, it is it's like night and day. You know, initially, my content was purely educational and it still is educational. But now, because I'm a business owner, I have to have strategy behind what I'm posting and putting out there in a way that eventually brings me business and clients. So.

I follow an approach of someone who I've worked with a lot. Her name is Sam Eaton. She runs Mindability Consulting. if you've not met Sam, Sam is amazing. Shout out Sam. Yes. But I've always resonated with her content because she educates so well. It's always about something really specific and actionable. It's not very kind of generic. And at the end, she always ties it back to how she can help. And I just love the way she does that. It's just so seamless.

So I've tried to take a similar approach to my content, which I'm starting to put out now of how can I educate and give something to people that they can use immediately? And how can I tie that back into how I can help or even just, you know, spread more awareness, even if we're not working with me to spread it amongst more people. So I think it'll probably take shape more in the future, but it's a work in progress.

Rhona Pierce (08:59.148)
Yeah, but that's so important to always like tie it back in some way without being like super salesy, but tie it back to how you can help. And I absolutely love Sam's content as well. I've been a fan for a long time because it's so, it's not like in your face sales, but it's like, I know if even if I'm not going to hire Sam for anything, I know.

Okay, if someone needs this, this is the person I would send them to type of thing. And that's kind of like what you want because even if people aren't your exact ideal client or your exact target audience, they might know someone who's like, I know this person who's getting into HR. Preston's a great coach for you type of thing. And that comes through the content because you're reminding them, okay, here's this how to do this.

all by the way, I also help you with this type of thing.

Preston Sharpston (09:58.03)
Absolutely, and I think that makes a big difference, especially the, I'm not salesy, anyone who knows me knows I am very introverted. I'm just in my office in my turtlenecks and not going outside. So to have that way of building content to help generate feeds and just get to know the people in the industry is invaluable.

Rhona Pierce (10:16.206)
content creation is the cheat sheet for introverts. I am an introvert as well. And yes, it's definitely the cheat sheet because even when you're out in public, as I go to conferences and stuff like that, there's something to like people already talking to you about something because they're talking to you about a poster or something like that.

Small talk is like my absolute biggest fear in the world. And you don't have that because there's like something to talk about. So yeah, for any introverts out there, content is really the cheat sheet.

Preston Sharpston (10:52.259)
percent.

Rhona Pierce (10:53.432)
So I saw a post where you mentioned that you were building in public. Like, what does that actually mean for you? Where are you committing to share? And where do you draw the line?

Preston Sharpston (11:05.646)
Yeah, for me, what I use that for is a few things. So first, I'm big about transparency. It's something I am... It's my core value and something I really built my platform on. And I did it for a few reasons. The first is because I think there's a lot of people out there who, having, again, worked with Sam Eaton and her group, I've met a lot of entrepreneurs who may do something totally different than me, but they don't really know what they're doing.

And I really don't think any of us fully really know what we're doing all the time, even if we've been doing it for years and years. So I think just hearing stories of other people who have gone on their own can help others maybe take the leap for themselves. It also holds me personally accountable, you know, to do certain things. So it kind of gives me that, that accountability coach and myself. And also, you know, I really want to shed light behind just the education, the content of, know, hey, I'm a person. So this is me kind of my personality.

a little bit of me outside of work. And I've always sort of struggled with that. I try to be very professional and sometimes it's hard for me to kind of break down the barriers and show more humanity. So I think that's a way for me to do that as well.

Rhona Pierce (12:17.046)
Yeah. Is there anything that you've already told yourself? And I know you're early in the journey, but something that you've said, I'm absolutely not sharing about this.

Preston Sharpston (12:28.0)
There's nothing specific yet. I think where I would draw the line is if it's something that would probably destroy my credibility. For example, if I said I had just an awful quarter, I signed no clients, nobody wants to work with me, kind of like that type of feeling. But at the same time, I think that could be maybe something valuable. Here's how I'm powering through a month where I've had little new clients of what I'm doing to try to develop business. So I think for me, I would just want to stay away from...

feeling too negative and just try to look at the positive. But I'm a glass half full kind of person, so I take that approach everywhere.

Rhona Pierce (13:05.62)
Okay, yeah, no, that makes sense. So walk me through like, okay, you're going to create content right now, like your strategy, how does that look for is this like one day a week? Is it every day? Like, okay, time to create content, go, what do you do? What are those steps?

Preston Sharpston (13:26.606)
Well, will throw an asterisk out there by saying I am still figuring that out and I will probably still be figuring it out a year from now. I spent a lot of time before I really started figuring out what kind of infographics I wanted to make, looking at what we call the LinkedIn creators. So people whose really profession is creating content on LinkedIn. I see what they do, what times they post, what they recommend. And I can probably do my own LinkedIn coaching course at some point because I've spent so much time looking at it.

But really when I sit down to create content, I try to set aside time on Sunday evening because I know what I have ahead of me in the week. I'll sit down at the moment I'm shooting for four days a week of content and I'll probably go to five days once I get more of a cadence. And I want to make sure I have a good mix of what's educational, what's a little bit promotional. Maybe I'm doing a podcast, a webinar or something like that. I want to kind of throw that out there. But what's going to give my network and my followers value?

And so I think about what kind of mediums I want to do. I'll create all the memes of what's going on in the world. I have a fun one coming out tomorrow. And then I'll create the infographics and things like that. One thing I have also learned is I will critique myself to death on how a post is written. And so I'm learning to let go of all the little things. And if the point's okay, and it's clear, and it's me, then that's good enough. So I do use all the tools as well for refinement. So it's...

Lengthier than it should be, probably.

Rhona Pierce (14:58.486)
No, I totally get it. that whole critiquing your post is really where I use AI the most because it's like, if it's up to me, it's never gonna be okay. And I'll just put it in, I use Stanley for my LinkedIn content and I'll be like, okay Stanley, is this good? Does it fit into my content pillars? Is it readable? Is it gonna work? What's your feedback? And it will tell me.

The thing with AI is that I've noticed is it wants to get done with the conversation. So AI will tell you like, yeah, that's good. It's good. It's good. And when AI says it's good and why I'm like, okay, it's great. Let's go. Because if it were up to me, I'll still be writing the post from that I posted yesterday.

Preston Sharpston (15:47.51)
I love that. And I've used so many AI tools. I've tried Claude, ChaiGPT. I haven't tried Stanley yet. I've tried D-Post, Magic Post, Postive. They all have Postive and they're authored up. All the tools are so good. They all have really good strengths and some of them have weaknesses. So picking one was also really hard for me as well.

Rhona Pierce (16:07.522)
Yes, which one are you using the most now?

Preston Sharpston (16:11.358)
Right now I am using postive AI. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly. I really like that you can create infographics within the software, which is a couple I put out most of my make manually, but I'm testing out the things. But I've heard good things about Stanley too, so maybe that one's something I'll try next.

Rhona Pierce (16:29.522)
I'm a super Stanley fan. And it's funny when I first, cause I think they give you like three days for free. I believe so. My link there gives you some days for free. And I tried it and I was like, but I was trying it to like write my stuff and I already know no one's writing anything for me. No one on my team. have an amazing copywriters on my team. They don't write my content for clients. Yes, but not for me. Not because there's anything, it's just like, that's just my

level of control and I'm not letting AI write for me. I'm like, I will write my things. So, but when I started using Stanley for all the other things that it's done there, like feedback and like content pillars and strategy and like telling you, I was like, okay, now Stanley is my absolute favorite as of right now. And it has been for pretty much since they launched. So yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Stanley. So

Preston Sharpston (17:23.982)
don't understand why.

Rhona Pierce (17:28.59)
How are you thinking about the connection between content and clients? Is there a specific path you're hoping that content creates, or are you still figuring that out?

Preston Sharpston (17:40.972)
Yeah, I am very much figuring that out. In a perfect world, I would love to be able to tell like a Monday through Friday story kind of around a theme. But I think the reality is a lot of folks who are not LinkedIn obsessed like some of us, you know, the people with lives, they are not on LinkedIn as often. So they may miss some of those pieces. So I don't tell it chronologically. You know, my hope is that if nothing else, they see content of mine. And even if they don't work with me, they find it valuable.

I actually had a very kind person share with me through a LinkedIn message the other day that they found something I shared to be really helpful that really helped their personal recruiting process. And I think they closed some roles very quickly after starting a new job. And I was just so humbled that they found my advice to be helpful. And it was just really kind to see that it's actually supporting folks. And if that turns into coaching clients or me working with your team, would love that. But if it's helping recruiters and HR folks just...

do their work better, more effectively, that's a win for me.

Rhona Pierce (18:42.232)
So you've talked a little about what's been working. That's so great that someone reached out. It's like everyone, always say, if you see a creator's content that you like or that helps you, let them know, because we hardly hear how it's like, what's happening on the other side. What's working right now for you? What's flopping? Kind of like early things you're wanting to experiment with.

Preston Sharpston (19:08.248)
Yeah, I would say what's working the most are the memes. And I think there's a lot of memes out there, of course, but I really try to gear mine towards the HR, TA community. And what's challenging about my content is I've shifted gears a bit, and a couple of times I'll probably pivot more before it's over with. But, you know, there's an audience of TA folks, there's an audience of HR folks. And our professions are different, but we have a lot of similarities in how we operate and how we do things.

and how we tie into the business. So a challenge for me has been figuring out how do I speak to people, even if not the same profession in one post, kind of keep them both in mind. And that's been kind of challenging because on some things my HR brain will want to write it and then my TA brain will want to write it. So I'm trying not to be totally irrelevant to one group for too long. And I'm just trying, I'm constantly trying to reiterate and reframe do these posts perform okay? What performs better versus others?

I'm starting to get some data, so stay tuned for what that looks like.

Rhona Pierce (20:09.806)
What are you using to gather your data?

Preston Sharpston (20:13.902)
Excel. So I use Google Sheets to track all of things manually. And then I will probably try Stanley after this from the sound of it, but I've used a couple of other tools. Authored Up is really good for data points. They have a lot of analytics which show you your best performing posting times, when to post on the platform, things like that. And then all the other ones are kind of gathering their metrics as well. So I try to aggregate through different platforms.

I think I finally got the posting times down, so now I need to figure out everything else that comes with it.

Rhona Pierce (20:47.458)
No, that's amazing. And it's amazing that you're like thinking of it in a data driven way, which I would definitely have expected from you just based on your content and everything. But like that's really is what gives you information because you can listen to everyone's advice and everyone can share what works for them. But like that's literally what works for them. Your best time to post might not be my best time to post, even though we have similar audiences. Right. It's just.

I don't know, it's just different for every person. Would you say that that's really what has been the hardest part, like navigating the whole TA and HR, has that been the hardest part for you about showing up consistently while you're still figuring things out?

Preston Sharpston (21:33.314)
I would say so. And I think a lot of folks who are going out to create content and even going out on their own probably face a similar issue. And that issue is I can provide a lot of different things to these people, especially the experiences I've had. But I also don't want to be kind of the catch-all consultant, right? So I want to have a niche. So figuring out exactly what that is and how it can really support those professionals has been a bit challenging. And I think the more I iterate, the more I try, the closer I get.

But it's a work in progress, you know, like all things, it's trial and error.

Rhona Pierce (22:05.646)
And that's really why I wanted to chat with you because it's like, it's so easy to bring in someone who's like building in public, who's already figured it out. They've been doing it for years. Of course it's easy to like build in public. And I say, quotes, build in public when you've already built something. But like talking to someone who's literally building it right now and bringing everyone along on the journey is really where you get these things like.

Okay, I'm trying to figure out how to speak to both TA and HR and what's the balance and who do I speak to more and do I speak to both of them at the same time or one time like that type of thing because I know this is the same thing that most people go through. I went through it. If you look back at my content, I have what I called my flailing period, which was I was just, I don't know what I was doing, but somehow it worked and somehow I'm here.

And people are gracious, but it was like literally like one day I'm speaking to this person, next month I'm speaking to these people until I found like, okay, this is my thing that I want to do. for you, like a year from now, what does success look like? Like for the business and for your content, do you have any plans to monetize your content creation at all?

Preston Sharpston (23:27.566)
Good questions. As far as business plan, I would love to say that I have a dream and I do have dreams, but I'm just trying to figure out where I fit into the world of TA and HR. I know there is a market for the development I offer because I personally would also have invested in myself had I known someone doing what I do ages back. For content,

I don't know. I would definitely love to be able to say that I posted consistently for every week for a full year, as I post a lot beforehand, but it's very ad hoc. So being able to hold myself accountable to a schedule. I have monetized my content a bit. I have a couple of sponsors I've worked with. I am very selective in my sponsorships. I'm trying to not reach out to every platform that could possibly sponsor me because I want to not...

I don't want to flood my followers with 50 billion sponsored things because he wants to see that. Yeah. But also because I want to know the systems I'm referring because I think my reputation is also on the line and I want the tools to be useful. So but if anyone is listening, they want to sponsorship. Really, what I look at is newsletter monthly that may eventually go weekly. And then also, if you have something that's really cool, I'll share it with my followers. And then in the near future.

And by near, mean within the next 10 years, I'll be doing live learning events, hopefully for HR and TA folks, maybe some cohorts and things. So happy to chat through that, not to shamelessly self promote myself on your podcast.

Rhona Pierce (25:04.456)
No, no, that is that sounds cool. And yeah, I've seen some of your sponsored posts. I think we're both ambassadors for one of the same brands that we won't mention just. But you can check it out in our content. But yes, being selective, I think is really important because there's so many tools. There's so many tools doing the exact same thing and not everyone's doing it right.

So shout out to those that are and I think it's important. Like for me, when my audience sees that I'm talking about a tool, they know one that I've tested it and two that I actually believe in it because it's like for every tool that you're seeing me post about, trust me, I did demos with five of their competitors and I was like, no, this is the one I'm choosing type of thing. it's like, you just, don't know. I just see it's like, would I tell my friends to buy something that

I think is crap. No. And my audience are my friends that trust me with that. So it's like you still have to you can't be that person. Also, I think we've all seen those influencers or content creators that just every post is a sponsored post. And it's like, are you QVC or are you a content creator?

Preston Sharpston (26:27.342)
Exactly. Yeah, I try to really, I try to keep a very non-sponsorship cadence. And I think that, you know, it's good to share the tools and not just, you know, for me to, you know, have a sponsorship partnership, but also just because I think that there's so many tools out there that people don't know about. Like I think maybe one of the ones that you were just talking about, you know, that's a really cool platform. So just being able to share that, but also not flooding everyone who follows me with, here's 15 of these things that do this.

I guess it also doesn't help them or the sponsors, so it's good to do in moderation.

Rhona Pierce (27:01.002)
Exactly. Okay, so for someone who's watching, you do all of this and thinking about leaving corporate and building in public themselves, what would you tell them?

Preston Sharpston (27:11.202)
Yeah, I should probably write a book on this. I think first and foremost, I would tell them, it's okay not to have it all figured out because I don't think any of us really all the way do. And for the longest time, I didn't want to do this because I thought, well, I'll do it when I get my master's I got my master's. I said, okay, well, I'll do it when I get my certification, when I got my certifications. And then I said, okay, I'll do it when I get my doctoral degree. I don't have that yet. But, you know, so I kept kind of pushing it off.

And then I realized, I've done a lot in my career. I know the knowledge, what's really stopping me from doing it. And it's kind of terrifying. I won't lie to people and say it's super exciting and there's no fear because there can be. But I think if you are smart about yourself financially, you do your homework and really think about where the need is that you could fill, I think that's really enough to get started. You'd eventually have to take a leap at some point, right?

Rhona Pierce (28:10.378)
Yeah, would you you touched on it a little? Would you mind sharing and you can say no. How you prepared yourself financially for this. And I'm not talking about specific figures, but like what were your thought process of like, this is what I have to do to prepare financially for being on my own.

Preston Sharpston (28:30.594)
Yeah, I followed a lot of the, I did really two things. So first I wanted to make sure personally I was financially able to do that. And then secondly, as a business, because of course you have to spend money to make money and spend money to spend money. So from personal side, I wanted to make sure I had a couple months of runway. I would give it, I think let's say six, eight months to say, okay, I can.

pay my bills, you know, I'm not going to be eating steak dinners every week. That's fine. But I can make my payments on my car and my rent and all that to be financially secure. And then also from a business standpoint, what tools am I going to need and what unexpected things are going to pop up and what development opportunities am I going to want to take? And even if I don't have all of that, I have at least some runway for maybe the first three or four months. And, if by the end of six months, nothing's happening, it's

dead in the water, nothing's going on. Maybe that's time to start to think about, you know, do I take on some part-time work or what that looks like? You know, and I would say it doesn't work the same for everyone. I am from a dual income household, so thought that there is transparency that that does help. So obviously, if you the person who does not have it as watching this, that may not be as reasonable for them. And I would also say that the company I work with was kind enough, or the company that I came from was kind enough to keep me on in a fractional capacity.

that think works out well for both of us. So if that's a lever you think you could pull, I definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Rhona Pierce (30:02.294)
Yeah, no, that's so cool. it's I think it's good for the transition. And thank you for your transparency, because yes, it's very important for people to understand when you come from a dual income household, there are some decisions you can make that someone who isn't who doesn't have a partner who can help financially or is the main breadwinner or whatever, like the decisions you make are different. So

I never want to be that person on the internet saying like, yes, go all in, leave you. Because it's like, no, our lives might be different. So yeah, well, thank you for sharing that. And if you've ever watched the show, you know there's always a segment towards the end. So today I thought we would just fill in the blanks. First word that comes to mind for you, are you ready?

Preston Sharpston (30:56.216)
Ready.

Rhona Pierce (30:57.226)
Alright, the biggest lie in recruiting is...

Preston Sharpston (31:03.104)
I mean, that had to be one word. Can I have 20 words?

Rhona Pierce (31:06.158)
We can have 20 words.

Preston Sharpston (31:08.494)
I would say the biggest line recruiting is coming from maybe some of those folks who want to sponsor us and that is that AI is going to fix everything. I think it might be making it worse in some aspects and better in others. So, I'll leave it at that.

Rhona Pierce (31:24.206)
The thing that will make me unfollow you immediately is...

Preston Sharpston (31:33.006)
I would say spamming me. Love to hear from people, love all the things, but if you send me the same pitch and different words over and over, I'm out of there.

Rhona Pierce (31:42.766)
Yes, yes. Interesting because right before this, I literally went in and unfollowed and removed connection from someone that's like, okay, this is way too much. The type of content you'll never create is...

Preston Sharpston (31:59.054)
Content that is controversial. will never intentionally try to divide. Contentionally.

Rhona Pierce (32:07.328)
It still happens, but not intentionally. Your most unpopular opinion about HR and TA is.

Preston Sharpston (32:17.934)
My most unpopular opinion is... I don't if I can say that. I'll say it. I think the reason why people don't like us is mostly our own fault as a profession.

Rhona Pierce (32:33.026)
Yes, strong agree. The career advice that you wish you had ignored is...

Preston Sharpston (32:41.806)
Bye.

I would say that you have to follow a linear path. I sort of have, so maybe that's kind of weird advice, but I've seen people who have had amazing careers that have anything but linear. So I would say just do what you feel is the right move and follow your instinct.

Rhona Pierce (32:59.661)
I love that.

Preston Sharpston (33:00.76)
I'm not very good at these one word answers.

Rhona Pierce (33:02.638)
No, it was never like one word. It was just like filling the blanks with whatever comes. No, these were these were really good. And I have one last one. What is one hill that you will die on?

Preston Sharpston (33:15.638)
one hill I will die on. I don't know if this is a hill that anyone besides maybe three of my coworkers will get, but I would say that Macalester's Deli has the best salad.

Rhona Pierce (33:29.39)
my God. We are fine. This is like, these are fighting words. No, I like my mother-in-law is a super Macalester's fan. She loves their iced tea for whatever reason. but I just, I don't see the, I don't see it, but yeah. I mean, that's a great hill to die on. I don't, I disagree. I think you're wrong.

Preston Sharpston (33:54.094)
Fair. It's the first tail I can come up with on short notice.

Rhona Pierce (33:58.318)
I really thought you were going to say something about Wada Burger, which by the way, is absolutely the healthiest burger, healthiest fast food burger out there. My husband's like, what do you mean? I think it just tastes healthy. It tastes healthy to me. I tell myself every time I have Wada Burger that it's the healthiest burger that I'm having.

Preston Sharpston (34:18.702)
That is the right mindset. I will say they are fresh never frozen.

Rhona Pierce (34:23.16)
That's why it's healthy. It's healthy. Well, I have enjoyed this conversation. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you think is important for listeners to know?

Preston Sharpston (34:36.012)
The only thing I think I would share is, you know, if you would like to get to know me, talk to me, want to work together, you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm the only Preston Sharps tonight found website is guideline town.com. And thanks so much for having me.

Rhona Pierce (34:50.09)
Amazing. And I will link all of that in the show notes. Thanks again for being on the show today. If you're enjoying the Workfluencer pod, share it with someone who's changing how we talk about work or who should be. And hey, if this episode gave you ideas or inspiration, leave us a five-star review. Reviews help other listeners find us. And honestly, it makes my day. This show is produced by Workfluencer Media. Visit workfluencermedia.com.

Preston Sharpston (34:56.174)
Thank you.

Rhona Pierce (35:18.712)
to learn how we help companies build video first content systems that attract, engage and retain qualified talent. That's WorkfluencerMedia.com. Thanks for listening and I'll chat with you next week.