SFWUnlocked

Problems aren't obstacles. They're just solutions you haven't figured out yet. No cards? Build something better. Compliance nightmare? Build the system that knows the template. Same principle. Different problem. If you're in Austin — DM me. Let's find a bar. links.pointssouth.agency

He signed on for an AI systems diagnostic before we hit baggage claim. SXSW hasn't even started yet.

Flight BOS -> AUS. Sat next to an insurance exec at the gate. 30 minutes later we're deep in compliance documentation hell — 17 states, 17 versions of the same doc, all written by hand. I asked him one question. "What if the system already knew the template?"

Didn't write a line of code from scratch. Vibed the entire build with Claude — design, copy, DNS walkthrough, Netlify deploy. ~1 hour. Custom subdomain. HTTPS. Live. Fastest junior dev I've ever had. Doesn't complain about scope creep either.

Two lanes. One scan. → Points South — agency transformation + AI systems → SFW:Unlocked — the framework that cuts through the BS People self-select. No pitch. No confusion. That's the whole UX.

Forgot my business cards for SXSW. Built a better one at 30,000 feet with Claude. One flight. One AI co-pilot. Zero stress. links.pointssouth.agency 🧵

@sciencegirl burning mix tape CDs on Napster connected to the worlds most insecure peer-to-peer network.

People who actually experienced the 1990s: What is something you miss from that decade that just isn't the same today

👀More on this soon. If you're an agency owner tired of losing pitches you should have won — follow along. That's exactly who this is for.

🏗️I've been building a system that compresses that research into a decision-grade dossier. 👉Not a summary. Not a Google search. 🔥A full prospect intelligence brief with an SFW layer baked in — not just what's happening, but what to DO about it before you walk in the room. Calling it SFWRecon.

✅That intel used to take 15-20 hours of senior time to compile. ➡️Digging through LinkedIn. Reading earnings calls. Reverse-engineering job postings for org signals. Connecting dots across 12 browser tabs. 🤷‍♂️Most agencies skip it because they can't afford the hours. So they pitch blind. And they lose.

👉The agencies that win pitches consistently aren't smarter. They're better prepared. 👉They walk in knowing: → Who actually makes the decision (and who just thinks they do) → What's keeping the CMO up at night → Where the org is under pressure that their website will never tell you → The narrative gap between how they position themselves and what the market actually sees

🤷‍♂️Most agencies pitch blind. Browse the website. Skim the socials. Build a proposal that could apply to anybody. Then wonder why the cheaper agency won. There's a reason. And it's not price. 🧵

❤️Love letter to every agency founder still pulling their own weekly reports: ❌Please stop. You are too expensive for this. I say this with love, but also with math. $66/hour is what your senior strategist actually costs loaded. What are you? I'll wait.

That case study sitting in a folder somewhere? Feed it to the right system. Output: → LinkedIn carousel → 5 standalone posts → Newsletter feature → Sales deck talking points → Client-facing one-pager 🔥One win. Milked properly. Your team stops starting from scratch every single time. That's not AI hype. That's just not being wasteful.

👉The SFW on conferences: You're not there for content. You can get content from a podcast. You're there for density. The right people, compressed into 3 days, with lowered defenses and open calendars. Work that. Everything else is tourism. 🔥DM me if you want to talk shop. Calendar's open.

👀The math on panels: 45 minutes listening to someone talk AT you. vs. 45 minutes talking WITH someone who has the exact problem you solve. 🔥SFW: One of those compounds. The other gives you a branded lanyard.

Quick gut check for agency owners: Does one client consume 40% of your team's emotional energy for 15% of revenue? Does your best person dread a specific account? Have you said 'it'll get better after this quarter' more than twice? If yes: you don't have a client problem. You have a boundaries problem. Full audit framework in last week's post. sfwunlocked.substack.com/p/lifes-too-sh…

Truth blast of the day: If your clients treat you like a vendor... you trained them to. If scope creeps every month... your SOW allowed it. If they call at midnight... you answered at midnight. The disturbing truth is that toxic relationships are usually a two-player game.

First: I skip most of the official programming. Not because I'm too cool for it. 🔥Because the real conversations aren't happening in the session rooms. 👉They're happening in the hallways before it starts. At the taco spot at midnight. In the lobby bar where someone just had a revelation and needs to tell someone.

The best conference ROI I've ever gotten had nothing to do with a badge, a panel, or a keynote. It happened in a hotel lobby at 11pm over bad wine and a napkin covered in notes. Here's how I actually work a conference. 🧵