The Best Intro You Ever Read

_{Day 78/100}

Hey—It's Tim.

I deleted this 17 times.
Cursor blinking at me.
Mocking.

I want to write about writing great intros.
And I’ve had this realization that I have to write the best intro I’ve ever written.

No pressure.

Then I realized something.
The best intros don't announce themselves.
They kidnap you.
Drag you in.
And suddenly you're three paragraphs deep wondering how you got there.

Kind of like what just happened to you.

Three ways to grab someone by the eyeballs:

1. Make it personal, make it real

Don't start with theory.
Start with a scene.
A moment.
Something happening right now.

"The publisher deleted my article three hours before it went live. I still got paid $2,000."

That's an intro. Not "Today I'll discuss the importance of contracts in freelance writing."

2. Create a gap, then fill it

Tell them what they're missing. Create tension. Make them itch.

"Most people write intros that put readers to sleep. Here's what they're missing."

Humans are wired to close loops. Open one, watch them stick around.

3. Make one bold claim (then back it up)

"A good introduction will sell 10x more than good SEO."

See what I did there? You're either nodding in agreement or dying to prove me wrong. Either way, you're reading the next line.

The secret isn't cleverness. It's connection. Make them feel seen, challenged, or curious in the first 30 words.

Your first intro is never your best intro.

Don't ease into it. Jump.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "All me to introduce myself" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. I have some time today. The dev team are either on holiday or asleep and I'm bored. Send me questions about content, product design, career choices in marketing. I'm open for anything.

Let's do another AMA and I'll answer them all in a future Sunday email. It's stories after all.

Hit reply. Ask me anything. The weirder the better.

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