The 3 things I kept

_{Day 89/100}

Hey—It's Tim.

This time last year I once moved across the world with 3 bags.

York, UK → Vancouver, Canada. 4,500 miles. Eight hours time difference.

Before I left, I sold everything I owned. EVERYTHING.
My car. Chairs. PC. Even my favourite coffee mug.

My life packed into three suitcases:
• Clothes.
• Coffee gear.
• One pair of skis.

People hear that and think I'm either brave or insane. I’m neither.

I’m just strategic.

Hot take: your content strategy needs a luggage limit.

Moving taught me one big marketing lesson:

Constraint breeds clarity.

At 35,000 feet, over the middle of the Atlantic, I wrote content strategy notes on my tablet. The smaller the screen, the bigger the ideas got. No distractions, no filler, no fluff. Every pixel counted.

It's funny—marketers love to add more. More channels. More formats. More "stuff."

But when you have a baggage allowance, you get ruthless. You pick only what truly matters.

I used to have this huge computer. 3 Screens. Big desk.

Now I have a laptop, and a tablet. I don’t even have a phone.
And I’ve gotten more done in the last 9 months than I did in the 3 years before that.

Baggage? I only carry emotional and strategic.

Think of it this way:

• You can't pack every idea into every article.

• Not every platform deserves your attention.

• Sometimes, what you leave behind matters more than what you take.

Try it. Imagine you've got two bags for your marketing.
What makes the cut?

Write your founder story.

No prompt. Just pressure.
Blank page. Blinking cursor.

Good.

Now tell me:

→ What pushed you to start your own thing?
→ What do your believe is fundamentally wrong with the industry you work in?
→ What keeps you going? Or better still, what stops you from giving up?

Your founder story isn't a pitch deck.
It's a suitcase. And you’re the one deciding what to unpack.

So…

Start with a decision.
End with a scar.
Say the quiet parts out loud.

You don’t need it to be perfect. You just need it to be yours.

Today is day 89/100.

Crazy, right? Ten days left.
Feels like yesterday I promised I'd write for 100 straight days. And here we are.

Got something you want covered in these final days? Hit reply. I'm all ears.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Wrote My Origin Story at Gate 27" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

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

P.S. Penfriend was built on a plane, sketched in a notebook, and written with the same clarity this email was.

If your content strategy feels heavy, let us help you pack lighter.

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.