Thinking about it, I’ve always lived permissionlessly.

I’ve been posting on YouTube since I was 11. Then in high school, I made $40,000 selling Grateful Dead stickers I permissionlessly posted online. When I couldn’t get a job as a reporter, I started this newsletter.

These are permissionless projects: projects you need no one’s permission to do. You can do them and make money and put your career on the fast track. Without even realizing it, I’ve surrounded myself with permissionless players.

Literally on the first day of college, I met my permissionless pal Shane Levine. Throughout college we were working on all sorts of businesses. Now he runs a design agency and permissionlessly posts viral app designs.

Another designer friend Jordan Mix permissionlessly designed shoes for an NBA player and then got to hang out with him for 4 hours. Completely separately, he posted a different shoe design on Twitter and Greg Isenberg DMed him and now Jordan works for him.

This is the internet. You don’t need permission to market your business.

8 Non-Obvious Permissionless Marketing Tactics:

Start a solo podcast.

You don’t need guests for a successful podcast.

David Senra grew Founders Podcast to one of the biggest tech podcasts—and it’s literally just him talking into a mic. Now he’s hosting sold-out shows, investing in businesses, and hanging with billionaires.

That’s Permissionless Podcasting baby! Pick a topic, host a solo podcast, and start posting! No permission needed.

Self-publish a book

You don’t need permission to publish a book anymore.

No fancy-shmancy-ivy-league-gender-studies-majors publishers telling you yes or no to your book. All you need is a word document and Amazon.

And as author Eric Jorgenson says, "A book does not have to make money to make you money." Yes it’s great to get as many sales as possible. But regardless of book sales, a book is a great tool to market your business.

Make company apparel.

You don’t need to be a big company to make company apparel.

You can literally just be a dude with a newsletter.

Here I am at Andreessen Horowitz (the most prestigious VC firm in Silicon Valley) wearing my Memelord shirt! That’s free permissionless marketing. All I did was upload a text file to Redbubble and buy myself a shirt.

I also made myself a Memelords jersey. Coolest company apparel ever.

Make memes.

Speaking of memes, every meme is a mini permissionless project.

You don’t need to ask for anyone’s permission to make a meme. You take a funny image or video and remix it. No permission needed.

That’s why memes are magical for marketing. You can make viral million-dollar memes fast, free, and permissionlessly. That’s leverage at its finest.

If you want to learn how to use memes to sell products, check out my course (it’ll be the best $69 of your life).

Send Cold DMs.

You don’t need permission to send cold DMs.

Cold DMs changed my life. They got me into startups, helped me make some of my best friends, and got me in rooms way above my pay grade.

• Want to get a job working for your heroes? Send cold DMs.

• Want to get more newsletter subscribers? Send cold DMs.

• Want to get laid? You know the answer. 😂

Live permissionlessly, send cold DMs. (Here’s my tips)

Launch on Product Hunt.

Got a new product you’re working on?

Product Hunt is the launchpad for the startup community.

The best part: it’s completely permissionless and free to launch on Product Hunt. You sign up to launch, fill out your product’s info, and thousands of people will see it and potentially sign up.

I’ve launched on Product Hunt 2x, now I run the Product Hunt Twitter helping makers get attention on their products. If you’re a founder or maker, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be launching there.

Make crazy app designs.

Got crazy ideas for apps?

There’s been a few designers killing it online with these crazy app designs—leading to growing their following and getting new design clients. I’ve even seen creators hire designers to do this to grow their accounts.

My dude Shane went hella viral with this one:

Throw parties.

Mom is out, it’s time to party!

Remember this is the motherfucking internet, not high school.

Last February, I hosted 100+ people for an event called Startups, VC, and Ping Pong. There wasn’t some Mr. King of VC who gave me permission, I just called a bar, set it up, then invited Twitter to drink and play ping pong.

This is what I’m calling Party Marketing for Startups. You host events and you end up building a network and finding customers (like I did).

Stop waiting, go build (and party) permissionlessly.

Cyberpunk Hyperlinks:

🤖 I made a collage of old tech magazines

🔥 Software should be beautiful. Preach.

😂 Check out this retirement home for old tech companies.

📘 Every month, Behance founder Scott Belsky publishes his ideas about the future of tech. Every month, I’m blown away.

😍 Men only want 1 thing.

Memes of the Week:

Grow your socials in 30 minutes/week

Here’s 3 ways I can help:

😂 Meme Subscription: I’ll send you 10 custom niche-specific memes every Monday PLUS send you trending meme templates during the week.

👻 Ghostwriting: I ghostwrite on Twitter/LinkedIn for startup founders.

🎤 Man-on-the-Street-as-a-Service: My partner and I will film man-on-the-street interviews and post them to your brand accounts.

Turn your socials on auto-pilot and let a marketing nerd take the wheel.

Reply to this email or send me a DM if you’re interested.

Thanks for reading, nerds.

Let’s blow up the internet together.

Jason Levin