The cold email that landed me my first column

I stumbled across an email I sent when I was twenty-three and I was weirdly impressed by it.

I was looking through an old Gmail account the other week, trying to locate something very boring like a lost login code, through a graveyard of decade-old emails. Nestled amongst the Zara order confirmations, various rejection letters and emoji-filled emails from a friend on her delayed gap year, I was surprised and strangely emotional at what I found lurking in a folder sent on 3rd January 2013 at 10:11am.

An email sent from 23-year-old me (yep, ten whole years ago) that landed me my first online column. The email is pretty good; it’s punchy and confident. It reminded me of that young energetic hustle, that naivety slash bravery that enables you to keep going, like a dog chasing a stick over and over again. Rejections began to just bounce off me, and I would go again.

This specific email (that I have shared with you in full below) led to my first ‘yes’, my first major small win, the first main stepping stone towards the career of my dreams. Before I share, let me paint you a picture of why and when I sent it.