'll admit something. When I first read the CoSell listing form, I thought the direction part was the boring bit. The resource is the exciting thing, surely. The rooftop in Miami. The twenty years of underwater footage. The 9,000 people on a waiting list for a product that never got built. Who cares why you're posting it?
Turns out, everyone reading it does.
Imagine two warehouses. Same size, same airport, same 18,000 square feet sitting empty. The first listing says: "Warehouse space available near a major cargo airport." The second says the same thing, then adds: "About a third of it is usually empty. I'd rather see it used for something interesting than just rented for storage."
The first will probably get storage enquiries. Sensible, fine, a bit beige. The second has told people there's room for imagination, and imagination is what shows up. Maybe a film crew. Maybe a bakery that needs a pop-up. Maybe someone who's been waiting years to open a climbing wall and never found a ceiling tall enough.
Same building. One sentence of difference.
Direction is simply why you're putting something on CoSell. It usually falls into a few shapes. Something is unused and you want it to earn its keep. Something is underused, working hard on weekdays and asleep at weekends. Something is growing and you want help taking it further. Or, my favourite, you're just curious. You've had it for years and you have a feeling somebody out there sees it differently.
None of these is more correct than another. What matters is saying which one it is, because proposers read direction as permission. It tells them what kind of idea you'd be happy to hear.
Look at a few real listings on the feed. "Open to ideas: recreation, agriculture, events, media, other?" on 300 acres of land. That question mark at the end is doing a lot. It says I've thought about this, and I'm still open. Or the bodybuilder offering advertising space on himself, who adds "temporary only, must be tasteful and aligned." That's direction too. Boundaries count.
The listings that struggle, from what I've seen, are the ones that describe the thing perfectly and then stop. Size, location, condition, all present. Why you're here, missing. The reader is left guessing, and people who have to guess tend to either move on or offer the most obvious thing.
You don't need anything clever. Try finishing one of these, honestly, in your own words:
"It's sitting there because..."
"I'd love to see it..."
"I'm open to..., but not..."
"I've never known what to do with it, so..."
That last one might be the most useful sentence on the whole site. Admitting you don't know is an invitation, and people seem to love being invited.
I used to think the interesting part of a listing was what someone had. I'm starting to think it's what they're hoping for.
What's the sentence you'd add to yours?