Garrett Mickley

Blog

  • Problem Solving with 1:3:1
  • Skill Building
  • Ninja Negotiation Tactics
  • How to Get a Promotion
  • Disconnected Day

    • Darren Hardy Book Notes

    Darren Hardy Course Notes

    What Makes Life Worthwhile

    1. Learn
    2. Try
    3. Stay
    4. Care

    How to be Authentic

    1. Owning your shiitake.
    2. Being a professional.
    3. Stop the whining, moaning, and groaning.
    4. Stop taking on other people’s monkeys.
    5. Stop tolerating BS.
    6. Speak frankly.
    7. Speak deeply.
    8. Think for yourself.
    9. Stop giving a rip about what others think.

    DON’T fake it till you make it. Be real. Be transparent. Be authentic. Be yourself.

    You get and continue receiving what you tolerate in life.

    – Darren Hardy

    10 X-Factors of the Super-Successful

    1. Relentless drive.
    2. Supersize your thinking.
    3. Massive leverage.
    4. Focus. Control your attention.
    5. Unrelenting resiliency in the face of failure.
    6. Constant pursuit of better
    7. Steadfast Consistency
    8. “Power tribe.” Seek out high achieving peers.
    9. Consummate learners.
    10. Unshakable resolve.

    3 Advantages for Success

    1. Access to counsel.
    2. Connections.
    3. Strategies.

    Punching Crisis in the Mouth

    Everyone is pessimistic about where the economy and geopolitics are headed Q4 2022 and beyond.

    Probably recession in 2023, at the very least stagflation.

    “Black Swan” events happen and the future is unknowable for all of us.

    This is not new — history has always been this way.

    It is okay not to know. Not knowing is normal.

    Volatility is normal. It’s inevitable.

    Be amused by what you read. Not alarmed.

    “Your destiny is determined not by the winds of change, or the currents of turmoil but only by the set of your sail.” – Jim Rohn or Darren Hardy

    It’s better to anticipate and prepare than to react.

    6 Checkpoints:

    1. Eyes – Be vigilant on what you give your attention to.

    Humanity hasn’t changed.

    Inside all of us there is light and dark.

    All that has changed is that the loud fringe minority of darkness are getting more attention and have used technology to:

    1. find each other
    2. coordinate and organize
    3. distribute their darkness en masse to the majority

    Even though we are mostly light, all of that does affect and change us. Even if we see things we know we don’t agree with. Our attitudes, perspectives, behaviors, emotions, etc. will turn darker.

    We are attracted to negative effects as a survival mechanism that is no longer necessary.

    Be very vigilant about everything you give your attention to and the input that you allow.

    The media (news and social) isn’t “evil,” because they focus on negative news. They’re just optimizing for attention and money.

    What to do?

    “Reset your sail.” — Turn your eyes away.

    Set your eyes firmly on the horizon – towards your desired destination, values, mission, goals, and dreams. HOLD STEADY.

    Stop looking at anything meant to monetize your attention.

    2. Head – Feed the positive, hopeful, creative, and inspired side of your nature proper nutrition.

    Watch Darren Daily…daily.

    Little improvements over time accumulate and compound to produce massive results.

    The key is consistency.

    Build it into your routine. Same time, location, etc.

    3. Heart – Fortify your most important relationships and key associations.

    We are an interdependent social species. We need each other — especially our tribe.

    You can’t only look for them in the midst of the storm. Nurture the relationship, always.

    Elevated Relationships:

    It takes work, effort, intention, investment, joining groups, and signing up for stuff where these people will be.

    It takes all the above to keep those relationships going.

    If this sounds like too much work, you aren’t cut out to become wealthy, influential, and/or consequential.

    The return on effort (and investment) is many thousands over.

    Without the right relationships, by your own work, you will be left out to sea with no rudder and no sail.

    4. Muscles – The single best thing you can do to immediately reduce stress, anxiety, and fear is to go work out.

    The more stressful, the harder you work out.

    Set an MVP – minimum viable pounding.

    Do what you already know how to do.

    3 best ways to stay healthy:

    1. Work out hard
    2. Eat clean
    3. Sleep deep

    5. Wallet – Trim the fat.

    Now is the time.

    Spending always meets (or exceeds) the level of capacity.

    Expenditures rise to meet income.

    Do regular decluttering of financials. Get rid of the excess.

    Be lean and mean as possible.

    Cut expenses as deeply as you can.

    Stack your cash.

    Opportunities are coming and you will want cash in hand.

    6. Spine – Double down on your personal growth and development.

    Invest money to get your unique advantage.

    This is when the wealthy become wealthy; access to the right knowledge, proven strategies, and vital skills pay off the most.

    What to do when the punch is coming for your face

    Lean into the punch. Don’t try to avoid the punch.

    Leaning back leaves you off balance and defenseless.

    Then send your counter punch.

    Everyone else is leaning back. Now’s the time to push forward.

    Key Systems to Scale Hyper-Growth

    “Freedom requires structure. Structure is what makes freedom possible. Structure liberates creativity.”

    Everything needs to be simple, clear, and certain.

    Rule of thumb: You want to systemize the predictable (routine), so that you can humanize the exceptional.

    5 areas to audit:

    Communications

    Email communication has best practices.

    Project Management

    Cut everything down to the most essential, high value, vital tasks and priorities.

    Documents and Data Storage

    Simplify everything. Only focus on the most important data points.

    Finances

    Same as above.

    Customer Touchpoints

    Make all customer-facing documents (invoices, etc.) and marketing materials as simple, clear, and certain as possible.

    The best days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, in that order (I have meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

    Problem Solving with 1:3:1

    1: What’s the problem?
    3: What are at least 3 viable, well-researched and thought-through solutions?
    1: What is your most recommended solution (between the three) and why?

    Example video here.

    Skill Building

    Darren’s 1-1-3-5-1-30-30-5 Plan

    5 Steps for Studying

    1. Study – while reading think about current applications
    2. Extract – only look for 3 big ideas
    3. Act – implement 1 idea right now (one per month)
    4. Measure – measure your improvement
    5. Review – assess and adjust, repeat process

    8 Tips for Better Learning

    1. Become comfortable with the struggle of learning. The brain has to make new neural pathways. Things get easier as you learn and use what you learn.
    2. Become curious. Ask questions. Don’t presume anything.
    3. Have a goal for your learning. When you know what you’re working towards, your Reticular Activating System will find, show you, and store the info that is important.
    4. Learn in focused sessions. Studies show 30-90 minutes is best. Too little or too much and you won’t retain the info. If you must go more than 90 minutes, take 5-10 minute breaks.
    5. Use spaced repetition. This prevents neural pathways from decaying.
    6. Go deep vs. wide. Our brains can only handle so much. Avoid learning outside of the scope of what you want to accomplish.
    7. Reflect, revisit, and review to improve. Like spaced repetition. This keeps your neural pathways strong.
    8. Teach someone else. Teaching someone else will improve and cement your understanding of something. Start a blog!

    Ninja Negotiation Tactics

    Getting anyone to do anything comes down to identifying why they would want to.

    Figure out what they want. What is “winning” for them? Give them that.

    3 Strategies:

    1. Ask.
    2. Lay in their bed.
    3. Do your homework

    Negotiation, sales, and influence of any kind are just an exchange of value.

    You can get anything you want if you can figure out how to get the other person what they want.

    6 Tips to Successful Negotiations

    1. Patience.
    2. Keep emotional distance.
    3. Set the right stage.
    4. Go big. Ask for the moon; get the sky.
    5. Keep trading value.
    6. Learn to have fun and enjoy it.

    How to Get a Promotion

    Comes down to two things:

    1. Help the people you work for make more money.

    We get paid for value, not time.

    To get paid more money, become more valuable, and deliver more value.

    Hitting your goals does not earn a promotion.

    You have to go above and beyond your job description.

    Deliver increased value in advance.

    There is never a lack of promotion potential (opportunity). There is only a lack of value being proactively contributed.

    You don’t wait for a promotion; you make your own.

    Earn more value by bringing more value.

    6 ways to provide more value:

    1. Sell more (to existing clients)
    2. Find more clients
    3. Identify more opportunity
    4. Save money
    5. Recruit talent
    6. Mentor and help others

    2. Make life easier.

    Be a problem solver.

    Lighten the cognitive load of your leaders.

    If you have a question, do research first and come up w/ three possible solutions to present.

    If you know it’s going to solve the problem — just go do it!

    Speak up!

    Don’t wait to be called on.

    Contribute!

    Have guts!

    Volunteer for tough jobs.

    Be reliable.

    Take extreme ownership.

    Your leader shouldn’t need to follow up.

    If there’s a problem (it’s going to be late, etc), let your leadership know as soon as you know so that they’re not left wondering.

    Deliver excellence.

    Set a reputation that your leadership knows you will do a good job without even questioning.

    “Sign your name to your work” and you will stand out.

    Have an ambitious, positive minded, can-do attitude.

    Be positive and focus on “how do we get there?” instead of “this is what will prevent us”.

    “Be an engine, not an anchor.”

    Disconnected Day

    Pick one day during the work week and disconnect completely for a full 24 hours (I chose Thursdays).

    NO:

    Spend the day on Deep Work.

    Tips:

    This is only for creative producers, not front-line customer service roles.

  • 22 Lessons from Darren Hardy

    These came from a series of Darren Daily’s originally posted January 2022.

    Table Of Contents
    1. 1. Forget Normal
    2. 2. Manage your MEDS
    3. 3. Manufacture Luck
    4. 4. Live like a Lion
    5. 5. Eradicate the Negative
    6. 6. Stop Shoulding Yourself
    7. 7. Start Small to Go Big
    8. 8. Give up more.
    9. 9. Live in 3D
    10. 10. Stick With Less
    11. 11. Plan for Rain
    12. 12. Stay Limber
    13. 13. Start Before You’re Ready
    14. 14. Fuck Fear
    15. 15. Stay in your Genius
    16. 16. Bring Your Love to Work
    17. 17. Trust the Gut
    18. 18. No Regrets
    19. 19. We are ALL One
    20. 20. Show More Gratitude
    21. 21. Pay It Forward.
    22. 22. My One Word/Strategy for ’22

    1. Forget Normal

    There is no status quo or normal anymore.

    Having a high tolerance for uncertainty will be your competitive advantage.

    Do not seek normal. Normal is obsolescence.

    My thoughts:

    “You’re either Netflix or Blockbuster.” – Me

    I’m going all-in on the metaverse. It is the inevitable future.

    2. Manage your MEDS

    • Mind
    • Exercise
    • Diet
    • Sleep

    “Winners are those who have mastered the fundamentals.”

    Commit to:

    • Watch Darren Daily daily.
    • Regular exercise routine you know you can maintain all year long.
    • Cut sugar, cut carbs, cut processed food.
    • Get to bed early.

    My thoughts:

    I don’t have a problem getting to DD every morning.

    I do have a problem being motivated to exercise.

    I do have a problem w/ changing my diet.

    I do not have a problem waking up early but I do have a problem falling asleep and so I’m always tired and require afternoon naps.

    3. Manufacture Luck

    Luck is the outcome of thousands of micro actions.

    Habits and disciplines put you in position to “get lucky”

    To achieve big goals, focus on simple and easy micro actions.

    My thoughts:

    Re-read my Compound Effect notes.

    Re-read my BMC notes.

    Go through Jumpstart again.

    4. Live like a Lion

    Lions don’t chase squirrels; they reserve their energy for the antelope.

    Be courageous. Speak up. Demand attention.

    Lead from the front. Do whatever it takes to feed and defend your pride.

    Lead with courage and confidence this year. Only give energy to big game payouts.

    My thoughts:

    I need to figure out what are the little things that don’t get me anywhere and what are the big game payouts I should be focusing on.

    5. Eradicate the Negative

    If you constantly feed your brain with negative input, your outlook will be negative.

    You CAN NOT parse and separate it out with conscious logic.

    Our neural net operates in the unconscious background.

    Protect the inputs that feed your very vulnerable and sacred neural network with a FEROCIOUS VENGEANCE.

    My thoughts:

    I feel like I need social media marketing to reach the level of success that I want, but I can’t afford to hire someone to do it for me.

    I need to figure out a way to manage social media without having to view social media.

    I’ve already cut “general” news and only focus on industry news.

    I spend over an hour reading every day. Some non-fiction/educational material (teaches knowledge) and some fiction (teaches empathy).

    6. Stop Shoulding Yourself

    Any goals or resolutions that you put on your list year after year, just stop.

    Put everything through a filter: can, should, must?

    Only the “musts” should be on your list.

    My thoughts:

    Two things that keep ending up on my list are learning new languages (several) and learning to program.

    I’ve invested A LOT of money into learning to program buying books, courses, online classes, etc, and it just doesn’t seem to click. Perhaps that is not a superpower I will develop.

    Which is really tough because I feel like this would be a huge benefit to my endeavors in the metaverse.

    Perhaps art is a better way to go.

    I do still believe in long term benefits of me learning languages so I will keep that for now.

    7. Start Small to Go Big

    Forget all your resolutions and goals. Focus only on small daily actions.

    Log them in your journal.

    It will be your small, seemingly insignificant, moment-to-moment choices that will accumulate and compound into the massive transformation you seek.

    My thoughts:

    I still need to build routines.

    A lot of the small choices I make are good due to the mindset shift I’ve had over the last couple years, but I need to make it a priority to set up routines for the stuff that I know will improve my life.

    8. Give up more.

    You’re doing too much.

    You need to delegate more.

    Quit everything that is not in your superpower.

    We are designed to be world-class in only 1-3 things.

    Delegate the rest.

    My thoughts:

    Going back to number 6…I need to figure out these things. What should I be doing? What should I be giving up? How can I do what I’m best at and still be involved in the things I want to be?

    Right now I can’t afford to delegate so do I need to either Automate or cut out entirely?

    9. Live in 3D

    • Life in 1D is if you’re only focused on what affects your life.
    • Life in 2D is when you see things through the eyes of others.
    • Life in 3D is when you can see from the big grand scheme of things.

    If something is bothering you, ask yourself: In 20 years, will this matter?

    If it won’t make your eulogy, let it go.

    My thoughts:

    I don’t think I have a problem with living in 2D but I definitely need to step up to 3D and start asking myself “in 20 years will this matter?”

    In the recent past I’ve written down what I want people to say at my funeral. I need to make sure I’m sticking to that.

    10. Stick With Less

    The pandemic taught us to live with less.

    Don’t re-clutter your life. Protect your less is more lifestyle.

    My thoughts:

    I don’t think I’ve recluttered but I also don’t think I really cut back during the pandemic. I was already a homebody with too many projects half started or half finished.

    I need to keep simplifying and decluttering.

    11. Plan for Rain

    Businesses who were prepared for disaster thrived during the pandemic regardless of mandates, etc.

    Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

    Prioritize the funding of your personal savings accounts and you business reservers NOW.

    My Thoughts:

    My biggest goal for this year is getting out of debt and the goal for next year is to build up 12 months of living expenses in savings.

    12. Stay Limber

    Those who are most adaptable survive.

    Help others thrive.

    Be the one that is the most adaptable to change.

    Chang is coming!

    Stay flex. Stay limber. Expect Constant disruption. Be agile. Adapt quickly.

    My Thoughts:

    I don’t think I have a problem with this one. I keep my business small (just me and Upworkers) so that I can do whatever needs to be done to keep up with the times.

    13. Start Before You’re Ready

    The truth is: you’re never ready and you’re gonna suck when you start.

    Just start. Then get ready. Figure it out along the way.

    Doing is the best practice and prep. Mistakes are your best teachers.

    Start. Now. Before you’re ready.

    My Thoughts:

    This is something I need to work on. I spend way too much time preparing for things before I do them.

    14. Fuck Fear

    Fear is an illusion.

    The only antidote to fear is stepping into it.

    Fear is your only obstacle.

    Stop pussyfooting around already. Step up, say Fuck Fear, and step into it.

    My Thoughts:

    Lately I’ve been considering doing things that I’ve always feared, like skydiving, just to desensitize myself to fear.

    “Fear is the mindkiller.” – Dune

    15. Stay in your Genius

    Our uniqueness is our strength.

    Based on our interests, life events, etc, what has all of that built us to uniquely do? Life has prepared, trained, tested us to do something. What unique problem can we solve? What unique story can we tell?

    Find and double down on your unique genius.

    My Thoughts:

    I’ve been trying to find my unique genius for years now. Still working on that.

    I really think my strength is in writing and communication, but there are so many other things I want to do with that that I think will enhance it.

    I just can’t tell if I’m wasting time on those things or if the additional skills will fuel my unique genius.

    16. Bring Your Love to Work

    The joy is in the journey, not the destination. There is no destination.

    “Winners value the process. The day to day journey. Losers over-value the destination, the reward. And under-value the process, the work.”

    Choose to bring joy to everything that you do.

    Find intrigue in the improvement of everything.

    You don’t have to love your work. You have to choose to bring love to the work.

    My Thoughts:

    Definitely something I should be working on more.

    17. Trust the Gut

    Our intuition speaks to us.

    Trust yourself. Do as you are told by you.

    My Thoughts:

    I’ve been getting better at this lately, but it’s definitely something I need to keep in mind at all times.

    18. No Regrets

    For every decision, ask:

    • Will I regret trying?
    • Will I regret not trying?

    Make a list of things you could never regret doing.

    Make your NO REGRETS list and spend more time on things you never regret and no time on things you do.

    My Thoughts:

    My best friend’s wife is a pastor and she speaks to a lot of people on their deathbed. I asked her what they tell her. One thing she said was “they often say they wish they worked less to spend more time with their friends and family.”

    I want to build a lifestyle where I don’t say that on my deathbed.

    19. We are ALL One

    Stop playing a Zero SUM game.

    It’s not us vs them.

    Our differences are mostly illusions.

    We are all one interconnected species.

    Divided we will die. United, we might live.

    My Thoughts:

    I’m happy to hear Darren say this because I’ve been getting really down about it lately.

    Online I see a lot of the word “evil” being used to describe anyone who’s not right-wing (whatever that means anymore).

    I’ve been to bars where people yelled “Democrats go home!” and other such things.

    I’m not a Democrat myself, but I know those people wouldn’t want me there either.

    And I know the vice versa is going on out there, too, even though I haven’t seen it.

    But I have friends all across both the political and religious spectrums.

    Sometimes I do struggle with it, but overall I don’t think I have a problem seeing us all as one.

    I hope more people become like that.

    20. Show More Gratitude

    A lot of people helped us get to where we are.

    Appreciate them for it.

    It will enhance the day for every person you say thank you to.

    Gratitude is the most magical force of all.

    My Thoughts:

    I need to make sure I am writing down at least 1 thing I am thankful for each day.

    And I definitely need to tell the people around me that I am thankful for them.

    21. Pay It Forward.

    I am not here to consume. I am here to contribute.

    I am here to be a net positive. Not a net negative.

    Never only consume. Contribute back (and more) everything you’ve been given and everything you gain.

    My Thoughts:

    This is definitely high on my priority list, but I need to remember I’m not doing it for me.

    I do struggle with knowing “helping people will come back around to me” and it makes me feel less altruistic about it.

    I need to stop thinking I’m doing it for me and make sure I am doing it for them.

    22. My One Word/Strategy for ’22

    “Leverage”

    The use of something small to gain a very high return.

    Find the 1% of activities, tasks, functions, resources, that deliver a 4000% return on capital, time, energy, effort.

    Apply to 10 specific areas to life.

    Measured and held accountable.

    1. People – No longer tolerate average performance. Great people are great leverage. A least 20x their cost.
    2. Goals – Set 3 goals max, banner goals, when achieved make this year the best year ever.
    3. Projects – Not all ideas are good. Many cost too much. Fast, Easy, Profitable? Do them one at a time, with excellence.
    4. Relationships – Focus on the few most important, deminish the rest.
    5. Fitness – Focus on just a few, do them consistently.
    6. Focus – Focus on what you will eat, not what you won’t eat.
    7. Environment – Optimize your work environment for high performance and sane living. Increase concentration and deep work. Do the same for home environment for the sake of mental + emotionally calm.
    8. Learning – Double down on a few things that get me towards the banner goals.
    9. MOO Methods of Operation – Quarterly, Monthly, Weekly, Daily. Massively improve output. Daily = Routine, Email Rules, MVP Jam sessions.
    10. Self-Care – “There’s nothing more pitiful than a ready and willing mind…but an incapable body.” – Jim Rohn

    My Thoughts:

    The one of these that will affect me the most this year is “Projects”.

    I’ve known for years that I am a man of too many projects.

    This year, I won’t be that way.

    I’m going to be following the 37Signals/Basecamp strategy of small projects completed in 6 weeks, and then a week off.

    As long as I have a day job, I’ll still be working on that week, but in the future when I’m on my own again, I will be treating that 7th week as a “Small Scale Sabbatical” – https://sabbatical.blog/about/.

  • The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy Summary, Review, and Notes

    2022 update: I’ve changed some priorities so I need to re-assess my notes.

    The Compound Effect is one of the best books for turning every day into a victory.

    Darren Hardy, author and Editor-in-Chief of Success Magazine, has helped entrepreneurs like John Paul DeJoria (founder of Patrón Spirits Company), Tony Hsieh (CEO Zappos), and Dave Thomas (founder Wendy’s) lead their companies to success.

    He knows what it takes to build something great in business and life.

    In this book, he reveals his time tested principles that will help you set reachable goals, break them down into manageable daily actions, nurture your relationships with family and friends who support you on this journey, “sell” yourself so that others want to buy from you; all while staying true to your own principles.

    The Compound Effect is a revolutionary new way to help you take control of your life and stop making excuses.

    Learn how to make every day count, build momentum and achieve extraordinary results in all areas of your life!

    The Compound Effect Review

    I give the Compound Effect a 10 our of 10.

    I’ve read it three times now and will definitely read it again, probably once a year.

    If I had to pick one book everyone should read, it’s this.

    The Compound Effect Notes

    Chapter 1 – The Compound Effect in Action

    The main premise of The Compound Effect is that small, consistent actions build up over time.

    This can be good or bad, but knowing that will help us make better decisions in our life.

    Hardy gives various examples of this.

    They’re all fictitious, but they do drive the point home.

    I don’t particularly care for the Magic Penny example because I don’t understand where these magical pennies are coming from.

    But I love the one about the three friends because it’s extremely realistic.

    The Three Friends

    You should read it in the book, but the nutshell is that one friend does nothing, and his life just stays the same as it is.

    Another friend starts adding small positive changes, like cutting a soda from his diet and reading 10 pages of a self-help book each day.

    His life gets better over several…I mean several months.

    The third friend adds small negative changes, like watching more TV and eating more fattening foods.

    Over the same many months, his life gets pretty bad.

    The Ripple Effect

    Then there’s the Ripple Effect, where one small change has huge consequences.

    Such as friend 3 who does the bad stuff and ends up with a failing marriage.

    It’s a long chain of events, but the nutshell is: unhealthy food makes him sluggish, sluggish makes him bad at his job, which makes him not like his job, which makes him sad, which makes his wife sad, which makes their marriage not great.

    My Struggle

    My struggle with all this that it takes so long.

    Even in the examples, it’s taking almost 1000 days, which is almost 3 years.

    I was born in the late 80’s which means everything in my life has come pretty quickly.

    I am from the internet generation.

    I don’t remember not having a microwave because my parents probably had one before I was born.

    I’m okay with looking 12 months ahead and feeling comfortable, but looking 2 years ahead makes me feel…defeated.

    I get the feeling that I’m not the only one who struggles with that.

    We just have to sit down and do the thing.

    Luckily, Hardy gives us some action items.

    Action Items!

    Excuses

    First he says to list our our excuses for why we aren’t achieving what we want.

    I don’t think I have any excuses.

    I know exactly what I’m doing wrong and how I’m struggling with it.

    And I have no excuse for that.

    I know that the only thing standing in my way, is me.

    Start Doing

    Next we need a list of things we should start doing.

    • I need to be reading every day.
    • As a copywriter, I need to be copyworking every day.
    • And also writing actual, usable copy every day.
    • I need to reach out to my list every day.
    • I need to be exercising every day. Either at the gym or by taking a walk around the neighborhood.
    • I want to learn a lot of languages so I need to be practicing that every day.
    • I need to be producing and/or posting some kind of public content every day to grow my audience.
    • I also need to get back into meditating every day. Mental health is as important as physical health.
    • And as a Buddhist, it’s really an important part of my spiritual practice that I’ve been neglecting.
    • I need to plan tasks better. I know how to do it, I just need to do it.
    Stop Doing

    Then we are to make a list of things we need to stop doing.

    • Hitting snooze or going back to sleep. – I don’t just hit snooze. I turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. Today I slept an extra 2 hours after my alarm went off. Why? Because I’m lazy and indulgent.
    • I need to stop taking long naps in the afternoon. It’s messing up my sleep. Short naps are okay, and from what I’ve read, even encouraged.
    • When I plan tasks, I need to stop deviating from the plan. I often will look at my plan and just be like “nah I don’t feel like it today” and do something else. This is hurting me.

    Chapter 2

    Coming soon.

  • Seven Tips For Improving Your Employee Attraction And Retention Strategies

    Seven Tips For Improving Your Employee Attraction And Retention Strategies

    Text on a dark grey overlay, says 7 TIPS to IMPROVE EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION and RETENTION

    Hiring an in-house copywriter can be one of the best things you ever do for your business.

    The biggest problem companies face when hiring an in-house copywriter is that they don’t stick around.

    Then HR (or whoever) has to spend time away from doing their job so that they can find another copywriter to hire.

    All the while projects aren’t being completed.

    Or, you’re hiring a freelance copywriter in between, which is great but not as great as having someone in-house.

    I had this guest post commissioned to help companies figure out how to improve the attraction and retention of good in-house copywriters.

    These strategies will improve your ROI.

    The post starts here…

    Because of COVID-19 and the digital transition, organizations are facing a difficult situation.

    The shortage of talent and the increasing demand for tech workers is making companies implement new strategies.

    Organizations are battling each other to attract and retain top tech employees. Since the rules of the game have changed, becoming an attractive employer has become a challenge.

    To stay relevant, you’ll need to embrace changes and adapt. 

    Improving your strategies can be hard if you don’t know what to do.

    For that reason, if you’re looking to catch top tech employees’ attention and remain competitive, these tips will help you achieve your goal.

    They’ll provide you with everything you need to make workers feel engaged and improve your strategies.

    Promote Teamwork

    Promoting teamwork will help you to increase employees’ job satisfaction.

    For tech workers, working in teams is an everyday duty.

    They often have to work with other professionals during projects, and it allows them to learn.

    When employees work in groups, they feel supported and learn new techniques to lead your company to success.

    In that case, it’ll be beneficial not only to your employees but to your organization.

    Also, when working in teams, employees feel more comfortable because they can build relationships with co-workers.

    Keep in mind that your employees are not machines, and once in a while, they need to relax.

    When workers enjoy their time at work, they won’t think about quitting, and you’ll increase your employee retention rate.

    Make Your Company a Great Place to Grow and Learn

    Nowadays, having growth opportunities and professional development is crucial for tech workers.

    If you seek to attract and retain top tech talent, you must make your company the best place to grow and learn.

    Provide on-site or online courses.

    They are great to help workers develop their soft and hard skills.

    Providing tuition reimbursement benefits is also an excellent way to keep your workers motivated.

    For tech employees, updating and upgrading their skills is indispensable.

    The tech market is a fast-growing industry, and if they can develop their skills, they won’t be left behind.

    Let your workers enroll in coding schools like General Assembly or Flatiron.

    They are among the best coding schools in the US and allows aspirants to learn in-demand programming skills.

    On the other hand, you should encourage your employees to grow personally and professionally.

    Let them get a promotion when they deserve it.

    Not having growth opportunities is among the main reasons for leaving a job, and makes workers feel frustrated.

    Just imagine keeping the same position for over ten years.

    Without growing opportunities, workers will feel their lives are monotonous.

    Let them grow and improve their well being.

    It will make them feel engaged, and their performance will be higher. 

    Build Relationships With Vocational Schools

    Attracting and hiring fresh graduates will allow your company to innovate the market.

    To stay in the competition, you’ll need young employees to let others identify what’s in-demand.

    When you build relationships with vocational schools, reaching and hiring fresh graduates will be much easier.

    Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Conde Nast are already using this strategy and are taking big steps toward success.

    Don’t hesitate to try new things when it comes to attracting and keeping top tech talent.

    Remember that they are indispensable for staying in the competition and will allow your organization to overcome future challenges.

    Building relationships with vocational schools like Rithm School or Thinkful is an excellent choice because they enable students to learn from experience.

    These students already have work experience before landing their first job.   

    Use Digital Channels to Attract Potential Hirings

    Digital platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork are helping hiring managers and employers find potential hirings with ease.

    LinkedIn, for example, uses machine learning algorithms to help employers find qualified candidates in less time.

    The algorithm provides suggestions based on their requirements and their networks.

    Most tech workers are also using digital platforms to offer their services and look for a new job. 

    Using Instagram to look for new employees is also a great option to attract qualified candidates.

    Be more personal to make them feel comfortable but don’t forget to be professional.

    If they don’t take you seriously, they won’t want to work for your company.

    However, if you keep your professionalism, they will be eager to work with you.

    Involve Your Tech Workers in the Hiring Process

    To attract tech workers’ attention, you must give a good first impression.

    Involving your tech team in the hiring process is an excellent way to make potential hirings feel comfortable and engaged.

    For example, if you’re looking for a front end developer, allowing your web development team to do interviews is the right decision.

    Your tech team knows what it takes to get the job done and will hire the candidate that best fits the company’s needs.

    Sometimes, interviews don’t go as expected because aspirants may feel uncomfortable.

    If you involve your tech team in the hiring process, the aspirants will speak tech and show their actual skills.

    As a result, they won’t hesitate to join your team as they’ll be working with qualified like-minded people. 

    Invest in Tech

    Nothing motivates tech workers more than actual tech.

    Investing in the latest tech devices and gadgets will help you improve your employee attraction strategies.

    When tech workers can use and interact with the latest tech tools, they can provide better results.

    They will also stay motivated by learning more and more to improve their techniques and current skills.

    For example, investing in machine learning or artificial intelligence is a great way to attract data scientists and software engineers.

    As they need to implement machine learning algorithms in their daily work, they will feel excited to work and stay in your company.

    Increase Your Benefits

    Salary is no longer enough to convince tech employees.

    If you really want to make employees feel engaged, you must increase your benefits.

    Otherwise, they may leave your team and look for a new job.

    Companies like Samsung, Google, and Nintendo offer on-site perks like free food, gym classes, and spa sessions.

    However, if you can’t afford it, you can still offer schedule flexibility and benefits like paid vacation leave and parental leave.

    Companies continue to increase their benefits.

    If you don’t take action right now, attracting and keeping qualified workers will become more and more challenging.

    Conclusion

    Following these tips is vital for attracting and keeping qualified workers in 2021.

    These tips will allow you to remain in the competition and keep fighting in the war for talent.

    Be always open to try new techniques and implement new practices.

    Traditional strategies are not useful because employees’ demands are increasing day by day.

    Embrace changes, and don’t hesitate to go the extra mile if necessary.

  • Teachable’s Share What You Know Summit Notes [2020]

    Teachable’s Share What You Know Summit Notes [2020]

    Unfortunately I forgot to go back and watch the rest of the Teachable Share What You Know Summit (2020) videos before they were removed, so these are the notes I was able to gather.

    These are my rough notes, but feel free to copy and paste and organize in your own documents.

    If you share the notes please link back to this page 🙂

    7 Steps to Creating and Selling a Profitable Online Course / How to Create a Profitable Online Course in 30 Days – Ankur Nagpal & Jess Catorc

    1. Find your most profitable course idea
    2. Set your income [[Goals]] for your course using our formula
    3. Grow your course audience and email list with our playbook
    4. Price your course the right way
    5. Creat your schoola nd a high-converting course sales page
    6. Create and record a course people love
    7. Launch your course using our course marketing plan

    1 – Find profitable course idea

    Think about your secondarys kills or hobbies related to your current business or passion
    The riches are in the niches
    Your voice and POV are unique; only you can give your topic a signature flair
    Courses serve as a stepping stone from non-customer to customer to service client.
    Show them how to do it, they make money, then they can hire you
    Less is more
    Providing a transformation for students is the mosti mportant part of any successful online course.

    Brainstorm topics
    Determine the transformation/outcome
    Choos the most impactful transformation

    2 – Set your income [[Goals]] for your course using our formula

    Revenue goal = (total email subscribers X conversation rate) X price for course
    Figure out how many email subscribers you need first.
    (250 subs * .02 conversion rate) * $200 course = 5 sales for $1000

    3 – Grow your course audience and email list with our playbook

    Give away free value in exchange for email address
    Giveaways
    Free mini course
    Host a webinar or workshop or summit

    4- Price your course the right way

    Average price of top Teachable is $272, with many up above $1000
    Charge premium
    Easier to hit income goal
    Attract more engaged students
    Students are more enthusiastic and likely to put it to use

    5 – Create your school and a high-converting course sales page

    Successful sales page has:

    1. Title and Description – clear of what the course provides. Clear is better than clever
    2. Video – improves conversion rate, shows people there’s a real person, you’re passionate
    3. Course description – emphasize outcome over features. “Achieve this by learning that”
    4. Testimonials – Try to get video, hop on zoom calls, ask what were pain points, what were hesitations before investing in it, waht was the outcome they achieved
    5. Payment plan – offer flexible plans, you only collect about 75% of payment plans

    6 – Create and record a course people love

    Create an outline – what someone will need to go through to get to your courses desired outcome, work backwards
    Each step becomes a section – 6-12 sections, put videos in the sections
    Make sure outcome is not too big or too vague
    Video framework – What you will learn, why it’s important, and how to do it
    Simple is always best. Just record it. You can always improve it later.

    7 – Launch your course using our course marketing plan

    Open for a fixed number of days, temporarily close to focus on students
    Two phases in 30 days

    1. Educate, 1 to 2 weeks, give nothing but pure value
      1. students know you can help them, generates demand, they trust you
    2. Launch, 1 to 2 weeks. 8 days is often a great length
      1. Keep it small
      2. Prelaunch phase
        1. Email day 1 – give a taste of course teaser
        2. Email day 2 – reveal cards with a “what is” your course
        3. Day 3 – open enrollment
        4. day 4 – answer FAQs
        5. Day 5 sprinkle surprise bonus
        6. Day 6 Thank yous and social proof
        7. day 7 – present logical argument for why the course makes sense “This is for you if”
        8. Day – alert enrollment is closing – geniune scarcity

    Keynote w/ [[Lisa Nichols]]

    You can teach something other people are already teaching
    No one has your style or the way you deliver
    We are reptition learners
    It’s about expanding your comfort zone
    Being methodical with systems is very important
    Work the system consistently
    Are you doing the highest revenue generating activity that only you can do?
    Write down the things you have done, a “Ta-Done” list, so that you can see what you’ve done as reinforcement.
    To launch, stabalize, and scale, you have to reach out of your comfort zone and you have to learn new things.
    People are more commited to a familiar discomfort than an unfamiliar new possibility.
    It’s not your opportunity to give the world You. It’s your obligation.
    Share your gifts.

    Effective Messaging Strategies: How to Turn Your Idea Into Structured Content – Matthew Encina, Regina Anaejionu, Mike Greenfield, Molly Keyser

    Pre-sell to prove viability of course
    Get an accountability partner and put something at stake…punishment if you fail
    Practice in public
    Everything you publish you’ll get feedback on and you can iterate
    Have a solid outline
    Teach a framework
    What is everything you want a person learning from scratch to know about this?
    Break it down even further; do it again for each thing
    Compare to other courses and books
    Read the comments to know what to include or not include
    Create smaller stuff, post on [[YouTube]], use the comments and questions as ideas to build a full course
    There’s a difference between people who say they will buy and actually do buy
    Make sure people vote w/ their dollars
    1 on 1 coaching calls give you a lot of insight into the questions people have

    Limitless: Supercharge your Brain to Learn and Achieve Anything Faster – [[Jim Kwik]]

    Knowledge isn’t power. It’s potential power.

    In 48 hours you lose 80% of the information you’ve consumed.
    Prevent that by taking notes.

    Notes are better when you include your own thoughts with them. Don’t just write down the note, add how it applies to you, any ideas you have of how to implement in your life or business, etc. Jim calls this Capturing Notes and Creating Notes. I need to start doing this in my iBook/Kindle highlights.

    “Knowledge is power…Knowledge is profit…The faster you can learn, the faster you can earn.” – [[Jim Kwik]] #quote

    “Everything in your life gets easier if you learn how to learn.” #quote

    “The #1 skill to learn in the 21st century is your ability to learn rapidly.” #quote

    Enemy #1 – Digital Deluge
    Too much information, too little time. “Taking a sip out of a firehose”
    “Information Anxiety” causes higher blood pressure, compression of leisure time, sleeplessness.

    Enemy #2 – Digital Distraction
    Too many pings, notifications, messages, emails, etc etc
    We can’t concentrate or focus enough to really get things done

    Enemy #3 – Digital Dementia
    We offload too much of our memory to our devices. I’m guilty of this big time…I’ve always believed that having a digital “external brain/second brain” was the way to go…maybe I’ve been wrong.
    “Life is the C between B and D.” B=Birth, D=Death, C=Choice #quote
    Memory is important because you can only make decisions based on information you can remember.

    Enemy #4 – Digital Deduction
    Algorithms only show us what we want, which doesn’t give our brain opportunities to flex.
    Analytical ability is decreased, ability to discern and reason are decreased. Critical thinking is decreased.

    F.A.S.T. – How to learn quickly
    Forget –
    Temporarily forget what you already know. As buddhists say, “keep a beginner’s mind”.
    Forget about distractions. DON”T MULTITASK. There’s no such thing as multi-tasking.
    When you think you’re multi tasking, you’re not. You’re actually task switching.
    You can not do two cognitive abilities at one time.
    Task switching is costing you time. Focus and Flow are interrupted.
    You make more mistakes.
    You burn more brain glucose (mental energy).
    Forget about multitasking, forget about distractions.
    If you think of something, write it down. Come back to it later.
    Forget about your limitations.
    Active –
    Education in our society hasn’t kept up with the changing times.
    Traditional education trained us to be passive.
    “The human brain doesn’t learn through consumption, it learns through creation and creativity.” #quote
    Take notes.
    Ask questions.
    “Learning, like life, is not a spectator sport.” #quote
    Don’t stop playing!
    Be willing to make mistakes.
    State-
    The mood of your mind and body.
    “All learning is state dependent.” #quote
    “Information combined with emotion becomes long term memory.” #quote
    The mood you are in when you learn something is attached to the information.
    If you “learn” something in a bored state, you won’t remember it. This is why most people don’t remember things from school.
    People don’t buy logically, they buy emotionally.
    “We are not logical; we are biological.” #quote
    Never learn something in a bored state.
    When teaching, get to their emotions. Don’t make them be bored.
    Your physiology affects your psychology. And vice versa.
    Teach –
    If you want to learn something faster, learn with the intention of teaching someone else.
    Intention matters.
    “When I teach something, I get to learn it twice.” #quote

    Forget what you know so you can learn it brand new.
    The best of the best get really good at the fundamentals. They never get tired of the basics.

    Genius leaves clues. #quote

    As your body moves, your brain grooves. #quote
    Brain Derived Neurotropic Factors – created when moving, your brain craves them/movement. Like fertilizer for your brain.
    People learn from podcasts/audiobooks faster when walking, elliptical, bike, etc.
    Get up and move on a regular basis!

    Success Formula: head + heart + hands. Head is the knowledge, Hands is the action, but heart is also super important. You have to care. You have to feel a sense of purpose.
    What’s your reward if you follow through? What do you lose if you don’t follow through?

    “Leaders are readers.” #quote This guy LOVES rhymes.
    Read a book a week. – On average takes 45 minutes of reading per day.

    Limitless Model:
    3 forces keep you limited

    1. Mindset – What you believe is possible. What you believe is capable. What you believe you deserve. Your mind is always listening to your self talk. Turn your self talk positive.
    2. Motivation – Procrastination is a motivation issue. Formula for sustained motivation: PxExS3 : Purpose x Energy x Small Simple Steps. Write down and follow processes!! A confused mind doesn’t do anything.
    3. Methods/Process – Most people know what to do, but don’t do it. Write down the process and follow it every time. Improve as you can.

    How to find small simple steps (S3): ask “what is the tiniest step I can take that makes progress toward this goal, where I can not fail”
    Examples:
    Goal: read a book. S3: Open the book. Seriously. That’s it.
    Goal: get fit. S3: put on running shoes.
    Goal: floss. S3: floss 1 tooth.

    Mindset + Motivation = Inspiration
    Mindset + Methods = Ideation
    Motivation + Mindset = Implementation
    Middle of the diagram = Integration. Limitless. That’s the goal.

    Do not downgrade your dreams to meet a rough situation.
    Instead, upgrade your mindset, motivation, and methods.

    “Your life is like an egg. If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. But if it’s broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things begin on the inside and you have greatness inside of you. You have genius inside of you. Now is the time to let it out.” #quote

    Learn, earn, return. Give back when you become successful.

    If you knew you were only going to have one car for the rest of your life and you had to make it last, how good would you take care of it? You only have one brain. You only have one body.

    [[Instagram]] Story Sales – [[Dot Lung]]

    Dialog – Relatablitliy – Authenticity – Give Value – Opinion – Niche

    Dialog

    The more conversations and comments you get, the more your posts show up in the feed.

    Craft dialog and conversation.

    Good personal brands are problem solves.

    Most people make money by solving a problem. What problem are you solving?

    Create dialog to position yourself as the expert

    Generate a list of 30 pain points/ problems. Segment them into 3-4 categories. These are your content pillars. Create the solutions. Turn it into social media content.

    Relatability.

    If you want more likes, create relatable content.

    Content is relevant and evergreen.

    Invoke emotion.

    Use storytelling.

    Humans connect through emotion.

    Authenticity

    “#YourVibeAttractsYourTribe” #hashtag

    Be the true you.

    “When you show up as yourself, you eliminate the competition.” – [[Sunny Lenarduzzi]] #quote

    Giving Value

    Outteach your competition.

    The value you give, the more attention you will get.

    Give value, gain influence, get attention.

    “Your personal brand is not about you. Your personal brand should be about the problem you solve in service to other people.” – [[Rory Vaden]] #quote

    Live in service to others. Hw can you make people’s lives better?

    Opinion

    Share the good, bad, or ugly of how you feel.

    It’s okay to polarize your audience. You’ll attract superfans and repel any who don’t belong.

    Niche

    Niche formula: bit.ly/dotsdragons

    You need to know who you are talking to.

    Start at the smallest viable audience.

    Sales

    1. Set goals
    2. Never sell on the first date
    3. Plan and execute the Dragon
    4. Scale your Sales

    Cold Lead -> Warm Lead -> Hot Lead
    Feed Post -> Instagram Story -> Direct Messages

    Grow – offer high value, meaningful, relabale content
    Nurture – Branded content, Storytelling, Lifestyle, Educational content
    Sell – Content to Convert

    Instagram Sales Funnel

    Instagram (Conent) -> Website -> Purchase (Email List)

    Stories are the best to sell.

    • Raw and Real
    • Intimacy – Like, Know, Trust factor
    • Automatically opens reactions to DM
    • Swipe up feature to direct traffic to website (requires 10,000 followers)
    • Polling sticker to qualify leads…DM any qualified leads directly

    NOTE: IGTV can swipe up WITHOUT 10,000 followers

    Instagram Story Highlights Optimization

    What? (Solution) -> Who? (Target) -> Why? (The Need) -> How? (The Results, Social proof) -> Your Unique SP -> Your Story

    15 Seconds each story

    Instagram Sales Story Sequence 1

    Problem, Agitation, Discredit, Solution (PADS)

    4 Stories, one for each.

    Problem – Identify pain points.

    Putting your face on video is IMPORTANT…grows your business faster.

    Agitation – Worst case scenario.

    Always have a small “caption” for people who don’t have sound.

    Discredit – Possible Solutions that don’t work.

    Bring up solutions they may have tried that didn’t work for them.

    Solution – Deliver the solution/give value

    Instagram Sales Story Sequence 2

    Picture, Promise, Prove, Push

    Pitcure – Paint a vision, “Imagine this…”, the dream, what its like having the problem solved

    Promise – What is your solution for desired outcome?

    Prove – Insert testimonials, results, data, case studies, social proof…pin testimonials to your highlights

    Push – Call to action.

    Chris Do Sales Formula

    Serve (with love)
    Ask
    Listen
    Empathize
    Summarize

    Ask: where are they? what are their goals? What are they struggling with?

    Tools and Tips for story creation

    Create backgrounds for written content.

    Be consistent with branding and colors and font

    InShot, Canva, Unfold

    Keep everything in one easy to access folder

    Fill screen with color by holding for 2 seconds

    iPhone Live Photos can be Boomerangs (press on photo w/ one finger to convert)

    Check out @30daysrealchallenge

    Exclusive Live-Only Q&A w/ [[Gary Vee]]

    If you can’t figure out what thing to focus on, flip a coin. If you find yourself down the road 2 years not happy with it, try something else.

    5 Powerful Email Strategies to Level-Up Your Business in 2020 – [[Pat Flynn]]

    Growing Your List

    Nobody wants more emails.
    But they do want the results.

    Offer a lead magnet. (I don’t know if I agree with this anymore. it does work)

    Make lead magnets that are quicker and get the reader results faster.
    Short and easy.

    Ideas for short and easy lead magnets:

    1. Resource or Tool list
    2. Quick start guide
    3. Cheat sheet
    4. Checklist
    5. Mini Email Course
    6. Sample Chapter
    7. Templates / Worksheets
    8. Hidden Bonus Content

    Advanced Strategy:

    Run a challenge
    “Go from 0 to 100 email subscribers in 3 days”
    The shorter the challenge, the better

    Using your list

    Ask “What’s you #1 challenge related to (problem)?” in an email
    Check out book Ask by Ryan Levesque

    5 Day Product Launch Email Sequence
    Launch email – talk about what it is. Be specific! Who’s it for? What’s in it for them? Specific call to action.
    Day 2 – How do I know this is real? Proof, Light on stats, heavy on emotion (the story)
    “Online, people default to doubt.” #quote
    Day 3 – Call out the objections. What fears/worries do they have? Tackle them head on. This is one of the highest converting emails.
    Day 4 – Why they need to act now? Amplify the problem. Reiterate scarcity.
    Day 5 –
    Morning – Last Chance, FAQ
    Noon – Subject: I recorded this video just for you
    6 hours left – Final call

    Day 5 Noon vid:
    Make personable.
    Say “You” not “You Guys”
    Make it short, less than 2 minutes
    Unlisted, hosted on YT

    Framework for How to get better everything:

    It’s important to build a relationship
    IFTTT
    Segment your list and send specific emails
    Improves open rates and conversion rates
    Don’t treat all of your leads the same.

    Ask what’s the biggest challenge?
    Seperate into segments based on similar answers.
    Deliver unique content based on segments.

    How To Confidently Create Videos for [[Social Media]] That Sell – [[Elise Darma]]

    Video #stats:

    • 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support ([[HubSpot]], 2018)
    • 88% of video marketers are satisfied with the ROI of their video marketing efforts on social media ([[Animoto]], 2018)
    • Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year ([[Optinmonster]], 2019)
    • 87% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool ([[Wyzowl]], 2019)
    • Videos are a consumers’ favorite type of content to see from a brand on social media ([[Animoto]], 2018)
    • Video posts have 38% higher engagment rates than image posts. ([[Elise Darma]], 2020)
    • Video posts receive 2X the comments than an image post. ([[Elise Darma]], 2020)

    The secrets to being on camera:

    1. You are your own worst critic
    2. Feeling self conscious? What’s the worst thing that could happen? You could die. Is it likely? Not at all.
    3. Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time. #quote Don’t give yourself more than 3 takes. That’s all you get and then move on.

    The secret to being on camera: it all starts in your mind.

    Formula for videos that sell

    S.P.A. – Sleuth, Plan, Action

    Sleuth –

    Take note of every single question and comment you get. What are the questions that people are asking?

    Plan –

    Plan your equipment. Plan your talking points. NOT a script.

    Outline Format:

    • Hook
    • Outcome / Result of following the video
    • Testimonial
    • The Basics
    • Tips
    • Call to Action

    Short Video Format:

    • Hooks
    • Tips
    • Call to action

    Action

    Hit the record button.
    Also don’t forget to give your viewer a call to action.

    No [[AIDA]], [[ACIA]] – Awareness, Connect, Interest, Action
    Consider the source.
    Example: a [[YouTube]] video is search based, so it’s most likely to be at the Awareness stage. They are just discovering you. This CTA should lead to a valuable resource (lead magnet).
    Example: Your Instagram feed is mostly people who have already connected with you.

    CTA’s that Sell

    [[Instagram]]

    • Tap the link…
    • Send me a DM…
    • Comment below…
    • Reply to this Story…
    • Comment with code XYZ for…
    • Swipe up… (if you have it)

    [[YouTube]]

    • Head to the link…
    • Watch the next video on…
    • Subscribe for future trainings…

    [[TikTok]]/Reels

    • Head to…
    • Message me for…
    • Find my [[YouTube]] for more…
    • Find my Instagram for more…

    How to repurpose 1 video

    1. Post video on [[YouTube]]
    2. Share in Stories to drive people to the YT vid
    3. Do the same on TikTok
    4. 7-30 days later…share the ENTIRE video on IGTV

    Overnight Rockstar – [[Susie Moore]]

    Storytelling in the media. Why sahring your story and experiences will make you famous.
    Media wins can happen quickly when we share our stories

    “Stories are a communal currency of humanity.” – [[Tahir Shah]], in [[Arabian Nights]] #quote
    “When we find ourselves in someone else’s story, we feel a little less lonely in the world.” – [[Taffy Brodesser-Akner]], [[New York Times]] #quote
    “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” – [[Seth Godin]] #quote

    No one else has your story. That’s why it’s special.

    you don’t have to be an “expert”

    Sharing what you’ve learned with others is a form of generosity.

    The following notes are from the Teachable Share What You Know Summit (2020) Night School:

    Digital Note-Taking for Course Creators – [[Tiago Forte]]

    Create one central knowlege managmeng system, “Second Brain”
    Put all the best info you know
    Use the info from your second brain any time you need to create content

    Capture – Organize – Distill – Express

    Capture
    Download a digital notes app to store ideas
    Centralized and synced across devices
    Quick and dirty
    Personal and private
    Designed for quick capture

    Organize
    Use the [[PARA]] system
    PARA – Projects. Areas. Resources. Archives.
    fortelabs.co/blog/para

    Distill
    Highlight the best parts so they stand out
    [[Progressive Summarization]]
    fortelabs.co/blog/ps
    Highlight the parts that stand out to you the most

    Express
    Put the pieces together and share your knowledge
    1. Seeing
    2. Writing
    3. Drawing
    4. Performing
    5. Producing
    6. Selling
    Don’t hoard knowledge

    “I look at books as investments in a future of learning rather than a fleeting moment of insight, soon to be forgotten” – [[Kevan Lee]] #quote

    How to Get Clients to Come to You First – [[Rebecca Tracey]]

    Copywriting

    1. Strong Message
    2. Clear Niche
    3. Great Packages
    4. Telling the World

    Your message is the backbone of your busienss.

    Why do you care? What do you believe about the work you’re doing in the world?

    Niche down – if you try to help everyone with everything, you’ll burn out and sell nothing.

    Niche = clear and simple problem people have
    Makes selling easy

    What specific problem do you help peole with?

    Packages = service offers w/ a specific focus, set price, built around a solution to a problem

    People don’t like uncertainty with their money and their time

    Spell it out, tell them exactly what to buy (idea: quiz form)

    No more than 3 options (start w/ one)

    Havign market research is like cheating in your business

    Ask: What do you struggle with most as it relates to (industry/niche/problem)?

    How many packages do you have?
    Does your package solve a clear problem?
    Does it have a set (not hourly) price?

    Marketing = telling the people that you need you that you can help them

    Can you clearly talk about what you do?

    Don’t overcomplicate your pitch

    Don’t use industry jargon

    Template: I work with (who), who (problem). I help them (result) so they can (why).

    Clarity makes a big difference.

    theuncagedlife.com/resources

    7 Tactics for More Profitable [[Facebook Ads]] Campaigns – [[Khalid Hamadeh]]

    Total Value = Advertiser Bid X Estimated Action rates + User Value

    Past conversion rates influence future conversion rates

    Bid your true value! If a purchase is worth $10 to you, set your manual bid to $10
    Improve conversion rates and minimize significant edits
    Target the right people with good creative

    Always monitor your ad relevance diagnostics metrics

    Aim for 50+ conversions per week per ad set so FB can optimize

    Reduce learning resets / significant edits

    Fewer ad sets and campaigns well enable you to be better optimized

    Have a robust lookalike targeting strategy

    It’s not just about signal volume, it’s also about signal health
    Send back as much information as you can (conversions, clicks, etc) via fb pixel
    Use standard events
    Universal placement
    Representative fires
    Parameter Pass-back

    Creative is king; build for mobile

    1. Capture attention quickly. Be thumb stopping.
    2. Design for Sound off.
    3. Frame your visual story.
    4. Showcase your product or service.
    5. Play with formats.
    6. Leverage moving images (cinemagraphs).
    7. Test variation on the same concept.

    Use Pixaloop to make images move. Cinemegraphs convert better than still images.

    If using video, make sure audio is not required.

  • I don’t feel good about what Marketing has become.

    I don’t feel good about what Marketing has become.

    I’ve been thinking a lot about how I don’t feel good about marketing anymore.

    I’m starting to find out that I’m not the only one.

    Nat Eliason wrote about killing all of his lead magnets.

    There is not a single newsletter I was coerced into joining that I enjoy or have stayed subscribed to.

    I’m starting to feel the same.

    I also discovered a book I had bought in a Humble Bundle, “Rehumanize Your Business,” which is about sending personal emails as a part of your marketing.

    It focuses more on building relationships with clients and potential clients, rather than throwing everything out to see what sticks.

    Which is where marketing currently is.

    Right now, most internet marketing teaching goes like this:

    1. Make content
    2. Add a lead magnet/content upgrade to collect emails
    3. Send weekly emails to newsletter
    4. Sell to those people.

    It’s mostly automated and entirely a numbers game.

    It’s inhuman.

    I am guilty of teaching this stuff, too.

    It does work…but it’s entirely a numbers game.

    It’s built on a concept of throwing everything you’ve got out into the internet and seeing what sticks.

    And then there’s paid advertising.

    We all use Adblockers now, right?

    …anywhere from 18% to 79% of your monthly data bucket can go toward delivering advertising…

    With social media, we know that it’s killing us emotionally.

    How many people are you finding and hiring on social media?

    How many are finding and hiring you?

    One study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that liking more posts was tied to worse mental and physical health and “decreased life satisfaction,” while another study by the University of Copenhagen found that many people suffer from “Facebook envy,” the concept of being jealous of friends’ activities on social media.

    So here’s what my new plan is:

    It starts with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

    You do keyword and competitor analysis, and then build content out based on that.

    Then you direct people to the email newsletter. But without a lead magnet.

    This requires decent copywriting skills to work well.

    It’s also going to significantly decrease the amount of signups you get.

    This is intentional.

    We want less sign ups who only want the free stuff. We want quality sign ups.

    We want people who sign up because they care about you and what you’re working on.

    It’s going to be significantly less. Be prepared for this.

    Now we’re going to reach out to each one.

    Not an automated welcome sequence. We’re going to look and see every day who signed up.

    Since we’re saving time in the content treadmill, we’re going to spend the newly freed time doing this.

    And we’re going to send them a video.

    It’s a personal video. Eye contact. Say their name. Wave in the beginning. Smile.

    Don’t try to sell. Just introduce yourself. Thank them for joining the list.

    Ask them what they’re struggling with (in regards to your industry).

    After that, you add them to your follow up sequence and newsletter.

    That sequence needs to provide value.

    No sales. Just straight value.

    Don’t make it last longer than a week.

    If your welcome sequence is 3 emails, have one go out every couple days.

    If it’s 5, space them in a way that makes sense.

    For example, maybe emails 1, 2, and 4 have small actions to take. Stuff they can do immediately.

    Email 3 has a medium sized action, something that takes 2 days.

    Email 5 is going to take them a few days.

    So we space out the emails like this: Email1, 1 day later Email2, 1 day later Email3, 2 days later Email4, 1 day later Email5. Then a week before they receive any more emails.

    Any time they reach out to you, a reply to your video or any other email with substance, respond with another video.

    Keep building this personal relationship.

    This will lead high quality sales to you without you having to do anything “icky” or impersonal.

    How does this scale? We’ll talk about that next.

    How to scale it on up

    Just starting out, this shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes per video.

    If you’re spending more than 10 minutes on the process of recording, uploading, and sending a video…you’re overthinking the whole thing.

    Your video itself shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes.

    Personally, I don’t get so many sign ups every week that I can’t block out enough time to send them all.

    That’s by design.

    But if you do, that’s great too!

    Eventually, you’ll get it down under 10 minutes just from repeating the process.

    But probably not less than 5 minutes. I just don’t think the technology will move that fast for you.

    Just for the sake of argument, let’s say you never get faster than 10 minutes. Worst case scenario.

    If you get 1 signup per day, you can pretty much just knock this out as they come in.

    I recommend you block out a point at the end of your day to do this.

    Just look in your software (I use ConvertKit) and see who signed up.

    1. Record video,
    2. upload video,
    3. send video.

    10 minutes per day…maybe 30 minutes on Monday if you take weekends off but still get subscribers.

    Let’s jump up to 10 per day.

    This is pushing it to almost 2 hours per day.

    If you’re doing the sales part right, you should be getting a pretty good conversion rate from sign ups to clients (or product sales).

    At that point you need to figure out, is it worth it to keep doing this yourself?

    Only you can answer this question based on how much income each signup is worth to your business (I’ll show the equation later on).

    Personally, if I were at that point, I would be hiring help.

    Here’s what I would hire them to do:

    • Send me info of the signups for the day.
    • I would record the videos and them to the assistant.
    • Assistant uploads.
    • Assistant sends.

    That removes me from the aspects that don’t require me.

    Because my brand is ME, I need to be the one in the videos.

    At 100 or more per day, we’re in the big league.

    This is where it might become unscalable for a lot of people.

    There are two reasons here why it might be unscalable:

    1. Whatever you’re selling has too low of a margin to make this worth it.
    2. Your sales sucks and you’re not getting enough.

    Here’s how you figure out if it’s still scalable:

    You take how many subscribers you get and see how many turn into sales.

    If you get 100 subs per day and 60 result in sales, you’re at 60% conversion rate (that’s good).

    Multiply that by the lifetime value of a customer.

    Lifetime value is how much value you expect to get out of one customer.

    If you sell one ebook at $9.99 then that’s the lifetime value…9.99.
    If you sell a $1000 service w/ an optional $100/month package, and you have 60 customers but only 30 of them pick up the optional package, with 15 doing 6 months and 15 doing only 3 months, you gotta do some math.

    I’m gonna be a little harsh…this is pretty basic algebra. If you can’t do the math, get an accountant or maybe you shouldn’t be in business.
    I almost didn’t graduate high school because I failed Algebra 2 and then I almost failed out of college for failing the same dang class. If I can do this math, you either can or know someone who can help you.

    I mean heck email me the info and I’ll do the math for you. I don’t mind.

    Anyway the answer to the above equation is that we have 15 customers worth $1600, 15 customers worth $1300, and 30 customers worth $1000. Average them out and we get ((1600 * 15) + (1300 * 15) + (1000 * 30) / 60 )= ((24,000 + 19,500 + 30,000) / 60) = 73,500 / 60 = $1225.

    $1225 is the lifetime value of a customer.

    Once you figure out the lifetime value of a customer, you can then compare with how long it takes you to make the video, how long it takes your assistant to get it out there and how much you’re paying them.

    You figured out it is still scalable. Now what?

    If you’re getting over 100 subscribers per day with a decent conversion to sales, you should consider removing yourself as the face that sends videos.

    Instead, hire community managers (for products) or account managers (for services) to handle it.

    At that point you should have people who’s entire job is to work with your customers/clients directly.

    Now, you’re not a solo-preneur with an assistant…you’re an agency.

    Put some experienced people in charge of the accounts and train them to send the videos.

  • Everything I’ve Learned From Eddie Shleyner

    Everything I’ve Learned From Eddie Shleyner

    Eddie Shleyner is the Lead Copywriter at G2.com & Founder of VeryGoodCopy.com.

    Notes from his micro-courses coming soon…

    How to grow your social media following over 10k in under a year:

    If you look at any email Eddie sends (usually from VeryGoodCopy), there’s a button that asks you to like a post on LinkedIn.

    It looks like this:

    A screenshot of one of Eddie Shleyner's emails that has a LinkedIn button in it.
    Sign up for his VGC Plus. It’s awesome.

    That’s it. It’s that simple.

    You can do that with any social media you have.

    It doesn’t have to be LinkedIn.

    All you gotta do is ask.

  • Garrett’s “I Only Need One” Method to Making Big Bucks

    Garrett’s “I Only Need One” Method to Making Big Bucks

    My dad goes to a lot of trade shows. One year he saw one booth that was a guy with a fold-out table. Nothing special.

    There was a sign that said “Consulting: $100,000”.

    My dad walked up and asked him, “Does this actually work?”

    And the guy replied, “I only need one.”

    2021 Update: my dad informed me it’s actually a TV commercial.

    In Overlap, Sean teaches us that we need to get to a new normal of 6 months of expenses in the bank.

    At that point, you can quit the day job and change the Overlap to the Career.

    According to The Street, the average income in the USA is just under $50,000 a year.

    I don’t like to do a minimum of 6 months’ expenses. I like to do a minimum of 6 months of lifestyle.

    So, let’s say that’s $25,000.

    Now, you need a service. Something that’s going to make your client money.

    Maybe you sell it for $1000. You need 25 clients to get there.

    What if you sell it for $25,000? Then you “only need one”.

    Going by Overlap, you should expect to work at your day job for 2 years before you reach that point to quit.

    Obviously, your single big-ticket item needs to provide well over $25,000 worth of value to a client.

    Is there something you can do that is worth that much to the right client?

    Don’t think about “well I mostly market to Etsy sellers and most of them don’t make that much money.”

    Instead, think “well I mostly market to Etsy sellers but there are other industries where I could provide $25,000 worth of value. And they can pay it.”

    Then you only need one. In 2 years.

    In 2 years of Overlapping, can you find ONE company that would pay $25,000 for your service?

    Year 3: $50,000
    Year 4: $100,000
    Year 5: $1,000,000

    10x your ex’s 10x (and make them wish you hadn’t split up).

    For $25,000, I can help you become a brand people are proud to buy from.

  • Everything I’ve Learned from David Ogilvy

    Everything I’ve Learned from David Ogilvy

    David Ogilvy is one of the most famous ad and copywriters in history. I’m pretty sure the character Don Draper from Mad Men is based on him.

    “Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret.”

    David Ogilvy

  • Everything I’ve Learned From Cole Schafer

    Everything I’ve Learned From Cole Schafer

    Cole Schafer is a copywriter who runs a company called Honey Copy.

    …our weaknesses don’t take away from our strengths, they inform them.