Helping you close gigs
Let’s say you’re looking for gigs and I help you close them. Here’s what I say: Hey!I just talked with someone who thinks you might be a good fit for them, but they don’t have a budget for you yet. So i said you’d be fine helping them close business and from there, see if there could be something for you. What’s your reaction to this? Lemme know. 🙂
Wanting better
“We want a better website” Another recent conversation. ◘ We talked with a web consultant and we’ve been told we need to improve our: SEO Responsiveness Load time And improve the design (prettiness) ○ To what end? What are you trying to achieve with this new website? ◘ Hum! Why are you asking these questions?Those are fucking… AMAZING questions. Never thought of that, but now that you ask, I’ll think of it. Most conversations go like this, focusing on the nitty-gritty, omitting the big…
Let’s create something
A real conversation from yesterday. ◘ I’ve had conversations with the head of sustainability in this big co to implement projects, but the thing’s been without motion for a few months. Don’t know how to (re)approach it. I went to grad school with the head of sustainability and we talked about working together. ????♂️ ○ Cool! Tell me more. ◘ Yeah. He’s very interested in improving a set of reports so we left the conversation open. ○ Open to… ◘ New projects and I said “This seem like a great…
Investing your time
That doesn’t really happen. Time is a constraint, not a resource. You can’t use it, store it or even exchange it for something else. As such, you can’t invest it into doing something. Just as you can’t charge for it (that’s why hourly billing is nuts). What we get to confuse with time is actually the opportunity cost: the fact that if you do something, you’re choosing not to do other somethings. Here’s the thing Choosing to put your effort into something you find valuable in a timeframe is a…
Returns on investments
Friend of the list, data scientist and AI and Analytics Specialist, Genevieve Hayes replied with this gold bomb to yesterday’s daily: 1% (shared with permission, bolding mine): And even if a positive return on investment is guaranteed, this leads to the questions: • Is that skill actually valuable (for example, I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 5 minutes, but I don’t think anyone is going to pay me to do so)?• Will that skill actually be needed/wanted in the future? (for example, mastering…
1% better
The belief that compound interest in everything you do will make you exponentially better… is a numbers and perceptions manipulation. There. I said it. “The investor makes an investment. An investment compounds with a positive rate of return into the future. That investment —whether financial, physical, relationship, or anything else— is worth more at a date in the future.Our future self cashes in on that value.” That’s just bullshit. Here’s why. It assumes you do have —with certainty— a…
A category of one
Let’s say you create your very own category —as some twitter bros say. Your category of one. Where you have no competition. You’re the first to be there. You have a monopoly of one (as redundant as it sounds). Ask yourself: How do your clients choose you? If there’s nothing to compare to. How do they know what you do —if you’re the first one? When there’s nothing to compare to. How do they know you solve their problems —if there’s nothing to compare to? How do they make an informed decision…
The wrong numbers game
Seen on linkedin Seeing marketing through this lens is playing the spam game. That’s why sales and contacting new people feels manipulative and sleazy. Because it is. 50 → 10 → 5 → 2 Reach the numbers. The more you reach, the more response you’ll have. (Don’t have to be a genius to know that). Here’s the thing Marketing is not about how many people/businesses/accounts you can reach. It’s about how you can help and make your clients’ lives better *for them*. → How many you can reach: go on a…
Being Mikey
Think for a second your name’s Mikey (from Mikayla or Mike —your choice). Running a small or solo business based on expertise and figuring out how to stand out in your market —or at least how to get noticed. Here are a few things that make you different from a big, large co, something like… Nike: You don’t have the big (and deep) pockets of Nike. You can’t sustain a large ad campaign throughout different channels. You can’t run ANY large campaign You don’t have a PR agency/team You don’t…
Noise
Find your voice. Be contrarian. Be authentic. Getting all of these will make you stand out in your market. You’ll start “to print money”. Bullshit. First. You already have a voice. Just like a baby learning how to make their body and vocal chords to work, you have a voice. Second. A polemic won’t build you up into anything for the long term. Yeah, you might get viral. And gone with the next contrarian comment from someone else. Forgettable. Third. Be authentic. Because everyone else is a…