Everything is personal. Not in that way. What I mean is that everything is personalized. What love feels like for me is different than what it feels like for you. What heartbreak feels like to me is different than for you. What grief looks like for me is different than for you. That’s a lesson I’ve learned in my short time on earth. Th...

36,969 words. That’s how many words are in a Word Doc that holds my written content for this email. While I have a few posts that I’ve already written in the doc, most of the content is unreleased. That’s like a book of content I’ve created. So how did I do it? By writing every day for 30 minutes. It’s that simple. The more I commit to...

What’s one easy way to make effective ads? Make a ton of them. And make them highly personalized for the product, audience, or both. This lesson comes from Gary Vee and is another episode in our Wizdom from Gary Vee miniseries. One thing Gary routinely preached was the importance of creating a plethora of hyper-personalized ads. If you...

Today I want to share something massive with you. It's something I've never done before and am scared to share. You will want to read until the end to find out what it is. *End of role play* Hooks and teasing the reader with a payoff is what good writing does. But tangling the carrot so far in front of them while making them work ridic...

I love Survivor. My wife and I try to watch a little bit during dinner each night. We pick seasons from the past with high ratings and have fun picking who we think will win. I am surprised with who wins every time. Of course, it’s usually someone you would expect, but it’s never an easy pick. It’s not always the best player. Or the st...

Nothing is worse than getting sick. Sadly, that's what happened to me last weekend. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now and didn't lose much because of my head cold. I kept my routines and a healthy mindset while also moving forward personally and professionally. What about you? How was your week? Top learnings 1. The Paradox of YE...

It felt like I was going to die. My chest hurt, and my left arm tingled. Everything flashed in front of my eyes. Do you know what I didn't see in what I thought were my final moments? The Netflix series I didn't watch. The number of hours I spent working. Or the copious amounts of weed I've smoked. Not that those things didn't matter (...

Imagine I have a purple pill. Taking the pill will give you clarity. Pop it every morning, and you'll have extreme clarity for the rest of the day (did someone say Adderall?). Would you take it? I would. I'd even snort a purple line of it every morning (🤧 wipes nose). Why would I? Because clarity is everything. When I struggle most in ...

While distribution is important, we shouldn't focus solely on that. What brought this to my attention was a recent book I purchased. I followed the author and saw their posts about their book, but it wasn't until they retweeted someone noting how great their book was that I bought it. Why? I'm not sure. But two reasons initially come t...

The audacity to promote an ad that's all about yourself is mindboggling. It's like buying a billboard to put your face on it so that you can see yourself driving to work every day. It sounds like Kanye would do. The sad reality is that many ads I see do this, whether directly or indirectly. Today I share how to avoid that and what to d...

““The solution is not to try to convince your people that what you made is awesome, it’s to make better stuff.” — Jonathon Stark.” Marketing is not convincing people to care. Marketing is finding the right people and sharing with them something worth caring about. To illustrate that, let me share a story from my lifeguarding days. Towa...

That week felt like it was on 1.5x speed. Not sure if that's good or bad. My word for the week was too-good-to-be-true. Life has been going oddly well, which makes me wonder what's around the corner. Regardless, I'm enjoying it. Also, we got a new cat. Her name is Mylo! How was your week? Top learnings 1. Bias toward critical thinking ...

It’s my first podcast of the day. I’m in the zone. Asking what I think are great questions and having the guest open themselves like a book. Then it happens. I try not to notice, but I can’t help but see it. And the more I fixate on it, the worse it gets. It’s embarrassing. What is it? My neck. Whenever I’m talking in front of people, ...

At the center of marketing is something I struggle with: Tracking and targeting people. To run ads, you must target someone based on their data. I get this. It could be location, whom they follow, or if they have children. But what if you got more specific and possibly went too far with targeting? That’s what churches have recently bee...

I’m late on almost everything. One of those is miniseries. While they aren’t new (e.g., Band of Brothers in 2001), they are taking over again. In the last few years, Netflix has adopted the strategy full-blown. They’re pumping them out like a catholic family pumps out babies. Have you ever watched one? They are usually 5-10 episodes lo...

Have you ever ordered something at a restaurant that comes out looking "blah?" A better word than "blah" might be underdeveloped. It comes out short on the fries, or the burger is half the size as the bun—sad face. Some content has a similar effect. It underdelivers. Today's ad is "blah," and I'm going to try and spice it up. What I li...

"It needs to be short." "No one reads that much anymore." "No one watches videos over a minute." If you ever hear someone using this heuristic, run the other way. It's not true. People will watch a 30-minute video of Mr. Beast holding onto a box to win a million dollars. People will also listen to an hour-long podcast with Brené Brown ...

Howdy 🤠 Did you have a nice week? My week in one word was content. I have a newfound awareness and acceptance of where I am in life—both professionally and personally. I want to achieve more, but I am satisfied with where I am and the person I am slowly becoming. How would you describe your week in one word? Top learnings 1. Say "yes" ...

“I waited in traffic for 2 hours!” That was a comment on a Facebook post highlighting a crash on the highway. I understand the woman’s frustration. But, when you see the images of the crash–the rear end of an SUV smashed into the front seat–the woman’s anger pails in comparison. Compared to the pain of the people in the accident. Compa...

Building in public is scary. It's like being an animal in a zoo. While it feels like you're in your environment, half of your arena is open (glass) for people to view. They can critique your every movement, and there's little you can do. But, they can also see your struggle, cheer you on, and support you when they feel it's needed. Whi...

This might seem like common sense, but I'm gonna say it anyway: Think first, write second. Many times, we jump right to the writing. By getting to the writing ASAP, we think we will produce better work than waiting. While it "works," aka it gets something written down, I don't believe it leads to our best work. It's merely a heuristic ...

Usually, my ad rewrites are for "bad" ads. But this week is different. Today's ad executes on principles I routinely preach, making it a great ad. I think there is a lot to learn from the good as well as from the bad. And I'll have a few changes to improve it by 1%. What I like about this ad: • Specificity is key. (i.e., 100+ journalis...

While I believe human resources, technology, and management are changing, marketing is changing more quickly. If you continue hiring as you did in 2000, you could have "okay" success. But if you're still doing marketing as you did in 2000, it's over. It's less about changing methods or tactics. It's more about a radical shift in thinki...

How was your week? My week in one (or two) words was peacefully-productive. I got a lot done at work and home. I didn't do it through working crazy hours but through focus and efficiency. I hope your week went well and that you're having a relaxing weekend. Top learnings 1. Life's suffering can be mitigated by reframing Shit happens. T...

Why do we do things that we know have the potential to destroy us? I’m not talking about cheating on your spouse or doing drugs. I’m talking about something we all do: Loving someone. Some people–that we love–are in our lives, and we don’t have much choice over it (i.e., parents or siblings). But others we intentionally choose to open ...

Imagine you go out to coffee with someone you've never met before. You met this person on Instagram, and from their profile, they seem like a cool person. You order a caramel macchiato and a muffin. They order a dark roast with no cream. Hmm, that's a little sus. But you push that out of the way and keep an open perspective on this per...

What’s better? To arrive early and realize you are at the wrong restaurant? Or arrive late but make it to the correct diner? I’m going with the latter. But many of us subconsciously picked the first. We overvalue action without thinking. We rush things just to achieve our artificial goals or deadlines. While never actually figuring out...

WIIFM? Do you know that acronym? WIIFM = What's in it for me? It's the question I ask myself consistently when writing or marketing, not for myself, but for my customer. You need to address that question and be specific about what's in it for the reader or customer. Today's ad shows us what it looks like when you fail to answer this qu...

Happy Monday, friend 👋🏼 Today’s email has two objectives: 1. Share an open position we are hiring for, and if you know anyone who would be interested, please share with them 2. How I refined the job ad from “good” to “kick-ass” (at least in my opinion, lol) MyTalentPlanner is making its second hire, looking for a Customer Success Speci...

One thing I don't do enough is reflection. I put so much focus on achieving the next thing and moving forward that I miss out on looking back, thinking about what happened, and learning from it. The truth is, the more one reflects, the more learnings one has to move forward faster. So, every Saturday, I will share with you a "lookback"...