“Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.”
The First Sip
Hey Sunday Brewers!
It’s a new year, and you’ll find all kinds of good stuff inside!
From a way to simplify your to-do list to the one simple tweak that increases email open rates by up to 45%…
We aren’t holding anything back. Enjoy!
Despite what you saw on the news every day, there were a lot of GOOD things that happened in 2021.
If anything, last year restored a lot of my faith in humanity and reassured me that when you look closely, the human heart is kind, gracious, and generous.
And out of everything I saw and witnessed last year, this video takes the cake.
Rather than sending out fruit baskets or cookies, Toronto-based Klick Health sent each employee a holiday card with a crisp $100 bill.
Inside the card was a short message that read…
“A simple act of kindness can inspire many more.”
The touching video montage shows some of what transpired.
One woman gave $100 to the humble janitorial worker at her office…
A man gave the cash to his sweet, kind-hearted neighbor…
Another employee gave a $100 tip to his local barista…
One employee simply slipped the $100 bill into an envelope that read “Just Because” and placed it beneath the windshield wiper of a random parked car.
Another employee ordered 20 pizzas and delivered them to a local fire station.
There were tips for school bus drivers and 14-year-old street musicians.
Other coworkers pooled their resources together and started coat drives for the homeless in their towns…
One creative person bought $100 worth of dog toys and treats and gave them out at a local park.
It was a truly touching movement that reminded me a lot of the generosity that members of Shift Nation have shown in recent weeks as we’ve donated money to help our VAs in the Philippines.
If 2021 was a reminder that kindness can shine through in spite of difficult circumstances…
Let’s make 2022 the year that we make being a force for good in the world our number one priority.
1 Caffeinated Neurohack
Is your to-do list overflowing with action items and tasks?
I have a favorite tactic that I like to use when I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.
It’s simple, yet pretty profound.
It’s called the Eisenhower Matrix, and it involves prioritizing tasks by urgency and importance.
Each task on your to-do list can be placed into one of the following four quadrants (based on urgent and important it is).
If it’s urgent and important, it goes in the upper left quadrant. These are your DO FIRST tasks.
Important but not urgent? SCHEDULE IT.
Urgent but low importance tasks go into quadrant three and are DELEGATED.
Finally, anything that’s neither urgent nor important goes into the bottom right quadrant. ELIMINATE these tasks.
Go ahead…
Take your to-do list for the upcoming week and place each line item into one of these four quadrants.
Boom. Instant clarity.
☕ TL;DR: Use this simple matrix to organize your to-do list based on urgency and importance.
Marketing Psychology Quick Hit
If your emails aren’t getting opened, then nothing else matters.
It doesn’t matter how good your copy is, how clever the CTA is, or which copywriting tricks you use…
Your prospect has to feel compelled to open the email.
There are two primary factors that impact whether someone opens your emails:
- The Sender
- The Subject Line
And when it comes to subject lines, here are three tactics working really well right now:
Email Subject Line Tactic #1: Use Numbers
Subject lines with numbers get a 45% higher open rate than the average email. (Example: 7 Reasons to File Your Taxes Early This Year)
Email Subject Line Tactic #2: Keep it Short
A study of more than 262k email templates found open rates PEAK when subject lines are between 3-5 words. Try staying within this sweet spot.
Email Subject Line Tactic #3: Use RE and FW
Want to make an email subject line standout in the inbox? Start it with “Fwd:” or “Re:” This works well when passing along helpful information and/or following up.
☕ TL;DR: Use these three subject line tactics to increase your open rates.
SHIFT Nation Conversations
Agree or disagree? See what others are saying (and charging).
Pam is crushing it! Click here to ask her how she’s doing it.
Weekly Industry Catch-Up
🔹 Glass half…? With prices rising and inflation surging 6.8% over the past year, folks are paying more for everything (including gas, cars, and food).
As a result, 26% of Americans believe their financial situation will worsen in 2022. (7-in-10 cite inflation as the biggest barrier.)
🔹 Tough break. It turns out that Melvin Capital, the group at the epicenter of the GameStop frenzy of 2021, took a major hit from Reddit traders.
They finished the year with an unthinkable 41% loss and the title of “Worst Performing” hedge fund of the year.
🔹 Yo quiero Taco Bell! Never one to shy away from outside-the-box marketing strategies, Taco Bell is rolling out a “taco-a-day” subscription program nationwide.
Sorry, Canadian friends…no word on whether this deal is headed north of the border.
Happy Sunday,
Jeremiah D. Desmarais
CEO, Advisorist
#1 in ROI-Driven Training for Advisors
