“My only competitor is the person I was yesterday.”
The First Sip
Hey Sunday Brewers!
Lots of goodies in today’s edition of ‘The Brew’…..including:
How you’re unknowingly depleting your ‘feel GOOD’ hormones…
Why >THIS COLOR < gets prospects to lean in…
And tales of crazy money…
But first…
I ran across this touching tale of an unlikely friendship this week…
Sue Perry was searching for a place on Facebook where she could give away some old things she no longer needed…like DVDs, books, etc.
And in her search, she found a group for people of “Wakefield.”
Being from Wakefield herself, it seemed like a perfect fit.
The only problem is that Sue is from Wakefield, England and the group she joined was for residents of the small town of Wakefield, Quebec (my home province!)
Uh-oh! 😝 …She quickly realized her mistake.
“It was the skis and the ski boots and the warm clothing that sort of give it away, and also the place names I didn’t recognize,” Sue says.
She immediately put out a post explaining her mistake:
“Whoops, I’m sorry I’ve joined the wrong Wakefield group, I’m in the U.K. and hope you all stay safe across the pond,” her simple little post read.
Expecting that would be the end of it, Sue logged off.
But when she logged back in to check her notifications a little while later, she was blown away by the engagement.
“There were lots of people dropping in and chatting and asking how things were,” Sue recalls. “Things were a little dark at that time … so it was a lovely, lovely distraction.”
And after several days of back-and-forth, the Canadian Wakefield-ians decided to send their newest member a care package so that she could officially become “one of them.”
It contained CDs from local musicians, T-shirts, and even some maple syrup.
But it was the note that meant the most:
It read: “The spirit of love and kindness is alive and well in the heart of human kind!”
From Wakefield, England to Wakefield, Quebec and everywhere in between…goodness is still in style!
1 Caffeinated Neurohack
Psychologists know that our dopamine – i.e. the “feel good” hormone – SPIKES ⬆️ when we get a reward.
This reward could be something simple (like a funny meme on Facebook) or very meaningful (like onboarding a new client with $2M in AUM).
Pretty obvious…right?
But did you know that you also get a hit of dopamine by simply anticipating that a reward is coming?
In other words, the mere thought of a reward is enough to unleash happy hormones in the brain.
That can be good…
But it can also have negative consequences.
If you expect a reward and it doesn’t come, you actually end up with a DIP ⬇️ in your dopamine levels.
(This leaves you less happy than you were when you started.)
This “dip” can present itself in numerous ways, but we often see it play out with smartphones and social media.
When your phone is always within reach, you feel an urge to constantly check your phone for new notifications.
Before you realize it, you’re actually checking your phone just to get a quick hit of dopamine.
And guess what?
When you discover that there’s no notification – or a notification that you don’t like – you end up feeling worse than before.
Here are 2 practical ways to avoid “The Dip” and improve your mood:
(1) Limit when you check your phone/social media to two or three predetermined periods of the day (e.g. 11am, 2pm, 7pm).
(2) Change your phone settings to turn off all non-urgent notifications.
☕ TL;DR: Constantly checking your phone for notifications negatively impacts your mood…stop doing it.
Marketing Psychology Quick Hit
LinkedIn is the #1 social media platform for lead generation…bar none.
It’s not even debatable…
Consider that:
- 690M professionals are plugged into LinkedIn
- 10M C-level execs and 180M senior-level influencers have joined the party
- There are 120,000+ businesses on LinkedIn with at least $2M in revenue
- LinkedIn messages generate 11x better response rate than other methods
- LinkedIn users have 200% the buying power of the average internet user
So my question to you is simple:
Are you maximizing your presence on the platform so that you stand out with the RIGHT people?
If you joined me on Wednesday’s VAPH, I already gave you one simple hack for doing this.
(We don’t do VAPH replays, but I’ll give you a hint…It involved getting “fancy” with fonts.)
I do, however, have another tactic you can use to stand out in the LinkedIn newsfeed.
Quick Hack: If you ever want to post something important that requires engagement – like a question – publish it as an image rather than traditional text.
And using a tool like Canva, design the image with black text on an orange background.
That’s it – no intense design skills required.
Why orange?
Two reasons.
(1) Orange stands out in the newsfeed and forces the prospect’s brain to engage with the post (hence why a lot of traffic signs are orange).
(2) Orange is a color of warmth, excitement, and enthusiasm. It puts people in a positive frame of mind so that they’re receptive to what you have to say.
Just check out this post I put in the FB Group a few weeks ago:
It garnered lots of engagement and allowed me to dish out a ton of value to 400+ advisors.
I’d encourage you to give it a shot on your own Facebook or LinkedIn profile.
And if it works out for you, I’d love to hear about it. (Just shoot me a quick reply to this email!)
☕ TL;DR: Instead of posting a normal “text-based” post on FB or LI, use an image with black text and an orange background to increase visibility and engagement.
Weekly Industry Catch-Up
☕ The Scoop: The markets continue incrementally inching up and to the right…but Wall Street is crossing their fingers as a confluence of unknown factors weigh heavy on the near future.
Over 20% of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated and millions more have received their first shot…causing some to say “we’ve turned the corner.”
Here’s what else is happening in our corner of the world:
🔹 What inflation? A macro strategist with Fidelity says The Fed isn’t much worried about inflation, despite printing TRILLIONS (yep that’s a “T”) of dollars over the past year.
Others say we’re about to see the biggest “inflation scare” in 40 years.
It’s a good old fashioned fiscal debate…which side you got? 🤔
🔹 One for the books. Coinbase IPOs on Wednesday – making it the first cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. to go public. It’ll be a rare “direct” listing, following in the footsteps of other big brands like Spotify.
Coinbase just reported Q1 2021 revenue of $1.8B, which is more than DOUBLE the company’s entire 2020 revenue. BTC spike incoming?
BTW…China just launched its own digital currency: #digi-yuan…but it’s raising more questions than answers.
🔹 Crazy times, crazy money. The market continues to act independently of logic and seems to be driven on pure emotion and anticipation…could be good…could be bad…Father Time will tell.
In the words of one CNBC personality: “I wish I could tell people who’ve never traded or invested before how stupid this market is.” 🤪
What’s New With Advisorist
Go get ‘em,
Jeremiah
