We’re trying something new, answering a hot-seat coaching question. Hit reply and submit a question you’re stuck on in your business to be answered next week.

The answer to this is based on a couple of very utilitarian assumptions:

• Your business operates to provide for you (aka make money)

• Your marketing primarily serves two purposes: brand awareness (make people who don’t know you aware of who you are) and nurturing people who are aware of you to the point of making a purchase

• You have solid offers that solve the problems in your marketing

• Once your marketing creates a qualified lead, you have a sales process to convert them to a client

Based on that, this could be written as a “simple” optimization.

Honestly, I doubt anyone uses algebra to plan their marketing. But it highlights that your “success” is largely dependent on where your leads:

• Search for the solution you are offering

• Casually consume content in their free time

• Build relationships

Get painfully specific about who you serve and ask them where they spend their time, and what influences how they make purchasing decisions.

You can also look at platform stats like this chart from Pew Research showing the percentage of people that use each platform based on their income.

LinkedIn usage more than triples as you move up to higher income brackets, but TikTok drops by almost a third as you get to $100k+. So if you’re selling a 4 figure offer based on someone’s “fun” money, TikTok isn’t great for finding your ideal clients, but LinkedIn might be.

Your simple goal is to meet clients where they’re at (searching). And have as many touch points as possible (casual consumption) so that they’ll remember you when they make a purchase.

Where should you spend your marketing time next week?

1. Start with where the majority of your leads have come from in the past. Bonus points: ask some of them what type of content they enjoy, and lean into that

2. Ask the bigger question of where your clients are searching for your offers and figure out how to rank there (eg: “TikTok is favored over Google by Gen Z for searches on topics like hair and makeup (40%) and gift ideas (40%)” eMarketer)

3. Map out how you are “nurturing” people through your different platforms to form deeper & less algorithmic relationships with them. A few weeks ago the Orbit Newsletter had a great example of how this looks for a YouTube creator (you’re “core goal” is inquiries)

As you can see from this chart, some platforms have algorithmic distribution that’s great for building awareness with new people, while others are better at nurturing a deep relationship. It’s up to you to decide how you want to balance your time between creating for reach/search vs. nurturing.

My favorite hack we’ve been doing recently is, looking at our current clients and asking ourselves what content would be most impactful to them. And that’s taken our content up a level by focusing on who we’re creating for and the problems we’re helping them solve.

It’s far easier to sell to a previous client than to someone who doesn’t know you. And while you’re selling your past clients, your new clients will want to get in on the party.

As a quick reminder: hit reply and submit a question or two to be considered for hot-seat coaching next week

And if you’re feeling generous, do you like this new format I’m trying? I’d love your thoughts both positive and negative!

See you next week,

Lyndon

Ps, are you struggling to nail down your offers, struggling to convert your leads, or even just need help with your marketing? Working with a coach helps you find solutions to problems like this, instead of spending weeks or even months feeling stuck. You can see our offers and set up a discovery call here to see if we’d be a good fit for you.

Multitasking is a lie. At least that’s what I’ve come to believe the more I learn about psychology.

We’ve discussed time management with multiple coaching clients this week, so I figured it was time to consolidate multiple reframes all in one place.

In this email, I’ll break down 6 concepts & practices that have been the most impactful on how I manage my time.

True multitasking is a myth

Process mapping and planning use the terms “sequential” and “parallel” to describe the order in which things happen.

• Sequential (as it sounds) means you have to finish the first task before the next one starts.

• Parallel means that both can happen at the same time.

I like to imagine our brains work much like how our hands work, they can only work on one thing at a time but “can” switch between tasks fairly easily - but that comes with a cost.

Since it’s cold in Indiana right now, Jo and I have been enjoying soup and grilled cheese recently.

• If one of us is making the whole meal it’s “best” to do it sequentially, butter the bread, grill the grilled cheese, then make soup. The has the lowest chance of something going “wrong”.

• If both of us are cooking together, we can cook in parallel; one makes the grilled cheese, and one makes the soup.

• If one of us is hungry and in a rush, we individually try to “multitask” or do both by switching between making soup and grilling the grilled cheese. But inevitably a step on the soup takes longer than expected and we burn a grilled cheese or the soup ends up cold.

In reality, what we’re trying to do is “task-switching,” not actually “multi-tasking.” And for a lot of things, this works well (enough) for it to be counted as efficient until it isn’t.

Your brain has a context-switching cost

The human brain has a metaphorical toll booth between each task/context you’re working on.

• Best-case scenario, you can just pay the toll (drop in quality, burnt toast) and go on to the next/other task.

• In reality, that toll booth usually has a traffic jam, so your brain ends up taking time to switch between tasks while you wait for the traffic.

A study by the University of California found that it takes around 23 minutes on average to get back to focusing on the original task you were working on.

Imagine if making grilled cheese was a deep-focus task. If it takes 10 mins to make grilled cheese and a similar 10 mins to make soup, done sequentially, it will take about 20 minutes to make the whole meal.

But if you switch back and forth, once to soup and once to grilled cheese, you’ve now added 46 minutes (23 mins each focus switch) of time to a 20-minute process, making dinner now over an hour-long process.

I realize this feels like a silly example, but have you ever found a “simple” Instagram post that should take 15-20 minutes routinely takes you an hour to put up?

What are you switching between in that hour?

Do you need a Maker or Manager schedule?

As you saw by my ridiculous grilled cheese example, I used the term “deep-focus”. In 2009 Paul Graham (one of the founders of Y Combinator) wrote a blog post, breaking down that depending on what you do, the structure of your calendar greatly affects your productivity.

The business world at this point operates in 30 or 60-minute chunks. Meetings are scheduled, decisions are made, and you move on based on what you have scheduled next. This is exactly how work looked like for me in corporate, the first thing I did every morning was look at my calendar of meetings each day and meeting requests in email.

This is what Paul calls a manager’s schedule.

Anything that takes creativity (or deep focus) oftentimes requires more than 60 minutes. For writers, coders, designers, and artists 60 minutes is barely enough time to get started on a task or project, and if you’re asked to switch at that point you lose all momentum and have to start over again once you come back.

It’s really common for one call on the calendar to completely throw off an afternoon or whole day for a maker because they don’t have enough time before or after a call to actually focus, so they end up just writing off the whole block of time and get frustrated about it.

If you’re a maker, the best advice is to start scheduling half or full days just to focus with no interruptions also known as a maker’s schedule. That way you’ll get WAY MORE done, and on the days you do have to “manager schedule” you’ll be able to show up without being frustrated about it.

Create before you Consume

Hot take: the easiest way to kill your own creativity is to look at what other people are doing.

In the 2000s the easiest way to make your computer run faster was to restart it, removing everything running in the background.

Every night when you go to sleep you’re effectively “restarting” your brain and starting fresh the next morning.

Place the most important & creative things first the next day before you consume (become influenced) by social media, emails, text messages, etc.

Not gonna lie, this is one of the hardest to stick to, because it’s so easy to want to scroll & consume while drinking coffee, or you have a reel going viral and you “need” to see how it’s performing first thing in the morning. But it honestly does make a difference if you can make it through your “maker” block before you consume anything and let yourself get distracted.

Do Not Disturb is your best friend in the “maker” or “creative” block of time - it’s not rude to people, you’re committing to give them your undivided attention later once you're done.

Mental notes are like browser tabs: the more you have, the worse your brain performs

Did you know you can buy a waterproof notepad to write down the ideas you have while using the objectively best brainstorming invention ever created… the shower?

The problem with mental notes is overload:

And those stats were pre-TikTok…

People talk about living in an “attention economy” because everything is actively competing for your attention. Without being careful it’s easy to get lost in all the noise and not realize what your own priorities are.

We’ve seen people try to keep everything in “mental notes”… they basically believe that they’ll remember the task, thought, or idea when it matters. And just like your favorite VHS as a kid, this works until someone (your brain) records a sports game over your favorite TMNT recording (mental note) that you’ll never see again (I didn’t watch TMNT or Sports as a kid, but I heard the cries of agony from friends when it happened).

My personal favorite solution is low-tech, the reminders & notes apps on my phone. I write enough words to remember the idea and a time to be reminded when I know I’ll have time to properly deal with it.

• At 10 pm I have an amazing marketing idea for work - it gets a reminder for 9 am the next business day because I know Jo doesn’t want to talk about it at night

• I remember that _____ birthday’s is in a couple of days - 2 reminders, one to buy a gift, and one to text them on the day

• When I finish the toothpaste - it immediately goes on the shopping list in the notes app on my phone, or it’ll never be remembered when I’m at the store

And here’s the beautiful part: by writing it down, I’m “releasing” the thought. Giving myself permission to not hold it anymore, so I’m not stressed if I forget something since everything gets “offloaded” to an in-fallible ‘memory’ device that is not my brain.

Which are glass balls vs rubber balls

Potentially, the most important thing to come to terms with is that sh*t hits the fan sometimes, and you won’t be able to get everything done.

I’ve started to believe that the most important job of an entrepreneur is setting their priorities of what gets done and what doesn’t matter because it only gets harder the more successful you get.

If you think of your life & job as juggling a bunch of things. The analogy goes that some balls are glass and they’ll shatter if you drop them, but others are made of rubber. Rubber balls just bounce when you drop them, and when you have capacity you can pick them back up and keep juggling them with no lasting consequences.

The sooner you figure out which of your balls (responsibilities) are glass, the easier it’ll be to prioritize those and be okay with dropping the rubber ones if need be since it won’t hurt them.

Have you noticed the impact of multitasking on your productivity? Hit reply and let me know what you’ve found helps your productivity.

See you next week,

Lyndon

I’ve always been fascinated by marketing.

I love hearing about other brands’ marketing campaigns and seeing what they do differently, how they hook attention and keep it (or, how they completely missed the mark).

I love seeing the creative process come to life and I love hearing about the results after it happened.

One of the coolest, most fun benefits that I’ve been able to experience after leaving photography is being able to play the role of Creative Director for our own brand. I feel like I’ve tapped into an entire new level of creative marketing. And last week really showed me how fun this next season is going to be.

So in today’s email, we’re going to keep it short. You’ll read a marketing case study (based on yours truly) and get your sales tip of the week, but that’s it. Short and sweet.

So let’s get right to it ⬇️

ICYMI: last week we launched our new website and did a big marketing push on our Instagram account. It ended up going way better than I expected, so let’s break it down.

Here’s the recap:

• Monday’s post —> Teaser of our new branding w/ our launch date.

• Tuesday’s post —> Announcing that we’re leaving photography.

• Wednesday’s post —> How our brand has evolved over the years.

• Thursday’s post —> Countdown reminder.

• Friday’s post —> Announcing our next era.

Let’s Talk About the Marketing:

Unsurprisingly, our announcement about leaving photography performed the best. Within 40 minutes of posting we had 1k views and I turned to Lyndon and said, “I think it could hit 20k views”.

At the time of this writing, it’s at 32k views (and still climbing).

What I didn’t expect was how many followers we would get from that one reel. That was wildly unexpected to me (if you came through that reel, hi and thank you for being here!)

At the time of writing, we’ve gained 69 followers from that one reel alone…and they’re still coming.

Biggest Takeaways:

I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect last week to be so special. We often encourage our clients to bring their audience along for the ride when they’re pivoting or building new offers. To do it ourselves and receive the kindest feedback along the way was incredibly special and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for y’all engaging so much.

This launch just reminded me of the power that pre-launch marketing plays in your launch strategy. Lyndon and I sat down the week before to talk about content we wanted to go up every single day for launch week (aka: the posts listed above) and that made a huge difference, too. Taking some extra time to plan ahead does wonders.

How you can apply this to your own marketing:

• Teaser content is one of the best ways of hyping your audience up and building anticipation for a launch. Use countdowns, post a teaser reel with a good hook, and give them sneak peeks without revealing too much.

• Quality content elevates your launch. We rented a studio for a couple of hours last Tuesday (we did the same thing in January) which is where the majority of photos, videos, and b-roll content you saw during our launch week came from. Having a mix of iPhone & professional video/photo gave us a variety of strong visual assets that we then used for both our Instagram feed & stories (and of course, our new website).

• Nostalgia marketing is huge this year. Our post about “How Our Brand Has Evolved” did way better than I thought it was going to (also, fun fact: I had originally done an entirely different design for that post but didn’t like it at all, so started from scratch and posted what you saw. So thank you for engaging with it so much!!). Here’s the data if you’re curious ⬇️

Sales Tip of the Week:

This week’s sales tip is to start talking about your offers.

It sounds so simple but this one step is often so easily missed (because let’s be real, we like to overcomplicate things).

We were on a 1:1 call with a gal a few weeks ago who had one goal: make more sales.

Totally get it, because, same.

But the more we talked, the more we realized…she wasn’t telling anyone about what she offered. Instead, she was hoping people would simply find her and like what they saw enough to purchase.

Been. There.

In fact, this morning one of our current 1:1 clients messaged us and said “I love this new offer on your website (CEO Mondays). I don’t remember seeing you talk about them. Did I miss this?”

So you know, we’re just as guilty of this simple step and about to take our own advice.

YOUR CHALLENGE TODAY → talk about your offers. Share your availability on Instagram stories, bring up your business to a stranger the next time you’re at a coffee shop, or share a link to your services in your email…like THIS ⬇️

People won’t know what you have to offer if you don’t tell them.

If you want others to know about your product/service, it starts by talking about it.

If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). ✨

PS, are you hanging out with us on Instagram yet?

Holy freaking moly.

What. a. week.

We’ve been deep in the trenches this week putting together the final touches on our brand new website, designed by the phenomenal Lyndsey from Polished Code (she’s amazing, seriously. If you want to elevate your online presence, she’s the one you want to hire).

If you follow us on Instagram, you likely saw our post this week announcing that we’re officially no longer accepting photo clients. It’s been one hell of a decade and we’re leaving it with so much gratitude for the clients we’ve worked with and the memories we made along the way.

But now it’s time for our next chapter.

In this next era, we’re focusing on offering high-level coaching and consulting services for business owners like you.

And we couldn’t be more excited about it.

You can see all the details here on our new website!

PS, we created a new freebie for you, too!! 

Since you’re already on our email list, we want to make sure you have the proper link for our Standardize Your Services Framework Guide. You can download it here.

Thank you for all your love and support this week, we’re so grateful for such an incredible community like you. 🫶🏼

Cheers to our next chapter,

Get the latest on our Instagram @joandlyndon ⬇️

Where are you headed?

When Jo and I got married, someone gave us the advice, “Every day, your relationship will grow or die a little bit, there’s no such thing as staying the same.”

While doing wonders for our relationship, I’ve also subconsciously applied it to so many other things in life. Every day I’m either getting better or atrophying at:

• My body via exercising

• My mindset via what I read/consume

• Our business via where I’m choosing to spend my time

But - for my analytical brain, this perspective immediately raised a problem - how do I measure “better” or “worse”?

Whether it’s our relationship, my fitness, or the business, without having something to measure against it’s difficult some days to know if I’ve improved or declined.

For example, let’s look at fitness

• if my goal is to be a bodybuilder (it’s not, but I’m currently reading Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it was his for a long time), going for a long hike would most likely atrophy my muscle definition or take me further from my goal

• my actual fitness goals are about being able to do the things that bring me joy, meaning that a long hike is bringing me closer to my goal.

How is this applicable to business?

This week, we chatted with @theaashimaverma about our experience transitioning our business from an agency/service-based business to an education/coaching business and what we learned along the way.

Asshima had reached out because she’s considering making a similar change. As she shared that she was starting to be burnt out with her current business and what she was exploring & learning about to possibly change, it felt shockingly similar to when I left corporate.

Storytime…

After I finished my MBA at IU in 2020 (mountain top experience), I got a job in the pharmaceutical industry and burnt out in under 12 months working fully remote (valley experience), not because of the technical job responsibilities, but the stress the structure of it was causing me.

When I joined Jo working at our company, I was so excited about what I was leaving.

I was so focused on what I was leaving that I didn’t do a great job of looking forward to what would actually fulfill me. All I knew was that I enjoyed working with Jo more than the environment in my corporate, so I switched jobs based on vibes.

Over the years since then, I’ve started to describe this as being “pushed” to join Jo rather than “pulled” because once the honeymoon period of working together wore off, I started to recognize some of the same feelings creeping in that I had felt in corporate.

I wasn’t feeling pulled to work each day; it was slowly becoming just another job.

To put this in the framework from the first section, I never defined what my personal goal with our business was so I had no way to measure (and control) if each day it was getting better or worse. So I defaulted to comparing to:

• Jo was creatively fulfilled by much of what our business was doing

• Our clients were passionate about what their business was doing

• On socials, everyone was posting about “major wins” (I logically knew much of it was marketing..)

Honestly, the answer comes from looking inward to find what mattered to me, not externally at everyone else.

Once I started doing the introspective work, we were able to start making changes to our business so that each day is better than the previous one as we’re evolving as a business. This brings us to today:

• I love writing my emails each week and I’m going on a year of almost weekly sends

• We’re a coaching business now

• I’m brainstorming daily on how I can use Lyndon’s List to turn me into my grad school dream of being a tech founder (currently cooking)

Where do you start?

The future.

Here are three tangible journal questions to ‘future state’ your life and allow yourself to dream about what the best version could be. Since I love movies and television, my process is all about making a movie about my future best life:

• Scene location:

  • Where are you & what does it look like?

  • Example: A-frame cabin in the woods overlooking a lake, penthouse apartment in NYC, your current kitchen counter, etc

• Action:

  • What are you doing in your best life?

  • Examples: hiking, going to conferences, speaking from a stage, reading a book while swinging in a hammock with a mojito, etc

• Casting:

  • Who are you with?

  • Examples: a diverse group of innovative business founders in a mastermind, your kids, surrounded by strangers learning about a culture that’s new to you, etc

With this mental image, fill out your imaginary calendar:

• How many days/hours are you working?

• Are you traveling?

• What is your time spent on each day?

I imagine that based on this exercise, you can implement things immediately that will take you one step closer to your dream life and business.

And this can become your measurement each day to ask yourself “Did I get closer or further from my dream life?”

I did this exercise this morning to re-center myself and realized I’m way closer to what my dream life is than even I would have guessed.

If you want to see my answers, just hit reply and tell me your answers and I’ll send you mine.

Lyndon

Links I sent this week

This raw video by two of my favorite educators on Youtube (Colin and Samir) telling the story of both of them as expecting fathers losing their houses to the fires in California was such a good window into how life-changing the fires have been to thousands of people.

The most interesting Use Cases for using AI in life & business I’ve heard so far

Possibly the coolest way I’ve seen to design new clothing using 3D models

This company is pioneering at-home cortisol testing, which could be amazing for testing & treating burnout

I spend too much time thinking about the future of news & journalism; this was an interesting interview with the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism

I’m intrigued by this book about acquiring “unsexy but reliably profitable” small “cash-flowing” businesses. It’s interesting that it’s positioned as sharing how Wall Street rich people actually think about business.

In somewhat ironic timing, this interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dropped on Monday (the same day their stock price dropped by 17% or just shy of $600B)

This mini-documentary about a YouTuber training for and racing in a professional race at the Indianapolis Speedway was an interesting perspective into how hard it is to just “not place last” in professional racing with months of training.

Every weekend I try to do the same journaling exercise. I ask myself two questions:

• How do I want to feel this week?

• What do I want to work on this week?

And then I write down whatever comes to mind.

For the first question, I’ll write down action steps that will make it more likely to feel the emotions & states of being I want to experience during the week.

To give you an example, here’s my exercise for this week:

HOW DO I WANT TO FEEL THIS WEEK?

• Grounded

  • Limit screen time

  • Walking every day (sunshine & fresh air)

• Disciplined

  • Working out 3x/week with electrolytes

  • 6AM club

  • Trying new healthy meals (this looks like cooking at home with fresh ingredients)

WHAT DO I WANT TO WORK ON THIS WEEK?

• My email (done and done!)

• Posting to LinkedIn 3x

• Social content (I have a list of post ideas I’ll be creating right after this)

• Writing letters and sending happy mail to people I’m thinking about 💌

• Reading (current book stack includes: 1, 2, 3, and 4.)

• January reflection & February dreaming

And of course there are things I need to work on this week, but I love to write down what I want to work on first because oftentimes it’ll get put on the back burner if I don’t prioritize it.

Once I have my list of action steps, I then put it all in my planner from Hustle Sanely (an incredible company founded by the incredible @jessmmassey. Fun fact: all of the planners are designed by one of our coaching clients @bloomingbydesign.co — how cool is that?!)

Now it’s your turn! Today, give yourself 15-minutes to write down the two questions above and see what comes up. Then, turn those answers into action steps for yourself as you go throughout the week — super helpful in measuring your progress and prioritizing how you want to feel and what you want to work on!

PS, if you decide to do this exercise I would love to see! Tag me on Instagram stories @joandlyndon and I’ll repost! 

Marketing Moves:

Over the past week we’ve been honored to have a couple of really cool features on other accounts. These are companies we both use and love, which makes it extra exciting to be featured on them!

No. 1: Kayak

A few weeks ago I spontaneously wrote this post on Threads while watching the snow fall outside our window. After posting it I had the thought “hmm, maybe I should have tagged Kayak” but decided not to stress about it and went back to the book I was reading.

And then three days later Lyndon texted me this:

So…yeah, we were featured on Kayak’s Instagram feed and I’m so stoked about it!

Instagram post

No. 2: NKO club

The second account is near and dear to my heart. When we got our Peloton a few years ago, the first class I took was with Kendall Toole. Immediately, I was hooked. She incorporated boxing into some classes (my favorite) and always knew what to say at just the right time. At the end of every class she would end by saying, “hands up and remember — they can knock you down but they can never knock you out.”

That quote resonated with me deeply. There have been many moments in my life, as I’m sure there have been in yours, where it’s felt like I’ve had the rug swept from under my feet. However, time and time again I’ve picked myself back up and tried again.

Kendall gave me a mantra that put my desire to keep going into words.

Shortly after Kendall left Peloton last year, she announced @NKOClub, her company that advocates for mental health. When she announced her line of trucker hats, I immediately knew I wanted to purchase one to remind myself to “stay in the race” as Kendall loves to say.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago when we had our latest brand photoshoot. I knew I wanted to incorporate some photos of me wearing my NKO hat and afterwards, I decided to send NKO Club a separate gallery with the photos that showed their hat just in case they wanted to use any of them. I honestly had no idea if they would, but I wanted them to have the option in case there were any that felt like a good fit for their marketing.

Over the weekend they shared a few of those photos and I’m so happy they were able to use some of them!!

Instagram post

How You Can Apply These Marketing Moves:

• Tag brands when you share about them! Most brands will want to re-post or use your content in their marketing and will be happy to tag you if you ask.

• If you have photos of yourself with certain products or brands that you love, send those photos TO THOSE BRANDS for them to use in their marketing if they would like. Important note on this: if you worked with a photographer, make sure you have their permission first before doing this. Most photographers will be okay with it, however it’s best practice to 1) request their permission and 2) ask the brand to tag both your account and the photographers if they choose to use any of the photos in their marketing.

Sales Tip of the Week:

This week’s sales tip is all about checking in with your current clients.

I’m reading the book How to never lose a customer again and he makes the point that most businesses will spend all their efforts and budget on advertising and marketing to get a new customer. However, once that client is in their door they stop paying them as much attention. They’re handed off to a junior associate, not given the same perks they got when they were being “courted”, and it can quite frankly feel like they’ve been shoved to the side. For that reason, a lot of customers leave sooner than later because the promise they were given didn’t match their experience.

One things we’ve started doing with our current clients is checking in with them after the first 30 days of working together.

We don’t do this over email or text.

It’s face-to-face (Zoom style).

We like to do it face-to-face because you get the full context when you’re in the same room together (even if that room is virtual). You can ask follow-up questions and gain a deeper understanding for what you can do to improve their experience.

It boils down to three questions:

1. What do you feel is going well?

2. What do you feel isn’t going well?

3. What can we do better?

Sometimes for the second question we have to pry a bit. There’s always something that can be improved but a lot of people see feedback as being mean — it’s not when it’s done right. (That’s a topic for another day, hit reply if you want me to share more about this in next week’s email).

Because of this one practice, we learned that one client needed to switch the days they originally had scheduled for Voxer (a text-support app we use to support our coaching clients in-between calls) but they didn’t know they could ask.

Another client shared that they need a check-in a day or two before their scheduled calls to confirm if the day/time still works for them or if we needed to rescheduled because #life.

And another brought up the point that they would be able to speak more freely on calls if we didn’t record those calls (something we offer clients so they can go back and watch if they need to refresh their memory on a certain topic) — a super easy fix.

All of these scenarios had simple solutions but we wouldn’t have known about any of them if we didn’t check-in.

The next time you’re on a client call, carve out about 15-minutes at the end to ask them these three questions. You’ll be doing both of you a huge service in doing so.

Curious about coaching with us? Click here to schedule a discovery call to see if we’re a good fit and talk about what it would look like to work together.

If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). ✨

PS, are you hanging out with us on Instagram yet?

Did someone forward you this email? Click here if you’d like to subscribe.

“I’m feeling a disconnect…”

On a coaching call this week I told a client this.

We were talking about her big goals, what impact she wanted to have, and how she was thinking about offers.

Sitting on the outside of her business, being presented with the whole picture at the same time, I was having trouble seeing how what she was talking about offering would achieve the goals she had set for herself.

Most people default to thinking big picture or deep in the weeds. And while both are really important skills to have, this frequently creates blind spots for us.

When we’re excited about an idea, project, or offer, we spend tons of time thinking about it, building it out, polishing the details, and dreaming of being featured in next year’s Forbes ‘40 under 40’ because of how amazing it was. But forget to toggle to the opposite way of thinking (big vs deep).

The problem with this is something called the Dunning Kruger effect which “occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skill in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, this effect also drives those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone, leading them to underestimate their abilities.” (source: thedecisionlab.com)

To visualize it this is what it looks like on a chart:

The reason I was able to point out a disconnect I was seeing with our coaching client was that we’ve grappled with a very similar disconnect during a launch in our own business in the past, and it didn’t work out for us either. For us, we moved up the “competence” curve by trying things out ourselves and now, as coaches, we’re able to point out other people’s blind spots.

Much like when you’re learning to drive a car, your driving instructor (or parent) hammered home the idea that when you’re changing lanes you should check your blind spots.

It’s very similar in your business - most of the time, what’s happening in your blind spots isn’t that big of a problem when you’re doing ‘business as usual’… but when you are changing things, it can wreak havoc.

Because most of the time, it “doesn’t matter,” it’s really easy to get comfortable and not practice the habit of checking.

So how do you check your blind spots? Here are a couple of our favorites:

• Friends: Talk your ideas out with someone who knows you well (and understands your business), and ask them to give you their honest thoughts

• Dollars: Get someone to pay you money for “it” as early as possible - the flaw in asking people to vote on this on stories (or similar), is you’re not asking them to put money behind their answers, but if you can get someone to put their money where their mouth is and buy a version of your new idea early on in your development process you’ll validate the concept & be able to iterate it quickly

• Napkin: Write out the entire idea in one napkin. The entire premise for most successful companies can fit on one single napkin from a conversation between founders at a diner - basically the simplest form of a “business plan” where you have the who, how, what, and why all in one place

• Ducks: In software development, new hires are often given a rubber duck and told to “explain it to the duck” before asking for help. By going line by line in their code verbally explaining their problem oftentimes they’ll find the solution without having to ask anyone else. You can do this as a way to surface blindspots as well - explain verbally or written exactly how “it” would work, what the entire client experience would be, where exactly money will come from, and what your ideal success will look like.

• Coaches: The value of paying someone is they’re entirely focused on you and your goals. You don’t have to feel bad for talking 95% of the time, or even having to structure the napkin business plan yourself. Generally, they’ve had experience/knowledge about what you’re going through before to see the blindspots before you do.

How did our client respond?

She circled back a couple of minutes later and wanted to go even deeper into the disconnect, once she saw it herself she wanted to know more. It doesn’t have to be uncomfortable if you approach it from curiosity and growth. It’s about helping you improve.

Does listening to an audiobook count as reading?

Since we’re in the middle of people grappling with their New Year resolution reading goals, it feels like I’m seeing this question in multiple places this week…

John Green (author) on his vlog this week made the argument that it counts as reading - this Redditor wrote a long dissenting opinion that John missed a major part of what the definition of reading is 🤔.

Two of the editors of the Verge gripped with reading goals in the second half of this Vergecast podcast (they said no it doesn’t count), and the easiest way to read more books this year is quite more books, getting bogged down just slows you down.

Do you count audiobooks for your year’s reading count?

Lyndon

Links I sent this week

Tim Ferris dropped the first 2 chapers of his new book on the blog on his website - personally I’m really excited about this book it’s gold already!

Justin Welsh wrote a great reframe in his email this week about how to genuinely reach out to people - and how he paid someone $43k who cold messaged him the right way

This preview of the Segway Cyber bike has me really wanting one… I never thought of Segway as more than a gimmicky self-balancing scooter(?)… but I think I now want an e-bike?

I want to be an angel investor.

One of my big dreams is to be able to invest in other start-up companies and mentor founders as they develop and grow companies from the ground up. There’s nothing that lights me up more than investing in other companies who have heart and soul, a clear mission for why they do what they do…and to be able to back them up with sizable monetary contributions? That’s something both Lyndon and I would love to do one day.

But there’s a gap between where we are now and where we want to be in order to become angel investors.

In order to close that gap, we’re taking intentional action steps now that our future selves will thank us for.

I’ve basically deemed 2025 my “Transformation Year”.

There are rooms I want to show up in and people I want to connect with who quite frankly, I don’t feel equipped to be in/around right now.

Now look, I fully believe that God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

I also believe that I will be able to bring my best to the table and be even more generous and impactful if I am taking steps now that will support those relationships, opportunities, and connections when they happen.

So what action steps am I taking right here, right now?

Honestly, I’m keeping it super simple right now.

1. I’m reading as much as possible. Business books. Devotionals. Fiction (because fiction is still important for both winding down & your creativity!). We’re only twenty-one days into the year and at the time of this writing I’ve already finished reading 5 books. That’s how serious I am about absorbing as much knowledge as possible right now. And it’s working. I can already tell a difference in my mindset, the way I approach business decisions, and my overall confidence. Knowledge truly is power.

2. ICYMI: last week we started a 90-day posting challenge (M-F) on LinkedIn. When I think about the opportunities and people I want to connect with, there’s a good chance at least one of them is going to be from LinkedIn. And that means showing up. It’s also helping me exercise my business messaging muscles and expand my knowledge base on case studies and examples we can share with our coaching clients around business growth, marketing, branding, etc. Basically, I’m having the best time so far.

3. Being more intentional in what I wear and how I show up. I’ll be honest, I started the year with a challenge to get ready every day of 2025 and after about a week, realized I needed to modify that. I’m now simply making an effort to wear outfits that I love and feel confident in (and some days that includes leggings and a hoodie). When I was a kid my dad expressed the importance of dressing up because “you never know who you’ll meet” and I embodied that practice for a long time. It feels really good to put it back in practice again (within reason). And wow, it does in fact change the way you show up.

Those are simply my starting points and as I become more consistent with them, I know they’ll evolve and expand.

I have no idea when we’ll realistically be able to begin angel investing in other business owners’ dreams and start-ups, but I know that if I don’t take steps accordingly then it’s a lot less likely that we will.

What’s a big dream you have? How are you going to start taking steps towards setting your future self up for success — right here, right now?

If you’re feeling stuck in your business right now, we have ONE SPOT LEFT for free strategy calls this month! Click here to schedule yours. 📞✨

Introducing: The Sunshine Edit 📸☀️

Okay if you follow us on Instagram then you knowww how much I love using Imagen.AI to edit our photos! When we first set up our account, we uploaded thousands of our previous edits to their AI model so that it could learn our editing style.

And then we put it to the test.

The first time I used it, my jaw about dropped on the floor.

It was. SPOT. ON.

We’ve worked with photo editors in the past & it was always so helpful, but I would find myself tweaking the edits every single time (hello, perfectionism).

But with Imagen.ai…? The edits have been so consistent with the style I’ve so intentionally curated over the past 5+ years. It absolutely blows my mind. 🤯

And now you can access our “Sunshine Edit” AI Profile, too. ☀️📸

Imagen.AI has become one of my favorite tools we use and I will sing their praises all day long to any photographer looking for a way to save time with their editing (I’m not kidding when I say we have saved HOURS — not to mention, now I can immediately edit all of our personal photos, too which used to wait months to be edited)!

You will need an account with Imagen.AI in order to purchase and use our AI profile but it’s so worth it IMO! Click here to get your first 1500 edits free & click here to purchase The Sunshine Edit.

You can save $50 by using code “JOANDLYNDON” at checkout before Thursday, January 23rd. 🫶🏼

*Please note that you will probably still need to do minor edits in some instances depending on your lighting and location. But wow, it’s the best editing tool I could ever recommend.

I’ve been a secret admirer of Beís for a long time and while I don’t own any of their products (yet!), I love following along with their new product launches and marketing campaigns (the “Airport Daddy” reel they posted last summer?! Gold. Pure. Gold.)

So when they began teasing new product designs over the holiday break, I started paying attention.

Let’s Talk About the Marketing:

The first thing Beís marketing did was…disappear from the app. Sort of.

Paige, Beís’ social media manager, posted this carousel on their feed on December 26 explaining she would be taking the week off for the holidays & someone from their leadership team would be taking over socials for each day. And what followed was another brilliant display of marketing genius (I mean c’mon, encouraging mental health breaks + showcasing your team members all in one move?! I’m a fan).

Instagram post

It was in this post from Drew, the VP of design & product, that Beís started teasing new product designs and colors…and everyone took notice (myself included).

Finally, on January 6 @csb dropped this post in collaboration with @beis saying new products were “coming soon…”

AND I LOST MY MIND OVER THE BURGUNDY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME. 😍

But, I digress.

Then, the wildfires in LA happened and immediately, Beís was one of the first brands to jump into action.

They did more than put up a post (which they were one of the first to do, btw, not waiting five days to make a statement). They contributed numerous of their weekender bags to @lifeinjeneral, a home organizer who set up “shop” (it’s all free) in her space to provide anything and everything possible to those who lost so much. I just went back and watched her stories from today and I could honestly cry. It’s one of the most beautiful acts of humanity in the midst of such a heart-wrenching travesty. Seeing the way LA and everyone else has come together for the community has been emotional to say the least.

Beís continued to actively promote their new collaboration with CSB, an activewear line. There were giveaways, collaboration posts, and then last week founder Shay Mitchell appeared in a product walk-through video for every single piece. It was such a great way to show people what the products looked like, new features and limited-time new colors, and build hype for customers to set their alarms for the new product drop on January 15.

They encouraged users to download the Beís app in order to get early access three hours before new products dropped on the site for everyone.

I’ll be honest, I seriously considered getting The Crescent Satchel in burgundy - are you kidding me? It’s so on-brand!! 😍

I would love to know how this campaign stacks up next to previous marketing campaigns. How did it compare? Will they start including burgundy as a life-time color choice (in the words of Sabrina Carpenter: please, please, please)?!

I have no way of knowing the behind-the-scenes data or numbers. All I can tell you is once again, I’m supremely impressed with their marketing.

How You Can Apply These Marketing Moves:

• There is a lot of fun to be had in teasing an upcoming launch. Share lil’ previews of new products, share the behind-the-scenes process of putting it together, and simply bring your audience along for the ride. This was perhaps my favorite post of Beís x CSB’s entire campaign, sharing glimpses into the design process that make you feel like you got a backstage pass.

• Educate your audience on when + where you’ll be dropping your new ________. I love how Beís shared an inside look of every product about a week before they went Live to start building hype and anticipation for “cart opens”.

• Give people opportunities to engage. This post is a great example. Giveways work for this, too. Allow your audience to be a part of the conversation!

Sales Tip of the Week:

If you know me, you know I love to strategize.

I also love to pray.

Prayer may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about sales, but I can’t tell you how many times it has played such a vital role in our business.

There’s one story in particular that I come back to often, that reminds me just how powerful prayer is in business, too.

A few years ago I was praying via journaling (my go-to) while enjoying the sunshine on our deck. There was a specific number we needed to hit in order to pay our bills that month and I had no idea where it was going to come from.

I remember writing something like:

“Hey God, we need $4200 (or somewhere around this number) and I have no idea how to get it but I’m asking you to bring it in. I’ve heard stories and seen the ways you’ve provided for us before and I’m believing you will again.”

Then, I took a deep breath and thought, alright, I don’t know how to fully believe this will happen but I’m going to try. Let’s see what happens.

I kid you not, the minute I was done praying that prayer I thought “hey, let me just pop on Instagram and see if there’s anything there” and low and behold, there was a message from a business owner who wanted to do 1:1 coaching for the exact amount I had just prayed for.

She booked that day.

I’ll never forget that moment because it was perhaps one of the first times I boldly prayed and believed that God would come through for us in a big way, in business.

You don’t forget a moment like that.

Don’t underestimate the power of prayer in your business.

Yes, there are INCREDIBLE sales strategies you can implement and practice that play part in signing more clients. But don’t forget…

God wants to bless you, too.

Right now we’re praying another version of a big, bold prayer in our business. And it’s scary to put it out there but I’ve seen God do it once and I believe He’ll do it again.

And I believe He wants to do the same for you.

Give it a try. See what happens. ✨

If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). ✨

PS, are you hanging out with us on Instagram yet?

We’re now over halfway through January:

• Can we still say Happy New Year to people?

• Is it time to seriously consider which resolutions are worth sticking with?

• Have you defined your goals for the year yet? - If not we have a couple of strategy calls left where we can chat about your plans for the year (oh and it’s free)

Mythological ships 🚢 & AI?

This week I put up this post on LinkedIn (come hang out on Linkedin, we’re trying new things):

I haven’t been able to get the idea of Theseus’s Ship out of my head. Specifically, what else does this apply to?

The one that I’ve given the most thought to is how this applies to the offers that we, as business owners, have. Let’s take a look at our phased-out photography business.

Over the years, we changed

• the equipment we used (Canon 5DmIV → EOS R → EOS R6)

• the type of photography (Weddings → Boudoir → Branding)

• the people (College Sweethearts → Late 20s YUPpies → Business Coaches → Newer Business Owners)

• the city (Michigan City → Bloomington → Chicago → Indianapolis)

• the price 📈

• the team (Joelle → Jo & Lyndon)

• and more

But somehow through all of that, we were still “photographers”…

The things that we never replaced were our skills & our network.

Everything else can come and go, but the things that make our offers truly valuable are what make us unique as service providers - our personality, our skills, and our perspectives.

Why does this matter?

This week, DJI announced the DJI Flip, their second camera drone that sells without a controller that uses “AI” to fly itself and take photos and videos for you. If you look at DJI’s pace of improvement from the DJI Neo that they announced less than 6 months ago, in a few years (or less), AI will be able to replace all but the best photographers in many applications (frame the photos, edit the photo, record video) - but it won’t replace your personal relationship with people or your skill telling people how to pose, yet.

This has really challenged me to think about the value we bring to our coaching offers because just knowing case studies & frameworks is not enough to separate us from someone going to chatGPT and asking it to pretend to be their coach. I can’t compete with something trained on the entire corpus of knowledge on the internet.

But I can 100% use more empathy, connect more relevant dots, understand the motivation behind what someone says, and actually help them implement the solution (to mention a few).

As you’re going into the weekend I’d challenge you to take some time to think about what the irreplaceable parts of your offers are.

• How can you lean further into those things?

• Do you need to be educating your audience of that value?

A peak behind the curtain: Lyndon’s List (coming soon)

My word of 2025 is “Connector” and being in a time of change in our business (rebranding), this presents opportunities. I’ve been ‘cooking’ on the idea of - what would it look like to have a literal open and active Rolodex?

Over the holidays on a 10+ hour road trip Jo and I started brainstorming, here’s a super high-level summary of our resulting notes:

• What is it: a database on our website

• Who would it be for: small business owners

• Who would be included: service providers (eg: photographers, designers, bookkeepers, coaches, social media managers, VAs, etc)

• How would it work:

  • application based for inclusion to then be vetted by us to maintain a level of quality

  • a public board that isn’t pay-walled, or behind a login making it difficult to drive referrals

I proceeded to sit at my in-law’s kitchen table the next day mocking up what I was envisioning in Figma. If I was going to work with a web designer to make this a reality, I had to figure out what I wanted it to look like/include before trying to explain my vision. This is what my first draft rough mock-ups looked like:

Top page by categories

A filterable list of providers with enough info to compare

Each provider would get a profile page based on their application answers

Along with the mockups, I started a planning doc with:

• a roadmap (every feature, option, and things to include “one day”)

• an open questions log (everything goes in there until it’s answered)

• the business plan (will we monetize this, and possible ways)

Sorry not showing that one - gotta keep some mysteries alive…

After having a few conversations with the great Lyndsey of Polished Code who’s doing our rebrand & new website (oh and she’s also one of our coaching clients ❤️), we confirmed that Webflow has a whole CMS feature that should make this totally possible. I then embarked on doing Market Research.

Market Research Step 1 (last week): I personally reached out to 7 people made of past clients, business friends, and people we trust with this exact script:

Major Insights

• People want transparency about ranking order in the results

• Adding a provider’s niche would be really helpful when deciding if they were the right fit for you

• There’s hesitation about getting ‘lost in the noise’ - adding fields specific to how a service provider differentiates themselves might be appreciated

• Portfolio/years of experience is important

• Everyone loves having prices listed

• People want to know traffic numbers(?) before committing to joining, especially if they were to consider a premium tier - so figuring out marketing/SEO/ads for this will be a priority for it to succeed before it gets to ‘scale’ - and showing the value of being part of the database

Market Research Step 2 (Tuesday): putting up 3 stories on close friends list on IG (send us a DM if you want to be on our IG inner circle)

Major Insights

• Adding a way for people to initiate contact without leaving our website would simplify a lot (leaning towards embedding service providers’ inquiry forms?)

• Having at least testimonials, possibly even reviews 🤔

Market Research Step 3 (Today): The email list - Yes, YOU 🫵

Can you help me out and hit reply to 3 simple questions?

1. Would you use something like this? As a service provider or to find a service provider?

2. Did reading any of the previous market research questions make you think of a feature that would take this to the next level for you?

3. Would you like to be included in this list when we launch? (I haven’t figured out if we’ll monetize it yet, but I do know that people included at launch will be free for life)

Thank you in advance for your help!

Lyndon

Links I sent this week:

Possibly the cooled interactive explainer of how ransomware works

I was this week years old when I learned about the US Bank Smartly card that will give you 4% back on literally every (if you have $100k in an account/under management with them) - a credit card points hacker’s dream, now to find $100k liquid… (Not an affiliate link; I just think it’s cool, and I’ve never seen anyone talk about it)

VLC the video player that will reliably play just about any format & codec demo’d AI subtitling this week

Apparently, the best way to become #1 on the bookseller list is to get an NFL player to read your book while on the sidelines of a game

Being vague is costing you money was one of the best breakdowns i’ve read in a while about being more specific while talking about yourself and your offers

I went down the rabbit hole on @amalfijets socials this week; they’re an amazing example of a business creating content doing what they do literally every day for their job (conversations with rich people booking private jets)

I just finished doing our 2024 retrospective (a series of questions we ask ourselves in addition to reviewing our numbers from the previous year) and holy freakin’ smokes, what an invaluable practice to do as a business owner.

Last year was essentially our “Pivot Year” as we pivoted away from offering branding photography and into offering Business Coaching + Consulting instead. This meant that we had multiple offers that we launched and tested throughout the course of the year (and again, wow, how enlightening was it to see them all laid out to cross compare).

Looking back, I can see what contributed to our high-income months, where our clients came from, and what our focus needs to be moving forward.

So, let’s talk about it.

At the beginning of last year we’d already begun pivoting into business coaching, however there were a couple of factors that weren’t doing us any favors:

1. We started the year promoting an “Annual Coaching” package which in theory was a great idea for us (ie: being able to do what we loved + recurring revenue), yet an absolute terrifying concept for our client base (asking anyone to commit to 12-month contract when they barely know you as an expert in that field is a big ask).

2. On the flip side, we kept trying to launch “micro-offers” that were low-ticket and high-effort (with a very low profit margin). Not exactly the best use of our time or energy (but it was fun to try new things!)

Basically, we were on two sides of the extreme.

It wasn’t until October that we found ourselves somewhere in the middle, bringing us to our current business model (which we love!!).

When we looked at the numbers, it wasn’t surprising to see that branding photography was our top source of revenue given the fact that we’ve been trusted experts in that space for over 4+ years.

What was incredible to see was that 1:1 Coaching was the runner-up and a pretty close one at that!

It wasn’t until October that we really doubled down on re-positioning ourselves as Business Coaches & Consultants in our marketing, and those last three months really helped set us up for our main focus in 2025 — becoming the go-to business coaches from creative entrepreneurs.

To spoil the ending & try to keep this short for you…

HERE WERE MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS:

• Having specific and clear messaging towards one clientele + being consistent on social media = more leads & sales

  • We’ll be doubling down on this, sharing more educational content on Instagram (and testing out LinkedIn as a strategy…more on that in a minute) and obviously continuing to educate here on our email list!

• Stacked + recurring income = steady state that carries us through slower months/seasons

  • We now offer 1:1 coaching packages that start at 3-months (a commitment that still feels doable for new coaching clients and still allows us to see high-impact results for them). This has been a game-changer for both our clients and for us!

• We’ll be moving away from offering any digital resources (ie: guides, courses, etc.) and only focusing on 1:1 coaching & consulting.

  • Last year we launched A LOT of micro-offers and doing this retrospection confirmed a suspicion that both Lyndon and I started to have towards the end of the year: it was a distraction that took away from where our energy is best spent — working with our 1:1 clients.

Looking ahead at 2025 as a whole, doing this exercise only confirmed for both of us that our focus is meant to be placed on business coaching + consulting. It feels so good to have that confirmed & we’re so excited to support our 1:1 clients this year!

Marketing Moves:

[Every week I’ll walk you through a marketing case study on brands who have recently launch products or collaborations.]

Today’s edition of Marketing Moves is slightly different because I’m filling you in on a personal marketing challenge I’ve created for both Lyndon and I!

For the next 90-days, Lyndon and I will be posting every day (M-F) on our personal LinkedIn profiles. 👀

LinkedIn is a platform we’ve seen a lot of potential in for quite awhile and we want to test it out ourselves so we have a better grasp on it when talking about marketing on LinkedIn with our coaching clients!

I’ll be sharing different updates and insights we find throughout the next 90-days!

You can follow me (Jo) on LinkedIn here and you can find Lyndon’s LinkedIn here.

I’ll be back next week to share a marketing case study! Want to submit a request for next week’s case study? Hit reply and tell me who you want me to review!

Sales Tip of the Week:

This week’s sales tip is all about asking questions > making assumptions.

In the words of Jack Reacher (I cannot wait for season 3), “assumptions kill” — in this case, your bottom line.

How many times have you either held yourself back from offering your services to someone because you assumed they would say no? Or you created an offer that you thought they needed instead of asking them the right questions and creating an offer based on their needs?

Don’t worry, we’ve been there too.

Asking questions > making assumptions is one of your biggest assets when it comes to sales.

There are a few ways we like to put this into practice:

• We love asking new clients these questions either in our contact form OR during discovery calls:

  • What makes now the right time to work together?

  • What would make for a successful coaching experience for you?

  • What’s your preferred method of communication? (This one tells us which platform they’ll be most active on so that we’re more likely to get timely responses)

These questions challenge them to think as if they’re already a client of ours and allows us to know how we can best support them in working together.

BONUS TIP: If you’re met with a “now isn’t a great time to invest” follow up by asking them —> “Do you mind sharing why?” and leave it at that. You may find that it was a certain deliverable that they didn’t need or understand, or that they need a more custom approach. Maybe it’s simply timing and they want you to follow up later (in this case, ask the question: “Do you want me to follow up with you? If so, when would be a good time to reach back out?”) You’d be surprised how many people are so appreciative of a thoughtful follow-up (and how many sales you can make from that one approach alone)!

Implement these tips this week and see what happens!

Want more custom-to-you advice and strategies? We just opened up 5 spots for free strategy calls, click here to get yours scheduled!

If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). ✨

PS, are you hanging out with us on Instagram yet?

Happy wacky tech headlines week aka Consumer Electronics Show kicked off in Vegas on Tuesday.

Possibly the biggest game changer in vacuum cleaner history, Roborock promo’d a robotic vacuum cleaner with AI and an arm to pick up your dirty socks while it’s vacuuming.

Oh, and apparently someone at Ultrahuman thinks there is a market for $2,000 smart rings made out of gold and their FAQs imply they may be used for engagements…? (I love the writing of the article as Victoria Song tries to understand why it exists)

How often do you think about the Roman Empire supply and demand?

It often times feels like launching a new offer can be like looking for a man in finance. You’re so proud of what you’ve created, you know it’s super valuable, and you’re expecting a huge payday.

I asked a coaching client this week if she’d thought about the supply and demand of her new proposed offer - only to be met with a blank look. What’s that?

On the first day of Econ 101, my professor drew a big X on the whiteboard, and added an X & Y axis, “This is what we’re going to spend the entire semester on, it’s the supply and demand curve.”

The supply and demand curve. X axis is the number of units/quantity, Y axis is the price per unit.

To understand the basics you just have to understand 3 concepts:

• Demand or customers that are interested in purchasing (orange): when the price of something is high very few people actually want to buy it (top left) - as the price comes down more and more people are interested in purchasing (moving down and right along the line)

• Supply or companies that are willing to sell (blue): when the price is low very few companies are willing to sell since it’s unprofitable, if you raise the price more companies are willing to sell at higher quantities

• Equilibrium or the place where the lines cross: this is roughly where price and quantity will balance out in a perfect market assuming products are interchangeable (HUGE assumptions)

To generalize this is a helpful graphical representation of a ton of things we intuitively know/assume, the most common being increasing your prices will reduce the number of sales you make (except if you’re a “luxury” good like Louis Vuitton where the number of sales goes up when they raise prices 🤔), and a few that aren’t intuitive.

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Why does Econ 101 apply to a new offer?

If you’re trying something new or confused about why something isn’t selling how you thought it would. Understanding the market that you’re “playing in” goes a long way to figuring out how much competition you’ll have based on your positioning.

Taking the same chart and splitting it into 3 rough categories gives you insights based on where your offer will fall.

Do we pay for canva pro? Yes… Did I still use apple preview to make this? Yes… Does anyone else see an air hockey table now…?

1. Everyone wants it, but no one offers it - let’s say you’re a fitness trainer who charges $10 a session, you’d have tons of clients, but it’d be difficult to make it worth your time

2. Roughly equilibrium - this is a fairly stable offer, customers know what it is, companies know how to make reliable income, and you’ll be selling based on minorly differentiating yourself - offering social media management, with a quick look around your circles you can quickly determine the “going rate” or equilibrium

3. Every business wants to sell one, but customers aren’t lining up for most people - depending on positioning and customer bases we’ve seen this happen with memberships, subscriptions, and even courses over the past few years - try launching a general masterclass on creating reels, unless it was fairly cheap it’d be tough to sell very many people since there’s so many cheap options now

Since Jo wrote a great marketing breakdown of Unwell Hydration in her email on Monday, let’s look at how we could apply the idea of supply and demand to Unwell Hydration as a new product.

At first look, the electrolyte & hydration space is actually pretty full of competitors, off the top of my head there’s LiquidIV, LMNT, the $1B/year PRIME, then the OGs like Gatorade and Powerade - and that’s just thinking for about 30 seconds.

Using the terms we just defined that means there is a high amount of ‘Supply’ willing to sell at the current rates (technically the total number of people buying hydration is increasing each year creating new customers as well). This would put Unwell Hydration squarely in Zone 2 edging on 3 (of my chart) if too many new companies launch hydration products and customers just don’t want that much hydration.

Alex Cooper announced Unwell at Dealbook on Dec 4th, the next day this was the reel they put on Instagram:

Instagram post

In one short reel, she proposed that Unwell Hydration is not the same as other Hydration products. It’s specifically for women, aka lives on a different supply and demand curve than the other drinks.

If Unwell Hydration is the only hydration product for women then demand will be much higher than their possible supply (at launch), putting them squarely in zone 1 with tons of space to either increase price or quantity a lot before they get to an equilibrium where growth gets much harder.

Let’s land this plane…

One of the benefits of understanding supply and demand is it allows you to start evaluating the other ‘companies’ in your supply and demand curves and modify your positioning to find much higher demand and lower supply that you’re competing with.

The two easiest ways of doing this:

• Differentiate based on who you’re targeting (eg Unwell Hydration and Women) - Jo and I are Biz Coaches for Creative Entrepreneurs, we don’t pretend to know anything about how to improve customer return rates at a Jiffy Lube mechanics shop 🤔 or many other things that fall into the rather crowded general coaching space

• Differentiate based on your how - when Uber first launched they were effectively Taxis, except because of how they built an app in the Gig Economy, their demand and growth has been very different than a “comparable” yellow cab business in NYC.

If you find this interesting, take a gander at the concept of a Total Addressable Market.

Do you have time to do me a favor? Hit reply and let me know what your one takeaway from this email was.

Lyndon

Links I sent to people this week

This chart from a breakdown of where Skim’s brand story is holding them back was a fascinating case study in The Sociology of Business substack

Washington DC is experiencing a pandaconomy right now as businesses are doing a great job of tapping into the hype around getting new Panda’s at the zoo to sell specialty offers

Hearing an entropreneure who’s gone through a successful exit talk about the money struggles of being an entropreneure really hit home for me in this episode of Moneywise

Over the past few months WSJ reporters asked dozens of industry experts, airline executives, employees, suppliers and more - Can Boeing be Fixed? Honestly the 6 catagories of answers they summarize could almost directly be applied to fixing most businesses - definitely worth the read (it’s a free share link to WSJ)

Maybe just doing the obvious work is the best strategy for getting things done. This was an interesting reframe for anyone (like me) who collects productivity hacks.

Disney looked at the Supply & Demand of the streaming TV space and decided that merging their Hulu Live TV business with Fubo was the best way to increase demand and reduce competitors

OG Youtube royalty David Dobrick returned after a 2-year hiatus

If you want to advance from Econ 101 to Macro Economics, this is a fascinating chart of Imports (supply) vs Exports (demand) at a national level between the US and China.

Ohmyword, I feel like we haven’t talked in foreverrrr!!! In true fashion, I’ve got a lot to catch you up on.

The new year always gives me a sense of renewed energy. Y’all know I love to dream but this year? I’m not sure what happened but I decided to double-down on that. My goals for 2025 are the biggest I’ve ever dreamed, but I honestly believe we can hit them. And I’m so excited.

There’s been a huge energy shift for us over the past few months. Ever since going all in on offering business coaching, it feels like we’ve unlocked a whole new level. Keep reading to see some of our 2025 goals (and get a sneak peek of our new branding!!)

2025 Goals:

• $500k year in revenue

• Speak at 10 events

• Bring back the podcast w/ video 👀

• Do a full re-brand (web & branding) — already in progress!!

• Finish my book manuscript and be talking to publishers by EOY (or already have it in motion if I end up self-publishing)

• Read 60 books (last year I read 56, the highest I’ve ever read in one year)

• Hire a business coach

Plus, a few more that I’m gonna keep to ourself for now.

Hello, New Branding!!! 🤭

I’m so freaking excited to share a sneak peek of our new branding with you!! Lyndsey from Polished Code took one look at our moodboard and has already sent over new fonts, logos, color schemes, and more. I’m obsessed. We have our first call tomorrow to talk about the direction for our new website & we cannot waiiiiit!!

(Oh, and we have a brand photoshoot on Wednesday to get some fresh on-brand content. I’m having the time of my life over here.)

Welcome to a NEW section of my weekly newsletter called…

[Every week I’ll walk you through a marketing case study on brands who have recently launch products or collaborations. This week we’ll be diving into Alex Cooper’s latest creation, Unwell Hydration! Want to submit a request for next week’s case study? Hit reply and tell me who you want me to review!]

I’m going to be honest, I’ve never found myself gravitating towards Alex Cooper but her marketing for Unwell Hydration caught my attention and sent me down a rabbit hole trying to learn as much as possible.

Unwell Hydration launched last week on January 1st in every single Target nation-wide, which is a huge feat. To give you an idea into how big of a deal this is, Ryan Trahan launched his company Joyride last year in select Targets and had 90-days to prove that he could make a certain amount of sales before being re-considered to expand nation-wide. On the flip side, Cooper’s electrolyte drink will be exclusive to Target for the first few months before expanding to other retailers.

Here’s the break-down:

• There are 3 flavors — mango citrus, orange hibiscus, and strawberry

• The price = $2.49 or three drinks for $7

Let’s Talk About the Marketing:

Cooper teased that something new was coming on her Instagram on Dec. 2 (building anticipation and getting her audience guessing what was coming — a brilliant engagement hack) before announcing Unwell Hydration on stage two days later during her interview at the Dealbook Summit on Dec. 4, 2024 (using exclusivity marketing). She then officially posted the announcement after exiting the stage to her 3.3M followers on Instagram via a collaborative post (building brand awareness) with @drinkunwell’s account.

On December 5, Cooper posted this video on @drinkunwell that clearly summarized who Unwell Hydration is for & why Cooper wanted to launch yet another electrolyte drink. I love that it’s both a skit & high-production (two marketing moves I think are going to become more popular in 2025).

Yesterday, January 5, Unwell debuted four billboards in Times Square with the tagline, “Stay Wet NYC”. Whether you find the phrase hilarious or are turned off by it, this is exactly why Alex Cooper is such a brilliant marketer. She’s unapologetic about what she stands for, isn’t afraid to talk about taboo topics, and understands that marketing that shocks you is what will spark curiosity and get people talking about it.

Why It Worked:

2024 was a big year for Alex Cooper. She got married to Hollywood producer Matt Kaplan, signed a $125 million dollar deal with SiriusXM for her podcast, hosted her own show during the summer olympics, and was featured in Forbes magazine.

Needless to say, she had some momentum going by the time her announcement went live for Unwell Hydration.

Aside from the bold marketing moves & unapologetic taglines mentioned above, there are three other aspects that worked really well for her in launching Unwell Hydration:

1. The branding strategically connects with her Unwell brand as a whole (aka: The Unwell Network) and the paackaging stands out on the shelf

2. Unwell Hydration partnered with Nestlé, which I believe is the main reason Cooper was able to go nation-wide right off the bat (in addition to what I imagine to be some pretty solid connections). Just a theory.

3. Her community freaking loves her and will show up for anything she does

Case in point, there were quite a few Targets that started stocking their shelves a few days before the official launch day & Cooper’s “daddy gang” made sure everyone knew about it.

But, is it worth the hype?

I tried all three flavors (Orange hibiscus was the one I liked best, Strawberry was not my favorite) and honestly…I probably won’t get Unwell Hydration again.

I found myself getting a headache after drinking Unwell 2 out of 3 times and that’s enough for me to leave it on the shelf for someone else to enjoy. While I’m incredibly impressed with the marketing campaign, the actual drink isn’t a hit for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sales Tip of the Week:

This week’s sales tip is going to be all about handling objections.

Last week we had an intro coaching call with a business owner who was interested in coaching with us. The call went amazing! We could immediately tell that we would have such a fun time working with her and we knew we would be able to support her on a number of topics (getting set up on a CRM like Honeybook, marketing, refining her offers, and more).

A few hours later she emailed us saying she wanted to move forward with one of the packages we offered her. YAY!!

But then…

…a few days after that, she came back and basically said, “Hey, I’m so sorry, but I actually don’t think I can invest this right now and I’m going to pass even though I’d love working with you guys.”

Now here’s the thing, in the past I may have taken that as a hard no & said “no worries, totally understand” and left it at that.

But not this time.

This time I had a strong suspicion that she actually did want to work with us, but she needed something more custom to her needs in this season.

Here’s our exact response:

Spoiler alert: she booked.

The lesson is this: people are coming to you because they want to work with you. When they tell you they can’t for whatever reason, they’re really asking HOW they can still work with you. Maybe it’s pushing back their start date, offering a custom option, or offering a payment plan. Pay attention to what comments they’re making and use that as your compass.

Over the past few months, I’ve fallen more in love with sales (I’ll probably be sharing a carousel about this on Instagram this week) and I’m so excited to start sharing more tips with you guys. When you begin to see that sales is simply a way of helping others, it becomes a lot more impactful.

Before you go…allow us to brag on our favorite business tool for a sec. We’ve been using Honeybook since the beginning and the integrations they’ve been making over the past year have been SO GOOD (they’ve added Honeybook Finance, Smart Files, and if you’re a photographer you can now send your Pic-Time galleries through Honeybook). If you’re looking for a new CRM in the new year you can get 30% off Honeybook when you sign up with our affiliate link.

Plus, right now they’re giving away $10k to one lucky HB user when you sign up for a free trial below! 🎉

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If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). ✨

PS, are you hanging out with us on Instagram yet?

Happy New Year’s resolution-breaking season!

A 2020 study found that the average American takes 32 days to give up on their resolution, and 68% don’t even make it that far 😩.

How are you setting yourself up for success?

The best resolution I’ve heard of recently is committing to something small like reading one page per day. David from The Vergecast podcast tried that a few years ago, and that was the first year he cracked 50 books for the year - because starting is the hardest part.

Should you talk about your past before you pivoted into entrepreneurship?

This week, on a coaching call, we helped someone reframe the idea of talking about what she did “before” - this is a question I spent years struggling with myself.

When I left corporate to join Jo at a photography company in 2021, I felt like I was betraying the ‘Top 25 MBA Program’ education I had pursued and my network of ladder-climbing professionals. Honestly, I stopped “showing my face” on LinkedIn after being about as close to a power user as you can get throughout school.

I had spent so long tying my identity to position titles, income levels, and degrees that when I entered a field where it felt like those things were valued differently (or not at all), I just stopped talking about them.

The irony here is that this is exactly the opposite of the advice I countless times gave undergrads & my intern in corporate!

You can almost always translate the “story” of your past to where you’re now going. For example, when I was in business school I worked as a graduate assistant interviewing prospective students to give a recommendation if they’d be a good fit for the program or not.

To this day the one answer that sticks in my mind is (summarized for length):

Sure it’s a very focused biz answer because they were trying to get into biz school.

But they still brought their full history with them to their interview. By choosing how they told their story (context, framing, “plot line”, etc), they made their time in the military applicable to answering my question about growth and showing that their past is relevant.

Back to me - in my first year of working with Jo I rarely talked about my non-entrepreneurship work experience, because I didn’t see any of our peers talking about an MBA or working in Big Pharma, so I thought it wouldn’t be relatable to anyone.

Over time, I started experimenting a little with sharing my “niche” biz knowledge starting with frameworks like agile or design thinking and using case studies from the corporate world to explain concepts, and shockingly to me, they started to “land” with our coaching clients. In 2024 you saw me take the jump to starting to write long-form emails almost every week that blended my biz background with my newfound applicability to entropreneurship.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like you appreciate the mix of conventional biz & entrepreneurship (hit reply, tell me how you really feel, and what you’d love to read in 2025)

All of this comes full circle to just before the holidays, we were invited to present to a group of high school students about our experience in entrepreneurship and what options could be available for them. In prepping for it a friend recommended pulling out specific things that we learned at each point in our past that makes us good coaches today.

This is actually kinda a fun exercise I’d recommend you try out as you’re starting the new year. What’d you learn at each step along the way that makes you a better business owner today?

This is what our couple word takeaways were:

Why talking about your past is valuable?

• Telling stories is one of the easiest ways to connect with people, and no matter if it’s a positive or negative experience, you’re able to frame just about any experience as a story that you can tell

• People buy from people - I’m more convinced of this than ever going into 2025, people’s buying behavior (from what I can tell) is slowly (rapidly) shifting to putting more emphasis on who they’re buying from not just what

• Talking about your experience makes you relatable - especially to your ideal clients. (eg: we coach creative entrepreneurs, we spent years as photographers so we know what being a creative entrepreneur is like)

• It’s freeing to show up with your full self, instead of “locking” parts of yourself away because you don’t think anyone would care

What does this mean for me?

I’m going to clean up my LinkedIn and start leaning into my duality of being Biz School educated and a creative entrepreneur - I have a perspective that few other people have, and I gotta stop avoiding that part of my story just because I’m on a different path now.

Oh - Jo’s gonna be on Linkedin too… we don’t have our social strategy over there figured out, but we’ll be experimenting during Q1 (hit reply with any suggestions on being a LinkedIn creator 🙏)

Have a great week!

Lyndon

Things I sent to people recently:

• The Top 24 Knowledge Creators of 2024 is such a cool round-up put together by Kajabi & Course Studio that Jo & I signed up for at least 3 new email lists each.

• With America hitting the highest levels of loneliness in history TimeLeft is an interesting monthly subscription that’s built around the idea of having organized dinners with strangers on a weekly basis to meet new people.

• MrBeast launching Beast Games on Amazon Prime, but I think the BTS videos are almost more interesting. Like how do you create a YouTube video with 2000 contestants or a gameshow with 1000 contestants that are all mic’d with their own camera?

• An over 2-hour interview with Linus of Linus Tech Tips about how he started a Youtube channel working at an electronics store that he ended up buying the channel and turned it into a media empire with almost 100 employees that does 6x more income in products than Adsense. Oh, and how they maintain 4.5 YouTube video uploads per week.

• Possibly the best way to plan out for 2025 that I’ve heard yet. Totally recommend listening to the interview with Jesse Itzler.

• Cloudflare uses a wall of 100 lava lamps to create truly random SSL & TLS encryption since “random” generators on computers are still predictable, but not two lava lamp bubbles are the same 🤷‍♂️

• MQBHD breaks down the Honey Scam that’s been rippling through the creator economy, especially with people who have done brand deals with Honey (while Honey secretly “stole” from them).

• Justin Mares published The Great American Poisoning to his substack in December which was a very interesting stats-based deep dive into how the American healthcare system is designed for acute illness but has developed a big chronic illness problem in America.

• One of the most interesting ideas in modern medicine that I’ve seen in a while is being done by the start-up superpower.

• Get 30% off your first year when you sign up for Honeybook using our link

This morning, Steph sent us a voice memo thanking us for being part of her biz world this year and how grateful she was for the two of us.

This is my new favorite thing! It took her 45 seconds to send a voice memo, and it’s the easiest networking touch point that makes someone’s day.

Before the end of the year, I challenge you to think of 3-5 of the people who made the biggest impact on you this year and send them the modern-day equivalent of a thank you card - a 60-second voice memo.

Last week, I wrote part 1 of this series (with things 1 & 2), go back and read that after you finish this email if you missed it.

TLDR: I’m looking back at a few of the major things we launched/did this year to compare why we did them and what I learned.

#3 Marketing Agency - the most expensive ‘stable income’

In 2022 we launched a marketing agency, signed on a sunglasses company for just shy of $10k, and rapidly learned we hadn’t set ourselves up for success at all… and amicably ended our contract one month early.

So… why did we choose to try again?

• Sub-contractor: one of our big lessons from the first time is we loved the strategy side, but creating & posting on a daily basis was draining for us. This time, we partnered with a coaching client of ours who was expanding her Social Media Management company to do the management, and we’d do the strategy.

• That elusive ‘stable income’: as a business with its origins in the wedding industry, we’ve almost always fiscally operated a business where any dollar we made was a new sale. The idea of consistent or recurring income is very enticing as we’re thinking about growing or more ambitious projects that take time before you see income results.

The stats:

• Months running an agency: 3

• Number of clients: 2

• Average monthly rate: $1400

• Session upsells: $5000

• After paying a contractor our per hourly rate: Not great

What I learned:

• Admin is time-consuming: The way we set it up we’d only be doing the strategy at the beginning of each month, then passing off the creation & management. But every week we ended up being looped into content reviews, answering clarifying questions about the strategy, and routine client communication. This could have all been fixed by reworking our responsibilities & pricing.

• The client came first: Creatively we’d find ourselves pouring into our clients’ strategy and content ideas each week, at the cost of our own socials. We would just be worn out and the thing that used to be creatively fun just became a draining task. It was minimizing what used to be a differentiator for our brand.

• It could have been a great biz: Within weeks I knew exactly why a lot of people love running agencies, it wouldn’t be that “hard” to scale to a 6 figure annual business within a few months. If you’re the type of person who likes turning out content for clients, super organized, and happy to make other people shine. Sadly this also meant that I saw fairly quickly that scaling an agency (personally) didn’t align with getting us to where we wanted to be long term.

• Every day builds towards something: if you imagine your life as building towards something. Every day, you can imagine you’re placing one brick on the building that will be your life’s achievement. During those three months, I felt like we were building the wrong building, and we just ended up having to rebuild most of that. We got way more granular on what our 12-month and 5-year goals were after this.

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#4 Cancel the launches - one offer Nov & Dec

Coming out of winding down our agency V2 in June, we were full of ideas. We were back to pouring our creativity into our own business, and we were slowly marching toward clarity on what we wanted to do.

We were still iterating Capturing Luxury (that we talked about in part 1), but we had a clear idea that we were moving into our educating and coaching era. So why did we cancel everything to focus just on our new coaching offer Your Big Shift?

• I burnt out: By the end of October, I had spent literal weeks building out, revising, practicing, and recording PowerPoint presentations for 2 courses, and an in-person speaking event. That in total netted us a couple hundred dollars…

• It was the winning horse: In two weeks, Your Big Shift sold more income for the year than we had in two whole months of launching something new almost every other week. Why not double down?

• It’s what lit me up: At the end of the day, I love coaching. I’d been wanting to focus on it ever since I joined the company. And it felt like our amazing clients were already seeing measurable impact. I wanted to double down.

The stats:

• Slides in the deck for Irresistible Offers (course): 127

• Total Income from first 2 weeks of YBS launch: $10,500

What I learned:

• Balance matters: We frequently tell our coaching clients that it’s okay to pace yourself, and make sure that they’re doing things in a sustainable way. But it’s oftentimes easy to be blind when you’re not doing things yourself. I’ve now started using Jo as a sounding board about how I’m doing to prevent getting “lost” or not listening to our own advice.

• Good enough is better than perfect: It’s a cliche statement, but to some extent, we were launching a bunch of stuff to build the “perfect” offer. But seeing traction on an offer was a good check-in point, that maybe we could slow down and do this for a bit before moving on.

• The world didn’t burn down: During the pandemic, it felt like the business mantra was “momentum”, as long as you kept going you’d stay in business. You couldn’t slow down. When we slimmed down, honestly not much changed. But Jo did get to do a 30-day content challenge, and we got to pour into our amazing clients, and help family move across the country.

What did you learn this year? Hit reply I’d love to chat about it

Lyndon

Ps we’re in prepping for the 2025 season - have you considered a biz coach to help you achieve your goals? (or even figuring out what your goals are…) We’re offering the first coaching call for free so that you can ‘test drive’ coaching with us before making any commitment. Hit reply, let’s chat about your big plan for next year!

Welcome to your 1,000th wrapped & reflection piece of content this week 🤣

This year, we launched & experimented with a bunch of new stuff. As a reflective exercise, I wanted to break down what I learned from 2 of the biggest ones.

#1 I decided to be a long-form guy

At the end of January, I decided that I was going to start writing a weekly email based on two things I was seeing:

• If I looked at myself as a consumer - scrolling on social media quickly became mindnumbing and I felt worse, but reading long-form emails was where I went to learn and I felt better when I was done. I wanted to show up in a place where people went to learn, not Doomscroll.

• Even though social media started as a place to see content from your friends, family & who you chose to follow, social media has (kinda) become a “slot machine” - each piece of content is pulling the metaphorical gambling lever hoping that your content would perform and be seen by your ideal clients. Basically no ownership of the audience.

My first long-form email went out on February 1st to 236 people on our email list through Flodesk, here’s the quick breakdown from Flodesk for Jo & I’s emails from January to June:

• Avg Open rate: 58.26%

• Avg Click Through Rate (CTR): 2.66%

• Total Sends: 39

In June we switched to BeeHiiv to for sending our emails, from then until now these are our stats:

• Avg Open rate: 62.5%

• Avg CTR: 3.9%

• Total Sends: 38

• Subs as of today: 279

What I learned:

• The metrics don’t tell it all - I’ve struggled with keeping an (almost) weekly email schedule at times because more often than not I get no replies. It feels like no one cares 😭. Social media has trained us to care about immediate validation. But at least once a month I’ll have a conversation with someone and in passing they’ll say “I love reading your emails each week”

• Reps matter - when I started writing my emails, I frequently quoted the 100 posts rule (to paraphrase MrBeast, the first 100 things you upload don’t matter; they’re where you learn the art and your voice. If you stick with it the 100th will be good). Turns out that with one email per week, that’s 2 years! But with the 37 emails I sent this year, I can feel like I’m finding a little more of my voice each send. And that’s what I’m choosing to focus on rather than “making it big” right now.

• Writing makes me smarter - with the rise of AI I’ve had a few people ask me if I use chatGPT to help write my emails. By active choice, I don’t. My personal goal is to be “the go-to biz coach,” which means I need to have clarity on my own thoughts. Putting ‘pen to paper’ each week has forced me to refine more than one idea that I’ve ended up quoting in future conversations.

• The right tools matter - switching to BeeHiiv improved our Opens and CTR and added tools for us to grow and monetize. For us, this aligns with our goal of growing as thought leaders.

Now that we’re consistently putting decent numbers on the board, I want to start leveraging some of those monetization tools Beehiiv offers (when they align with our brand). Starting with our first ad ever 👇 (🤫we get paid $1.75 per person that clicks on it, we’d appreciate your support)

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#2 Capturing Luxury - the scalable high-ticket group program

If you’ve followed us for very long, you’ve probably seen us talk about passive income. Early on this year, we were fairly sure we wanted to move away from being ‘just’ branding photographers (this also applied to our revenue streams).

We’re constantly talking about new ideas/offers/launches around here, so we started on a journey to launch a group coaching program for branding photographers on how to become high-end branding photographers. At the time this was perfect because:

• This was the model that we’d seen a lot of people do - launch a repeatable cohort-based program, record most of it to limit repeat effort each round, launch over and over

• We wanted to be educators & coaches, but our audience was photo-related - this was the middle of the Venn diagram, so on paper it was logical

The Stats:

• Price point: $997

• Round 1: 2 attendees

• Round 2: canceled - Jo burnt out right as the launch started

• Round 3: canceled - we didn’t sell any

What I learned:

• Copying doesn’t always fit you - just because it had worked well for other people, doesn’t mean we were ready to make the tradeoffs that other people did to make a successful group program (eg: one-dimensional social feeds, repetitive content, grueling posting schedules)

• We created it for us, not our customers - when we put together our group program, we put the best of us and what we wanted into it (it was really good) but that doesn’t necessarily mean we met a need that a lot of people knew they had. With enough education, we could have cultivated the “need” but…

• It was a “good enough” not a passion - there are lots of ways to make money, but running your own business is one of the most stressful/uncertain.. we settled for something that neither of us was jumping out of bed in the morning to do, we both were “okay” with it.. turns out it’s difficult to sell something you’re not excited about

• Swim with the current, not against it - looking back, around the time we launched Capturing Luxury, a lot of the people we looked up to who had successful group programs were also struggling to sell spots in their programs… major trends (in our corner of the internet) are fairly easy to see now that in general group programs, & masterclasses are losing interest while personalized 1:1 offers & in-person events are growing in popularity.

• Maybe launch ‘just’ one thing at a time - round one of Capturing Luxury coincided with onboarding both our new marketing agency’s clients… meaning more stable income, but possibly too much new all at once (we also wound down the agency as well)

While we don’t offer Capturing Luxury anymore, it did set us up for where we are now:

• The lessons were the basis of Your Big Shift & the presentation we gave at the She’s Going Somewhere retreat in August.

• We’ve fully leaned into personalize 1:1 offers because that was the feedback we received from people during the launching of Capturing Luxury

• By leaning into being photo educators we got great opportunities like being ambassadors for Imagen.ai & speaking at Reset Conference next year (use code “BRADFIELD100” at checkout for a $100 discount)

Should I do part two of this? I’m thinking part two could be:

• We launched & shuttered an agency for the second time

• We killed all our Nov & Dec launches because of Coaching (and burnout)

Hit reply if you want me to write that email next week

Lyndon

Ps we’re in prepping for 2025 season - have you considered a biz coach to help you achieve your goals? (or even figuring out what your goals are…) We’re offering the first coaching call for free so that you can ‘test drive’ coaching with us before making any commitment. Hit reply, lets chat about your big plan for next year!

Did you mentally check out yet this week?

Yea, I’m not going to try and trick you into reading a 2000-word essay on how Taylor Sheridan has built a company that creates enough time for him to write, produce, and direct 3 major TV franchises on Paramount Plus simultaneously… I’m watching both Lioness & Landman right now, and they’re making me consider going back and watching Yellowstone - if you’re looking for a new show in the next few days, I was pleasantly surprised by how good they were (also hit reply if you want this email).

This week, we will do a simple round-up of great podcast episodes for you to listen to while you, and you’re 80 million closest friends, travel this week.

#1: How a power couple in business complement each other

Leila Hormozi: From Minimum Wage Employee to $100M Net Worth By 29

Podcast Episode · My First Million · 11/15/2024 · 48m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-first-million/id1469759170?i=1000677090427

Over the last year, everyone has recommended reading $100m Offers, and $100m Leads. Both are written by Alex Hormozi largely based on things he learned building businesses with his spouse Leila. It’s really interesting hearing her perspective and what’s she’s learned along the way. Here’s a couple quotes:

#2 What if you found success but not a purpose

Achieving Breakthrough After Years of Imbalance & The Truth Behind It with Chad Potts

Podcast Episode · Content Is Profit · 11/21/2024 · 47m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/content-is-profit/id1503613963?i=1000677754497

Chad Potts graduated from pharmacy school and had a very successful job, but he was left unfulfilled. Over time he became an ordained pastor and he’s now building a business around helping men open up and self-improve.

As a content-focused podcast, it was interesting to hear Chad directly disagree with the premise that to be successful you have to be specific and only talk about your niche. He uses a 7F framework for his content that includes things like Family, Fitness, Faith and so much more. They also touch on starting a podcast from scratch and marketing it.

#3 What happens to Websites in a world of AI summaries

GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani on the enduring power of the website

Podcast Episode · Decoder with Nilay Patel · 11/25/2024 · 57m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-with-nilay-patel/id1011668648?i=1000678154786

As a business owner, having a website is a sign of professionalism, it’s a place to sell things, and it shows credibility. But with OpenAI launching a search engine now live and google putting AI summaries at the top of most search results, not to mention how many people start their searches on TikTok or YouTube now, the role of a website is changing. Nilay basically asks Aman, the CEO of the largest Domain Registrar, the question, “What is the point of a website in 2024?” (also how GoDaddy is structured and how they make decisions)

#4 What if you actually opened a coffee shop?

The tech YouTuber who opened a coffee shop

Podcast Episode · The Vergecast · 10/20/2024 · 45m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vergecast/id430333725?i=1000673727525

David Cogen runs a tech reviews YouTube channel TheUnlockr. During the pandemic he had to record everything in his apartment.

Almost immediately “Coffee, check” became a staple of his videos. But through a series of changes he fell in love with a studio space much larger than he needed, and ended up creating a coffee shop called Coffee Check.

But why did he spend almost a year building it in “silence” without sharing the process with his audience?

#5 Was he wrong the first time?

Malcolm Gladwell on the importance of self-correction

Podcast Episode · ReThinking · 11/12/2024 · 46m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rethinking/id1554567118?i=1000676524192

25 years ago Malcolm Gladwell published The Tipping Point. It was one of the influential ideas about how to drive adoption and get critical mass to do something different.

This year he chose to basically rewrite the book from scratch. With Revenge of the Tipping Point that just came out (currently sitting on our coffee table for me to read) he actually changed his perspective on a number of the ideas he was sure of 25 years ago.

It’s great to see that even the highest level thinkers in their fields (organizational psychologists in this case) can completely Re-Think (pun intended) strongly held beliefs and even concepts they’ve written books about.

Well, this is embarrassing… we still ended up with almost 2000 words 🤔

Hit reply, and let me know what you found most interesting!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Lyndon

Ps our free Hoodie and Mug black Friday deal when signing up for a coaching package runs through Monday - if you get your chemistry call in the books by Monday, when you end up booking we’ll still honor the bonus

Internet finds this week

DJI launched the Mic Mini, in this side-by-side shootout by The Verge they recommend it as the best in the $100-200 price point for quick video audio

This video by Peter McKinnon is one of the best video edits I’ve seen on YouTube in a while: great visuals, synced to music, and great subtle after-effects

Anthropic (parent company of Claude AI) launched Model Context Protocol this week to enable AI’s to directly interface with databases (there’s a cool linked demo)

“93% of Gen Z respondents, age 22 - 27, said they were using two or more AI tools a week”

After decades of 10 teams with 2 cars each, Formula 1 just announced that Cadillac will form an 11th team starting in the 2026 season - I can’t wait for this to be covered in Drive to Survive

At 22 Lexi Limitless set the world record for the youngest person to visit every country in the world. So what next… set a world record with Ford to be the first person to drive an electric car around the world. The three-part series just dropped on YouTube.

Outside the box: Jack Harlow dropped a music video entirely filmed on home security cameras

Wildest thing: a $12,000 surgery to change eye color is surging in popularity right now

Instagram introduced a “Reset Button” to clean all recommended content on your account

One of the most unique shows I’ve seen in a while Arcane dropped the third part of their second season over the weekend. I’ve been enjoying how unique of a storytelling & art form style it is. And yes Enemy by Imagine Dragons was written for Arcane season 1.

Lastly: I’m on a kick to uplevel my sales knowledge right now, and my new favorite account to learn from is @iamhannahcharlotteford

Quick Glossary for Today’s Email:

• TMI = Too much information

• ICYMI = In case you missed it

• Menty B = Mental breakddown

• BTW = By the way

• ILYSM = I love you so much

• MVP = Most valuable person

Last night I had a minor meltdown (which let’s be real, I should just start putting these on the calendar because even though they don’t feel fun in the moment they sure as heck are therepeutic and always bring lots of insight in the moment & afterwards) 💋

Me to one of my friends who innocently asked for my input on a piece of content & got this instead 🤷🏼‍♀️

You may be wondering what my meltdown was about (or maybe you’re feeling like this is TMI and you don’t care — if that’s the case, you do you boo I respect that).

Two words: imposter syndrome.

Three words: MAJOR imposter syndrome.

ICYMI, we’ve been leaning into business coaching the past few months & our main focus for 2025 is to become the go-to business coaches for creative entrepreneurs.

Here’s the thing, I thought I was confident in my coaching capabilities and our vision.

Turns out, I was kinda freaking out inside.

(Aka: trying to throw the game and self-sabotage and giving myself numerous pep talks over the past week so that I would not in fact do either of those things)

Logically & intuitively, I KNEW that this imposter syndrome only confirmed that we are in fact on the right path but emotionally…I was struggling.

Fast forward to me having a menty b while folding laundry and Lyndon coming to hold space for me (he’s the best, he really is.) 🥹

As I began to full on pour out my stream of consciousness with him, I surprised even myself with the words that came out:

“I don’t feel like I’m a good coach”

My brain immediately after: Hold up, what did I just say?

Because look, I KNOW I’m a good coach but…here’s the other thing I said:

“I’m everyone’s hype girl and I love that, but I don’t feel like that’s enough for coaching”

Lyndon immediately after I said that lol

Thank Jesus for my husband because boy does he know what to say in the moment.

[Side note: I made the point yesterday to someone else that Lyndon is the king of reframes & resources and that 100% applied to this conversation 🫶🏼]

He immediately pointed out to me that that is the exact reason WHY someone would want to work with us. I have years of experience and intuition that is invaluable in our coaching conversations.

Just last week we were on a client call discussing what it would look like for our 1:1 client to expand her services to include agency services (ie: social media management, branding, etc.) and I was able to share what not to do and what to have in place that would set both her and her team up for a higher chance of success — because we ourselves have launched (and dissolved) an agency not once…but TWICE (your girl has learned a thing or two in the process!!).

[Second side note: your “failures” become your most valuable lessons that you wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Don’t discount them.]

As we wrapped up our conversation, I told Lyndon that I wanted to reach back out to all of the coaching clients that we’ve worked with over the past 5 years and give them a special invitation (with an exclusive bonus) if they wanted to work with us again (so spoiler alert: if you’re one of our coaching alums, you’ll be getting a fun email soon 🤭).

I asked him to make a list of everyone we needed to reach out to and a little while later he sent me this:

50+ coaching clients!!!! THAT’S FLIPPING AMAZING, are you kidding me??

I had no idea we’d worked with that many coaching clients. That’s such an incredible thing to me.

And also, get someone in your corner who will call you out and hold space for you when you need it because hot damn, that makes a difference. I’m so grateful for Lyndon and for the rest of my support squad that checks in on me when I need it and reminds me of what I bring to the table, too. 🫶🏼

So there you have it — I had my monthly meltdown and still survived. In fact, I’d say I came out of it feeling less like a dumpster fire and more ON FIRE for what we do and where we’re headed. 🔥

I guess I just wanted to share this with you for a couple of main reasons:

1. It’s okay to have meltdowns, it’s a part of life & entrepreneurship — it doesn’t mean you’re crazy, incapable, or doing the wrong thing. It simply means you’re human (and you’re probably headed the right direction).

2. Get yourself a support squad if you don’t have one already. Think about WHO it is you want in your corner (and if you don’t have names yet, write down what characteristics are important to you so that your sub-conscious will start clocking them for you when you begin inevitably making those connections)

3. You’re not alone. I know it’s easy to look at what everyone else is doing, achieving, and experiencing in their lives and business & to feel like they have it all together. They don’t. None of us do. And that’s the beauty of it. If we had it all together all the time, things would probably get pretty boring. You’re not vanilla. You’re spice. 😉

Alright, that concludes my brain dump of the week for you. ILYSM & if you read it this far, you’re the real MVP. If you want more fun resources and side-thoughts, keep on reading ⬇️

Current Book Stack:

Curious what I’m currently reading? Here’s the lineup! 🤠👇🏼

Hit reply and tell me what’s in your book stack!! You’ll make my whole day. 💬

✨UPDATED COACHING PACKAGES✨

Our coaching packages got a glow-up!! We’re now offering three different retainer packages for business owners who want ongoing support with their offers, mindset, and client processes.

If you’re craving support with real humans who have been there, done that and learned a thing or two (or 10million) along the way, let’s chat. 💬

If you have any questions you can hit reply and ask away or schedule a free Chemistry Call to chat through which option makes the most sense for you! 🗓️

If you made it this far, YOU’RE AMAZING (and I have no doubt amazing things are in store for you, too). Keep going & don’t give up!!!✨

ICYMI: here’s the latest @joandlyndon ⬇️