We glided into week 23 of this short four day work week like pelicans gliding downwind along the wave tops.
Here's new EDGE podcast episodes, new information worth sharing, what I'm reading, watching and writing about that will help give you the edge to win in your business and life. Let's go....
New EDGE Podcast Episodes
- Naming Your Company, Product or Service with Grant Polachek from Squadhelp
We talk about what you should think about and know when naming your company, product or service. Listen to Ep. 316 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- 401k Series Part 2: What is a HCE and How Does it Affect Your 401k Plan with Matt Ruttenberg
Lowell is a SaaS veteran with experience selling/buying more than thirty businesses and shares what he knows to help you sell your company. Listen to Ep. 317 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- The Best Marketing Channels with Laurel Skurko
Laurel and I talk about the best marketing channels. Some will surprise you. Listen to Ep. 318 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- How to Negotiate The Best Deal When Selling Your Company with Joe Valley Author of EXITpreneur
Joe shares insights from decades of selling companies that will help you get the most money for your company when you sell it. Listen to Ep. 319 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- What Happens When You Take a Political Stance with your Company with Danielle Jenkins
We talk about taking a political stance with our companies. What we've learned ourselves and from case studies from other companies like Disney, Patagonia, IBM, Levi's, Playboy and others.
Listen to Ep. 320 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- Peak Performance with FIS World Cup Speed Skier Jacob Perkins
Jacob and I talk about what it's like to go over 100 mph (160 kph) on two skies, how he trains, what he eats and how he maintains his discipline to train as a speed skier while working a full time job. Listen to Ep. 321 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- 401k Series Part 3: Controlled Groups. When you HAVE to include your other companies with Matt Ruttenberg
We talk about why control groups are important to understand when you are setting up your company's 401k plan and how to set up your 401k plan correctly. Listen to Ep. 312 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- Building a Great Sales Team with Lance Tyson of Tyson Group
Lance explains how to build a great sales team and what mistakes business owners commonly make when hiring sales people. Listen to Ep. 323 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
New Information Worth Sharing:
It's no secret video is quickly becoming the most popular choice for content consumption.
Along those lines we've been trying to figure out a video strategy for our business. As I reported a few weeks ago we started putting EDGE podcast videos on YouTube and we have a plan to create some custom content just for our YouTube channel because of the potential we're seeing of getting customers.
We've already learned a ton about creating thumbnails that convert.
HPT for you, the difference between getting plays heavily depends on making a good video thumbnail. Create ones that catch people's attention.
I've also been experimenting with Instagram Reels the last few weeks and with the editing, tags and encouraging some engagement, I've been getting over 10,000 plays per reel with consistency.
Regarding actual stats on video consumption, can you believe this...
• In 2022 the average person will watch 100 minutes of online video per day
• 66% of users prefer learning about a product or service via video
• 80% of brands using video marketing claim video has directly increased sales
If you don't have a video strategy, regardless if you sell a product or service, you should start thinking of one or appoint someone in your company to come up with one. People are eating it up and it's only going to continue as wireless bandwidth (5G and beyond) expands. Your customers want video from you!
What I'm Reading
Stolen Focus- Why You Can't Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
I heard this book mentioned on a podcast recently and decided to check it out. It's a New York Times Best Seller and out of 1,700+ reviews on Amazon it has a 4.5 out of 5 rating so I decided to buy it.
What a great book. Johann breaks down the most recent research in easy to understand english and as importantly offers suggestions on how to how to restore our attention that we're allowing to be stolen from us. It wears us out and makes us dumber, literally, as in it decreases our IQ.
As a business owner or senior executive this book couldn't be more important for you to read because of the negative impact stolen attention is having on your company's productivity. Get a load of these stats:
In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only 65 seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes.
Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention - and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.
You can't afford not to read or listen to this book! Recommended.
Best price I found for the book or audio version here
What I'm Watching
If you're not from Boston, Miami, Dallas or the San Francisco Bay area you will not get. And especially if you're not a basketball fan, but hear me out on this one. I've been watching the NBA playoffs and not because I'm a crazy fan, because I love mastery.
It's hard not to love watching a team that just flows together, has some of the best shooters to ever to play, and comes back from being in last place in the league...that's the Golden State Warriors.
Imagine having a coach who won five NBA titles as a player, playing for the Chicago Bulls (3 titles with Michael Jordon), and who hit the game winning shot to clinch one of those titles. Then this coach goes on to win two more NBA championships as a player with another team (San Antonio Spurs).
Then... he becomes a coach in the NBA and coaches a team to two more titles and the team has been to the finals six out of the last eight seasons. That's Steve Kerr for you, coach of the Golden State Warriors.
Stephen Curry, Clay Thompson and Draymond Green are arguably a threesome legacy that's pure pleasure to watch when they're rolling. Add in superb coaching, a voracious competative spirit, a team mentality, and it's delightful to watch.
I'm not just a fan of my home town team, I'm a fan or watching absolute mastery of one's business. The Warriors exemplify that.
If you have a chance watch at least a game or two, do it. Only a few times in a lifetime do you get to see true masters of a game.
Free to watch on ABC. Game 1 starts today, Thursday at 6pm PST, 9PM EST.
What I'm Writing About for The EDGE's Print Subscription Newsletter
I'm writing a book. I committed to it a week ago. No ghost writer or any of that, I'm writing it and I already have about 8,000 words written.
My goal is not to hit the 75,000 word target for a book. My goal is to make it as short as possible while getting a reader to the goal of the book. Making something short or simple is hard! More to come soon because I want your feedback.
Be Brave and have a great rest of your week and weekend!
Brandon
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