What's It Sound Like?

One of the problems with electric cars is that they are almost silent. You don’t get much auditory feedback. When you press on the accelerator you don’t really hear anything. You just start moving. You don’t get that satisfying “Mrrrrr” sound like in a gas-powered car.

BMW calls this “a gap in the emotionality of the driving experience”.

I call it an opportunity. An insanely cool branding opportunity.

So BMW has hired some sound designers to create a series of sounds to integrate into its electric cars.

If BWM is smart, these designers won’t be limited to approximating car sounds. They should be allowed to consider any sound.

Now, what would an electric BMW accelerating sound like?

A growling panther? Gene Simmons of KISS hitting a E note on his bass? A steel saber hitting armor? Thunder? An avalanche? A galloping stallion?

The possibilities kind-of boggle the mind.

But that’s what we do as branding people and designers. We assign things. We create associations.

When those associations are repeated thousands of times, eventually hearing, seeing, smelling one thing makes you think of something entirely different.

Red and white means Coca-Cola. Brushed aluminum means Apple. Gold arches means McDonalds. The aroma of butter and cinnamon means Cinnabon.

And maybe one day, the sound of Gene Simmons hitting an E note might mean BWM.

One can only hope.

What's Your Perspective?

I try to feed my brain high-quality food. That is, great educational content on branding, marketing, design, entrepreneurship, strategy and process methodologies. But my brain also craves junk food sometimes.

So in moments of weakness I find myself scrolling sites like Bored Panda, KickAssFacts, or Listverse.

Imgur, a meme site, is probably the junkiest of my junk food sites. The viral image feed is incredibly eclectic. The next image could be a silly cat video or it could be something really inspiring.

I was cruising Imgur when an odd image caught my eye. It was a map of the world. But not like any map I’d seen before. It was a map of the world, but from a whale’s perspective.

All the oceans were connected into one big shape. The map ended where the water ended. Because as a whale, why would you even care what’s beyond the coast? The map covered only what’s important - to a whale.

Looking at that map I was struck with how limited our personal perspectives are. They are informed by our individual experiences or perceived boundaries. We make the mistake of thinking everyone sees things the way we do.

In our professional lives, when we design or communicate to a particular target market we may need to radically alter our approach. Transform the way we see things. Draw the customer journey map from a different perspective.

Try to see things like a whale.

This Might Get Loud

In 1883, Earth made a noise. It wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill Earth noise like an earthquake or a tornado. This one was loud. Really, really loud.

In fact, scientists have discovered that when the island of Krakatoa, near Sumatra exploded in a massive eruption, it created a noise that was the loudest noise in recorded human history.

The explosion was heard 3000 miles away in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The sound took 4 hours to get there. Then it circled the earth. Four times.

The rocks that spewed out of the volcano were traveling at 1,600 miles per hour. That’s more than twice the speed of sound. They calculated that Krakatoa actually shot rocks into outer space. At that velocity, the rocks just keep going and have by now left our solar system.

As creative communicators it is our goal to amplify messages. Amplifying our clients messages using design, imagery and copy. Amplifying our own messages by publishing content, through social media, and interacting in professional communities.

Usually we try to do this tactfully, with a certain amount of finesse, so hopefully it will fall on receptive ears.

But sometimes to be heard over the din of the internet brand-o-sphere, you just have to be loud.

Really, really loud.

Put This On Your Radar

In December 1955, a marketer at Sears had an idea. They thought…”Let’s run an ad with a Santa hotline!”

That’s when it happened. They made a typo in the ad and listed the wrong number.

So who’s phone number did they actually print? NORAD, that’s who. As in strategic-air-command-nuclear-missile-button NORAD.

Oh, and not just any NORAD number. They printed the number for that red phone. You know, the one that connects directly to the Pentagon.

Oops.

So when kids started calling with their Christmas wishes, they were greeted with a soldier yelling “Is this some kinda fucking joke buddy?”

After discovering this response usually made the child on the other end of the line start crying, the hard-as-nails Air Force guys shifted their approach. They started sharing reports of mysterious flying objects on their radar that were shaped like a sleigh. Or updates on cities where reindeer had been spotted in the skies.

When radio stations heard about it, they started calling to get sleigh updates to share on the air. And so, this is how the “Santa Tracker” tradition got started. With a typo.

But more importantly, from a reaction to a typo.

Sometimes the universe throws you a curve ball. Something completely out of context. Instead of reacting in a knee-jerk way, how can you approach it from a totally different angle? How can you bring to it a dose of humor, a bit of personality, a level of humanity?

Because we’re all just people after all.

People with a wish we want to come true.

Are You Mixed Up?

Office supplies are kinda boring.

And that was a problem for 3M. Their office supply product development teams were stagnant. They needed to come up with some innovative things to sell. Now.

3M had their offices set up in “silos”. The tape folks sat together in the tape department and the plastic box people sat together in the plastic box wing. But the CEO had an idea. Why don’t we mix things up a little?

After the moves, the paper people were sitting with the adhesives people.

This change to 3M’s seating chart was the catalyst for one of the greatest office supply innovation stories ever.

It seems the paper people were trying to invent a new multi-functional notepad. Meanwhile, the adhesives people had accidentally formulated a disappointing new glue that didn’t stick paper together very well.

Just like chocolate hitting peanut butter for the first time, a miracle happened. The Post-It Note.

Sometimes when you need to come up with something innovative, it’s not a question of discovering something new. Sometimes it’s just a question of combining misfit ideas with failed experiments to see what happens.

What happens is sometimes amazing.

How can you mix things up a little?

Are You a Deer in the Headlights?

I live in the suburbs about 2 miles from a 2000 acre park. It’s very wild, mostly woods and trials…and animals. Raccoons, groundhogs, turkeys, opossums, and lots and lots of deer.

The other night, my wife and I were driving home. Suddenly, frozen in the middle of the road in front of us was a 300 lb. buck with an 8 point rack of antlers.

We thought, “You nut! Why are you so far from the park?”

Then I attended a lecture on “Urban Wildlife” at our local animal rescue and learned that animals don’t see any difference between “city” and “country”. They just see “the world”.

To deer, there is “world with bumpy grass ground, trees and tasty shrubs”.

And there is “world with smooth rock ground, big wood boxes and tasty shrubs”.

It’s all the same to them. No boundaries.

In business, we make decisions about what customers to pursue, what industries to focus on. We set artificial limits and boundaries on where we will “feed”. But what if we saw the business landscape with no barriers? No big companies vs. small companies? No B2B vs. B2C?

Who says we have to limit ourselves? Who says we can’t go to where the customer landscape is a little different?

Because maybe there are some tasty shrubs there, too.

Break Your Own Rules

Fem Hy is what the CPG industry calls products in the feminine hygiene category.

These products use a strict visual “language” in the packaging. All white and pastels. Flowers and daises. Sparkles and sprites.

Why do package designers use that language? Because white and pastels communicate “clean and fresh”, what women want in these products. Consumers expect to see that on Fem Hy packaging.

Kotex owns the feminine hygiene aisle. Hell, they created that language. But when they were about to launch a new product they were confronted with a challenge. How were they going to stand out when everyone is using the same “language”?

Not only stand out from their competitors, how would they stand out from themselves?

The answer? Black. Kotex shocked the Fem-Hy world by creating a line of products packed in predominantly black packaging. Sure, they had a few bits of color and spritely shapes on the pack, but it was still black. Black in an aisle of white.

 Let’s just say it stood out.

We all can get stuck in a rut. Using the same old visual language over and over. But if you want to turn heads, if you want to make an impression, sometimes you have to break even your own rules.

Yes, you need to stand out from the competition, but you may also need to stand out from yourself.

Taking The Plunge

The first time I went scuba diving, I dropped into the water at Grand Cayman Island and I was suddenly on another planet. The colors were different, the animals were different. You didn’t have to walk, you could just float weightlessly. But to breathe, to survive, you needed to follow some critical new rules and use some unfamiliar equipment.

I’d spent 40 years living on solid ground and suddenly I was experiencing a whole new world.

I felt exactly the same way when I started my own business as a creative entrepreneur.

I’d spent 25 years in global corporations and agencies. Structured business environments with a department for everything: HR, finance, account, production, marketing. Suddenly, I was creating a personal brand hands-on: building an email list, content marketing, publishing videos, podcasts, e-books, listicles and lead magnets.

When I started, I was completely out of my element. I was on another planet and I had to figure out how to breathe. How to survive.

So I studied the new rules, I explored new resources, learned how to use some unfamiliar equipment. Soon I was floating weightlessly.

Where do you want to to go next? What do you yearn to explore? What do you need to learn?

Take the plunge - because there is a whole new world waiting for you.

Are You Adrift?

I’ve read Adrift, by Steven Callahan six times. In 1981, Callahan survived 76 days alone at sea in a six foot inflatable raft after his 21’ sloop was struck by a whale and sank in the middle of the Atlantic.

Before it sank, Steven was able to retrieve a few survival supplies including a small spear gun and a second-hand solar still that produced fresh water from condensation.

But in the brutal sun the solar still deteriorated to bits. The spear gun broke. He accidentally punctured his raft and spent days rigging a plug to keep it inflated. Nine ships passed him by, oblivious to his flares and signals.

I think what lead me to read Adrift six times is Steve’s persistence. When he was hit with a problem, he got busy. Failure was truly not an option. He survived because he just would not give up.

When we build a business, we set off expecting fair winds to guide us to lands of plenty. But the sea of competition is cruel. Brands can break, strategies can wear thin. Marketing holes need to be plugged, opportunities can pass us by.

But we must be persistent. Determined to survive. When adversity strikes, get busy. Because giving up is not an option.

How To Set Up A Kick-Ass Mastermind Group

Mastermind groups are designed to be the best growth hacking tools around. My experience with masterminds has been incredible. I've been in three masterminds over the last four years and I have found them to be powerful tools for growing my business. They have added jet fuel to my growth as an entrepreneur. 

Masterminds have helped me move from running a YouTube channel with my siblings and wife as subscribers to having over 180k dedicated followers and a catalog of branding videos with over 3.5M views. They helped me grow my email list of zero to 15k - now I’m publishing an industry-recognized newsletter, brand•muse, for over 3 years. I was named by the entrepreneurship guru Chris Ducker as "Youpreneur of the Year" last year in London. I could never have done all this on my own. 

You can leverage the power of the group to step up your business too.

The agendas in a mastermind setting are highly organized and the roles are very clear, so each member can get the most out of each meeting. The roles and agenda can seem rigid and complicated, but it’s really very simple to get started with a mastermind group. You just need to know the basics.

So what are the basics?

Step 1: Find An Existing Mastermind Group Or Create Your Own?

You can find a group that’s right for you by looking at your LinkedIn Groups or Facebook special interest groups. Also, research relevant professional organizations. For example, designers might search the AIGA for suggestions on masterminds they could join. Or in other industries, when you attend conferences, trade shows, or events, ask if anyone is involved in a mastermind. This is an easy way to get introduced to an existing group. 

You can also consider larger-scale paid mastermind communities. Many communities charge an annual fee to join a group as small as 5 people or as large as 400 or more. The advantage of these groups is that they are led by a facilitator who has an area of expertise that is particularly helpful to the group. 

Once you get going with a paid mastermind, you can form a breakout group; curate your own advisory board of like-minded people. I did exactly that (started with Chris Ducker’s Youpreneur group, then formed breakout groups including other Youpreneur members) and it worked very well for me. 

If you can’t find an existing group that’s right for you, start your own. 

Begin with your professional network first. Reach out on social media, especially Linkedin, to survey your network connections. If you belong to any specialized Facebook groups (e.g. one for creative professionals, business owners in your category, a resource-sharing group, etc.), start there. Poll the group to see if there is interest. Email past coworkers or classmates to gauge their interest. 

Step Two: Who Are The Right People For Your Mastermind Group?

It’s human nature to go with what you know, but stepping out of your comfort zone right from the start can really pay off. A great tip is to resist the urge to pick members who you know very well; your strong professional ties. “Weak ties,” or connections you keep in touch with once or twice a year are likely to be better mastermind partners. They can more easily help you expand your sphere of influence and widen your horizons with fresh resources, ideas, and connections. 

Be sure to choose some people who are in your industry so you can share ideas, ask them for feedback on your work, and see how they're progressing in their work. It’s also great to have entrepreneurs in other industries or categories who are doing the same kind of marketing and branding activities. Those in other industries will add even more scope on your problem-solving. A graphic designer for packaged goods, for example, will have experience that will benefit others in a mastermind for publishing designers. This will add different and valuable perspectives, and bring a particular level of expertise and application of that knowledge to the group. 

The people in your group will need to be ambitious, engaged, and driven. They need to be serious about what they're doing because you will be asking them to make an earnest commitment to attend and actively participate in meetings over a long time. The long timeline, about 6 months to start, helps you develop relationships within a mastermind group. These relationships directly relate to achieving your goals; the support you get from your group is going to help you accomplish your mission.

I suggest keeping the group size to 8 to 10. This size will give you enough time to share a variety of brainstorming ideas and input from everyone while allowing enough time to discuss and react to ideas.

Step Three: Where Will You Meet?

You can meet in person or online. If your group decides to meet in person, there are many options. You could rent a conference room in a co-working space or hotel, or you can meet in someone's conference room in their office. You can even meet if it's convenient in someone's home. 

More often than not masterminds happen in the virtual world. Zoom conferences or Google Hangouts or group Skype calls. This makes it easy for participants to be across the country or even across the globe. Developing international business relationships and getting international perspectives are a significant added benefit of masterminds that use virtual meeting technology.

Step Four: What Are The Key Roles And Formats In A Mastermind?

Generally, there's a leader or a facilitator who starts the meeting. This can be the same person every week or you can switch periodically. The timekeeper is watching the clock to make sure everyone is sticking to the agenda and nothing runs too long. A good timekeeper will make sure everyone gets their turn and the meeting ends on time. This role can rotate as well.

Most mastermind meetings start with 5 or 10 minutes of "quick wins;" everyone briefly shares their successes since the last meeting. This gets the group focused and realigned with each person’s current goals. 

Next is the "hot seat," which takes up most of the meeting time. The member on the hot seat gets to put a spotlight on their business issues. They can present a business problem, workshop an idea, or surface a particular topic that everyone will share about and offer ideas around. 

The last 5 or 10 minutes of the meeting each member states the goals they will accomplish before the next meeting.

Take it slow

If masterminds are so great (and they are) you may be tempted to join more than one. I suggest taking it slowly and try only one to start. It takes a lot of commitment and focus to be part of a mastermind and it may be difficult to develop deep relationships with a broad group of people too quickly. Start with one and if you feel like you have the bandwidth or you really need a wider range of input, then get involved in another one after a few months. 

Tangible results

I have met people who are supportive, driven and highly talented. Their perspectives have helped me go farther and faster in my business - perspectives I never would have known any other way. Masterminds have introduced me to more specialists, including writers, coaches, software developers, strategists, and researchers. I've broadened my network significantly which has led to new business opportunities. 

Even though business building is not the focus of a mastermind, I have found that masterminds have been the most powerful thing in my business hands down since I have started my entrepreneurial journey. My interactions and participation in masterminds have accounted for an estimated 20% of my new clients over the last 3 years. What would you do to create a 20% bump in sales with an investment of a couple of hours a week? 

Sounds like a good deal, right? Believe me, it is. 

I encourage you to start your journey today.

Something To Crow About

I just came back from Kauai, Hawaii where Beth and I celebrated our anniversary. It was a spectacular trip full of scuba diving, a helicopter ride around the Na Pali Coast, eating seafood…and looking at chickens.

We were looking at chickens because, well, there are a LOT of chickens on Kauai. I mean they are ev-er-y-where. Go to the beach? Chickens. Go out to eat? Chickens. The Scenic Look Out at 3600 ft. in Waimea Canyon Park? Yup, chickens.

Kauai is largely rural and chickens had always been part of farm life. But hurricanes Iwa in 1982 and Iniki in 1992 destroyed thousands of coops and set the birds free. There aren’t any mongoose on Kauai like there are on the other islands, so without predators the population exploded.

And these aren’t ordinary white hens. These are spectacular birds. The roosters have amazing plumage. Reds, oranges, greens, turquoise, iridescent purples.

Instead of despairing about the feathery infestation, Kauaians embraced it. They recognized that the chickens made Kauai unique. Memorable. They put them on T-shirts, coffee mugs, signs, bags of chips. Kauai decided to own the chicken.

So take a look at your brand. What do you have that is a little out of the ordinary? A little unexpected? Celebrate it. Own it.

Crow about it.

Top 5 Reasons To Join A Mastermind Group

Masterminds are an incredibly powerful business accelerator tool. I’ve been a member of several masterminds during the last four years and am constantly amazed by how much they have helped my business grow. I’ve gone from zero to a thriving branding consultancy with an international roster of clients across a range of categories including healthcare, medical technology, health and beauty, fashion, architecture and lifestyle startups.

The upward trajectory I’ve experienced as a result of a mastermind is not unique to me. Historic icons like Franklin Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison each had mastermind groups helping them achieve their goals, and many modern-day CEOs and entrepreneurs are using them too. In the age of growth hacking and business incubators, mastermind groups are among the best tools for business advancement.

What is a mastermind group?

Simply put, a mastermind is a group of people who help one another sharpen their business and personal skills. These peer-to-peer groups are a forum for members who solve their business challenges by:

• Brainstorming

• Sharing personal experience and resources

• Educating each other

The members support each other in reaching their business goals by:

• Creating a system of accountability

• Inspiring and challenging each other to push their limits

• Cultivating networking opportunities

Napoleon Hill, known as the father of masterminds, wrote, “No mind is complete by itself. It needs contact and association with other minds to grow and expand.” That growth and expansion are exactly what most entrepreneurs and designers need to achieve exponential results. Meeting with a mastermind group helps you consistently tap into this power.

How Do Mastermind Groups Accelerate Business Growth?

Hill, who wrote the famous Think And Grow Rich, introduced the idea of masterminds in his Master Keys To Success principles. In the 1960’s Master Keys To Success became a multi-part television series. In this episode, he explains:

“[In a mastermind] you may borrow and use the education, the experience, the influence, and perhaps the capital of other people in carrying out your own plans in life. It is the principle through which you can accomplish in one year more than you could accomplish without it in a lifetime if you depended entirely on your own efforts for success.” (excerpt from The Success Alliance)

This is very true. Using or “borrowing” the education and experience of the others in your group is the “secret sauce” of a mastermind. Getting the perspectives, opinions and input from everyone in the group gives you the extra confidence and courage to make decisions faster, see results sooner, and achieve your goals more quickly.

It has been true for me; I have accomplished more with my mastermind groups than I could have on my own. I started a YouTube channel that now has over 180k subscribers, publish an industry-leading newsletter to 15k subscribers and I’ve appeared as a featured guest on 30+ podcasts and virtual conferences. I could not have done even half that without my mastermind groups.

The 5 Benefits of Mastermind Groups for Entrepreneurs and Designers

Here are some of the benefits I’ve experienced from my mastermind groups:

1. Community: One of the hard parts of being an entrepreneur is the “mental load” of being the chief decision-maker. The group helps lessen that weight. It takes the edge off of the isolation most entrepreneurs experience.

2. Accelerated learning: You learn from others’ knowledge and experience. The mastermind is a confidential space that allows you to ask questions, experiment, and discuss challenges specific to your business.

3. Building a network of business partners: Develop trusted relationships and increase your connections across a broad range of industries.

4. Inspiration and motivation: Hearing what others are doing will push you to do more in your business. Learning about the wins and even failures of others will spur you on. You’ll share in their successes because you’ll have offered them advice, held them accountable and cheered them on. Being a part of others’ success boosts your confidence; something that takes a beating as an entrepreneur.

5. Goals & Accountability: Goals setting on steroids. You’ll see how others set and accomplish goals. Share goals with each other and hold each other accountable so everyone gets more important work done. Studies have shown that people perform better when others are watching (Johns Hopkins University, 2018). A small audience, such as a mastermind, may be just the thing to kick your business growth into high gear.

I created a video called “The 5 Powers of Mastermind Groups,” where I discuss these benefits in more detail.

Where will the power of the group take you?

The only way to know is to join a mastermind and find out. I am certain you will feel the compounding effect of having 4 or more brains working on your business, more meaningful professional connections, and accountability. Don’t wait another minute.

Like Bears To Honey

In northern Turkey, the Trabzon-Sürmene province is known for their honey. People love their honey.

But İbrahim Sedef, an agricultural engineer and beekeeper had a problem. There are bears in Trabzon-Sürmene. Big bears. Bears that just happen to love honey too. And they were destroying his hives to get it.

The bears kept eluding all of Sedef’s methods of protecting his hives. He assumed he could lure them to relocation traps with tasty food scraps. But it wasn’t working.

He needed to learn more about what really motivated them.

So every night he set out trays of the full range of honeys he produces. Then he set up a night vision camera and videoed the bears for 4 months.

The bears consistently made a bee-line for the premium Anzer honey that sells for $171 a kilo. Then they moved on to the chestnut, then flower and finally pine-wood honey. They wouldn’t touch the cherry jam made with corn-syrup.

Who knew bears had such discerning palates?

As marketers and branding people, when we need actionable insights for our clients, user research helps us dispel assumptions that might be incorrect. It helps us understand true preference and motivation.

So we can help them attract customers. Like bears to honey.

Want To Be Likable? Do This.

I recently came across a list of words that give a name to emotions that are hard to explain. My favorite one was “anecdoche”.

Anecdoche (n.) [ah-nek-duh-kee] is a conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening.

I was immediately reminded of a scientific study I’d read about.

In the experiment, they sent two people into a networking type of gathering. Person #1 was instructed not to talk about themselves at all. They were instructed to only ask questions about the person they were conversing with.

Person #2, on the other hand, was allowed to share what they did, how they liked their job, their industry, the clients they were working with.

When the participants who had conversations with these two people were interviewed afterwards, something strange happened.

When asked which of the two people was the most interesting, accomplished and likable, they invariable chose Person #1. The person who only asked questions — the one who had not actually shared anything about themselves at all. 

When you ask questions and show genuine interest in someone it actually makes you seem more interesting, accomplished and likable.

At this point, I’d usually ask: So how can you use this method in your business? 

But instead I’ll just say: Stop having freakin’ anecdoches with your clients.

The Un-Instagrammable

I went on a short trip to a place called Neahtawanta near Traverse City, Michigan last week. It’s a small private enclave of cottages that dates back to the 1890’s. I spent summers there when I was growing up. It holds a lot of fond memories for me.

In “Neah” there is a wooden pavilion on the beach where families gather to cook out, have cocktails and watch the sunset. For over 50 years there was a scrawny evergreen tree that grew at the edge of the water. It had a distinct asymmetrical shape. Like a larger version of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Not your Instagrammable type of a tree.

But it stood out from thousands of other trees in its character, its shape, its sheer tenacity to weather the brutal Michigan winters on the shore of the lake over the decades.

This year, one of the association members decided to design a logo for Neah that she could print and embroider on T-shirts and hats for the other cottage owners and she needed an icon.

This one little tree said “Neah” better than anything else.

When you are creating a brand, you look for the iconic. The memorable. The indelible. The unique.

The un-Instagrammable.

Shiny Objects

A little girl in Seattle named Gabi Mann has a collection of beautiful trinkets. A shiny earring, a green glass bead, a silver charm with the word “best” engraved on it. But, Gabi didn’t collect these treasures herself. They were given to her.

She didn’t get them from her friends. Gabi was given them as gifts…by crows.

It seems Gabi was in the habit of feeding the crows in her neighborhood. Every day for years she put out peanuts, seeds, tasty crow-appropriate treats in a metal bowl in her back yard. But then a funny thing happened. The crows started leaving her presents. A sparkly paper clip, a bright red piece of plastic. “Quid pro crow” as it were.

When you give to your community with no expectation of return something wonderful happens. I like to call it “subliminal reciprocity”. You help people and over time they just naturally want to help you, too.

That’s how content marketing works. You give people value, something that will inspire them, provides them with knowledge that helps them succeed, that will nourish their business. Before you know it, they will want to return the favor. Entertain a request you make. Maybe even refer some new clients to you.

You know, in a quid pro crow kind of way.

The New Normal: 5 Reasons Why Freelancing Is The Future Of Work

The work landscape is always changing. The global economy has created a work world that is almost unrecognizable from what it was 40 years ago. Companies used to hire an employee who would work for twenty or thirty years and then retire with a pension. That employee might have one or two careers or jobs in a lifetime.

Now, companies are no longer loyal. The average worker generally has ten jobs before they turn 40, and anywhere from 12-15 jobs on average in their lifetime (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Freelancing in the United States has gone up 8% in the last three years and statistics show that by 2027, over half the workforce is going to be either independent consultants or freelancers (Forbes).

These changes to the work landscape impact all industries: retail, manufacturing, white-collar industries, blue-collar industries, and a whole range of creative professional industries. No one is immune to these changes. Freelancing is here to stay, and for good reason.

1) There's more money to be made in freelancing than ever before.

In an effort to keep their overhead low by reducing their full-time headcount, and therefore their benefit and healthcare costs, companies are hiring more freelancers than ever. Fewer full-time workers means companies can grow or contract their workforce as needed. These positive incentives for corporations to hire temporary workers means that freelancers are in greater demand and that demand is continuing to grow. With more work available, it's easier to make a living freelancing than it ever has been before.

2) Freelancers are better prepared for changes in the marketplace.

New trends in business, new skill sets, new industries, and new innovations are coming down the pike all the time. Freelancers make it a point to stay up-to-date on what's changing in the marketplace, while full-time employees have a tendency to sometimes get comfortable and complacent. Freelancers know that they have to stay on their toes and be prepared for the future.

My professional network of consultants and partners talk about these market changes all the time. By doing so we're always staying up-to-date on the latest innovations, movements, trends in business, and skill sets in the marketplace - much more so, I believe, than our full-time counterparts.

3) Artificial Intelligence and freelance work.

A popular topic amongst my consulting network: Fast Company says that 50% of freelancers are already seeing the impact of AI in the workforce. Artificial Intelligence is certainly affecting the creative professions in particular. Some examples: Envato templates, Canva, Haiku Deck, Adobe Spark,or RelayThat. All of these applications are plug-and-play, just like WYSIWYG website templates but for graphic design and they are increasingly digging into the bottom line of the design profession.

However, the founder of LinkedIn has said he thinks freelancers are better prepared for the threat of AI than full-time employees. It’s true, freelancers are going to be less impacted by AI because they are in direct contact with their clients. They work P-to-P: in people-to-people relationships. They communicate directly with people and build skill sets and a knowledge base that are rooted in human relationships. AI does not threaten this sort of work.

For example, AI won’t supplant my human expertise in brand consulting. Consulting expertise uses skills like creativity, judgement, planning and resource management - skills AI cannot learn. Artificial Intelligence won't be able to replace my eye for discovery, or my adeptness at competitive analysis in design or in planning creative strategy targeting a specific avatar. Freelancers are practiced at amplifying competitive strengths and adjusting to just these sort of shifts in the market.

4) Freelancing spreads your risk.

Just like investing in index funds, where buying a broad range of companies mitigates the risk of any one company failing, freelancing spreads employment risk. Smart freelancers work with a range of companies, a diverse set of clients. By working a broad a range of industry categories the risk of getting adversely affected by a downturn in any one industry is lessened.

Working across industries also forces freelancers to diversify their skill set, which keeps them in demand. They are constantly learning the newest technologies, systems, and processes. They become less specialized and more of a Swiss army knife, which can be especially useful to employers who need to keep their freelance headcount tight.

5) When you freelance, you own your own brand.

Freelancers are actively building their own brands. They embrace the idea that “you own you,” and understand that no one can take that away from them. All of the work they put into their practice, network and clients stays with them as a freelancer. They are building their own equity, not the equity of an employer. No layoff, no market crash, no downturn, or organizational shakeup can take it away. No one can lay you off from you.

Change is the only constant, and that is true in the job market now more than ever. Freelancing embraces the idea of change and as a result, makes the freelancer less vulnerable to it. It forces the freelancer to organically expand their skill set and network, and neutralizes the risk of an unexpected change, like a layoff.

Freelancing is like a permission slip to grow as much as you desire professionally. In fact, in recent years the historical drawbacks of freelancing; lack of loyalty, lack of consistency and exposure to market shifts and economic forces have started to look less like a downside and more like a competitive advantage.

Your Mind, Blown

My friend Adam got a Tesla. An $80,000 Tesla, to be exact. He ordered every bell and whistle. He said, “I went down the list of options and just checked every box”.

After we had dinner Saturday, Adam asked if I wanted to drive it. I can’t say I was dying to. But O.K., let's see your new toy.

Out on the street, Adam pulled out his phone, hit a button and the car drove itself over to us. Then I stepped into and literally drove the future.

Tooling down the road at 40mph Adam says, “Take your hands off the wheel and foot off the pedal”. It was freaky. Not only can it drive itself, it can pass cars and change lanes completely on its own.

When you read that a car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds that’s impressive. But then it also goes from 20 to 60 in 2 seconds. Two. Until you press a pedal and feel a car do that, you can never truly understand. I mean - Holy. Shit.

Have you ever had an experience with a product that made you reevaluate the very conception you’ve always had of particular thing? This Tesla did that.

How can you Tesla-ize what you do?

Lead Magnets That Deliver: A Quick Guide To Growing Your Email List With Content

Email marketing is an undeniably powerful marketing tool. Studies show that “email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders,” according to Wordstream.com. In the B2C world, ”Consumers who purchase products through email spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers.” Wordstream reports that 77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email (versus direct mail, text, phone, or social media). Connecting with your audience through email is preferable and effective. You cannot deny it.

The reason it is so effective is because people have given you permission to market to them, which is unheard of in any other marketing channel. Most marketing comes to you in the form of advertising; online, television, print or outdoor advertising, and you have no control over when or where the ads are served. The media channels choose that.

Email marketing is different because people have signed up to hear from you. They have entrusted you with their email address which is one of the highest forms of trust today. Sharing an email address says, “I trust you to give me information I need, and that you won’t pester me by contacting me too often or with news I don’t care about.”

The best thing about email marketing (or permission-based marketing) is that the customer is in control of the relationship. The customer can decide when to stop receiving your emails - they can break up with you if you don’t serve them well. They are in the driver’s seat, but they are also qualified, highly interested in what you are doing and very likely to listen to what you are saying. Think about how your business would dramatically change if you had 5,000 or more subscribers attentively listening to your every word. You’d be unstoppable.

But what if you don’t have a large email list or what if your list is not chock-full of engaged, ready-to-buy subscribers? How do you get people to sign up?

You ask people to “trade.” The item you trade for an email address is a bit of content called a lead magnet or an opt-in magnet, which can take many forms. It’s usually a digital file; it can be an ebook, checklist, guide, report, resource list, or even access to a quick video training course.

When a prospect clicks to download the lead magnet, they have to enter in an email address in exchange. It's a reciprocal agreement; they're getting something of value and you're getting something of value. So this even trade kicks off a relationship based on mutual trust.

One of the most common forms of lead magnets is an ebook. Ebooks are inexpensive to create because there is no physical production involved. All it takes is some time, energy and a bit of brain power to pull one together.

Ebooks don't have to be a monumental project. They could be a mini-ebook, a two or three-page pamphlet. As long as it is valuable to your viewers and visitors, it will make a great lead magnet.

If your ebook is not based on current news or events it will have a longer shelf life so it is best to focus on content that is “evergreen”. You can offer a single ebook for an extended period or create variety by rotating through multiple ebooks as you continue to develop more. Before you know it, you will have a valuable library of evergreen email list-growing content.

You don't necessarily have to produce original content specifically for your opt-in magnet. Think about how you can repurpose other content of yours and deliver it in a way that is helpful for your potential customers. If you have videos or podcasts piling up, transcribe them into written form and offer that as an opt-in magnet (rev.com is a terrific transcription service, as are descript.com and temi.com. YouTube offers a free transcription service for videos on its site). Even if the viewer has seen the video or heard the podcast you’ve transcribed, offering it up in a different form may be of true value to them.

If you write blog posts or articles you can offer those in a different format, expand on them, or bundle them together as an ebook for your lead magnet. Prospects may not have come across your writing where you originally posted it, so offering it in another format will expose them to that information and provide value that they wouldn't have otherwise received.

You can also include additional promotional information about your products or services in your lead magnets. An incentive to buy sooner, offering add-on services, or free shipping offers can be very effective in a lead magnet.

Key Elements of a Lead Magnet

Title Tells All

The title must be really enticing, motivating viewers to have to know more. Spend some time researching which titles tend to be successful in your industry and try to create something that will draw people's attention.

Present Your Best

After you’ve piqued their curiosity, you have to deliver the goods. Make sure that you're not disappointing your readers. Remember, they are giving you their email address, so you want to make sure you're delivering top-notch information to them.

To ensure you are delivering the best, make sure that your piece has:

●       A design that reflects your brand

●       High technical quality

●       High factual quality

●       Good structure, flow and is well-written, in your brand voice

●       A call-to-action, it can be subtle, but it should be in there

Hire a copywriter to help you write or refine your piece, or if you can’t afford that, enlist an editor to make sure your work is free of grammatical and spelling errors. At a minimum, run it through free grammar and spelling checking software like Grammarly or Hemmingway.

Be A Trusted Resource

Deliver value early in the piece and you will get the attention you deserve. Starting with a strong assertion makes people take notice. Don't spend 5 or 10 pages leading up to the “big idea.” Give them value early.

Promoting your Lead Magnet

One of the best ways to promote your lead magnet is on social media. Include links and teasers in your Twitter and Facebook and Instagram posts. Use Bitly or TinyURL to create a nondescript link to your downloadable content. It’s a great idea to put links in your email signature and rotate the magnet you’re offering, so virtually every person that you send an email to gets access to a piece of valuable content.

You can also promote your lead magnet through a pop-up on your website. Everyone hates pop-ups, (I hate pop-ups too) but they work really, really well. About 75% of my email sign-ups come through the pop-up on my website. You really can’t argue with that kind of efficacy.  

Lastly, ask people to help you promote your opt-in. Ask people to share the link to your content - you’ll find that people want to help and if they do, you should do the same for them. Use this opportunity to create a great network of content-sharing professionals.

Once you get started with leveraging lead magnets, you‘ll see how easy it is to attract qualified, interested leads to your email list. You’ll be delivering great value to your audience, which is a solid start to the relationship. As long as you respect their time and attention, you are fostering a mutually beneficial partnership that will build your business and cultivate a tribe of brand devotees.

The Gumball Rally

There’s a movie from the ’70s called The Gumball Rally where a wacky cast of characters participate in an automobile race from from the East coast to the West coast.

One character enlists the help of a professional Italian racer to drive his car. The first thing the Italian does when he gets in the car is to reach up and rip off the rear-view mirror and toss it aside. Shocked, the owner asks, “Why’d you do that?”

The Italian answers “When you are in a race, it doesn’t matter what’s behind you. What matters is what’s ahead.”

Last week one of my coaching clients was upset. His competition was copying him. They were stealing his ideas! What should he do?

I told him that it’s impossible to keep people from knocking you off. Consider it a compliment. You are the leader and they are on your heels. The only thing you can do is to keep coming up with great work. Better work. Innovate and push forward.

There will always be people who are trying to catch up to you. You can’t waste your time looking in the rear-view mirror.

What matters is what’s ahead.