I created a slideshare presentation on sleep hacking a few months ago that has been viewed by over 110,000 people, shared publicly by the Founder and CEO of LinkedIn, and downloaded by over 450 people.
While a did a few things right, I also totally botched a ton of stuff. I thought I’d share what I learned creating a viral slideshare.
But First Some Context
I created this slideshare to promote an online Skillshare class on Sleep Hacking. My goal was to use this piece of content to drive sign ups. The presentation was a synthesis of a ton of learning and self-experimentation that I’ve done on myself over the past year in my pursuit to get more waking hours while …
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In this post, I’ll show you how I nearly doubled the number of email subscribers for this blog and give you the exact code to do it.
BUT FIRST I want to shed light on the method to my madness….
The most valuable piece of currency content creators can accrue is someone’s email address (aside from loot).
Why? Because content broadcasted to social media is ephemeral. Email delivery on the other hand, exponentially increases the odds that someone will see something you created.
So if I’m going to create content, I want to maximize the fruits of my labor.
Before conducting this experiment, the only way people could subscribe to my mailing list was via the opulent widget on my sidebar.
On January 30th I added …
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Today I want to share an interview with my buddy Charlie Houpert, founder of KickAss Academy, a business that focuses on self improvement for men by helping them get better with women.
In high school Charlie was a shy guy, so much so that he was designated “Most Likely to Break Out of His Shell in College.” Dare I say back-handed compliment?
Since then he’s dedicated his life to “breaking out of his shell” and overcoming fear. He’s achieved such mastery that he’s been able to leave his consulting career to create a business out of empowering men to overcome fear and meet women.
Scott, I thought this was a business development blog?
Sorry folks, I’m looking to keep it way more …
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If you’re anything like me, you were giddy after first hearing about virtual assistants.
My challenge was that I had no idea what to outsource or how to use a VA effectively. But as a someone who loves efficiency, I knew I wanted one. (Get Yours Here!)
Sound familiar?
Well, I just completed my first month of using a dedicated personal assistant through Zirtual, and let me tell you, it was awesome. I’m going to outline my experience in detail including the exact requests I used him for so that everyone whose felt like me can have a better understanding of what’s possible.
Background Context of My Previous Outsourcing Experience
In the past, I’ve used TaskRabbit, Odesk, Elance, FancyHands, and Mechanical Turk for …
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This post is part of the series.
How the heck do you land a startup job as a non-technical person???
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked this I’d have like $2.65.
I want highlight one technique I call the “Proof Approach” that I’ve seen work time and time again.
When you have no prior startup experience, employers are taking a risk on you. They use your previous accomplishments and pedigree as a proxy to determine your capacity to be an effective team member.
If you created enough value at your last job to demonstrate everest potential, this might be enough to secure a gig. But many young people haven’t, and sometimes even major accomplishments aren’t enough to land a …
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I’ve donated more money to the driving range than I’d like to admit.
You see, growing up I was told in order to improve or perform something at a high level, the best thing to do was practice. In the context of aspiring to break triple digits on the links, I thought hitting the range and swinging until my hands bleed was the right approach. Sigh.
The distinct memory of those blisters isn’t why I now cringe at that approach. I cringe because I realize I could have used my time much more effectively. When you want to get results faster than you can teach yourself, the best thing to do is seek advice from an expert. In the instance above, I should have taken a …
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You’re about to see how to use the “Good Cop Bad Cop” technique to get things done and handle uncomfortable situations.
In business, you’re bound to encounter confrontation which can put a strain on a relationship:
“Hey can you get me that check that was due last month?”
“I noticed that you didn’t link back to us in the integration…would you mind inserting a link there?”
“I’m sorry we’re just not going to be able to build that feature you requested.”
Let’s talk about how you can use good cop bad cop to disarm these situations while minimizing any negative effect on a relationship.
What is the Good Cop Bad Cop Technique?
Let’s lay the foundation: people like doing business with people they like. When …
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Today I bring you an interview with my buddy Alex Banayan, a 20-year old VC and author for Crown Publishing (Random House).
In this interview Alex reveals:
How we landed a VC job at 19 with Alsop Louie Partners and leveraged the power of authenticity to do it.
The advice that the President of Microsoft gave him
Details on his new book that he hopes will shape the minds of the next generation
How he funded the initial book writing process and travel (hint: involves sail boats and Drew Carey)
An awesome story on how he hustled his way to get a meeting with the CEO of Toms Shoes (and a personal story from yours truly on the “creating serendipity technique”)
The lesson that his greatest mentor …
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