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Favors balance out
A few years ago, Ryan Holiday shared a lesson he learned from Tim Ferriss: When Tim’s blog was just starting to take off, I emailed him and asked him if he might include a link back to mine. I laid out this clear case as to why — the things I’d done for him in…
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“Happy-when” people
Shane Parrish writes in Clear Thinking: Running on the hedonic treadmill only turns us into what I call “happy-when” people—those who think they’ll be happy when something happens. For example, we’ll be happy when we get the credit we deserve, or happy when we make a bit more money, or happy when we find that…
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It’s just business
A little over a year ago, I wrote a guest post for Dan Runcie at Trapital unpacking how Pusha T positioned his career for longevity (and I wrote about it again here). The early years of Push’s career had high highs and low lows, particularly when he and his brother No Malice were stuck in…
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Stand up
Steve Jobs discusses hiring people, in an interview for In the Company of Giants (via the Steve Jobs archive): Over time, my digging in during an interview gets more precise. For example, many times in an interview I will purposely upset someone: I’ll criticize their prior work. I’ll do my homework, find out what they…
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Make a map of memories
Kai Brach writes in the 267th issue of Dense Discovery: When I receive a kind, heartfelt email from a reader, I add it to a folder titled ‘Confidence Boost’. So whenever self-doubt strikes or I’m in a creative rut I consult that folder to be reminded of what really matters: connection. A memory pays dividends…
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The copycat brand litmus test
While you can’t fully graph out the effects of branding, you can certainly show its effects. In other words, there are litmus tests. I’ve previously already covered two—the negative press brand litmus test, and the hotel lobby brand litmus test. I recently came across a third, which I’ll call the copycat brand litmus test. If…
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Celebrate the occasion, the offer is an afterthought
Every year, near the first day of December, Aesop sends an email out to its millions of customers. Its subject line is something along the lines of, “A rare reduction,” “A gift from us,” or “A gesture of gratitude.” It looks something like this: Notice the virtues—thoughtfulness, generosity, rarity—all highlighted. The 15% reduction offer is…
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Sales vs. marketing
My friend Kinan included this ad in the latest issue of his newsletter, MBRK: The different element is the story, of course. The best story will win. A few days ago, I wrote about another great advertisement from Chiat/Day and how the agency flipped the loss of their biggest client into a story. This format…
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Your creative work’s right size
In 1971, an English teacher, a writer, and a history teacher—all in their 20s—borrowed $5,000 from a bank and invested $1,350 each to start a coffee shop in Seattle. They named it Starbucks. 16 years later, an entrepreneur named Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks. The company had opened 16 more stores, on average around one per…
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Dealing with failure
What do you do when you’re helming a blossoming ad agency and you lose an account that’s half your billings and three-quarters of your income? You keep advertising. Chiat/Day partner and co-founder Guy Day wrote this one. His son Cameron Day writes, “It was uncharacteristic of my father to revert to low-brow language. That was…