🎯 Work Smart Wednesday
👋 Hey there!
Here is your weekly dose of Work Smart Wednesday
In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter in 3 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,077 more minutes to conquer your goals this week
Feel free to forward this email to friends
1. 📬 Why I am switching from Mailerlite to Substack
You currently receive these emails via Mailerlite, an email service I am very happy with. Mailerlite is cheap, has great deliverability, and great features. So why am I switching?
A. 🔍 Substack has discoverability
More than 40% of all new free subscriptions and around 20% of paid subscriptions to Substacks come from Substack itself. The platform is heavily optimised for getting readers of one newsletter to sign up for your newsletter too. Those readers also tend to engage highly and stick around.
Work Smart Wednesday is designed as a soft entry point into my business for entrepreneurs who want to work less and make more, a discoverability and engagement platform for me. It is close to the top of my funnel. I want people to find me, see the value I provide, and then eventually feel ready to work with me in some capacity. It makes sense for Work Smart Wednesday to be hosted in a place optimised for discoverability.
Substack is much better for discoverability than Mailerlite (and almost every other tool, e.g. convertkit/mailchimp). A 40% boost to subscribers with very little extra effort is a big boost to business.
I am seeing the benefits from this already and have added many new subscribers without doing anything other than having the newsletter available on the Substack platform.
B. 📢 Substack has inbuilt referral programmes
Somewhat similar to discoverability, but taken a step further.
Substack has inbuilt referral programmes. With most other email platforms this is an expensive feature and/or requires an expensive additional tool, like Sparkloop. Granted, Substack's referral programmes are not as comprehensive as Sparkloop's, but Substack's programme fits my purposes perfectly for now.
I can now incentivise you, the reader, to share Work Smart Wednesday with other people you think will benefit. You get bonuses for sharing, and your friends get useful information to help them grow their business. It is a win-win. Here’s how it works:
Step 1. Share Work Smart Wednesday
There are two ways to get credit for referrals:
- Use the “Share” button that is embedded in all future Work Smart Wednesday newsletters. Share that link.
- Or, visit the refer a friend button below to copy your custom tracking link. Then share that link via text, Slack, email, social media, etc with your family, colleagues, or friends.
Step 2. Earn benefits
As people use your referral link to subscribe you will receive benefits such as resources and even 1-1 sessions with me. Link tracking and benefit delivery is automated for you.
Here’s how referrals translate to benefits:
1 referral = Phone & PC motivation visuals resources
7 referrals = A shoutout in my newsletter, showcasing you and your business
25 referrals = Full 1-to-1 strategy session with me to help you work less and make more
You can check the new leaderboard to see how you are doing at any time. Got an idea for a referral reward you would want? Send me an email to John@JohnJDMunn.com and let me know and I may add it as a referral bonus for you.
Sharing just once on social media or with your company/team could put you well on the way to getting useful bonuses and even a 1-1 strategy session with me for free.
Thank you for helping get the word out about Work Smart Wednesday!
C. 🔄This is not a total switch
I am keeping Mailerlite for my automated drip campaigns, such as from lead magnet signups. Substack doesn't have that functionality.
While I advocate simplicity, using Mailerlite for my weekly newsletter as well as my automated campaigns would have actually added more complexity than splitting the two. Switching to another platform that does both also had significant barriers, such as relative cost and deliverability issues.
Having the two platforms shouldn't incur extra work as the two email types are quite separate, performing different roles within my sales funnel. No duplication is necessary and my automated campaigns already perform well so there is no need to keep checking Mailerlite more than once per month. An imperfect solution, but one that better meets my requirements in the medium term. I will let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, if you think Substack is for you then you can start your Substack here: Start a Substack
D. 🤷 What do you need to do about the switch?
Absolutely nothing. I have already imported you across to Substack. If you noticed this email looks slightly different, that is why! It has already been handled for you.
2. 📰 One of the best articles about coaching I have ever read
This article from the New Yorker is a masterpiece at underscoring the real value of coaching. Arguably more importantly, it highlights how a coach isn't some fancy commodity that other people should have but something that can help everybody in all businesses and professions.
When I first read this article it shifted my perspective slightly on coaching overall - the coach doesn't need to know everything, the coach doesn't need to be smarter than you. Many people know things they can do to improve when they become aware of a problem, but the problem is being able to objectively identify what needs to be improved in the first place.
A good coach is a bit like a 'spotter' in the gym, they don't need to be the best weightlifter but they do need to be able to provide an objective viewpoint to help the person better see the situation themselves. The coach needs to ask good questions and help guide the person to improve. To help the person to see the woods through the trees.
While I take a blended approach today, with direct actionable to-do-list type feedback when people need it and 'holding up the mirror' at other times, being able to understand the real value of coaching significantly helped me improve. It allowed me to offer more value to the entrepreneurs I work with. Whether you are a coach or you are somebody who wants to improve your skills (in any field), I strongly recommend checking out this article.
A quote from the article:
Rafael Nadal has a coach. Nearly every elite tennis player in the world does. Professional athletes use coaches to make sure they are as good as they can be. But doctors don’t. I’d paid to have a kid just out of college look at my serve. So why did I find it inconceivable to pay someone to come into my operating room and coach me on my surgical technique?
A second useful quote:
Expertise, as the formula goes, requires going from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence and finally to unconscious competence.
The coach provides the outside eyes and ears, and makes you aware of where you’re falling short. This is tricky. Human beings resist exposure and critique; our brains are well defended. So coaches use a variety of approaches—showing what other, respected colleagues do, for instance, or reviewing videos of the subject’s performance. The most common, however, is just conversation.
These are just two of the many gems in the article. Well worth a read.
Link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/personal-best
3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering
"Energy is like a pent up crossbow. Decision is like releasing the trigger" - Sun Tzu.
Quote from his book, The Art of War
That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know
Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊
Have a great week,
John
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P.P.S. Thank you for trusting me with your time. If these emails ever turn into a burden, I encourage you to unsubscribe. I strive to provide real value and I am here to help you to make the most of your time
👋 Want to work together?
When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
🔍 Clarity Call - we will discuss your situation and create a step-by-step action plan together so you know exactly what you need to do next for maximum impact
👓 StartSmart - Achieve a 6 figure income within 6 months, whether you only have an idea or you have already started your business
🧘 Overload to Optimal - reduce your workweek to 20 hours or less within 90 days while running your 6-8 figure business
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