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Showing posts from January, 2021

Podcast Time Trials

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  Our podcasts are free now. Unfortunately the business model of free + advertising might not last. Pay attention to this business reality and document when we start our new subscriptions. We have adjusted our monthly podcast review to protect us from the ticking free time trial   The new podcasts we recommend starting the free clock are listed below.  The Rational View with Dr. Al Scott.   https://therationalview.podbean.com/ Since we need to use our free lockdown time to read books instead of binging another Netflix show. I’ve listed three book podcasts I enjoy.  Spark and Fire https://sparkandfire.com/ The New York Times Book Review https://www.nytimes.com/column/book-review-podcast The History of Literature  http://historyofliterature.com/ I hope podcasts remain free because they are an important part of my Bernie Sanders student debt relief plan. 

Shower Singing

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  Why do we sing in the shower and how can it help us grow our independent wealth advisory business?  This week will examine what we can learn during our morning shower. Our confidence and thoughts are important to our personal and business success. Please read and sing your favorite song. Echo   We sound better in the shower because of the echo.  Writers need the echo chamber of social media too.  Unlike the solitary shower where we are the only person who hears and rates us, the social media echo chamber is filled with opinions.  Most social media opinions are negative and we need to expect this reality.  Our confidence is essential to our well being and our ability to take risks is important to our growth.  Many successful people write daily using Morning Pages and we all sing in the shower.  The echo in the shower and on social media can help us maintain our self confidence.   Relaxing Temperature   Several of my friends have d...

No email

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The more things change the more our old tools  remain.  Unfortunately, we are hesitant to adopt new technology.  I remember when email and websites replaced hand written notes and paper brochures. I did not want to send emails and my bosses didn’t want to spend extra money to build a website. Both of us resisted change and paper brochures were cheap. Our clients also liked the status quo. Today the pandemic has forced us all to change and while some of our old bad habits still remain - visionary leaders need to lead us on a new and improved path. This week we will examine our old bad habits and look at our new road map.   Keyboard Bravado My kids breakup over text. Many of us say mean things online that we would never say in person. Keyboard Bravado is the term for this behavior. My generation was wimpy too, and sent messages to our potential girlfriend using paper footballs before there were cell phones.  The genius of Steve Jobs proved that we didn’t know what...

Change

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  We are hoping that 2021 will be a positive change from 2020. Our hope is that the independent wealth advisory business will change too. This week we will examine three areas that need to change. Ultimately it is your decision,  but the status quo isn’t working. The three major areas deserve your consideration.  Business Model The growth in SPACs is having an impact on all industries. The last round of SPACs didn’t work and attracted some shady characters. Hopefully this new round will work better. Many pundits are warning it could be an investment trap.  We will keep an eye on the typical traps.  Hopefully this time is different. The other area that is changing is the broker dealers. The brokerage firms are trying to attract young investors by speaking their language of free, offering fractional shares to decrease the cost of buying high priced stocks and finally offering these services through phone apps. Sounds like the firms are checking a lot of marketin...

Freemium

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The free time we experienced during the lockdown has caused us to look for cheap deals. This has helped technology stocks and drawn us like a moth to light to podcasts. The other reality is that free doesn’t last. Adopting a freemium strategy doesn’t last either. My inbox is filled with warnings that a sale price is about to end. I’m now immune to this scare tactic. My opinion is verified by the extension email I receive the next day. This strategy does not work for businesses either. We don’t make any money on a free strategy. More importantly a high percentage of potential clients who respond to a free promotion also are likely to fire us. The freemium model doesn’t seem to work, but businesses continue to look for the greater fool. My question is who is the freemium fool? Our monthly summary of Free Podcasts doesn’t have a expiration date and makes us smarter.  Enjoy our favorites: Axios Today   https://www.axios.com/podcasts/today/ Numbers by Barron’s https://www.barrons.c...