#53 An Amazing DM Strategy, Avoiding Expensive Lunches, and Always (Staying) Informed

Good morning and welcome back!

As you scroll through this week’s letter, you will notice a new section at the end, where you’d typically find Major Moves.

Like MM, this section is informative and meant to keep you in the loop on important happenings.

However, rather than covering the top stories from across all industries, this new section focuses on a single, rapidly-growing area: AI.

We will be the first to admit: we are not an AI newsletter. We are not tech experts (texperts, anyone? No?).

But we recognize that artificial intelligence is not a trend. It is here to stay, and it’s only going to get bigger.

So while our Workin’ With AI section does a nice job of curating tutorials, and our Convo Starters always include one AI story, we felt that it wasn’t enough.

We want every edition of this newsletter to teach you something. We want every edition of this newsletter to motivate or inspire you. And we want every edition of this newsletter to help keep you informed.

That’s what this new section is all about: making sure that you’re…

Always Informed.

Enjoy!

There’s Nothing Artificial About This Rundown:

👀 How To Send an Effective DM (from someone who’s made $3M+ online)

💰️ Making Cents of Buying Lunch

📊 An All-New Content Section

➕ Much. More.

Expert Advice 🤝 

Who is Codie Sanchez?

• She’s an entrepreneur and investor who shares techniques and lessons she’s learned throughout her journey. She’s only got 470k+ X(Twitter) followers.

• Her team also runs a newsletter called Contrarian Thinking, which is on a mission to help 1 million people become financially and philosophically free. How, you ask? By teaching you to create the wealth you need to live the life you want.

Who is Kevin Kelly?

• He’s the author of The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street best-seller that discusses twelve technological forces that will shape our future.

• He has amassed over 120,000 followers on X(Twitter). Click here for more.

Making Cents 💰️ 

Why You Should Buy Lunch Twice a Week

Short and Sweet: Whether working in-office or remotely, buying lunch is something most do during the week. It’s something to look forward to, but it’s also a waste of money.

That doesn’t mean you should never treat yourself. Just not every day.

Why It Matters: Because if you can cut down from 5x per week to twice, you can save anywhere from $30-$60 a week. Over the course of a year, that could equal savings of over $3,000!

💡 Here are 5 things to consider when buying lunch twice a week…

• Save the Greens (Money and Salad!): Buying lunch less means more cash in your pocket and more salads from your own kitchen - double the greens!

• Health in Your Hands: Control ingredients and portions better than any restaurant could.

• No More "Order Regret": Ever ordered something and then wished you hadn't? Meal prep is regret-free.

• Conversation Starter: Your homemade meals can be a great way to spark conversations with colleagues.

• The Twice-Weekly Treat: Buying lunch twice a week becomes a special treat to look forward to, not just a routine.

And sometimes this may even happen…

Hustle Hub 📈 

• YOUR SUCCESS: In what’s becoming a weekly post by major news outlets, here’s 25 side hustle ideas from Forbes, these targeting busy professionals.

• THEIR SUCCESS: Success isn’t only about $$; it’s also about happiness and quality of life. To that end, here are 3 lessons from a successful dad that’s endorsed by CEOs and happiness experts alike.

• YOUR SUCCESS: Here are 8 ChatGPT features “you didn’t know about” that can increase your productivity.
  

• THEIR SUCCESS: What can we learn from Mariana Kobayashi, who was laid off from her dream job only to land a better job at Google six months later?

Digital Networking Hack 🤝  

‼️ How To Write a (Successful) Cold DM

Justin Welsh is one of the biggest online creators specializing in “solopreneurship.”

Solopreneurship is a term for when a single person sets up a business and generates revenue online.

Justin has been a ‘solopreneur’ for the last 5+ years and has built a social following on LinkedIn and X(Twitter) of over 1M+ followers.

So how do you send the Successful Cold DM?

Justin calls it the “3-Touch with Value Approach.”

1st Touch: Share Something Useful.

He says: “With a personalized and useful first touch, you can offer them a ton of value by standing out in the sea of lazy marketers.”

For example…check out this DM that Justin responded to back in 2022 from someone named Andy.

Here’s how Justin broke down Andy’s DM:

“Loved the tweet about the simple landing page…” ← Personal

“Writing to suggest you improve the contrast of the buttons…” ← Useful

“That’s all. Cheers, friend.” ← Zero ask

2nd touch: Opportunity Spotlight + Continued Value

Justin: “Part of a good DM strategy is to be on the lookout for, and to pay attention to, conversations that are relevant to your business.”

Justin needed to redo his personal website, so what did Andy do? 👇️ 

Andy saw an opportunity, shared a resource Justin would find valuable, and then told him why he shared it.

3rd touch: Show Off Your Expertise

JW said, “With that second DM, I wrote back to Andy and asked some clarifying questions about what platform he builds on (a sort of silly newbie question).”

Andy saw this as an opportunity to show his expertise…

So What Happened From This?

Andy landed a $50,000 contract with Justin, all because of how effective he was with his DMs.

You would think someone with hundreds of thousands of followers would never respond to you…but they very well might with this 3-Touch With Value Approach.

Convo Starters 👍️ 

• Self-Interest: Talk about these two under-discussed reasons why you shouldn’t skip breakfast.

• Human Interest: Talk about “the smartest people” and the simple rules they live by.

• Artificial Interest: We’d never step on our new section’s toes. Move on to our newest section for the most important happenings in the world of AI. They’ll all conversation starters.

AI: Always Informed 🦾 

👍️ JOBS: AI isn’t stealing our jobs, and according to some it won’t anytime soon.

On the contrary, in fact: whether it’s tools we’ve introduced in our Working With AI sections, or the GPT features highlighted in today’s Hustle Hub, or something simple like having a PDF read and processed for you, AI will make our jobs easier. So fear not, everyone - when it comes to work, AI is your friend.

When it comes to other things, however…

👎️ FAKES: It’s not just Taylor Swift and George Carlin’s estate suffering from the creation of fake content; it’s also politicians during a crucial election cycle (don’t feel too bad for them) and innocent children (now this is a problem).

With something this powerful, we’ll have to take some bad with the good, but protecting our children is non-negotiable.

💪 MEDICINE: Recent reports suggest AI will be crucial for cancer screening, preventative measures, and possible treatment.

The FDA has already approved AI-driven skin-cancer screening; AI’s ability to detect early pancreatic cancer is promising; and now some predict it will “design the next wonder cure” (for any sort of illness, cancer or otherwise).

A 2022 study found that “90 percent of clinical drug development fails, which each project costing more than $2 billion.”

If AI can improve those odds and save that money for other research or medical initiatives, how many lives might that save?

Before You Go

With February right around the corner, we wanted to link to our January editions just in case you happened to miss them:

• 01/02 |#049| New Year, Same OTF (Learn about 2023: the Year of AI)

• 01/09 |#050| New Year's Edition PART 2 (Learn how to become a better listener)

• 01/16 |#051| Pausing While Speaking, Paying Less for Flights, and Producing VIDEO with ChatGPT

• 01/23 |#052| Happy Birthday to Us! (Learn how to send better emails)

In next week’s edition, we’ll be back with the return of Major Moves, a 2-DO for February, and a Cool Communicator that teaches you a technique that’s “shockingly effective for job candidates.”

(It works for raises, promotions, and any other form of self-promotion, too.)

We’re excited for what February 2024 will bring.

See you then.

You are now On The Fly and In The Know.