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- #118 Make Small Talk EASIER!
#118 Make Small Talk EASIER!
Featuring: Steven Barlett's Convo with Morgan Housel

Welcoming you back with wisdom from Steven Barlettās podcast:
If you donāt know Steven Barlett, his Diary of a CEO is one of the largest podcasts in the world. It focuses primarily on interviews with CEOs, founders, and others and aims to provide insights into entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal development.
Anyway, he had Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money, on the pod recently, and the topic of Houselās son came up. Steven asked what Housel thought were the most important skills his son needed to develop to ensure success no matter what the industry.
Houselās response: āLearn how to communicate and learn how to get along with people you disagree withā¦Those are timeless skills.ā
Thank you, Morgan, for the perfect segue into this weekās edition. Letās get to it!

KickStarting May Withā¦
ELEVATING YOUR BRAND š
Cool Communicator: 7 Phrases to Boost Your Small-Talk
Some Chaos Content for Your Commute
The Search Bar: Most Visited Websites + Rising and Falling Apps
FATTENING YOUR WALLET š°ļø
Hustle Hub: Warren Buffett, Buying Businesses, and Side-Hustles for Anyone.
BOOSTING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY š
Mayās 2-DO LIST: Increase Preparedness, Decrease Stress

THE SEARCH BAR š
Whatās Trending Heading into May 2025
EXPLODING TOPICS - Their most recent blog post to kick off May featured the āMost Visited Websites in The World.ā While Iām sure you can guess much of the top of the list, itās worth a click for the more in-depth analysis of the highest risers over the last five years. That said, what may be most valuable to you is what kinda hides in the bottom right corner of their blog posts:

So, considering what the Professor brings to the OTF table, I searched āpersuasion,ā and this is the bottom half of the results:

Thatās thousands of people looking for help with āpersuasive techniques,ā and that contentās generating 82 cents per click. Look out, world - OTF coming for that BIG Persuasive Techniques money! š
š§ PROF MIKE: This is funny, actually. Look at all those students looking for last-minute, Finals-Week shortcuts. To any writing / tutoring services out there, hope youāre capitalizing right now! š§
Anyway, this sort of trend info can be really valuable to any small business owners / entrepreneurs out there. Exploding Topics gives at least one free query like this per day, but if you sign up for a no-cost account, you get 10 free searches so that you can ākeep analyzing your competitors, keywords, and more.ā Def take advantage.
(Note: Exploding Topics is NOT a paid sponsor. We just love their work!)
Fastest Rising Apps (courtesy of SimilarWeb.com):

A fitting list for these volatile economic times - three of the five fastest risers are money apps, while on the falling side, Sheinās taking a tumble - maybe because of those tariffsā¦š§
CONTENT FOR YOUR COMMUTE š¶š š
ON FOOT: Teased in the intro, you can find Steven Barlettās Diary of a CEO podcast here. Itās reached over 1 billion listens and has over 10 millions subscribers on YouTube š¤Æ
TRAIN TIME: Speaking of volatility, maybe check out Business Insiderās recent article about why it might be āthe ideal time to start a business.ā
(If the paywall gets you, it didnāt have one when accessed through Google News app. Full title: āItās a chaotic world right now. Hereās why that makes it the ideal time to start a business.āFIRST CLASS: Part of the chaos is how fast technology changes everything. If you want to not only survive it but also thrive in it, you could start by learning the nine guiding principles put forth in Whiplash: How to Survive our Faster Future. (Published in 2016, the content has aged really well, since the principles areā¦you guessed itā¦timeless.)
COOL COMMUNICATOR šÆ
7 Phrases to Use During Small Talk
We all know small talk can have a big impact. How many crucial connections have you made as a result of āsmall talk?ā How often do you find yourself engaging in āsmall talk?ā
Iāll answer for all of us: A lot and A LOT!
A better term could be āquick talk,ā or ācasual talkā - I donāt know š¤·āāļø Anything that doesnāt minimize itās importance. Because it is very important. Thatās why articles like ā7 Phrases That Exceptional Communicators Use During Small Talk,ā courtesy of Hack Spirit, are worth our time. (Youāll likely get info you already know, but I always appreciate reminders like these.)
TL;DR Takeaways
āTell me more about thatā - Loved this classic. Great way to keep the convo going and learn more about a topic.
š§ Also conveys genuine interest, which makes you look good and the speaker feel good.āI understand how you feelā - I feel like this always prefaces a ābut;ā still, seems like a good way to lead into a counterargument. āI understand how you feel, butā¦ā
š§ Ehh. Empathy is a good trait to try to convey, but you run the risk of getting a āYou couldnāt possibly understandā sort of response. Something like āI understand what youāre sayingā or a variation of āI hear youā might be better because itās more accurate: you understand their words, not their feelings.āThat sounds challengingā - I really liked this one. Imagine: youāre at a happy hour or some networking event, and someoneās going on about something at work. This, or something like it, could be a game-changer.
š§ I like it, too. A lot of people try to achieve this with āThatās crazyā or āNo way,ā but using the word challenging goes the extra mile and makes it feel like you really mean it.āWhatās your take on this?ā - The article pointed out: this is a really good tactic if youāre in a convo with a bunch of people. Instead of jumping in with your opinion when thereās a pause, redirect to someone else who hasnāt spoken yet. Makes the conversation āmore dynamic,ā according to the article.
š§ Sure, itās solid. Since weāre all about takes these days, itās a more contemporary way of showing people you value their opinions and youāre there to learn / listen.āI appreciate your perspectiveā - Always nice to hear people appreciate something youāve said.
š§ Similar to āI understand how you feelā in that it seems like itās prefacing a ābut.ā The difference is, itās more honest and rebuttal-proof.āLetās find a solution togetherā - Iām all about collaboration, so this one hits for me.
š§ The āfind a solutionā part is so much better than something like āLetās work on it together.ā Solution is just such a good word. Here, it carries that positive connotation and expresses confidence in the result.āI donāt knowā - Weāve featured content that talked about this before. A lot of people donāt say this out of fear because it makes them look dumb or unprepared, but I believe people prefer hearing āI donāt knowā when compared to false confidence or obvious BSāing. I donāt see anything wrong with saying you donāt know and expressing a willingness to find out. What say you, Prof?
š§ I donāt know. Just kidding. Of course: if you donāt know something, say you donāt know. But that last bit Dan added, about the willingness, is the key for me. The vulnerability of āI donāt knowā may come with its own positives, but that last bit presents as willing, proactive, and hard-working. All good things.
HUSTLE HUB š
YOUR SUCCESS:
Be READY - When a business goes up for sale (due to chaos, perhaps?), youāve got to be ready to pounce. Hereās how the best entrepreneurs cash in.
THEIR SUCCESS:
Be OPTIMISTIC - Warren Buffett offered these wise words before announcing his plan to retire.
YOUR SUCCESS:
Be INFORMED - And you know what information we can all use? ā7 Simple Side Hustle Ideas Just About Anyone Can Do.ā Letās get that money.
2-DO LIST š”
MAY
Prepare Yourself - Feels like the unofficial theme of this edition became volatility and preparedness. Whether weāre talking trends in The Search Bar, phrases for almost any professional conversation in Cool Communicator, or the chaos content in Content for Your Commute, this is where my mind went this week. So letās lean into it. Take steps this month to make yourself more prepared for whatever may come in your life. And in my experience, the best way to get prepared is to A) stay as informed as possible, and B) develop skills that make you more well-rounded and your personal brand more attractive on the open market.
Lower Your Stress - Saw this article and thought it was worth a share: it features a āsimple visualization exerciseā that ākills stress in just 5 minutes. We can all spare five minutes for less stress, right?

Before You Go!
Thanks again for joining us! Next week, weāll be back with Mayās Productivity Issue, featuring Working With AI, Expert Advice, and much more!
If you happened to miss last weekās edition and are wondering who the heck this Professor is, you can check that out here.
In the meantime, please share your insights in our Community Poll on the way out because every response helps make the next edition better.
Community Poll š
How much thought do you put into your words before you say them? |
Last Weekās Poll Results:
You've just thanked someone for a favor - which form of "You're Welcome" do you most prefer hearing?? (3,686 subscribers)
Classic - "You're Welcome"
Detached - "No Problem"
Upbeat - "Happy to help" 100%
Open - "Any time"
Don't care, I've already stopped listening

As always, see you next Tuesday š¤

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