#66 Forging Brand Identity & Financial Reminders

Welcome back!

Notice anything different about us?

No, we didn’t get a haircut, and we haven’t been working out (though we have gotten leaner, really committing to the short and sweet we’ve promised since Day 1). It’s not a new wardrobe or a fresh tan, either…

The answer is, we’ve had some work done. No surgery necessary.

New look. New branding. Same mission.

Some may wonder, Why now? Why didn’t you have this ready for the New Year? Why April 30th?

Why now? Because there’s never a better time to try to be your best self.

If your New Year’s Resolution has fallen by the wayside, don’t wait until next year. Start today.

If you’re unhappy with something in your life, don’t put the solution off waiting for the right time. Implement it ASAP.

If you want to learn or improve at something, why wait until summer? Get after it now.

The constant, consistent pursuit of growth is what we’re all about. What we’ve been about.

We may look different, but that commitment remains.

🔥 Highlights This Week

Fattening The Wallet 💰️ 

• Why Setting Financial Reminders Makes Cents

Boosting Your Productivity 📊 

• An Eclectic Hustle Hub

• AI Cheat Sheet for Marketing / Branding

Elevating Your Brand 🤝 

• Always Informed about Using AI to Build a Brand

• Eliciting an Emotional Response in Cool Communicator

Making Cents 💰️ 

Why You Should Set Financial Reminders

Short and Sweet: Setting Financial Reminders can help you build better money managing habits, avoid late fees, manage your investments, and maintain a budget without the stress of keeping everything in your head.

Why It Matters: Because staying on top of your finances isn’t just about knowing how much money you have in the bank—it's about making proactive decisions to manage your money more effectively.

In our fast-paced-digital world, it's easy to overlook deadlines and miss opportunities to save money or grow your investments. Financial reminders will help you pay bills on the fly and stay in the know about what’s to come in the future.

Get Specific: Breaking Down Why You Should Set Financial Reminders:

• Avoid Late Fees: Reminders can help ensure you pay bills on time, avoiding late fees that can quickly add up.

• Maintain Your Budget: Regular reminders to review your spending help you stick to your budget and adjust as needed.

• Capitalize on Financial Opportunities: Whether it’s investing in stocks when they dip or catching early-bird specials for products or events, reminders ensure you never miss a beat.

Take Action: 3 Things You Can Do ASAP:

1. Use a Digital Calendar: We suggest using the Apple iPhone calendar. Extremely intuitive and you won’t have to download another app. Input all your important financial dates into the calendar on your phone or computer and set alerts.

2. Monthly Check-ins: Schedule a recurring monthly meeting with yourself to review finances and set reminders for the next month.

3. Automated Alerts from Your Bank: Most banks offer services that send you automated alerts for low balances, large transactions, or upcoming bills. Activate these notifications to stay on top of your finances without manually checking your accounts.

OTF EXAMPLE: You’re balancing work and a busy life, and you’ve got major bills due every month: rent (or mortgage), student loans, car payments, etc.

By setting a reminder for your credit card due date (almost forgot about that one!), you avoid late fees and boost your credit score, which could be crucial for future loans or renting decisions.

Hustle Hub 📈 

• YOUR SUCCESS: Trying to decide if a side-hustle is worth it for you? Dive into an examination of the pros and cons here.

• THEIR SUCCESS: A 34-year-old making almost $50K/month in passive income recommends his favorite zero-cost side-hustles.

• YOUR SUCCESS: Are you crafty? Here are 5 Etsy side-hustles to try.

Always Informed 🦾 

👍 BRANDING: While OTF used a human being for our makeover, many businesses - startups, side-hustles, solopreneurs, and so on - are turning to AI for help in this department.

The pros are obvious - save time, money, and resources! - but do they outweigh the cons? Can a bot truly understand “a brand’s core values” or “the subtle emotional and psychological elements crucial in effective branding?”

Forbes’ Daria Gonzalez explores this topic in-depth, examining the pros and cons and drawing conclusions about the best uses for AI in the world of branding and marketing.

Don’t care about the cons? Committed to utilizing AI to build your brand? Here’s a cheat sheet to help you get started, courtesy of P&G’s Brand Director via LinkedIn:

Cool Communicator 😎 

ELICITING AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

When you need to persuade someone, there are three distinct routes you can take:

1. You can rely on your credibility, compelling them to act based solely on your word and reputation.

2. You can make logical arguments, compelling them to act after having thought it through rationally.

3. You can make someone FEEL something, compelling them to act as an emotional response.

Of course, the most persuasive people use combinations of all three, but if you had to choose ONE, which would it be?

For our money, it’s #3, what Aristotle would call “pathos,” and the reasons are simple: not everyone has the reputation that people will simply take your word for it (or the time to cultivate such a reputation during a brief conversation), and not everyone is capable of reasonable, rational thought.

But everyone feels emotion, and no matter how hard some of us try, everyone acts on their emotions. So to be the best persuader you can possibly be, you need to know both how to conjure certain emotions and then how to take advantage of it.

The Basics of Creating An Emotional Response

1. Specific Vocabulary - Don’t just say something’s good or bad; be as specific as possible with your descriptive words. The outcome wasn’t “bad;” it was “heartbreaking.”
   

2. Engage Senses to Create Mood - The connection between senses and emotion is well-documented and while you cannot always let your audience see or hear the things you want, you can always describe those things in a way that makes them feel the same sensation. Talk in a way that lets them see, hear, smell, taste, and/or touch in their minds.
   

3. Tell Stories - Nothing gets an emotional response better than a good story. It’s why we’re so obsessed with movies and television (and for far too few of us, novels and memoirs) and why people in every industry utilize narrative in various situations. Giving your audience something they can relate to, that they can play out in their minds while picturing themselves in a character’s shoes, is a timeless technique for conjuring emotion.

O.T.F O.F.T = ONE FINAL THOUGHT

Once you’ve elicited the emotion, now it’s time to make them act. The emotion itself doesn’t make the sale. Here are a couple of strategies to close the deal:

Cause and Effect - If you do this, you can have that feeling forever! Or (peeling back the curtain here) as OTF promises, subscribing to our newsletter will help you “elevate your brand, boost your productivity, and fatten your wallet.” Subscribing (Cause) ➡️ Three Main Benefits (Effects)

Call to Action - No matter what you do leading up to it, you have to make a specific call to action. They’re emotional, they’re ready to go - they just need guidance. Don’t leave it open for interpretation. Don’t generalize. Tell them exactly what they can do.

Before You Go

We hope you enjoyed this edition of OTF!

Next week, we’ll be back with the most Major Moves in business as the calendar turns, a new monthly 2-DO, and a follow-up Cool Communicator that analyzes what NOT to do when trying to persuade through emotion.

See you then!

You are now On The Fly and In The Know