Deserves another look

Getting Paid as an Expert

• Focus on deeply understanding the client's problems by persistently asking questions until they inquire about your solution.


• Avoid pushing the sale or manipulating the client; this can make you appear needy and decrease your chances of closing the deal.


• Instead, thoroughly diagnose their problems, and aim to articulate

Branded Merch Power

• Branded merchandise has a surprising power that's often underestimated.


• Rory Sutherland observed Martin Sorrell, a prominent figure in advertising, collecting branded pens at conferences.


• This seemingly small act highlights the subconscious appeal of branded items.


• This power is further evidenced by Meerkat soft toys becoming the

Trojan horse

One of the guys in the group coined this term – which in the past I’ve called “context shift”, but I like his version better. Here you take your service, but rather than selling it to people who are looking for that service (highly competitive), you instead enter another market where people are looking for something different, but

Steven Johnson, who wrote an insightful book about how people in science and in general come up with genuine new ideas, calls it the “slow hunch.”

So how do you turn this shift in the signalling of wine status to your advantage? Ana Andjelic suggests modern brands (and I'd add wine brands) can thrive in the aspiration economy by aligning with Andjelic's “Four C’s”:

• Content: This means sharing stories, tutorials, and insights that educate consumers about your wine, its culture, and its

Scott Adams writes:

If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:

1. Become the best at one specific thing.




2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

The first strategy is difficult to the