**9 Trends to Make $ from COVID-19 – The Great Accelerator** Jul 08, 2020
*Contrarian Thinking- My weekly newsletter where we challenge the status quo to achieve what most won’t in business, startup investing, wealth building and doing things the contrarian way.*
COVID-19 has been dubbed the Great Accelerator, accelerating trends already existing in the world around us. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that once consumers figure out how to do e-commerce, delivery, and tele-medicine, many of them would never go back to waiting in a doctor’s office with snarly Susan at the front glaring at you behind a glass panel while telling you the doctor was, “running behind schedule…” again.
I can tell you one thing, if I was a worker in traditional industries that have an easy ability to be outsourced to automation or online components, aka Susan, I would be trying to add massive value. Those in person reactions are going to need to be increasingly EXCEPTIONAL in order for them not to be given to sanitary, cheaper, never late, and can’t get sick robots.
We aren’t alone in this theory that as the dust begins to settle a bit, COVID-19 is proving to accelerate the very things we knew were coming. Industry tech pundits have said that the pandemic has brought “two years of digital transformation in two months.” Morgan Stanley highlights an acceleration of e-commerce and delivery (no surprise there). Many sources have reported on it being the great accelerator of retail bankruptcies ala Neiman Marcus, J Crew, Pier One and the list goes on.
We all just didn’t realize how quickly the tides would turn. Many tried to crystal ball the future while we knew nothing about COVID, but that’s about as useful as Fauci’s coronavirus models were.
Side note: I wonder if the new punchline for sloppy investment models will be – he did a real Fauci on that one. In the meantime, I’ll just chuckle to myself as a few people unsubscribe at the audacity. I’ll also remind them that trusting government officials who told us masks don’t work – No WAIT PSYCHE – they not only work, they are mandated and we are going to allow people to dox ladies we now call Karen, for not wearing one. Ahem, we (your government) just lied a little bit to you about the whole masks not working thing because we thought you self-serving citizens would hoard them like you did toilet paper. Clear as mud? My next post may have to be about the simulation we are now living in run by Kanye West, Elon Musk and some masochist.
**Bemoaning aside, Catastrophe is a catalyst for change.**
Here’s how I am on the ground seeing COVID-19 change the world around us, in our 65 portfolio companies, across the small startups I invest in, and in the acquisitions we are making. Let’s break down ideas for how to turn lemon into lemonade, or should I say how to distill hand sanitizer into alcohol so we can forget the entire world?
**From cannabis, to capital investing, to increasing your own companies’ sales, opportunities are actually, all around.**
*You could also check out my* 28 Ideas for Side Hustles.
Read this list, think about your business, your job, your side hustle and ask yourself, how can I skate where the puck is going? How can I apply these ideas to my business? Below I give you opportunities and some ideas you can take and run with. Opportunity is found between uncommon practice and common sense.
**1) Delivery**
a. We knew delivery was coming in traditional industries like food and clothing, heck it’s been here for a while. In cannabis we weren’t sure, it’s a tricky game that many (i.e. Eaze) failed at. However this pandemic proved its viability, cannabis deliveries are up 5-6x with the average basket size increasing by 40%.
b. **ACTION IDEA:** Can you setup delivery for some aspect of your business? Or a business you love/invested in? Can you partner w/ a platform like Drizly or Onefleet for last mile delivery?
**2) Live-Commerce**
a. We all know e-commerce is going bananas. What you may not know is that live-commerce ala QVC across the world is skyrocketing too. The Chinese live-streaming e-commerce market started in 2016, hit $63B in sales in 2019 and expected to double to $129B in 2020. QVC however – generated just $11B in 2019. The business model is to give influencers, hosts or shopping parties a platform where users can click on their phone to buy the items talked about. Look at platforms like Taoboa Live (increase in 110% YOY), just one host there raked in $390M in sales in 2018.
b. **ACTION IDEA:** If you have a product company, why not sell it through China’s QVC?
**3) Onshoring**
a. Apple is looking to take 20%+ of its production out of China. Apple is just the tip of the iceberg. These global trade tensions and logistical realities are only increasing. Where in your business can you help localize it?
b. **ACTION IDEA:** A fun, quick side hustle would be to sign up for Amazon affiliates and create a list of all made in the US products to compete with ones typically made in China in an area that interests you. Post it on your social or email around to friends and family. Aka – bathing suits under $50 all made in the US, or t-shirts all made in the US by people of color etc.
c. Could also ask how to help your company with localizing your supply chain. There’s job security or for us investors, opportunity to optimize movement of global movement in companies like Flexport (global freight logistics company valued at $3.2B).
**4) Home Decorating**
a. Been to Home Depot lately? I haven’t waited in a line that long since my college Vegas club days, allegedly. Online design service has increased sales by 2-3x since COVID, Lauren & Wolf (another competitor) has seen total room purchase prices increase 20x according to Trends.

**5) Distressed Small Business Acquisition**

a. Bankruptcies are going to rise in small businesses. Just look at what happened in 2008-2009. As soon as the government stops giving away free money, we will see companies fold. This is a GREAT time to think about acquisition. Tired baby boomer owners are now tired and scared to work.
b. **ACTION IDEA:** How can you take a tired business model, aka drive in movie theatre, and future state it? Can you buy a distressed theatre and outfit it with 21st century aspects. I.e. – VR glasses, text reminders, outdoor food delivery a la Sonic, rent out during day to churches, or as a dog park.
**6) Robotic Automation**
a. This robot bartender is going to pay the people it puts out of a job a monthly stipend supposedly. Like most UBI plans it’s sparse on details and high on PR but an interesting idea.
b. One of our portfolio companies has a $1 MILLION expense each year to a third-party contractor for rolling pre-rolls, a $300K machine replaces labor costs and we get a positive ROI in one quarter.
c. **ACTION IDEA:** How can you use automation to prevent future shutdowns from stopping your business? How can you augment w/ automation?
**7) Localism**
a. From decreased interest to getting on airplanes to mandated quarantines upon travel it’s no surprise that staying local has become a trend. Which is why cabin rental descriptions on Airbnb are skyrocketing. That “wanna getaway” feeling is widespread but downsized. KOA’s annual Camping Report (I’m sure you read this bad boy yearly), has said 4 out of 10 people are interested in replacing a vacation this year with camping.
b. **ACTION IDEA:** Might be time to sell some of your old camping gear on Craigslist. Offer to do so for an older neighbor for a cut. Or finally crowdfund that antimicrobial backpack you want to create.

**8) Super Humans**
a. I think we’re moving towards more focus on health, immune systems and longevity in an illness focused world. Maybe I should say I hope* we are. In that vein, I’m intrigued by subscription-based businesses around health and wellness such as Ritual, Mirror (just acquired for $550MM), and I’m tracking Tonal which a few friends invested in.
b. Fun fact: did you know in Japan they are using exoskeletons for the elderly to delay retirement. This suit allows you to pick up 55+ pounds. Think of it like a backpack muscle suit.
**9) Gig Economy Transition**
a. When 1 in 3 people in the US gets fired all at once people start to change their mind on employment. Those who have eyes to see will start trying to think about building non-in person income streams for themselves or helping other people do it.
b. **ACTION IDEA:** Check out my 28 Ideas for Side Hustles.
The world is changing but change always presents opportunity if you are nimble enough. The question becomes, are you the oak tree that snaps? Or can you bend and restraighten like grass (Puns.For.Days).
**Cannabis Fact of the Week:**
*Did you know* Cannabis is now in space? No astronauts are not getting high (#dadjokes), it was sent up by SpaceX to see how it cultivates in space. Fancy that.
**Investment Two Cents I Wish I Knew in the Beginning:**
**Well it’s really three cents. Let’s call this investment insight I wish I had known, that you didn’t ask for so it’s worth what I gave it to you for…nada.**
**Leadership Trifecta -** When performing due diligence on startups, try to find the trifecta in leadership. A CEO with vision and leadership, a COO that’s a detail-oriented (read anal retentive) stickler to operate and a CFO who knows capital markets and accounting. CEO’s by themselves are dangerous salespeople who need executors.
**Trust No One –** On an investor call today they asked me if you had to rate the trust level you have of people you invest in what would be 1-10. To which I responded 2. Yikes! Sorry entrepreneurs. The problem is I’ve been an entrepreneur – heck our fund family is still a startup in a way. I use the Russian proverb Trust but verify a lot. Don’t trust anything. That is hubris and your ego telling you to not dig and ask question. Every mistake I’ve made in investing is by trusting and being quiet.
**A dream w/o a process is a nightmare –** Think of investing like that. Money allocated without a process is a black hole. If you are investing stick to your process. Don’t rush it. Trust that you’ll miss some good deals, but you’ll miss a plenty more bad ones.
Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
*Contrarian Thinking is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission or have an investment in that business.*
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

28 Side Hustles Jun 24, 2020

28 Side Hustles/Passive Income Sources That Will Blow Your Mind
Get ready for a rant on the ridiculousness of a single income stream.
Sidenote: I almost got fired for telling employees this at one of my former firms. True story.
Companies don’t want you to have multiple revenue streams because then they can’t own you.
But if this recession has taught us anything, it is that relying on one income stream is dangerous. 1/3 of all employees were laid off, furloughed or fired during this last pandemic. One out of three people lost their ONLY income stream. I don’t like those odds.
The answer – diversify. Just like you don’t put all your money in one stock (or I hope you don’t), maybe you shouldn’t put all your income in one basket? Don’t get me wrong, the big companies think it’s awesome! Be reliant on me completely, let me own your entire livelihood, let me control your retirement so you can never quit! Finance is the absolute worst about this, which to be fair, is because the government over-regulates and requires disclosure of all “outside business activities,” looking for conflicts of interest. As an employee this whole one paycheck deal is far from ideal. Having multiple revenue streams means you can work because that fire in your belly wants to and not only because you can’t survive otherwise. That’s a beautiful thing. So regardless of whether it is fair, or if we have systemic issues to resolve, we need to instead take ourselves out of victim mentality and say; WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?
Just for you Contrarians is a long list of ideas on how to make side income. Here’s the key, be humble. I’m a partner at a VC Firm and I still routinely mess around with other income streams:
1) Because it’s fun when you think about it like a game you are trying to win.
2) Because I don’t believe any work is below me.
3) Because I like learning.
4) Because then I teach things to my portfolio companies as opposed to just being a hat rack or a check.
No doubt, I have gotten more selective as I make more money. However sometimes for fun I make a patch I want for myself and sell it on etsy, I write a guide to something I want to see people succeed at and I sell it using Gumroad, I do a newsletter and add affiliate links to it. Just like that, there are three additional revenue streams. None individually are huge, but together they represent thousands of dollars that I can donate or invest in my other businesses. One caveat – a lot of these other lists have things on there like dog-walking, uber driving etc, which are fine. But, while they make you money, they don’t make you smarter, they are the opposite of passive, and honestly, they don’t tickle my fancy. That’s why this list below is full of things I would actually do or have done.
The moral of the story is be creative, be humble, have fun, and remember you are the master of your own fate. If you think like a business owner, there are innumerable ways for you to start your own business, or simply make money off of other peoples while also helping them earn more. I call this the three-sided win, they win with more sales, client wins with more services and you win with a cut of the deal.
BTW – THIS LIST IS INSANE. The amount of money you can make using tech hacks is unbelievable. Get paid to write fantasy, get paid to create a cool notebook, get paid to talk about things. We live in the most incredible time despite all the news and noise telling us otherwise. Only you get to decide if you want to take advantage of it.
With that… a list of more side hustles than any hustler would know what to do with. Make sure you email/DM/comment if you do any of these, I want to hear your stories!

Write a guide on a subject you are an expert in and sell it on Gumroad like mine: Get Hired, Get Hired In Cannabis. Gumroad is free and so idiot proof I did it myself! I donate to charity out of this and have made thousands and thousands from it.
Turn that guide into a book you sell on Amazon like I did here: ooh la la now I’m an “author.” This falls under the model of “create something once, and sell it over and over again.”
BUY A PROFITABLE BUSINESS. This one I’m obsessed with, buying a business with no money down using what’s called seller financing. This one is more complex sign up here if you want more on this.
Sell your services on Fiverr. I’ve used this site for graphic design, video editing, copywriting, virtual assistant, research and the list goes on.
Host a Virtual Summit. We do this at Arcview Group on cannabis investing and you can charge $100’s of dollars to get a group of humans to listen to whatever you know about. Real estate, comic book collecting, cannabis, cooking… literally google virtual events they are on every summit. My friend started his $10MM+ revenue company The Hustle/Trends with a conference where he made $50k the first event.
Start a Podcast. I am w/ Strike Fire Productions, producer of Green Entrepreneur. You can sell sponsorships, do affiliate deals w/ guests, sell your own product.
Create Your Own Journal. The amount of things you can do online is ASTOUNDING. You can create, upload, sell, package and ship a custom made journal on Blurb for nothing except a royalty on journals sold. They do all the work you collect the check.
Do a Course. Udemy or Coursera allow you to easily do your own course one of my favorite newsletters Side Hustle Nation created an online video course about how to launch non-fiction Kindle books on Amazon. It earned $3500 in the first couple months, and has gone on to earn passive sales ever since totally over $20,000. I’ve thought about doing them on a million items.
1. how to workout during quarantine & home gym
2. how to train for a spartan race
3. How to invest in cannabis
4. the fit persons guide to travel - health and nutrition for traveling
5. how to angel invest
6. fundraising during uncertainty - fundraising during every cycle
7. how to create the best startup pitch deck
8. venture capital and fundraising master class
9. negotiation to make more money
10. sales how to win at the sales game
11. You pick your area of expertise and package it.
Write Fantasy Short Stories. Using wattpad you can connect w/ 80 million readers and find ways to monetize your short stories.
Create a newsletter behind a fire wall. I subscribe to the Dispatch and a slew of other pay walled newsletter that are all on Substack. The Dispatch has tens of thousands subscribers at $10 a month aka if they only have 10k that equals $100k in revenue a month. Not bad eh?
Consult for others. Consult on a subject you are intrigued by a la GLG which has 700k+ experts. I did this for a while but given how busy I am I found it annoying that I had to “apply” for every job back in the day, so I stopped. But if you have the time, apply away.
Ask for a job. Everyone knows a business owner or two, or a wealthy person or two. Reach out to them and ask them if they have tasks they need done, problems they need solved, projects they don’t have time for, give them some ideas and have them create you a job.
Create affiliate content. I do affiliate deals on brands I love and for EEC and we make a commission on them. It’s hard to get scale here so you either need a targeted audience that will buy with larger dollar items or a big audience on some platform.
Get your own website. I prefer Squarespace, I think everyone should have a website in their name. Use it to do consulting services, speaking on your area of expertise, e-commerce, sell your finger paintings. Whatever. I have a step by step guide to creating a website in 24 hours here.
Drop ship company or E-commerce company. Getting a website setup w/ BigCommerce and or follow SumoMe’s step by step guide to starting an ecommerce company.
Sell Merch on Amazon. Amazon literally has a service called Merch by Amazon where you upload your designs and they do all the printing, packaging and shipping of whatever you design for clothing. They take a cut and you pay no upfront. Wild.
Get Paid to Travel. - TrustedHousesitters USA, House Sitters America, HouseCarers, Nomador, and MindMyHouse. All sites where you can live for free and often get paid to house sit. On particularly long days I fantasize about going to work on an organic farm in a European clime and get lodging for labor. Then I snap out of it.
Reach out to Your Favorite Small Businesses to be Sales Rep. If you’re obsessed with a t-shirt brand, your gym equipment, a candle company whatever is small enough to respond to you, reach out and ask if you can be an affiliate for them. Push sales to them in exchange for a cut.
Drop Shipping Business. Think of this like you playing the middleman. You setup an e-commerce site.
Have An Airbnb? I do, so I contract out services and get a commission on anything my renters do with my guests: if own a small Airbnb. These are things like yoga, cooking class, hiking, bar hopping, whiskey making, wine tasting, dinner suggestions. It’s a three-sided win. The renter says my code and get a discount, the small business makes a new sale and I get a cut. If I am not seeing any revenue from a place I cut it and try a new one. I make sure to tell the business proprietor that so they won’t cut me out of the deal.
Passive Investment Income. I use sites like Fundrise (online small dollar amount real estate investment platform), to invest and set up reoccurring revenue through monthly dividends.
Create an Affiliate program for your product or for another company’s and ask for a cut. Ambassador is by far my favorite program to use for affiliates and brand ambassadors who can take a cut on the product too.
Upsell The Places You Frequent. Every time I walk into a business I obsess about all the ways they are leaving money on the table. For example, our MMA gym literally just swipes your cc and gives you a membership and that’s it. If I was less lazy I’d go to my gym and say I’ll create a nutrition guide, a website and email campaign for new members linking product they need to start (gloves, wraps, shin pads), a 30 day workout plan, etc etc I’ll brand it all as the company and create a system for new members to get upsold on everything. You can either pay me a lump sum for it or I’m happy to do a revenue share on what sales we bring in. Win-win.
Pop-up events. Once this wild world gets back to normal I love the idea of pop-up events. My friend Alex does pop-up dance events using space at gyms and studios when not in use. She gets the space for free and splits whatever she makes. You could do this any in person event.
Sell On Instagram. Still hurts my heart that A Kardashian was the youngest female billionaire but don’t hate the player, hate the game right? In that vein – selling on instagram is so easy you have a veritable army of mom’s selling everything from essential oils to beauty products to yes even wireless services. Here’s my guide to how to slay the Instagram game.
Buy An Account, Sell Products Into It. This one blew my mind. My highschool age cousin Wyatt buys instagram accounts with tens of thousands of followers and then sells other peoples products to them. There are dozens of marketplaces that do this, you can buy an account with 14k followers for $350 or an account with 154k followers for $2k, then turn around and use affiliate links to sell products to them. Wild.
Buy and Online Business. On Flippa you can buy actual profitable businesses (supposedly I haven’t done it) and then take over the business for “passive” income or try to grow them.
Manage Others Social Media Businesses. I about lost my mind. One of our portfolio companies was paying $1,500 for a person to post 2-4 photos a month on their Instagram and manage the account. The photos were terrible and the account wasn’t growing. But I digress. $1500 for 4 photos. I’d put myself on Upwork and reach out to underperforming brands and offer that service. My friend Maria does this for local businesses in Chicago and crushes it.

Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
Contrarian Thinking is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission or have an investment in that business.

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

Recession Over: V-Shaped Recovery Is Coming (Why and What to do About It?) Jun 17, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

DEPRESSION, RECOVERY, INFLATION...
AND WHY YOU EVEN CARE?
“Mark Twain said that there are three kinds of lies—“lies, damned lies, and statistics”

What a perfect way to start a conversation where I inundate you with numbers, predictions and my take on the economy. (Click on my goofy looking face above to see what I said on Yahoo Finance today on the same subject).
Remember here – we question everything, including me. So, this week I have some big hairy non-consensus opinions for you on the economy amidst this rollercoaster that is 2020 AND more importantly, what to do about them.
I find most economists and futurists are giant walking If/Then statements. Aka – let me try to say as much as humanely possible while telling you nothing. That’s not my cup of tea.
Despite absolutely being worried about the long-term viability of unprecedented spending by the government, of social unrest and firmly believing that it will take YEARS for us to fully recover from this experiment of an economic lockdown, my thoughts on the economy are much rosier short term.
Here’s the Skinny:
#1 Stimulus: The Opposite of the Great Depression
In the Great Depression the government was slow to respond, actually raising interest rates to curb speculation and didn’t put in stimulus for years.
- Fast forward to 2020 – the US government has issued $3 trillion in stimulus between the varying bills (more to come IMHO).
- The US Economy is about $20 trillion a year so that is a 15% kicker to GDP.
- The Fed is also using trillions in monetary policy to support the economy and they say they will keep stimulus coming for years.
- This isn’t baked in yet, with many companies holding cash, $4.7 Trillion on the sidelines and much of the stimulus not fully extended.
2) V-Shaped Recovery Coming
- This massive stimulus, paired with the opening up of the economy will lead to a V-shaped recovery, First Trust’s Wesbury says, “The recession that started in March is the sharpest downturn since the Great Depression. As it turns out, it was also the shortest.” I tend to agree.
- Where I differ is I am not saying the stock market is at fair value, it still looks expensive to me vs the opportunities in the private market where businesses have been eviscerated.
- Most recent employment report showed non-farm payrolls (most common way to track employment) was up to 2.5MM. That’s still 13.3% but a major drop from almost 20%.
Anecdotally, I was in ski town this weekend in Crested Butte speaking to small business owners who told me they would have hired back more people, they are stretched extremely thin but can’t get workers to come back who are taking unemployment. So my suspicion is that number would be higher without stimulus checks.
- Initial jobless claims fell for the 9th consecutive week and haven’t retouched the peak since May 9th.
- Tax receipts are up -11.8% week over week. Basically, signaling that workers are earning more and that the economy is turning.
3) Hyperinflation: Not Going to Happen in Short Term
Hyperinflation – or what happened in Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Argentina (notice a communist/socialist/govt controlled trend here?), is when inflation is typically higher than 50% a month. You buy a soda for $1 one month, then $1.50 the next, then $2.25 the next. Nothing kills an economy faster. However, we are nowhere near inflation in general, more or less hyperinflation.
They say, how do you know an economist has a sense of humor… they use decimal points.
All to say – long term trends who knows, short term here are my thoughts.

Inflation will stay in check. Commodity prices at all-time lows and decreased consumption demands will keep inflation at bay.Inflation is often correlated to high employment, not the case today unfortunately.Too much supply or velocity of currency – (aka bankers throwing around money like confetti circa 2007-2008), none of that is happening now.Friedman talks about the M2 measure of money… which is how much money is going into the system and being spent, it’s up 86%. That’s a lot. Unprecedented. So, something to watch but give complete pause on spending not hyperinflation triggering.

What to do about it? How to take advantage?

2008 was a housing crisis, this is a small business crisis. NOW is the time to try to buy into small businesses, to align with boomers looking to retire and to leverage the 2.5M small businesses that are up for sale or transition in the US. I'm going to put out some content on how to do that. Diversify your income streams. Expect more protests, more corona-virus related issues, more uncertainty. That will mean some businesses don’t survive and have more disruption in them. It’s time for a side hustle, or to a buy in to varying other business opportunities. Next week I'll have a post on 28 ways to do just that. For instance did you know you can make a guide in 5 minutes on Gumroad upload and sell it, they handle everything? You can do the same with Blurb for journals, the same w/ Amazon for t-shirts. You upload e-design they do EVERYTHING else. Wait until you see this list. I created a get into cannabis guide using this, I'm going to do a journal as well. Expect more uncertainty. Invest in companies that are focused on essentials and can handle more shutdowns and shocks to business(aka essential services a la cannabis). I read a great quote saying, “Feed the masses and live like the classes.” Non-politically correctness aside – great investment advice.

The moral of this here story, the world is much better than the news wants us to believe. Now is our chance to capitalize on it.
Just one contrarian’s view.
Codie
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

Knowing What To Ignore Jun 10, 2020

How do you win a Nobel prize? Know what to ignore.

Knowing what to ignore…

If this topic isn’t more relevant today than ever, I’ll eat my weight in edibles. Which for the record, would not be fun for anyone, namely me.

But here is the truth, the last 6-12 months may have been some of the most distracting in our lifetimes. First, we had a contentious democratic primary race (that felt like reality tv it was so delicious to watch), then a global pandemic replete with a daily death count (ain’t that fun), then a recession (arguably the worst ever in US history), then massive unemployment (definitely the worst in history), then protests (across almost every city), riots and social unrest… the list goes on. 2020 is a real piece of work.

So it may come as no surprise that productivity in the US since COVID-19 has dropped by 7.2%. People’s first reaction is typically… oh that’s because we are working remote and people are not working as much. Oh contraire.

The length of the average workday has actually increased by almost 40%.

We Americans are working an extra three hours per day, aka 11-hour days.

So, we Americans are working more than ever, but we are achieving less and less.

Question: Have you found yourself pulled down a rabbit hole of social media clickbait? News onslaught? Legitimate outrage on all sides of the equation? Way more caffeine addicted than usual (this graph below pretty much shows my daily cycle)?

I certainly have.

I find a horrid delight in lambasting the ridiculous hypocrisy I see in the news today. The absolute lack of a competition of ideas. The belief that if I do not share your opinion exactly with the exact same verbiage, I am a monster. That free speech is great, but we cannot let people tell lies. Small/little issue, who decides what are lies? The thought police.. oh Russia/Fascism; I’ve seen this movie before.

And just like that, there I go again, getting all worked up at the fact that America seems to be losing its damn mind. Which I pray leads to progress???

Case in point, my social media usage is up 25%. There has been many a dinner table conversations where we have had to actively say we will NOT talk about COVID, injustice, protests, the economy or politicians any longer because my heart rate and blood pressure simply can’t take it.

You see, the world is pulling at our attention like a giant game of tug of war, and let me tell you, our goals are not winning.

There is a saying, focus on what you can control… and ignore all the rest.

That saying however, must have been written by some human pre near constant deluge of information in the social media age.

So fellow contrarians, lest we let others control our lives, our thoughts, our goals for this year; we need to make some internal changes. I’m sharing what I’m doing to push back on others being the master of my fate.

I pulled together my top staying focused tools and tricks from Peter Thiel, Tim Ferris, Bezos, Musk and Gates (a bunch of slackers) into one list that I promise I’m going to use about 60% of the time, every time.

You with me?

If you find others – give me a holler on LinkedIn or Instagram. Just please for the love of my heart health don’t send me news articles on this world today.

How to stay focused:

Quirky - Handstands in the morning - New fun routine for Codie… handstands against a wall each morning to get the blood flowing. Lest you think I am a moron, here are five reasons to do handstands that might surprise you.
No early AM Email - No email for at least 1 hour before you have to be at a computer screen. E-mail is the creativity killer.
No calls before 10am - This has been a god send as research suggests mornings are the most creative peaks for our brain.
Best Self Journal - I write down my top 3 to-do’s for the day daily, Tim Ferriss likes the 5 Minute Journal – I find it too fluffy but that’s me.
Read Zero to One by Peter Thiel - A masterful explanation on how to achieve big things by FOCUSING.
Follow Discomfort - From Tim Ferriss, “When in doubt, the most important to-do is typically the one that makes you the most uncomfortable, often including a chance of rejection, pain or failure.”
Meeting Exit Plan - If a meeting isn’t valuable to you, exit it (Musk). Since I’m a wuss, I prepare a script in the advent that it isn’t worthwhile i.e. I may have to jump after 10-15minutes but so wanted to make sure we connected. That gets people right to the point.
Turn on Social Media blockers - On your iPhone you can limit the amount of time you spend on apps, I just set mine to 15 minutes a day. Just enough time to get amped without my goals being eviscerated.
Get Smarter At Meetings – I wrote a whole piece on being more selective on meetings you take, cutting them shorter, delegating them. Then when I fall off the proverbial wagon I go back and re-look at them.

Moral of the story, will you let the noise of the day control what you accomplish? Will you be as a paper bag buffeted this way and that by the wind? Or will you do the hard work to steer your own course.

Our world today more than ever needs achievers who strive to make the world a better place, instead of steal eyeballs to screens talking endlessly about their opinions.

With that… off to do.

Question everything,

Codie

The Power of Money Jun 10, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

While the world is focused on money lost, here's how to win $

Money is the devil they say...

I've been thinking a lot lately about our green currency. After all, who hasn't been following the massive unemployment numbers? The evisceration in sales across nearly every industry? The words depression... recession... downturn... playing on the tv like a depressing robotized rap song. Sidenote: if you haven't listened to UK drill rap, it's a thing, and it's kind of fantastic.

So as I thought about Benjamins, I got myself all worked up over the nomenclature people use these days to talk about money. The interwebs are littered with quotes like the below:

“Time is more valuable than money." - Jim Rohn
“It doesn’t matter about money; having it, not having it. Or having clothes, or not having them. You’re still left alone with yourself in the end.” - Billy Idol
“Money is like muck—not good unless it be spread.” - Francis Bacon

So directionally I understand where these gents are going. They have wealth and they've reached a tipping point where more of it is really not impactful on their life. I begrudge them their success not at all. BUT in this world we live in today money is a necessity, not a nicety. Too often we diminish the importance of it, we make people feel dirty for the want of it and guilty for the "privilege" of having it. We lambast those billionaires who have accumulated it, those millionaires who drive too nice of cars and separate the elite from the rest.

All that really does is keep the separation growing, instead we should be teaching others how to accumulate it. Money is not a constrained resource, at least not if we continue in a capitalistic society. You can earn AS MUCH as you earn. The unfair advantage comes from knowing how to earn. So today I thought I'd share a few tools that have helped me accumulate. These are nuggets, seeds to be planted... but you know what happens to seeds? They grow into forests.

So while the world is focused on the money we've lost, and the haves vs the have nots, let's plant seeds. They'll come out of this with nothing but vitriol and we, we will have green trees my friends.

First Money Mindset:

Ramit Sethi talks about What the Wealthy Discuss that Most Do Not - It's not about penny pinching it's about revenue stream adding.
How to Buy A Business w/ Future Revenues - This podcast is the best example to date of the thing that seems HUGE to most of us, buying a business. The truth is that these mom and pop businesses are not just for the uber-wealthy to buy, in fact the structure lends itself to small people like me and you. Listen to this podcast, let me know if you want to know more. I find this fascinating!!! 7 million boomers retiring and ready to sell their businesses.
ENTIRE BLOG POST FROM ME ON HOW TO DO THIS: VIDEO

Side Hustle Nation - My favorite site for layering on side businesses and revenue streams w/ 100's of ways to get additional revenue.

Next Money Inflow:

THE NUMBER 1 THING I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO DO - Have your own website. Mine is in my name, yours can be whatever you want, but in this age websites become increasingly like business cards. You can set one up in 1 hour for $20 on squarespace and $4 monthly hosting. I have an entire post on how to do this because I think it is so critical.

Fundera - A site that helps you access as many small business financing options as possible. They also help with PPP and SBA loans right now so it's timely. It's worth at least filling out your applications here if you haven't and qualify.

Trends.co - My friend Sam Parr started the Hustle (now $2MM subscribers generating more than $10MM in revenue from a newsletter). He started a new business called Trends.co that hits on the Trends no one is talking about, I immediately signed up. Sam is brilliant.

The truth is money is just a tool or dare I say, a weapon.

The question becomes do you want to hold the weapon... Or let someone else?

Happy Questioning,

Codie Sanchez

Cannacurious? Want to get into the game... here's our contrarians guide

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

The Platform Effect Jun 10, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

The Platform Effect

Here's What You Can Do To Leverage This Trend

I got a bud named Joe.

When my fiancée and I had our very first weekend together in our then long-distance relationship, it came with an unexpected surprise; a burly, bearded ex-marine turned Alaskan bush pilot named Joe. He was in town, needed a place to crash and my gent being the military man he is, is quite used to roommates. So, there we were; me, him… and Joe. Romantic eh?

Fast forward three years and quarantine comes along while none other than our favorite third wheel is in town. Thus, of course, he has been with us now for a few months.

Joe has become our de facto shared best bud, whom we love to whiteboard with, have patch competitions with, and build businesses together. But I digress, this isn’t an ode to Joe, it’s an ode to the ideas coined inside our little California bungalow. Because you see we all would have wine and diatribe about some of these very events happening, BUT we made the classic human mistake. We SPOKE A LOT and WE DID NOTHING. You see all of us humans have ideas, but we get scared to put them out into the world because being wrong sucks. But turns out inside our little bungalow we saw some trends a coming. Namely one in particular. The Rise of the Platform. And so now, I share with you some of the biggest trends shaking up worlds I care about… and I ask you what do you think? And even more… what are you going to do about it?

Overarching theme: Platforms are eating the world.

Andreessen Horowitz famously engineered the line, “Software is Eating the World,” as the thesis to their multi-billion venture capital fund. I think they were right then but they are wrong now. These days those noshing on the world are not software so broadly… but platforms specifically. Platforms are the ones gobbling up industries whether unrelated or parallel (aka Whole Foods to Amazon), gobbling up content producers (aka Disney & Star Wars) and increasing gobbling up our consumer dollars (US Consumers spend 3% of all US consumer spending w/ FAANG). Just think about the companies you frequent:

Uber – platforms for cars
Fivrr – platform for outsourced work
Spotify – platform for music
Netflix – platform for tv/movie/video
Drizly – platform for alcohol sales

A fun statistic - Bezo's himself is worth enough where he could buy Viacom, Ferrari, The NFL, Top THREE European Sports teams and have $7-8B left over for fun.

The problem with this is increasing concentration as the big get bigger and the small go to the scrap heap. Be wary how you spend and where you position your company. Here are two examples I've been obsessing over, more in the newsletter if you want to subscribe click the link in the comments below:

Content Is King – Joe Rogan’s $100MM Spotify Deal

Now this may seem like old news. But Joe said something that made me pause. He said, “Joe Rogan is the Howard Stern of the podcast generation.” You see Stern is largely attributed as being THE launch of Satellite Radio as said verbatim by its founder. He catapulted radio into the web age. Now Rogan is doing the same for monetization of podcasts. Spotify just set the firing round off against Apple in the war for the podcast platform of the future.

How to take advantage:

If you don’t have a podcast WTF are you doing with your life? I say that with tongue firmly in cheek because I no longer have one, but I’m planning on it. I just need to figure out my niche. I’m going to use StartFire to produce mine… but wtf am I going to babble on about? Any thoughts? Email me what you think I give that others don’t?
Paywalled podcasts – If I had to pay for my top 5-10 podcasts a $4-5 a month fee, I’d do it in a heartbeat. News is already happening. Podcasts next?

Alcohol & Cannabis Collide - Drizly

If you haven’t heard of Drizly, it is the largest alcohol distribution company in the US and Canada with 100+ markets, the largest selection of beer, wine and spirits all delivered to your door. Here’s the kicker, last week they sneakily took on their very first cannabis company. They will begin distributing in Boston and I imagine have a nationwide rollout.

How to play it:

If you have a cannabis company get them on that platform.
If you haven’t listened to my near-constant screeching, think about a cannabis allocation to your investments.

The Big Four – Facebook, Netflix, Google, Amazon

Scott Galloway has a very aggressive take on the four biggest platforms out there. If you haven’t seen his talks or read his piece post Corona virus, step to it. The gist of it is – they are way too big, control way too much, continue to dominate and monopolize small companies and we let them do it.

How to play it:

I have no idea. Stage an Amazon coupe? But just don’t try to blackmail Bezos w/ nudes because he gives zero f’s about that.

My New Favorite Trend Spotter

Many years ago, I got introduced to The Hustle by a friend Noah Kagan of OKDork. I was obsessed with their copy writing so I found out that their founder, Sam Parr, was a fan of butterfingers and sent him an enormous box of those candies (made out of what exactly??). I interviewed him and we’ve stayed in touch. Now he’s out with a new newsletter called Trends.co that I subscribe to that highlights emerging signals and trends so you can capitalize on them. Thanks Sam. Use this link to get $100 off your subscription.

Here’s a snippet of fun facts from them:

Skincare chemicals like hyaluronic acid, L-cartinine, niacinamide, and tretonin have 165,000-750,000 searches every single month
Airpods generate more revenue than Twitter, Spotify, and Shopify?
Over 4k people have "Everested", without ever having set foot in Nepal
Over 50k people search for "sea moss" every month
That perfume has margins of 98%?!
LTV of a dental patient is $4.5k so marketers can work with $150-300 CPLs
The "black hair care industry" alone is estimated to be $2.5B, so naturally the #naturalhairmovement is taking off

How to play it? Sign up duh.

Howard Marks said, “We can’t predict the future BUT we can prepare for it.”

So go grab a whiteboard, and maybe a Fuzzie to inspire your creativity, and ask yourself what will eat my world? And am I ready for it?

Codie Sanchez

Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**15 Tools to Save Your Startup** May 05, 2020
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*
A Cannabis Companies Tool Kit
If there is an industry that has more dichotomy wrapped around it, haven’t seen it yet. On one hand you have a generational wealth creation opportunity, massive pent up demand, a plant with thousands of use cases, an industry on the brink of breakout that is ripe for entrepreneurship and investment. Yet, on the other hand you have massive constantly changing regulation, burdensome tax regimes, restricted sales and marketing channels, no institutional capital, no easy banking solutions, a global pandemic, and oh by the way sometimes it’s legal, sometimes it’s not.
**The cannabis industry is not for the faint of heart.**
**So, I salute entrepreneurs everywhere who saddle up to battle this dragon of an industry.** In the vein we at Entourage Effect Capital, went out to our portfolio companies, industry contacts and entrepreneurs and said what are you biggest pain points? What tools are you missing? Then we compiled resources to help all of you brave enough to fight the good fight. The resources fall into these groups:
1. Financial Tools
2. Marketing Tools
3. Operations Tools
4. Fundraising Tools
5. Hiring Tools
I hope this serves you, we know it is hard out there but the impact at the end of your journey, well those are worth all the late nights and coffee fueled days. Aren’t they?
**For as one grows, we all grow.**
**FINANCES**
**1.) CBD Credit Card Processing - Nuvo**
What a world. We have hemp and CBD supposedly federally legal AND YET companies who are selling services in this space get kicked off of credit card platforms left and right. While that might sound minimal it can mean profits locked up, missed sales, time spent all because promises from a service provider are not kept. So, we partnered with Nuvo to be a go to support in the industry as they process CC’s for CBD and Hemp knowingly and carefully.
As a guideline (although obviously rates get better the more you process), Square charges CBD sellers 3.90% plus 10 cents per transaction for in-person tap, swipe, and dip payments. Online payments will cost 4.20% plus 30 cents per transaction, Visa/MC/Discover/AMEX, will typically cost a merchant between 3.25% and 3.90% as an all in effective rate for eCommerce which is lower than Square (but they are finicky on CBD).
Nuvo's rates coming in at 3% to 3.6% look sizably more attractive.
**NUVO CREDIT CARD PROCESSING CBD/HEMP:**
Just for EEC friends offer: Companies get first 5% off their rate and expedited onboarding
Code: EEC - https://form.jotform.com/nuvo/cbd-inquiry
**MARKETING**
We know you cannabis companies do not have unlimited capital, in fact you have massive capital constraints due to tax burdens and payment terms. And yet, you need marketing, you need pitchdecks to raise capital, and nothing will kill you faster than a bad first impression. So here are two resources in that vein to help you on the cheap
**2.) Pitchdecks & Design -** **Fivrr**
I use Fivrr all the time for projects that I'm not skilled at (aka design, pitch decks, graphic, data aggregation) for a couple $ they make me $. It’s the most cost-effective tool I’ve used, just click the link and search pitchdeck for instance. You can get a gorgeous deck done for $100-$200. I’ve used them for pitchdecks, website graphics, business cards etc etc.
**3.) Marketing Tool:** **SEMRush**
I use SEMRush to do competitor research on varying websites for our startups, to maximize our SEO (especially important since paid marketing online doesn’t work) and for leveraging organic traffic as well. At $99 a month it’s made us at least 10x.
**4.) Public Relations:** **KCSA**/**Mattio Communications**
In an industry that traces illegality having a PR agent is basically a must. You need to be able to craft your own message and shout it from the rooftops ESPECIALLY as you can’t do online paid advertising in cannabis. We use KCSA but I also adore Rachel Mattio and think her team is killer, so you have two great options. The amount of press we’ve received at their best is pretty astounding.
**5.) Affiliate Program Creation:** **Ambassador**
I am OBSESSED with this group. One of my friends Sam Parr from The Hustle (an online newsletter for Silicon Valley insiders) used this program to scale up his newsletter to first 300k super fans but now millions. Last I checked it was 3.6MM+. His copy writing is second to none and this program they used through Ambassador was dare I say, genius. I keep pushing more of our companies to use this tool.

**OPERATIONS**
**6.)** **Microsoft 365** **– Startup Tech Stack**
Honestly I debated putting this one on here I know I will get lambasted by sophisticates who have a tech stack higher than the Eiffel Tower including silicon valley darlings like slack, BaseCamp, Dropbox etc etc. BUT, the truth is for startups and growing businesses all those costs add up, you have to know how to integrate them and there is a business learning curve. We use Microsoft 365 and while I fought it tooth and nail (especially outlook) I have come to swallow my words. The teams app is slack, outlook is mail, onenote is evernote, one drive is dropbox, planner is asana, and the list goes on depending on how many of their apps on the platform you want to use.
The BEST part is it’s $5-20 a month per user for all of them. I’m all about pinching pennies early in startups. Click here to check it out.

**7.) Email campaigns:** **Mailchimp**
Nothing brings in more investors to us then smart content and email campaigns, if I could shout this from the rooftops I would. I’ve used Mailchimp for years now but personally on my blog and newsletter (you can signup here if you’d like) or for our EEC newsletter here. If you don’t have an email tool I like this one the best by far. Both for its ease of use, beautiful templated campaigns but also for the ability to manipulate our email marketing campaigns.

**8.) Your Personal FREE Editor:** **Hemingway**
If you’re tired of asking your mom, dude, chicka, bud, to edit all the content, newsletters, investor updates you do, use Hemingway. It’s free and acts like a smart high school teacher peering over your shoulder.
**Related:** **7 Resources for Wartime CEOs**
**Fundraising:**
**9.) Angel Investing Group:** **Arcview Group**
If you are pre-revenue, early, or need smaller check sizes look at an angel investor network like The Arcview Group. Angels can be patient capital without a timeline for a fund or a target return period. Funds are a lot of work to get on board and usually not the right first money in the door. Arcview can help you with your pitch and getting in front of the right eyeballs.
**10.) Cannabis Investing Funds**
That said, if you are ready for a fund investment here is a listing of those who put capital to work in cannabis. My suggestion would be check out their investment parameters before you blindly reach out and be aware of how much capital they have to deploy; it will vary wildly. List: Arcview Group, Artemis, Altitude, Arkadian, Beehouse, Big Rock, Canopy Rivers, Merida Capital, Navy Capital, Greenfield, Panther Capital, Poseidon, Stable Road, Salveo Capital, Tuatara… I’m sure I’m missing others such as VC arms of some of the major MSO’s. But a quick google search will show you who puts money to work in this space. The sad but true fact is that none of these funds are giant and the amount of capital to put to work is not giant so
**11.)** **LinkedIn Investor Search**
One of the best tools for finding investors today is LinkedIn, that said, too many people use it poorly. My best advice is to NEVER use a bot, and to consider a high degree of stalking before you reach out to investors. Cold outreaches never work. If you want to learn how to super charge this take this super cheap class on LinkedIn Udemy, everyone has more downtime these days - take advantage and uplevel your skill set.
**12.) Startup Documents –** **Y Combinator**
If you don’t already have your term sheet and fundraising docs (and you are early stage) you might as well pilfer from one of the best. Y Combinator – they have a list of all the docs they recommend using, essentially giving you the keys to the castle. This gives you something to go out with and then your lead investor can manipulate and may come back with something different.
**HIRING**
**13.) How to hire -** **Work Rules – Lazlo Block**
This is hands down my favorite book on hiring and onboarding new team members. It’s crucial to get this right and no one is better at it (or more notorious at their practices) than google is, Lazlo wrote those rules.
**14.) Get Candidates Fast -** **Job Boards**
Hiring in cannabis is incredibly difficult, you have many who don’t want to take the risk on the new industry, you have extensive background check requirements and you have to find them. We created a job board to help our portfolio companies find new employees. Think about doing the same and asking your investors to post them.
**15.) Insiders Perspective -** **VC Advice For Startups**
This blog is from Matrix Partners, and his posts are some of the most technical, in-depth pieces on tactics important to startups. They’re not quick reads but they offer valuable insights usually not shared.
**WRAP IT UP**
That’s a wrap, the list could certainly go on so comment your other favorites for me to add to the list next time and email us www.entourageeffectcapital.com for the areas of pain we missed so we can keep helping to shoulder the load.
Now go cause a ruckus.
Happy Questioning,
Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Want to get into the game... here's our contrarians guide or go to my blog for more on cannabis, capital, contrarians and sparking your curiosity.
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

I Was A Journalist, That Used to Mean Something Apr 28, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

I Used To Pry Out Stories For A Living...

A side tangent on journalism today & why during this time of hypothetical pause it's worth asking - what stories are you telling yourself AND which ones are you listening to. (This is from my weekly Contrarian Thinking Blog Series - signup here.)

You see, that’s what we journalists do, we pry truths from souls with a promise to give their stories life. Or at least that’s what we used to do. We journalists, not commentators, not tweeters.

So, I used to be a Journalist. With a capital J.

I wrote about human trafficking, drug smuggling, and the worst type of violence against humanity you can find along our US/Mexico border. I saw bodies dangling, autopsies performed and dreams shattered.

It changed me. It carved its memories into my skin as sure as a knife.

Writing my senior thesis from a little shanty I borrowed from an incredible nonprofit called Rancho Feliz in Agua Prieta Mexico, I would travel back and forth from the maquiladoras (a type of factory where a majority of immigrant women worked), to towns like Juarez (also known as La Ciudad de Muerte). Each trip my heart broke a little more. Each trip I struggled to see the human in humanity. All against the vibrant, contagious melodic backdrop I’ve come to love called, Mexico.

I remember vividly crossing the border in Juarez from El Paso for the first time. I did it on foot. If you’ve walked those steps, you’ll never forget them. Over the Rio Grande you go from a land of industry, little violence and prosperity, to the most dangerous city in Mexico. Just a few weeks prior to my time there a Sinaloan cartel leader was broken out of a maximum-security prison when his gang bore down with Apache helicopters holding anti-tank missiles and decimated the police force.

The meek do not inherit the earth in Mexico.

Escaping the barbed wire and steel border fences to couldn’t help but gaze upon a towering wooden cross in the middle of the Juarez road. I can still see it. The wood was all but covered in photos, pink ribbons and momentos from the thousands of “las desaparecidas”. The disappeared. These were the women of Juarez who had been murdered, brutalized and often raped all along the Mexican border.

Every day the newspaper would tell of unnamed women, or more likely a foot, a hand a leg or two, found scattered in the desert.

The daily tally of appendages was almost as common as quoting the stock market.

Warm tears slide down my face the first I saw that Juarez cross. You can’t look at a visual representation of death come to soon on a cross 10-12 feet high, littered with tokens left by devastated mothers, and not cry. To escape it I walked the streets a bit in search of air. Yet scattered throughout the city were a million other reminders. Posters of young women put up by tormented families who had sent their girls north for a better life, only to be greeted by the afterlife. Another street showed unmarked graves, another brothels, another clubs for tourists.

I felt a supreme sense of the brutal but true realization that life is simply not fair.

After all my name is Sanchez. I’m a young(ish) Hispanic woman, with long brown hair and brown eyes that went into the workforce for a better future. My face would have fit in on that cross. Yet, what is different about the life I have been gifted and those who share my name but have been given something different altogether? Why me?

The only solution I could come up with was that I am lucky. I won the birth lottery. No deserving or earning being born into a middle-class family in the US. I just got it.

In a way everything I have done in my career has been touched by the shadow of that cross and those faces upon it.

It's why I went into finance instead of journalism. After all awareness is great, but money is what pulls people out of poverty and into safety. It’s why we lock our doors, talk about financial security, fight for new jobs, and move to the suburbs.

Money is why I built my first business in Latin America, it’s why we hired almost exclusively women and minorities in the white male dominated world of finance. Business and capitalism is an opportunity to give a hand up, not a hand out. To employ those who could change future generations. And ultimately, it’s why I came to cannabis.

Those humans who brutalize women get away with it with the resources acquired through illegal activities. They traffic in things our government chooses to ignore.

I was reminded of all those walking through the streets in Mexico City during the Women’s March against violence this spring. Thousands of women marched in solidarity with those who had been murdered so carelessly their killers walked free with impunity while their mothers never were free again. In Spanish they call protests Manifestacion, which is just close enough to manifestation is English to make me smile at the idea of those who do wrong manifesting those who demand right. The protestors marched and graffitied and shouted because what other recourse did they have when feminicide was rising year over year?

Someone the other day said to me that this industry of ours, cannabis, isn’t an impact investment. They said it’s a vice. I’d say in response, what greater impact can there be?

Predators play and prosper in the dark. It’s only by shining a light, that we can see them.

It’s only by acknowledging that enough demand means supply will be given one way or another. That to regulate means to shine a light, to bring people in from the dark. That we created a war against a plant that is more a medicine than a vice. That we can maybe, just maybe, make the hope of, “Ni Una Menos” (Not One More), become a truth.

It’s not the only change we need but it’s a step. I’d like to live in a world where no more pink ribbons are added to that cross, where no one with cancer has to worry about the law for their medicine, where anxiety is managed not with pills but with plants, AND THAT is an impact worth fighting for.

Question everything. After all entrepreneurs, founders, doers are the only ones who... sacrifice your now for a vision only you can see. (My toolkit here for entrepreneurs who want hockey stick growth).

Some of the articles I think are worth seeing today:

Another US Wide Housing Slump Is Coming - From a friend Danielle DiMartino Booth (former advisor to the President of the Dallas Fed), I'm not sure I agree with her but it's worth a ponder.
Market Correction Is Coming - From another friend Kathryn Rooney Vera. Tend to agree with her points: This rally was unsustainable. Expect a renewed correction because of 1) magnitude of economic collapse 2) earnings + pending defaults 3) possible second viral bout/Medical Uncertainty. Futures point to drop of about 300pts.
CARES ACT Rant - From another economist friend Strider Elass. 100% agree with his points here. 1. A little CARES Act rant. There are 30 million small businesses in the US. The first $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program has run out of money. Only 1.66 million small businesses received money. That means 94.5% of small businesses did not get a loan....

I hope you are taking this time to "see" more clearly.

Happy Questioning,

Codie Sanchez

Cannacurious? Want to get into the game... here's our contrarians guide or go to my blog for more on cannabis, capital, contrarians and sparking your curiosity.

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

So You Want to Get Into Cannabis? Mar 20, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

Written by Codie Sanchez

I HATE not being able to answer all your questions on how to get into cannabis. So I wrote a a guide for all of you who want to invest, get a job, a board seat, start a company, selling services into or otherwise get in the cannabis game.

The truth is we need the top talent in our industry, as a venture/private equity fund our portfolio companies are ALWAYS hiring --> here is our jobs board that aggregates all their opportunities.

But there is something missing here because so many of you want opportunities, and yet so many of our companies can't fill their jobs fast enough. Where is the disconnect?

This is my attempt to connect all of you with the opportunities in cannabis w/ 3 steps I would take to get smart, get exposure and learn about this industry at light speed.

Let's start here: We have a belief at EEC that we are amidst a generational wealth creation event in cannabis. That especially as valuations are depressed and institutional players have hurdles to entry there is opportunity for the strategic minded.

Given all the below:

It seems like we aren't the only ones.

At EEC we get thousands of pitchdecks a year from entrepreneurs breaking into the space, we meet with hundreds of investors a year looking to invest, and we engage with just as many service providers looking to be the picks and shovels of this new industry.

And yet if I get asked one more question more than others it is, how do I get into cannabis? Why?

CANNABIS IS BOOMING:

They call this... “America’s hidden job boom.”
You are paid more – 11% higher mean salary than average broad-based industry
Opportunities are growing – 44,000 jobs created in 2019 – 35% increase YOY (In a major downturn of a market FYI)
All this growth means services, jobs, and opportunities will flourish.

THE PROBLEM

Most people go after opportunities the traditional way, which DOESN’T work.

They want to get paid, get rich, and get noticed, but they do it wildly inefficiently. If you want to be in a certain industry: you interview at companies that are related, you major in a related field at college or university, you talk to people about how to get into the industry, or you go get specialized degrees that cost you thousands (aka our giant college debt problem in the US).

Let me show you why you are working much harder than you need to. If you want more than just a job, and you want to be an executive, consultant, or advisor, make sure to read this entire report until then end and go to our jobs board. This is where I’ll tell you how instead of going after jobs; you can make the jobs/opportunities come to you. How do you do that? You become an expert in your space.

You get paid to be an expert. This is not a get rich quick idea, this is you leveraging your unique skill and passion to a profitable and sustainable end. Think you don't have what it takes? In this section I give you the five steps you can take right now to know more in one week than 99.9% of the population knows on your subject matter.

This is the beginning of my ten step plan to becoming an expert in cannabis...

Get Smart on Cannabis Fast Plan

This segment is all about how to not sound like an amateur in your interviews, pitches, and board meetings. First, I believe in conscious immersion as the best way to learn. So, when you are implementing this plan spend one weekend, just one, reading the below resources, signing up for the newsletters, and planning out a few events to attend. Then jump on in. Do not let procrastination and mental masturbation stop you from actually taking action.

Do not let procrastination and mental masturbation stop you from actually taking action.

ARE YOU READY??? Kiss that cubicle goodbye, say Sayonara to fax machines, we’re going green.

Step 1: Read Deeply

Start by going deep, every time I enter an industry I begin by picking my favorite authors and letting their 10,000 hours come to me in a fraction of that. Pick 2-3, that’s enough. You do NOT want to fall into the trap of preparation as procrastination. Your goal is to lay a foundation you will build on.

Step 2: Go Where The Game Is Played

This was my very first step into cannabis, I went and spoke to a group of 25,000 attendees at MJBizCon. I leveraged my unique skillset of speaking, finance, and startups to add value to a conference. This let me jump into the deep end and helped me to understand what the true opportunity was in cannabis. It was the best thing I ever did and changed my entire career. If you listen to one piece of advice, just get yourself into the game. Go see, feel, and touch what is happening with your own fingertips.

Conferences to Attend:

MJBizCon – By far the largest and most broad sweeping
Arcview – The most curated and best for startups and higher ups
Hall of Flowers – The best for marketing and brands
Canntech – The best for global and international opportunities
NCIA – The best for government and social activists

I used this exact template to get a partner role at a VC firm in cannabis —> our guide:

Step 3: Immerse Yourself Daily

I spend 30 minutes every morning doing a review of what is happening in the world of cannabis, pick a few of these and do the same. There is magic that happens when you constantly over time integrate yourself into your chosen field. The saying is consistency trumps intensity any day.

Newsletters & News Sources to Sign Up For:

Leafly – Consumer focused news and insights into cannabis
MJBizDaily – The most well-known cannabis and business news source
Green Entrepreneur – Great insight into entrepreneurship in cannabis
Entourage Effect Capital – We are going to announce some cool hiring resources, so stay tuned.
BDS Analytics – Best consumer data out there on cannabis and companies in the space.
Codie Sanchez – I also have a biweekly newsletter you can subscribe to that will include short snippets on building, VC’s, and cannabis.
Civilized – Cannabis culture, consumption trends and what’s new
PROHBTD – Great YouTube videos, product lists, and cultural events on cannabis.

What astounds me continuously in life is how easy it is to become obsessed with something, follow it down the rabbit hole, and come out the other side knowing more than 99.9% of the population on that subject.

We severely overestimate the path to expertise. The path to becoming a .1% performer might very well take the 10,000 hours that experts tout, but the path to knowing what the top 10% know about an industry is a ridiculously lower bar. If you follow the 3 segments listed above to read and immerse yourself in the industry, and then create a process for systematically building upon it, you will be the top 1-10%.

Welcome to the green side.

Come join us at one of our portfolio companies... or dive deep with the guide.

After all greatness is simply a choice.

Codie Sanchez

Follow along for more information at:

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

History Doesn't Always Repeat BUT It Damn Well Rhymes Mar 20, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

Written by Codie Sanchez

What if I was to tell you the single biggest determinant of your success, is your skill at questioning?

It's not IQ, not education, not wealth, it's as Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am."

If I have learned one thing as a former journalist, turned pundit, turned public markets investor, turned "Gasp" cannabis private equity investor, it is that your life and your bank account are largely tied to your questions. Questions reveal if you my friend are a critical thinker... or an instant believer. Unfortunately in this world of ours replete with fake news, narrative, spin, information inundation and social stigma programing, the worst thing you can be is an instant believer.

So I decided to re-start my newsletter to help you "Think Like A Contrarian."

We will challenge the status quo to achieve what most believe is impossible.

ALL the best opportunity is found in the disconnect between our common narrative and the truth.

BELOW IS AN EXCERPT OF ONE OF THE NEWSLETTERS: If you like it subscribe. If you don't like it... that might be good too, means I'm probably saying something interesting.

_________

Humans,

We are funny. We're really just a group of forgetful, and perpetually anxious simians (aka hairless monkeys), who don't remember what we've been through. What's with the tangent Codie? Well, I'm running around Benzinga Cannabis Conference this week and then sprinting around NY on CNBC and Fox News talking about the markets and private sector investing, and I'm having a hard time not chuckling at our reactive and forgetful nature.

We truly think it is different every single time. When in fact, most events have an inkling of the past in them and come back into "style," one way or another. Per my cartoon above, even ashrams are in these days. So here are the biggest topics I think we could use a little context on this week.

The Weekly THINK:

READ - Economic Facts & Fallacies - Thomas Sowell may be my favorite modern economist by far. He debunks the economic myths systematically, digestibly and with minimal personal opinion. His best quote:

"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good."

LOOK AT THIS IMAGE... do you see anything that might rhyme? Massive valuation decrease in public equities, paired with consumer adoption increasing at exponential levels. Hmmm... we've never seen that before? I've never understood why humans love sales everywhere but the stock market or private company investing. Seems to me in a world of record highs (even after a pull back), there are still deals in the market. That's our bet at EEC.

CONTEXT - Coronavirus: Disclaimer: Turns out I'm not an immunologist or virologist, who knew most people discussing the virus's impact aren't either, ahh news today. So unlike them I'm going to spare you my "expert" opinion on how fast it will spread and the impact, but from a numbers perspective provide some context. I do not want to minimize a single humans pain or suffering, the lives lost are a tragedy.
However, we need to think about the widespread impact. The rate below is the % of people who die when they've contracted the illness. That's not great, but it's also not necessary crippling with, 1-2% as the current fatality rate. Then again remember the virus is new and it's in China, where healthcare and human rights are ahem, a bit lacking. To that extent, the fatality rate appears to be quite lower outside China. It also differs drastically by age.
Which means, yes the flu is virulent, it's dangerous, but unlikely to cause the apocalypse. Other facts, the rate of new cases appears to have stabilized, a few vaccines are in the works, and "according to the World Health Organization, in the United States alone for the 2019-2020 season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses, 140,000 hospitalizations and 8,200 deaths." Which dwarfs the current outbreak. I like the take by Brian Wesbury on the subject. Will it spread to the US, CDC says yes, news confirms it. Will it be an apocalypse, they say probably not. Would I buy a mask and hand sanitizer, seems reasonable. Will I sell all my assets, no. Then again, I'm not a doctor, just a human with an eye for numbers instead of narrative.

CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION - Has anyone ever said, “I wish I had more meetings, conference calls and it would be lovely if I could receive just a few more emails a day?” I certainly haven’t found one. As a VC we have this problem on steroids. My company, Entourage Effect Capital, has invested in 64 companies, so if we invest in less than 1% of all deals we see, that could mean meeting with 6400+ companies. And you thought your weekly team meeting is bad, right? So, I said, no more. I went down a rabbit hole, and after reading 26 articles on time blocking, calendar management, email inbox management and not letting other people dictate your entire life… this is what I found out and am implementing.
ACCREDITED INVESTORS - we are going to working on a potential syndicate for investors who want to invest alongside EEC in some of the co-investments democratized for more people to break into cannabis. To apply email: ir@eecpartners.com. We have one deal live now.

Question everything, as Sowell said, "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance."

Happy Questioning,

Codie Sanchez

Cannacurious? Want to get into the game... here's our contrarians guide

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

Subscribe to the newsletter here.

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

Why You Should LOVE These Markets as an Investor Mar 19, 2020

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

The World Is Ending...

So we better stock up on toilet paper and sell all our stocks, right?

What a bizarre turn of events this week has lead to in the global markets.

LET ME HIT YOU WITH SOME FUN FACTS UP FRONT.

READ - B erkshire Hathaway's 2008 Shareholder letter - "Our decrease in net worth during 2008 was $11.5 billion." Ouch that must have hurt to write.

ALSO READ - Berkshire Hathaways 2009 Shareholder letter - "Our gain in net worth during 2009 was $21.8 billion."

THIS GUY GREW HIS WEALTH BY ALMOST DOUBLE ONE YEAR AFTER THE CRISIS. All the while smiling while he eats his daily cheeseburger and Coca Cola.

Keep that in perspective.

The Weekly THINK:

WHY I LOVE THESE MARKETS:

In every disruption there is a massive amount of noise and panic BUT those with cool heads and capital to deploy prevail. Just a reminder of history: a $1,000 investment made in 2009, would be worth more than $2,700 as of end of 2019. That's a total return of more than 175%.⁣

The S&P 500 itself was up 227% during that period.⁣

⁣It's a reminder of the Buffett adage everyone quotes but no one follows, "be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy." Panic-selling rarely benefits us.

⁣In fact, one of my favorite activities is looking at who made billions during and after the 2008 downturn: ⁣

Warren Buffet bought $5B of Goldman Sachs and $3B of GE which in turn made him billions.⁣
The Federal GOVERNMENT made $82B in 2010 by their bailouts of Wall Street... yes, they made billions
Carl Icahn followed Buffet's adage and in 2007 sold a couple of properties worth $1.3B at all time highs then turned around and bought distressed properties (some of which he previously owned and sold at the highs) making him, on average, a return of 4x. ⁣

That’s just to name a few.

You could add that KKR, Blackstone, Carlyle all became household names thanks to the 2008 panic induced buying opportunity. At EEC we plan on taking this same advantage.

Remember this too shall pass. Take care of yourself and your hard-earned money. ⁣

QOTW: “In God we trust; all others pay cash.” - From Berkshire Hathaway 2008 Shareholders letter.

Fascinating things happening in the world of hemp as construction materials. Did you know that 38% of global energy emission come from construction? Introducing hemp... this house is built from a majority of hemp materials and the house actually pulls CO2 from the air. It's made from reconstructed hemp hardware, hemp insulation, hemp bricks etc. Hemp construction materials supposedly are termite resistant, fireproof, breathable, 100% recyclable, prevent mold, store carbon, and insulate well. Maybe it won't be just the hipsters that use it going forward?

Question everything, as Lloyd Blankfein told us in the 2008 crisis:

"Real wealth is created in a downturn and collected in the rally."

Also I'm looking for a good way to donate to the Coronavirus first responders. I found this through the CDC if you find anything better please comment below.

Happy Questioning,

Codie Sanchez

Cannacurious? Want to get into the game... here's our contrarians' guide

IG: @codiesanchez

EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com

CS: www.codiesanchez.com

This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

Don't Have A Million, But Want to Invest in Cannabis? Aug 27, 2019

Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my disclosure page for more.

Don't Have A Million, But Want to Invest in Cannabis?

Here's my take on it.

From an excerpt with Green Entrepreneur (full article here).

Get our detailed investor check list click here.

Let’s get to the million dollar question, which is: I don’t have a million dollars, but I want to invest in this business. Where do I start?

First my advice is always that you should go to the experts, that's why I came to Cresco Capital Partners. I wanted to invest along private equity and venture capital experts so I could learn from their 10,000 hours instead of having to do my own.

Say you've already done that. Then you need to get your seat at the deal-making table. Then you start to get deals and access into the space that outstrips your network. One of the first secrets is, wealth is made on the private side. If you look at anybody who has accumulated wealth – not just rich, but real wealth – it’s because they’ve done investing either on real estate or in their own company on the private side. That’s just the “why” of this even mattering.

Explain that a little bit to me. On the private side, meaning they’re not public companies that they invest in?

It’s very hard to make generational wealth or real wealth by investing in public stock markets. Outpace inflation, definitely, but replace your income? That's tough. You can see that very quickly. Say you put all the faces from the Forbes 100 list of billionaires on one page. What you would notice if you went through all their bios? Not a single one of them made their money from smartly investing in public stocks.

The brilliant Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, they only move when they have three things...

The best investors like Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, etc they only move when they have three things:

The first one is an unfair advantage. For instance, Carl is an activist . He can go bother the founders of the company until they make changes to the actual company and make him money. So you need an unfair advantage in some way.
The second thing that you need is intimate knowledge. Not insider knowledge. You can’t have anything illegal. But you need intimate knowledge of the industry, the company, whatever you’re investing in. You really can’t get that with public stocks because otherwise it would be insider information and you have to be incredibly careful to be ethical and law abiding. On the private side you can have financials, access to the actual founders, access to their actual distributors and request a financial colonoscopy for all intents and purposed. Essentially what you need is information beyond what the news and Jim Cramer could scream at you on CNBC. You need that.
Then the third thing is the ability to affect the outcome. That’s how we invest on the private side because by giving them capital, we can talk to them about how they’re going to exit, who’s going to buy them, help them structure the exit on the backend, and the list goes on. When I invest I want to be more than money, I want to be a fulcrum they can place a lever on to lift more than their bodyweight.

Those three items are really key to investing. But we’re talking at a super high level. We’re not all going to have that on Day 1, but you should always have that in the back of your mind. That is the goal. It’s why I’m really worried about anybody who’s a price speculator.

What does price speculator that mean? Why does that worry you?

The crypto crisis, the housing crisis, the internet bubble, and then if we go way back to tulip mania, (which was where people were paying hundreds of dollars for a tulip bulb), it’s all the same thing. It’s all called price speculation, which basically means people invest in something just because they think the next guy is going to buy at a higher price and they’ll be able to sell after he gets in. But they don’t believe that there’s real value in what they’re investing in.

We’ve got to be careful about that. There’s a little bit of that in cannabis, so on the public side I’m really cautious about investing.

It seems out of whack right now on the public side of cannabis with the valuations of the underlying companies.

You may be right, I don’t have a crystal ball. If I did, we’d be on my yacht while recording this podcast. But what is important on the public side, or any time valuations or the price of stocks is concerned, is to always be looking at the downside.

Does it make sense for the top 10 cannabis stocks to be worth 4x more than the top 10 biotech, tobacco, pharma, or healthcare stocks, from a price-to-sales perspective? Which just means the price that they’re worth versus how much they actually sell.

Does it make sense for the top 10 cannabis stocks to be worth 4x more than the top 10 biotech, tobacco, pharma, or healthcare stocks, from a price-to-sales perspective?

I don’t know. It’s a growth industry; it could be, but my instincts say probably not. The key to investing is always buy low, sell high, and train your brain on that. Focus on price first before excitement. That is how we avoid price speculating.

Say you want to get smart on cannabis investing in 30 days how do you do it?

Step One: Get Smart

You should be, in my opinion, not doing anything except getting smart. Listen to all the podcasts on Green Entrepreneur, and then go over to CannaInsider podcast, and then go and look at some of the investor intelligence reports like Cohen. Don’t spend a lifetime; do this in a weekend. You can binge-listen to a couple podcasts, binge-read all the investor intelligence on MJBiz or Green Entrepreneur or Cohen and in that span of time you will be more knowledgable than 90% of the populace on your subject matter.

Step Two: Get In The Game

If you want to invest, or if you want to do anything – you need to go where the game is played. Say you want to play baseball. The first thing that you should probably go do is watch a baseball game. Then you go try to play a baseball game amongst you and your friends. Then you try to figure out who are the reporters that cover baseball. Then you should probably try to go to three or four conferences of people who are talking about baseball, playing it, or selling baseball gear.

If you want to invest, or if you want to do anything – you need to go where the game is played.

It’s not dissimilar to investing. You go where the game is played. In cannabis, in my opinion, that would be places like ArcView, which is kind of like AngelList. AngelList is where you can go and invest in lots of different startups, but at very low dollar amounts in a quasi-crowd equity investing model. ArcView is similar but for cannabis, and they also have research and conferences to support. So you go to a couple ArcView conferences, and you join that insider circle.

Step Three: Meet the Players

Then you start reaching out to the insiders. Prior to an Arcview event you email all the speakers that are relevant. You setup a goal of 3-5 one on one meetings. You prepare with notes and background on the individuals and you try to stay in touch feeding them deals and ideas. These three steps are more than 99.9% of humans will take the time and effort to do. It is amazing how much success lies just over the other side of trying.

What is truly crazy is, after you do those three things – listen to a ton of podcasts, read as much as you can about the industry, and then get hooked up to an industry group and go to one of their conferences – you are smarter than 90% of the population on cannabis.

What’s the conversation you have with these people that you connect with in cannabis as a newcomer? Is that the moment when you present yourself, about who you are and what you have to offer?

First, if you go where the game is played because you want to be in the game, you will have opportunities presented to you that you never otherwise would.

First, if you go where the game is played because you want to be in the game, you will have opportunities presented to you that you never otherwise would.

That’s my promise to you. If you do these three things and you go to where the game is played with a curious mind and dig in, you’re going to have opportunities arise that you couldn't have planned yourself.

If you have that belief, then when you go, here are two things that are super important.

One is curiosity.

We’re all egoists, right? I like to have my ego stroked. But the truth is, if somebody comes up to me and says;

“Codie, I’ve been reading your stuff, listening to your podcast here, I saw you speak here, and I’m really curious as to what you meant in this sentence”

or “I’m really curious, what do you think about this?”

or “how would you enter this space?”

or “why did you do this particular move?”

– those small, tailored questions to somebody’s ego, showing that you’re truly curious, not wasting there time. It speaks volumes. If you do that to five or ten people, the likelihood is you have two to three to four who want to engage with you. So that’s where I’d start. Curiosity.

Second item is give before you take.

I just interviewed an analyst today for our firm. The way he came to me was similar to what we've just been speaking about. He reached out, said he had listened to a few of our thought pieces. But he did something different than saying, "Hire me."

He said, “I’ve been doing research and analysis on the space in grad school right now and did some models on vertically integrated companies...” -- which are companies like Acreage.

"... I did some research on a few of your portfolio companies and their competitors. Would that be useful to you?”

Of course that is interesting.

I looked at it. The models were actually really good, so I followed up with him and gave him a bit more work. Right now I’m looking at the lab testing space. Every time somebody wants to sell you cannabis, they’ve got to go take it to a third-party lab to see if it has any pesticides in it or if it is THC at the level that they say it is. I’m interested in that key portion of the industry. So I said, “Why don’t you try to apply your thought process to this lab space?” He did it, did a great job, and I’ll probably offer him a job.

So that second key is not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them. If you provide value to people who are in positions of power, that is so rare – so rare – that they are going to want you in their circle.

The moral of the story is this...

..investing is not only for the high and mighty.

New industries have opportunities that pervade them if you are curious, driven and give before you take.

Be one of the few who do, and you just may find another wealth driver for you.

Get our detailed investor check list click here.

Or read full Green Entrepreneur article here.

Codie A. Sanchez

Managing Director - Partner at Cresco CapitalPartners, LLC

**Showdown: Cannabis vs Alcohol** Aug 20, 2019
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*
Who will win? Cannabis vs Alcohol
…
**This is the question haunting those at the top of Alcoholic Beverage companies around the world,** **and making investors increasingly interested in the new green crop.**
As the total size of the market increases in Cannabis we can see why, our consumer base is growing while one could argue the alcohol industry's is shrinking.

The interesting trend is not simply the total growth but also where that growth comes from.

**What do these images tell us? That as users of cannabis increases, alcohol consumption decreases.**
In fact (~60%) of monthly cannabis users surveyed all said cannabis has reduced their alcohol consumption, regardless of alcohol preference. While New Frontier Data found that nearly half (45%) of cannabis consumers who also drank expected to eventually replace at least some of their alcohol use with cannabis. For those who enjoyed the taste and traditions yet worried about the health effects of alcohol, a new profusion of non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beer and wines are (where legally available) offering some intriguing potential replacements. Now this is interesting in and of itself as a tailwind that is going to fuel cannabis companies growth however as it becomes easier to access cannabis we see something interesting happening.

More users who had previously used cannabis before are now re-engaging. So we have two trends, first is that current cannabis users consume less alcohol (that affect seems to continue) and secondly as more cannabis users come online this trend may accelerate.
**What does this mean for us as cannabis investors?**
Large acquisitions of cannabis companies by Alcohol companies as we've already seen with Constellation brands amongst others.
Alcohol companies creating their own cannabis and CBD beverages as Molson Coors is here.
Increase in market share from Alcohol to Cannabis, which simply means more sales and thus more profits to us, theoretically.

**That may be why 2018 looks to have been the worst year for beer sales in nearly a decade.**
As we look ahead with more medical and adult use cannabis markets coming online, cannabis is looking up and alcohol, well, alcohol needs to get creative to compete.
Ahead: Look for more acquisitions in alcohol and cannabis, more partnerships and more sales swaying away from wheat and into another plant.

“TOTD: “I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

— Warren Buffett

This quote really sticks with me, it's what I remind myself when so many are concerned about this space. When there is no more concern about cannabis, when greed runs rampant, that is when we must be cautious.
I believe whole heartedly in what we are doing as a generational wealth creation event if we do this right.
That's why some of our biggest investors at CCP are former alcohol, CPG and beverage execs. Not all companies will be winners, far from it, but those who do this strategically just may be.
Codie Sanchez
Cresco Capital Partners

Disclaimer: This report reflects the current opinion of the authors, aka me. It is based upon sources and data believed to be accurate and reliable. Opinions and forward looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice. This information does not constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security. The fund is open only to accredited and qualified investors. And in investing you should always question everything.

**Job Searching USE THIS: Get Hired for Your Dream Job** Jan 07, 2019
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*
Job Hunting Is The WORST…
Isn’t it?
**It is a self-confidence crushing endeavor… like worse than Tinder dating.**
**Here’s why:**
*The average job posting gets over 250+ emails.* Seriously. Isn’t that crazy? Not to mention recruiters get the first resume sent to them within 200 seconds. Oh, and remember Monster, well 427,000 of your fellow job seekers post their resumes weekly. Terrible odds if you ask me.
**BUT it doesn’t have to be. Let’s break this down.**
Here’s what I realized:
I’ve moved through 6 jobs at 4 companies in ten years, growing my paycheck by around 50-100% with each move. BUT, it didn’t start that way. It never does for any of us. You see when I went after my first job out of college I went to 3 job fairs, sent an ungodly amount of cold emails, bothered all my parent’s friends and just a few weeks from graduating I was about to have some debt but no post-college job to pay for it. I was a chronic interviewee unable to close. So, there I was sending 20 emails a day and lucky to get a human to respond to one of them.
**And then after repeating this process job search after job search, I started wondering…why was this whole finding a job thing so impossible?**

Once I started to be out there publicly, writing in publications like Forbes and became an employer myself I started to receive email, after DM, after LinkedIn message all saying the same thing.
“All I want to do is work, please hire me.”
“All I want to do is use my skills, how can I get a job like yours?”
“All I want to do is get a job that actually pays, can I pick your brain over coffee?”
And right about when I was going to judge them for the grossness that is the imagery of picking someones brain I remembered something, I had sent all these exact same emails and DMs.
**Every time I was doing a job search back in the day mass emailing out my resume, I was committing these same mistakes.**
That intrigued me. And then I got my 472nd email asking about how to get a job or for me to jump on a phone call about it. Honestly - I got tired of hearing myself speak about searching and explaining the same process over and over again. BUT I loved seeing the light bulb go off in peoples eyes when they realized it wasn’t impossible it was just persistent. AND I got obsessed when I thought about a world in which every human was spending their talents in pursuit of exactly what they were born to do.
**So I wrote this guide for you. Let me tell you WHY you aren’t getting the kind of job you want, WHY recruiters aren’t responding to you… and then HOT TO FIX IT!**
The problem is as I looked at all the emails I received it was like an eternal Groundhog Day, I realized…
**EVERYONE IS MAKING THESE SAME FATAL MISTAKES.**

So for my next hiring search I documented it all. Got all scientific. I gathered the over 123 emails I received in response to my post for one job and read through them all. I talked to all my other CEO friends who hire hundreds of people a year… *Suddenly everything made sense.*
You see, the resumes were all pretty qualified. The humans were all great I’m sure. But after reading hundreds of potential hires I fell asleep.
Then I figured out why:
**EVERYONE’S emails looked EXACTLY like 99.9% of all the other emails** job seekers sent to me. And it wasn’t just them when I looked back at my emails I did the same exact mistake:
You see even my old emails sounded and looked EXACTLY like 99% of all the other emails being sent for job searches.
*Here’s a few sentences I used:*
1) A self-starter
2) Hard worker with a great work ethic
3) Proactive problem solver
4) Meet client needs
5) Dynamic communicator
6) A fast learner
Let’s be honest with yourself, does your email do the same? BECAUSE…
Back to the rest of the emails in my inbox. It was like watching a military parade where you can’t pick out a single human from the mass. **Almost every single email contained one of those lines.** EVERY SINGLE EMAIL.
**The reason you are not getting a job usually has nothing to do with your credentials** or whether you were the best applicant.
***It’s that via email, you are boring. ;)***
You are boring because like most people, you’re terrible at selling yourself via email. We all are naturally. I WAS TOO. Since we don’t realize it we end up doing the same, boring, stale process for MONTHS until we are desperate for any job, anywhere and slowly spiraling into a depression.
After reading, writing, reviewing hundreds of successful job application emails I’ve mastered the game on the template AND THE PROCESS to get the job that you actually want, instead of the one you can get.
**It’s so simple we’ve turned it into science…. This template below….**
It will teach you how to communicate in an engaging, unique way so that the interviewing process becomes fun and you win!
**All of a sudden you have options, and are the one getting recruited.**
Let’s be real, if you are a terrible worker with a resume full of grammatical errors and zero follow-through this isn’t going to make you a millionaire, but it will help you:
Get real responses and interviews setup
Let your personality come into your writing
Give you an exact formula to follow for job searching outreach
Teach you my follow-up process that has landed multiple six figure plus jobs
Explain the psychology behind how this all works
**When you click you’ll receive a document with all the below:**
**· A tested and proven email/message template for getting noticed by recruiters**
**· Tricks to get recruiters to follow-up with you and see what they search on you**
**· A strategy for closing jobs that may even seem like they are out of your reach**
**· Tactics to get recruiters seeing you like that purple cow among a bunch of black and whites**
Once you have this template recruiters will start responding to your messages and will actually want to meet you… not to mention if you follow the guide they may actually start seeking you out. AKA – no more cold emails HOORAY!
**But here’s the catch. We humans unless we pay for something, we don’t value it.**
That’s why we keep all those articles in our inbox that we know we should read but WE NEVER read them. SO, the catch is… you need to put your skin in the game. That’s why you got to pay for this one.
**Why? Because I want you to actually use it, and we don’t use or value things that do not have value.**
Here’s what it is going to do for you.
*This template will save you TIME and MONEY. A LOT of it.*
Saving you MONEY: The average unemployment period for an American is 20 weeks, that’s 5 months with no paycheck. Since on average we’ve found this process to cut down this hiring process to 30 days. **We’re saving you $22k+** if you were paid the average salary in the US. That’s a lot of dinero.
Saving you TIME: Experts say it takes you a month for every $10k in your salary. Sweet lord that’s a lot of months. If you make $100k that means set aside 10, even while working, to find that next 6 figure salary. With this process you can cut your timeline in half.
**Remember: Life is too short to live small.** This is your chance to aggressively go after what you want in life and follow a proven method to do it.
Click here To Get Hired!
**PS:** if these methods do not get you at least 100% more interviews and responses, then I’ll give you your money back.. no questions.
Now go see what it’s like to LOVE what you do for a living and GET PAID while doing it!
And as always, ADELANTE!
Codie

Say goodbye to sending hundreds of unanswered emails and resumes to job gatekeepers. This document gives you a proven email template to make finding a job (and maybe even your dream job) possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***(we offer a money back guarantee). Job hunting is a terrible self-confidence crushing endeavor...

**Secrets to Financial Freedom: How to Speak Green** Nov 08, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*
Show Me The Money!
**That’s what we hard working grinders want, isn’t it?**
We don’t grind for countless hours, forego any semblance of a social life, and dedicate ourselves to our business simply for sainthood. Do we?
We do it because we want to build something in this world, to create a better life for ourselves and our families, and to reap the rewards of our sangre, sweat and tears.

**And yet… I have to tell you, if you are a minority, a woman, a Latina like me, it ain’t easy, is it?**
It’s like we’re in a race for our lives, but we began behind the starting line. Why? Because we weren’t taught as Latinos about finances, about investing, about cash flow, about IRR, or ROI or lines of credit. All we knew was:
Don’t spend what you don’t have.
Keep some under the mattress for a rainy day (sometimes literally, eek).
And… “Niñita porque tu compras algo sin cupones??” Got it Nana, always use coupons.

“..When the next little Latina looks at the faces on CNBC she’ll look up and see a face that looks just a bit like her. After all — if I can, anyone can!”

**While we may be frugal, financially free we are not.**
That’s why I became obsessed with investing and financial freedom more than 10 years ago.
Before I built businesses and played with money for a living, I was a journalist working along the US/Mexico border. I knew nothing about mutual funds, 401ks (como?), ETFs or the like. And yet I saw millions of my fellow Latinos were getting left behind not because of their race, but because they didn’t have or understand money. The wealthy held all the power and we didn’t. So, I started climbing my way through finance so that when the next little Latina looks at the faces on CNBC she’ll look up and see a face that looks just a bit like her. After all — if I can, anyone can! (Related: Need More Capital? Get Funding for your Startup.)

But that isn’t enough — because we need change now. That’s why I went to an event by Northwestern Mutual for Latino’s sharing their road to financial freedom. I realized all over again that we Latinos still have much too far to go.
**Here, queridos, is what I would tell myself before I made my money, and what I still tell myself everyday…**

“You’re only as good as who you know. ”

You make money earning, you keep money by investing.
This means three things:
Rule # 1 - you have to work to get wealth, you can’t expect the market to give it to you.
Rule #2 - always negotiate for a higher salary (we Latino’s don’t do that enough).
Rule #3 - invest before you spend.

“Seek out firms known to support minorities and women.”

2. You’re only as good as who you know.
Make an advisory board. Just like a company does, leverage those smarter than you. The best part about this is there is no up-front payment for the good ones — they make money when you do. So for me this includes a tax accountant I trust, a financial advisor I trust, and an estate planner I trust. Seek out firms known to support minorities and women — that’s why I worked with Northwestern Mutual! They believe that you’re in control of your money and that your financial goals and planning should look like planning and more like living. #SpendLifeLiving. For more information about planning your financial future visit, NorthwesternMutual.com; find your local advisor here to schedule a consultation.
Related: Lessons from My Favorite Contrarian Entrepreneur
3. FREE is my favorite four letter word.
These days we have so much technology at our fingertips — even free technology. We Latinos just need to use it.
I like Giving Docs for free wills where you can also donate.
I use an online budget tracker to keep me in check!
I use the online tool from my financial advisor, like Northwestern Mutual offers here, to track my portfolios performance.
Related: Make More Money: The One Thing You Should Do Right Now
4. Use Other People’s Money.
Your padres were right, don’t spend more than you have. But also, use OPM (other people’s money) when you can. Debit cards win me nothing. If I’m smart with credit, it can pay me back. For example I can use this to tell me where my $$ spent can equal miles flown to a new destination.
5. The Best Investment: Go look in the mirror — oh there it is!
They say many things are common sense, but not common practice. Ain’t that the truth. The best investor is a curious and educated one.
And last but not least, go out and meet more successful humans, more Latinos, hear their stories, and learn from their mistakes. If you want to check out Northwestern Mutual’s next Latino events

And as always, ADELANTE!
Codie

Quiero Mas Ideas Por Favor!

Aquí, aquí, Señores y Señoras!
Email Address Mo' Yo!
Care to know…No spam. We respect your privacy.

Gracias!

*Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (NM) and its subsidiaries. Learn more at northwesternmutual.com*
**Sponsored Content**
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
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CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**6 Ways to Overcome Discomfort and Ask for What You Want** Aug 30, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

This is a reprint of the original article I wrote published by business collective here.
**It’s tough to ask for what you want — but if you never ask, you’ll never receive.**
As an entrepreneur, business builder and corporate ladder climber, I’ve had to get comfortable asking for what I want. It’s rarely given. The tough part is, as humans, we are typically uncomfortable not only in asking for what we want, but also how we ask for what we want. If I had a dime for every time I have been called aggressive, crazy, intense (or worse), I would have a lot of dimes. But I think about my personal motto:

“Always ask for what you want. Always.”

About 7% of female MBAs attempt to negotiate vs. 57% of men.

**Always ask for what you want. Always.**
You will hands down never get what you don’t ask for. This is especially true for women and people of minority backgrounds. There is much research that proves that we don’t negotiate enough. If we look at salaries alone, it’s imperative. In Linda Babcock’s book, Women Don’t Ask, she found that about 7% of female MBAs attempted to negotiate, compared to 57% of men from the same program.
**Assume you might get it.**
When you remove the fear from your ask, you are more thoughtful, you consider how to make it a win-win, and you become less emotional.
Let’s discuss how you earn your seat at the table.

Related: How to Actually Get the Introductions You're Asking For

Practice Your Pitch
Nothing beats practice. Start small. A perfect example is my most recent trip to Belize: Every time I checked into a hotel, bought an excursion or paid for just about anything, I asked for a discount. What happened? Every single hotel (four over two weeks) upgraded us and gave us anywhere from a 10% to a 30% discount.
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“Never say, “I want more money.” This rubs me (and many people) the wrong way.”

Don’t Come in Committed to an Outcome
Come with options, not outcomes. Instead of saying X amount, consider flex work, vacation, and/or a virtual assistant. Get creative with your asks.
Related: Negotiate Like A Girl: Because You Can Get What You Want
Explain Why You Deserve It
Never say, “I want more money.” This rubs me (and many people) the wrong way. When an employee comes to me with this language, I immediately calculate the percentage change they are asking for and say, “What are you doing to earn 35% more money?” Rarely do they have an answer. Often, they didn’t even realize they were asking for such a big percentage increase. Back up your asks with facts and numbers. Say, “I did X, Y and Z and my plan for the coming months is to accomplish this and that. I think the work I am doing is worth more than I am currently making. So, I wanted to talk to you about a pay raise.” Then, don’t say anything. Your manager may be about to let you know you’re going to get a raise higher than your ask.

Tell the why before asking for the what.

Put Yourself in Your Boss’ (Or Counterparty’s) Shoes
What are their goals, and how can you align yours with theirs? If you’ve ever been asked for a raise by an employee, you’d know that there is only so much you can do. How can you put yourself on the other side of the table? When I first negotiated to get time off for an MBA and had my first company out of school pay for it, I started with my small ask first and I aligned our goals.

“Your manager may be about to let you know you’re going to get a raise higher than your ask.”

I said, “I’m committed to having a long career here and believe I need to better my skills in international business for us to really succeed, so I want to go back to school while working. If I can find a way to do that won’t interfere with getting my job done, and I promise to beat out my goals every single quarter or I’ll quit school, would you be open to it?” He said yes. Then I came back once I got in and said, “If I can get Georgetown to cover X percentage of the cost and beat sales goals by X, would you sponsor me for the rest of my schooling?” He said yes. I was planning on offering a longer contract with the firm as well but I held back. He said “yes” to all my asks.

Don’t Make the First Move
Making your “opponent” like you is worth its weight in gold. Smile, cajole, and appeal to their better instincts. My go-to line is, “You can’t blame a girl for asking, can you?”
Related: Don't Be Afraid to Ask for What You Want
If you are negotiating a salary or package with a new gig and the person asks you what you make currently, you don’t need to answer. You can say, “’Well, I’m flexible depending on how you structure compensation for the growth potential and the right company fit long term. Would you be willing to share the rough salary range you have in mind for this position?” If they push you, say, “This is really not something I give out broadly. Kind of like a woman never tells her age. Why don’t you tell me what your range is and I’ll let you know if that fits my range.”
Confidence is everything.

“Confidence is everything.”

Play Hard to Get
The one who wants it less wins. So even if you want a new job, client or raise so badly you would sell out your mother, pretend you don’t. Say you have a job offer you’re dying to take, and are about to quit your current job anyway. Reframe your mindset. They must negotiate to get the best deal for their company and you must negotiate the best deal for you. You can say, “I’m really happy in my current role and growing immensely. I’m always open to the right opportunity at the right company, but I’m not actively looking.” Remember playing hard to get? In my experience, this increases your perceived value, and makes them want you more.
Remember the commandments and you just might always get what you want.
XOXO,
Codie - Let's chat on instagram @codiesanchez

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This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**Active Duty to Corporate Titan: Get What You Deserve, When You Get Out** Aug 29, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

The more I know of the military, the more I want to hire them.
Dedication.
Drive.
Team work.
Focus.
Persistence through difficulty.
Training.
That's a winning skill set. And yet, US Military.. you're not very good (AT ALL) at helping your members transition. They serve for us, maybe we should serve them a bit better.
So, here's what I would do if I was talking to my loved ones about getting out and moving on up that corporate ladder.... (Honestly - if you're not military you need to read this too).
Transitioning from the military to civilian life IS tough. The two worlds have minimal overlap. As both a hirer of vets and a family member of one, I’ve seen it go incredibly well, with transitioning service members landing high six figure jobs that double their military income, in the field of their choice...
BUT I’ve also watched former soldiers, sailors, and airmen be taken advantage of and miss out on much opportunity.
Why?
It's in your nature as military to be humble, team oriented, focused on the we not the self, and guess what? In corporate America, unfortunately, that isn't the same creed. In fact in a new job negotiation if you don't ask for it, you probably won't get it.
So here's my top three to-do's for every service member when it’s time to trade in the camouflage.
RULE NUMBER 1:
Get An Education - If you can, use your GI Bill. Use every cent of it. Ideally I would try to go to school WHILE you are active duty. You earned it and it will teach you the language of business.
Think about it like this, have you ever been in Mexico and negotiated to buy a souvenir in your broken Spanish? Have you ever thought, man I am getting the gringo price? As a Latina - I'll tell you, you are. Why? Because they know you don't understand it's true worth, you don't know how to play the game. You don't speak their language. It's the same with business. You don't know (yet) about variable comp plans, vested equity, negotiating vacation, % matching on 401ks, VP vs SVP vs Director vs MD, guarantees etc. That's ok. Go to school and you'll speak the language, which means you will get a better deal. Always.
RULE NUMBER 2:
Start Looking Early - The military is unlike corporations, in the military almost everyone eventually is assumed to 'get out.' Thus, it's ok to start looking for new options early, in fact, it's crucial. The literal worst thing you can do is get out of the military without options. You lose the high ground. When you are still in, you don't have to worry about a paycheck so you can be patient, waiting for the exact right moment to pull the trigger as opposed to making a panicked emotional decision.
RULE NUMBER 3:
Play the Field - When you start looking, you may be tempted to say yes to the first thing that comes along. Defense contractor reaches out, give you a good enough opportunity, it's easy. Why not take it? Here's the problem, you have no idea what else is out there. This is your best shot to make a great transition, maybe a pivot, maybe a complete career change don't pigeon hole yourself.
(Sidenote: Defense contractors make an obscene amount of money, I would negotiate your salary LIKE CRAZY with them).
Play the slow game.
Any company that truly wants you now is going to want you later.
So make yourself go through the thought process of what would you do if you could do anything? Sit, drink a beer on your porch, ruminate on that. Write down all the things that interest you. Then go to your LinkedIn and search people in those spaces, reach out. Then go to your friends who have gotten out ask them if they know anyone in that industry.
RULE NUMBER 4:

Leverage Your Crew: I've realized the military is similar to a fraternity or a college sports team, you guys stick together. That means when you are considering leaving reach out to former military people first. They LOVE telling you the inside secrets just about as much as they love hiring fellow veterans.
Make it a game, and scroll through your LinkedIn noting all your former contacts and what they are doing today. Reach out to at least 10 of them to grab a coffee or a VTC. Then do one more thing, go to that dream job list of yours and reach out to two to three of those humans who have jobs you could only dream about. Ping them. See what happens. Then email me c@codiesanchez.com to tell me what happened. #yourewelcome
RULE NUMBER 5:
First Offer Is Never Final Offer - You followed the rules, you got THE JOB you want. Now you have the offer. Remember - Any job offer negotiation is kind of like how you text your friends to come out one night and they say;
"No I can't."
"No I better not."
"No I probably shouldn't."
And finally.. "ok where am I meeting you?"
Same with a job offer, it's the start of a conversation. It's not a final mandate. Never accept an employers first offer. Always negotiate. There is ALWAYS wiggle room. And the worst thing that can happen is they say no that's a final offer. Think of it this way, picture them chuckling at you because you didn't negotiate instead of assuming they'll think it's disrespectful you did negotiate. (Here's how I negotiate: --> click here).
EXTRA BONUS POINTS: These tools are here for you. Why not use?
Sometimes it's best to keep it stupid simple.. aka LinkedIn.
TOOL 1:LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com>
LinkedIn is the Facebook of business professionals around the world. If you don’t have an up to date profile (or a profile at all), your first step should be making your LinkedIn page shine like your Formal Dress shoes. And remember, only about 3% of the population has served in the military, so most recruiters and hiring managers won’t know what you’re talking about if you write using military jargon like “promoted to E8” or “served as battery commander.” You’ll need to translate your experience into business language, while at the same time talking up your experience as much as you can without being dishonest (when it comes to finding a job, you are your best advocate; this isn’t time to be modest).

“LinkedIn is the Facebook of business professionals around the world.”

Now that your profile is all spiffed up. Remember, there are two ways to learn, by spending years doing it or by listening to those who have spent years doing it.
Then you learn in half the time.
Use LinkedIn to expand your network.
TOOL 2. Veterati <http://www.veterati.com>

Veterati is a free mentoring platform for service members, veterans, and their spouses. What I love about this site is that it connects you directly with someone who is an expert in their field, and who cares enough to volunteer their time to help you find a job.
**"Learn by listening to those who have spent years doing."**
Once you fill out a short profile, Veterati will suggest several mentors who might be a good fit for you. You can read their bios, and then schedule a phone call based on their availability. After that, it’s up to whatever the two of you want to talk about, and how they can best help you find a job. Often that includes resume reviews, personal introductions to some of their industry connections, and mock interviews.
Take advantage of the resources that only you have access to as veterans.
TOOL 3: Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship <http://www.hiringourheroes.org/fellowships/>
The Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) Corporate Fellowship program is one of the best kept secrets of military transitioning. With programs at bases across the United States, HOH is a partnership between the military, industry-leading corporations, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that provides a competitive 12 week fellowship during your last months of service. Corporate partners vary each year, and include top companies like Boeing, Amazon Corporate, and Point B Consulting. Many companies report a 95% hire rate after the fellowship is complete, but the application process for HOH is competitive. Prepare.
You served, now is your time to reap.
Remember, don’t compromise. You have served your country well, built leadership and technical skills, and now, you’re on the path to an incredible civilian career. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you learn this new language of business. And in fact, you just may take it over.
Codie Sanchez
--> Stay in touch- Click here <https://codiesanchez.leadpages.co/codie-sanchez/>
Twitter <https://twitter.com/Codie_Sanchez> - Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/threadsrefined> - Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/codiesanchez/> - LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/codiesanchez>

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Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
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This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**Need More Capital? Get Funding For Your Startup** Aug 02, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

You have a seed inside...

Waiting for you to water it.

This is a reprint from my Forbes.com article here.
**Inside each of us is the seed of an idea just waiting for us to water it.**
You have such an idea in you — that business or startup that the world must experience. You’ve mocked out the plans, come up with the name, branding and website. Everyone loves it. But do you know how to fund it? It turns out seed watering isn’t cheap.

“Self-funding your business will force you to be more strategic.”

Have you seen the before-and-after Jeff Bezos meme? He’s not superhuman. He’s super “human.” We all are. We all start in a garage (Jobs), in a dark dimly lit office (Bezos), in our parents’ basement (Branson). The key is simply to start. So whether you’re trying to jumpstart your business or you need to boost the capital to take it to the next level, here are five ways we’ve seen hundreds of founders begin their ascent to the long mountaintop of entrepreneurship.

He's not superhuman.

He's super "human."

**Self-Fund Or Bootstrapping**
If you aren’t invested in you, who will be? Self-funding your business will force you to be more strategic. The main goal here is growth, which is typically cash flow, reach, users or client acquisition. Make sure that you’re generating a consistent stream of revenue or adding new clients before you start experimenting with other ways to grow. I’ve built most businesses by re-investing in them. Make a little money, hire a marketer, make a little more money, increase your Google AdWords spend, make a little more and bet on your business.

“The key is simply to start. So whether you’re trying to jumpstart your business or you need to boost the capital to take it to the next level.”

If you aren't invested in you...

Who will be?

**Incubators And Accelerator Programs**
If you choose to go with either an incubator and/or accelerator program, make sure that you have a viable product first.
Incubators will help you along in the early stages of your business … for a fee. You can look at an investment like this as a type of business school that provides a myriad of resources, such as office space, legal counseling — not to mention more money to help get your business off the ground. To get this money, investors need to believe your idea or product has enough juice for them to help nurture and grow. In my experience, the top tier incubators are absolutely worth it. The lower tier are absolutely not.
Once you’re up and running, you have to *keep* that momentum going. Some join an accelerator program once they’ve successfully launched their businesses. These programs typically last from three to six months. So if that’s the route you’ve decided to take, take advantage of the resources and funding to get the most out of your mentoring experience.
Related: How Selling Hot Dogs Let to Funding from Silicon Valley's Who's Who

“Investors need to believe your idea or product has enough juice for them to help nurture and grow. ”

Not all accelerators or incubators are created equal.

You’re not required to take an incubator program first, but getting into an accelerated program prematurely with an underdeveloped business will be a waste. It’s unlikely that investors will take a risk on a company with no clear direction.
Disclaimer: Question everything, including me. Not all accelerators or incubators are created equal. Do your homework first.

**Sell Your Product Using Pre-Orders**
Don’t have a viable product? No problem. Explain that by telling potential customers about your idea. Ask if they want to buy when you build it. Consumers like to help innovators. It’s as easy as creating a prototype, taking a few pictures and posting a link to buy on your networks. Mary Shenouda at Paleo Chef funded her entire startup PhatFudge with a pre-order plea posted on her social media accounts. That led to $50,000 in pre-orders and what is now a fast-growing business. Don’t make the rookie mistake I made. If you can’t get at least five people to buy before you build, then save yourself a world of pain.
Just how well your idea sells is a good indication of whether or not you’re on the right track. Setting your product up for pre-orders gives you a view into the future.

Related: Jim Rogers: Investing Legend & Original Nomad

**Grants And Small Business Loans**
You know, there is such a thing as free money. Or I suppose, almost-free money.
If you are a minority or have a special niche, there are grants that are targeted to you. You just need to find them. Research what kinds of small business loans are available. Look to the Small Business Administration and your local Chamber of Commerce to learn about what kinds of grants and business loans you qualify for. If you only need $10,000 or less, then you could apply for a microloan. That said, microloans could leave you with an unsustainable amount of debt that could bankrupt your business. I’m always super careful with loans.

**Strategic Angel Investors**
Up until now, your business has been growing like a hockey stick — up and to the right. You started off with enough capital to kick off your business, and sales are good. If you had some extra money to advertise, market or add a few hires, the game would absolutely change. Your saving grace may be in the land of angels. Angel investors are partners who are willing to invest their money into your business in exchange for owning a percentage of your company. It’s up to you to determine how much you’re willing to sell to the investor. And it’s ultimately up to that angel investor to decide if they want to take the financial risk. Just remember, the average equity received by angel investors is only 12.3% and an angel investor recipient raises on average $328,500, according to Fundivo. These won’t be big checks, typically.
Whichever path you choose to fund your startup, there are more ways than ever to scale. It’s going to take plenty of diligent research and follow-up on your end, but the end result may just be OPM (other peoples money). That has a nice little ring to it, doesn’t?
XOXO,
Codie
Let's chat on instagram @CodieSanchez

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Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
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This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**How To Successfully Take Your Job On The Road** May 11, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

Originally written by Codie Sanchez (that's me!) for Forbes: here.

“I didn’t find the job, I created it.”

When people find out what I do, often the first thing they say is, “How did you find a job that allows you to travel the world and do what you want?”
Then they say, “You’re so lucky.”
I answer, "Yes I am."
That said, my answer is always the same: “I didn’t find the job, I created it.”

*"I wanted to travel, see the world and make an impact."*

When I started my career in finance, I wasn’t incredible. I was quite good but I was not the top performer at my company. I could pitch investors, make sales and perform financial analysis but I was new to finance. But here’s the thing: I didn’t want to spend my life behind a desk. I loved my job, but I wanted to travel, see the world and make an impact.
I found the intersection of talent. I wasn’t No. 1 in the world at one thing but I was very good at several, including finance, sales and speaking Spanish. I realized that I didn’t have to be the 1% because I had something better: a unique combination of skills that no one else had. I call this my leverage point.

“I found where my average talents connected to make them unique.”

Instead of quitting my job, I put together a business proposal for my boss at the time and said, “Look, I think there are investment opportunities in Latin America that we are missing out on. I want to take see if I can create business for our company down there.”
He was intrigued and gave me the go-ahead. When that first trip was successful, I asked for a month-long second trip. I extended that to two months, then six months. Finally, I proposed that we create a new position for me that would allow me to travel Latin America as much as I wanted, creating business and investment opportunities for my company and only paying me if they worked.
You may be thinking, “Hey that’s great for you, but my job isn’t remote.” Neither was mine until I proved that I could add value. Here’s how you can take your career on the road without taking a pay cut. Sound good?
Related: Travel for a Living

*"Find your leverage point..."*

Make a list of two or three talents to combine and use them as your leverage point.

**Find Your Leverage Point**
Make a list of what you are good at. What two or three talents can you combine to use as your leverage point? Remember, you don’t have to be the world’s expert or even the most exceptional person at your company. It might be the fact that you have both technical skills and human resources qualifications so you can travel to overseas manufacturing plants for quality assurance and safety procedures. Maybe you are a writer and a business analyst and you can travel to clients and potential clients and create clear reports that describe what is happening there to your home office. The possibilities are endless because your leverage point is not based on a single skill but on a combination of several.

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”

— Benjamin Spock

**Do The Research**
Once I found my leverage point, I began researching opportunities in Latin America. Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., meaning there are a lot of ties between U.S. and Latin American businesses. NAFTA and other free trade agreements, micromills and proximity to distribution mean that businesses are turning to Latin America instead of Asia for manufacturing. Plus, the growing startup scene in places like Chile, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil makes these countries a fertile playground. Go to Google, subscribe to the top newsletters on your area of interest, look at what your competitor firms are doing in the region and pretend like you are writing an article on the opportunity. Think like a journalist. Gather data.

LatAm: The fastest-growing demographic..."

"...a fertile playground for investors..."

Related: So you Wanna Travel...

“The hardest step to take is always the first one. The rest build momentum like a snowball downhill. ”

**Make The Pitch**
Once you have your leverage point and your data, make the pitch. Show them that you can bring more value to the company on the road. Ask for a trial run to prove yourself, a short trip with a specific purpose. And one last thing: Don’t ask for a higher salary. That will come after you have proved your value in this new role. Besides, you are about to start your dream job traveling the world. And you just got your company to pay for it. What more could you want?
**The hardest step to take is always the first one.**
The rest build momentum like a snowball downhill. Your goal here is to self-assess to find your leverage point, externally assess to find your supporting research and finally turn those two into a win-win case for you and your employer. Remember above all else, most people who have built incredible lives created them. They weren’t given them. That means all that stands between you and the life you want is yourself.
*XOXO,*
Codie

Heya, There!

Iron sharpens Iron…get yours cutting-edge sharp here.
Email Address Yes, show me the goodies!
No spam. We respect your privacy.
Thank you!
Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

Screen Shot 2018-05-11 at 12.56.46 PM.png — **How To Successfully Take Your Job On The Road** May 11, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

Originally written by Codie Sanchez (that's me!) for Forbes: here.

“I didn’t find the job, I created it.”

When people find out what I do, often the first thing they say is, “How did you find a job that allows you to travel the world and do what you want?”
Then they say, “You’re so lucky.”
I answer, "Yes I am."
That said, my answer is always the same: “I didn’t find the job, I created it.”

*"I wanted to travel, see the world and make an impact."*

When I started my career in finance, I wasn’t incredible. I was quite good but I was not the top performer at my company. I could pitch investors, make sales and perform financial analysis but I was new to finance. But here’s the thing: I didn’t want to spend my life behind a desk. I loved my job, but I wanted to travel, see the world and make an impact.
I found the intersection of talent. I wasn’t No. 1 in the world at one thing but I was very good at several, including finance, sales and speaking Spanish. I realized that I didn’t have to be the 1% because I had something better: a unique combination of skills that no one else had. I call this my leverage point.

“I found where my average talents connected to make them unique.”

Instead of quitting my job, I put together a business proposal for my boss at the time and said, “Look, I think there are investment opportunities in Latin America that we are missing out on. I want to take see if I can create business for our company down there.”
He was intrigued and gave me the go-ahead. When that first trip was successful, I asked for a month-long second trip. I extended that to two months, then six months. Finally, I proposed that we create a new position for me that would allow me to travel Latin America as much as I wanted, creating business and investment opportunities for my company and only paying me if they worked.
You may be thinking, “Hey that’s great for you, but my job isn’t remote.” Neither was mine until I proved that I could add value. Here’s how you can take your career on the road without taking a pay cut. Sound good?
Related: Travel for a Living

*"Find your leverage point..."*

Make a list of two or three talents to combine and use them as your leverage point.

**Find Your Leverage Point**
Make a list of what you are good at. What two or three talents can you combine to use as your leverage point? Remember, you don’t have to be the world’s expert or even the most exceptional person at your company. It might be the fact that you have both technical skills and human resources qualifications so you can travel to overseas manufacturing plants for quality assurance and safety procedures. Maybe you are a writer and a business analyst and you can travel to clients and potential clients and create clear reports that describe what is happening there to your home office. The possibilities are endless because your leverage point is not based on a single skill but on a combination of several.

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”

— Benjamin Spock

**Do The Research**
Once I found my leverage point, I began researching opportunities in Latin America. Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., meaning there are a lot of ties between U.S. and Latin American businesses. NAFTA and other free trade agreements, micromills and proximity to distribution mean that businesses are turning to Latin America instead of Asia for manufacturing. Plus, the growing startup scene in places like Chile, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil makes these countries a fertile playground. Go to Google, subscribe to the top newsletters on your area of interest, look at what your competitor firms are doing in the region and pretend like you are writing an article on the opportunity. Think like a journalist. Gather data.

LatAm: The fastest-growing demographic..."

"...a fertile playground for investors..."

Related: So you Wanna Travel...

“The hardest step to take is always the first one. The rest build momentum like a snowball downhill. ”

**Make The Pitch**
Once you have your leverage point and your data, make the pitch. Show them that you can bring more value to the company on the road. Ask for a trial run to prove yourself, a short trip with a specific purpose. And one last thing: Don’t ask for a higher salary. That will come after you have proved your value in this new role. Besides, you are about to start your dream job traveling the world. And you just got your company to pay for it. What more could you want?
**The hardest step to take is always the first one.**
The rest build momentum like a snowball downhill. Your goal here is to self-assess to find your leverage point, externally assess to find your supporting research and finally turn those two into a win-win case for you and your employer. Remember above all else, most people who have built incredible lives created them. They weren’t given them. That means all that stands between you and the life you want is yourself.
*XOXO,*
Codie

Heya, There!

Iron sharpens Iron…get yours cutting-edge sharp here.
Email Address Yes, show me the goodies!
No spam. We respect your privacy.
Thank you!
Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**For True Innovation, Change the Way You Travel** Mar 06, 2018
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

Not Your Dad's Meeting.

This is Corporate Retreats 2.0.

THIS IS A REPRINT FROM MY ARTICLE IN INC -- here.
Remember when business retreats used to mean holing up in a Marriott or going on a corporate outing? I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Those days are over. Millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, and they aren't satisfied with the status quo of older generations. With fast and affordable travel and a globalized economy, today's workforce is interested in experiences and adventures, not cocktails in the hotel lobby.
If I don't have your attention yet, these facts should help. Unemployment is at 4.1 percent, the lowest it has been in 17 years. Sixty-eight percent of all human resources heads say that talent shortage for full-time positions is one of the biggest challenges they are facing. What does this mean? It means that if you want to attract and keep talent, you need to differentiate yourself. Changing the way your company travels might be just what you need.

“Millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, and they aren’t satisfied with the status quo of older generations. ”

Creating New Experiences
A friend of mine told me a story that illustrates this perfectly. On a recent trip to Mexico City, his six-person consulting team shared an Airbnb rental in a trendy part of the city instead of paying for hotel rooms. In the evening, they hung out in the shared space of the high-rise apartment and sampled street food from the markets. Some members of his team extended their stay for the weekend and explored other parts of the country on their own. This unique bonding experience led them to an innovative breakthrough with their client and a pivot in the direction he took his business.

“This unique bonding experience led them to an innovative breakthrough with their client and a pivot in the direction he took his business.”

Have passport will travel.

They aren't the only ones. My teams have been known to fly to Mexico, where they take boxing lessons in the evenings and tour our clients' construction sites during the daytime. We even made a trip over to Valle de Bravo for a sailing competition. We may have lost that competition to the point of near embarrassment, but we got to know our clients personally and our team made the kind of memories that families share.
Related How to Travel & Make Money
Making Your Company Look Good
What do these trends mean for you and your company? It's time to think outside the box. When you begin planning your next business retreat, mid-year meeting or stakeholder conference, go for something different. For less than you would spend to take your team to a resort in Palm Springs, California, you can share in an international experience while improving employee retention.

Currency arbitrage

Desitinations half the price, double the bonding.

In other words, this is an easy way to make your company more attractive and earn bragging rights in your industry. After all, who doesn't want to be known as the company that takes vacations abroad? According to The Boston Consulting Group, companies that don't reach out to millennials today, risk missing the boat as they become the core producers and consumers in our society.
Related: My Restaurant Guide to Do Business in Mexico City

Planning a Company Trip
Planning a company getaway to another country might be intimidating for the decision makers at your firm. That's why I recommend using one of the many travel-planning services that have popped up recently. Remember to price check and make sure the company you choose offers the type of experience you are looking for.

" Hosting your company retreat is about innovating your company's culture."

“ When you get back to the office after a well-planned trip, expect to see better communication, increased efficiency and lower employee turnover.”

— Codie Sanchez

One of my favorites tools for planning is Mezi. Think of it as a free, personal-travel virtual assistant. They take trips from a twinkle in my perpetually wanderlust-inclined eye to reality by booking everything from outings, restaurants, hotels and flights -- and ensure my team gets the best deals. And a couple services that I've researched and would like to try myself include Digital Outposts, which specializes in "workcations" from two weeks to two months long, and Surf Office -- a beachfront workspace that can accommodate up to 80 people.

"I prefer Latin America..."

Then again, I'm a wee bit biased.

As for where to go, I prefer Latin America. You can find everything you need for a successful corporate outing at a great price. If you're looking for an authentic cultural experience, you can't beat it for its exotic food, fantastic music and friendly locals.

“In my experience, people who travel and seek out new adventures are more innovative. And, often, when innovation grows among your employees, so does your bottom line. ”

In the end, hosting your company retreat is about innovating your company's culture. When you get back to the office after a well-planned trip, expect to see better communication, increased efficiency and lower employee turnover.
Still not convinced? I'll leave you with this. In my experience, people who travel and seek out new adventures are more innovative. And, often, when innovation grows among your employees, so does your bottom line.
So it's not a question of, "Can I afford to take my team overseas?"
It's a question of, "Can I afford not to?"
xoxo,
Codie

Luck Favors the Bold

Go big...

Don't Just Go Without, Wait!
Email Address More Goodies Here!
No spam policy. We respect your privacy.
Thank you!
Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**How To Actually Get The Introductions You're Asking For** Dec 27, 2017
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

EXCERPT FROM FORBES ARTICLE I wrote:
It’s not what you know; it’s who you know. It’s a platitude, but it's true. Our world is about who can we connect with to sell, influence or build with. Thus, when your moment comes, when you finally have the email address of (insert celebrity, influencer, business leader), you grin like a Cheshire cat. Now is your chance to secure your dream job, opportunity, interview and riches. One small step away from them, one giant leap for everyday humans everywhere.
**"All influencers and leaders share one thing: a keen understanding of the extreme difficulty in building relationships, businesses, assets and success."**
There's just one big problem. Successful people are inundated with one-sided asks. I get on average 25-30 asks a week. And let’s be clear, I’m nobody special. I asked my friend, a leading VC fund manager, how many she gets. It’s innumerable. I asked a friend who runs a Fortune 500 company. He gets hundreds.

**"Successful people are inundated with one-sided asks.**

How do we stand out from their crowded inbox?
Let me give you the inside scoop.
All influencers and leaders share one thing: a keen understanding of the extreme difficulty in building relationships, businesses, assets and success. Business building isn't for the faint of heart. Beneath the surface, we’ve all failed 100 times to succeed that one precious time.
Funny enough, something happens when you start having any sort of success. You go through the grind, you come out on the other side a bit scarred, but it doesn’t show, and like birds to bread, people come along and they want in. They want in without having to go through the obstacle course.
**You get asked questions like (these are all real):**
“Can you introduce me to your top clients/your sponsors/that famous person you just posted with?”
“I need a job. Can you hire me? You seem to do well.”
“Will you invest in my startup even though we have no product yet?”
“I just want to pick your brain over coffee. Do you have a few minutes?
“Will you be my mentor?”

**Every time you are engaging with someone influential, your first question should be: "What is in it for them?"**

Related: Make them Love You At First Handshake
I still can’t figure out what exactly it means to mentor someone.
Does that mean hand holding?
Weekly meetings? Dinner dates? I have no idea.
On one hand, I absolutely admire the guts it takes to throw out your wants. However, if you actually want to be given these items, you must understand what is involved in giving. And if you’re like me and you get these questions, you can now send them this article with a sweet note saying, “I want to help you get better at requests and getting what you want. Read below and get back to me.”
**How To Get What You Want Without Being Labeled A Taker**
Every time you are engaging with someone influential, your first question should be:
"What is in it for them?"
Instead of asking how can they help you, think how you can help them.
If you take one thing away from this article, let that be it.
Bad Example:
"Hello Codie, my name is ______, from Mexico. I am currently studying B.A. and Finance. I am really interested in getting the chance to work in N.Y. in trading or capital markets. Could you give me advice as I am a foreigner to achieve this goal? Thank you."
I don’t know this person. There is no context. In addition, I don’t live in New York and don’t work in trading or capital markets. Make sure you do your research on your target.
**Related: #1 Reason You Aren't Getting What You Want**

**"I have a rule of thumb. I don’t ask for something until I’ve given 10 times the value of my ask to someone."**

Good Example:
XXX,
I noticed that you had a new product launch on your website and hadn’t yet (insert whatever you can give according to your unique talents). So I created an explanation video for you. (you can do this on Fiverr for pennies). Also I edited this error on the website and included this article on your competition I thought would be relevant. I don't like to ask for something without giving in return.
I am a student in Mexico and really interested in your industry. You’ve built an incredible foothold in finance, I was wondering if you had one initial step, resource, book or contact you think would make sense for me to start with.
*Many thanks,*
*XXX*
**Follow the 10x Rule**
I have a rule of thumb.
I don’t ask for something until I’ve given 10 times the value of my ask to someone.
Every time I have broken this rule, I have been told "no" and generally embarrassed myself.
For the next 10 days, try giving something professionally daily without asking for anything.
**Don’t Ask What You Can Do To Help**
What can I do to help you? I have no idea. I don’t know you.
What are you good at? What do you have to offer? Are you trustworthy? Remember, it is definitely not the job of the person you are engaging with to tell you how you can help them.
This is your mission, should you choose to accept it.
Your mission is to use your intellect to truly help another. Your mission is to find solutions. Your mission is to be one of the few who does, not the many who speak. If you can do that; if you can provide real value as opposed to desire masked as value, the doors will open. I promise.
And no, I’m not your mentor.
You are.
XOXO,
Codie
Related: A Seat At The Table Beats A Sign Outside the Building

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Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**Your Mic Drop Moment: How To Give A Talk To Remember** Dec 14, 2017
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

Your Mic Drop Moment: How to Give a Talk to Remember
EXCERPT FROM FORBES ARTICLE I wrote: On April 21, 2016, while running along Lake Michigan after having one of those days, in between the sweat and a tear or two, I decided that I had a voice and I wanted to use it. I wanted to stand on stage and move people with my words.
**"I decided I wanted to speak publicly, often and powerfully. This was a new feeling for me. They say public speaking is a bigger fear than death for most people"**
I've always spoken inside of my companies, but have never spoken for a living. I'm a former journalist and always had the entrepreneurial bent that led to stages. On this day, I decided I wanted to speak publicly, often and powerfully. This was a new feeling for me. They say public speaking is a bigger fear than death for most people, and I was most people.
Earlier, an industry colleague had told me it was better than some people listen and not speak. Everyone in the room knew he meant me. I was too shocked to reply as snickers resounded. While I allowed myself to wallow in it for a moment my initial feelings of hurt turned to purpose. I decided to respond with, "All right, buddy. Just you watch me."

I've been studying the language of public persuasion. For the last 515 days, I've been gathering intel on how the best of the best ensnare people with their words. I've given 83 speeches on a variety of subjects across the states and the Americas. I've made more mistakes in videos, live interviews, podcasts, radio shows, red carpets (that was an awkward one) and television shows than I’d like to admit. And I have practiced.
I've learned some beautiful things. My goal for you is that when someone dismisses you next; saying you can't, you aren't, you shouldn't, you say, "Go ahead. Just watch me." Here are my five key learnings: Your Mic Drop Moment: How To Give A Talk To Remember
**"I was spending too much time perfectly writing out what to say and then alternatively not enough time practicing. This is a killer."**
Related: How to Not Waste A Ton of Time At Work
**Don't Spend Time On 'Perfect'**
The No. 1 mistake I made initially was obsessing over my PowerPoint and script. I was spending too much time perfectly writing out what to say and then alternatively not enough time practicing. This is a killer. My process now is to outline the presentation, know the seed I want to plant in the audience's minds, write out the entire speech, then create a PowerPoint with pictures to trigger my memory, all as rapid-fire as possible.

I record myself giving the full presentation three-to-five times before I go live without notes. If I can't do it without messing up, I go back to practicing. Just because it's written does not mean it's deliverable. It is much better to have a scantily prepared PowerPoint than to have a scantily prepared speech.
**"Keep your focus and don't allow niceties to distract you from your goal. You're there to perform; not for small talk."**
**Give Yourself Space Prior**
Almost every expert in every industry takes time in solitude prior to performing. There is a calming factor in rituals. Think about baseball players and how they step up to the plate, hit their feet with the bat and then zone in. Rafael Nadal's tennis pre-ritual is worth a chuckle and a watch.
The moral of the story is, don't feel bad for saying, "I like to have a few minutes of solitude prior to speaking." Keep your focus and don't allow niceties to distract you from your goal. **You're there to perform; not for small talk**.
Related: Dominate Powerpoint: Tom Jamieson Founder Slidebot
**Layer Stories On Like Perfume**
I don't memorize an entire speech -- ever. I layer my stories together. These are stories I have lived, read or used so many times that I could tell them in my sleep. This allows me to not only show my humanity and vulnerability, but tell a story in a way that feels like I’m talking to you in your living room, in our pajamas. I keep an Evernote of all of these snapshots of time, where just the title is a trigger for me to remember. For example, I know from these few words below where I want to go in my presentation. Can you come up with a similar list you can turn to again and again?
• Carmelita and her toothless smile (when I found my "why")
• The moment they told me "no" (when I was convinced to follow my "why")
• Doing the hard thing anyway (when I made my biggest, most painful life pivot)
**"These days, we live in a world of 140 characters or fewer. Give the people what they want. "**
**Nail The Tweetable Moments**
These days, we live in a world of 140 characters or fewer. Give the people what they want. What are those delicious little tidbits that your audience will hang on? Where can you insert soundbites that if they are delivered properly, absolutely send home your message? Then focus on landing those bad boys. I find that I weave the following one-liners in consistently. I believe them and I believe that the average person must hear something seven times before they remember it.
• "The few who do, not the many who speak."
• "If you do what the average person does, you will be as the average person is...average."
• **"Surround yourself** with those who feed your wild soul."
**"The goal is akin to a movie or an Instagram scroll; you grab people’s attention through a sea of sameness."**
**Create Bold PowerPoints**
I like PowerPoints for their visual effect and use as a trigger for my memory. However, my PowerPoints have a word or two, maybe a photo or at most one graph on them. The goal is akin to a movie or an Instagram scroll; you grab people’s attention through a sea of sameness. I rotate back and forth between using more malleable versions of the PechaKucha Method (essentially showing 20 slides each for 20 seconds) or the Lessig Method(showing simplistic slides with one word or image on them). It’s common sense but not common practice. Please don’t read off your slides, my friends.
**Now go, use your voice and ensnare others with your words.**
**You deserve to be heard.**
**Here's more on the How -->** **Click here.**
**Un abrazo,**
**Codie**

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Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
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This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**Jim Rogers: Investing Legend & Original Nomad** Sep 27, 2017
Note: My articles often contain links to companies I invest/have stake in, or am an affiliate for, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you. I never promote anything I haven't used, or invested in, but since my tagline is to question everything, good to start here! Please see my *disclosure page* *for more.*

A conversation with the Legendary Indiana Jones of Finance.
Best selling author, hedge fund investor, globe trotter (and a bit of my personal hero), Jim Rogers.
I believe it was Thoreau that said, “I could no more name all the books I have read and yet, all the same, they made me.” Truer words for me have never been spoken. But occasionally there comes across my hands a book that I can name and its impact reverberates through my life for years to come. One such book was by the legendary investor Jim Rogers called, “The Adventure Capitalist.” I touched its pages more than a decade ago and it shaped my life in many ways. Jim is a bit akin to the Indiana Jones of finance, he's an explorer, a pioneer and he is not afraid to go against the norm. Basically, he’s anything but your typical investor.

“If the world economy gets better, commodities are a very good place to be in... even if the world economy does not improve, commodities are still a fabulous place to be.”

— Jim Rogers, "The Adventure Capitalist"

You see Jim has a story, Jim was at the peak of his investing career in the 1970's. He was the co-founder of the industry leading Quantum Hedge Fund with one of the other most famous investors of our time, George Soros. They just had a record year of 127% return on their portfolio and 4200% return over 10 years. Not bad, eh? Then Jim did something that so few do. **He left the lucrative high life of Wall Street behind, by choice.** He set out to travel the world investing for himself personally in emerging market real estate, third world stock markets, and currencies, all from not a cushy seat in New York, but atop a yellow convertible. Jim decided to continue his emerging market investing spree and circumvented the globe astride a gleaming yellow convertible Mercedes, bedecked with tires able to traverse an African back road just as well as a Californian coastal freeway. This journey led to one of my favorite books of all time, “The Adventure Capitalist.” As if that wasn't enough he wanted to get even closer to the Earth so better to invest in it's trends, aka he traveled around the world astride a motorcycle. That was his book, “Investment Biker.”

Order here!

Order here!

Order here!

“Those who cannot adjust to change will be swept aside by it. Those who recognize change and react accordingly will benefit.”

— Jim Rogers, A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons for Life and Investing

So you can see why I have to admit when I reached out to Jim to have him on this podcast I thought, “Well, this is a bit of a stretch, to say the least.” Then from the skyscrapers of China, where he currently resides, he responded yes. **We spent an hour diving into some of the questions I’ve held close to my vest for a decade.** Like how to develop contrarian ideas when the entire world disagrees, how did he get the guts to leave it all behind on Wall Street, what advice would he give to his daughters today, where is the opportunity of the future and what is a belief he holds dear that most of the world would completely disagree with him on.

I challenge you if your desire is to travel the world lucratively, invest yourself, or simply understand the inside of one of the most brilliant minds in finance, listen to what Jim has to say.
Maybe he'll change your life, just as he did mine.
Un abrazo,

Codie

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Codie Sanchez
Cannacurious? Here's our contrarians' guide to investing and getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:
IG: @codiesanchez
EEC: www.entourageeffectcapital.com
CS: www.codiesanchez.com
This article is presented for informational purposes only, is an opinion, and is not intended to recommend any investment, and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any current or future investment vehicle managed or sponsored by Entourage Effect Capital, LLC or its affiliates. Any such solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest will be made by a definitive private placement memorandum or other offering document.

**My Most Personal Podcast Yet: Neeta Bhushan** Sep 12, 2017

Almost a year ago I walked into a crowded cramped little cabin of a cruise ship for Summit at Sea, (think a young entrepreneurial invite only version of Davos and Burning Man all in one), and I stumbled upon a shining light of energy inside a tiny little body. That light was Neeta Bhushan.
Neeta is a best-selling author of Emotional Grit, a PhD in psychology and medicine, an international speaker renowned across Asia and India, has spoken at the likes of Google and Facebook, and is one of the key members of A-Fest (a grouping of global change makers with her life partner Ajit). She specializes in helping leaders develop emotional intelligence or as she calls it, “Emotional Grit,” as well as is in the midst of a new world speaking and event tour called Boundless.

On this podcast, Neeta and I get personal with it. You see she, like so many of us, had to go through a real trial to achieve greatness. She talks about her first marriage to an abusive spouse, to living in her car, to leaving it all behind to start afresh, to pushing past cultural norms as a self-identified “brown girl.”
We talk about how she creates a powerful relationship and success for each of them, how she travels the world while running a major business and non-profit, and the life lessons she wishes she had learned earlier. Neeta was a key trigger and drive in my life at a time that I truly needed it, I hope that you allow her to trigger you too.

“Neeta was a key trigger and drive in my life at a time that I truly needed it, I hope that you allow her to trigger you too.”

While it's hard to pick a favorite.. I did. Here is my small, succinct but if you sit on it, absolute favorite quote from Neeta:

“Is what you’re doing really worth it?”

**Take a moment, put in your headphones, sit back, relax, and get ready for a ride.**
Love you animals,
**Codie**

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**How Selling Hot Dogs Led to Funding from Silicon Valley Who's Who** Aug 08, 2017

**Sam Parr, CEO of** **The Hustle** **Tells His Wild Story...**
**"And how butterfingers are the key to happiness…"**

Real talk. I haven’t laughed this hard or wanted to steal so many one liners on the podcast before. I really shouldn’t be surprised because my guest is SamParr, CEO & Founder of TheHustle.co. Sam is just about as quirky, funny, and strangely poignant as his site and newsletter.
I mean what can you expect from a dude who went from owning a hot dog company in Nashville, with commentary such as, “if you can sell meat on the street to strangers something good is going on,” to running a site with over 200k subscribers and millions of people frequenting his website.
It all started for him with HustleCon. A conference he created after he had sold one of his startups in Silicon Valley and was looking to surround himself with the smartest of the smart by hosting an event chock full of them. Maybe stimulating his next idea or two. He figured he’d lose some money, but gain a killer network. Turns out he got both. He made $60k on HustleCon, and a few years down the road they make a heck of a lot more than that and have thousands of attendees listening to hundreds of striving weirdos (my favorite types of humans).

We get into how Sam has systematically cultivated a Zero F’s attitude, the one piece of advice he gives to all salespeople, the thing he thinks we will look back on in 20 years and be amazed by, as well as what he tells himself when he is told, "No, you can't."
Spoiler: "Is it impossible according to the laws of physics? Hmm.. then watch me."
--> You can sign up for the newsletter here... and you're welcome in advance.
Love you Animals,
**CODIE**

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**Learn A Language in 3 Months. Seriously.** Aug 07, 2017

Portuguese in 3 Months: Yup.
Goal: I want my nickname to be Codie the Carioca
They call people from Rio Carioca's. #funfact
So the real goal is: Portuguese Fluent (B2 level proficiency) in three months. If you think I'm crazy, you might be right. But I also am impatient and have used this same strategy with Spanish and shared it with dozens of others who have used it to gain fluency without the pain of highschool Spanish re-runs.
Timeline: 13 weeks - To small bathing suits & coconuts

Before I engage in any activity I also start with the why behind it. Let's face it big goals are hard to accomplish. It's easy to push them off and even easier to start and quit. If you don't remember why it is so important to you to learn you never well.
**And then you'll wake up one day and life will have passed you by. And so will Rio.**
So my why is:
**Why:** I want to push my mind to grow in all ways, I want to open the world of opportunities, cultural experiences, insights into local countries, get over my fear of speaking poorly, increase my brain function and retention.
**Ultimately I want to be trilingual because that sounds PDR: Pretty Damn Rad.**
FUN FACT FOR YOU: Every single step I have in this guide, works for every language. It's how I learned Spanish and now run an international business in Latin America in 3 months. And I have the memory of a Goldfish. If I can do it, you can too.

“It’s how I learned Spanish and now run an international business in Latin America in 3 months. And I have the memory of a Goldfish. If I can do it, you can too. ”

**Daily Actions, Tasks and Resources**
✓Learn most frequent words first (around 200-500) - use Anki (app) for most frequent words flashcards.
✓Cognates search and memorize - To find common words with the language you are learning, simply search for “[language name] cognates” or “[language name] English words."
✓Listen and read Portuguese - TuneIn.com, Alexa’s ranking of top sites per country, watch and listen to Brazilian news and podcasts.
✓Learn general phrases - http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/portuguese_br.php
✓Use italki.com and speak with another 1 hour a day.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

— Nelson Mandela

THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT:
✓Have a list of topics you would like to discuss and bring them up. For example: your hobbies, hopes for the future, dislikes, what you will do on your vacation, how to pick up chicks, no judgement.
**IF you don't pick your topics...**
They are going to make you talk about groceries and dogs and cats and things that honestly I glaze over even pondering in English. Keep it relevant, fun and keep yourself awake for the love of all the is holy.
The more fun you can make this exercise, the better. I go to a cafe that's beautiful while I learn. I treat myself to an amazing coffee and dessert. I dress up for it and meander around afterward.
**It's the best part of my day. That is the secret.**
**My Favorite Topics:**
☑︎Explain to me your country, your city, your town, your culture, what is it like?
☑︎What do you do for a living, what do you wish you did, what do you do for love/passion
☑︎What is your favorite part of Portuguese culture
☑︎Where are you from or where are you staying? So we can ahem, netflix and chill?

Você gosta de surfar?

Do you like to surf?

**Free services to use:**
**Because why pay for things when they give them away for free?**
►The Foreign Service Institutes’ varied list of courses.
►The Omniglot Intro to languages
►BBC languages’ intro to almost 40 different languages.
►About’s language specific posts that explain particular aspects of languages well:
► Most common words in Portuguese.
These apps and website are game changers. I literally can't imagine why anyone goes to a traditional college for language anymore. Waste of money.

“I literally can’t imagine why anyone goes to a traditional college for language anymore. Waste of money. ”

1 - readlang.com - this website lets you read papers, articles and stories in different languages. The best part is if you don't know a word or phrase you can click on it and it will give you the translation. You can then put that phrase into a notecard to be reviewed later.
2 - memrise.com - a site that I think is better than duolingo, gives you similar exercises but they are not all rudimentary like duolingo.
3 - fluentu.com - takes real world music videos, commericals, etc and turns them into learning exercises, lets you learn REAL WORLD language skills, not old outdated phrases.
4 - Youtube channel This is for Portuguese as well.

**Progress Goals:**
**Peter Drucker says what gets measured gets managed. I believe him. So I write out my goals and then I track them on my Way of Life App.**
💡 I will speak the language daily
💡 I will read study and watch Portuguese daily
💡 I will write Portuguese daily
**Game Plan: (2 hours daily): That was my plan, the reality is that one hour is more reasonable for me.**
🏆 One hour Italki call 5x a week
🏆 Duolingo Daily for 3 lessons.
🏆 Rotate in one additional activity daily -aka flashcards, general phrases, listen or watch movie in it (dealers choice)
🏆 Track in wayoflifeapp
**Varying Actions I Can Take:**
One hour italki call daily
Do Duolingo daily
Use Anki for most common words
Listen to Brazilian news, podcasts, movies etc
Learn and use most general phrases link
Use BBC, foreign service or about posts to learn
Explore the culture through activities
Commit two hours a day to Portuguese
Read the books given to me in Portuguese
Use Learn Portuguese for Spanish speakers book
Write daily Portuguese journal
**How to Measure Success:**
☞ Carry on a conversation with a stranger related to introduction, who am I, how is my day going, where am I from, what do I do, how do I like Brazil, and ask them the same questions. Not rocket science but if I can do that I feel comfortable in a language.
☞ Take the TOEFL exam and hit an intermediate proficiency level. This one is for you animals like me, you status quo breakers. This ain't an easy test. Good for you if you go after it.
**Reward:**
Sticks and carrots are very powerful tools. If I'm going to work hard at something I like to treat myself afterwards so I plan on doing just that!
🇧🇷If I follow the game plan and hit goals by my end date and I will go to carnival and dance samba on a float.🇧🇷

**NO BIG DEAL... this WILL BE ME.**

I'm amazed at what we all can accomplish when we set a goal, quantify it, use the resources available to us and stick it out on average for 30, 60 to 90 days.
Obrigada,
Codie

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**How to Travel & Make Money?** May 31, 2017

Office chair redefined... p.s. all these clothes are thanks to PrAna. Get you some.

Getting Lost to Get Found

**I have a belief that if you follow your adventure while traveling, you’ll find yourself and perhaps, make money while you do it.** You see, I’m an Adventure Capitalist at heart. What is that? It’s that roaming soul who follows their adventure to create an opportunity for themselves and others. It’s the explorer who looks at the world around them and is brimming with questions. It’s the human that when they see opportunity, they seize it. I first discovered it with Jim Rogers book of the same name.
Us adventure capitalists, we’re the wanderers, the curious, the Magellan’s who don’t travel to escape but to create. But the truth is you have to be able to pay your bills while you do it.
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“If you follow your adventure, you’ll find yourself and perhaps, discover a new person entirely.”

**My story started** **years ago as a journalist** **along the US/Mexico border (you can view my video** **here) where I got lost to ultimately get found.** It continued through finance and corporate America, but it accelerated the moment that I stopped playing by the rules. It took off the moment I focused on becoming a healthier, happier, well-traveled, more interesting human and applying those lessons to business and lifestyle design. That decision to be my crazy self despite the rules led me to understand finance, international business and how to make the globe my office. It led me to the belief that how I consume, create, and cultivate teams and relationships are the most important things I can ever focus upon.
You see I used to have many days spent watching the clock, getting a case of the Monday dreads on Sunday afternoon, counting the days to Friday and otherwise having steady anxiety about my job. Because I used to think that in order to be truly successful you had better bide your time, climb along with everyone else, and maybe even had to wear matching business suits. The horror.
Then one day I picked up The Four Hour Work Week, like so many other young millennials. I read it cover to cover, then I read The Hard Thing About Hard Things, then I read Man’s Search for Himself. And what happened after blending this idea of working to produce, not to log time, with how to build a company, with why it all matters, and finally with how to find yourself, led me to follow my adventure. I left my gig at Goldman Sachs at the time and started traveling for a living in the world of international investments across the Americas. I found this niche that fit me. Emerging economies that necessitated speaking Spanish, where my unique experiences created an edge, and where opportunity abounds because it is just a bit more chaotic than the U.S.

“We consume and create consciously, focusing on that intersection of passion, profit and purpose. ”

Have Passport

**WILL TRAVEL... ALWAYS**

So I started traveling south, almost weekly. I explored countries like Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, and Paraguay to name a few. I was hooked. I realized how you can feasibly make the world your office, can adventure consciously, make money while traveling and then consume so much more thoughtfully.
**So if you are with me, if a bit of wanderlust flows through your veins, the question becomes how do you create a life yourself that follows your adventure?**
**HERE ARE MY STEPS TO TRAVELING FOR A LIVING**

“Us adventure capitalists, we’re the wanderers, the curious, the Magellan’s who don’t travel to escape, but to create. ”

**1) When I Found the Travel Secret:**
**Start with WHY it matters at all..**
The secret is that exploring is as crucial to our evolution beyond primates and past the unrealized 80%, as water is to a plant, or as tequila is to my personal sanity. It's a tactile education that opens your eyes, your ears, your soul to all the possibilities inherent in the world. If you can internalize the resounding belief that your adventures further your education, you are on the path.
**My suggestion:** Read the book Walden. Opens your eyes to the beauty of travel.
**2) Your Job Title Is Not Sit At Desk All Day Associate**
I want you to ask you a question; are you paid specifically to be present at your desk from 9-to-5? Is your job title, **“On Location for 8 Hours Associate”?** For most, I doubt it. Your job is related to what you do not how long it takes you to do it. If my team can do in 4 hours what the other teams do in 8, all the better. The rest of the time should be theirs to grow, engage and become better humans. The problem is we need to get your bosses, or if you own your own business yourself, to understand this, and set measurable goals to get the job done while not requiring your entire life be spent doing it. So can you realize that your biggest opponent is yourself? That you haven’t tried to ask the question of, HOW can I become a nomadic capitalist?
**My suggestion:** Go to your whiteboard. Or buy one if you don't have one. Write on there how could I travel more and earn money while doing it? Write up as many solutions as possible. See what happens when you start testing them. But be ready, once you take the red pill... you'll never go back.
Here’s a list to get you started:
Pick a company you like in the US that isn’t selling in Latin America, go set up distribution agreements there - aka Flywheel, SoulCycle, Whoop Armbands - whatever
Create an Etsy site where you buy goods in another country and sell them in US on the site
Ping the coolest boutique hotels in other countries and see if they need your skill set
Go to F500 company websites and search for foreign job postings
Create a podcast where you interview cool locations in other countries and promote to US and charge them for access to US market
**3) Learn the Solo Routine:**
**“What do you mean you are going to Patagonia by yourself?”** just about everyone questioned me. I would reiterate, “I am going by myself because I want to. I'm just heading down south and seeing where it takes me. No itinerary and probably the wrong shoes.”
To which at the end of this conversation most people say, “Be safe,” and promptly switch topics. Here's the thing I'm 30, not 22. Solo international travel is utterly questionable to most people, especially considering I have a relatively high-powered job, familial obligations and then throw on that I travel almost weekly regardless. However, the truth is, if you don't go now you just may never go.
**My suggestion:** Plan a solo getaway. Could be nothing more lavish than a road trip. Travel courage is a muscle, you just need to flex it.

“The man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.”

— Henry David Thoreau.

**4) When the Inevitable Moment Comes SEIZE IT:**
**Seizing every opportunity in my life is one of the key reasons I've been successful,** in a slightly less horrifyingly caricature of Jim Carey in the movie Yes Man, (where he says yes to everything). I do try to take on as many experiences as humanly possible. Carpe Diem may have become a cliché but it became one for a reason, we so very seldom do in fact seize the day. Instead, one day rolls into the next until we look back and exclaim where did the years go? In this way, we fantasize about the future and what we will do with it while putting off today what we will supposedly do tomorrow.
**My suggestion**: Start with waking up an hour before you normally do. Get work in early and learn to produce at level that is above those around you, freedom is given to those that produce.
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4) **Consume More Consciously**
Unless you're hiding a trust fund, travel may be something that seems to be for those lucky few without real responsibilities. If you are feeling like you don't have the time, the money, the opportunity, start adding by subtracting. So that means we buy less, better things. That next graphic tee you see, skip it. Invest in conscious pieces, reduce, reuse, recycle your wardrobe and your wallet.
**My suggestion:** Go to your closet. What in there can you sell online on ebay, etsy, craigslist? Repeat with every room in your house. Money is literally surrounding you. Start making room in your wallet and in your space to allow in the new.
**I move a lot. Each time I sell as much as I can to lighten my load. I just sold all my plants for an average of $60 a plant on craigslist.**
AND try a spending hiatus. I like to think of this like a juice cleanse. Before you buy anything you have to wait 24 hours to pull the trigger. It's amazing how many small dimes will accumulate.
**Travel Purposefully**
I travel every week. However, I cannot remember the last time I took a trip and didn't incorporate work into it. AND I love that. We aren't talking the kind of work you gouge eyes out over, we are talking playing for a living. Before I took my last two-week trip to Belize here is my list of how I maximized travel so I can do more of it (now you can too):
I reached out to every single hotel to ask for discounts. I got one at every hotel. Now more than ever.
I reached out to brands/hotels to see if they would sponsor parts of it in exchange for content.
I got up at 6am every day on vacation and worked the first two hours to fund it. Emails & coconuts baby.
Setup meetings with 3 people I found interesting and that I could potentially collaborate with in country. Email is so powerful.
I'm a points savage. I use them everywhere and accumulate thoughtfully.
**My suggestion:** Try some form of mixing my tactics above.
**Follow your adventure.. it’ll take you where you need to go.**
Love you animals,
Codie
THIS WEEK I GAVE YOU MY EXACT guide for CREATE A WEBSITE IN 24 HOURS.
#Yourewelcome ---> https://www.codiesanchez.com/blog/create-a-website-in-24-hours

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FullSizeRender (6).jpg — **How to Travel & Make Money?** May 31, 2017

Office chair redefined... p.s. all these clothes are thanks to PrAna. Get you some.

Getting Lost to Get Found

**I have a belief that if you follow your adventure while traveling, you’ll find yourself and perhaps, make money while you do it.** You see, I’m an Adventure Capitalist at heart. What is that? It’s that roaming soul who follows their adventure to create an opportunity for themselves and others. It’s the explorer who looks at the world around them and is brimming with questions. It’s the human that when they see opportunity, they seize it. I first discovered it with Jim Rogers book of the same name.
Us adventure capitalists, we’re the wanderers, the curious, the Magellan’s who don’t travel to escape but to create. But the truth is you have to be able to pay your bills while you do it.
View fullsize
View fullsize
View fullsize

“If you follow your adventure, you’ll find yourself and perhaps, discover a new person entirely.”

**My story started** **years ago as a journalist** **along the US/Mexico border (you can view my video** **here) where I got lost to ultimately get found.** It continued through finance and corporate America, but it accelerated the moment that I stopped playing by the rules. It took off the moment I focused on becoming a healthier, happier, well-traveled, more interesting human and applying those lessons to business and lifestyle design. That decision to be my crazy self despite the rules led me to understand finance, international business and how to make the globe my office. It led me to the belief that how I consume, create, and cultivate teams and relationships are the most important things I can ever focus upon.
You see I used to have many days spent watching the clock, getting a case of the Monday dreads on Sunday afternoon, counting the days to Friday and otherwise having steady anxiety about my job. Because I used to think that in order to be truly successful you had better bide your time, climb along with everyone else, and maybe even had to wear matching business suits. The horror.
Then one day I picked up The Four Hour Work Week, like so many other young millennials. I read it cover to cover, then I read The Hard Thing About Hard Things, then I read Man’s Search for Himself. And what happened after blending this idea of working to produce, not to log time, with how to build a company, with why it all matters, and finally with how to find yourself, led me to follow my adventure. I left my gig at Goldman Sachs at the time and started traveling for a living in the world of international investments across the Americas. I found this niche that fit me. Emerging economies that necessitated speaking Spanish, where my unique experiences created an edge, and where opportunity abounds because it is just a bit more chaotic than the U.S.

“We consume and create consciously, focusing on that intersection of passion, profit and purpose. ”

Have Passport

**WILL TRAVEL... ALWAYS**

So I started traveling south, almost weekly. I explored countries like Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, and Paraguay to name a few. I was hooked. I realized how you can feasibly make the world your office, can adventure consciously, make money while traveling and then consume so much more thoughtfully.
**So if you are with me, if a bit of wanderlust flows through your veins, the question becomes how do you create a life yourself that follows your adventure?**
**HERE ARE MY STEPS TO TRAVELING FOR A LIVING**

“Us adventure capitalists, we’re the wanderers, the curious, the Magellan’s who don’t travel to escape, but to create. ”

**1) When I Found the Travel Secret:**
**Start with WHY it matters at all..**
The secret is that exploring is as crucial to our evolution beyond primates and past the unrealized 80%, as water is to a plant, or as tequila is to my personal sanity. It's a tactile education that opens your eyes, your ears, your soul to all the possibilities inherent in the world. If you can internalize the resounding belief that your adventures further your education, you are on the path.
**My suggestion:** Read the book Walden. Opens your eyes to the beauty of travel.
**2) Your Job Title Is Not Sit At Desk All Day Associate**
I want you to ask you a question; are you paid specifically to be present at your desk from 9-to-5? Is your job title, **“On Location for 8 Hours Associate”?** For most, I doubt it. Your job is related to what you do not how long it takes you to do it. If my team can do in 4 hours what the other teams do in 8, all the better. The rest of the time should be theirs to grow, engage and become better humans. The problem is we need to get your bosses, or if you own your own business yourself, to understand this, and set measurable goals to get the job done while not requiring your entire life be spent doing it. So can you realize that your biggest opponent is yourself? That you haven’t tried to ask the question of, HOW can I become a nomadic capitalist?
**My suggestion:** Go to your whiteboard. Or buy one if you don't have one. Write on there how could I travel more and earn money while doing it? Write up as many solutions as possible. See what happens when you start testing them. But be ready, once you take the red pill... you'll never go back.
Here’s a list to get you started:
Pick a company you like in the US that isn’t selling in Latin America, go set up distribution agreements there - aka Flywheel, SoulCycle, Whoop Armbands - whatever
Create an Etsy site where you buy goods in another country and sell them in US on the site
Ping the coolest boutique hotels in other countries and see if they need your skill set
Go to F500 company websites and search for foreign job postings
Create a podcast where you interview cool locations in other countries and promote to US and charge them for access to US market
**3) Learn the Solo Routine:**
**“What do you mean you are going to Patagonia by yourself?”** just about everyone questioned me. I would reiterate, “I am going by myself because I want to. I'm just heading down south and seeing where it takes me. No itinerary and probably the wrong shoes.”
To which at the end of this conversation most people say, “Be safe,” and promptly switch topics. Here's the thing I'm 30, not 22. Solo international travel is utterly questionable to most people, especially considering I have a relatively high-powered job, familial obligations and then throw on that I travel almost weekly regardless. However, the truth is, if you don't go now you just may never go.
**My suggestion:** Plan a solo getaway. Could be nothing more lavish than a road trip. Travel courage is a muscle, you just need to flex it.

“The man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.”

— Henry David Thoreau.

**4) When the Inevitable Moment Comes SEIZE IT:**
**Seizing every opportunity in my life is one of the key reasons I've been successful,** in a slightly less horrifyingly caricature of Jim Carey in the movie Yes Man, (where he says yes to everything). I do try to take on as many experiences as humanly possible. Carpe Diem may have become a cliché but it became one for a reason, we so very seldom do in fact seize the day. Instead, one day rolls into the next until we look back and exclaim where did the years go? In this way, we fantasize about the future and what we will do with it while putting off today what we will supposedly do tomorrow.
**My suggestion**: Start with waking up an hour before you normally do. Get work in early and learn to produce at level that is above those around you, freedom is given to those that produce.
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4) **Consume More Consciously**
Unless you're hiding a trust fund, travel may be something that seems to be for those lucky few without real responsibilities. If you are feeling like you don't have the time, the money, the opportunity, start adding by subtracting. So that means we buy less, better things. That next graphic tee you see, skip it. Invest in conscious pieces, reduce, reuse, recycle your wardrobe and your wallet.
**My suggestion:** Go to your closet. What in there can you sell online on ebay, etsy, craigslist? Repeat with every room in your house. Money is literally surrounding you. Start making room in your wallet and in your space to allow in the new.
**I move a lot. Each time I sell as much as I can to lighten my load. I just sold all my plants for an average of $60 a plant on craigslist.**
AND try a spending hiatus. I like to think of this like a juice cleanse. Before you buy anything you have to wait 24 hours to pull the trigger. It's amazing how many small dimes will accumulate.
**Travel Purposefully**
I travel every week. However, I cannot remember the last time I took a trip and didn't incorporate work into it. AND I love that. We aren't talking the kind of work you gouge eyes out over, we are talking playing for a living. Before I took my last two-week trip to Belize here is my list of how I maximized travel so I can do more of it (now you can too):
I reached out to every single hotel to ask for discounts. I got one at every hotel. Now more than ever.
I reached out to brands/hotels to see if they would sponsor parts of it in exchange for content.
I got up at 6am every day on vacation and worked the first two hours to fund it. Emails & coconuts baby.
Setup meetings with 3 people I found interesting and that I could potentially collaborate with in country. Email is so powerful.
I'm a points savage. I use them everywhere and accumulate thoughtfully.
**My suggestion:** Try some form of mixing my tactics above.
**Follow your adventure.. it’ll take you where you need to go.**
Love you animals,
Codie
THIS WEEK I GAVE YOU MY EXACT guide for CREATE A WEBSITE IN 24 HOURS.
#Yourewelcome ---> https://www.codiesanchez.com/blog/create-a-website-in-24-hours

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**Nathan Chan: The 20 Something w/ Millions of Followers & One Ridiculous Rolodex** May 25, 2017

CEO Of Foundr Magazine on How He Built One Crazy Business
**Just a short few years ago Nathan Chan (@foundr) was a young 20 something fixing computers in the IT department in corporate cubicle land.** Then something happened that made him say never again. A moment, and a collection of moments compounded, changed everything. Now Nathan is the CEO and Founder of the aptly named Foundr online magazine, he’s amassed millions of listeners and followers, **built a business with revenues above 7 figures and as you can imagine, probably now has a dude to fix his computers.**

“A moment, and a collection of moments compounded, changed everything. ”

**So what’s** **Foundr** **and what’s the big deal about that?** Well, as we were recording this podcast Nathan had just returned from interviewing Tony Robbins in NY. That’s kind of a like a typical Tuesday for Nathan. He’s a humble sort of bloke, so I’m sure he’s reading this and eye rolling at my pontification, however you guys tell me what you think. His first interview was with Sir Richard Branson and the cover of his magazines has been graced by names like Arianna Huffington, Gary Vaynerchuck, Marie Forleo, Daymond John, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss just to name a few. So let’s just say he plays with some big fish.

Cool for Nathan, but how is that useful for you? On this podcast Nathan gave me the green light to ask him some questions he’d never been asked before. We dig into the moments he, just like all of us, was told NO. That he wasn’t enough, that he couldn’t, that it wasn’t impossible but for him it was. We talk about how he overcame those moments. He gives us his recipe for how to get in front of big names and absolutely what NOT to do when reaching out to just about anyone. Some of my favorite moments are at the very end where we get into where he would escape if convicted of a hideous crime, and his biggest mistakes.
**I hope you have a nice adult beverage, snuggled up somewhere and ready to listen to our conversation ripe with questions not appropriate for the dinner table.**
Cheers My Animals,
Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**How to Get Passive Income & Become An Expert** May 17, 2017
**So Easy, Your Grandma Could Do It.**
**If there is one thing I could push every single person I meet to do it is this..**
**CREATE YOUR OWN WEBSITE!!!!**
**(Start here** **SQUARESPACE**).
**You can create your own website for those cost of $20 and 1 hour of your time on** **squarespace. Cheaper than a chipotle burrito my friends.**
What is the Key You Ask?
The world is a changing. Can you remember the days when cover letters, hard copy resumes, and handshakes were the only ways people grew their networks and largely their income as a byproduct? Now LinkedIn has almost evaporated resumes, business cards are turning into twitter handles, and cover letters are absolutely replaced by short, succinct emails. Can you remember the days when people had pensions and stayed at jobs for twenty years?
**Now we stay at jobs on average 2-5 years MAX.**
It feels uncertain this world we live in, with change as the only constant. **We all want to progress, to grow our salary, to grow our career, to grow our online business and ultimately our paycheck.**
Many still think that the key to passive income is the "Rich, Dad Poor, Dad" argument of buying houses or hard assets and continuing to invest in them and live off the residual income.
But, as you well know, the average housing price is not cheap my friends. It is not easy to build a real estate empire. In fact, as James Altucher says, I'm kind of against the whole real estate game. It doesn't seem like a good idea to me to put 60-70% of my savings into one investment that actually costs me money every year, that could potentially drop in price.
There are so many easier ways to make money.
So maybe if passive income through real estate isn't as easy as it once was, we think the key to getting bigger and better jobs or promotions is using recruiters, LinkedIn, company hopping.
Here's the problem:
you could get fired
you could get sick
your company could get sick aka go away
your industry could go away
AND THEN.. your one source of income goes to NO sources of income. How much cooler if you worked at your job because you loved it and your company? As I do. Instead of because you were scared you'd be homeless?
NOT TO MENTION - if we are talking real wealth, millionaire status, a vast majority of millionaires have 3 or more sources of income..
65% of self-made millionaires had three streams of income.
45% of self-made millionaires had four streams of income.
29% of self-made millionaires had five or more streams of income

“Here’s the problem, the average millionare has more than 3 sources of income”

That is because the wealthy know a secret, the secret is that you want to pull people, income, opportunities, clients to you by being sought after, not by pushing your resume, email, business card at others. And certainly not by singularly relying on one company or job.
**THAT IS WHY:**
**I believe the KEY to that is** **becoming an expert in your field** **(full guide** **here**).
To be an expert means people will come to you, give you opportunities. Opportunities to invest, to interview, to network, to speak, to be on TV, to write, to be on podcasts, to increase your network. Because being an expert these days truly means: **"It's not what you know, it's who knows that you know it!"**

“It’s not what you know, it’s who knows that you know it?”

Let’s get technical with a few numbers for you quant minded individuals like myself, soak in these statistics:
- **94% of recruiter’s vet candidates online before hiring**
- **These guys** **all make millions with only a laptop**
- **82% of recruiters leverage candidates online brand to recruit managers**
- **73% of 18-34 year olds found their last client or job online**
**- 61% of people with a website say they got their last client or job from it**
If we don’t embrace the inevitable shift in how we communicate, how we grow our network, and how ultimately I believe we will monetize, we are leaving a monumental opportunity untouched. But if you are any normal human, becoming a renowned expert is like a game of Chicken or the Egg, **we don't know how to build a following until we have a following,** and to break into the realm of expertise seems um, daunting, to say the least.
BUT Codie, how do we do that?
How do we build our brand outside of our corporate spheres, or build them both simultaneously? This question is a bit akin to how does one get hired or promoted. Read more in my post here about how to market yourself online
BUT deep breath... let’s start with **one small step you can do in 24 HOURS.**
HOW TO create a brand for yourself on your own platform.
**If you do nothing else but you go out right now I would urge you to do this.**
BUILD A PERSONAL WEBSITE
Whether you are in college, high-school, in corporate America or a freelance consultant, these days you can create your own website for less than $20 and in less than 24 hours. Whether it only has your resume on it, your face and links to your social media, your mission of why you go to work each day, if you build it turns out some weirdos like us are also into it. I know guys that have grown hundreds of thousands of subscribers and gotten VC money off of a "millennial bro newsletter."
So worry less about exactly what your niche is and worry more about getting your name searchable on the airwaves. In fact Summit Series, the Millennial/Gen X who's who for entrepreneurs won't bring you in unless you are "Googleable," aka have an online presence.
I promise.. it's easy...
**I will show you how I did it, and (don't tell anyone) I'm a tech moron.**
I'll show you how to simply buy your domain name, throw together a pre-made beautiful website from a site like Squarespace, and update it with what you want to highlight.
Those simple steps are what led me to do basically anything interesting I’ve done in my career **including red carpet interviews with Gloria Estefan, being on the Today Show, Telemundo, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and Entrepreneur,** speaking at conferences in front of thousands and become a venture capital partner.
**You will be the 1%.** In fact, I just spoke to a bunch of **students at Cornell and less than 10% of them have a personal website.** And they are the 1%.
When you start putting your name out into the online universe, things will happen for you, I promise. I’ll break down how I built mine and taught innumerable others to do the same on the quick.
**It’s simple, I dare you to be one of the few that does instead of the many who talk…**
OK ARE YOU READY TO BUILD A WEBSITE? (Fast track to start by clicking here).
**STEP 1: Pick your provider**
There are tons of options, Wix, WordPress and hosting sites like HostGator, GoDaddy etc etc. I have a personal mantra which is; What if it was easy?
So that motto led me to Squarespace.. It’s $20 to buy a domain and $4 a month to host it.
Their motto is – websites, beautifully, simply designed.
**It was hands down the easiest, most professional and insanely beautiful websites I could find.** I truthfully only ever promote brands I use, and that I love. I was approached by almost all the sites mentioned in this article to promote theirs and turned them down.
Why? When I went to Squarespace HQ and heard their CMO (Derek Lee) explain their aesthetic and then sat down with Amory Wooden (their Head of Marketing) I absolutely got it.
Between the modern lines, industrial feel, and jaw dropping interior of their building I could see they simply breathed life beautifully simply designed.
They walk the talk. **That means your website is going to make you look wayyyyy more professional than perhaps you are.**

**So here’s the skinny.. all in one you can** have a website builder, blogging platform, hosting service, and a domain name registrar. As opposed to using multiple providers. The key for me was simplistic. With a site like WordPress you have much more flexibility but it is incredibly more complex.
I kind of think of Squarespace like an iPhone, it just works beautifully, easily and without a lot of glitches.
I think of WordPress or the other sites a bit like an Android phone, it’s more open architecture so if you are a pro or want to hire someone maybe WordPress is more for you. These two options in my humble opinion are the best ones.
I had my last businesses website on WordPress and what I loved about it was we had a developer/website manager and so he would handle the backend and it was infinitely editable. What I struggled with is that my personal website isn’t that complex to necessitate hiring someone. I wanted easy… aka Squarespace **so here’s the how, now that you know the why.**
**How to create a website with Squarespace:**
**Step 1: You need a domain**
**(that’s just** **www.codiesanchez.com** **or whatever you want your website URL to be).** Go on Squarespace website and type in the domain you would like to purchase.

When you find the domain you like, purchase it, and Congrats! It’s Yours! Was that hard?
**Already have a domain?** Let's move on to the next step.

**Step 2: Selecting a template.**

Squarespace has more beautiful, professionally designed templates than Kim K has red bottomed shoes in her closet. You can pick from a variety of categories depending on if you want a personal brand site, blog, photography journal, ecommerce site etc. Select the category that tickles your fancy with your type of website, and choose the template that makes you feel like a happy little clam.
After you find the template you like, start creating your website using Squarespace 14-day free trial (register here).

**Step 3: Start filling in your website information.**

Now that you’ve signed up. You will find yourself logged into a new site. Yup, two steps to you technically having a site.
On the left, you will see a navigation as below:

**Step 4: Design Your Website**
**Now the fun begins.** These navigation are the tools that make up the content of your website. Personally I like to jump around and play with this portion myself. There is very little you can do to screw it up, so I think the best way to learn is to start clicking and playing inside with changes but for you check-listers below is step by step detail.
**REMEMBER - Just throw up your name, a photo and a link to your website if you are feeling overwhelmed. That is ALREADY A HUGE WIN.**
Let's start by clicking at the **‘Design'** button.
Here you can add your Logo and Title for your website.

After setting Logo and Title for your website, you can now set the basic information.
Go to your 'Home', then '**Settings'**, then choose '**Basic Information'**
Here you can choose your type of website, anything from Commerce, Business, Non-Profit, to Personal.
Under the site type, you can enter the description for your website like the picture below.

**Step 5: Creating Pages**
Your site consists of pages in a navigation menu and additional unlinked pages. Below is how to create new pages and organize content using features like Index Pages and Folders.
For editing and adding Pages, select “Pages" from the Home menu. Click the “+” sign next to the Navigation and to the types of page you would like to create in your site.

**My website** is focused mainly on my speaking gigs and my blog, therefore, the top three page features we use are **'Page'**, **'Index'**, and **'Blog'**. When creating a new content, you need to choose the **'Page Title'**, and the format that you want for your page.
Next, you need to edit your page's settings, which include **Navigation Title, Description, and the URL Slug**. Clicking the **'Enabled'** button means you allow your page to be seen by your audiences, otherwise, you are the only person to see it.

**Index Page** is a page that organize content from multiple pages into a single location. Every temple's Index Page has its own design and behavior.
Adding an Index Page is like adding a page. Except that you could drag the page down to make it a part of an Index Page, or adding pages under it.

You can then open the **'Page Settings'** and choose **'Media'** to update a banner image for that page.
Adding as many pages as needed by clicking **'Add Page'**.
If you don't want the Index Page to be shown on your home page, simply drag it down to the **Second Navigation**, where it says **'Not Linked'**.

Blog is where I spend most of my time. Adding a Blog is like adding a page. A Blog is a folder where you can add as many blog posts as you would like to and thus have rolling content.
Click here for our guide to creating a blog post.
**Step 6: Upgrade Your Website**
After designing your site, your trial page will eventually need to be upgraded.
You can upgrade the trial by purchasing Squarespace subscription here and add a custom domain. You can create as many sites as you want with a Squarespace account, however, each site has its own subscription. You can pay for your site every month or on a yearly cycle. You can upgrade your trial at anytime by selecting **'Settings' > 'Billing and Account' > 'Billing'**. When you upgrade your site, your trial content will still be there.
If you want multiple people editing your site, you can send them contributor invitation by selecting **'Settings' > 'Permission' > 'Invite Contributor'**
To manage your domain, you can select **'Settings' > 'Domain'**. Your site has a default squarespace.com domain that was automatically generated from your first and last name when you signed up for a trial. If you want to change what appears before squarespace.com, select the domain and then edit the site ID.
You can also add a custom domain, with this, you will still see your Squarespace domain when log in your website, but your customers will only see your custom domain when you set it up as your primary one.
**To set up a custom domain, you have three options:**
If you have an annual plan, you can register a squarespace managed domain, and the first year is free.
If you don't have an annual plan, you can buy the domain through squarespace as well.
If you have a domain with a third-party, you can use it as well.
**Step 7: Connecting Your Social Accounts and Viewing Analytics**
You can increase your online presence with your social accounts.
To do this, Select **'Connected Accounts'**
Then, click on “Connected Accounts" and add your social medias account like I did my below. The default icons will then appear in your headers or footers. With my template, it appears at the footers.

**Another way to manage your site is through data on traffics.** A new site does not have any data yet, but overtime, you can view it through **'Analytics'** in your Home menu.

**Step 8: Start Promoting this Bad Boy**
**You can promote it on your Instagram profile**, here’s **our guide**on how to build your IG up to do just that. You can promote it on twitter as we do **here**. Or on Facebook as we do **here.**
Remember, your goal is to **promote yourself as an expert.** You want to build your kingdom so regardless of what happens at your company, in your industry, in life in general you yourself are sought after. That is where the power is.
Let the adventure begin…
**START HERE!!!**
Cheers,
Codie Sanchez
*Cannacurious? Here's our* *contrarians' guide* *to getting a career into cannabis, or find out more information below:*
*IG:* *@codiesanchez*
*EEC:* *www.entourageeffectcapital.com*
*CS:* *www.codiesanchez.com*

**Negotiate Like A Girl: Because You Can Get What You Want** May 10, 2017
Let's Talk About Getting Paid People
Written by Codie Sanchez Baker Topics: The Struggle Isn't Real

Where to begin..
First with a mental reframe... negotiating like a girl isn't solely about what you can do for yourself. It isn't a selfish act. It isn't just for the hard core aggressive types in this world. It is a necessity to get ahead and to grow as a professional. And if you are the giving type, I’ll simply say, when one rises we all rise. Focus on you and those you lead or influence. Help those around you increase their skills, ask your partner for help and use these below strategies to negotiate not only your pay but importantly your next promotion, your next business deal or even your next convo with the family.
Know this, if you don't ask for it, you probably will not receive it. And, hey - worst case, they say No. We eat No's for breakfast.
So my friend, let's earn you your seat at the table.

“Focus on you and those you lead or influence”

HERE’S THE HOW:
As an entrepreneur, business builder, corporate ladder climber I’ve had to get comfortable asking for what I want, otherwise it’s rarely given. The tough part is as women typically, we not only are uncomfortable asking for what we want, but we also must be cautious in how we ask. If I had a dime for every time I have been called aggressive, crazy, intense, or worse (but we’ll leave those out), I would have a heck of a lot of dimes. So every so often I think about my personal motto:
1) Always ask for what you want, always.
You will hands down never get what you don’t ask for. This is especially true for women and minorities. There is much research that proves that we don’t negotiate enough.
2) Assume you just might get it.
When you remove the fear from your ask, you are more thoughtful, you consider how to make it a win-win, and you are less emotional. All critical if you are going to be bellying up to the proverbial bar.
So the question becomes the how...
**If you want a promotion, more money, a new client, how do you get it? And why do we HAVE to negotiate for what we want?**
**FIRST WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO NEGOTIATE:**
**REASON ONE:**
If we just look at salaries, it’s imperative. Linda Babcock did a study for her book *Women Don’t Ask*, she found that about 7% of women attempted to negotiate, while 57% of men did. That could help explain part of the wage gap. Now you might say ok so we don’t negotiate as much on average but what are the effects of that? Let’s talk numbers:
**Example:** Imagine two people were offered a $100,000 salary, and one negotiated an extra $7,000 and one didn’t. What is the cost for the one that got $100,000 vs the one who got $107,000? Many would say $7,000. Codie, I’m not an idiot. But that is wrong. Due to compounding, if nothing else changed and both the person who negotiated higher, and the one who didn’t, got the same raises and promotions throughout their career, something astounding happens. Thirty-five years later – the person who didn’t negotiate would have to work 8 years more to have as much at retirement as the one that did negotiate that initial $7,000.
**Now, the question is: $7,000 may not be worth the risk, but how about eight years of your life?**
**REASON TWO:**
**The average wage growth in the US over the last 5 years is around – 2-2.5%.** That won’t even cover your rent increase. If you don’t ask for more you almost certainly won’t achieve the financial success you want.
Have I convinced you to don your little negotiating cap?

MY TOP TEN TRICKS to NEGOTIATE LIKE A GIRL:
(Aka ask for what you want... and get it).
1. **Always ask**
- Nothing beats practice. Start small, **negotiate with friends and family first**. Then negotiate with a client, then go toe-to-toe with the boss. But with love and numbers backing you. Always.
**2. Don’t come in committed to outcome**
- **Come with options not outcomes**. Instead of saying I want X amount, consider flex work, more vacation, an assistant, a virtual assistant – get creative with your asks and make sure you earned it, and there is a mutual benefit.
**3. Explain why you deserve it and know what you are asking for**
- Never come and just say, “I want more money.” This rubs me the wrong way when done to me. I immediately calculate the percentage change they are asking for and say, “What are you doing to earn 35% more money?” Rarely do they have an answer and they didn’t even realize they were asking for such a big % increase. Thus, back it up with facts and numbers. Say, “I did x and y and z and my plan for the coming 6-12 months is to accomplish this and that. Given that, I think the work I am doing is worth more than I am currently making. Thus, I wanted to talk to you about a pay raise?” Then shut up. They may be telling you you’re about to get one higher than your ask.
**4. No emotions or needs (needy ain't cute)**
- I don’t care that you can’t afford X, or feel like you want to make Y. Make it about what you have earned, not what you want. **Be proud of never accepting a cent you didn’t earn.**
**5. Put yourself in your bosses (or counterparties) shoes**
- What are their goals and how can you align? Everyone wants more money and if you’ve ever been asked for a raise by an employee you’d know that there is only so much money to go around. How can you put yourself on the other side of the table?
**6. Best book on negotiation**
1. The art of war is an uncomfortable classic – **it shows you the non-politically correct ways of power but knowledge is power so it is worth reading**. Even if you don’t want to use these strategies (I mean they list Genghis Khan so you can imagine the strategies he used – yikes!), you will recognize when they are being used on you. Aka, you won’t get murdered in a negotiation.
7. **Be likeable.. Sounds simple, huh?**
- I can’t emphasis this enough, making your “opponent” like you and want to give you what you want, is worth its weight in gold. That means smile, cajole, apply to their better instincts, state the benefits to them. My go to line is this… “You can’t blame a girl for asking can ya? What kind of employee/sales person/business person would I be if I ask for the business?” BIG HUGE ENDEARING SMILE following.
8. **Ask for more than what you want**..
Henry Kissinger the ultimate negotiator said,***“Effectiveness at the conference table depends upon overstating one’s demands.”*** First because the universe just may give it to you, and then because there will be flexibility on the downside.
9. **Get them to say their position first**
For example, if you are negotiating a salary or package with a new gig and the person asks you for what you make currently, you don’t need to answer. You can say, “'Well I'm flexible depending on how you structure compensation for the growth potential and the right company fit long term. Would you be willing to share the rough salary range you have in mind for this position?”
If they push again and ask what you make you can say, “Charles this is really not something I give out broadly… kinda like a woman never tells her age (wink wink smile), why don’t you tell me what your range is and I’ll let you know if that fits my range.”
**Confidence is everything.**
- The main point is don’t just shout out the $ amount you could be too low or too high. Prep for this question and know what this position is roughly worth.
10. **Reluctant seller/buyer**
- Remember the one who wants it less almost always wins. So even if you want this new job/client/raise so badly you would sell out your mother, you need to pretend you don’t.
- Let me give you an example, say you have a job offer you’re dying to take, you hate your current job and are about to quite anyways and make $0. Here honesty is not the best policy. Reframe your mindset, they must negotiate to get the best deal for their company and you must negotiate the best for you, so for now, no transparency.
- You can say, **“I’m really happy in my current role and growing immensely. I’m always open to the right opportunity at the right company but I’m not actively looking.”** Why? Remember playing hard to get with a dude? It’s the same thing, it increases your perceived value, and makes them want you more.
Want some tips to be unforgettable?, click here

**BONUS TIDBIT:**
After I ask for what I want, I watch the others reaction. If they give in easily, I say nothing but thank you and remember that next time I better go higher. If they flinch, look uncomfortable or get angry I wait for them to speak and then I say with a big huge smile my favorite line again, **“Can’t blame a girl for asking can ya? Seems we never get what we don’t ask for?”** SMILE.
Can’t blame us at all.

Happy negotiating, Love you Animals!

Codie

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**Become An Influencer, Go Viral, Create A Tribe** May 04, 2017

Ana Flores - CEO & Founder of WeAllGrow talks making waves in influencer land
**Have you heard the word influencer more and more?** Have you heard about the growing demographics in the Latino space? Do you keep hearing about the power of bloggers both for brands to leverage and for people to get $$ to post on social media about whatever tickles their little fancy? Well if any of that interests you, amigo you are in luck. This episode with CEO & Founder of WeAllGrow Latina Network, Ana Flores is all about how influencer marketing works, how she built a company around it, and what is shaking in the world of Latina’s and Latino entrepreneurs.

**You see Ana knows a thing or two about how to get Insta-famous or how to make your product go viral.** WeAllGrow was the first and is still the largest network of Latina influencers in the US. She was a content creator before she ran WAG, authoring the book Bilingual is Better, launching award-winning SpanglishBaby.com website, and working as a producer for major Spanish language networks. When she isn’t at the White House speaking, she’s running summits, or helping companies understand this unique market. Aka - she's a change maker and fabulous.
Some people speak, some listen and the few ACT. That is Ana.
If you want to hear about work life balance, creating a tribe, influencer marketing and understanding the Latino market, you are in luck my friends.
Some people speak, some listen and the few ACT. Ana is a member of the few.

Please enjoy this conversation with my friend and all around lady boss Ana Flores.
Cheers,

Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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Screen Shot 2017-04-17 at 7.31.19 PM.png — **Become An Influencer, Go Viral, Create A Tribe** May 04, 2017

Ana Flores - CEO & Founder of WeAllGrow talks making waves in influencer land
**Have you heard the word influencer more and more?** Have you heard about the growing demographics in the Latino space? Do you keep hearing about the power of bloggers both for brands to leverage and for people to get $$ to post on social media about whatever tickles their little fancy? Well if any of that interests you, amigo you are in luck. This episode with CEO & Founder of WeAllGrow Latina Network, Ana Flores is all about how influencer marketing works, how she built a company around it, and what is shaking in the world of Latina’s and Latino entrepreneurs.

**You see Ana knows a thing or two about how to get Insta-famous or how to make your product go viral.** WeAllGrow was the first and is still the largest network of Latina influencers in the US. She was a content creator before she ran WAG, authoring the book Bilingual is Better, launching award-winning SpanglishBaby.com website, and working as a producer for major Spanish language networks. When she isn’t at the White House speaking, she’s running summits, or helping companies understand this unique market. Aka - she's a change maker and fabulous.
Some people speak, some listen and the few ACT. That is Ana.
If you want to hear about work life balance, creating a tribe, influencer marketing and understanding the Latino market, you are in luck my friends.
Some people speak, some listen and the few ACT. Ana is a member of the few.

Please enjoy this conversation with my friend and all around lady boss Ana Flores.
Cheers,

Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**Lessons from My Favorite Contrarian Entrepreneur** Apr 27, 2017

Her name is Mary & Her Motto is: Eat, Play, Crush
(You are going to like her, and her stories even more).
**There are four people’s Instagram I actively follow and check, four. Mary’s is one of them.** I don’t think I’ve told her that before (our little secret). Most have heard of Mary as @PaleoChef on Instagram, twitter and the web. Or you may know her as a private chef to more celebrities and athletes than I can list without being a shameless name dropper… but let’s just say if they write books, have the biggest platforms in the world, play sports, have millions of followers, are frequently on a big screen near you, she probably has cooked or coached them on Paleo. Oh and she has a Youtube Show on Mixed Makeup. NBD.
You might also know her because she’s a fudge packer. Say what? She came up with one of my favorite brands as a healthy traveler, PhatFudge, which is all organic, paleo goodness on the go. While I follow her for those reasons, my favorite part about Mary is her completely contrarian approach to business.

“While everyone is out talking about life hacking and leveraging everything from technology to personal networks, Mary mostly turns left when others go right.”

You see she has never taken a dollar of funding for her now crazily growing company. In fact, she didn’t have a credit card a month ago. Straight cash baby. While everyone is out talking about life hacking and leveraging everything from technology to personal networks, Mary mostly turns left when others go right. On this podcast, she opens up about where creativity stems from for her, how she handles moments of doubt, her transition from corporate to entrepreneur, what Paleo means to her, and everything in between.
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I reveled in recording it with her. Stay tuned I guarantee you'll be hearing big thangs from this lady.
***Bonus - Scroll below to see my favorite posts from Mary on Instagram. They are all time.

My Top 5 Favorite Posts from Mary:
#2

#3

#4

#5

**And a bonus picture.. Because we are really really ridiculous looking and I thought you guys would like to end that way.**
That's all.
Cheers my animals,
Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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Screen Shot 2017-04-17 at 11.20.09 PM.png — **Lessons from My Favorite Contrarian Entrepreneur** Apr 27, 2017

Her name is Mary & Her Motto is: Eat, Play, Crush
(You are going to like her, and her stories even more).
**There are four people’s Instagram I actively follow and check, four. Mary’s is one of them.** I don’t think I’ve told her that before (our little secret). Most have heard of Mary as @PaleoChef on Instagram, twitter and the web. Or you may know her as a private chef to more celebrities and athletes than I can list without being a shameless name dropper… but let’s just say if they write books, have the biggest platforms in the world, play sports, have millions of followers, are frequently on a big screen near you, she probably has cooked or coached them on Paleo. Oh and she has a Youtube Show on Mixed Makeup. NBD.
You might also know her because she’s a fudge packer. Say what? She came up with one of my favorite brands as a healthy traveler, PhatFudge, which is all organic, paleo goodness on the go. While I follow her for those reasons, my favorite part about Mary is her completely contrarian approach to business.

“While everyone is out talking about life hacking and leveraging everything from technology to personal networks, Mary mostly turns left when others go right.”

You see she has never taken a dollar of funding for her now crazily growing company. In fact, she didn’t have a credit card a month ago. Straight cash baby. While everyone is out talking about life hacking and leveraging everything from technology to personal networks, Mary mostly turns left when others go right. On this podcast, she opens up about where creativity stems from for her, how she handles moments of doubt, her transition from corporate to entrepreneur, what Paleo means to her, and everything in between.
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I reveled in recording it with her. Stay tuned I guarantee you'll be hearing big thangs from this lady.
***Bonus - Scroll below to see my favorite posts from Mary on Instagram. They are all time.

My Top 5 Favorite Posts from Mary:
#2

#3

#4

#5

**And a bonus picture.. Because we are really really ridiculous looking and I thought you guys would like to end that way.**
That's all.
Cheers my animals,
Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**Care Over Commerce: Build A Brand & A Life That Matters** Apr 20, 2017
Written by Codie Sanchez Baker

Tim Dyer, Co-Founder & Chief Storyteller of one of Inc 500’s fastest growing companies speaks truth
**Have you ever sat across from someone and just instantly known you wanted to dive deeper into the conversation.** The other person literally had you hanging on every word. That was my experience the first time I met Tim Dyer and actually his brother, business partner, and twin Dave Dyer as well. Tim is the Chief Storyteller and Co-Founder of **Manifesto Agency**. **Tim is my favorite kind of human, a status quo disrupter.** He’s built his life around the power of the word, to not only sway someone, but to sway someone towards real purpose and meaning. On this podcast, you’ll see why **Manifesto** is on the Inc 500’s fastest growing business list, and how these two guys who started their business with no money, no clients and in a coffee shop, created the #7 fastest growing ad company in the game. If you are searching for how to define your brand, business, or self, how to tell a story and get heard, or how to build something that matters, this is the podcast for you.
**I want to start this off a little differently…**
I want to read you the Manifesto (what I would call the Why) that is the foundation of Tim & Dave’s company. Given the company is duly named **Manifesto**, it makes perfect sense…
Get ready to get goosebumps…

“We are the fearless ones. The why-nots in a world of cannots. We believe in lightning strikes.”

***MANIFESTO:***
***We are the fearless ones. The why-nots in a world of cannots. We believe in lightning strikes.***
*A belief that puts insights and stories above artifice and vanity. We believe in the tin man’s heart.*
*Soulless brands are only meaningful when given a fleshy, beating heart.*
*We believe in tilting at windmills.*
*Sometimes the best causes are those only the dreamers, the dare-ers and the blind can see.*
*We believe in care over commerce. That when you give a d**mn, you’ll inspire others to do the same.*
***We believe in the life lived deliberately. “Most men go to their graves with their song still in them.”***
*We will make our finite lives and work count, each informing the other—and both be better for it. We believe in the immutable power of story and those who propel it.*
***We believe brands were meant to stand for more.***

“We believe in the life lived deliberately. “Most men go to their graves with their song still in them.””

Some of my favorite quotes from our conversation:
On drafting off the cultural conversation. ***“It’s a little like walking into the middle of a street fight and putting on a pantomime show. I’d like to see that.”***
**"*Just as much Substance as Sizzle*."** (Talking about Summit Conference we met at).
"*We look at the triangulation of ideas. Imagine a Ven Diagram. We look for where all the parts intersect."*
*"Say it square and then say it with flair."*
***"Find people who speak truth into your life."***
*"Be unapologetically unafraid in taking the life pivots that speak to you."*

“Your Onlyness – The one thing that you want to be known for, that unique something that only you bring.”

Framework for How They Help Brands:
If you own a company, are coming up with your own personal why, or want to align your team around one, this process is so deliciously applicable.
**1) Origin: Why does your brand exist?**
Did you start in a garage? Handed down from a family member? Created in an college dorm room?)
**2) Ambitions: What does your organization aspire to be?**
***What do you hope to stand for and stand out in, in this world?***
**3) Attributes: Your DNA? What DNA makes up the organization?**
**What are your unique qualities that you bring to the table? Your onlyness.**
I’ll leave you all with this…

“There is only one thing worse in the world than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

— Oscar Wilde

***I hope you enjoy my conversation with*** ***Tim*** ***as much as I did. I have a sneaking suspicion you will.***
Love You Animals,

Codie

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? But hen making it profitable, --> Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**How to Make a Good First Impression — Make Yourself Unforgettable** Apr 13, 2017

**Not Conforming Is What Makes You Unforgettable:**
Sometimes, the things that are a part of you are what make you unforgettable. Just so we are clear. I'm a Spaniard. We like four letter words (or in this case 5 letter words). Fun fact, in Spain you'll note tv commercials for mothers cough syrup where the women says essentially F*ck I have a cold, then turns to her kids and the screen and smiles as she takes Dayquil. Swear. I cuss because one I like it, two I think there is power when used unexpectedly to shake people out of the norm, and three, because **it keeps me from trying to please everyone and fit in a box**. It makes me be unapologetic and show up fully. Do I use them in investment meetings or with clients? Nah. But in just about every other occasion, absolutely.

If there is one thing I'm proud of, it's that what you see is largely what you get. I try to never lie, never hide, never fake it, because it's just easier to remember being straight up. But MAN that's taken me a while. Because if you are reading this there is a battle waging between what you want to do, should do, could do and actually do. And who you want to be, should be, could be and actually are. The goal of this week's Monday Slay, is making you step into uncomfortability so you can GROW. Why? Why not just conform?
Because then you are forgettable. You will never be remembered, you will never achieve great things.

“If you don’t piss some people off you will not even be an asterisk in the lowliest of history books. Does that sound like the kind of life you want? ”

Five quick ways to be memorably you:
We don't remember the suits, we remember the turtle neck wearing weirdos. So grab your turtleneck.
1) **Social pressure - Answer this question:** What is something you believe deeply, truly, wholeheartedly that most people would disagree with you on? Now post that on your Instagram. More controversial the better. (Here's mine --> Click here).

**2) Reach out** - Send a DM, tweet, email and otherwise try to stalk down one person you secretly respect for their giving zero F's attitude. Ask them one question... When they get inundated by negativity, backlash or haters how do they find the strength to continue regardless of the pushback?
3) **Follow someone who does things that make even you uncomfortable** --> Ashley Longshore, Gary Vee...
4) **Say No** - A big thing. This week. Say No to going to see your in-laws because you don't want to, to an assignment you think doesn't make sense, to a guy who wants to talk to you, to your mother who wants to talk to you. Before you answer, pause and ask yourself do I WANT to do this, if not. Say No. Don't say why. Just say No. Powerful.
5) **MAJOR KEY** 'People hate you for one of three reasons. They hate themselves, they want to be you, or they see you as a threat.'

“People hate you for one of three reasons. They hate themselves, they want to be you, or they see you as a threat.”

Internalize that. So if you are liked all the time, what does that say?

**Be The Person They Always Remember...**
**This is a special edition post of my Monday Slay newsletter where each week I send 5 tips to help you slay the week, the month and well - life. If you want to get it weekly click here!
Love you animals,
Codie -- Say hey @codiesanchez
THIS WEEK I GAVE YOU MY EXACT guide for HOW TO SLAY INSTAGRAM. #Yourewelcome ---> https://www.codiesanchez.com/blog/instagram-marketing-plan

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Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 1.07.18 AM.png — **How to Make a Good First Impression — Make Yourself Unforgettable** Apr 13, 2017

**Not Conforming Is What Makes You Unforgettable:**
Sometimes, the things that are a part of you are what make you unforgettable. Just so we are clear. I'm a Spaniard. We like four letter words (or in this case 5 letter words). Fun fact, in Spain you'll note tv commercials for mothers cough syrup where the women says essentially F*ck I have a cold, then turns to her kids and the screen and smiles as she takes Dayquil. Swear. I cuss because one I like it, two I think there is power when used unexpectedly to shake people out of the norm, and three, because **it keeps me from trying to please everyone and fit in a box**. It makes me be unapologetic and show up fully. Do I use them in investment meetings or with clients? Nah. But in just about every other occasion, absolutely.

If there is one thing I'm proud of, it's that what you see is largely what you get. I try to never lie, never hide, never fake it, because it's just easier to remember being straight up. But MAN that's taken me a while. Because if you are reading this there is a battle waging between what you want to do, should do, could do and actually do. And who you want to be, should be, could be and actually are. The goal of this week's Monday Slay, is making you step into uncomfortability so you can GROW. Why? Why not just conform?
Because then you are forgettable. You will never be remembered, you will never achieve great things.

“If you don’t piss some people off you will not even be an asterisk in the lowliest of history books. Does that sound like the kind of life you want? ”

Five quick ways to be memorably you:
We don't remember the suits, we remember the turtle neck wearing weirdos. So grab your turtleneck.
1) **Social pressure - Answer this question:** What is something you believe deeply, truly, wholeheartedly that most people would disagree with you on? Now post that on your Instagram. More controversial the better. (Here's mine --> Click here).

**2) Reach out** - Send a DM, tweet, email and otherwise try to stalk down one person you secretly respect for their giving zero F's attitude. Ask them one question... When they get inundated by negativity, backlash or haters how do they find the strength to continue regardless of the pushback?
3) **Follow someone who does things that make even you uncomfortable** --> Ashley Longshore, Gary Vee...
4) **Say No** - A big thing. This week. Say No to going to see your in-laws because you don't want to, to an assignment you think doesn't make sense, to a guy who wants to talk to you, to your mother who wants to talk to you. Before you answer, pause and ask yourself do I WANT to do this, if not. Say No. Don't say why. Just say No. Powerful.
5) **MAJOR KEY** 'People hate you for one of three reasons. They hate themselves, they want to be you, or they see you as a threat.'

“People hate you for one of three reasons. They hate themselves, they want to be you, or they see you as a threat.”

Internalize that. So if you are liked all the time, what does that say?

**Be The Person They Always Remember...**
**This is a special edition post of my Monday Slay newsletter where each week I send 5 tips to help you slay the week, the month and well - life. If you want to get it weekly click here!
Love you animals,
Codie -- Say hey @codiesanchez
THIS WEEK I GAVE YOU MY EXACT guide for HOW TO SLAY INSTAGRAM. #Yourewelcome ---> https://www.codiesanchez.com/blog/instagram-marketing-plan

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**How To Slay the Insta Game** Mar 22, 2017
So You Want To Be Instagram Famous?
Or maybe you just want more sales on the IG, or maybe you're just really into posting quotes and you think the world NEEDs to see your latest cat video. No shame on your game. I'm a quantitative minded human, no doubt. So when I listen to most Instagram marketing explanations of how people grew their following and there isn't a recipe. I am TICKED. I know you just kind of "fell" into your 300,000 followers but that is not that helpful or repeatable. So I compiled all the tactics I've used, that I borrowed from some of the top Instagram accounts, accelerators, app companies like SumoMe, and then just experimented with myself. My gift to all of you.
**1-2 -3 INSTAFAME**

Goals
Build following from 0-10000 in 4 months
Build massive email list with Instagram (5k+)
Drive massive traffic back to CSB’s website
So what exactly is this? This is a quant-based marketing plan that was responsible for taking CSB’s Instagram following of under 1000 to 15000 in less than 4 months without a team and with a spend of less than $200. If spend was higher we could 10x this. Also - I get lazy, forget to upload pictures, actually feel SM is a bit of a time suck and otherwise was a stubborn mule in the implementation of this. So if you are slightly less stubborn than a four legged cousin or a horse you will probably crush these numbers! Just saying.
Why do I care about Instagram follower count?
**Because Instagram is an international distribution platform (IN YOUR HAND FOR FREE).**
Let’s put it this way: It is one of the few ways you can create distribution for almost zero dollars spent. Then as you add more followers that mean more feeds my posts end up in, thus the more eyes on my website, content, and products. It's called leverage. If you use it for your personal brand, your business, h*ll your dog, you'll at least get "free" stuff out of it. Or Fido will. However, WARNING: it is actually time consuming and hard, so don't expect a two week turnaround. People hate on bloggers all the time, I've had my moments too, but let me tell you I work with a lot of them and it is insane the amount of behind the scenes grind. So gird your loins.
**Here are the 5 questions that team CSB used to build traffic through Instagram:**
Why is Instagram marketing important for my business?
How did I make my Instagram become a Traffic Generating Machine?
How did I grow our Instagram following rapidly?
How Do I Drive Traffic Back to CSB Website?
How did I create an automated traffic machine by converting our followers?
Question 1: Why is Instagram marketing important for my business?
**Twenty eight percent of internet users use Instagram.** There are 400,000,000 Instagram monthly users and they are one of the most engaged audiences in social media.
We all know that visual content works, because it collects 40x more social shares than any other form of content.
**And Instagram is almost 100% visual content.**
Given that over a quarter of the internet using Instagram, it is totally possible that my audiences are spending time on this social platform.
**However, not every audience is on Instagram.**
**There are 55% of 18-29 year olds actively use Instagram, only 11% of the 50-64 age group use it. And the 65+ group is only 4%.**

This means that if my target audience is under the age of 50, then I reach a large portion of them through Instagram. If they are over 50? I then focus your marketing efforts on Facebook. Tweet me @codie_sanchez if you want to see my Facebook growth plan.
Instagram Marketing also depends on the type of business I run. For example:
**If I was a food blogger, chances are my audience – the people who loves food porn – is on Instagram.**
**If I was a clothing eCommerce store owner, my audience is on Instagram (people want to see the products they buy).**
**If I was a personal trainer – my audience is on Instagram (waiting for the images of me to motivate them).**
**Consultants, bloggers, virtual assistants, business owners, coaches, and so forth lend themselves to Instagram riches.**
So where do I fall? Well I'm a podcaster, blogger, inspirer, motivational speaker, investor, and entrepreneur. **Is my audience on Instagram? Yes.** I get to engage screen to screen with people who turn to me for my "influence." Aka the hot term is influencer.

Question 2: How did I Make my Instagram Actually Make Me $
**First, it is very important to create a plan and constantly track the progress.**
**Here is** **my downloadable** **metric tracking sheet.**
I set a goal, and then work backward from that goal. You’ll see we include everything in here from Hashtags and their usage, tech tools, assumptions on growth, the day to day postings to achieve this and conversion rates to the website. Fancy terms for making sure this actually turns into $$. Otherwise what are we doing really?

**Here are some guidelines:**
**Time frame:** 90 days. Anything past 90 days is hard to quantify and map out.
**Tracking:** Weekly.
**Growth rate:** I think you can expect healthy growth rate of somewhere between 10% to 40%. CSB has a weekly traffic growth of 37% and weekly follower growth of 40%.
**Follower count:** Create a follower goal for yourself.
Instagram growth is exponential rather than linear. This means that it is far easier to go from 10,000 followers to 12,000 followers than it is to go from 0 followers to 2,000 followers. So smile, breathe, and go slowly.
**Second, get the perfect Instagram username.**
**The username is our personal brand. There are two ways to do it.**
1. Use your name (or a like identifier) on Instagram
2. Use your brand’s name if your brand is more identifiable than your name.
**CSB uses codiesanchez because my brand: Codie Sanchez is also my name. Bet that one blew your mind. ;)**

**Third, nail down the perfect bio.**
Your bio is the only place you can add a link. Utilize it. (I prefer a lead page to be linked so I can also grow my email list from a company like www.sumome.com or www.leadpages.com).

**The perfect Instagram bio has the following elements:**
1. A short, punchy description of what you do.
2. An identifier of who you do it for. And why it is so rad.
3. A strong all to action. Aka make a $100k in your footed pj's --> click here.
4. Emojis. I love Emojis. And there is evidence they catch the eye. It's science.
5. A strong, trackable bio link.
6. Bonus: Social proof.
**Fourth, track your Instagram traffic**
So how did I track our Instagram traffic when Instagram does not let me track it? (Actually now they do, you can convert your page to a business page on IG and they give you reporting).
**Step 1: Set Up a UTM Source Code.**
What is a UTM source code? It is a bunch of text you put at the end of your URL to see where your traffic is coming from. And it's super easy.
For example, CSB’s URL is https://codiesanchez.com
If I wanted to track how much traffic is coming from Instagram, I simply add:
https://codiesanchez.com?src=instagram.
**Step 2: Shorten your trackable link with a URL shortener.**
Why? Because Instagram bio only allows 150 characters.
**Here are a few that do the trick:**
Pretty Link - highly recommend. Because it's pretty, aka not a bunch of letters like codiesanchez/asldaoenun52.23
Bit.ly
Clkim
**Step 3: Monitor Your Instagram Traffic in Google Analytics.**
You won’t see it in your Audience Overview. You have to do a bit of digging - but don’t worry, it’s not too complicated.
**First, open up Google Analytics.** Then, on the left under the Reporting tab, press Behavior.
Under Behavior, expand Site Content, and then click on Landing Pages:
From there, you can search "Instagram" or any identifier you used in your UTM codes:
Then, you’ll be able to see the traffic from Instagram in your Google Analytics dashboard.

**Step 4: Monitor Your Instagram Influence with Klear**
The Oracle at Delphi said the most important thing one can do is Know Thyself. That is true in Instagram and social media as well. After all it is just a different way to communicate. So I use Klear to track my influence level. (There are quite a few more of these now, just google influencer marketing platforms). What get's measured gets managed, said Peter Drucker so manage that ish.

Question 3: How did I grow my Instagram following?
Here are the 5 free strategies I found:
**Strategy 1: Share for Shares.**
This is when you identify similar accounts that reach the audience you want to reach (and vice versa) and you both post a Call to Action post to follow the other account and they do the same. It's a great way to cross-pollinate accounts. I typically just DM them and ask if they want to do a S4S and off to the races. (If you want our step by step process for finding people and pinging them... tell me on twitter @codie_sanchez or IG on @codiesanchez and we'll create it)>
**Strategy 2: Follow/Unfollow**
This just works. I utilize the tool Instagress for this as it can be a time waster. You simply setup parameters and then the bot follows, comments and unfollows people for you based on similar or targeted accounts. I know, this feels kind of spammy. BUT You have to think about it this way, if your mission is to get your content in front of the broadest reach because you believe it is going to help people immensely than this is simply a tool to do that. Also - don't believe the people that say, oh I my 300k followers they just came and I like totally I dunno didn't even try it must because I am awesome. Lies.
**Strategy 3: Using relevant hashtags.**
I like doing my hashtags in the 2nd comment so that the hashtags won't distract my readers. Also I keep these in my notes on my iphone and simply copy and paste them each time. Use four bullets dropped down (like below) this hides your comment so it looks like this [...] as opposed to seeing 50 hashtags. DOWNLOAD my guide to see how I pick hashtags, crucial.

**Strategy 4: Be strategic in your posting with a calendar.**
How you do this is through using a tool like Later. It is used by over 600,000 of the largest instagram users to schedule and plan their content. With those you can pre-plan your layouts and actually see what your feed looks like with their tools. You can also be sure to capitalize on holidays, events and world news by planning your posts in advance. This allows you to operate from a place of thoughtfulness when writing and pepper in spur of the moment posts. FULL DISCLOSURE: I suck at this. I'm working on it.
**Strategy 5: Leverage Larger Followings**
Every time I buy a product I love, meet a human I love, am at a hotel I love, h*ll anytime I love anything I give it virtual love on my instagram. Often times these brands and people will share your love with their followers. Thus tag brands constantly, create a tribe of things and people you love and watch what happens when they repost you.
Here’s how to do it organically:
**1. Engage with the users you are already following.** Like the posts in your feed, leave a comment on something you like, and message the people who resonate with you. (Or better yet outsource a member of your team or use PeoplePerHour to find people in other countries at lower prices).
**2. Engage with users who are following your “competition”.** Simple visit your competition’s followers’ accounts, and leave a comment on their posts. This will help your new audiences know about you.
IF you don’t know who your competition is and how you stack up use FanPage Karma it will compare your competition across Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. You can use it to push reports to you weekly and send alerts.

**3. Engage with the people who use relevant hashtags.** Look up hashtags that are relevant to your industry and engage with the posts that are under that hashtags. Ultimately this is just another way to have a conversation. No one likes getting spoken AT they want to be heard too, so apply that to your instagram convos.
BONUS: The 3 Paid Ways of Getting More Followers:
**Strategy 1: Pay for big accounts to shout you out.**
Yes. S4S is a free way to get more followers, if you work with accounts around a similar size as yours to make it far. But if you wanted to work with accounts that are much larger than yours, you can get them to shout you out.
This is where you pay authoritative accounts in my industry to perform a “shoutout” (expect about $5-$75+ depending on the size of the account and the volume of shoutouts you pay for). I've had mixed experience with this, it can help a lot in the beginning but experiment with it before you shell out major cash.
**Strategy 2: Pay for Larger Accounts to Post a Screenshot of your account.**
This is an even more effective way to get more followers because there is no mistaking these posts – the sole purpose of them is to drive followers to your account.
Expect to pay anywhere from $40 -$150 per screenshot to see 50-250 new followers or more.
**Strategy 3: Pay for Ads**
What I like about this option is it is one of the very few ways you can get people to follow you AND to go to your website. It is important you understand how to determine your target audience here but there is only one way to learn, Do. So go try it.
Question 4: How Do I Drive Traffic Back to My Website?
With Instagram, there are simply two things I did to drive traffic back to CSB website.
**1. My Bio Link**
**2. Call to Action Posts.**
Here’s how I do it:

**With my bio link, I update the link with every new blog post.**

**With my call to action post, I talk about my blog post every time it goes live.**

Question 5: How do I convert our followers to create an automated traffic machine?
**Let’s face this: Traffic is useless if it doesn’t convert.**
I don’t want our followers to visit my website once and then leave, because, there is a high chance that they won’t come back. I want my email list to grow substantially through Instagram. So, here is how I convert that traffic to grow our email list and therefore our income:
**Step 1: Give my Instagram visitors an offer they can't refuse (like that Godfather reference??).**

Dozens of websites are vying for their attention every day, and almost all of them are asking for their email addresses. Therefore, I need to set myself apart. So I offer them a content that they could hardly resist.
**Those are:**
- Entrepreneur books
- Apps and tools that everyone needs
- Monday Slay – Our 5 tips to conquer the week
- Weekly ways to do more in less time
- And lots of added snark.
**Step 2: Create Opt-In Opportunities Specific To Your Instagram Followers.**
This is where Welcome Mat comes from.

Essentially it scrolls down from the top as a LARGE call to action, sort of like your welcome mat at your day draws in your guests eyes. So too does this virtual version. Because Instagram is a visual platform, we decided to use a Mat with a visual component, rather than a template with a black background.
Also, instead of using a generic image, I use the image of the offer I am giving away when you click the link to purchase. See the example live here.
Click here to learn more about the Welcome Mat we use.
So my friends... if you didn't know before, now you know. I'd love to hear your stories on what works and doesn't for you. I'm not pro-scriptive, I'm into personally-scriptive. That is, find the prescription that works for you.
Love you animals,
Codie

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Screen Shot 2017-03-24 at 7.35.35 PM.png — **How To Slay the Insta Game** Mar 22, 2017
So You Want To Be Instagram Famous?
Or maybe you just want more sales on the IG, or maybe you're just really into posting quotes and you think the world NEEDs to see your latest cat video. No shame on your game. I'm a quantitative minded human, no doubt. So when I listen to most Instagram marketing explanations of how people grew their following and there isn't a recipe. I am TICKED. I know you just kind of "fell" into your 300,000 followers but that is not that helpful or repeatable. So I compiled all the tactics I've used, that I borrowed from some of the top Instagram accounts, accelerators, app companies like SumoMe, and then just experimented with myself. My gift to all of you.
**1-2 -3 INSTAFAME**

Goals
Build following from 0-10000 in 4 months
Build massive email list with Instagram (5k+)
Drive massive traffic back to CSB’s website
So what exactly is this? This is a quant-based marketing plan that was responsible for taking CSB’s Instagram following of under 1000 to 15000 in less than 4 months without a team and with a spend of less than $200. If spend was higher we could 10x this. Also - I get lazy, forget to upload pictures, actually feel SM is a bit of a time suck and otherwise was a stubborn mule in the implementation of this. So if you are slightly less stubborn than a four legged cousin or a horse you will probably crush these numbers! Just saying.
Why do I care about Instagram follower count?
**Because Instagram is an international distribution platform (IN YOUR HAND FOR FREE).**
Let’s put it this way: It is one of the few ways you can create distribution for almost zero dollars spent. Then as you add more followers that mean more feeds my posts end up in, thus the more eyes on my website, content, and products. It's called leverage. If you use it for your personal brand, your business, h*ll your dog, you'll at least get "free" stuff out of it. Or Fido will. However, WARNING: it is actually time consuming and hard, so don't expect a two week turnaround. People hate on bloggers all the time, I've had my moments too, but let me tell you I work with a lot of them and it is insane the amount of behind the scenes grind. So gird your loins.
**Here are the 5 questions that team CSB used to build traffic through Instagram:**
Why is Instagram marketing important for my business?
How did I make my Instagram become a Traffic Generating Machine?
How did I grow our Instagram following rapidly?
How Do I Drive Traffic Back to CSB Website?
How did I create an automated traffic machine by converting our followers?
Question 1: Why is Instagram marketing important for my business?
**Twenty eight percent of internet users use Instagram.** There are 400,000,000 Instagram monthly users and they are one of the most engaged audiences in social media.
We all know that visual content works, because it collects 40x more social shares than any other form of content.
**And Instagram is almost 100% visual content.**
Given that over a quarter of the internet using Instagram, it is totally possible that my audiences are spending time on this social platform.
**However, not every audience is on Instagram.**
**There are 55% of 18-29 year olds actively use Instagram, only 11% of the 50-64 age group use it. And the 65+ group is only 4%.**

This means that if my target audience is under the age of 50, then I reach a large portion of them through Instagram. If they are over 50? I then focus your marketing efforts on Facebook. Tweet me @codie_sanchez if you want to see my Facebook growth plan.
Instagram Marketing also depends on the type of business I run. For example:
**If I was a food blogger, chances are my audience – the people who loves food porn – is on Instagram.**
**If I was a clothing eCommerce store owner, my audience is on Instagram (people want to see the products they buy).**
**If I was a personal trainer – my audience is on Instagram (waiting for the images of me to motivate them).**
**Consultants, bloggers, virtual assistants, business owners, coaches, and so forth lend themselves to Instagram riches.**
So where do I fall? Well I'm a podcaster, blogger, inspirer, motivational speaker, investor, and entrepreneur. **Is my audience on Instagram? Yes.** I get to engage screen to screen with people who turn to me for my "influence." Aka the hot term is influencer.

Question 2: How did I Make my Instagram Actually Make Me $
**First, it is very important to create a plan and constantly track the progress.**
**Here is** **my downloadable** **metric tracking sheet.**
I set a goal, and then work backward from that goal. You’ll see we include everything in here from Hashtags and their usage, tech tools, assumptions on growth, the day to day postings to achieve this and conversion rates to the website. Fancy terms for making sure this actually turns into $$. Otherwise what are we doing really?

**Here are some guidelines:**
**Time frame:** 90 days. Anything past 90 days is hard to quantify and map out.
**Tracking:** Weekly.
**Growth rate:** I think you can expect healthy growth rate of somewhere between 10% to 40%. CSB has a weekly traffic growth of 37% and weekly follower growth of 40%.
**Follower count:** Create a follower goal for yourself.
Instagram growth is exponential rather than linear. This means that it is far easier to go from 10,000 followers to 12,000 followers than it is to go from 0 followers to 2,000 followers. So smile, breathe, and go slowly.
**Second, get the perfect Instagram username.**
**The username is our personal brand. There are two ways to do it.**
1. Use your name (or a like identifier) on Instagram
2. Use your brand’s name if your brand is more identifiable than your name.
**CSB uses codiesanchez because my brand: Codie Sanchez is also my name. Bet that one blew your mind. ;)**

**Third, nail down the perfect bio.**
Your bio is the only place you can add a link. Utilize it. (I prefer a lead page to be linked so I can also grow my email list from a company like www.sumome.com or www.leadpages.com).

**The perfect Instagram bio has the following elements:**
1. A short, punchy description of what you do.
2. An identifier of who you do it for. And why it is so rad.
3. A strong all to action. Aka make a $100k in your footed pj's --> click here.
4. Emojis. I love Emojis. And there is evidence they catch the eye. It's science.
5. A strong, trackable bio link.
6. Bonus: Social proof.
**Fourth, track your Instagram traffic**
So how did I track our Instagram traffic when Instagram does not let me track it? (Actually now they do, you can convert your page to a business page on IG and they give you reporting).
**Step 1: Set Up a UTM Source Code.**
What is a UTM source code? It is a bunch of text you put at the end of your URL to see where your traffic is coming from. And it's super easy.
For example, CSB’s URL is https://codiesanchez.com
If I wanted to track how much traffic is coming from Instagram, I simply add:
https://codiesanchez.com?src=instagram.
**Step 2: Shorten your trackable link with a URL shortener.**
Why? Because Instagram bio only allows 150 characters.
**Here are a few that do the trick:**
Pretty Link - highly recommend. Because it's pretty, aka not a bunch of letters like codiesanchez/asldaoenun52.23
Bit.ly
Clkim
**Step 3: Monitor Your Instagram Traffic in Google Analytics.**
You won’t see it in your Audience Overview. You have to do a bit of digging - but don’t worry, it’s not too complicated.
**First, open up Google Analytics.** Then, on the left under the Reporting tab, press Behavior.
Under Behavior, expand Site Content, and then click on Landing Pages:
From there, you can search "Instagram" or any identifier you used in your UTM codes:
Then, you’ll be able to see the traffic from Instagram in your Google Analytics dashboard.

**Step 4: Monitor Your Instagram Influence with Klear**
The Oracle at Delphi said the most important thing one can do is Know Thyself. That is true in Instagram and social media as well. After all it is just a different way to communicate. So I use Klear to track my influence level. (There are quite a few more of these now, just google influencer marketing platforms). What get's measured gets managed, said Peter Drucker so manage that ish.

Question 3: How did I grow my Instagram following?
Here are the 5 free strategies I found:
**Strategy 1: Share for Shares.**
This is when you identify similar accounts that reach the audience you want to reach (and vice versa) and you both post a Call to Action post to follow the other account and they do the same. It's a great way to cross-pollinate accounts. I typically just DM them and ask if they want to do a S4S and off to the races. (If you want our step by step process for finding people and pinging them... tell me on twitter @codie_sanchez or IG on @codiesanchez and we'll create it)>
**Strategy 2: Follow/Unfollow**
This just works. I utilize the tool Instagress for this as it can be a time waster. You simply setup parameters and then the bot follows, comments and unfollows people for you based on similar or targeted accounts. I know, this feels kind of spammy. BUT You have to think about it this way, if your mission is to get your content in front of the broadest reach because you believe it is going to help people immensely than this is simply a tool to do that. Also - don't believe the people that say, oh I my 300k followers they just came and I like totally I dunno didn't even try it must because I am awesome. Lies.
**Strategy 3: Using relevant hashtags.**
I like doing my hashtags in the 2nd comment so that the hashtags won't distract my readers. Also I keep these in my notes on my iphone and simply copy and paste them each time. Use four bullets dropped down (like below) this hides your comment so it looks like this [...] as opposed to seeing 50 hashtags. DOWNLOAD my guide to see how I pick hashtags, crucial.

**Strategy 4: Be strategic in your posting with a calendar.**
How you do this is through using a tool like Later. It is used by over 600,000 of the largest instagram users to schedule and plan their content. With those you can pre-plan your layouts and actually see what your feed looks like with their tools. You can also be sure to capitalize on holidays, events and world news by planning your posts in advance. This allows you to operate from a place of thoughtfulness when writing and pepper in spur of the moment posts. FULL DISCLOSURE: I suck at this. I'm working on it.
**Strategy 5: Leverage Larger Followings**
Every time I buy a product I love, meet a human I love, am at a hotel I love, h*ll anytime I love anything I give it virtual love on my instagram. Often times these brands and people will share your love with their followers. Thus tag brands constantly, create a tribe of things and people you love and watch what happens when they repost you.
Here’s how to do it organically:
**1. Engage with the users you are already following.** Like the posts in your feed, leave a comment on something you like, and message the people who resonate with you. (Or better yet outsource a member of your team or use PeoplePerHour to find people in other countries at lower prices).
**2. Engage with users who are following your “competition”.** Simple visit your competition’s followers’ accounts, and leave a comment on their posts. This will help your new audiences know about you.
IF you don’t know who your competition is and how you stack up use FanPage Karma it will compare your competition across Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. You can use it to push reports to you weekly and send alerts.

**3. Engage with the people who use relevant hashtags.** Look up hashtags that are relevant to your industry and engage with the posts that are under that hashtags. Ultimately this is just another way to have a conversation. No one likes getting spoken AT they want to be heard too, so apply that to your instagram convos.
BONUS: The 3 Paid Ways of Getting More Followers:
**Strategy 1: Pay for big accounts to shout you out.**
Yes. S4S is a free way to get more followers, if you work with accounts around a similar size as yours to make it far. But if you wanted to work with accounts that are much larger than yours, you can get them to shout you out.
This is where you pay authoritative accounts in my industry to perform a “shoutout” (expect about $5-$75+ depending on the size of the account and the volume of shoutouts you pay for). I've had mixed experience with this, it can help a lot in the beginning but experiment with it before you shell out major cash.
**Strategy 2: Pay for Larger Accounts to Post a Screenshot of your account.**
This is an even more effective way to get more followers because there is no mistaking these posts – the sole purpose of them is to drive followers to your account.
Expect to pay anywhere from $40 -$150 per screenshot to see 50-250 new followers or more.
**Strategy 3: Pay for Ads**
What I like about this option is it is one of the very few ways you can get people to follow you AND to go to your website. It is important you understand how to determine your target audience here but there is only one way to learn, Do. So go try it.
Question 4: How Do I Drive Traffic Back to My Website?
With Instagram, there are simply two things I did to drive traffic back to CSB website.
**1. My Bio Link**
**2. Call to Action Posts.**
Here’s how I do it:

**With my bio link, I update the link with every new blog post.**

**With my call to action post, I talk about my blog post every time it goes live.**

Question 5: How do I convert our followers to create an automated traffic machine?
**Let’s face this: Traffic is useless if it doesn’t convert.**
I don’t want our followers to visit my website once and then leave, because, there is a high chance that they won’t come back. I want my email list to grow substantially through Instagram. So, here is how I convert that traffic to grow our email list and therefore our income:
**Step 1: Give my Instagram visitors an offer they can't refuse (like that Godfather reference??).**

Dozens of websites are vying for their attention every day, and almost all of them are asking for their email addresses. Therefore, I need to set myself apart. So I offer them a content that they could hardly resist.
**Those are:**
- Entrepreneur books
- Apps and tools that everyone needs
- Monday Slay – Our 5 tips to conquer the week
- Weekly ways to do more in less time
- And lots of added snark.
**Step 2: Create Opt-In Opportunities Specific To Your Instagram Followers.**
This is where Welcome Mat comes from.

Essentially it scrolls down from the top as a LARGE call to action, sort of like your welcome mat at your day draws in your guests eyes. So too does this virtual version. Because Instagram is a visual platform, we decided to use a Mat with a visual component, rather than a template with a black background.
Also, instead of using a generic image, I use the image of the offer I am giving away when you click the link to purchase. See the example live here.
Click here to learn more about the Welcome Mat we use.
So my friends... if you didn't know before, now you know. I'd love to hear your stories on what works and doesn't for you. I'm not pro-scriptive, I'm into personally-scriptive. That is, find the prescription that works for you.
Love you animals,
Codie

More Ideas Like This Straight to YOU!

Sign up with your email address to receive all the hotness.
Email Address Sign Up
We don't spam, that's rude.
Thank you!

Screen Shot 2017-02-18 at 5.02.47 PM.png — **Don't be afraid to ask for what you want** Feb 24, 2017

You just might get it...
(Repost from My article in Business Collective)
**Meet Codie Sanchez Baker, Entrepreneur, Investor and Speaker at CSB LLC**
**Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want – the more no’s you get, the closer you are to a yes.**
*International investment head, speaker, writer, entrepreneur & investor. Head of Latin American Investments for* *First Trust. CEO & Founder of* *CSB LLC. Follow her* *@codie_sanchez*.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
**I’m a bit of a renegade at heart so I have always been a Christopher Hitchens fan** (author of “Letters to A Young Contrarian”). Less because of his actual viewpoints, many of which I disagree with, but because it is such an uncomfortable position to go against the grain and he does it for a living. Every time I find myself moving with the crowd, I make myself pause and rethink my situation. I credit this practice to reading that book at a very young age. It has led me to ask the question, “How would I do it if it were easy?” Importantly, it has also taught me to hold my internal standard in everything I do, regardless of whether it is convenient or not. The old adage “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything” rings true for me.

**What’s the single best piece of business advice (unorthodox tips welcome!) that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?**
**Always ask for what you want;** the worst that anyone can do is say no. Asking questions, knowing what you want and pushing through the fear to ask for it has been at the center of my growth. As I continue to refine my questions, I get more of what I want. And the cycle repeats.
Surprisingly, I often learn more from the no’s than the yes’s. I think most things in life are a number’s game, so I try to collect no’s like people collect medals. Every no gets you closer to someone who will say yes. The only caveat I’ll make here is that I try to give something in every encounter I have. If all you do is ask for things from other people, you are not aligning your karma very well. So you should always ask for what you want while keeping in mind what you can do for the other person. How can you create a virtuous circle with your asks where everyone wins?
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
**My biggest mistake was thinking I had to do what everyone else was doing, that I had to fit into a box.** For some reason, we’ve all agreed to the social construct of a 9-to-5 job. Why? I have no idea. Many of us do “our time” in an office building replete with padded cubicle walls and hot air balloon posters of a multi-cultural team. How bizarre when you think about it.
This idea of a 9-to-5 workday was first proposed in 1810 by the labor party. So we haven’t found a better way in 200 years? Even Henry Ford lessened his producers’ work from 12-14 hours to 8 because it increased productivity. So whatever your path, you’ve unknowingly agreed to this construct. But are you paid specifically to be present at your desk from 9 to 5? Is your job title “On Location for 8 Hours Associate”? I doubt it. Your job is related to what you do, not how long it takes you to do it.
If my team can do in four hours what other teams do in eight, all the better. The rest of the time should be theirs to grow, engage and become better humans. To go far, understand that just because everyone does it, it doesn’t mean it’s right. And you will go far much sooner than I did.

**Read my article here ->** **I Threw Away All My Suits & Found My Corporate Stride**
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
My home is more often than not an airport or a hotel, so a set structure is challenging for me. Here’s my daily drill for when I’m not traveling:
**Up at 6 a.m. every morning, I start with a cup of Pinon coffee and coconut oil that I take outside to meditate for 10 minutes and spend two minutes wrapped up in gratitude for all I have.** Fully refreshed, I use the first two hours of the day for “deep work.” This means the strategic work that I have to think through, not responding to emails or calls. Then I do one or two things I REALLY do not want to do, i.e. a cold call, a difficult task, etc. so that it doesn’t hang over me all day. With my day kicked off the right way, I hop into the rest of the day.
As Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets managed.” I use an app called Way of Life to track how frequently I keep my morning routine. Over the past nine months, it turns out I follow this routine about 57% of the time. Next year I’d really like to up that percentage.

**What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?**
I talk my people through how to save up front and get as much as possible for free or trade. With this lack of pressure due to debt, we can take a two-step validation process through sales. First, tackle how to mine your current clients, or the people you already know, and use them as a testing ground. Secondly, and only after you have mined your personal network for real sales with dollars committed, you can go after strangers. **A cold call is always harder than a warm lead.** Once you have an understanding of the demand for your product, you can start spending, but it is always easier to spend more and then go back and try to save or cut costs you shouldn’t have made in the first place.
**Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?**
**Take out your iPhone right now and set a reminder for every morning that says, “Is this necessary?”** or “Am I being productive or just busy?” Focusing on the wrong tasks can murder your business and career. It’s not about being the most efficient person; it’s being the most effective. Instead of focusing only on the things in front of you, strategically cut out everything that isn’t necessary and you’ll be amazed by what happens. Get really comfortable with those two questions and using the word “no.” When you are asked to do something, make sure it aligns with your goals and is the BEST way you can be spending your time, not just a GOOD way.
Most entrepreneurs are type-A personalities who absolutely love a good to-do list and feeling like they accomplished a lot at the end of the day. The problem with that is you can accomplish a ton of stuff that absolutely doesn’t matter. It can be very painful to go through this process of simplification and even more painful to stick to it, but if you can, momentum will build and the big wins will drown out all of the small incremental wins you would have had with the wrong focus.

“Most entrepreneurs are type-A personalities who absolutely love a good to-do list and feeling like they accomplished a lot at the end of the day.”

**What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?**
**My definition of success is getting paid what I want, to do what I want, where I want, how I want and with the people I want.** Pretty tall order, huh? But in truth that is my definition of success. It is not having $100 million in cash, or a NYT bestseller, or 50 million followers, or monuments, or power, or a Fortune 500 company, or $1 billion in company revenue. It is simply having the freedom to surround myself with the people, activities, setting and type of work that feeds my soul and allows me to give back through my unique skill set. My business is simply a mechanism to achieve those things and leave a footprint for those I can help through the skills I believe were uniquely bestowed on me.

“Success is simply having the freedom to surround myself with the people, activities, setting and type of work that feeds my soul and allows me to give back through my unique skill set.”

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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Screen Shot 2017-02-18 at 5.07.18 PM.png — **Don't be afraid to ask for what you want** Feb 24, 2017

You just might get it...
(Repost from My article in Business Collective)
**Meet Codie Sanchez Baker, Entrepreneur, Investor and Speaker at CSB LLC**
**Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want – the more no’s you get, the closer you are to a yes.**
*International investment head, speaker, writer, entrepreneur & investor. Head of Latin American Investments for* *First Trust. CEO & Founder of* *CSB LLC. Follow her* *@codie_sanchez*.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
**I’m a bit of a renegade at heart so I have always been a Christopher Hitchens fan** (author of “Letters to A Young Contrarian”). Less because of his actual viewpoints, many of which I disagree with, but because it is such an uncomfortable position to go against the grain and he does it for a living. Every time I find myself moving with the crowd, I make myself pause and rethink my situation. I credit this practice to reading that book at a very young age. It has led me to ask the question, “How would I do it if it were easy?” Importantly, it has also taught me to hold my internal standard in everything I do, regardless of whether it is convenient or not. The old adage “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything” rings true for me.

**What’s the single best piece of business advice (unorthodox tips welcome!) that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?**
**Always ask for what you want;** the worst that anyone can do is say no. Asking questions, knowing what you want and pushing through the fear to ask for it has been at the center of my growth. As I continue to refine my questions, I get more of what I want. And the cycle repeats.
Surprisingly, I often learn more from the no’s than the yes’s. I think most things in life are a number’s game, so I try to collect no’s like people collect medals. Every no gets you closer to someone who will say yes. The only caveat I’ll make here is that I try to give something in every encounter I have. If all you do is ask for things from other people, you are not aligning your karma very well. So you should always ask for what you want while keeping in mind what you can do for the other person. How can you create a virtuous circle with your asks where everyone wins?
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
**My biggest mistake was thinking I had to do what everyone else was doing, that I had to fit into a box.** For some reason, we’ve all agreed to the social construct of a 9-to-5 job. Why? I have no idea. Many of us do “our time” in an office building replete with padded cubicle walls and hot air balloon posters of a multi-cultural team. How bizarre when you think about it.
This idea of a 9-to-5 workday was first proposed in 1810 by the labor party. So we haven’t found a better way in 200 years? Even Henry Ford lessened his producers’ work from 12-14 hours to 8 because it increased productivity. So whatever your path, you’ve unknowingly agreed to this construct. But are you paid specifically to be present at your desk from 9 to 5? Is your job title “On Location for 8 Hours Associate”? I doubt it. Your job is related to what you do, not how long it takes you to do it.
If my team can do in four hours what other teams do in eight, all the better. The rest of the time should be theirs to grow, engage and become better humans. To go far, understand that just because everyone does it, it doesn’t mean it’s right. And you will go far much sooner than I did.

**Read my article here ->** **I Threw Away All My Suits & Found My Corporate Stride**
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
My home is more often than not an airport or a hotel, so a set structure is challenging for me. Here’s my daily drill for when I’m not traveling:
**Up at 6 a.m. every morning, I start with a cup of Pinon coffee and coconut oil that I take outside to meditate for 10 minutes and spend two minutes wrapped up in gratitude for all I have.** Fully refreshed, I use the first two hours of the day for “deep work.” This means the strategic work that I have to think through, not responding to emails or calls. Then I do one or two things I REALLY do not want to do, i.e. a cold call, a difficult task, etc. so that it doesn’t hang over me all day. With my day kicked off the right way, I hop into the rest of the day.
As Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets managed.” I use an app called Way of Life to track how frequently I keep my morning routine. Over the past nine months, it turns out I follow this routine about 57% of the time. Next year I’d really like to up that percentage.

**What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?**
I talk my people through how to save up front and get as much as possible for free or trade. With this lack of pressure due to debt, we can take a two-step validation process through sales. First, tackle how to mine your current clients, or the people you already know, and use them as a testing ground. Secondly, and only after you have mined your personal network for real sales with dollars committed, you can go after strangers. **A cold call is always harder than a warm lead.** Once you have an understanding of the demand for your product, you can start spending, but it is always easier to spend more and then go back and try to save or cut costs you shouldn’t have made in the first place.
**Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?**
**Take out your iPhone right now and set a reminder for every morning that says, “Is this necessary?”** or “Am I being productive or just busy?” Focusing on the wrong tasks can murder your business and career. It’s not about being the most efficient person; it’s being the most effective. Instead of focusing only on the things in front of you, strategically cut out everything that isn’t necessary and you’ll be amazed by what happens. Get really comfortable with those two questions and using the word “no.” When you are asked to do something, make sure it aligns with your goals and is the BEST way you can be spending your time, not just a GOOD way.
Most entrepreneurs are type-A personalities who absolutely love a good to-do list and feeling like they accomplished a lot at the end of the day. The problem with that is you can accomplish a ton of stuff that absolutely doesn’t matter. It can be very painful to go through this process of simplification and even more painful to stick to it, but if you can, momentum will build and the big wins will drown out all of the small incremental wins you would have had with the wrong focus.

“Most entrepreneurs are type-A personalities who absolutely love a good to-do list and feeling like they accomplished a lot at the end of the day.”

**What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?**
**My definition of success is getting paid what I want, to do what I want, where I want, how I want and with the people I want.** Pretty tall order, huh? But in truth that is my definition of success. It is not having $100 million in cash, or a NYT bestseller, or 50 million followers, or monuments, or power, or a Fortune 500 company, or $1 billion in company revenue. It is simply having the freedom to surround myself with the people, activities, setting and type of work that feeds my soul and allows me to give back through my unique skill set. My business is simply a mechanism to achieve those things and leave a footprint for those I can help through the skills I believe were uniquely bestowed on me.

“Success is simply having the freedom to surround myself with the people, activities, setting and type of work that feeds my soul and allows me to give back through my unique skill set.”

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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Screen Shot 2017-02-18 at 5.24.25 PM.png — **#1 Reason You Aren't Getting What You Want.** Feb 23, 2017

#soyoucangetit
**My favorite homo-sapiens,**
**For those of you that aren't signed up for my Monday Slay Newsletter.. Here is a sample edition!his is my rant edition.. 5 bullets, no apps, all gold.**
**It hurts my heart, like literally makes it feel constricted in my chest.** Do you know that feeling of tightness? What hurts me? Watching people I love, hell and people I don't know, meander unhappily through life. It is the norm not the exception. So many of us have every opportunity but for some reason stuff just doesn't seem to go out way, we don't get what we want, we're unhappy, and we eventually just settle into it. Wtf. So let's pretend you already know what you want (start small). A new job, more money, a crazy kinda love, or just a new car. How to get it? **First - always always always always ask for what you want. BUT that is not enough it's in how you ask.**
Here's my secret to usually getting what I want or even better what I need.
**Give First**
**Before I ever ask for something, I give.** I abide by the 10x principle. I attempt to give 10x the value of anything I take. How to apply? Play the long game. Your next meeting/email with your husband, boss, potential employer bring something to them. Aka instead of... I'd like you to hire me email, do a little research on them and their company or an opportunity. If you want a gig at a salon, research their kind of ideal customer, put together a plan on how you are going to go after hipsters, with tattoos, between ages of 25-35 by partnering with a local tattoo shop in a hip neighborhood with a referral program, as well as through customer before and after client pics with mustache cutouts and props like you see at weddings, that you'll tag on your blog and Facebook with your hysterical sense of humor. **You're giving the salon a solution to a growth problem.** How many others do that? NONE. I'd hire that hair stylist.

“Before I ever ask for something, I give. I abide by the 10x principle. I attempt to give 10x the value of anything I take.”

Specific Asks
I'm not a big deal at all, and **Even I** get about 3-5 emails a day asking for help. Which I love. But if your email says, can you help me be successful, can you mentor me, can you teach me how you got to where you are. **I'm calling you out. Why? It is SO not specific and all of our time is limited.** Ask me instead something like, "I'm a writer I want to get published, where would you start?"
I have no idea what it means to be a mentor except to do your thinking for you. You could say I'd love to meet for coffee for 20min to get your opinion on how to better build my personal brand. I might still say no if you haven't given me something first. **So better yet, come to me with an idea on how you can help me, that's how you actually get a mentor.**

“Ask me instead, I’m a writer I want to get published, where would you start? I have no idea what it means to be a mentor except to do your thinking for you. ”

Get Curious
**I have this magical tool that is so powerful it can do almost anything for you with one click.**
Want me to share? It's called Google. (Hehe sarcasm apparent?) Before your meeting, google it. I just turned down two people who want to work on my team, why? I told them to come to me with a proposal on why I should hire them and they went to one of my team members to ask them for all the answers. Lazy and stupid. Of course, my employee is going to tell me. Surprise me with your intel, try to show me you actually want to work, don't just bother me or the person you want something from with "hey just checking in." Uh ok. Thanks? Instead send them intel they might not have. Prove your worth not your ability to pester.

“ Surprise me with your intel, try to show me you actually want to work, don’t just bother me or the person you want something from with “hey just checking in.””

Meet 1 New Person A Week

Colton (are you reading?). Nothing like calling out your bro via email. I challenged him to try to schedule a meeting with one interesting random person a week. That's how I met Gloria Estefan, the President of Spain, was on Tv for Telemundo & People, hung w/ Wimhoff and Orlando Jones, more CEOs than I can name and the list goes on. I'm not special just process oriented.
Be Brief
Finally - **when opportunity strikes be the first to end the convo**. Always. It's like a hot chick at the bar, leave her wanting more.
**Love you animals,**
Codie

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**#1 Reason You Aren't Getting What You Want.** Feb 23, 2017

#soyoucangetit
**My favorite homo-sapiens,**
**For those of you that aren't signed up for my Monday Slay Newsletter.. Here is a sample edition!his is my rant edition.. 5 bullets, no apps, all gold.**
**It hurts my heart, like literally makes it feel constricted in my chest.** Do you know that feeling of tightness? What hurts me? Watching people I love, hell and people I don't know, meander unhappily through life. It is the norm not the exception. So many of us have every opportunity but for some reason stuff just doesn't seem to go out way, we don't get what we want, we're unhappy, and we eventually just settle into it. Wtf. So let's pretend you already know what you want (start small). A new job, more money, a crazy kinda love, or just a new car. How to get it? **First - always always always always ask for what you want. BUT that is not enough it's in how you ask.**
Here's my secret to usually getting what I want or even better what I need.
**Give First**
**Before I ever ask for something, I give.** I abide by the 10x principle. I attempt to give 10x the value of anything I take. How to apply? Play the long game. Your next meeting/email with your husband, boss, potential employer bring something to them. Aka instead of... I'd like you to hire me email, do a little research on them and their company or an opportunity. If you want a gig at a salon, research their kind of ideal customer, put together a plan on how you are going to go after hipsters, with tattoos, between ages of 25-35 by partnering with a local tattoo shop in a hip neighborhood with a referral program, as well as through customer before and after client pics with mustache cutouts and props like you see at weddings, that you'll tag on your blog and Facebook with your hysterical sense of humor. **You're giving the salon a solution to a growth problem.** How many others do that? NONE. I'd hire that hair stylist.

“Before I ever ask for something, I give. I abide by the 10x principle. I attempt to give 10x the value of anything I take.”

Specific Asks
I'm not a big deal at all, and **Even I** get about 3-5 emails a day asking for help. Which I love. But if your email says, can you help me be successful, can you mentor me, can you teach me how you got to where you are. **I'm calling you out. Why? It is SO not specific and all of our time is limited.** Ask me instead something like, "I'm a writer I want to get published, where would you start?"
I have no idea what it means to be a mentor except to do your thinking for you. You could say I'd love to meet for coffee for 20min to get your opinion on how to better build my personal brand. I might still say no if you haven't given me something first. **So better yet, come to me with an idea on how you can help me, that's how you actually get a mentor.**

“Ask me instead, I’m a writer I want to get published, where would you start? I have no idea what it means to be a mentor except to do your thinking for you. ”

Get Curious
**I have this magical tool that is so powerful it can do almost anything for you with one click.**
Want me to share? It's called Google. (Hehe sarcasm apparent?) Before your meeting, google it. I just turned down two people who want to work on my team, why? I told them to come to me with a proposal on why I should hire them and they went to one of my team members to ask them for all the answers. Lazy and stupid. Of course, my employee is going to tell me. Surprise me with your intel, try to show me you actually want to work, don't just bother me or the person you want something from with "hey just checking in." Uh ok. Thanks? Instead send them intel they might not have. Prove your worth not your ability to pester.

“ Surprise me with your intel, try to show me you actually want to work, don’t just bother me or the person you want something from with “hey just checking in.””

Meet 1 New Person A Week

Colton (are you reading?). Nothing like calling out your bro via email. I challenged him to try to schedule a meeting with one interesting random person a week. That's how I met Gloria Estefan, the President of Spain, was on Tv for Telemundo & People, hung w/ Wimhoff and Orlando Jones, more CEOs than I can name and the list goes on. I'm not special just process oriented.
Be Brief
Finally - **when opportunity strikes be the first to end the convo**. Always. It's like a hot chick at the bar, leave her wanting more.
**Love you animals,**
Codie

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**Dominate Powerpoint: Tom Jamieson Founder Slidebot** Feb 09, 2017
Say Ciao To Boring Pie Charts..
& Hello to Auto PowerPoints
Written by Codie Sanchez Baker

““Make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them.””

— Seth Godin

As you all know I love nothing more than **a super actionable breakdown from an expert in their space**, not to mention I like telling the future. Well **Tom Jamieson Co-founder of Slidebot** kind of does just that. Slidebot is AI for powerpoints. Just imagine NEVER having to put together a powerpoint again (I kid you not I am using it right now). You see, Tom and his brother Ned have seen their fair share of presentations, think in the tens of thousands. #deathbypowerpoint

“There are 20 million powerpoint presentations created a day, I beat 19.9 million of them are awful. ”

— Tom Jamieson

**So if you are looking to perfect your pitch, want to nail your next presentation or have your eye on a Ted Talk this bad boy is for you.** Since I'm told most people fear #1 public speaking and #2 death.. this will be a great fear conquering activity for you.
Three Key Takeaways:
- Pictures of eyes correlate to higher retention rates
- People remember visual content 65% better than verbal content
- Facts are 20x more likely to be remembered if they are part of a story
**Some of our mutual favorite powerpoint presentations nailed:**
Brene Brown
Amy Cuddy
If you just want to hear his prediction that blew my mind fast forward to the end. Mind blown.
**So my dears without further ado - I hope you dig this episode with Tom Jamieson of Slidebot!**

www.slidebot.io

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? — Listen to my broadcast on Girl Power Hour Radio. Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

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**A Seat At The Table Beats A Sign Outside the Building** Jan 31, 2017
30 Day Conscious Consumer Challenge
#Consume4Change
Written by Codie Sanchez

How to Turn Protest into Progress
**Put Your Plastic Where Your Purpose Is**
All around the world we see protest, signs held aloft, voices raised, and people telling us what they stand against, but not always showing us what they stand for. Believe me I get it ...

**This is me 15 years ago organizing a rally at my school.** I had a rallying cry, I called the local radio station for coverage and I held a reconciliation council with our principal, after orchestrating a walkout. My poor mother and her gray hairs. **I know there is extreme power in standing outside the crowd and speaking your truth.**
So, this week as I watched millions of humans march across the world, I got goosebumps. I felt sad to miss seeing the signs held aloft. I went back and watched MLK’s I Have A Dream Speech and the thousands marching in solidarity for the same foundational idea so many years ago. American pride exuded from my very pores. Then this week we've all been inundated with social media commentary on both sides of the aisle.
But the problem is.. Regardless of what issues you stand behind, **I believe we need more than protest.. we need progress, and I'm not sure we are getting it.**

“I believe we need more than protest.. we need progress, and I’m not sure we are getting it.”

Look at the Occupy Wall Street movement, as a member of Wall Street who worked at Goldman Sachs during the crisis, I can say with some confidence that they did not truly achieve their goals. I recall them picketing outside our office in 2008. I remember looking down on them from stories above as my colleagues watched for a moment before going back to work. **Whether right or wrong, they held our attention for an instant… but ultimately they were outside the building, they didn’t have a seat at our table.**
Flash forward to today.. Where are those that camped across the world against the 1%? Are they working at a bank perhaps? Maybe not, but I'd wager they are banking at one.
Now their fight wasn’t mine but I see a cycle of progress-less protest repeating, and my next logical question is where will the millions who wore pink hats this week be in a year?
Obviously, pink adorned celebrity statement didn't influence an election. I doubt their protests (however eloquently re-tweetable) will influence our government. However much I love their music and art, we don’t follow their opinions for our electoral decisions. We humans don’t really like to be told what to do, by anyone. Ask your rebellious teenage children.
So whether you are a champion for women, veterans, gun rights, how do you actually enact change?
I would argue not with protest, but through the power of your purse and your paycheck. It starts with one simple question, whose kingdom are you building?

“I would argue not with protest, but through the power of your purse and your paycheck. It starts with one simple question, whose kingdom are you building? ”

**Government is Powerful but Enterprise is more Powerful.**
Whether you are a housewife, student, employee, or executive, you can affect massive change by targeting the lifeblood of capitalism, democracy, America and power... money.
Companies are what back candidates, companies are what allow candidates self-funding to propel to positions of power. The truth is that government is powerful but enterprise is more powerful.Cut off cashflow, redirect revenue, align assets and the power shifts. Media, social media or otherwise, is not the way. Money is the way. But how do you do so?
The average American spends $55k a year. What if we redirected IT?
**US CONSUMERS BUYING POWER IS $11 TRILLION**
Women drive 70-80% of consumer purchases*
Women in the US have $8-9 trillion of annual household buying power**
Women represent 47% of the US labor force
Latinos represent $1.7 trillion of annual buying power ***
Latinas are the fastest growing entrepreneurial group
Latinos are 17% of the US population
Millennials have $600 billion of buying power ****
50% of millennials want to start a company in the next 5 years
I would propose three steps to progress.
Step 1: Tell Me What You Are FOR Not AGAINST
This isn’t just for the pink hatted, this is for the military supporters, this is for the gay rights supporters, this for the women’s rights or the pro-life right supporters. **My opinion is worth no more than yours in the issue you choose, but you must decide what you stand for.**
What will you support?
Step 2: Whose Kingdom Are You Building?

“You by working for your company are helping to build that kingdom, make sure you believe in what you are building. Your life force is going into it, is there any more powerful force?”

Now you must ask yourself a tough question. Whose kingdom are you building? If you are willing to post on social media, to hold signs, to raise your voice in debate, are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?
We as Americans work 34.4 hours on average a week, or 1720 hours week. We are the most productive nation in the world. **So when you look at the company you work for, what values do they hold? AND are they aligned with yours?** Are you working for a company that sells sugar laden products when you fight for healthy eating? Or for a manager that doesn’t promote women but you are a man with daughters? Or are you an adaptive and your company won’t invest in accessible workplaces? If so, what are you willing to do about it? Whether it is quitting, pushing for change, hiring more diverse members or raising your voice, will you speak the language of power? Money.
You by working for your company are helping to build that kingdom, make sure you believe in what you are building. Your life force is going into it, is there any more powerful force?
Step 3: The Power of The Purse

“What if you decided to become conscious of where you bought? What if instead of lobbying/posting you put your trillions of spending power to work? ”

What does every company need to survive? Customers. You are the most important aspect of every company. Without users, customers, clients, they crumble. **So what if you decided to become conscious of where you bought?** What if instead of lobbying only you put your trillions of spending power to work? When you go to buy a coffee, which company do you go to? When you buy clothing do you buy them from an international fast fashion company or do you buy them from a made in the US company who supports veterans? What about when you invest your money, can you do it at a women owned firm? How about your car? That’s a big purchase. Who is your realtor? Just the best, or the best with purpose? **What if instead of thinking of just the cost of the price tag we thought of the cost to our society.**
That’s where my challenge comes in….
TAKE ACTION: 30 Day Conscious Consumer Challenge
For 30 days, can you be conscious about everything you buy. I’m going to. For the next 30 days I will try to only buy from the below types of companies. When I fail, I will be conscious of it, and I will document it...
For me I will support:
Founders I know and believe in (Support my trusted humans first)
Small businesses (Support local and non-franchise first)
Minority owned businesses w/ an emphasis on Latino’s, women and veterans
Purpose driven companies. (Support businesses that believe in more than profits)
**Before you say well that would be easy..**
**Think about it, airlines, hotels, gas, cars, insurance, apps on our phone, technology, food, restaurants, gifts, flowers, clothes.** The average American spends $55k a year. How much more is that than you could ever donate to a political cause?

“The average American spends $55k a year. How much more is that than you could ever donate to a political cause?”

If you want to join the movement of 30 Day Conscious Consumer Challenge, CLICK HERE to subscribe to updates and comment below your name and the causes you stand for. We'll be building a list of where we buy and the stories of others who are joining the movement. Also tweet or tag us on instagram (@codiesanchez) twitter (@codie_sanchez) with #Consume4Change.
PROGRESS NOT ONLY PROTEST
Love you animals,

Codie
----------
Sources:
* http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridgetbrennan/2015/01/21/top-10-things-everyone-should-know-about-women-consumers/
**http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/buying-power-women-us
*** https://www.statista.com/statistics/251438/hispanics-buying-power-in-the-us/
**** https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-outlook-who-are-millennial-shoppers-what-do-they-really-want-retail

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**Selling: The Art of Closing Deals w/ Kim Orlesky** Jan 19, 2017
Written by Codie Sanchez

Sick and Tired of Cold-calls and Emails Gone Unanswered?
Whew, then this podcast w/ Kim Orlesky - Author, Sales Savant & B*d A$$ Chicks Is For You!
As a saleswoman at heart, having @KimOrlesky on my podcast, the ultimate saleswoman, who has been able to land names on her podcast like Grant Cardone, Guy Kawasaki, Nathan Chan was like unleashing a nerdy teenager at a Comic festival. Kim has made a living out of teaching others, particularly entrepreneurs, how to take their ideas and turn it into actual cash flow. You see the funny thing that most business people realize after they get out of marketing classes and into the game of marketing, is that nothing really sells itself. As I've said before if you build it, they will not come. You have to go find them and drag them in despite themselves. Consumers are drowning in a sea of choice and confusion. As a salesperson or a business owner, understanding how to create a sales pipeline, which CRM (client relationship management) software is best, how to define the right prospects, how to create a sales funnel, or when to take No as a No and walk away, is akin to finding the holy grail.

Because as my favorite CEO says, without sales there is nothing. Without sales there are no taxes for accountants to account on, no legal work for legal to attorney away for, no administration for administrators to, well you get the deal. First you get the sales, then you get the lifeblood pumping through the organization. Enough from me, let's hear it from the Master Kim Orlesky on straight closing.
**In the podcast, we talk about:**
**1. Her favorite sales funnels and how to close the deals that matter**
**2. How to sell anyone on anything**
**3. The easiest mistakes to avoid as a salesperson that you never thought of**
**4. The one thing you can do now, to increase your sales**

“If we use the prospect’s personal belief, and tie it into where they want to be: that ideal state or how much better their life will be when they purchase your product or service, you will be able to capture the prospect’s attention better.”

— Kim Orlesky

www.kimorlesky.com
**So without further ado I hope you dig deep into this podcast with Kim Orlesky.**

For more on Kim Orlesky:
Her books:
***Finding (My)Self (Love): One Girl's Journey of 17 Countries Across 4 Continents in 6 Months***
***How to Be a Nomad: Go from Business Suit to World Backpacker***
Read her articleshere

To stream and subscribe on iTunes, click on the icon above, or click here. Want to hear another podcast about how to find your why and passion? But hen making it profitable, --> Here I talk about 5 steps to finding what you want and then executing.

Subscribe, Bro.

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Turn Your Story Into Profits & Purpose Jan 05, 2017

You Have A Story, You Have A Purpose, Let's Share It...

By Codie Sanchez Baker

How to let the moments that created you drive you forward...

Write Your Story Now.. 5 Steps to Aligning Your Life --> http://bit.ly/codiesanchez

I remember the moment it all changed for me, when I realized that life is too short to live small and that we each have a unique skill we were meant to share with the world.

“Life is too short to live small.”

It's scary to share who you are, why you do what you do, and add in those moments you aren't so proud of, but that shaped you. There's a unique blend of not wanting to be ego driven in declaring yourself and also wanting to hold yourself accountable to holding your standard high by doing just that, declaring yourself.

There is also the real acknowledgement that am I at the top of the summit? H*ll no! Am I saying I'm something great and amazing, ummm negative. What I am saying is that I wouldn't switch my life for any other, and I'm d*mn curious to see where it leads. The beauty of that is, I'm nothing special but I'm living a life that I love. Are there problems? YES! But when it comes to business, my journey to weave together passion + profits + purpose, I'm a pretty happy camper. The beauty is, if I can do any of this, I don't know a human that cannot.

“The beauty is, if I can do any of this, I don’t know a human that cannot.”

I remember my moment… before any of my money, success, travel or titles.. I was a journalist. I traveled in Mexico, writing about the brutal mutilation of women in Juarez, to narcos in Tijuana, to rape centers in Agua Prieta. It was heavy stuff to see as a 20 year old, and the last story I wrote changed my life. From there, I realized I can't live a common life no matter how humble my beginnings.

You see my secret is, I’m nothing special.

“You see my secret is, I’m nothing special.”

I’m a public school kid, before I went to Georgetown and Goldman Sachs, before I ran a multi-million dollar company, before I was an investor closing my first big deal, and before I traveled the world speaking and consulting at age 30, I didn’t come from money. My father is from immigrants and didn’t go to college, and my mom is a 30-year special education teacher. I had to think long and hard about how you make change without power. I've spent the last years like the investigative journalist I was, documenting every step of my climb through Corporate America and Finance. I’ve interviewed hundreds of execs, psychologists, leaders, and change makers, seeking out those at the highest pinnacles to learn their ways. Now I share with you because, my why is to bring more humans like you, who want to make an impact, into the epi-centers of power, and money.

Here's my story.. I'm curious to hear yours.. I'm curious to start talking about moments. The moments that defined your life, that led you to drive more. What was your MOMENT? And did you follow it?