Emanuel Cinca’s Post

Wonder if this one will ruffle some feathers… Day 18 of 33 where I share my top 33 business and marketing lessons. Lesson 1️⃣8️⃣: If you know English and have Internet access, you already have access to all the knowledge you need to succeed. This one usually splits the world into two… One part has to learn English as a second language, and depending on their age, come from a time when Internet access was not a given… They will usually agree with me. The other part comes from an English-speaking country and grew up with the Internet, but hasn’t “made it” so it can’t be that simple, can it? Well, read it again carefully: Just because it gives you access to the knowledge, doesn’t mean it’s sufficient to succeed. Of course, financial security, a supportive environment, and some luck are all useful… But I truly believe that with English and Internet access, anyone can work their way into above-average financial results, relative to their location. “Relative to their location” is important context. You have a different starting point if you are US-born and raised than if you are Romanian-born and raised. English and Internet access have given many people across the world some wonderful opportunities, and I’m just one of many. – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 15 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 15 days.

“Whooah, we're half way there”... OK, technically we’re just over half way there. Lesson 1️⃣7️⃣: You don't need to have a calendar full of meetings to be productive. I am shocked I have to say this but I’ve seen too many associate productivity and “being busy” with having a calendar full of meetings. I consider this my least controversial lesson but I’ve seen enough that I think it’s worth sharing. Just because your calendar is full of meetings doesn’t mean you are productive. There’s actually a high chance you’re distracting yourself and your team from the actual work that has to be done. 🔷 My approach: I do meetings when I think are needed or when the other person or team I’m discussing things with thinks it’s best to have a meeting. My default is not to have a meeting. I think meetings are absolutely needed in some cases, but they should not be the default they are for some people. What’s your take? 👍 or 👎 for meetings? – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 16 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 16 days.

In case you can’t tell, I like structure. I could have shared all these 33 lessons more randomly but I like the 33 lessons in 33 days structure because it created a habit. So, on Day 16 of 33, here is… Lesson 1️⃣6️⃣: Fast-moving is often a nice way of saying chaotic. This applies to all those teams that say they’re fast-moving. The secret? Fast-moving teams rarely say they are fast-moving – they just move fast. The teams and companies that say they are fast-moving are often changing directions like the wind, have unreasonable expectations, and chaos rules the business. If there’s a “fast-moving” company you want to work with, I’d strongly suggest digging more into whether they are truly fast-moving and chaotic. Some ways you can figure things out: 🟦 Are they on time for meetings? 🟦 Are they keeping up with their suggested timeline? 🟦 Are they clear in expectations? 🟦 Do they change the scope or deadlines of tasks frequently? 🟦 Are they open about actual challenges and inefficiencies in their company? If you’re someone who thrives in chaos, you can use this lesson to work in that environment. But if you don’t like chaos, be wary of “fast-moving” companies. – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 17 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 17 days.

Day 15 of 33 of sharing the top lessons I learned from building Stacked Marketer from 0 to 100,000 subscribers and over $2.5M in revenue. Lesson 1️⃣5️⃣: Understanding probabilities and asymmetric bets is underrated. This might be the most abstract lesson and hardest to grasp. First off, too many people mix up possibilities with probabilities. Just because something is binary (can or can’t happen) doesn’t mean the chances are 50/50. Not very complicated but it’s still not intuitive to some people. The second part involving asymmetric bets is even more important. Just because something is more likely to fail than not doesn’t mean it’s not a good investment. The potential payoff can be massively higher when things do work, which makes the investment worthwhile. You can apply this for personal investments, and you can apply it for business decisions too. 🔷 Here’s a trendy example: If you heard of Bitcoin back in 2010 and didn’t buy any, you missed out on a huge asymmetric bet. It’s easier said in hindsight but how much would your risk really be if you bought like $50 worth of it back then? 📉 I didn’t see it either. And there are more opportunities that I missed. But I’m getting better at identifying asymmetric bets and it’s something I try to be aware of for most decisions in business. – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 18 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 18 days.

Hello Monday! Let’s dive into the next lesson of my top 33 lessons on business and marketing. We’re on day 14 of 33 so that means it’s… Lesson 1️⃣4️⃣: There's good advice and knowledge from people you might dislike. It’s very common to have our like or dislike of someone affect how much we trust their advice. And that’s for a good reason… Someone like our parents, family, or close friends are more likely to give us advice with our best interests in mind. What’s important is to remind ourselves that people we dislike in terms of personality might still have excellent topical knowledge we shouldn’t dismiss. In other words, just because you don’t vibe with someone, it doesn’t mean they are bad at their job. 🔷 You can become better by learning from experts you don’t like. This is especially true for topics where data and hard evidence are available. ❓I’m curious: What’s one thing you learned from someone you don’t really see as a role model? You don’t have to name the person, but you can name the lesson or topic. Me? I learned the basics of financial modeling from Martin Shkreli’s free YouTube lessons. The parts involving calls and other discussions I had to skip because of how they were focused on his character. But the parts explaining and creating models of popular companies were quite useful. Leave your lesson below. – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 19 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 19 days.

Lucky Day 13 of sharing my top 33 lessons on business and marketing. Today’s revelation? Lesson 1️⃣3️⃣: Not everyone has to be an entrepreneur. The more you hang out with founders and entrepreneurs, the more you get stuck into thinking the world needs more entrepreneurs. Well, I am not so sure about it. I do think entrepreneurs are great but outstanding success requires people with skillsets opposite of entrepreneurs too. So, if you don’t feel like entrepreneurship is for you, that’s fine. You can get more independence than a regular job by being a freelancer. You can get flexibility by working remotely. And you can get financial rewards by learning in-demand skills, and then using those skills in well-paying jobs. I certainly prefer the entrepreneurial path but I’ve been around enough to realize it’s not the only way… And it’s certainly not the best way for everyone. Did you ever think about other paths aside from being an entrepreneur? – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 20 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 20 days.

Day 12 of 33 and I’m ready to share my next lesson out of my top 33 lessons on business and marketing. Lesson 1️⃣2️⃣: People fake it way more than you think. The way most social media works is that the most sensational claims and headlines get the attention. For entrepreneurial circles, that means many fake their results and expertise just to become more popular. You know what I mean… Fake screenshots. Edited videos. Unverifiable claims. Fake testimonials. I know you can recognize the most obvious… But can you recognize the more subtle ones? It’s difficult. I’ve had a decent BS radar for claims around newsletters and emails because I’ve experienced so much first-hand. I wouldn’t be able to have the same confidence across the board… 🔷 A good rule of thumb is to assume there’s likely a 20% exaggeration for most extraordinary claims. And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is… or it’s missing key context. Also, if the person making those claims has something to sell you based on those claims… Well, then you should really get way more proof than just a tweet. Curios to hear from you: What’s the most outrageous claim you found to be false from someone you follow here? – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 21 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 21 days.

Welcome to Day 11 of 33 where I share my top 33 lessons on business and marketing, one lesson a day. Lesson 1️⃣1️⃣: Sticking to plans when new information and data shows you’re wrong is not a recipe for success. Raise your hand if you were ever called a stubborn founder. ✋ We both know it’s important not to give up early but it’s equally important to analyze if there’s new information you weren’t aware of when you first embarked on your current path. If new information strongly suggests you’re on the wrong path, don’t be stubborn. 🔷 Learn to be adaptable. Adjust your plans based on the information and new data, without sinking more time and money into something that you’ve seen won’t work. This doesn’t mean giving up completely. It means pivot. Take what’s good, adjust based on the new info, and go forward even stronger than before. How many times have you had to pivot on your entrepreneurial life? – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 22 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 22 days.

We’re going into the double-digits… Day 10 of 33 where I share my top 33 lessons on business and marketing. Lesson 1️⃣0️⃣: The old and uncool companies some new entrepreneurs bash are often extremely well-oiled machines. I’ve been in the camp who thought “Oh, big corporates are slow and won’t last.” but my opinion changed after we worked with sponsors like HubSpot, Salesforce, Semrush, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and more. The truth is that big companies are often more structured and more predictable than emerging startups. While they might not be so quick to make decisions, they do things over a predictable and reliable timeline. Over the lifetime of a company, doing things 2-3 weeks slower but 4-5x more impactful and repeatable will win. 🔷 Just because a company is “uncool” doesn’t mean it isn’t effective and efficient. The fact that they are so big and still growing means they do many things incredibly well. There are chaotic big companies too, and there are structured small companies – it’s not a cold hard rule. I do think that there’s more to learn from the biggest and most successful companies in the world than there is to bash, and many entrepreneurs need to realize this fact. Social media shows the opposite happening… Have you ever fallen into this trap? — PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 23 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 23 days.

Welcome to Day 9 of 33 of me sharing my top 33 lessons on business and marketing. Lesson 9️⃣: It's extremely difficult to hire for something if you’re incompetent at it. It sounds controversial and partially goes against the advice of “hire for stuff you are not good at” but it’s not so cut and dry. It’s far too easy to be impressed by jargon and far too common to fall into the trap of someone who knows how to sound smart without having a deep understanding of the topic. How do you hire the best person if you don’t have basic competency in their future job? 🔷 I’m an advocate of trying to gain a basic understanding of the topic you want to hire for before you go out to hire. This doesn’t mean you have to be capable of filling the role yourself. But you understand the essentials and can create practical tests that separate the talkers from the walkers. Or, you have someone on your team who understands the requirements of the new role and can help judge new candidates better than you. What’s your take? How do you hire for things you’re not familiar with at all? – PS: Do you like this lesson? Follow me for 24 more lessons on business and marketing in the next 24 days.