#29
One of my favorite people on Twitter is Moe @Mochievous. All round boss lady and she motivates me to move. I have like 10 thousand million screenshots of her tweets that keep me on my toes.
Below is an extract from one of her threads. Follow her as well. You won’t be disappointed.
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My cold emailing skills are top notch. My response rate is as high as 90%! Need to package this in a bottle and sell it. Anyway as usual, I have a few tips.
Your subject line is key. For me, I actually spend more time drafting the subject line than the email itself. Where possible, I start with a compliment. Example:
“Loved your talk on AI & the Law in Durban last week”
Rule is to make the subject line as personal as possible.
Subject line is what gets them to open your email. So you might have an excellent email but if the subject line isn’t attractive, no one will read it.
How did I know about the talk? Before I cold email anyone, I research them like crazy. What was the last thing they did?
I look for papers or articles they published or where they are mentioned. I go on LinkedIn to see their recent activity. If I find them on social media, I go to see their likes. Helps me keep a pulse on what makes them tick.
For instance, if I see someone likes a lot of travel related tweets, best believe I am putting something travel related in my email. Again, the trick is to make it all about the person you are emailing and less about you.
After the subject line, then the body of the email. If you have researched them enough you have a feel of what they are like. This should guide you. I once researched someone who I found out uses Swahili a lot on twitter, in my opening, I said hello in Swahili.
Little things like that are super important. Your first paragraph is also key. Some people start with introducing themselves. I don’t do that in the first line. First line is usually reiterating the compliment I gave them in the email subject. Then I briefly introduce myself.
Make sure to have something that catches their attention when you introduce yourself. Are you currently working on something that might be interesting to them? State it.
Then I move to the ask immediately. Another thing you should note is making the ask as little as possible. It is easier for someone to give you 20 mins over the phone or meet you for coffee than it is for them to give you a contract or a job. So don’t ask for those immediately.
Establishing human connection is important. That’s why you should ask for that first before asking for a big favor. You want to give them an opportunity to be charmed by you. If you ask for a contract immediately they can say no & that’s the end of that road.
End with more information about you. Remember you only introduced yourself briefly. So at the end say something like “here’s my resume/links/web page to give you more context on my experience.”
Finally follow up! This is key. Some people try once & then do not follow up. People are busy dear so yes they might miss your email the first time. My personal rule for followups is 3 times. Adequately spaced out depending on context. And I’ve gotten more results from followups.
Gave a sample format here:
Dear Ms./ Mr. XYZ, (also you can use first names depending on cultural context)
I listened to you at x/ read x (talk about something in their work) and your views on the subject resonated with me as a young professional.
My name is xx (hyperlink your LinkedIn profile) and for the last couple of years, I have developed a keen interest in (insert their area of work).
I was wondering if you had 15 minutes over the next couple of days to discuss x/ introduce me to x (state your ask here).
I am generally flexible and happy to work with a time that works best for you.
Do have a lovely week ahead and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Just make sure all the elements are there.
Show interest in their work.
Tell them a little about you.
Make a clear ask.
Give a timeline.
Be concise.
And remember to follow up.
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Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year). Building the scope of my knowledge.
Payments giant Stripe is raising another $250M at a $35B pre-money valuation: Umm…hello? What am I doing with my life? 🙃 Kweku? How far?
Saudi Arabia ‘bullies’ wealthy families to pump cash into oil IPO: Imagine, someone arrests you for supposed shady dealings, seizes/freezes a bunch of your assets and your money, and now he’s forcing you to use your remaining money to invest in a company you could care less about for the sake of being patriotic? Damn buddy 😂😂
What we know about Farmcrowdy’s new bus hailing service?: Why? I’m struggling to see the play here. Unless they want to create a platform to crowdfund monies across different sectors? Or am I still missing the point. Need help.
Gatwick Airport commits to facial recognition tech at boarding: Uncle Adebayo is working! This is Black Mirror is coming to life sha.
Amazon Accelerates Efforts to Fight Climate Change: 💪🏾💪🏾 Should’ve started wth this long ago but better late than never. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday.
Africa is creating one of the world's largest single markets. What does this mean for entrepreneurs?: Question from Cedric: How will the increase in local competition affect local economies. With free movement of goods across borders more competition will follow. Will this lead to more innovation? Consolidation of enterprises? Purging of businesses which are not adding value? Better value for customers in terms of lower prices and higher quality products? How should a young entrepreneur building a business today take all this into consideration as they think bout their business.
The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code: Who’s good at math here? And statistics? I need your help with something.
Podcast— What I’m listening to (1 podcast episode a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 podcast episodes). Broadening my experiences through others’ stories.
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman: You’re going to get used to this phrase. “Starting a company is like throwing yourself off the cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.” And you’ll love it. Favorite episode is Reid talking to Brian Chesky from Airbnb. Find it here.
Book— 1 Chapter a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 chapters. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so 1 year = 28 to 33 books. And my book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
Promise I’ll be done with this book this weekend. Spent too long on it.
“What separated Tesla from the competition was the willingness to charge after its vision without compromise, a complete commitment to execute to Musk’s standards.”
So, this is good and bad at the same time. If something happens to Elon today (God forbid), Tesla, Space X would go the way of Apple like what happened after Steve passed. They’d make money and they’d be good but they’re not pushing the needle. Super key man risk here, because Elon is irreplaceable.
*New section alert* Quote I’m pondering today.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”