Level up your spreadsheet skillz

Hey Everyone,

Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!

1. Content Marketers: Ask “Why?” Before You Write a Single Word

Here’s a great post from my colleague Nicole Kohler on how to improve your writing … before you write.

The key thing to keep in mind as you’re asking yourself “why” over and over again, is that it’s not meant to hurt or upset you. It’s not supposed to make you feel bad for coming up with ideas that aren’t up to par.

If this exercise surfaces some issues with a potential blog post, don’t throw it in the garbage. Refine it.

2. 24 Lessons From Warren Buffett’s Annual Letters To Shareholders

This is a long read (11,000+ words) but well worth your time.

3. Cool Writing/Content/Marketing Jobs

• GlossGenious, a SaaS product for beauty professionals is hiring a content marketing manager.
• Zapier, the remote work automation powerhouse, is hiring a staff writer.
• Jilt, an email tool for ecommerce, is hiring a remote growth marketer.

Also, Animalz is hiring.

4. Tweet of the Week

If you want to learn more about Sheets/Excel, check out Ben Collins’ blog.

5. Random Links

• Great read: How Google Moved Beyond Search to Reinvent Productivity with G Suite
• I haven’t been through this but it sounds brutal: A Guide to the Inevitable and Painful Process of Rebranding Your Company
• WTF: Amazon makes 14 cents from every Lyft ride.
• Add this to your to-do list: The Blogging Tactic No One Is Talking About: Optimizing the Past
• This is just so mind-boggling: How the Internet Travels Across Oceans

Have a great weekend!

Jimmy

PS - I finally relaunched my content marketing course, 5 Days to Better Content Marketing. Join 300+ people that taken and enjoyed it.

PPS -  I’m looking to partner with a few great businesses to sponsor this newsletter. It reaches a bunch of smart folks from places like Google, Apple, Spotify, New York Times, Marriott and Harvard. Shoot me an email if you're interested in working together.

PPPS - I'm now an official Ghost partner. I've been using Ghost to run my blog for years and I absolutely love it. If you signup for Ghost with my link I do get a commission, but you get an incredibly powerful and simple way to manage your website. Markdown ftw!