Volume 15. Stay cool.
An #AI podcast episode. Flow playlists. The Industrial Revolution and value-based pricing. The joy of ice-cold face rollers. And is personal branding in our stars?
Woof. It’s hot out there. I’m sweating over here in Boston and I know a lot of other folks are feeling the heat.
This week - we’re doing a stay cool edition. Hope you’re reading this near a pool, a lake, the ocean or at least some good, good AC.
Let’s get into it.
The Content People Episode
Heather Murray, folks. Pretty Effing Cool.
Heather’s the founder of Beesting Digital, the voice behind the AI for Non-Techies newsletter (🔥) and she’s basically famous on LinkedIn (26,000 followers and counting) for the actionable and insightful info she shares about #AI.
Also: Did you check out last week’s episode with Aliza Licht? It was our most-listened ep this season. 📈👂
Check them out on Spotify, Apple, and Google. (Heather’s ep goes up on Tuesday.)
Reading
📚Celeste Headlee’s book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving.
…Because it’s too hot to do anything but read.
Did you know medieval serfs in France and Spain had nearly 180 feast (aka PTO) days per year? That blew my mind. 🤯 This book is full of interesting facts and ideas around how and why we started trading hours - rather than goods, crafts or completed tasks - for money during the Industrial Revolution. That shift impacted how we view time, productivity, efficiency and leisure. (And it’s certainly an endorsement for modern value-based pricing models)
A good poolside read.
Listening
🎧 Speaking of Poolside. Listening to Poolside’s Harvest Moon cover. A summertime classic.
🎧 Drew Brecker’s Deep Focus (2) playlist. Spotted this on LinkedIn, where I follow Drew. I would describe the vibe as “music for when you have a deadline but need to stay chill about it.”
🎧 A Magical Winter’s Night. Summer heat got you wishing for gentle snow drifts and crisp night air? Say no more, fam. This wintry sleep story could help you get to a happy (and cool) place. (You’ll need a Calm subscription to access, unfortunately.)
PS. As a content person, I’m kind of fascinated by the strategy behind crafting sleep stories. This interview (from 2017) with Calm’s Chris Advansun was interesting.
The Quote
“It’s not fake to have a clear strategy on how you want to show up in this world. It’s not fake - it’s called smart.”
- Aliza Licht.
From last week’s Content People episode.
Brand Shout Out
✨ I’m devoted to face rollers and skin care devices of all kinds. Could I talk about the summer heat without referencing the OG Ice Face Roller? No. If you haven’t treated yourself to this - consider taking the ($18.99) cold plunge.
Medbury
I feel like The Cut’s Madam Clairvoyant is telling everyone to niche down and tighten up their messaging this week. 🪐🪐🪐
In deference:
👋 Hi, I’m Meredith.
📚 I’m a former Chief Product Officer and COO. My agency, Medbury, launches later this month.
✨ Our main offering: Helping professionals create strong personal brands on LinkedIn.
💜 We believe that a personal brand is an asset, a safety net and professional self-care.
💸 We help our clients attract dream jobs, dream clients, speaking gigs, podcast appearances and more.
💲Our pricing starts at just $895/month.
Fun fact: Two of our most recent clients have received relevant reach outs (like job ops or prospective clients) after just one post. For real.
Interested? Shoot me a DM on LinkedIn and we can chat.
Your Turn
Thanks for reading. Feel free to reply to this email and tell me a little bit about yourself.
Liking it? Consider sharing it with a friend, giving us a shout-out on your socials, or sliding into my LinkedIn DMs.
Hope you all have a great week. And stay cool out there.