We’re 38 days into the new year… and by now the hype of new habits, goals, and the expectations you have for yourself in this new year are clearer.

Now, out of all emails in your inbox, I want this one to be useful.

Over the years, I’ve managed to grow (somewhat) fast across different life areas.

Business-wise: building and scaling 4x businesses.

Network-wise: have met and become friends with people I admire

Fitness-wise: have ran marathons, lost weight and looked exactly how I wanted to look

Connection-wise: built the friendships and relationships I’ve aspired to have for years

Now, yes, there has been hard work behind all of these.
And I cannot discredit time and effort for the role they played in achieving these things.

However, there are sets of rules, hacks and tricks that short-cutted my way here.

And today, I’ll be sharing a few tactical and lifestyle pieces that I believe can change someone’s life today.

The Business Cheatcode:

The big money principle:

If you want to make more money, you need to go where the “big” money is.

At the beginning, a lot of us try to follow our passions.

I recommend following your skillset first. Then find the market that would pay 10x more than what you are currently charging.

I started as a social media manager (freelance) targeting whoever would pay - and overtime I realised that 95% of people wouldn’t pay beyond $500 dollars.

Later on… I found out that the B2B market would let me charge a higher rate for what looked like the same service.

Instead of “social media manager,” I became a ghostwriter for founders and CEOs.

(The key is in the market and the specificity of the service). Become a specialist, not a generalist.

I didn’t go to the B2B market because “I loved it”, I did it because I knew I could win faster.

The market you choose determines your ceiling. Choose wrong and you'll grind forever. Choose right and you'll scale faster than you ever thought possible.

Don't let your passion stop you from making money.
Follow the money first, fall in love with it later.

The Networking Cheatcode:

Networking is lame, do this instead:

Throughout our careers, we’re told to go to networking events to get ahead.

The real hack? Going to these events when you already are.

LinkedIn is the platform of choice when networking and exchanging contact info, most of the time - so how about working on that before you attend these events?

See…at university, I theorised that in order to make the £75 return trip from Exeter to London worth it I needed to think differently.

I couldn’t just show up and expect people to want to talk to me.
I needed to have previous ‘rapport’ so when I did it led somewhere.

The most efficient way to do this was by having good content that was specific to what I wanted to get opportunities for at these events.

I’d look at the guest lists before the event, I’d connect with a few of them on LinkedIn and introduce myself.

NOT because I wanted to exchange synergies, but because I wanted them to see my content.

This led me to have “warm” conversations rather than “cold” ones dependant on how I introduced myself.

I needed people to know at least some things about me, and they did.

And those who didn’t thought I was more than just another attendee because of the people who approached me or introduced me to their friends at those events too.

None of this was luck; it was preparation.

The Health And Fitness Cheatcode:

Not many people know this, but until 23, I was a competitive athlete.
Broke a few records in powerlifting as a 52kg lifter.

I quit the sport a year into business because I didn’t have the time.

But the routine never went away; it just changed. I worked insane hours making a 2 hour traning session hard to manage.

But I always had time for a walk.

During the last 5 years, I realised that walking has been the best habit I could have built.

12K steps a day minimum.

Walking gave me so much clarity as I got to take my problems and questions out of the environment where they were created.

It started as one of those habits you build when you want to lose weight.

But I kept it because I noticed that I could retain the same physique powerlifting had given me as walking was an insane way to increase my daily calorie burn without wrecking my recovery.

Beyond that, though, this became even more relevant when I saw my best friend and now co-founder, Jake have the same habit.

Yes, for the health benefits but also for business.

Taking calls while walking, listening to podcasts while walking or even simply leaving with a problem and coming back with a clear solution.

This is a form of habit stacking and truly the most effective one I’ve found.

The Connection Cheatcode:

In a world full of noise, be the one who listens.

I have to thank my mom for this as she raised me to be quiet and observant. As I grew up I realised most people do the opposite.

It makes sense; we all want to be seen and heard.

But like the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” clearly said, “to be interesting, be interested”. Avoid the ego game where you look to be the smartest in the room, find the smartest person there, and listen with intent.

What then happens is that the people you speak to then become interested in you as a result of your interest in them.

This is the reciprocity of attention.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” - Stephen Covey

Prepare questions, listen to their answers, expand on them to find true and unique conversations - not generic “when can we work together” type ones.

Your dream connections are tired of surface-level conversations.

Be the one who goes deep.

Cheatcodes you can buy:

Cheadcodes you can watch:

Cheatcodes you can attend to:

That’s it, ladies and gentlemen, hopefully at least one of the many cheat codes I presented helps you today.

Let me know which one resonated the most and if you’d like a part 2.

Love you so much.

To your success…

Lara