The Connection Newsletter 14 - Networking

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This is edition #14 of The Connection, the weekly email sent to family, friends, and future friends (hi!) Happy to see you here.

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First, I wrote an article on networking

. Which is a bit odd, considering the fact I spend an inordinate amount of time alone and could go weeks without talking to another person.  But learning to enjoy meeting new people, to stay in touch, and give and receive help has been crucial in staying relevant in 3-4 industries. So here’s

everything you need to know about networking (especially if you’re shy)

.

Onto some interesting finds this week:

It’s a 5-person team behind the sick burns of the Wendy’s Twitter account

. Wendy’s twitter is hilarious and culturally relevant. But does it help their bottom line? The truth is, who knows?

Attributing bottom line dollars to Lebron memes and poking fun at McDonald’s frozen beef is still outside the scope of analytics tools. However, there’s no denying that their social game has done a great deal in leveling the playing field against the titans of QSR like McDonald’s, Restaurant Brands International (Burger King) and YUM! (Taco Bell) by injecting themselves amongst the zeitgeist of culturally relevant brands.

...

The math behind getting your employees to work 80-hour weeks

. On the surface, this is just another article about the financial anchors of home ownership, car payments, and private school many (including

myself

) fall into.

Go one-level deeper, however, and it’s a good reminder that if you have the storytelling chops and a unique perspective, you can take a topic that’s been covered to death (financial independence) and find ways to make it fascinating.

The author turns a random drunken conversation into a piece of bro satire that reads like a personal finance fable. Strong recommend.

...

Would you let your 10-year-old use Facebook? What about Musical.ly?

I’ve been thinking a lot about social media and screen time for young children. Still not sure exactly where I fall, but reading this makes me want to hug every child who feels any degree of shame over their body.

...

The restaurateur/media mogul says delivery services are “fool’s gold”.

David Chang predicts that in the face of competition from delivery services like Grubhub, Seamless, and UberEats, that QSRs and restaurant chains will be fine.

However, mom-and-pop restaurants are the ones that will feel the squeeze and get forced out of the market. When you realize that:

(1) these delivery service fees eat up the entire margin on an order and

(2) their dominance in SEO means customers will completely bypass the restaurant and order directly from the delivery service

...it’s easy to see Mr. Chang’s prediction is likely to play out.

The whole interview is terrific but the delivery service conversation starts at 24:37.

...

If you’re looking for a summer read

. Check out

The Kingkiller Chronicles

by Patrick Rothfuss.

The second book in the series ruined my trip to France.

Forget the Eiffel Tower, I just wanted to sit in a cafe and read.

Kingkiller

is right up there with

Harry Potter

and

Game of Thrones

. If you read it, would love to hear what you think.

Thanks for reading!

Any questions, comments, or recommendations, feel free to reply directly to this email.

Many of us celebrate Independence Day this week, hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

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