Format

• Hey Friends

• Today’s Sponsor: Clarity Construction

• Thought of the Week: Always Be Learning

• Mission: Redefining Success Metrics

• Life Design: 3 New SaaS For My Stack

• Commerce & Capital: Market Adaptability

• Trending Now

  • 🎙 Podcasts, Music & Social Audio

  • 🌍 Social Media

  • 📚 Book Shelf

  • 📰 Articles

Hey Friends

It was about 10 minutes into the meeting when I realized that Dana actually had no idea what a millennial was.

It was clearly just a buzz-word in her mind, a popular word she had heard in dozens of meetings, in social media memes, write-ups and op-eds in seemingly every newspaper in existence. The word had come to be a stand-in, a referent for any young neophyte 20-something entering the workforce.

It was 2016. The oldest 80s-born Millennials like her and myself were already turning 34 and 35.

We were having a copywriting ideation and Facebooks Ad messaging session for a client campaign our agencies were collaborating on. The campaign psychographics and personas focused on Millennials - the generation of kids born in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Dana*, do you realize that when we are speaking to Millennials, we are now speaking to ourselves, people in their mid-30s?”, I said to her, breaking her train of thought as she was speaking.

“No, I’m not talking about that persona”, she quickly retorted. “I’m talking about kids in their 20s now finishing school and coming into the workforce. Millennials.”

Dana was a hard-working girl, the epitome of fierce Protestant work ethic, with a bit of Rosedale country-club privilege in the mix. Over the years, she had battled her way up the ranks of banner agencies like Cossette and Publicis before eventually leaving to fulfill the ultimate destiny of running her own shop.

We had developed a rhythm over the years, a professional cadence to working with each other that was pleasant for both of us. Dana was a bullish A-type, however. She was not used to having her ideas questioned too strenuously.

“No, you’re getting this wrong”, I said to her again, finally.

“A Millennial isn’t just a word for any young twenty-something. It’s a very specific generation. It specifically refers to the cohort of people born between 1981 and 2001. They’re called Millennials.

“15 years from now, we’ll still call them Millennials.”

“It’s the name of our generation.”

I’ll never forget seeing this woman, almost never at a loss for words, sink in her chair upon realization of the key distinction.

And who could blame her. So much editorial ink had been spilled to that point, waxing poetic about the lives, motivations and shortcomings of Millennials.

For years, the word "millennial" became shorthand for the youngest adults - twenty-somethings just entering the workforce and grappling with adulthood. Numerous marketers and cultural critics spent the 2010s trying to decode and define our mercurial generation of digital natives.

As we enter the mid-2020s, the definition of who qualifies as a millennial is shifting. The oldest millennials, born in the early 1980s, are now in their early 40s.

The pandemic in some ways served as a coming-of-age moment for millennials. I know it did for myself and many others.

Millennials were on the front lines as the economy's essential workers — nurses, teachers, grocery store employees, delivery drivers and the crucial personnel who kept society functioning when Covid upended the world in 2020. Millennials were also acutely vulnerable, economically. We were entering our prime earning years — only to be confronted by capital markets crises, health pandemics, jurisdictional lockdowns, vaccine mandates, mass layoffs and the acceleration of automation and AI.

Post-pandemic, the millennial identity has matured into one of resilience, and perseverance through turmoil.

No longer are we "young adults" — we are squarely adults — “grown-ass people”, as some would say. A new "millennial midlife crisis" has emerged as our generation wrestles with the complexities of entering middle age, paying mortgages if we are lucky enough to acquire a home, caretaking for elderly parents — and raising children in an era of economic and political uncertainty.

At the same time, the younger tail-end of our generational cohort is still transitioning into true adulthood. Millennials born in the late 1990s are now in their mid-20s — grappling with student loans, contentious job markets and the psychological impact of experiencing for the first time a precipitous rise in basic cost of living.

The size of the millennial generation, an expansive age range spanning young adulthood to middle age, has forced a re-contextualization of how to define and market to our demographic. No longer an amorphous bloc of youth, the "millennial" identity is now fractured into distinct life stage segments united by a shared technological acculturation as the first digital generation.

The pandemic disrupted many aspects of our millennial life course — but in my opinion our generation has emerged ever more resilient, hardened, pragmatic and prepared to take on the challenges of leadership.

Onwards and upwards,

Moshe Modeira

Editor-In-Chief

Today’s Sponsor: Clarity Construction

_{Design and Build with confidence. Clarity Construction and their roster of top industry experts are with you — every step of the way.}

Thought of the Week: Always Be Learning

At this point, we're all still at the party, playing along with this clearly broken economy. But it seems we’re finally beginning to unite across strata and class. We all see the cracks in the system. We’re united in frustration.

For working class and lower-income individuals, it's the stagnant wages, the cartoonish rise in cost of living and rampant job insecurity that has become the norm. For business owners and investors, it's policies like the new capital gains tax introduced in Canada this past week that have the entrepreneurial community in an apoplectic uproar.

Regardless of which side of the economic divide you're on, it's only natural to look at our elected leaders and institutions and ask – what's the plan here? Because this economy clearly isn't working for a lot of people. The frustrations may stem from different circumstances, but there is a unifying sense that many aspects of the current system are failing us collectively.

Most of us entered the workforce or started businesses with big dreams of making an impact and becoming productive contributors to society. But ironically, much of our daily energy gets sapped merely trying to survive – paying bills, covering expenses, making payroll, living paycheck to paycheck. When you're trapped in a suffocating cycle of working to afford mere existence, it can feel impossible to pursue your ambitions and be a lightning-rod of positivity.

I’ve found there is a particular antidote to feeling stressed and hopeless about lacking the time and resources to chase your dreams: amplified learning through increased data exposure — research, books, videos, podcasts, courses, coaches, masterminds, etc.

Deep diving into knowledge products.

Especially when you're stuck grinding it out in a less-than-ideal situation, waiting patiently for your next break, you can turn every moment in-between into an opportunity to absorb new knowledge and skills. File away that data – it will prove incredibly valuable later on.

Forget the classic ABC — always be closing. I like ABL — always be learning.

Take for example the story of the Toronto transit worker I met at my gym recently. For 15 years, he diligently toiled a series of jobs for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the public transit authority that runs the city's trains and buses. But during the pandemic, his perspective shifted. He started learning more, becoming more curious about how the machines he was around all day actually operated. He noticed the TTC aggressively deploying a distinct stack of new urban infrastructure technologies aimed at modernizing their operations. The transit worker had the foresight to deduce that these technologies would form the backbone of the TTC's technical systems for years to come.

Deploying an investor's mindset rather than just a worker's mindset, he bought stock in each and every major public company behind the technologies the TTC adopted. As he told me, he felt fortunate to have had the foresight to capitalize on the situation. The opportunistic investments are starting to pay off for him in a major way. He was notably earnest in caveating to me that had his investments not turned out successful — he never would have mentioned them.

We can all take inspiration from this transit worker's story. Even amid challenging circumstances and frustrating policies like this new capital gains tax, there are always opportunities to expose yourself to new data points and skills that could unlock future dreams. By persistently learning and expanding your knowledge bases, you'll equip yourself with the tools to pounce when lucrative opportunities emerge.

The current economic landscape is undoubtedly difficult to navigate for entrepreneurs and professionals alike. But if you keep your learning cap on, absorbing new information and nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset, you'll always be ready to chart a course towards making your ambitions a reality.

Mission: Redefining Success Metrics

I’m working on releasing my first video of the year, and the relaunch of my YouTube channel. The video has a working title called Redefining Entrepreneurial Success in 2024. It’s been a beast I have been grappling with since last fall when I was deciding to close my agency.

The implications, the weight of what I’m saying and pointing out in the video is not for the faint of heart. I point to the definitions of wealth class that we have become accustomed to over our lifetime, and how those numbers have now drastically changed across the board. Life as we know it has simply gotten harder and more competitive — but we have the power to respond, to shift things to become more equitable. This next epoch in history doesn’t have to be cynical and Machiavellian, atavistic and archaic.

Today in 2024 the business landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. It’s become imperative for entrepreneurs to redefine our metrics for success. In the video, I discuss how our current global economic backdrop has fostered an intensely transactional mindset — where interactions and relationships are now principally reduced to mere transactional value.

To thrive in this challenging environment, entrepreneurs must embrace a holistic approach that prioritizes not just financial figures and quantitative data but also the intangible elements that drive authentic connections and cultivate trust and loyalty. In my opinion, entrepreneurial success metrics must evolve to encompass the following:

• Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand and manage one's own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Paramount to building meaningful, lasting relationships.

• Empathy: Truly understanding and relating to the perspectives, experiences, and emotions of customers, partners, and employees.

• Adaptability: The ability to pivot and adjust to rapidly changing market conditions and customer needs, crucial for long-term viability.

• Authenticity: In a world saturated with marketing noise, genuine authenticity and transparency are necessary to build lasting brand loyalty.

By prioritizing these human skills and redefining their success metrics, entrepreneurs can create experiences that resonate with audiences, foster lasting relationships, and ultimately drive sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive and transactional world.

As I say to end off the video - it’s imperative that human beings begin finding ways to connect with each other on a deeper, more conscious level. This begins with REDEFINING what SUCCESS looks like — and what it means to be considered a successful entrepreneur. 

Life Design: 3 New SaaS For My Stack

In today's fast-paced world, time is an increasingly precious resource. I’m striving to maximize productivity and efficiency in my daily life. I recently decided to explore using an AI-powered calendar assistants called Motion AI.

Google Calendar has always been my staple, but AI-driven alternatives like Motion AI usher in a new paradigm. They leverage artificial intelligence to streamline scheduling, automate tasks and surface valuable data insights.

I'll be honest — I'm both excited and a bit nervous to start using Motion AI. The idea of handing over calendar control to an AI is a little unnerving. But I know the potential payoffs could be huge in terms of optimizing my time. I'm looking forward to Motion AI learning my priorities, patterns and preferences — and then customizing ideal schedules around them.

As AI scheduling assistants rise in prominence, they represent an opportunity to harmonize human decision-making with artificial intelligence for optimized time management. I'm embracing Motion AI as a complementary aid that can elevate my entrepreneurial organizational skills to new heights. I'll keep you all posted on my experience with this AI calendar life hack :)

AirChat: The new chat app is akin to a combination of X and Clubhouse. Instead of typing a post, you speak it. The app transcribes what you say, and as your followers scroll through their feed, they hear your voice alongside the transcription. Built by Naval Ravikant and former Tinder exec Brian Norgard, AirChat is already making waves as a groundbreaking new way to communicate, build community and authentically share information.

TikTok Notes: The latest feature from TikTok allows users to polish their video ideas by jotting down thoughts, jokes, storyboards and more right within the app. A smart move to keep creators engaged from concept to creation. The ephemerality of TikTok lends itself to content being quickly and superficially consumed — despite the sheer amount of work and intention put into each video. Notes will add to the creator experience of documenting the process.

Commerce & Capital: Market Adaptability

Trending Now

🎙 Podcasts, Music & Social Audio

People Can’t Become Part of the 1% Unless They Do These Things - Leveling Up with Eric Siu - Eric Siu X Humphrey Yang: The Eric Siu Leveling Up podcast has turned into one of my favorite over the last several months because of the quality of guests and the clarity of message. This episode with finance Youtuber Humphrey Yang is all about deploying economic strategy to get saving and investing during times of economic uncertainty. A special nod to the exchange about why getting to 100K in savings can become a catalyzing inflection point for the future growth of your portfolio because of, you guessed it, the compound effect.

🌍 Social Media

Amy Nixon (@texasrunnerDFW) is an outspoken real estate investing commentator and economic analyst on X. There are a lot of opinions flying around right now about the intractability of the housing market, and how it has become virtually off limits to well over 3/4’s of the North American population. This take is as good as any.

📚 Book Shelf

Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage by David Meerman Scott. Marketing/PR guru David Meerman Scott’s book is refreshing in it’s straightforwardness about the ins and outs of attracting attention and promoting a newly launched business to media and press. PR — public relations — is often a phantom that haunts the savviest of entrepreneurs. Newsjacking helps close some of that mental gap.

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks. Dicks’ book is a treat to read — he has a way with words, and provides a myriad of tips and techniques that showcase how best to structure and convey a polished story that can captivate an audience. Dicks emphasizes that everyone, if they dig deep enough, will discover that there is some “storyworthy” aspect of their lives worth sharing.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Another colleague recommendation, I’m really enjoying getting into Daniel Kahneman's landmark book that is an exploration of behavioural psychology. Thinking, Fast and Slow, serves as a bit of a summary of Kahneman’s life work. Kahneman maintains that two systems drive the way we think and make choices. System One is intuitive and highly emotional; System Two is slower, logical and more deliberate. This book is definitely making me think more about — thinking.

📰 Articles

Introducing Meta L lama 3: The most capable openly available LLM to date - Meta.com Blog: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced their latest update in the AI landscape with the launch of Llama 3. Llama 3 represents a major step achievement from Meta’s AI team. The model comes in 8 billion and 70 billion parameter versions and was trained on over 15 trillion tokens of data and a custom-built cluster of 24,000 GPUs. The result is a platform that can go toe-to-toe with the most robust language models in the world. The advancements are so unmistakably noteworthy that it prompted this response from Elon Musk:

See y’all next week 🙏 Would love to hear your thoughts! Leave your comments below.

*My colleague Dana’s name has been changed because of confidentiality. Names / details in stories I recount will sometimes be changed due to privacy / confidentiality issues.

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