You should always negotiate

Plus? A helpful tip for combining lists in Excel

December 15, 2022

Hey there! Last Saturday, I stumbled upon creator Patricia Mou’s “Weekly Review” template and I am obsessed. It’s brimming with insightful questions that’ll get your brain whirring. (I’ve linked it for ya in the round-up section below!) My favorite question: “What would this week look like if everything I did was an act of self-love and aliveness?” *mic drop*. 🎤

How to Combine Lists in Excel

Santa Claus isn’t the only person who's making a list and checking it twice. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. 🙃 ‘Tis the season, am I right?)

Santa, if you’re reading, here’s a tip that will help you manage your lists. In fact, this tip will help everyone manage their lists more efficiently.

Many of Excel’s features—pivot tables, data form, and others—won’t work properly if the data isn’t arranged in a list. So, let’s get familiar with the basics of managing lists in Excel, shall we?

I suggest starting with the basics: learning how to combine lists in Excel. ⬇️

Now, you could do this manually, but there’s a good chance it would be tedious and prone to error (unless you have 20/20 vision). Instead, it’s easier to use the VSTACK function.

This function combines cell ranges or arrays vertically into a single array. It’s a lifesaver when you have several columns of data and you need one long list of data instead.

Here’s how it’s done!

Step 1️⃣: In the desired array type in =VSTACK(

Step 2️⃣: Select your first set of data and add a comma. In our example, we’d select the data starting at A2 and ending at B5.

Step 3️⃣: Select your second set of data (in this case D2 and E5) and close the parentheses.

Poof! Your data is now magically merged. You can also use this function to combine more than two lists (and they can even be selected from other spreadsheets)! If you’d rather see a ✨ visual ✨ reenactment of this tip, my 15-second TikTok has your back.

3 Negotiation Tips

Raise your hand if the idea of negotiating makes you *slightly* uncomfortable. ✋

If you’re mentally hand-raising right now, you’re not alone. A study done by CareerBuilder found that only 44% of U.S. employees negotiated their salary. This is despite over half of the employers surveyed saying they’d left wiggle room for an increase!

The idea of addressing someone about a sensitive topic (ahem, money 💰) can leave anyone’s palms sweaty. I still remember negotiating for my first job out of college—I got it done, but my heart was pounding the whole time!

But not negotiating your salary could cost you, quite literally, $1 million over time. That's the difference between retiring comfortably and working forever.

While my salary days are mostly over, the negotiations never stop, especially since no blueprint has been drawn for solopreneurs (if you see an “Excel creator” rate guide, holler at your girl pls).

So today, I wanted to share with you my three top negotiation strategies. ⬇️

🙌 Know your worth. People telling you to “believe in yourself” is sweet, but your brain needs some cold, hard evidence of why you’re worth the cash. That’s where research comes in. Find out the typical market rates and the value you’d provide. Numbers don’t lie!

🚪 Foot in the door technique. Start by proposing a modest request before upping the ante with a larger request. It’s effective because people want to behave in a way that’s consistent with a positive perception of themselves.

⚓️ Anchoring. TikToker Victoria Paris landed a $20K brand sponsorship by saying, “Two other brands paid me 25 grand each. I’ll do 20 grand with you.” That’s known as anchoring—when you use the first price as a reference point and go from there.

The most important thing to remember about negotiating is that it’s a skill—and like all skills, it can be learned. It’s up to you to step up to the plate and show others your personal value. As pricing consultant Casey Brown once said:

“No one will ever pay you what you’re worth; they will only ever pay you what they think you’re worth, and you control their thinking.”

A Million-Dollar Banksy Painting Gave Investors a 32% Net Return (Seriously)

Uncertainty has been the name of the investing game for 2022. With inflation, a recession, and crypto-mania brewing, finding good investments is harder than ever.

So, where are experts suggesting that we invest now?

Well, one surprising alternative has caught the eye of top Goldman Sachs analysts—blue-chip art.

Here’s why:

  • 13.8% annual appreciation (1995–2021)

  • Near 0 correlation to stocks

  • Doesn’t drop when you-know-who tweets

But who the heck has $20 million lying around to buy Basquiats and Banksys?

I got you: Masterworks.com gives you access to the thriving art market at a fraction of the cost. With this platform, you can invest in shares of multimillion-dollar paintings (all SEC-qualified offerings).

So how have their paintings performed? They’ve handed members +21%, +27%, and +32% net returns.

The only problem? There’s a waitlist for membership. But my readers can skip the waitlist with this link.

*net returns refers to the annualized internal rate of return net of all fees and costs, calculated from the offering closing date to the date the sale is consummated. IRR may not be indicative of Masterworks paintings not yet sold and past performance is not indicative of future results. See important Reg A disclosures: Masterworks.com/cd

  • Here’s Patricia Mou’s “Weekly Review” template I mentioned earlier! ✍️

  • Internship Season 2023 is approaching. If you’re a soon-to-be-intern, you’ll want to know these Excel skills.

  • This post will help you understand why you actually procrastinate.

  • I’ve been loving this breathwork app. I do a five-minute one before hopping out of bed and it gets me pumped.

  • Writer James Clear offers sound advice on what to do if you feel like giving up.

If traveling is on your horizon in 2023, CNBC Travel released a cheat sheet revealing when’s the best time to actually book flights. It turns out the idea of “save money by booking your flight at night” is a bunch of bologna. 😅

Here’s what they suggest instead…

• From U.S. to Europe → 129 days out

• Spring Break → 38 days out

• From U.S. to Mexico or the Caribbean → 59 days out

The more you know! ✈️

Stay Exceling,

Kat