The power of hi 👋

Plus: Find the needle in the haystack

February 06, 2025

Hey you! Happy February. This cozy weather has me in my ✨ planning era ✨ and I’d love your input on my next free training!

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Find the Needle in the Haystack 🪡

“Find the agent with the lowest performing revenue by EOD.” 

It’s a Thursday at 3:40 PM and your boss just dropped this on your lap. You stare at your spreadsheet with hundreds of sales reps’ data and mentally prepare to be stuck in the office for another two hours... 

…but what if I told you you could do this in five minutes? 👀

Let me show you how with our secret weapon: An XLOOKUP and MIN combo! 

Step 1) In your desired cell, type =XLOOKUP(0, 

Step 2) Insert the Lookup Array

Step 3) Insert the Return Array. Our formula is now =XLOOKUP(0,J3:J102,G3:G102,

Step 4) Skip If Not Found 

Step 5) Add 1 for an exact match (or next largest value) 

Close your formula. The final formula is =XLOOKUP(0,F2:F1013,C2:C1013,,1) 

There you have it! Looks like you’re getting out of the office early. 😉

The Power of “Hi” 👋

Entrepreneur Chris Donnelly launched his marketing agency in 2013 with just ÂŁ400. Today, that same agency earns over $10 million. 🤯 Donnelly’s growth strategy? He connected with 50 new people every month—and in those first several years, most of his business came from those 1:1 connections. 

Connections are everything, whether you’re an entrepreneur like Chris or a 9–5-er. More people clued into what you do = more doors opened. 

But it’s easy to psych ourselves out of making networking moves. How should you go about it? Is it “annoying?” As someone who loves to network, here are my three top tips: 

  1. Lead with gifts. The mindset isn’t “What can I get out of this?” but rather “How can I be of value?” Leave a “gift” in every message you send—a compliment, a fresh idea, or a resource you’d think they’d enjoy. 

  2. Leverage your current network. Scroll your LinkedIn connections. Got a mutual connection with someone you’d love to meet? Ask for an introduction! 

  3. Embrace the silence. Not everyone will respond. That’s okay. Every unanswered message builds your resilience (it’s basically free rejection therapy!).  

Outreach can be intimidating, but remember: Almost all your career milestones will involve people! From dream jobs to new clients, opportunities often come from people who know and trust you. 

So send that message! Not everyone will respond—but the ones who do? They might just change everything. 💫

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  • This Reddit thread will show you how to get the most out of OneNote! 

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  • Have you heard of doing a “mega day” to boost your productivity? 

  • Tired: Manually inserting images in Excel. Wired: Using =IMAGE() 🖼️

The next time you’re facing a Big Life Decision, ask yourself—am I choosing out of fear or empowerment? 

May you always choose the latter. ✨

Stay Exceling,

Kat