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March 2025 The Contractor’s Advantage
HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000 jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com
When people wear green for St. Patrick’s Day and celebrate “the luck o’ the Irish” every March, I am reminded of what I really think about “luck”. I believe we make our own good fortune in life by working hard to prepare for opportunities — a process that has very little to do with luck. I recently had a court hearing that ended in a spectacular success based on an obscure legal issue. A casual observer might have said I was lucky, but in truth, I spent many nights preparing for that hearing, grinding away over the small details and anticipating different directions the case might take. I had noticed that obscure legal issue during my preparation and figured there was a chance it might come up, so I prepared as thoroughly as if I knew it would. That obscure issue was the key to our winning the case, and the fact I was ready for it is not the result of luck. I put in the work required to capitalize on that possibility and was rewarded for it. I think of these moments as a matter of good fortune rather than luck. That term suggests I earned the reward, and it wasn’t just a random occurrence. “Leaving a client’s case up to luck is the best way to lose it. That’s why, in my experience, the harder I work, the ‘luckier’ I get.” The problem with the idea of “luck” is that people think it causes overtly positive or negative results. They seldom see the hard work that has been happening behind the scenes. This leads people to believe that great — or terrible — things lie in wait for them, regardless of how much preparation or hard work they invest in life. Humans are both frenetic and lazy when writing off life events as good or bad luck. We tell ourselves these stories to avoid facing the truth: Life is hard. We need these stories to make sense of the world around us. To blame a tragic situation, such as a child contracting cancer, on bad luck is comforting because we don’t have to face the reality that such an awful thing can happen. Blaming tragic events on good or bad luck eases our minds. Luck? Think Again! The Hard Work That Leads to ‘Good Luck’
practicing law, sitting back and relying on luck can be dangerous because it leaves an attorney unprepared. Leaving a client’s case up to luck is the best way to lose it. That’s why, in my experience, the harder I work, the “luckier” I get.
I manufacture the luck I need to succeed by routinely preparing well for chance.
You can manufacture good luck in your life, too, by looking at every situation as an opportunity to prepare for every possible turn of events. Go above and beyond the
bare minimum to cover every base and every possibility — and you, too, will enjoy a little “luck o’ the Irish” in your own life!
-Jeremy Wyatt
But at the end of the day, luck is just a story. Fortune doesn’t reward those who put in only half an effort to overcome their challenges. And when
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Greenlight: Spreading Financial Literacy Worldwide Founding Story of Tim Sheehan and Johnson Cook
It may seem like today’s kids have it all: cellphones, video games, and now debit cards. But do they understand how money really works in the real world? Founders Tim Sheehan (CEO) and Johnson Cook (president and CEO) started Greenlight in 2014 to empower children, teenagers, and their parents with strong financial literacy. Sheehan understands how valuable it is because his father taught him the good financial habits that shaped the trajectory of his own career. The Foundational Journey: Tapping Into an Untapped Market Sheehan was lucky his father took the time to teach him about money but realized most parents don’t have the time or an adequate knowledge base. So, Sheehan and Cook decided to survey a large number of families to confirm this suspicion, and they were right. Most parents didn’t educate their children on household finances. Along with that, parents lacked useful resources to guide them in teaching financial literacy. This revelation pointed to a market gap, which Sheehan and Cook decided to close with Greenlight. Looking at the Schools Creating Greenlight led to the next big question: Are parents qualified to teach financial literacy to their children? Many parents assume their kids are learning about money
in school from better-trained teachers. However, a 2010 national study on a teacher’s capacity to teach personal finance revealed that although 80% of states had guidelines for financial education, less than 20% of teachers felt competent to teach it. Seventy percent were open to further training on the topic, but how and when that education occurred is unknown. As of 2022, 47 states require K-12 students to take a course in personal finance to graduate, but it’s safe to assume parents still have a role in helping their kids with financial literacy. Understanding the Product Greenlight is a debit card for children that allows parents to control and monitor how their children spend money. It comes with three plans: Greenlight Core ($4.99/month), Greenlight Max ($9.98/month), and Greenlight Infinity ($14.98/month). All three plans have the basic features of providing debit cards for up to five kids, financial literacy games, and an allowance and chores feature. The Max and Infinity plans offer investing for kids, driving reports and crash detection, identity theft protection services, and much more. Checking Out the Competition While Greenlight may have struck while the iron was hot, the market for family finance has grown since 2014. Even though many startup fintech companies offer debit cards to children and teenagers specifically, Greenlight’s product includes features that other companies don’t. Other payment apps like CashApp and Venmo offer peer- to-peer fund transfers — but without financial literacy training, young users are still vulnerable to making financial mistakes. Greenlight’s unique features clearly have an edge over its competitors. Greenlight Gets the Greenlight The future of Greenlight looks exceptionally bright. It has grown to 3 million users and $100 million in revenue, and there are plans for expansion. Because the founders recognized a financial literacy need in family dynamics and acted to fill the gap, Greenlight is bringing financial literacy to the masses.
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How can customer-centric marketing benefit your business? Putting customers at the center of your marketing strategy requires dedication from your entire team. Your customers respond to techniques that appeal to emotions, that invite reactions, and thus interactions. This engagement helps nurture a relationship that gives you more information about what customers want and helps them gain trust in what you offer. Be prepared to put in the work on the front end, and understand that your strategy must adapt and adjust as your customers grow and shopping needs change. These investments in your business will yield impressive benefits. Utilizing Customer Feedback to Improve and Grow Focusing your marketing strategy on customers makes it easier to promote tailored products that respond to customer needs. Let’s say you’re promoting a potential product on social media and ask followers for feedback based solely on what they see. A few months later, you present a new and improved product based on their feedback. You’ve made your brand stand out in your followers’ minds, created new followers, and allowed them to contribute while feeling heard and seen.
Likewise, we are in the era of the “informed shopper,” meaning social media is
the top channel for product discovery. However, before customers commit to a particular purchase, they check existing customers’ reviews, comments, and testimonials, making customer interactions paramount. Even with negative feedback, customers are looking for how you responded. If they see you put forth no effort to make things right, they’ll be less likely to engage with your brand or products/services. Creating Loyal Customers Who Trust Your Products Loyal customers are your biggest advocates and will continually choose you over competitors. Once you acquire new customers, it’s time to build those connections to create loyalty by reflecting their needs and values in your marketing campaigns. Customers who love a product or service stand by it and will tell everyone why they love it so much — and will do this without you asking. Word-of-mouth is one of the best compliments a customer can give — and one of the most lucrative.
HAVE A Laugh
FROM PIRATE TO POPE The Salacious Story of Baldassarre Cossa
History is littered with unsavory souls forever scorned for their foul deeds. But few scoundrels reached greater depths of depravity than the ill-famed pirate Baldassarre Cossa (1370–1419), otherwise known as Pope John XXIII. Following a notorious career of robbing and pillaging, Cossa manipulated his way to prominence in the Catholic Church,
eventually reigning as Pope John XXIII from 1410 to 1415. An avid fan of indulgences of the flesh, he is said to have bedded hundreds of women — including nuns — during his controversial reign. Cossa’s one-man sinning spree eventually landed him in prison, yet, remarkably, he was named Cardinal-Bishop of Tusculum shortly before passing away. Cossa’s infamy makes it no surprise that he is now known as “Antipope” John XXIII. The name “Pope John XXIII” was retired for centuries before a man better suited to hold the moniker chose it and ran the Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963.
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Jeremy Wyatt jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000
40 West Chesapeake Avenue, Ste. 600 Towson, MD 21204
Inside This Edition
1.
Hard Work in Disguise: The Truth About ‘Good Luck’
2.
How the Fintech Industry Made History With Greenlight
3. Plunder at the Pulpit 4.
Get to Know Your Customers
WHY PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST IS THE KEY TO GROWTH Adopting the Customer-Centric Mindset
What is customer-centric marketing? Remember, you know your product/service is impressive, but it’s your job to convince potential buyers. The bottom line of customer-centric marketing is to understand the following areas on the buyer journey: • Why does a customer need your product/service? • How will the product/service meet their needs? • Can customers see themselves using your product/ service? Is it relatable? So, how can you discover the answers and tap into your customers’ shopping behaviors? Meet your customers where they are and interact with them! According to a 2023 Sprout Social Index Report, 53% of consumers have increased their social media usage since the pandemic. Those same consumers also desire stronger engagement from the brands they follow or support. They want your help!
When you think of your customer’s buying journey, do you envision it from start to finish, or do you just focus on the result, the sale? While that end goal is crucial, your marketing strategy needs to get them there. To nurture your customers through the checkout process, you have to put yourself in their shoes and develop your marketing strategy from their perspective from start to finish — an approach called customer-centric marketing.
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