turns out, reading a lot, exercising, loving people without expecting anything back, protecting your alone time, focusing only on improving yourself, and sometimes staying out late with friends who make you laugh until it hurts is a pretty good way to live.
i was influenced
the yoto feels designed by someone who wanted kids to have a good time, not someone who wanted to maximize time-on-device. shockingly rare!
your community IS coming to save you IF you give them opportunities to do so
how to open yourself up to the world:
> get off your couch & go do things with the people you love
> stop disappearing when things get hard. let your friends into your inner world. give them the chance to help you. you don't have to carry it alone
> create lightweight ways to stay in touch - send a voice memo or random calls while you're walking/driving around
> be honest about the *real* stuff in your life - you'd be surprised how much empathy people give when you let them in
> you forget that *you* can initiate. ask your friends to join for a movie, drink, dinner.
> smile at strangers more often. you might change someone's whole day and you'll feel happier for it too
> bring back random hangouts. ask if someone is around for a last minute walk/talk
> stop missing the important moments. celebrate friend's wins genuinely - new jobs, relationships, accomplishments AND be there during the hard times too
> stop prioritizing work every time... friends often outlast jobs
> you can host small gatherings at your home to see multiple friends at once (even when life is busy)
> "how is everything going?" "thinking of you!" goes a long way in staying connected
> don't take any silence from old friends personally. it usually has nothing to do with you and they just got busy. you can double text.
> you're allowed to tell your friends what you hope for in your friendship. if you want to see them more, call more, etc. you CAN communicate
> ask your barista how they're doing, chat with a stranger in the grocery store line, give someone a compliment. you never know where it might lead!
I'm from Sweden, and I built my whole agency on nordic brands the first 1-2 years before anything else, so I think I’m better than anyone to speak on this
Alex is on point with a lot of it
CPMs are much cheaper / clicks are much cheaper, but the purchasing power in all these countries is still very high
One reason ecom brands overlook it is that these are smaller countries by size, so they think they're smaller markets as well. But they're not
The main thing is that nordic people are incredibly comfortable with english, so you don't have to translate your entire website before you can even validate if the market works
I've seen tons of brands scale to multiple seven figures using an english site in the nordics, because english it not a problem here
Also people here think international brands are kinda cool, so they even like it
The only thing you need is clear pricing; don't auto-translate dollar to the local ones where the price comes out 151.63. Just make clear pricing because otherwise people read it as scammy
There is one distinction to what Alex says though
English creative works - yes - but the gold is finding localized creatives for your UGC on Meta, because Nordic people definitely do not prefer English content there
Just find good local agencies that know the market. To large US brands these agencies will still seem like third world freelancers by the pricing
It's important but also very easy