Hyper Pony Studio

Owner

North Square Investments

Digital Marketing Consultant

FortéOne

Fractional CMO | Chief Marketing Officer

Ariel Investments

C.S. McKee

UX Collective

Contributing Writer

MAQTOOB

Digital Bootcamp

Instructor

The Simons Group

Senior Designer

👑 Web, Marketing, & Design Expert for Advisory and Consulting Firms 👑 Websites driven by marketing expertise 👉 hyperponystudio.com

👋 Hi I'm Manda!

Follow me and ring my 🔔 if you're in the financial services industry and want to learn more about:

👉 Marketing persuasion techniques 
👉 Writing copy that converts
👉 Attracting potential clients
👉 Turning those prospects into clients
👉 Professionally presenting your brand 
👉 Attracting your ideal clients
👉 Creating an EFFECTIVE website
👉 Establishing trust and building authority

🔻 🔻 🔻 Want to work together? 🔻 🔻 🔻

For advisory and investment firms:
🔹 Complete brand, website, & marketing overhauls
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🔹 Deep-dive website audits

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🔹 Deep-dive website audits
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🔹 Ignite Your Site course coming soon!

Learn more, view samples of my work, or start your project at hyperponystudio.com!

👑
Hyper Pony Studio 
Digital marketing for the financial services industry

Manda Szewczyk

I'm noticing some disturbing behavior on Linkedin.

I've been away for a while, and I'm longing for the days when all there was to complain about was pitch-slapping in the DMs.

Here are some new LI tactics that I'm NOT loving...

- - - - - - 

🙄 People selling their services in the comments section of my posts

Not just chiming in or offering anything useful, but literally saying, "These are the services I offer" – like a little ad in the comments. Most of them are other marketers or web designers.

Not cool.

- - - - - - 

🤨 Adding me to their email newsletter list just because I accepted their connection request

Um, I agreed to connect. Not subscribe! As soon as someone does this, I lose all trust in them and their business tactics.

Unsubscribe. Unfollow. Goodbye.

- - - - - - 

😡 Sending me calendar invites when we've never communicated before

This one is the WORST! I'm getting meetings on my calendar and in Zoom from people I've NEVER met!! Some of them are for webinars, some are demos, some are pitches – but NONE of them are with people I've ever met or talked to.

What the actual...???

- - - - - - 

I get it. Building a business is hard. But come on!!

Have you experienced any of this? Or is it just me?

👑 Websites & Marketing Overhauls for Financial Advisors & RIAs 👉 Sharing digital marketing tips

All three of these tweaks come from real samples I found on a professionally designed advisor website.

Take a look and let me know which is your favorite, and if you're planning to make any of these changes to your own site.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

🐙 Hi I'm Manda - I share Tiny Tweaks to help financial advisors improve their marketing and level-up their websites.

Carousel

Moe Choice

Today I want to give a fuckload of thanks

And show shitloads of gratitude

Which should be as easy as 1-2-3

Except most people can't even get to 1

Before I get to it though, I want to make a declaration

I do NOT:

• Subscribe to the idea that the world is a horrible place
• Buy into the notion that things used to be better
• Waste my time with pessimists and nihilists

Why judge, hate and complain when there is

SO. MUCH. OPPORTUNITY?!

Anyway.

What I am most grateful for is:

- My health and the health of my family 
- The wealth I have, and the opportunity for more
- The relationships I have with family, friends, & clients

And here are another 123 things I wanna give thanks for:

Elite Sports
The Internet
Jesus Christ
French Fries
Hot Showers
Liquid Stevia
Whole Foods
Waffle Cones
Board Games
Playing Cards
Trees & Parks
Clotted Cream
Amazon Prime
Paid Education
Athletic Greens
Cheese & Wine
Sesame Bagels
Micro Breweries
Savoury Crepes
Solopreneurship
Second Screens
Entrepreneurship
Netflix Downloads
Turmeric & Ginger
Cheese & Crackers
Apple Cider Vinegar
Foaming Hand Soap
Independent Thought
Electric Toothbrushes
Heated Steering Wheels
Fresh Bread & Salted Butter
Bananas & Blueberries
Soft Serve Ice Cream
Trusted Housesitters
Wireless Technology
Heated Toilet Seats
Boiling Water Taps
Collagen Peptides
Loyal Friendships
Coconut Yoghurt
Scrambled Eggs
Recorded Music
Real Journalism
Bamboo Boxers
Spotify Playlists
Cheeseburgers
Free Education
Running Water
Fresh Laundry
Smart Phones
Mug Warmers
The Unknown
Healthy Teeth
Conversation
Android Auto
Free Speech
Nail Clippers
Salt & Straw
Hiking Trails
Competition
Curve Card
Propercorn
Voicenotes
Full Moons
Half & Half
Live Music
Innovation
Sanitation
Sunshine
Medicine
YouTube
Jacuzzis
LinkedIn
Children
Intimacy
Science
Jet Skis
Dreams
Experts
Airlines
Debate
Movies
Towels
Kondo
Dance
Trains
LMNT
Apple
Beds
Turo
Tea
X


Happy Thanksgiving ✌️


PS - I am most grateful for all you mo-fos who got to the end of the list

Hopefully it inspires you to be a little bit more grateful today

____

is mentoring solopreneurs to $15k+ months

I am delighted to announce that...


#FuckBlackFriday


PS - The word black implies doom and gloom. No?

$3k months are quicksand

The harder you hustle, the deeper you sink

Sam Abazari was drowning in it
Working 80-hour weeks
Getting paid like a part-timer

Then something flipped inside The 216

Month 1: $3k → $10k 💥
Month 2: $10k → $18k 💥
Month 3: $18k → $26k 💥

Now? $40k months on repeat

Here's what nobody tells you:

Sam didn't need a new niche
Didn't need more certifications
Didn't need to "find his passion"

He needed to stop playing business
And start running one

The framework showed him:
• How to price without explaining
• How to sell without begging
• How to scale without burning out

First cohort filled in 48 hours
Raised his prices

Second cohort? Same story
Raised them again

That's not luck
That's math

While everyone else is chasing viral posts
Sam's chasing wire transfers

The difference?

One runs on hope
The other runs on systems

You can grind yourself to dust at $3k
Or you can learn the game and hit $40k

Your choice


Gangsta Shit 😎


PS – "Framework" literally means "frame for work"
Not "frame for thinking about maybe possibly doing work"

PPS – The only thing worse than being stuck at $3k?
Being stuck at $3k while pretending you're not

________________________

No alternative text description for this image

I was never broken

But the model I was using was

Now, every solopreneur who walks through my door says the same shìt:

"I'm lost"
"I can't sell"
"I'm burnt out"
"Maybe I should just go back to a job"

That's not the actual problem

The problem is you're running your business like it's 2010

Using frameworks that died when Facebook was still cool

Most people think they need more tactics

More funnels
More AI prompts
More morning routines

They don't

They need a model that actually works

Because when the model is wrong, every tactic fails

The game isn't about chasing the newest guru's course

It's about nailing the shìt that never changes:

• Positioning (so they choose you over everyone)
• Attention (so the right people actually see you)
• Persuasion (so they buy without the cringe)

Get those three locked

The tools can change
The platforms can die
Zuckerberg can rename everything again

But you'll still be making money

Because frameworks beat tactics
Every. Fùcking. Time.


Capeesh? 🤌


PS – My model’s never been scouted by Vogue...

But it makes money like it has

_________________________________________________

Sometimes I find myself questioning not what I do… but the very nature of doing

What is a “deliverable” truly?

A tangible output, or a conceptual manifestation of perceived value within a capitalist dialectic?

When we say “I help businesses grow”

Are we not merely perpetuating the illusion that “growth” itself is inherently desirable, rather than a symptom of existential inflation?

I once heard someone say, “Done is better than perfect.”

But is “done” ever done?

Or is it merely a convenient punctuation mark in an otherwise infinite paragraph of becoming?

We call it “posting”

But are we not, in essence, enacting a public rehearsal of our own relevance
performed daily for an algorithm that cannot love us back?

When I send an invoice, am I not simply converting my finite consciousness into a quantitative abstraction designed to maintain the illusion of progress?

When I take a client call, do I truly communicate… or merely participate in a mutually beneficial misunderstanding?

Sometimes I think the real ROIi's the reconciliation of the inner dialectic between purpose and panic

And perhaps, that’s the only deliverable that ever really matters


Philosopher shìt 🤔


PS - If this post didn’t make sense, you probably just need to read more

PPS - And if you don’t talk like you’ve swallowed a thesaurus, then you’ll never make it as a philosopher-preneur

_______________________________

You know what most solopreneurs are doing right now?

Fuçking around with their website

While their bank account screams for mercy

I just dropped 34 seconds of truth that'll hurt your feelings

But might save your business

Here's the deal:
You only have TWO jobs as a solopreneur
Just two
• Serve the people who paid you• Find people to pay you

That's it
That's the whole game

Everything else?

Pure procrastination dressed up as "productivity"

• Your new logo? Nobody cares
• That landing page redesign? Still nobody cares
• Your 47-page lead magnet? 

Guess what...You're hiding behind busy work

Because real work is scary

Real work means:
• Picking up the phone
• Sending that DM
• Having sales conversations
• Hearing "no" 20 times before one "yes"

But here's what kills me...
You'll spend 6 hours tweaking your Canva templates

But won't spend 6 minutes reaching out to potential clients

The math doesn't math

Watch the video
Let it sting
Then go do something about it


Capeesh? 🤌


PS – I looked up how to treat a sting 
Apparently, “action” works faster than aloe vera

PPS – Don’t worry, this post only hurts if it’s true

(Which it probably is)

_________________________________________________

Everything (Literally EVERYTHING) I do on Linkedin

Is designed for ONE outcome:

To get them on a call as quickly as possible

My DMs
My about
My banner
My content  
My comments
My masterclass
My featured section

Are ALL designed

To get them on a call as quickly as possible

99% of my clients struggle with this

They'll spend 6 hours perfecting their offer

But won't spend 6 minutes starting a conversation

Not scared of failure
Not scared of rejection

Scared of outreach
Scared of being seen
Scared of being rejected

You can't hide behind "I'm still working on my offer" anymore

But most people don't lose sales because they're pushy

They lose them because they never pitch at all

They're so busy being 'valuable' they forget to be valuable

Playing therapist when they should be playing closer

I see it every day:

17 messages deep:
"How's your weekend?"
"Love your content!"
"That must be so hard..."

Meanwhile the prospect is literally asking:
"Can you help me get what I want?"

And they miss it
Every. Single. Time.

DMs don't close high ticket items
Calls do

If you're resisting outreach
You're resisting income


Capeesh? 🤌


PS – There's someone in your DMs right now who needs your help

And you're out here sending "How's the year treating you so far?" BS

PPS – Yes, you can be kind AND 'salesy'

You're running a business, not a pen-pal service

________

The fear of losing is stronger than the desire to win
 
Most solopreneurs would rather not grow

Than risk what they've already built 

They'll say:
I don't want to change my offer
I don't want to niche down
I don't want to experiment 

Translation:
I'm scared to lose what's already working 

So they keep the same $3k offer that takes 40 hours

Instead of testing the $10k offer that takes 10

The real risk isn't losing what you have 

It's getting stuck protecting something that was only meant to be temporary 

Because playing not to lose…
is the fastest way to stop winning

Watch me break down why your brain would rather protect $5k/month
Than risk it for $50k 👇


Capeesh? 🤌


PS – Your brain treats losing money like physical pain

No wonder you're still selling the same shit from 2022

________

"Once I get $10k months, THEN I'll feel secure"

Kyle Bender dropped a truth bomb on my podcast

He said: "We have to feel things NOW if we ever want to feel them in the future"

I asked if that was advice for himself

"Of course. I thought I felt things, but I didn't feel anything"

Here's the mindfùçk:

Every solopreneur I know is playing this game

Once I get X clients, THEN I'll relax
Once I hit Y revenue, THEN I'll feel worthy
Once I have Z in the bank, THEN I'll stop panicking

But security isn't waiting for you at $50k

It's not hiding in your next launch

It's not coming after your 100th testimonial

Kyle nailed it: "Feel more now so you can feel less later"

Except here's the problem...

Try selling that to someone drowning in bills
Try pitching "feel your feelings" to someone in survival mode
Try explaining emotional work to someone with zero bandwidth

It's like telling someone on fire to meditate

But here's what I've learned

The people who make it aren't the ones who wait to feel secure

They're the ones who feel the fear
And invoice anyway

They feel the imposter syndrome
And show up anyway

They feel broke at $30k months
Because they learned to feel it at $3k

Your bank account can't fix what your nervous system broke

Start feeling it now
Or you'll chase it forever

Links to the full conversation in the comments 👇


Capeesh? 🤌


PS - Your nervous system processes 11 million bits of info per second

But can only consciously handle 40

No wonder we're all fùcked


_______________________________

The hardest thing I ever did wasn't building businesses or making money

It was walking away from all of it

I'd built up these businesses

Good money flowing in
Strong network
Solid reputation
I was known for something
Popular in Dubai, where I'd built everything

Access to whatever I needed

But here's what was eating at me: 

How do I keep all the good stuff—the income, the freedom, the lifestyle, but get rid of the investors breathing down my neck, the staff drama, the landlords, the endless obligations? 

I spent 3 years trying to figure out how to have my cake and eat it too

Then it hit me: The only way forward was to leave everything behind

So that's exactly what I did

Put my passport in my pocket
Booked a one-way flight from Dubai to London

Left everything I'd built
Started from scratch

Sometimes the cost of keeping what you've built is higher than the cost of starting over

And sometimes, starting over is the only way to build what you actually want


Capeesh? 🤌 


PS - Fun fact: The world’s tallest building in Dubai is 828m tall

Same height as my stress levels were before I left

_______________________________

CEOs keep hiring ghostwriters

And I get it

When you're running a $70B company

You don't have time to craft the perfect LinkedIn hook

But here's what they're missing:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱

I've written over 1000 posts
I've used Ghostwriters
And I've used Ai

And I can tell you exactly what kills a personal brand:
Pretending to be personal

𝗔 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗱

Your audience knows when it's you
Or when it's actually Kyle from Marketing
Trying to "humanize your executive presence"

The posts that hit different?

• My $55K in 3 years confession
• The BMW road rage revelation  
• Calling out AI grifters

No ghostwriter would write those
(They'd get fired for even suggesting them)

Too risky. Too real. Too... me.

While Corporate CEOs keep delegating their voice
I'll keep creating the content I want to
In the way I want to

One of us is building an audience that actually gives a shit 
The other is building a content calendar


Capeesh? 🤌


PS - Most Fortune 500 CEOs have ghostwriters

I have ghosts from my past that appear in every post

_______

Everyone’s talking about thought leadership

Nobody’s talking about meme leadership

One uses jargon to sound smart
The other uses stupidity to tell the truth

So, in the spirit of efficiency (and because I refuse to pretend my brain has any room left for actual wisdom),

I’ve compiled this week’s carousel of internet genius

A visual anthology of:

• The guy who missed every single point ever made online
• The modern Moses who apparently left the commandments for crime
• A neurological PSA for anyone who says “I love Microsoft Teams”
• And a Linkedin post so painfully wholesome you can feel the engagement bait radiating off it

It’s humanity
It’s content


Gangsta Shit 😎


PS- If you don’t laugh at least once scrolling through this

Please close the app, touch some grass, and file a support ticket for your sense of humor 

_________________________________________________

Shit I Found On The Internet 

Linkedin keeps showing me "thought leadership"

X keeps showing me unhinged shìt that makes me question humanity

Guess which one I screenshot

The best memes aren't on Linkedin

They're in X threads at 2am where someone's having a complete breakdown

That's content
That's art
That's why I'm still scrolling at 3am like a degenerate

So here's this week's collection of internet gold

Swipe if you need to feel better about your life choices


Gangsta Shit 😎


PS - If Linkedin is where careers go to thrive, X is where they go to have a breakdown

And I'm here for it

Shit I found on the Internet 

My framework has the worst acronym in business history

POOP

Position. Offer. Outreach. Persuasion.

And yes, I named it that on purpose

Because while you're giggling at the name
I'm helping solopreneurs hit six figures

The framework isn't about money
(Though that's the six-figure part)

It's about freedom

Freedom to stop following someone else's blueprint
Freedom to figure out your own path
Freedom to actually think

Most "gurus" give you a process:
"Do this, then this, then this"

I give you questions:
How will you position yourself?
How will you test your offer?
How will you reach people?
How will you persuade them?

𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼
𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁

That's why it's a framework, not a process

Answer those four questions properly?
You'll hit six figures

Keep avoiding them?
You'll keep buying other people's "proven systems"

While they're selling you their success story
I'm helping you write yours


Capeesh? 🤌


PS - The name POOP also filters out people who take themselves too seriously
And those aren't my people anyway

_______

Another week, another deep dive into the internet's finest garbage

While you were being productive, I was collecting memes like they're rare Pokemon cards

Some people curate art galleries. I curate screenshots that make my therapist concerned

Here's this week's harvest, carefully selected from the depths of my 3am scrolling sessions

Swipe through if you dare. Your algorithm will never recover

"Shit I found on rhe Internet" Episode [whatever number we're on, I've lost count]


Gangsta Shit 😎 


PS - An FBI agent just texted me asking if I'm okay after seeing my search history this week

I told him these memes are for "market research" 

He's not buying it

_______________________________

taplio

The Battle

Manda Szewczyk

Moe Choice

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreManda Szewczyk's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMoe Choice's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Manda Szewczyk

Moe Choice

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Manda Szewczyk's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMoe Choice's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreManda Szewczyk's LinkedIn Performance