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
🔹 Ongoing marketing and fractional CMO services
🔹 Deep-dive website audits

For independent financial advisors:
🔹 Deep-dive website audits
🔹 Web and marketing flash audits
🔹 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

The only brand strategist in advisor marketing that helps financial advisors discover their niche, craft their positioning, and tell their stories to get more inbound leads of dream clients.

Most advisors want to grow, but they’re stuck in an old model. They’re tired of chasing prospects, begging for referrals, or feeling like their brand is invisible. The truth?

You’re only a trusted advisor to the clients who already know you.
To grow, you need to become a trusted authority—and that’s where I come in.

Hi 👋 I’m Natalie Hales, and I help financial advisors stop spinning their wheels and start attracting ideal clients.

With 14 years of experience in advisor marketing across Canada and the U.S., I’ve worked with everyone from top independent advisors to national firms like Canada Life and global associations like MDRT.

My signature framework, The Niche Funnel™, flips the traditional sales funnel on its head.
Instead of shouting into the void, we focus your niche, refine your brand, and develop a strategy that magnetizes the right people so they come to you.

🔹 Niche Sprint: Define your ideal audience and unique value
🔹 Brand Sprint: Craft your brand story and messages
🔹 Marketing Sprint: Build a strategy and 90-day action plan that works

Together, these Sprints make up The Niche Funnel™, the fastest and most effective path to gain both authority and attention. 

Advisors who join my community, The Power Network™, continue to grow their niche (and build the referrals that come with it) inside a strategic network of advisors who actively seek to help you succeed.

I’ve helped advisors land $20M accounts, build referral-based practices, and finally feel like their brand reflects their value.

This work is personal.
When both of my parents became disabled and I faced a rare genetic diagnosis, I saw just how life-changing the right advisor can be.

Now, I help advisors become visible for the right reasons—and attract the right people with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Stop chasing leads. Start attracting dream clients.
Let’s build a brand that works as hard as you do.

DM me the word BRAND and let’s talk.

Natalie Hales

360Brew means your profile matters even more. 
Your niche, your stated role, your network. 
Because the model now reads:

Profile + Content + Interactions 
Together for relevance.

--> If you’re publishing random “spray & pray” posts that aren’t tightly aligned with who you serve and what you solve: you’re more at risk now. 

--->If you’ve been showing up with content aligned with your niche + offering + making sense to your target client: you’re in good shape. 

Jasmin Alić tells us to:

Treat this like brand work 
Not lead-hacking work

The more your content, profile, and interactions align, 
the easier the algorithm will do its job for you 
(rather than against you).

Brand Strategist helping financial advisors discover their niche, craft their positioning, and tell their stories to attract their dream clients. Turning Advisors into 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

I had a breakthrough recently that I can’t keep to myself.
 
During a podcast, I openly admitted I USED TO pride myself on my work ethic, but not anymore.
 
And I just realized WHY it happened…
 
Some context:
 
I took weird pleasure in the fact that I could quadruple the workload of my peers and run my area without oversight (classic achiever mindset).
 
But after a few years of long hours, my health took a hit:
 
- Endometriosis pain
- Stomach issues
- Weekly migraines
- Breast tumour
 
I decided to work from home after my tumour removal… Folks, bleeding through bandages whilst providing updates and giving advice is NOT normal behaviour.
 
And STILL, I didn’t see my corporate burnout. 
 
People reached out after that podcast, and I heard that I wasn’t alone. All different industries but men and women feeling like we constantly need to do more.
 
You might be thinking… "Why didn't I see it coming? Why do I always feel the need to push myself beyond my limits?"
 
I totally get it!!
 
What I needed for myself was to reignite my passion and my WHY.
 
For me, the turning point came when my stomach issues landed me on some hard antibiotics, forcing me to take a step back from work and severely restrict my diet to just meat and water.
 
The meds made me feel like I had a bad flu, but also gave me plenty of time to ponder life.
 
Then, I missed out on an exciting external project because my department needed me. That’s when a mentor of mine pointed out the importance of visibility.
 
Being exceptional at what you do is one thing, but without visibility and recognition, you'll likely find yourself with even more work. The lesson was clear.
 
It’s okay (and necessary) to bring clarity, organization, and joy to people’s lives (and get paid for it!)
 
It’s okay to work hard for someone else – even if it’s not exactly solving world peace.
 
BUT - I knew I didn’t want to be where my leaders were, feeling those kinds of pressures in 20 years. It was time for a change.
 
In the next few years,
-         I did 75% less work but strategically increased my visibility.
-         I studied branding, infused it into my work and built a personal brand.
-         My personal brand within the company opened doors that my work alone couldn't.
 
I’m passionate about advisors leading PURPOSEFUL lives. Of having richness in all areas.
 
What’s resurfaced is the work I care about most:
✨ Helping advisors step out of the shadows and into authority. ✨

So here’s the simple truth:

I built a program that does exactly that.
A grounded, supportive way to sharpen your message, claim your space, and quiet the mindset gremlins that make this whole industry louder than it needs to be.

I won’t over-explain it here.

I’ll just say this:

Advisors who go through these Sprints start showing up differently.
More certain.
More seen.
More themselves.

If you’re wondering what that might look like for you… well, that’s the interesting part.

You know what’s maddening?
Building a solid practice… and still feeling like you’re carrying the whole damn thing alone.

Because your team is solid,
but no one on your team can challenge your thinking.

No one to really brainstorm with.
And that’s when growth stalls or stops altogether.

And you know what gets good advisors really down?

• Carrying a bottom 25% of clients you’ve outgrown, and feeling guilty about letting them go.
  
• Watching less-experienced advisors show up with sharper brands than yours.
  
• Knowing you 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be attracting $2–8M households consistently… but something in the positioning still isn’t pulling its weight.
  
• Realizing that “DIY-ing your next level” is actually what’s slowing you down.
  
You’re not alone in feeling this.
You’re not behind.
𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Because the right kind of pressure? 

The kind that expects more from you, celebrates with you, and holds you accountable? 

Well, that changes everything.

You don’t have to do this alone. No advisor at your level should be carrying the weight of growth in isolation.

Surround yourself with people who:

→ Raise your standards, 
→ Sharpen your thinking, and 
→ Remind you that your next level is nothing short of inevitable with the right pressure.

What’s the one thing you wish you had someone to push you on right now?

P.S. You don’t have to comment, I know many of you read quietly over coffee. Just know these posts are for you.

POV: Recall > Reach. 
If you’re not going for virality, 
Then being remembered is the goal

Here is the simplest way to make that happen: 
ISP: Insight, Story, Process.

👉 Insight = what you believe
👉 Story = what you’ve lived
👉 Process = how you do it

And when you lead with ISP, everything compounds:
• Social fuels thought leadership
• Thought leadership powers speaking
• Speaking sends new energy back to social

That’s the Marketing Flywheel in motion,
Authority feeding itself.

We broke this down in 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟳 — the playbook for turning ideas into trust loops. 
🎥 Watch the recap: The Marketing Flywheel — Episode 7
🔗 https://lnkd.in/g5hjsiTU 
Which do you want to see more of in your feed - Insight, Story, or Process?

Your next speaking engagement isn’t a visibility hack.
It’s the moment you stop 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 for authority and start 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 🎤

No one can give that to you, but you. 
And all you need is the right room
and a message that lands.

But here’s the secret:
speaking only amplifies your authority when it connects back to your system.

When you’re clear on your system, every podcast, panel or keynote becomes an amplifier. 

We broke this down in 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟳: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹.
How to turn every appearance into momentum that compounds. 
🎥 Watch the recap — see how it works in real time: 
🔗 https://lnkd.in/g5hjsiTU

Stop trying to be everywhere. 

Show up where your message moves the right people.

“Me, an expert?” At times, we all hear that voice, “Who do you think you are?”

Funny how confident I can feel in a room…
and how tiny I can feel on LinkedIn.

This week was one of those weeks that should have shut my inner critic up:

 ↳ An advisor enjoyed our coffee chat and surprised me with the kindest public post.  

 ↳ A referred advisor, after delivering her strategy, actually sat back and said "I am seriously impressed". Carolyn 👀

 ↳ Another literally said, "Natalie, you are a great marketer" (and now I have video evidence of the shade of red I go with compliments). 

All this week. 
I felt steady, clear, capable. 

But then I get on LinkedIn and I feel like a total newb.

Suddenly I’m second-guessing everything:
• Was removing connections outside of my niche right?
• Did I come across as authentic as I wanted there?
• Should I post that clip where I made THAT face?

In real conversations, I feel grounded.
Online? Sometimes feels like I’m back at day one.

And after three years of building here, 
I’m realising something I didn’t expect:

1️⃣ Imposter Syndrome doesn’t disappear as you grow. 
It just gets quieter in some rooms, 
and louder in others.

2️⃣ Niching down doesn't mean you know everything. 
It means you know 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.
And that's enough.

3️⃣ Every expert started somewhere. 
Most of us just made it through the doubt,
one messy step at a time.

But that tiny voice still shows up 
(especially on the days you think it shouldn’t).

That’s the weird tension of being human on this platform:
feeling confident in conversation
and suddenly small online.

If you’re in that tension too, you’re not alone.
We’re all learning how to hold both.

(And Kevin - if you’re reading this, thank you.
Your kindness meant more than you know.) 

🔔 He’s been showing up on LinkedIn for years,
sharing generously and cheering others on.
If you’re not following him yet, you should be.

taplio

The Battle

Manda Szewczyk

Natalie Hales

Followers

Posts

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Performance ScoreManda Szewczyk's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNatalie Hales's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Manda Szewczyk

Natalie Hales

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 ScoreNatalie Hales's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreManda Szewczyk's LinkedIn Performance