So much happened in 2021 at The Brainy Business and in the Palmer household, it has been fun to reflect on it for this episode. Here are a few highlights:

In January, I started teaching a new class at Texas A&M University through the certificate in Applied Behavioral Economics via the Human Behavior Lab.
In March, we rolled out the new website and on May 1st, I launched my free global community of behavioral economics enthusiasts with (currently) over 500 members.
My first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You come out on May 11, 2021, and I got to be part of some amazing events this past year sharing about it and other parts of my work.
And, while I didn’t talk about it much publicly, I had a baby in 2021! The Brainy Baby, Mr. Hudson Grey Palmer, was born on August 9th and is a fantastic addition to our family.

Join me as we take a look back at all the excitement and top content of 2021. I hope you will enjoy this walkthrough of last year as much as I did.

Show Notes:

[00:06] Today’s episode is showcasing the best content from The Brainy Business in 2021.
[02:12] My very first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You came out on May 11, 2021!
[03:49] Melina had a baby in 2021! The Brainy Baby, Mr. Hudson Grey Palmer was born on August 9th. Look how cute he is. :)
[07:51] Top Countries Downloading The Brainy Business: The US is first, followed by UK, Canada, Australia, India, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands and Spain.
[09:02] Top Ten States: Coming in at number 10 Pennsylvania then New Jersey at number 9, Virginia at number 8, Illinois at number 7, Ohio at 6, Florida as number 5, New York at number 4, Washington at 3, Texas at 2, and California still with the top most downloads of 2021.
[10:32] Of the 470,000 total downloads of the show so far, 250,001 have come from the US. That means nearly half of our downloads are international, which is so cool.
[12:53] Of those more than 175,000 downloads of the show in 2021, and now with 184 episodes of content to choose from, we get our top 10 episodes of the year, starting with episode 136 on Temptation Bundling.
[14:20] Next we have episode 165, when Matej Sucha of Mindworx and insideBE came onto the show discussing research they have done and the case studies of insideBE, which launched in 2021 as well.
[15:32] At the number 8 spot we have episode 158 with Matthew Confer letting you know the three things everyone needs to do before you decide.
[16:12] Next, at number 7 we have episode 160, an interview with Matt Johnson, coauthor of Blindsight.
[17:20] At number 6, we have the only foundations episode to make the top 10 this year, and it was a relatively new one which is pretty cool. This is episode 171 on The Paradox of Choice.
[18:33] Our top 5 kicks off with episode 164, an interview with Amy Bucher about her fantastic book Engaged, and so much more about her work in applying behavioral economics.
[19:32] At number 4, is episode 140, an interview with Benny Cheung where we talked about some research he did at Dectech that was also featured in chapter 28 of my book, which showcases the importance of testing.
[20:55] At number 3 we have episode 159, a behavioral economics analysis of Amazon and coming in at number 2 is episode 144, a behavioral economics analysis of Disney.
[22:22] Our top most downloaded episode of 2021, which was episode 157, my interview with Robert Cialdini on his new and expanded edition of Influence, which includes a whole new 7th principle of persuasion.
[23:27] One of my main tips is to play the long game and form great relationships so pitching is easier.
[26:33] There has never been a month of the podcast where every episode didn’t get at least 1 download.
[27:24] Let’s dig into that top 10 of all time list starting with number 10, which was episode 111, Avoiding everyday work disasters, with Gleb Tsipursky.
[28:24] Next is episode 62 on Game Theory and the 8th most downloaded episode of all time, is number 102 on Confirmation Bias.
[31:00] The 7th most downloaded is episode 83, How to organize your brain with behavioral economics followed by episode 61 on Color Theory.
[33:37] The episodes with the fifth and third most downloads are both analyses of companies again, like I already talked about for the top downloads of 2021. However, these are different profiles, including number 86 with a behavioral economics analysis of Peloton, and episode 73 with a behavioral economics analysis of Starbucks.
[34:57] In that number 4 spot we have episode 5, The Truth About Pricing.
[35:37] Number two is episode 2, The Top 5 Wording Mistakes Businesses Make.
[36:37] The most downloaded episode of all time is the very first one, Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain.
[39:55] The final top 10 list are the most read articles from my Inc Magazine column in 2021. For the full list, check out the blog post linked here with the summary of all three top content areas!
[42:50] The 7th most read article is called, “Dread going to work every day? The culprit may be hanging in your office.”
[43:16] The 6th most read article on Inc is the first one I wrote for them. It is called, “1 Simple Brain Trick That Can Help You Overcome Self-Doubt Forever.”
[44:57] The fourth most read article is on one of my very favorite things. It’s called, “Forget brainstorming. Try questionstorming.”
[45:38] The third most read article is, “Feeling unproductive? This brain bias could be to blame.”
[46:07] In our still Zoom-filled virtual world, it isn’t surprising that the second most read article this year was, “Why you hate seeing your face in video meetings.”
[47:02] “Don’t ask ‘What are you thankful for?’ Try this instead” is my most read article of 2021.
[48:22] What’s ahead for The Brainy Business in 2022?
[51:22] Thank you again for making 2021 such an amazing year and for listening, subscribing, sharing, rating, and reviewing The Brainy Business podcast. I appreciate you all, and can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store.

Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation.

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Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:

The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz
Never Go With Your Gut, by Gleb Tsipursky
Influence (New and Expanded), by Robert Cialdini
Engaged, by Amy Bucher
Blindsight, by Matt Johnson and Prince Ghuman

Top recommended next episode: The Best of The Brainy Business in 2020 (ep 133)

Already heard that one? Try these:

The Best Content from the Brainy Business in 2019 (ep 82)
Dr. Robert Cialdini and the (Now!) 7 Principles of Persuasion (ep 157)
Behavioral economics of Disney (ep 144)
Behavioral economics of Amazon (ep 159)
Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain (ep 1)
The Top 5 Wording Mistakes Businesses Make (ep 2)
Starbucks (ep 73)

Other Important Links:

Check out Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia