Archive of posts from April 2019

What does your company, and water, have in common?

It’s not the oft-celebrated-yet-normally-short-lived ‘hustle’ that makes things happen in our companies.

Rather, it’s the act of behaving like moving water:

So here’s the first point. A strong current pushes everything forward. Think about it. A strong current can power (or destroy) cities. It can carve a path through a mountain, right? When there’s an obstacle, it either finds a new path, or–over time–makes a way right through it. It’s not rushing....

It sounds like a cheat code for a video game, but it’s actually something more profound.

Most businesses are “up down” when they should be “left right”:

• The “up down” business mindset: For me to grow (up), you must shrink (down). For us to win in this market (up), you must lose (down). For you to have a success (up) is detrimental to our progress (down). Here there’s a regressive attitude of finite possibilities.
• **The “left right” business mindset:...

Creating great work, even with an amazing team, can feel hard sometimes.

But…what if it were easy?

• How would that change our service? If we were to strip away all the cruft, and just do what makes us world-class?
• How would that change our marketing? If we were to worry less about 100 new tactics, and just focus on one or two?
• How would that change our operations? If we were to systemize check-ins, and simplify responsibilities?

Our...

The chisel is the most underrated tool in business.

The Egyptians figured out that bashing things without one was inefficient all the way back in 8,000 BC… so why do businesses do it in 2019?

• It requires focus and aim. Focus can be hard enough when we’re told how many things we ought to be doing. But aim requires us to be proficient in our focus, ignoring other distractions around us.
• It requires commitment. We know things will change...

If you care about your work and your cause, the temptation is to do more, work more, push harder and move faster. Sometimes that’s a bad idea:

• Energy exerted outside of your system is energy wasted: Any enthusiasm to go faster that doesn’t make the machine run better is only going to distract you and those around you. Too many good ideas at once will spoil your progress.
• Working longer doesn’t mean working harder: As much as we’d like...

These two things can work together, or they can be at odds with each other. Most of the time, the latter is true:

• When you do great work, you focus on making it the best the world has ever seen. It’s why you got into business as a team in the first place, isn’t it?
• What about sharing it with the world? It can feel like a distraction or a disservice to your talents to focus on that rather...

Many companies claim to be the leader of their space. But are they leading, or are they merely good at keeping up?

• If you follow the popular path, you’ll get the popular outcome. 8/10 businesses fail. Popular doesn’t always work in our favor.
• If you read the same books as everyone else, you won’t get ahead, you’ll just keep up. There’s no edge in covering the same ground.
• If you play above your level, be it books beyond your...

Being good at what you do is one thing.

…That’s the point: it’s one thing. What about everything else?

• Being good vs communicating well: If you’re great at what you do, but you’re unable to communicate that to the market effectively, nobody will experience your skills. There is little connection between skills in your craft and the ability to sell.
• Being good vs being present: If you’re great at what you do, but you’re never around to actually do...

When you’re looking to upgrade your marketing work as a sustainable or ethical or B-corp style company, you’ve got a problem.

The stuff that most normal companies are doing in their marketing, won’t work for you. Because you’re different – you’ve got a different kind of message, different kind of proposition, and that’s a good thing. You’ve got superpowers that’ll make your marketing work 10x easier than theirs, if you know how to harness them.

Normal marketing goes like this…...

Failure never stood a chance against the monster that is Overthinking.

It lulls us into a false sense of security that goes something like this:

• This work needs to get done, because it’s important work. You wouldn’t be working on it if it wasn’t important…would you?
• But it’s not finished, or so you think. And so you keep trucking–agonizing–over getting things done properly, at long last.
• You’re probably the reason it’s not finished. If you’ve worked on this for...

Cause-driven companies are, by nature, solving un-solved problems.

That makes knowing what to do decidedly more difficult. But there are clues:

• What others did to solve problems like yours can be found in books and articles with a few short online searches. Follow the clues to get the results.
• Who others became to solve problems like yours can be seen in autobiographies and social footprints. Follow the clues to get the results.
• What to do and who to become...

“Going the extra mile” may sound cliché, but there are two scenarios where we find ourselves doing it. Which sounds like you?

• Because you need it: This is when your team needs to sell more, so you go the extra mile in order to ensure a sale. This fire fizzles when the emergency is over, and contributes to a frenetic culture.
• Because they need it: This is when your team recognizes a need in an audience it cares for,...

Turns out the customer isn’t always right. We have two choices when we hear a request from someone we wish to serve:

• **‘Yes that’s fine’ **is fine, unless you’re pandering for the sale. Oftentimes, there’s a better way, and not doing the emotional labor of educating your prospect commoditizes you into a replaceable cog in their wheel.
• ‘There’s a better way’ is what we say when we care enough about the results of our prospect to propose something different;...

What’s the first requisite step toward thriving and making a difference?

Survival:

• What matters more: If your balloon ever risks losing altitude, you need to know what matters most. Those are the things you protect above all else.
• Cut the ropes on the rest: When you know what you’ll sacrifice to stay airborne, you’ll know what ropes to cut.
• Stay in the sky: With the costs counted, you can rest assured you’ll stay in the sky, whatever nature and...

In your cause-driven company, you just need one thing:

• One acquisition channel can take you to the next level. If you target the right people and say the right things to them, one channel is all you need.
• One service system can change the industry. If you build the right thing for the right people and make the experience exquisite, one service is all you need.
• One retention model can explode your company. If you develop your world around...

Ever watched one of those TV shows like Kitchen Nightmares or Hotel Inspector?

The ones where a guru enters a restaurant or hotel and picks it to shreds, revealing 2-3 key alterations that will change their lives?

We watch thinking, “Gosh, how obvious, how did they survive this long?” Thing is, we’re all that restaurant or hotel owner:

• There are those in the market who are mediocre compared to us. We can look at their operations and clearly see...

When you create value for your audience, be it paid or unpaid, what’s the driving incentive?

• ‘I want them to buy more stuff.’ This may be true, but if that’s your reason, you’re trading your fiduciary hat for one of a street merchant. That’s perhaps not the look you’re going for, nor is it the motivation you’d like to extend to your audience.
• ‘I need to support my chosen cause.’ This may be true, and it’ll even resonate if...

When we do work that matters, it’s important to remember, “this might not work”:

• When looking for partners, we can extend camaraderie or desperation, depending on our relationship with this phrase. Are we okay with the risk, or are we looking for someone to assume the responsibility?
• When looking for fellow team members, we can extend fellowship or fear, depending on our cultural alignment with this phrase. Do we all know the risks, have we all committed to do...

What’s your goal for your work? Perfection? I hope not:

• Perfect is a lie: A perfectly manicured hotel lounge or new-car-smell luxury car lease lulls you into thinking you’ve made it, it’s done, things are now perfect. If things are perfect, where can you go other than down?
• Kintsugi is reality: The ancient tradition of filling flaws with gold is a reminder that we can improve things whenever we see opportunities for growth. Surrounding ourselves with imperfect things develops...

Here’s a question our Creative team asks our clients all the time. And it’s incidentally a question we’re asking ourselves in the content experiments that we run.

“How do we want people to FEEL after experiencing your marketing?”

We have options, and we just need to pick one, for example:

1. Adventurous?
2. Amused?
3. Emotive?
4. Inspired?
5. Surprised?

When people visit your website, or see your ads, or watch your videos, or buy your products and services, is this feeling present...

Are you and your team working on something great?

Show me your calendar and I’ll show you your future:

• If every step is in the calendar, including launch, there’s a chance it’s going to happen. Every action and event, locked into the calendar. Now we know when each important work is going to happen.
• If every step is not in the calendar, when did you think it was going to get done? Goals without dates are just dreams. Task...

Is because you get bored:

• The phone you had that worked fine, but replaced it because you were bored of it. The new one that came out was more exciting, even though the utility was largely identical.
• The service you render that works was changed, because you’re bored of rendering it. Something else caught your eye, rather than further refining what you had.

If you’re in business to serve and make a difference, it doesn’t matter if your...

We’ve heard we should love the process if what we’re building is to be effective. But how much?

• If you love it too much (selfishly), you’ll never solve anything – what you could buy off shelf you’ll instead keep for yourself and not move forward.
• If you don’t love it enough, you won’t get started.
• If you love it right (selflessly), you’ll hold onto it if it’s right for you and give it to whomever it’s the best fit...

But what’s your element?

Let’s look at some examples:

• I’m in mine when I’m doing things such as designing systems to advocate for cause-driven companies. To me, it’s the ultimate leverage for social good. I’m good at it, and it energizes me. What are you good at that energizes you?
• I’m not in mine when I accidentally get caught up keeping such systems running property. I’m not good at it, and it feels like a hindrance to things I’m...

It’s comforting to suppose that we were always going to end up where we are right now. That the successful people were always going to be successful, that your bills were always going to be paid when they were, and your life was always going to find its way to this moment.

But that’s not how life works.

In reality, we are where we are because of the tiniest decisions we made, compounded, over time.

• A successful person started...

The desire for an item or solution is what we focus a lot of our attention on: does the prospect want it or not?

Cause-driven companies can go one step further:

• If you really don’t want it, it being cheaper won’t change that. A no-name phone label can’t throw a 50% off sale and expect iPhone-like sales figures.
• If you really want it, it being more expensive won’t change that. That’s why we’ll never see a new $499 iPhone...

What do people who are effective in Sales and C-levels have in common?

• A good salesperson raises the prospect’s ambition as an act of service to them, so they can grow and thrive in their work.
• A good team member raises their peer’s ambition as an act of service to them, so they can grow and thrive in their work.

It’s the same for Sales and C-levels – growth requires us all to raise each other’s ambition to...

The best work spreads on its own. And not just because of some affiliate marketing system, but because of a genuine desire to share what works with others who may benefit:

• If it doesn’t spread on its own, you need to spread it yourself. If you understand the efficiencies of compounding, you understand why that’s not the best solution.
• If it’s designed to spread on its own, you move from hustler to gardener. You will water your garden, and...

We know the quote, but it’s often a raw subject among the entrepreneurial.

Let’s fix that:

• The quote, “The love of money is the root of all evil” cascades into modern society when we update the translation to simply “selfish people”. If money is the end-goal, it’s going to have to end up in your pocket, not somebody else’s, right?
• Whereas, “The love of meaningful service is the root of all money” cascades into modern society as an alternative....

Do you know who it is?

• It’s the customer service rep who’s having a bad day, who doesn’t deal well with bad days, and comes off short to a client.
• It’s the operational team member who forgot to book that important call, leaving someone in your care feeling care-less.
• It’s the person who forgot to replace the toilet roll, or person who forgot to SOP the toilet roll.

The weakest link is everybody, if everybody doesn’t commit daily...