Archive of posts from March 2020

Adam Fairhead
Post #0841 • March 31 2020

You May Have Heard Email Is Dying

You may have heard that email is dying.

It’s not.

The newsletters that blasts customers with offers to buy things – they’re dying.

The automated responder lists that track your every move and hound you to progress – they’re dying.

The over-designed, over-polished, this-wasn’t-made-for-me emails you can’t trust – they’re dying.

Businesses and individuals continue to use email every day, just like they always have. Open rates aren’t going down for no reason, customers have simply learned what ‘spam’ is,...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0840 • March 30 2020

What Does A Virtual Office Mean To You?

A lot of virtual working is taking place today.

Many do it out of choice – like our team do – and many have been forced to due to the international pandemic.

Which begs the question: What does a virtual office environment mean to you?

An easier place to hide? This is one option. Have someone wiggle your mouse for you periodically while you go for a run. Tell them you’re working hard while perusing Facebook instead. Nobody’s looking over...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0839 • March 29 2020

While Quarantined

While many are being asked to work from home during the global coronavirus pandemic, there is concern that the market will contract and less work will get done.

With no distractions from other workers and an environment entirely of their design, people are expected to produce less important work than usual.

Conversely, it’s said that when Shakespeare was quarantined due to the plague, he wrote King Lear.

What can we learn from this?

Now is yet another opportunity to do...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0838 • March 28 2020

Think For Yourself & Lead

An ode to thinking for yourself and leading others well:

“Read this book and make $$$.” If it were that simple, it’s likely been done. Chasing the easy wins leaves us only with what used to work in our hands. One must think for one’s self and select advisors wisely.

“Don’t panic, the government has the COVID19 virus under control.” Except they don’t. Control is in the hands of individuals and many behave selfishly in times of trouble....

Adam Fairhead
Post #0837 • March 27 2020

Create More

What are you not creating right now that you know you should be?

That skill you’re developing is overwhelming and challenging until you embrace the act of doing it imperfectly at first. When you create more with the new skill, it won’t be new for long.

That content you wanted to make is overwhelming and scary to put out there until you embrace the act of doing it imperfectly first. The sooner you press publish more often, the sooner you...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0836 • March 26 2020

Celebrating The Ride

I’ve long thought that business culture should spend less time celebrating “success” (in the way it defines success today) and more time celebrating “the ride”.

Illustrators celebrate illustrating, not “dominating their art style”, as though the destruction of their sector is applaudable. Instead, they enjoy their art style and the many that differ from their own, contributing to thriving artistic communities that make everyone better. And they enjoy every bit of it.

Jewelers celebrate creating beautiful works of art, not...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0835 • March 25 2020

If You Want To Be Successful

How many catchphrases like these have you seen in your life?

Here are three classics:

“Read at least 5 books per month if you want to be successful.” Tropes like these breed the notion that reading creates progress. Reading simply corrects action. Correct action creates progress.

“Outwork your competitors if you want to be successful.” Overworking and “hustle” breed the notion that hard work creates success. Farmers work harder and longer hours than chartered accountants, yet the former usually earns...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0834 • March 24 2020

Look For The Important Bits

It can be tricky to spot the important bits sometimes.

During a website project, we’re distracted by a particular font the boss wanted, who is going to take photographs and whether payment is Net30 or Net90. What matters is saying and visualizing the right things to the right people. That’s it.

During a house sale, we’re distracted by the escrow deposit, home inspection period and who the appraiser might be. What matters is having a house that’s worth the price...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0833 • March 23 2020

The Art Of NOT Doing

We feel good about ourselves when we get a lot done.

Should we?

A day full of appointments is a day void of opportunity to produce deep work.

A week full of things to do is a week void of time to think about what really needs doing.

A productive month does not equate to an effective month, so why pursue the former?

Might it be time to start training ourselves to feel good when we get the ‘right things’...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0832 • March 22 2020

You’re Confusing Everyone

What’s important right now?

Every priority is like a pebble in a body of still water: the more you drop in, the more ripples emerge.

If your answer depends on the day or the hour, nobody will be able to tell where the ripples are coming from, nor will they have a clear view of the pebble.

If your answer remains constant, the ripples all point to the pebble and visibility is greatly enhanced as the water settles.

Most organizations...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0831 • March 21 2020

“Will It Make Us Successful?”

If you’ve ever asked yourself this question while trying to make a buying decision, you’re likely in one of two places:

#1: You noticed it was the wrong question. No individual purchase will “make us successful”, because success is modular (you need the full picture, not just one piece) and success is relative (to how you define what success means). Anyone who is prepared to answer this question for you is naive or a liar.

#2: You’re about to be...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0830 • March 20 2020

Gig Economy VS Commodity Economy

We’ve all heard the term “Gig Economy” before.

It’s where people work autonomously on projects that engage them.

At least, that’s what it was supposed to mean.

Realistically though, it means, “Stuff like Uber where you work for almost nothing, or on sites like UpWork where you race to the bottom”.

We should call that the “Commodity Economy”, instead. It carries none of the promised benefits of the Gig Economy, and all of the drawbacks.

If you’re going to engage...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0829 • March 19 2020

Designing An Experience, “But How Does It Feel”?

It seems to go against all logic. And it totally does:

If you have two software products to choose from, one may be objectively cheaper than the other and meet all of your criteria… but feels inferior. Perhaps the slightly elevated experience your customers could have with the other one is worth the elevated price tag.

If you’ve considered two brands to do business with, but your subculture leans toward one more than the other because of what it stands...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0828 • March 18 2020

Fighting For Something

If you visit Mozilla’s brand guidelines, you’re met with two big boxes that say:

Firefox fights for you

Mozilla fights for the internet

Which begs the question: what do you fight for?

Your work fights for something. It could be fighting for customer goals rather than industry trends, like Firefox (which bends towards user privacy rather than rich data gathering like Chrome does). It could be for contribution rather than mere profit, like a Product(RED) does (which associates...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0827 • March 17 2020

Overwhelm As A Superpower

Is feeling overwhelmed good or bad?

The answer is a choice we make. “Bad” is the default choice. If you do work that matters – cause-driven work – here’s a case for how overwhelm could actually be a superpower:

It means you’re past your usual capacity. When we push our muscles, they tear, heal and become stronger as a result. Our minds are no different. Could you simply be…growing?

It means something has to change. If you’re overworking, grow by...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0826 • March 16 2020

A Race To The Death

Having drive can make life full of life, or a race to the death.

Take one look at Instagram’s endless stream of “entrepreneurial” picture quotes to spot the difference:

“Wake up at X every day”: I like routine more than most, but turning life into a drill doesn’t make life more fun. Life isn’t for wasting, but it’s not a drill, either.

“Workout X hours a day”: All good work needs persistence and consistency, but there’s more to a day...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0825 • March 15 2020

Non-Linear Impact Creation

When you spot a problem, do you offer the obvious solution that everyone else offers, or do you first consider the world of possibilities available to you (and to them)?

When you do, dialogue becomes so much more than just Yes or No. For example:

If someone is recruiting, offer to help fill the gap while they search, or help them fill that gap, or help them train and integrate that hire, there’s so much that can be done there.
...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0824 • March 14 2020

Beyond Making An Impact

“The impact you have is literally worldwide”.

This is the headline from a recruitment ad ran by the NSA on social media.

The NSA.

…Take-away:

#1 Be specific with your work. Making “an impact” isn’t the goal. Blowing yourself up in Times Square makes an impact. Your work should aspire to more.

#2 Not all work is worth doing. Sometimes we embark on projects that seem smart at the time, but later reveal themselves to be a bad idea. Cut...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0823 • March 13 2020

Worst-Case-Scenario Tasks

Anyone who’s built a business knows how important worst-case-scenario tasks are.

We like working on best-case-scenario tasks needed to push our work forward. There’s a lot of worst-case-scenario tasks that tend to get put off until later, such as getting policies and processes in place. Because, y’know, Instagram Story Ads are perceived to be more exciting.

Then you wish you’d done the worst-case-scenario tasks too. When a project or company starts to grow, the lack of processes mean nobody really...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0822 • March 12 2020

Don’t Fear The Tools

The market loves a “killer tool”, doesn’t it?

For creators and builders, one of today’s is the #NoCode movement.

The #NoCode movement is for people who can’t code but want to develop things, and for developers who can code but don’t want to.

Conversely, Apple’s “Everyone Can Code” campaign takes the opposite approach, encouraging everyone in their ability to create things beyond what they thought was possible for them.

It’s exciting to think we could skip the difficult work of...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0821 • March 11 2020

Some Tasks Are Meant To Be Hard

Making hard things easy is a big part of what we do in business.

But some things are meant to be hard:

Scheduling a meeting shouldn’t be one-click easy. Your time is your most valuable asset, why automate giving it away for free with software?

Strategic partnerships and JVs shouldn’t be easy to create. They rely upon you extending your trust and reputation to another, and vice-versa. The hard work of building a real relationship should come first.

Referrals can...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0820 • March 10 2020

Time Is More Than Money

They say time is money.

It isn’t though, is it.

Time is life.

Money, we can get back. When we say “time is money”, we focus our energy on doing things that create more money.

But how we spend our time is how we spend our lives.

Those of us in pursuit of meaningful work that makes a difference shouldn’t be asking, “Is this making me enough money?” but rather, “Is this worthy of my life?”

Adam Fairhead
Post #0819 • March 09 2020

Innovation That Kills Innovation

Uber innovated on what it means to hire a cab.

Now an Uber driver can’t innovate at all; they drive when told, in a prescribed system, with fixed prices, at unsustainable rates.

Want to turn a ride into a unique education experience or design a counseling or admin add-on? Doesn’t matter, won’t appear in the app.

The industry didn’t innovate, and now they don’t get to.

AirBNB innovated on what it means to find and rent a holiday let.

Now...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0818 • March 08 2020

Why GTD?

I never quite understood GTD aficionados.

Getting things done faster is what buying new computers is for.

Computers compute. Humans ask questions.

GTD: Get Things Done, period. Repeat until dead, I guess? Where else does it end?

GTDST: Get Things Done So That… Answer the question, live life intentionally. Maybe not everything on that list needed doing after all?

The quality of our lives is in proportion to the quality of the questions we ask.

Why get that done? Have...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0817 • March 07 2020

Your Marketing Is Not Done

“We have all we need from a marketing standpoint.” – Many business owners

Our creative team hears these words from time to time. They’re quick to spot the ‘kiss of death’ behind these words, and mourn the loss of that company’s potential.

Here’s why.

When every single person in your market knows who you are, your work is still not done. Not if you care enough to create change in their lives.

When every single person in your...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0816 • March 06 2020

Stress Optional

Is stress an optional ingredient to the pursuit of making a difference?

Let’s take a look:

‘Important’ stand-up meetings to figure out who’s falling behind, or thoughtful when-you-get-a-minute write-ups from everyone involved?

Tightly scheduled hustle to make sure everything gets done, or planned breathing space between methodical tasks to make sure everything gets done well?

Arbitrary financial targets to keep everyone focused on ensuring the P&L stays in the black, or lean operations to keep the team focused on doing...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0815 • March 05 2020

Opportunity, Not Problems

Is your organization fully GDPR compliant?

To many, things like this sound like a nuisance.

To others, things like this are an opportunity.

Opportunity to stand out. You care enough to show others how you treat their privacy with respect, whereas others provide cryptic policy pages that make you feel like they have something to hide.

Opportunity to connect. Because you went the extra mile and showed how transparent you are, others are perhaps more likely to explore what you...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0814 • March 04 2020

Sale Or No Sale

Either way, you win:

‘Sale’ means you have the opportunity to serve someone, to put them under your protection, to make change happen.

‘No sale’ means you learn about a need you weren’t yet able to fill, then choose whether or not to fill it, making change happen there too.

Both outcomes sound great to me.

The only caveat: being afraid to represent your work and prescribe the right solution to people who need it always results in ‘No sale’,...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0813 • March 03 2020

Creativity in Marketing

“Use this landing page template for RESULTS.”

“A/B this for .5% conversion lift.”

“Use these power words to get more opt-ins.”

What do all these statements have in common?

#1 They make you the same. We don’t remember things that are the same. Don’t you want to be remembered?

#2 They lack creativity and ingenuity. We don’t engage with things that are boring or uninspired. Don’t you want to be interesting?

#3 They cause you anxiety. We don’t see you...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0812 • March 02 2020

Why You’re Creating

This is a tricky one to touch on because it can be hard enough to shake people into producing before consuming at the best of time.

But for those brave enough to create, consider this: Why are you creating that?

Is that website for the client who bought it, or for the client’s clients who will use it? Does the way that site is being made reflect that?

Is that email campaign for your company (who wants sales), or for...

Adam Fairhead
Post #0811 • March 01 2020

What You’re Known For

This is particularly important if you do work that matters (you do, right?)

We’re known for one of two things:

Known for what you consume: Here, one’s social feeds are full of pictures of what someone owns or places they’ve been. The right phone, bag, wheels and coast. This is what most “influencers” are known for.

Known for what you produce: Here, ones social feeds are full of what they’ve created. The latest post, book, product and impact. This is...

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