Archive of posts from April 2020

If you didn’t know there was a line, you already crossed it.

If you wave at a stranger in the street, you’re being nice. If they show up at your door the next day asking to come in so they can tell you their life history, that’s now weird.

If you watch part of a video on Facebook, you’re just browsing. If that brand then appears to know every site you’ve ever been on and follows you around accordingly, that’s...

These are uncertain and unusual times.

We get it.

Let’s address the world being uncertain once and for all.

Note that things will go up & down. Just as they always have. We’re getting off the “11 years of prosperity” bandwagon, and should prepare our conduct for a future with both ups and downs.

Note that things require you to change the way you see your relationship with the marketplace. Your audience still has problems, doesn’t it? Until every person...

Creating content daily teaches you some things:

1. If you’re disorganized, it won’t work. That applies to your team too. Disorganization kills the flow. You’ll miss some days. Daily content reveals who the disorganized ones are.
2. If you’re unprepared, it won’t work. This also applies to your team. If you’re not ready to create daily, it’s just not going to happen. Those who aren’t committed to the process are revealed.
3. If you don’t care enough, it won’t work. Like the...

Most of us like to talk. Fewer of us like to write.

Few of us think we’re bad talkers. Plenty of us think we’re bad writers.

Speaking only helps those in the room. If you were late, you don’t get to hear it. If you weren’t yet around when that conversation happened, you don’t get to know what was in that conversation. It was for a moment in time or, worse, captured in an hour of meeting recording on the...

What’s your area of genius?

Do you nurture it, or think you’re already done with building it?

It’s not easy to build genius:

Building genius feels like play to you but look like work to others. And so your area of genius compounds.

Building genius happens through action and apprenticeships, not schools and courses alone. Un-automatable, yet opens doors for new automations.

Building genius rewards you beyond money, since there’s always more of that. Your genius rewards you with the...

The laws apply everywhere:

Compound interest on business engagements means your business grows and grows, if you invest mindfully, regularly, more and earlier than anyone else.

Compound interest on marriage means your relationship gets better and better, if you invest mindfully, regularly, and especially when “the market” is contracting.

Compound interest on applied knowledge means you become wiser and wiser, if you study mindfully, applying your breakthroughs along the way.

Economics is philosophical. Are you investing wisely into all the...

See how what you focus on affects things in a profound way:

Status people attack wealth people. That’s how they get their status.

Wealth people ignore status people. That’s how they get their wealth.

Wealth people who don’t ignore status people run the risk of becoming status people.

There’s no coming back for those folks.

Of course, the biggest reward comes from impact and contribution. But as for the rest, which sounds more like you?

Your role doesn’t change during a pandemic.

Not if you fully appreciate what your role truly is.

Restaurants are fretting because people can’t come in. But restaurants shouldn’t be in the “butts in seats” business. They should be in one such as the “providing a memorable and entertaining hour of escape” business, or the “leading people in healthier living” business, for instance.

These sectors are still very much alive, aren’t they? It’s down to the business leader to lead their...

We see a lot of marketing online that says, “It’s so easy to be successful, see?”

What this communicates to other marketers is, “If it isn’t this easy for you, surely you’re not very good at marketing.”

Or to people trying to other health enthusiasts is, “If it isn’t this easy for you, surely you’re not very good at health.”

It’s a race now. To convince the world it’s easy for you, too.

When it becomes a race, we can...

We see a lot of marketing online that says, “Look at how good my numbers are”.

What this communicates to other marketers is, “If your stats aren’t this good, surely you’re not very good at marketing.”

And so they start playing by the same games. Now it’s a numbers game.

And when it becomes a numbers game, we forget that ‘numbers’ aren’t the point.

Clearly communicating a better path forward for those we wish to serve, then keeping our promises,...

There are some strange money conversations happening in the world at the moment:

“Offer me a discount because of the pandemic”? If the value you render to those in your care has changed, or if the needs of those people have changed, then there is good sense to change the scope of your work and, as such, the price you charge. Otherwise, if nothing has changed, why make a change?

“Just send me a quote” without budget information? If part...

What does a CEO do?

Look at spreadsheets and sit in meetings? We often think of this as the sort of thing a CEO should be doing. Ultimate levels of delegation, watching from an ivory tower, having many hour-long meetings about forecasts and P&L.

That kind of CEO doesn’t fit into the new world quite like it did in the old one.

Deciding to write a COVID19 letter and have it placed on the homepage? That’s something that no operations...

In times of need, companies seem to rush toward looking for new things to do.

As though the world needs more rushed products and services to choose from.

Here’s an idea: what if we were to simply do what we do… but better?

What have you had success with so far?

Does your audience respond well to thoughtful emails? Then make the emails you send to your target audience the best they possibly can be, at almost any cost. They’ll...

The story that those in your choice of market is are telling themselves right now is a winding, blurry path between where they are and where they want to be.

You’re either a part of that path, or you’re not.

Most companies leave that decision up to the visitor. But if you can make that decision for them, through your words and your design, interest in what you do shoots through the roof.

If you’re shopping for a computer and...

When you communicate with the market, how much do you think about how you talk?

What can you say that makes it crystal-clear that you ‘get’ those you wish to serve?

Now, we’re not talking to everyone (only to those we’re uniquely positioned to serve fully) so we can get creative.

We can share in-jokes together.

We can share opinions and beliefs together.

We can use lingo that nobody else could possibly understand, but we do.

Few people dare to...

Trying to make a connection with your target market online?

Relate.

We’re a fully remote, international team at Fairhead Creative. But me? I’m writing this from England.

So if you show me pictures of palm trees or snowy peaks in your website design, I’ll know that’s not for me.

Or if you spell ‘colour’ without a ‘u’ in it, I’ll know that’s not for me, too.

But if you show me overcast skies (which I love), spell things incorrectly (as...

A lot of wondering going on at the moment.

“I wonder what will happen to?” This I hear often. Rarely though do I hear industry professionals deciding to decide what will happen to their industry, through action. We all get to shape our body of work. Every industry has leaders. Why not you?

“I wonder if our clients will stick around?” This I hear often, too. When I hear it, I wonder if they deserve the clients they have. It...

Zoom conferencing software lost our trust this year, by selling everyone’s data to Facebook.

Zoom also lost our trust last year, by secretly installing web servers on everyone’s desktops that turned out to be a haven for hackers.

These things have since been fixed.

But both were intentional acts, reversed only as a byproduct of mass-media coverage which will have influenced revenue.

Mistakes happen. Make them, apologize for them, be better because of them. This happens to the best of...

We’re all guilty of one of these things:

1. Not letting people know about things we can do to help them, because we’re afraid they won’t understand why it will help them. The solution is to help them understand. Communicate clearly. Make it make sense.
2. Not communicating with enough people we can help, because we’re afraid they’ll reject us, because it might mean we’re not worthy. The solution is the talk to more of the right people, because they won’t...

Working online now?

Tools like Slack and Zoom can recreate offline, online. Always-on, synchronous and visible. You can micromanage just like you did in the office. It’s different online, but not necessarily all that much better if used as a straight “port” of offline work.

Long-form writing does not recreate offline. Not always on, staggered communication and invisible. You must trust others to do it right. It’s different online, except much more can get done, if everyone can be trusted.

Ever tempted to shed your principles when opportunity knocks?

During a global pandemic, a lapse in principles could earn you some quick money, while needs are greater and options scarce. This act today comes at the expense of being trusted tomorrow.

When there’s a social need, a lapse in principles could earn you reluctant market domination today, while needs are greater and options scarce. Or you could take a stand and be rewarded in proportion to your contribution tomorrow (and...

What they think matters, whether it’s right or not.

Do they think one of your competitors is a better option, when you know they’re overcharging and underdelivering?

Do they think the fact that their existing relationship with a vendor makes that vendor a better fit than you?

Do they think that your price is too low, too high, too complicated, or too simple?

Do they think they need a particular type of solution, when you know full well they’d be...

Things will never be the same.

Corona is changing how we human. We aren’t allowed to in-person, so we’re adapting. This will leave a lasting imprint on society and the way we do things. We can take advantage of the opportunities to innovate this opens up for us, or we can fear the inevitable change.

Here’s the thing though.

There have always been things taking place that change how we human. Whether it’s flu-based pandemics, technological advancements, political shifts or...

Would you want to work with you?

Track your emotional state, not just your time. It’s also worth monitoring minute-by-minute just like time is, because as time becomes the project, your state becomes your temperament.

Track your temperament, not just your projects. Time may be what we put in, but projects are what we get out, for the world to see. We see your projects, we see your temperament. Both are indicators of whether or not we’d like to share...

It really is:

How many pages does your website need? As many as your visitor needs, for as many types of visitor as you need. One Audience + One Message = One Page.

How many products does your company need? As many as your team can deliver methodical, predictable, transformational results with, that solve actual problems for those you wish to serve.

What type of office hardware/software should you use? Whatever will enable you to produce the best results for...

Is your website’s performance going down?

Normal, these days.

Stalking people with pixels so you can later hammer them with ads, or forcing email opt-ins to access information is not how people want to connect. It worked for a time. That time has passed.

Consider how people want to use the web now:

1. You scroll vertically through a feed things that look visually stimulating,
2. You stop scrolling when something in particular catches your eye,
3. You click, expecting to see...