Archive of posts from April 2021

Three things are needed in order to get somewhere:

1. Knowing where you want to go
2. Knowing what it costs to get there
3. Being OK with both

Wanting to run a PPC campaign, but “needing it to ‘work’ right away” skips #2 and #3.

Wanting to invest in a huge social media following, but not really knowing why, skips #1 and #3.

Wanting a fantastic marketing website, but “needing it done cheaper” skips #3.

Wanting to develop a skill...

Asking, “What if we did…this?” turns our work upside down.

When challenging the way we do things, team members may respond, “We assumed that we do it this way for a reason.”

And they’d be right. Challenge the reasoning:

What would get better, what would get worse?

How would it make life easier for our chosen audience, and/or for us?

What are the trade-offs? Are the trade-offs worth it?

Many of our product or service refinements come from listening directly...

Are you an expert in your industry?

Do you advise others with your expertise, either internally during product development or externally as a consultant?

Do you call upon experts to bestow ‘best practices’ on you and your business?

Careful:

Experts worth their salt use mental filters to work their way toward their best advice. Sometimes, they’re switched on and share astute insights. Other times, they’re fixated on a trend. Either way, they’ll share what they believe is best, in the...

Warning, you may be disturbed:

“This advertising campaign must work.” This isn’t advertising. Advertising is harmonised action, whereas this is disturbed with desperation.

“This product launch must go well.” This isn’t product development. Launching products is harmonised action, whereas this is disturbed with insecurity.

“This video must go viral.” This isn’t marketing. Marketing is harmonised action, whereas this is disturbed with delusion.

When we disturb the nature of action with added strains, we lose the ability to focus on what...

“Desire demands the attainment of that which you desire, and aversion demands the avoidance of that which you dislike. Those who fail to attain their desires are disappointed. Those who attain what they dislike are distressed.” – Sam Torode on Epictetus

Oh how this applies to creating value in the marketplace.

With so many external forces at play, distress and disappointment seem to be the pandemic among creative and entrepreneurial spirits alike.

For this pandemic, we need to...

Could ‘under-done’ be the better outcome?

‘Done’ means it’s complete. Whatever the scope of the task was, whatever you thought about it, it’s done.

‘Undone’ means it’s not complete. Whatever the scope of the task was, margin remains. It’s unfinished work.

‘Under-done’ is another type of ‘complete’. You had an opinion about the scope, you made it simpler in the right ways. ‘Simpler’ could be to do nothing (not the same as ‘undone’) or to distill the task into the...

We know how to plan new products, new features, how to start.

But do we know how to plan how to end?

If we’re lucky, our products and services will survive – thrive, even – for the length of time they were designed for.

But the web (and beyond) is littered with discontinued products. ‘Page Not Found’ 404 errors where dreams used to live. Services people trust, gone, due to red balance sheets or an acquisition.

We don’t deserve the...

We have a saying about shipping work in our teams:

“It’s the best it’s ever been, and the worst it’ll ever be.”

If it’s the best it’s ever been, we did the job properly. We listened to the right signals, we did the best we could, all while revering process.

If it’s the worst it’ll ever be, we’re committed to continuing to do the job properly. We’ll continue to listen to the right signals, do the best we can, all...

“This” may vary.

“That” may vary.

But one of the most important skills we can develop, as leaders and doers in our pursuit of helping others, is the ability to asset that This is more important than That.

Knowing what This is means we make clear our beliefs about what we do and what we stand for.

Knowing what That is in relation to This means we make our priorities clear and what we stand against.

Whether it’s guiding a...

“It’s always been there. But somehow, we’ve all become too smart for our own good. We think, ‘Oh, no, we need some profound idea or some view of the market so that I don’t have to go through that process of learning about the world again.” – David Cancel, Drift

Many of us fall victim to this.

Industry experts. Businessmen. Product designers. C-suite. Copywriters. Marketing managers.

When we stop learning about our world, it moves on without us.

I have a couple of weird habits when reading books.

First, I keep a pen in my hand the whole time. It keeps me in “looking for nuggets of value” mode, marking them as I find them, rather than letting key insights pass me by.

Second, I use money for bookmarks (“buckmarks” as I like to call them). It reminds me that there is value inside the book, rather than it just being just entertainment.

There’s value and insight all...

Here’s what I’ve discovered about synchronous and asynchronous communication:

Sometimes, asynchronous is a better way to communicate. Thoughtful discussion, meaningful input, and solidified thinking are a by-product of communication that is important enough to slow down and do properly.

Sometimes, real-time is better. Immediate discussion, reactive input, and dissolved thinking are a by-product of communication that couldn’t slow down, where imperfect mostly-forward-movement is a better representation of progress.

The former works great only in teams who invest in the skill....

We talk a lot together on this blog about how a great product is also great marketing.

Hey.com is a good example of that.

They recently launched the unorthodox “Cover Art” feature, where you can cover previously read email with some artwork.

After thousands of daily posts, we’re in no short supply of artwork around here!

So I’ve created Heytops: like background desktops, but for Hey. If you use Hey, check it out!

There’s a desktop...

Best practices are supposed to be the best ways of doing things.

But the best way of doing things in your business, with your specific audience, will be much different to anyone else’s best way.

So why do ‘best practices’ emerge industry-wide?

Because people want broad-stroke, step-by-step, can’t-lose, easy. They’re there because it’s what people want to be there.

Except they don’t work.

When we spend time looking for industry-wide best practices, we’re looking for safe shortcuts that don’t exist.

Not all things should scale.

And most things shouldn’t scale indefinitely.

But for the things that benefit from scaling, there’s an easy way to ensure they do:

Build them to not scale.

Those who focus on building things to scale often do things out of order:

A coaching service built to scale focuses more on systems for acquiring more coaches, reducing skilled labour costs, or perhaps abstracting things into a course format…

…Anything but actually creating a coaching experience so...