Archive of posts from July 2021

Dreaming gets a bad rap.

Dreamers are associated with wantrepreneurship. Idleness. Could-be-but-wont-bes.

This just isn’t correct.

Creating something that doesn’t yet exist requires the ability to see what isn’t there, in detail. That’s dreaming.

While creating for others, actively listening to others informs product development, but only if you’re able to imagine what the changes mean to the bigger picture. The picture that doesn’t yet exist, but you see. That’s dreaming.

While creating something different, something big, you’ll go for long periods of time when only you see the finished piece, in your mind. Those valleys are full of opportunities to lose sight, vision, and resolve. The better you are at dreaming, the better you’ll be at holding onto that big picture.

There are lots of dreamers out there who don’t take action. Too many.

But there are also lots of dreamers who do take action, and produce wonderful things for the market to enjoy.

Dreaming isn’t the problem. A lack of dreaming and a lack of action is.

Dream on.

Do something about what you see.

I’ve worked from the beach doing the “laptop lifestyle” thing…

Hot Florida beaches, white sands, MacBook Pro et al.

It stinks.

Everyone else is enjoying themselves. But you? You have an aluminium heat-machine literally burning your legs.

They’re spending time with their families. You’re getting a headache trying to read emails on a glossy screen in direct sunlight.

They’re taking a break because they’re on the beach. You’re going to take a break when you get home, after having been to the beach, where people take a break.

They dust sand off their shorts and go home. You use your AppleCare warranty because your MacBook overheated and got full of sand.

Don’t take other people’s ideas of what a successful lifestyle should look like.

Yours may look nothing like theirs. Mine certainly doesn’t.

If you’ve achieved a certain amount of wealth (or even if you haven’t), don’t spend it living someone else’s dream.

Live yours.

We need you to be fully, authentically you, so that you can create what only you can fully, authentically create.

What conversion rate should we aim to have our marketing assets achieve?

What close rates should our sales teams hit?

How much revenue should your business be producing to be considered successful?

Answer: the only ‘high score’ to beat is your own, if you choose to play.

It feels like a pat answer. A non-answer. An answer someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about would say.

But that’s because we’re easily tricked into believing there’s a universal set of rules to our work. That success is defined in a particular way, as is failure.

But that’s not the case. We get to define those things however we like, no matter what

Profit margins and LTV might be more important to you than revenue and valuations. Minimal responsibility might suit your lifestyle more than hustle.

Choose your own rules. Play your best. Don’t worry about what games others are playing.

We need you to play your own game so you can produce your best work.

We’re counting on you.

There are fields next to our house, one full of wheat, the other full of sheep.

We always find them really relaxing to look at: quiet, simple, slow-paced.

Of course, arable/pastoral farming are far more involved for the farmer than for those walking by!

We can be this way in our own businesses sometimes.

B2B directors can makes quips about how B2C is so much easier, while admiring the achievements of B2C companies and the B2C-focused strategies they deployed.

B2C directors similarly make quips about how B2B is so much easier, admiring successes and accomplishments gained through B2B-focused strategies.

But both are achievable.

The grass is greener where it rains.

And you can make it rain.

You’re not one dimensional, right?

Our social footprints tell a different story:

Publishing only-professional content is one dimensional: we only get to see your keynote, but don’t get to hang out after the talk. We want to see the behind-the-scenes you, too!

Publishing only-expert content is one dimensional: we know you’re not wearing that business suit in the supermarket or at your kid’s game. Friends get to see that version of you. You want to be friends, right?

It’s hard, seeing the story we’re telling through other people’s eyes. Especially when it’s inconvenient for us to do so.

Consider this a loving reminder to keep trying at bringing a 3D you to the world.

I’m trying, too.

95% of startups fail.

That’s a lot. We often wish the number would be smaller.

But should we?

Failing isn’t a bad thing. It’s a stepping stone toward what comes next.

A 95% failure rate means lots of stepping stones, and lots of things that come next.

Lots of things coming next means lots of opportunities to improve our understanding of the needs of those we wish to serve.

That understanding creates better work, helping more people with more problems, resulting in a greater contribution to the market and to society.

A 95% failure rate represents the entrepreneurial spirit, an opportunity to create better work, and a recommitment to those we make that work for.

That all sounds pretty good to me!

It feels great to make something great.

But don’t forget about having pride in the progress:

A great interview is worth sharing… but so is the story of how it came to be. And so is the happy faces that went into producing it, bloopers and all. And so is a teaser for us all to get excited about, joining you on the journey. Invite us along.

A great new product is worth sharing… but so is the journey of discovery while you figured it out. And so are the lessons that you learned along the way, for others on journeys like yours, and for those who are eager for the solution you have in mind. We want to be excited about your work too. Invite us along.

What you’re working on right now may be great.

Be proud of what you’ve done.

But be proud of what you’re doing right now, too.

Invite us along. We want to join you.

Question: should you say what gets the most likes, or what is right?

Discussing social strategies today reminded me of reading about the Sophists and the Philosophers back in the days of Socrates and Epictetus.

See, ‘Sophists’ were basically ‘public speakers’ of the day. They’d go from town to town speaking to crowds of wealthy men, saying basically whatever would create the most applause. If quoting Socrates got applause (and money), they’d keep doing it. Then they’d switch gears as soon as a competing Sophist was getting more attention using another message.

In many ways, their pandering to applause was an ancient social media algorithm.

Conversely, the great Stoic philosophers spoke of virtue – courage, wisom, temperance, justice – and of living virtuously regardless of what got applause at the time. They got less ‘Likes’. Yet marvels like Marcus Auralius’ “Meditations” and Seneca’s Letters continue to to be remembered to this day.

To my knowledge, the words of the Sophists are no longer anywhere to be found.

Not always popular, but always on-brand.

As you go about networking and promoting your body of work, consider each time you post…

…Are you the Sophist, or the Philosopher?

That marketing opportunity you’re looking for? It might be on the other side of a friendship. If you don’t build rapport with others, you won’t build much else with them, either.

That strategic partnership you’re hoping to find? It might be on the other side of a friendship. People who like you share you with people they like.

That product, service, connection, intro or resource, access you’re looking for? It might be on the other side of a friendship. We share what we have with people we like.

Say hi. Be kind. Go first. Eat last. Wonders occur on the other side of friendships.

I had a very confident email arrive today.

Without naming names, it said, “Why choose us? Let us count the ways.”

None of the ways they counted had anything to do with me. They featured reports they outranked competitors on and research firms that named them an industry ‘leader’…

…But we don’t choose products because we believe they were good for others. We choose products because we believe they’ll be good for us.

Industry awards feel like lovely validations of your work, and are nice morale boosters among the team.

But when we truly know our choice of market, and we create uniquely for them, the rules change.

We may still meet conventional industry criteria, we may not. Making the best conventional product is no longer the point. Making the best for our chosen market becomes the point.

As you and your team pursue excellence in your body of work, consider defining progress as your ability to meet the unique needs of your people, rather than your ability to mirror your peers.

Those in your care won’t need convincing to join, or stay, or to spread the word.

Go on social media and you’ll find vocal proponents and opponents of almost any industry, industry practice or market trend.

We think that’s the opinion of the market. But the market isn’t as it sounds:

Those who speak, can’t not. They self-select from passion. They represent the meta and amplify what they believe matters.

Then there’s the rest. They chose not to engage vocally. Some may listen to what is being said, others pay no attention whatsoever. This is most people in most markets.

The market isn’t always as it sounds.

In our pursuit of meaningful work, we learn a lot from stepping away from the social stadiums and into real, one-on-one conversations with regular, quiet people.

People who belong to that same market.

They need your help, too.

Hustle is fast. Fast is cool.

Slowing down is cooler:

When we slow down, we empathise better. Fast means we don’t have the headspace to get into their headspace, resulting in relational breakdowns that need intentional repair. That’s not really fast though, is it?

When we slow down, we understand, and are understood. Fast leads to rushing our writing, creating confusion, and waiting to fix the mess on a call at a time that suits everyone. That’s not really fast though, is it?

When we slow down, we create better work. Fast leads to cut corners and suboptimal process, resulting in work we’re not proud of and risks needing us to do it over again. That’s not really fast though, is it?

How can you slow it down a bit this week?

I first started publishing online around 2000.

We would bookmark our favourite sites to go back to. We controlled our connection with each other.

By 2005, RSS feeds and newsletter subscriptions became widely adopted, so we could connect more deeply with our audiences. We still controlled our connection.

By 2010, social media started to rise. We could chat on social media (rented land we had no control over) as well as our email relationships. We (mostly) controlled our connection.

Fast-forward to today. Social is the primary method of connection for most of us. Paying to be seen and negotiating accidental algorithm bans both introduce new boundaries to manage. We have (mostly) lost control of our connection.

I hope we see a bigger return to email and blogs. Creators deserve to connect with their audiences, and subscribers deserve to hear from those they’re interested in.

I have an email subscribe option on this blog. It’s my primary method of connection. Because I want real conversations with you, whenever we want to chat.

Let’s connect – subscribe and reply with your thoughts on the comics. I’m really looking forward to hearing from you!

A new customer paid! Woohoo!

But where they glad to pay?

We often treat all payments as equal. They’re not:

Some payments we make because we have to. Bank fees. The piece of software that overcharged you last week and tried to explain it away. No good feelings there.

Some payments were glad to make. I’m glad to pay our email provider because of the relationship we have with them. I’m glad to pay our team because of how much they mean to us and the value they bring.

Not having a conventionally “fun” product or service does not mean those you serve won’t be glad to pay you… if you invest in over-delivering with value and care.

Having a conventionally “fun” product does not give you a free pass from delivering value or showing you care.

Are your customers glad to pay?

Got a coach?

42% of businesses don’t, y’know.

Those 42% don’t think it’s worth the time, energy or money.

But they do think it’s worth regularly stating:

“If only I’d spotted and done something about that six months ago.”

“I dunno how to get past this hurdle, I guess we just try harder?”

“Man I’ve been meaning to get around to this, but ugh, I’ll put it in for next Monday and see how we get on.”

If you’ve said any of these things, it could be time to try having a coach.

The best sports players have coaches to reach their potential. We all need you to reach yours.

I’m not into football and I’m not an astronaut. And yet:

Bullying 19 year old Bukayo Saka who performed at the top of his class in a zero-sum game is juvenile. We can be a better example to young people. We can do better.

Quibbling over whether Branson went to ‘actual space’ or based on varying interpretations of “where space starts” mottles the intended message of adventure and potential with mere ego. We can do better.

A predictable, expected 38% spike in domestic violence (since a study performed seven years ago) following the World Cup final this week is a failing on every level. Women deserve better.

Our participation in the marketplace is a participation in society. We get to change the culture with our work.

We have work to do.

Looked for any productivity tips lately?

Watch out for faux-productivity, it’s a place to hide:

Taking your phone to the bathroom so you can clear your inbox and outbox at the same time isn’t a productivity hack. It’s a place for insecurity to hide. A few moments with your own thoughts has become uncomfortable for many these days!

Supposing that more hours at the computer = more work done isn’t a productivity hack. It’s a place for procrastination to hide. If time at the desk was reserved only for actually-productive (or creative) activities (rather than being sprinkled in with the 1-2 topical news sites you can’t go an hour without checking) think how much more you’d get done!

Upgrading your phone for speed gains isn’t a productivity hack. It’s a place for shiny object syndrome to hide. If your greatest limiting factor is how quickly your web browser or mail app opens or shuts down, we’d all love to learn your secrets!

Nothing wrong with work breaks, bathroom breaks and new toys.

But when we recognise them as faux-productivity hacks, that frees us up to engage more fully with genuinely productive tasks – and take breaks as needed – without confusing the two.

When we talk about having an “audience”, we’re often stuck in the past:

The old modal of audience connection: “I am on stage, you listen to me.”

You got permission to get on stage, people showed up, you said your piece.

“Stage” could be a literal theatre stage. It could be on one of the three TV stations available at the time.

That’s over.

The new modal of audience connection: “We are all on stage, we listen to each other.”

We’re all on stage. We do not have a captive audience.

But we can participate in the conversation.

And if we’re lucky, some will stick around to hear what we have to say next.

The second issue of “Marketing Isn’t About You” is now live, as a long-form comic post, and you can read it here.

This issue follows the first issue’s Brand Storytelling comic, covering Storytelling Marketing. It covers how to apply your new storytelling skills to your marketing work.

I hope you love reading it as much as we enjoyed making it for you!

I’m really grateful to have you in our little community here. The long-form “Marketing Isn’t About You” comic posts take a huge amount of time and effort, especially alongside the daily posts here! I hope you’ll enjoy the content as much as I do creating it for you.

Enjoy the issue!

Ever noticed how product and business development problems are solved by removing ‘hustle’?

Those who need the sale, struggle to get it. Desperate doesn’t look good on anyone. We like to buy but hate being sold to.

Those who need more opt-ins, get more bounces. The endless pop-ups are easy to escape using the ‘back’ button.

Those who write for algorithms, are read only by bots. People respond when you give them something to belong to.

Those who focus on churn problems, find more churn problems. “Call to cancel” tricks have a habit of making their way onto Twitter.

From less striving for progress, comes less need to strive for it.

What badges are you most proud of?

Featured in Forbes? Winner of a business award? Certified B Corp? Fair trade?

There are many to choose from. Many to feel proud of.

But what do they all mean?

Not everyone featured in Forbes is a success. Not everyone who shares your certification is of good moral character. We find our pride in badges that associate us with both ideas and strangers. Strangers we claim to be like.

Your brand is the only badge we can really control.

One where it means precisely what it means. One that stands for precisely what you say it stands for. One where you know precisely who you claim to be like.

The badges we can collect have developed meaning.

Perhaps it’s time to invest in defining not only what your brand badge does, but what it means, too.

Try keeping these 2 short lists today and see how they improve your output.

One is obvious. The other isn’t. Both supercharge with the third step.

List 1: The Actually-Do list. Short, just a few items that you need to actually do today. The push-ups you’ve been putting off. The important task that didn’t get given the priority it needed yesterday.

List 2: The Seriously Don’t-Do list. Short, just a few items that need to not happen today. Not using that negative mindset about that colleague. Not visiting that website you know kills your time and energy.

The third step: Decide what goes on each of the two lists tomorrow.

We don’t need long lists to be productive and create more work that matters.

Sometimes we just need short, succinct reminders to take small steps forward toward our goals, and away from our vices.

Do you struggle with this?

Doing work that doesn’t “look like work”?

Work that looks like work can be batching emails, applying a technical or creative skill, attending meetings, all sort of things. They are commonly considered to be “work”, and so we feel justified in our efforts.

And yet a day with only this kind of work can feel linear, like we didn’t grow, like we didn’t increase momentum.

Work that doesn’t look like work can be thinking. Or reading. Or exploring ideas on paper that don’t work. They are commonly considered to be “having a break” or “procrastinating” or “playing around”, and so we sometimes feel guilty when we do them.

And yet a day without these things can feel linear, like we didn’t grow, like we didn’t increase momentum.

Sheesh: What do we have against asymmetrical returns, growth, and increased momentum?

Maybe it’s time to stop feeling guilty.

The secret is knowing what to do, when you don’t know what to do.

It’s the only secret:

To build a great team, you don’t need a more exciting industry. You just have to know what to do next.

To create a great marketing message, you don’t need to be a marketing genius. You just have to know what to do next (which is what the Narrative Workshop is for).

To make the best product or service in your market, you don’t need to be a product engineering wizard. You just have to know what to do next.

When something isn’t working, it it’s hard to remember it’s fate dealing you a mortal blow due to a personal failing of yours.

Instead, we simply need to go find out what to do next. The answer probably already exists, and it probably has nothing to do with your perceived personal or industry potential (or lack thereof)

That’s a far less critical, less emotional, less catastrophic place to operate from.

And it might just be the answer to whatever was bugging you this week.

It’s football season. I don’t like football.

But even I know one thing about football: the goal posts don’t move.

Which is useful, of course. Players know that a goal is scored if they kick the ball between the posts.

But the same isn’t true in most business or life projects.

When product is a success, the goal posts move. Revenue goals change. Desired profit margins change. Industry shifts modify our desires. Peer groups modify our desires.

Now we can’t put the ball in the same place and consider it another goal scored.

But what if we could?

What if we let a success be a success, even if repeated, like we do in sports?

What if the act of doing a really great job for those we serve can be a consistent thing to shoot for, so that we can become masters at scoring, rather than masters of moving the posts all the time?

This is not a roast of ambition. It’s a toast to mastery.

To master the art of scoring, consider cementing the goal posts so they don’t move on you when you try to score.

Few things stimulate creativity like learning a new thing.

A totally different thing.

Something you’d never normally think to learn about. Where’s why:

Industries do things a certain way. For instance, SaaS businesses advertise and educate in very different ways than agricultural farmers do. Totally different sectors.

Learning about another industry and you’ll learn a whole new certain way. Those farmers have been doing supply chain analysis and strategic partnerships long before the SaaS sector even existed, and can learn so much from a divergent perspective.

You may see things differently as a result of what you learn. When you see ideas that could have been weird or inconceivable in your industry, be completely normal in another, it shifts your thinking. You’re engaged by ideas you may not have been otherwise. You’ll see things you didn’t see before.

Pick a thing. Something you’ve shown no interested in and have no knowledge of.

Learn about it. See what it does to your work.

Progress feels good!

And sometimes it feels infuriating. But… in a good way.

Amazing things don’t ship overnight. They take time to build, with many details worthy of their own refinement and perfection. When you’ve identified what greatness looks like, you have your target in sight.

Amazing things don’t ship overnight. So you either ship iterations, versioning your progress, shipping your way to your goal… or you ship nothing until everything is perfect. Of course, since the act of shipping helps refine your work, the latter option is impossible. You don’t want to stay stuck, do you?

Amazing things don’t ship overnight. And so you must ship less amazing things, little by little, as you refine toward your target, with the continual feedback of those you’re creating for.

Amazing things don’t ship overnight.

They ship in stages.

So keep shipping.

What do these all have in common:

“Don’t miss the deadline.” “Don’t forget your words.” “Don’t get creative block today.”

(And no, the word, “don’t”!)

Our brains struggle with negative things. See for yourself: try saying to yourself, “Don’t think of the colour Yellow.” Easy to say, hard to do once you’ve said it!

We get what we focus on, whether we want it or not.

“Don’t hit the curb, there’s a steep drop after it and you don’t want to go crashing down the side” isn’t a useful focus, then. But, “Keep your eyes on the road, this is a fun windy bit to make real smooth for my passengers” is a much better focus.

“Don’t miss the deadline” isn’t a useful focus, either. Instead, “I’ll make progress every day in line with my plan” is a much better focus.

“Don’t forget your words” is a doozie. Why not go with, “I love the words in this script, I’ve studied them well and can’t wait to share them with the audience” instead?

We can stop setting our brains up for failure by speaking in negatives.

Also, doesn’t it just feel better to focus on the positives, anyway?

You’ve heard of the importance of finding ‘1,000 true fans’ for your body of work, right?

There’s some great thinking behind this idea.

There’s also a problem: the way we respond when we hear, “fans”.

When we hear the word “fans”, many of us start thinking about what it means to be worthy of fans. To be the sort of person who has ‘fans’.

…when what we should really be doing, is focusing on those we wish to serve.

What if we didn’t look for ‘1,000 true fans’?

What if, instead, we looked for ‘1,000 true weirdos’?

While ‘fans’ can be intimidating, making you immediately start thinking about yourself and being awesome… ‘weirdos’ makes you immediately start thinking about them and what makes them so niche, so you can go be niche with them.

‘Fans’ makes us think about all the places our fans can come and interact with us, admiring our brilliance.

‘Weirdos’ makes us think about all the places weirdos hang out, so we can come and interact with them, bringing more to the weirdo-party.

‘Fans’ makes us want to schedule more tweets and create more polished content so that they’ll bask in our majesty far and wide.

‘Weirdos’ makes us want to connect with people and engage with their discourse so that they’ll thank us for showing up and miss us if we’re gone.

Pursuing 1,000 true weirdos could be the fastest path to 1,000 true fans.

“Posting more regular content creates more views.” “More people prefer this flavour of product.” “This tool converts gets more opt-ins on your website.”

Nothing wrong with these statements. They’re just statements.

The problem emerges when we finish them with ‘therefore’.

“Posting more regular content creates more views… therefore I should create more regular content.” What if the goal isn’t more views, but more engagement with a very specific group of people? What if more isn’t what they need?

“More people prefer this flavour of product… therefore I should create things with that flavour.” Does that create a stronger bond with your chose customers? Will they care as much if you give them precisely what they can find everywhere else? These questions aren’t rhetorical, we have to find out.

“This tool converts gets more opt-ins on your website… therefore I should install that tool.” Are all opt-ins of equal value? Does it bring in more of those we wish to serve, with the same intent to engage? Or does it bring in people who aren’t a fit for our product, or who seldom engage?

The answer may be to go right ahead and do as the assumptions might lead us to believe.

But it pays to check by putting the needs of our chosen audience above the status quo, our assumptions, or what is easy.

I feel bad about this every time I see it happen.

Because we know this to be true: If we don’t continually lead and guide the steps of those in our care toward the right paths for them, they may stumble.

I know how much time I (and my teams) invest in producing ongoing training and support for those who buy our workshops, or support implementing what they learn… but there’s still much to be done.

There are still gaps that people can fall down and get stuck… periods where they don’t hear from us as frequently as they need. Perhaps there always will be, such is the nature of ever-evolving process, as a by-product of constantly listening to customers on ways to make products better.

There are probably still gaps in your business too.

Maybe they’re on the front-end, where customers aren’t equipped to make an educated buying decision, getting stuck before they get going.

Or maybe they’re on the back-end, either between purchases or after they’ve experienced everything you’ve got in-house to equip them with.

When a customer falls into one of these gaps, they might find good footing (best-case scenario) or they might receive advice that sends them totally on the wrong path (seen this more times than I can count, you may have too).

This post is as much for me as it is for you: diligently search for the gaps. We help people achieve so much more when we do.