Archive of posts from August 2021

I learned these 4 things the hard way:

#1 One great blog post isn’t enough I remember writing a great post, publishing it, telling some people, and waiting for it to go viral. Great content doesn’t circulate itself like we’d like to think it would. Not everything we think is great, is great. Create more, publish more, distribute more.

#2 One follow-up message isn’t enough I remember creating a huge flurry of very personalised outbound email messages…with no follow-up whatsoever. Great emails don’t always get a response and it’s not always because the email wasn’t great, but that it was great at the wrong time. Follow up.

#3 One marketing campaign isn’t enough I remember deciding what a project’s campaign would be, and just going for it. Without testing it. Some things just work better than others for a chosen market. If we don’t listen to our market and try new things, how can we know if we’re giving them our best? Try things.

#4 One customer conversation isn’t enough I remember launching an entire product test without speaking to a single prospective customer about what it would be like, or how it would be marketed. You can guess how that project went. Have a system for talking to customers and capturing insights.

It’s hard to win by taking just one shot. It’s hard to win by not being disciplined about regularly talking to (and learning from) your prospects and customers.

You do work that matters. There are people who need you:

Don’t leave your work to chance. Don’t leave understanding your people to chance. Don’t leave knowing what to say to them to chance. Don’t leave being seen to chance.

Most of us have gone through a time of insecurity in our careers where we wanted to prove ourselves to others…

To show we know what we’re doing… To show we’re good enough to do what we say we do…

And then we get the joke:

The market doesn’t care.

It doesn’t care if you were featured in that publication. It cares if you are trustworthy.

It doesn’t care if you landed that big client you like to talk about. It cares if you’re a reliable choice.

It doesn’t care how much money you make in a year. It cares if you do a good job for a fair price.

It doesn’t care if you have fancy marketing language. It cares if you understand them.

It doesn’t care where you say you’re going. It cares if you’ll help them get where they’re going.

Once you realise that blowing smoke is just a distracting salve for insecurity, what are we left with, from the above?

Being trustworthy. Reliable. Fair. Understanding. Able to help people get where they’re going.

You’re already equipped to do these things.

If you’ve struggled to feel confident in your work, or as though you’re lacking some of the “essential” coverage and pomp at the top of this post, remember to turn your attention to the list at the bottom.

The market needs you focused on what matters, so you can help us.

What do online marketers and churches have in common?

Here’s a quick story about how I got massively depressed…

I paused my company (that was doing very well) once, to help a megachurch grow online.

It depressed the hell into me.

At the time, I was told I was going to move alongside a big team of GOOD people, doing GOOD things (I was still a Christian then).

When I got there (after relocating across the country), the depression kicked in fast.

I listened to the conversations they had. I looked at the things they watched. I overheard the tricks they used. I was, no joke, Horrified at this place.

“These are supposed to be MY kind of people”, I thought. This is not what I had signed up for. This moral sham is not what what I want to be associated with.

I later realised that MY beliefs around “the good life” were based on virtue. That’s why it messed me up so much: I didn’t find what I was looking for at the peak of the summit I was climbing.

So what’s this got to do with online marketers?

There are lots of big, bold, ambitious claims in the world of online business. Claims of “transformation” of health and wealth are a dime a dozen.

I’ve bought many courses of many of “the greats” to see what was inside…

…dissonance, is what’s inside. A lot of talk, but definitely no “transformation”.

Here’s the lesson:

You don’t have to promise transformation. You don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not. You don’t have to flash your money to win business.

You simply have to be true to yourself, and help your people move forward toward their goals. Know what’s at THEIR summit, and help them reach it.

That’s it.

If you’re looking to others and find yourself thinking, “I don’t have those figures” or “I can’t make those bold claims”, that’s FINE.

Remember what really matters.

The deceivers create agnostics – and you might be their saviour.

Some days, you can feel like you kind of blew it.

Tomorrow is going to be a medley of property viewings and hospital visits… Not much space for tackling the to-do list of also-very-important business tasks that need completing.

And you know what? That’s totally OK. Here are 3 reasons why:

#1 Limited arms and hours: When you’ve got a lot of exciting projects moving at once, you can’t do them all at once all of the time. We don’t have enough arms nor hours in the day. In each case, we are…

#2 Blessed with opportunity The sheer fact that you have exciting projects to pursue at all is, in itself, something to be hugely thankful for. Your grandparents would have loved such opportunities, especially since…

#3 Opportunity just keeps coming There’s opportunity all around us. Every day. Whether we can see it or not. Never has there been such a ripe garden of opportunity to graze from. Even if one passes you by, just look around!

If you didn’t get around to some of the things you wanted to do today, consider this:

• How lucky we are to have opportunity all around us
• How lucky we are to be interrupted by things that matter
• How lucky we are to do get to try again tomorrow

With one mindset, everything outside of your original to-do list is a setback. With another, everything in your day is something to be thankful for.

I know which I’d rather operate from.

How about you?

Both my wife and I remember being told our ideas wouldn’t work, when we were small.

She would write stories on the family computer – three novel-length manuscripts by the age of 14! But she recalls being told there’s not much money in writing.

I would make comics and games on a near daily basis, selling them to friends at school. Friends would even help sell on the playground for commission! I recall being told there’s not much money in such things, too.

Fast-forward to today…

We get to help businesses get their messages right, with an international team of coaches, writers, artists and developers.

We teach through writing and, yes, comics.

We get to help companies grow in significant, sustainable ways, honestly and ethically, while having loads of fun doing it.

No looking for shortcuts. No shortchanging clients. No keeping up with the Joneses. No buying crap to show off our money. No taking No for an answer.

Yes to living a lifestyle we want. Yes to enjoying our work. Yes to making a huge impact for our clients. Yes to financial abundance and peace.

Things like the NarrativeWorkshop.com or MarketingIsntAboutYou.com would never have existed if we didn’t dare to do things our way.

You don’t have to sacrifice what makes you happy for the things you want (it’s a trade you can make, but it’s a lousy trade).

You don’t have to sacrifice your personality to be accepted by the market (you can try it, but it makes you boring and forgettable).

You don’t have to settle for living someone else’s idea of the good life (go ahead, but it won’t make you happy).

What things have you been told you can’t do? How are you proving them wrong?

I often feel really awkward when I receive a gift.

Some people are really easy to buy for. I’m one of them. Except for one big quirk.

I don’t drink. As in, completely. Wine, beer, cake with a bit of alcohol in it, nothing. Never have.

People who know me, know this.

So when someone gets me something like this, I have to figure out how long I’m going to maintain the ruse that I’ll actually open it someday.

Drinker or not, these sorts of gifts aren’t the best gifts we can give to others.

What’s the BEST gift you can give to a client?

It’s not “bringing the gift of yourself by showing up fully”. It’s not “bring a gift basket with chocolate turtles”. Sorry, Mike.

The first causes people to fall in love with their own work. The second tastes good but is unrelated to their journey.

So what’s the BEST gift you can give to a client? I’d say it’s this: The gift of their own future, dragged into the now.

People buy the advancement of their own journey (e.g. buying a gouache kit for someone who wants to learn how to paint). People love gifts like that!

Of course, there’s a hidden gift here too.

The gift of showing people you know who they are. You know what they like. You know what they struggle with. You know their dreams. You support their vision and goals.

Who doesn’t want to connect and do business with someone like that!

What gifts have you given your clients lately?

Online advertising is full of people with a secret.

A secret formula to transform your sales. A secret hack to reduce belly fat. A secret step-by-step process to double your revenue.

The upside is that it’s results-oriented, which moves creators away from a focus on features.

The downside is that the product is so obscured, you’re unable to determine who is selling what anymore.

It’s gone from feature-focused, to benefit-focused, to baited fishhooks.

So what’s the right way to present your product?

I’d like to make a case for movement-focused:

• Features focus on the product.
• Benefits focus on the destination.
• Fishhooks focus on sales.
• Movement focuses on the journey of those we want to help.

You see, everyone is stuck between two worlds: the one they live in (problem-land), and the one their mind is reaching for (solution-land). When we show people that we understand these worlds, we can build a bridge between them, no bait required.

If the bridge goes from one place to the other, who cares if it’s the only route (the ‘secret’) or one of many routes?

The winner isn’t he/she who creates the most obscure secret.

The winner is he/she who clearly expresses someone’s world back to them and builds the clearest bridge.

When you think “good at sales”, what comes to mind?

It might be a smooth-talking, over-confident type, who’s good at holding your attention.

Some things were designed to be noticed. Like art, and music.

Not sales.

Selling gets simpler when it’s invisible, and brand does the work for us. (One great brand message is worth a thousand isolated sales campaigns.)

If we don’t make a little time for good brand messaging, we’ll need to make a lot of time for marginalised sales activity.

When we see the selling, it stopped being good sales (and became ‘convincing’).

Similarly, when we see the design, it stopped being design (and became ‘decoration’).

When we see the copywriting, it stopped leading (and became ‘fancy words’).

The most effective salespeople in your world may not be those that spring to mind. You just buy from them, effortlessly.

The most effective designs in your world may not be the most avant grade. You just use them, effortlessly.

The most effective copywriting in your world may not be your favourite sales letters. You just see it and act, effortlessly.

How can you make your sales activity a little more… invisible?

You’ll look crazy, but it’ll kill procrastination for good. Here’s how!

When you listen to your inner-voice, it may convince you of something other than what you had planned.

“I’m tired, I want a break…” is something you’re far more likely to say in your head than out loud.

Same goes for, “But I don’t want to do that, it’s boring ugh…”

To quiet the inner-voice, use your outer-voice.

Speak out what comes next. Like a crazy person.

Perhaps imagine you’re explaining it to your pet. Maybe imagine you’re on a documentary. Doesn’t matter.

Say it out loud.

Things like follow-up, documentation, or setting up calls with prospects and clients to workshop your narrative, can all be detailed by your inner-voice.

Let your outer-voice do the work.

I get a bit frustrated with myself when I’m unable to exercise.

This past week, I pulled something in my arm, and each attempt to exercise sets it off. It needs rest to heal.

You might think, “It’s no big deal, you can just pick it back up later”…

But I watch a lot of folks struggle to bring that forgiveness to themselves in business.

With exercise, we hear, “You can get fit any time, it’s never too late to start.” With business, we hear, “What if I’ve missed my chance, what if it’s too late?”

With exercise, we hear, “It takes a while to see results, keep at it, don’t quit.” With business, we hear, “I work hard but I don’t see results, am I cut out for this?”

With exercise, we hear, “This workout isn’t serving me, I’ll try another, that’s cool.” With business, we hear, “This business isn’t working, I must be a complete failure…”

Juxtaposition reveals flaws in our thinking.

Flaws that are “set off” with each attempt to think, just like my arm injury.

Let your mind rest and heal. Remember this juxtaposition next time you’re hard on yourself.

Yes, showing up is one of the most important things…

…but we need to show up right:

1) With respect: Not everyone “deserves it.” But it always says more about us than the other person when we don’t show up with it.

2) As we want things to be: Not everyone makes our day better for being in it. We can be the one that does.

3) Be glad you did: I’ve never been glad of being angry, or disgruntled, or losing my cool. We should make our future-selves proud.

We don’t always want to show up.

But when we do, let’s show up the right way.

We owe it to those we want to help.

“How many new sales did your company make last month?”

I’ve watched coaches and consultants go back-n-forth on this question for the last few weeks.

All eyes are on acquisition.

Not as many eyes are on the service rendered, and how it contributes to acquisition.

Not as many eyes are on customer retention, and how many times folks were happy enough to return.

A struggling, stressed out consultancy brings people in, does a workable job, then hunts for another victim.

A harmonious, profitable consultancy invites people in, blows their minds, and helps them tell their friends.

If they’re lucky, if every customer creates 1.1 more customers, they’ll never have to think about acquisition again.

Invite them in.

Blow them minds.

Help them tell their friends.

What do you sell?

Some sell a rung of a ‘value ladder’. This is code for “a daisy-chain of things that aren’t quite what you needed.”

Some help folks move along their journey. This is code for “actually solving the problem at hand.”

The former is more popular, and is rewarded with completed (albeit frustrated) transactions.

The latter is rare, and is rewarded with loyal customers who tell their friends.

What do you sell?

It’s pretty natural to fall in love with your own work.

And when you do, you tend to want to guide it down a certain path.

…The trouble is, if you do, you might “fall out of love” (as much as I loathe the saying) with that work when customers want take it somewhere other than your original vision.

This is a kiss of death: if your customers ask for your help to get somewhere — but you’re not interested — they’ll find someone who cares enough.

The only real solution to this, is to not fall in love with it in the first place.

But to instead fall in love with the audience you serve.

Warts ‘n’ all.

That keeps us focused on doing what’s best for them. Not because it’s interesting, but because it’s what’s best for them.

And it’ll be our joy to do so.

There are two kinds of “know your audience”.

The first way involves fake names, redundant exercises and colourful printouts.

Maybe something to colour in.

Or a dot-to-dot.

This doesn’t help businesses sell more. It simply helps people get out of their own way and start creating.

The second kind of “know your audience” is the one to look for.

This way involves understanding how they tick. Reverse-engineering their objectives.

And actually talking to them.

I’ve said before that there’s so such thing as a bad investment in brand messaging.

The asterisk there is, if you want to improve your brand messaging, investing in brand messaging.

Not therapy.

Production value can enhance or detract from your authenticity.

If you make a video organically with your phone camera, it looks more authentic because less has taken place to mask reality.

But those same videos in a premium/bought context may make things seem unrefined and lacking in authority.

Posting polished videos on social media makes us wonder what all the polish is there to hide. So we trust it less.

But those same videos in an official context assure us that real work went into the piece, and so we trust we’re being looked after.

Production value is non-linear. The examples above aren’t “more produced” or “less produced” than each other.

They’re simply produced “differently”.

The key is to know — from a place of respect and reverence of those you serve — what type of production your audience needs from you, and when.

Did you follow-up today?

Most people involved in the sales process seem to have a particular stage that they hate…

Some hate prospecting. Others hate sales calls. But everyone seems to have a strange avoidance to follow-up.

Probably why most follow-up is so lousy.

“Hey just checking you got my last email!”

You know you can do better than this.

Advertising is boring until approached with creativity.

Outreach is boring until approached with creativity.

What if you dared to explore creative ways of follow-up?

Sending personalised videos that solve a problem… Shipping their favourite box of whatever in the mail… Sending a postcard… Making an introduction they’d benefit from…

The list goes on and on.

Might you enjoy sending the sort of follow-up you’d enjoy receiving?

Why not try that instead?

They say “hope isn’t a strategy.”

Ohh, it’s a strategy alright. A hugely popular strategy in fact.

I’d say it could be the most popular strategy of all!

It’s just not a very good one.

“It’s a stupid strategy”, you might say. But.

When we’re presented with a path to progress but we don’t take it, we choose that strategy.

When we find people and products that could advance us toward our goals, but we don’t leverage them, we choose that strategy.

When we know making a change (even just imperfect action) in a certain part of our business or life would make things better, but we choose not to, we choose that strategy.

We’re all guilty of choosing the stupid strategy.

Otherwise we’d all be he wisest, happiest, fittest, most accomplished versions of ourselves, all of the time.

Don’t sweat the decision.

But consider whether you might want to decide differently tomorrow.

I’m not very good at math.

I consider doing math to be ‘hard’.

But I’m fully aware that doing math is not ‘impossible’.

It’s simply a case of knowing the formulas and equations, knowing how to tackle each math problem, and bam, solved.

The same can be said for resonating with those you wish to serve in the market.

Knowing who you’re talking to and what they need to hear from you is ‘hard’ too.

‘Hard’, again, meaning: knowing the formulas and equations, knowing how to tackle each problem, then bam, solved.

Even while being bad at math, I didn’t get a 0 in my school exams. I got some right. I just didn’t get an A.

If your potential customers are giving you Ds and Fs from a brand messaging perspective, know that it’s ‘hard’.

And remember all ‘hard’ really means.

I hear people say they’re stuck a lot.

I’ve said it a lot myself in the past too.

But is it true? Or is it just inner voices?

For instance…

If you don’t have the number of clients or customers you want, maybe it’s not “stuck”, but that you simply haven’t yet implemented something that you need to. A certain outbound/inbound system, perhaps.

That’s not “stuck”, that’s “being in the process”.

If you don’t have the team you want or the processes you need, maybe it’s not “stuck”, but that you simply haven’t yet implemented something that you need to. A certain procedure or delegation or activity, maybe.

That’s not “stuck”, that’s “being in the process”.

Some move quickly into the steps you want (while failing at others outside of your view).

Other people fail at the things you’ve succeeded in (who may feel “stuck” in those areas).

You might get stuck if you start calling the process, “Stuck”.

But you might just get unstuck if you start calling the process, “Process”.

Want more eyes on your product?

I asked for that once. I regretted it. I got eyes alright, but totally not the right kind.

We need to be more specific than “eyes”:

More eyes could mean randoms who you can’t help. Who have no desire for your help. Who do nothing but cost you more server bandwidth.

More eyes could mean right-fit customers who haven’t been led to understand what success looks like nor how your product could help them achieve it.

More eyes could just mean…a bunch of eyes. Creepy.

Eyes (or traffic) isn’t what we want.

What we want is the opportunity to serve those we’re in business to serve.

The better you understand who they are, what they need to hear from you, and how to position yourself to be found, the better off you’ll be.

Leave the hunting for eyes to the horror movies.

When I was growing my first company, I took care of customer service.

I didn’t think it was all that difficult.

Until I realised what was necessary in order to improve customer service skill past a certain level:

You’re limited by your empathy. If you’re having a bad day, you still have to empathise — which means you need full control over your state.

You’re limited by your knowledge. If you’re ignorant about the nuances of the work you represent, you can’t help people find the answers they’re looking for — which means you’re a domain expert now.

You’re limited by your perspective. If you’re unclear on what success looks like for those you support, you can scarcely help them get there. You can’t be proactive — which means you’re always a firefighter.

Knowing your audience and knowing what they need to hear from you aren’t just marketing skills.

Or sales skills.

Or product development skills.

They’re customer support skills too.

And social media skills.

And prospecting skills.

The list goes on and on.

What have you learned about YOUR customers today?

Your growth and your business growth are tethered to each other.

We can’t really change that.

We don’t really like that.

But if we can come to terms with it, we can do something about it.

We’re able to accept how it affects others…

…A big part of sales conversation is helping people get past their own insecurities and indecisiveness.

…A big part of team development is helping people see beyond the limits of their perspective and skillset – revealing what success looks like.

…So maybe we can accept it about ourselves, too?

Our business growth combines the two examples above: seeing beyond your insecurities, your indecisiveness, your limits and your skills.

Don’t forget to invest in yourself.

In your clarity over what success looks like (for you).

In your clarity over who your audience is and what they need to hear from you.

We need what you make, and we need you to look after you so you can go make it.

Don’t you love it when a free offer isn’t a free offer?

When I was doing some market research on web consulting firms years ago, I opted into lots of free offers.

Free audits! Custom plans! Oh my!

The audits were mostly copy/paste affairs.

The custom plans were inaccessible – you had to negotiate several questionnaires and phone calls before they lift a finger.

This is still mostly true today too, by the way, believe me I’ve checked.

So it comes as no surprise when someone opts into one of my team’s free offers, that they’re blown away with what they got.

That is, “precisely what they opted in for.”

An custom plan is a real, bonafide, sit-down-and-do-a-great-job-of-it plan with no strings attached.

A free video series is actually free, actually teaches you what it promises, with no strings attached.

It also comes as no surprise that people actually trust my team as a result, and that we usually get the privilege of supporting them in a paid capacity too.

Life lesson applied to business: Say what you’ll do, and do as you say.

It’s deceptively simple. And it works so much better than being simply deceptive.

What makes you trust others?

Judging by many of the signals we see online, you’d think it would be…

…Displaying huge sums of money?

…Talking about huge sums of money?

…Making bold claims about life transformation?

Unless I (and anyone I’ve ever talked to about this) are from another planet, these aren’t things that generate trust, likability, or relationships, are they?

The money claims assure us that they’re good at collecting it from others, not that they’re good at helping others collect it.

The claims of transformation often miss the mark too; most of us don’t want to be “transformed”, we just want a particular problem to go away.

Knowing who we’re talking to and what they need to hear from us is the super power that builds relationships whatever market you’re in, or channels you choose.

It could be they need to see a real lambo.

It’s more likely they need to see the real you.

I sold my first NFT 13 years ago.

When I was on my early 20s, one of my projects was selling “virtual clothing” designs.

I’d design the clothes, and people would buy them to put them in their collection.

What fascinated me was, when I’d make the fashionable promotional graphics you’d normally see in a retail store, developing the brand around the NFTs, people would buy more and more of these things. Like with real clothes that you can actually wear.

It wasn’t the quality of the garment in the conventional sense that sold them…

Or the craftsmanship of their construction…

It was the brand.

Never was this clearer than when selling “virtual clothes”!

In business, when all else is stripped away, we’re left with brand: ideas and ideals personified that we form relationships with.

What if your next business breakthrough wasn’t how you cut your cloth, but in your ability to have your brand communicate more effectively with those it exists to serve?

What can a Gopher teach us about business growth?

I’m not sure who pointed this out first, but I apparently have a silly saying in our company that comes out whenever a certain kind of idea comes along.

“Gopher it!”

Ideas come in two forms:

The first: ideas that we cooked up out of nowhere in our heads.

The second: ideas that developed as responses from conversations with real customers.

The first kind of idea is likely to get shot down on sight.

The second kind of idea gets “Gopher it!” Which is what “Go for it!” apparently sounds like with my accent.

The second kind gets an near-automatic pass to be tried out, because anything we can do to find ways of serving our customers more effectively is likely to be a good investment.

Either we learn something that helps them even more (more results) or we learn what doesn’t help (more focus).

Both are wins for those who sign up for our 1-on-1 workshops that help master brand messaging to grow their businesses.

Do you experiment your way toward more focus and results, like above?

Do you have lots of great business ideas in your notes app?

Or maybe marketing ideas, future product ideas, or just even skills you want to develop?

Years ago, my Apple Notes used to contain thousands of ideas. Thousands. You know what they did for our company?

Nothing.

The ability to hoard ideas as they come simply keeps you caught up thinking about all the things you could make in the future.

All maybe-great ideas.

And all stealing mental space from leaning into what we were supposed to be working on at the time.

The worst thing that can possibly happen to a good idea that needs your attention to become everything it could be… is another good idea.

“I’ll rest when I’m dead!”

Ever met someone who said that? I’ve been that person, a bit like Sedgwick is in the comic there.

I’ve had dark times where life didn’t look the way I wanted it to. Times where to most of the world everything looks amazing, but suffering something awful behind-the-scenes.

In those times, many of us are more likely to find an escape than a fix.

An escape such as working all hours “hustling” in an attempt to compensate for another part of your life that feels empty.

It could be all manner of other things that I’m not qualified to talk about, but have heard horrors about, such as substance abuse.

A lot of those all-star social media profiles who look like they have it all together?

Compensating.

It’s an epidemic.

But all the work in the world won’t actually fix the problem it’s compensating for. Nor will it pay off without that problem being fixed.

Whether you’re running a business or leading part of one from within, don’t just find rest when you’re dead.

Find rest now.

Sometimes, the best business move you can make is to fix the mess you want no one to see.

Then watch how much you can achieve.

What’s tiring for most people, but not tiring for you?

I wasn’t sure when I started drawing daily marketing comics… I wasn’t sure if it’d be a good idea or not. Nobody else was doing it, after all.

But it was easy. And that’s often a sign we might be onto something:

There are things that YOU do, that I’ll find quite tiring. Perhaps as tiring as the thought of creating daily marketing comics sounds to you!

When we lean into the things we do, and collaborate from strength, we get to create huge amounts of value for others, while having fnu, without even breaking a sweat.

Sounds better than slogging away at the alternative, doesn’t it?

What do YOU find easy that others find more difficult?

We celebrate those who start.

We should also raise our glasses to those who stick (to what they start).

Starting is easy. The first day of exercise is hard but easy to show up for. Buying the domain name for the project idea is easy, too. As is telling others about your great idea.

Sticking is hard. Day 365 of your new exercise regime is harder to reach than Day 1. Dollar 1 from project idea is harder to reach than Day 1 of starting it. Showing others what you did is harder than telling them what you’re going to do.

I’m more proud of Day 1,332 of this daily content (today) than I am of Day 1 (the 1,332 days ago) because every blog has a Post #1.

Be a sticker.