Archive of posts from September 2021

Think you’re not in sales?

Think again:

Are you a developer who writes code all day? You’re in sales. You talk with other developers, you might hear of an opportunity nobody else could. Open the door so we can walk through it together.

Are you a project manager who talks with clients all day? You’re in sales. You talk with clients about their pains and journeys all day, you might hear an opportunity nobody else could. Open the door so...

The web is flooded with articles imposing arbitrary goals on new creators, loyal team members and budding entrepreneurs.

They sensationalise the quick win.

The lucky break.

The hustler who sacrificed everything.

Is all that necessary?

#1 Play by your own rules

We’re not all playing the same game.

That means it’s silly to compare someone else’s rules (and goals) with your own.

Choose your own goals. Choose your own sacrifices. Make your own trades.

We don’t have to change...

How do some companies make you feel so excited?

This is how!

The three elements of brand connection:

1. Your audience
2. Your message
3. Your expression

1) Your audience

Think you know them well enough?

Until you know their fears… how it feels to be in their shoes… their past …their lingo …their dreams and their goals…

…there’s still work to do.

2) Your message

Secret: it’s not your message.

It’s theirs.

They’re on a journey already. They’re sold on...

Six Flags is a theme park.

So is DisneyWorld.

Why does one make you feel magical, and the other doesn’t? And how can that difference improve your brand?

#1 Feeling

Six Flags sells the ability to go on rides and eat food.

DisneyWorld sells a memorable experience.

Do you focus on your product (like Flags), or your customer’s journey (like Disney)?

#2 Innovation

Six Flags makes new rides for you to wait to go on.

DisneyWorld makes queueing...

Ready for growth?

Here are 3 key insights our coaching team with NarrativeWorkshop.com makes sure that people grasp before coaching them, to make sure that they’re primed for rapid growth:

• Communication-to-success ratio
• Growth discipline
• Narrative philosophy

Let’s go:

#1 These 2 things are directly linked:

• The quality of your communication
• The quantity of your results

Let this idea sink in & experience bigger results.

Your audience’s message is your message. Your job is to express...

Tech is cool. We think of innovation meaning technology.

But true innovation happens on the people-layer:

Email didn’t revolutionise mail because it was on the computer and didn’t require a postage stamp.

It revolutionised mail because it made humans feel closer.

Google didn’t revolutionise search because we couldn’t search for things before. It revolutionised search because now anyone can find anything.

Web2 didn’t revolutionise publishing because it was on the computer and didn’t require a postage stamp, either.

It revolutionised...

“We didn’t spend anything on marketing”

This is a common flex among rising startups.

It’s also a lie.

#1 Marketing and Advertising are different things Not paying for advertising is not the same as not doing marketing.

Doing bartered or unpaid advertising is not the same as not doing marketing.

There’s more to marketing than writing checks.

#2 Time, effort and care were spent Understanding the customer takes time and care.

Learning what they need to hear from you takes...

This post is for you if you’ve ever said this:

“I don’t do marketing.”

I’ve spoken with leaders, execs, even salespeople who made this statement.

Allow me to challenge your thinking for just a moment:

#1 Do you lead people? Your people need to be sold on your vision.

Every day.

The way you represent yourself, your work and your business… …that’s all marketing.

#2 Do you tweet? Your words represent your work.

With every tweet.

Your rage-tweets aren’t just...

I’ve been fascinated by observing those who tear ahead on social media.

And how different a roaring success on Twitter vs TikTok looks like.

But there’s a pattern to these successes.

Every platform responds to three levers: audience, message, and connection.

• You learn who you’re talking to.
• You learn what they need to hear.
• You learn how to connect the two with on particular platform.

When we misunderstand or underestimate one of the 3 levers, it doesn’t work...

Good marketing convinces people. Great marketing wins people. What’s the difference?

I’ve led a lot of sales calls over the years…

I discovered that there’s an entirely different set of skills required to lead someone to a good buying decision from decent marketing vs great marketing.

One requires you to “convince people to buy”.

The other invites you to “win them over as people”.

Here’s the difference:

Convincing people:

• Listing available features
• Comparing to competitors
• Explaining how the service...

Here’s a list of 5 things you may think are pointless distractions in business, worth eliminating or automating away.

And reasons why you shouldn’t:

#1 Quick replies

You may not think it’s useful.

It is. People just want to feel heard.

You don’t need all the answers right away. Just let them know you see them.

#2 Warm welcomes

A hotel lobby with no welcome isn’t welcoming, regardless of decor.

Paying a coach without prompt acknowledgment or gratitude...

We’ve all heard of the “feast-or-famine” cycle.

Most of us know how to overcome it.

But there’s a bigger danger waiting when you do:

#1 First, you break the cycle

The feast-or-famine cycle is broken when you stop swinging from ‘busy’ to ‘desperate’.

Breaking the cycle means you stay in the ‘busy’ camp. That’s just the first step. It’s the second step that kills service businesses:

#2 The danger of being ‘all set’

Once a service is ‘all...

Marketing isn’t about collecting sage secrets from influencers.

It’s about knowing your people.

The data is right there. We just don’t always see it.

Here it is:

#1 Want solid market research?

One star Amazon reviews tell you what people expect.

Five star competitor reviews tell you what people love.

Picking up the phone lets you test your theories.

The data is right there, we just need to use it.

#2 Want your marketing to attract customers?

Get...

Here’s what I’ve noticed about “winning on social” after watching entrepreneurs socialise online (for 12 years).

There are 2 things the successful ones have that the unsuccessful ones don’t…

#1 Somewhere for you to belong

If you post but nobody sees it, you didn’t post. But if you know…

Know WHERE your people congregate, Know WHY they congregate there, Know WHAT they want there,

…You can be there & capture their attention with what they want.

Now you’re not...

Which type are you:

#1 Empty calendar = successful #2 Full calendar = successful

Both are popular on social media these days. Which actually contributes to “success” the most?

#1 Empty calendar

The flex here is that you’re not obligated to do anything.

Well done, you delegator, you.

You have time to think. To connect the dots. To see around corners.

But if you don’t engage that opportunity with daily discipline of action, you’ll go soft.

#2 Full...

If you run a business, you might be delusional.

A new delusion might help you grow faster:

#1 Business coaches get in their own way by not believing in their skills.

Possibly because of the testosterone-fuelled charades of their peers.

‘Inability’ is usually a delusion. Get a new delusion: One where you’re worthy of your goals.

#2 E-commerce startups get in their own way by not believing in their brand.

Possibly because of the titan competitors who couldn’t niche like...

Do you know what my biggest roadblock is to growth and progress?

My wife and I were talking about this today, so it felt timely to write about it.

Its probably your biggest roadblock too:

#1 Your relationship with yourself

I beat myself up quite a lot. My wife’s the same way.

For us, it’s a deliberate act to quiet the judgemental voices inside that state, “you’re not good enough.”

When we listen, we suffer. When we ignore, we...

In 2009, a client haggled me down from $20.

Then, I 1000X’d my price and found clients eager to buy before they’d even talked to me.

A Business Coach Manifesto:

Here’s the 4-step process to build a happy client community for business coaches: 1) Audience 2) Message 3) Narrate 4) Cycle

1. Audience Know who they are. Know how to draw connecting their objectives with yours. Understand how tugging on their objectives tugs on yours by extension.

These are...

This week I had someone gush over how much daily content I produce.

Last week I gushed over how much daily content someone else produces.

It’s relative. Wherever you’re at, here’s how people manage to create more than you:

#1 They do the things you don’t, one at a time. You can’t learn everything at once. Focus on what you want to make next. The rest will gladly wait their turn.

#2 They do the things you don’t, faster than...