Archive of posts from November 2022

Things happen.

And those things cause mind shifts.

Like living through trials and abuse. Such things either make you afraid of people, slow to trust, eager to make the world a better place, or a combination of the above. For us, it was a combination of the above.

Like marrying your favourite person. My work stopped being about me and became about doing things that would give her every opportunity to do everything she wants in life, from telling stories she loves and helping people, to having freedom over her space and her time.

Like eagerly awaiting the arrival of your child. We got both braver and more conservative at the same time, eager to aggressively protect the downside, while wanting to use the marketplace as a vehicle for creating the best parenting tools we could dream of.

No two people are on the same journey.

So it’s truly pointless trying to compare them.

Lean into your mind shifts. They help make you who you are.

Competition gets a bad rap.

Competition is great.

Competition means a market is alive and well, eager to be served in a way that’s best for them, whether that’s by you or one of your comrades offering similar products or services.

Competition encourages innovation, so that you can push the market forward; competitors benefit and advance too, customers benefit and stay engaged in your market, everyone benefits.

Competition often means more education becomes available, more trained staff become available, and more public mindshare becomes available.

Sure, some players only have themselves in mind… as though any game is more fun when you can only play alone…

…but why let them spoil your fun?

Your competition isn’t as scary as you might think it is.

They also hesitate, wondering if they’re doing the right thing.

They also worry, wondering if their competitors are outmanoeuvring them behind the scenes.

They also dream, playing with ideas in their minds that may (or may not) see the light of day.

They also wrestle with people problems, payroll, ill-timed quits, software issues, and self-doubts.

Maybe there’s nothing to fear.

Maybe you have exactly what it takes do bring your vision to life.

2023 is on the horizon…

It’ll be an interesting year…

And it’s tempting to focus entirely upon 2023 because of it…

…But what about 2033?

Whatever 2023 brings, 2033 is still a decade of ideas, building, love and care away…

…So be brave, bring your best, and let your actions speak louder than recessions.

Is free always worth the same?

A free guide is typically valued at $0 because it doesn’t cost anything.

A $49 guide that is reduced to free has a higher perceived value to newcomers (somewhere between $0 and $49) but costs you a lot of goodwill with those who paid $49 for it.

A $49 guide that includes a free extra for a limited time is still worth $49.

A $49 guide that includes a a free extra that normally costs $19 is worth $68, unless the value of the extra is contrived, in which case it has a negative affect on the $49 value.

Free and $0 are not always the same thing.

Free is often leaned upon to try and incentivise sales for those who lack confidence in their work and those who wish to artificially inflate value beyond their efforts.

But free can also be a way of showing care, consideration, affection and protection to those you wish to serve.

Use free carefully.

What if we treated it as necessary?

It’s easy to hesitate about investing in brand development, until we treat it as necessary. Because unless that brand is going to be sold in 24 months, it is necessary.

It’s easy to hesitate about investing in activity that contribute directly toward revenue generation, until we treat it as necessary. Because unless we don’t want high probability of surviving the recession, it is necessary.

It’s easy to postpone a dinner date with your family, thinking next week will be just fine, until we treat it as necessary. Because unless we want to pass on the limited time we have with those we love, it is necessary.

It’s easy to hesitate, postpone, delay, over-analyse, or agonise over things.

Until we treat them as necessary.

Then things get real easy.

People often seem to struggle with valuing brands, and brand-building activities.

Here’s how to value them:

Bank accounts holds money. “Making bank” means accruing money.

Brands holds relational equity with a community. “Building brand” means accruing relational equity with a community.

A bank account without a positive balance is worth $0, tops. Same goes for a brand that doesn’t carry a positive balance in relational equity with the community it exists to serve.

If you make an Ask, you spend that equity. If the Ask pays off, you get it back.

Sales is hard if you attempt to transact with no balance. Sales is easy if you have a positive balance to spend from.

Growth is easy if you get a return on equity invested. You get that return by spending it on an ask that pays off for the buyer, because they’ll re-deposit their relational equity with interest.

With this in mind, brand building isn’t at odds with revenue generation… it’s the force multiplier to your revenue generation goals you wish you had but couldn’t see, because you hadn’t defined “brand” the right way. You may have been measuring the container (0) not the balance ($$$).

Short-termism might suggest valuing business development based on a quarterly scope… where brand building sounds like a fluffy distraction.

But if you can look beyond the quarter, you might find that brand development is the silver bullet you’ve been looking for all along.

Outbound sales doesn’t have to be hard: just make something really, really good and give it to your people.

Advertising doesn’t have to be hard: just create what your people want to see, and show it to them.

Sales doesn’t have to be hard: just go give your people what they want and make it safe for them.

Marketing doesn’t have to be hard: just give your people gifts and let some recipients tell their friends.

Product dev doesn’t have to be hard: just listen to the feedback of your people and then act on it.

Sales copy doesn’t have to be hard: just listen to what your people struggle with and what they want, and empathise with it.

Growing a team doesn’t have to be hard: just know what your people want and give it to them.

It might not be easy…

But it doesn’t have to be hard.

Just to look to your people with a heart of service and maintain the courage to do the work.

What could you do every day?

Where the thought of having to do it again tomorrow is just… a joy?

For instance, I could build worlds every single day. Fill ’em with characters, stories and mottos that make us better. Flesh ’em out with toys and books and lessons to be learned.

Golly-gosh, the fun!

You probably have some things that get the same reaction out of you.

Some “I could do this every day” things.

Do those things every day. And give the rest of us the opportunity to experience your magic.

Sometimes we do and think things because we believe them to be right.

And other times, we do them because we because them to be right once… but they became part of our identity, and now we can’t accept that we might have changed our minds, because that would change our identity.

Maybe our political views changed but we built a reputation in our peer group around our old views.

Or perhaps your personal brand stands for something, but now you believe something else and feel stuck about what to do with that.

Identity is a potent force and integral to how us humans interface with the world around us.

But it can also be a barrier to our growth if we’re not paying attention, willing to change, and willing to admit we’re wrong sometimes.

Thinking in words is a vastly different mental process exercise to thinking in pictures.

Drawing, doodling and sketching ideas is easy and natural for me, so I explore ideas in that way by default. Folks who work with me all know how feedback is likely to be a doodle rather than writing!

But thinking in words is important too… that’s why I’ve made publishing a blog post a daily discipline (for almost five years straight!) – in hope that it’ll get a bit easier for me!

If words are easy for you, try drawing…

If drawing is easy for you, try writing…

One will come easier than the other. You may even feel like dismissing the benefits of the other.

Try making it a daily exercise.

Just watch what it does to your mind and your ability to think divergent.

What do small businesses, new ideas, and projects that challenge the status quo have in common?

They’re all a struggle. Most of them don’t work, for a vast number of potential reasons. They fit you with fears and doubts, days where you can’t wait to get out of bed and days where you feel your bones are too heavy to rise up yet again.

What else do they have in common?

They’re all good for us. Challenge is good. It makes us stronger, it makes us grow. As children, we have another word for ‘struggle’ and ‘challenge’. As children, we call it ‘play’ and ‘fun’.

When the struggle feels horrid, you’ve grown up too much.

Go back to the way of children.

Rise and play.

Mastodon is tricky to get started with because it’s decentralised. Twitter is easier, but it can come crashing down like it has this week.

Email has many options to choose from because it’s open. iMessage is easier, but it only works where you’re allowed to use it, and you get no say in that.

Lock-in is convenient for the one who holds the keys, but breeds nervous energy around those who may not wish to be locked in forever.

This is also true of your work.

If you provide software, can you access your data when you leave? If you provide a service, can you access your files and logins when the gig is over?

Better to make a better system easier to use, than a self-serving system’s flaws more ambiguous.

Here’s a secret:

The straight line of success isn’t straight at all.

It doesn’t follow a framework the gurus will teach you.

It doesn’t have a super-secret morning ritual.

It requires doing things that don’t even work most of the time.

It just needs to work a bit, eventually.

And then that bit turns into a lot, if you’re lucky.

The sooner you engage the idea that it’s not a straight line, the sooner you’ll get the result you’re looking for.

Enjoy the bumpy ride, friends!

Things break.

Your product or service is breakable. The question is, how is it most likely to break next? Admitting it’s coming allows us to get ahead of it and fix it before it happens on its own.

Your relationships are breakable. The question is, how are they most likely to break? Admitting it’s possible allows us to get ahead of it and fix those areas before we lose people close to us.

Your body and mind are breakable. The question is, how are they most likely to break? Admitting it’s not only possible, but eventually inevitable, lets us intervene and change course.

Things break. But we can fix them before they do.

I love orderly systems that work like clockwork.

And so it’s tricky for me to admit the need for a little mess.

Mess is the group chat that doesn’t push work forward, but pushes relationships forward.

Mess is the calls with silly reaction tools that don’t add to decision-making, but make team members smile.

Mess is using tools people enjoy, not just tools that are efficient, not because they get the work done better, but because they let people enjoy the act of getting the work done which, in turn, gets the work done better.

Order is good, and important if you value the promises you make.

But so is mess, and just as important if you value the people who honour the promises you make.

Yay for mess.

What’s the best superpower?

Being the most talented? Nope. It sure helps, but only if applied with the best one.

Best the smartest? Nope. This helps too but, again, only if applied with the best one.

Being the richest? Nope. And in this market, it’s actually less helpful than the previous two.

Just really, really loving this. Ahh, yes. Whether you come out of the box this way or you just maintain a mindset that keeps your heart and your head in gear… this one has the ability to unlock all the others, and so much more.

Just love what you’re doing. It’s the best superpower of all.

Between the best product on the market and the one you like best, which do you buy?

Between the most popular YouTube channel and the one that really gets your unique, quirky humour, which do you watch?

Best is subjective.

Niches are everywhere and the number is growing proportionally to how weird we all admit to be.

Don’t be the best, that’s boring. Be the kind of best you and your tribe want you to be.

When advertisers think short-term, all that matters is direct marketing. They pursue today’s easy-to-measure win, while wondering why advertising is getting harder over time.

When advertisers think long-term, all that matters is brand marketing. They pursue long-term, harder-to-measure growth, while wondering why everyone’s saying that advertising’s getting harder over time.

The bigger or more important your work is, the more patience is required.

We see it happening all around us:

People preorder Apple stuff before they’ve even tried it.

Comic con is full of people pretending to be characters from businesses they buy from.

Instagram is a shopping app now.

Commerce, learning and entertainment are merging together.

Moving from personal, quirky, limited and fun physical experiences moved to limitless, sterile digital experiences.

We’re rapidly heading back to the personal, quirky, limited and fun world. But online.

Where niche communities congregate, the fans dress up, the vernacular is in-jokes, and a good user experience means “good for us”, not merely “good for everyone”.

And it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.

There are three ways of writing, that I can tell:

We can write to share info: this is often dry, sterile, and uninteresting, until we get to the next stage, which is…

We can write to share an opinion: when we get to this stage, it’s less sterile, but can still come across as a word-salad of thoughts, until we get to the third stage, which is…

We can write to share a new reality: this way include info, and it includes an opinion too, but it goes further. It changes the way we think. It expands our horizons in ways we can embrace and maybe get a little lost in.

We can choose which way we wish to write.

If you’re aware, new data comes in all the time.

If you care, you’ll see the important data that affects those you serve.

If you dare, you’ll pivot your work in light of the data to maximise service to your people.

If you prepare, you’ll know these pivots were always a possibility, and you won’t cling on to bad plans just because you still like them, when your fiduciary responsibility is to pursue what is best for those in your care.

Doing this is rare.

Do it to get more than your fair share.

The Internet was once a little something to play with alongside the real world.

For some of us, it was a novel escape to detox from the real world.

Now, there are no ‘virtual friends’.

Our real friends are there. Our work is there. Our entertainment is there.

How many people look on social media is more important to them than in ‘the real world’, from the food they eat to what their lifestyle looks like.

And when it gets too much, people use reality as a novel escape to detox from the new world.

How this affects society has only just begun.

The foundations have only just started being put together, and the opportunity to build a healthy ‘world’ has never been greater.

We’re all world-builders now.

Show us what kind of world you want to live in.

There’s still everything to play for.

Things aren’t that different:

Kids who weren’t even alive when Windows 95 launched would nevertheless know how to use it today. There have of course been innovations to the Windows product, but there’s still everything to play for.

The original 2007 iPhoneOS interface and 2022 iOS interface are still basically the same thing, albeit with more apps and functions available. There have of course been many innovations since, but there’s still everything to play for.

The leading online education tools are still using the same core principles as schools in the 1600s: a group of people watch a talking head explain something for you to memorise and try yourself in a theoretical environment. There have of course been many innovations since, but there’s still everything to play for.

It’s not too late for your idea.

Things aren’t moving as quickly as they seem.

Take a deep breath, and show us what you’ve got.

Your mileage will vary.

When we started our studio, we worked really hard, took no external funds, went full-time from year one, and it continues to operate calmly and profitably after 14 years. This isn’t how these things alway go, your mileage will vary, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

When we started our personal development brand, we worked really hard, took no external funds, and pre-sold to thousands of fans in the first year. This isn’t how these things always go, your mileage may vary, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There are plenty of things we started that we drew to a close because they weren’t viable, or ran their course, or just didn’t work. Your mileage will vary, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Our story isn’t someone else’s story.

And neither is yours.

Do things your way, let your story unfold, and be proud of it for what it is rather than down about what it isn’t. Others might be looking at your story wishing the same thing.

Your mileage will vary. What a unique opportunity that is!

Good ideas are easy to write down.

Bad ideas are difficult to write down.

Good ideas are easy and fun to sell.

Bad ideas are hard and arduous to sell.

If you think good ideas are hard to come up with, just wait until you try working with a bad idea!

Today while journalling I came across this question: “What bad habit can I curb?”

And my mind went immediately to trust. Or a lack thereof!

I have a bad habit of assuming that people will let me down at the first hurdle. After a number of occasions in the past where people I trusted took advantage of that trust, I’m now often slower to trust than I think I’d like.

Epictetus said, “Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.”

For me, that means staying the course of working on continuing to nurture healthy trust, and also remembering that if I want to help others flourish, that’s also a daily work.

For you, there may be habits you’d like to get out of, or get into, where a daily practice could come in handy, too.

After all, practice doesn’t make perfect.

Practice makes Progress.

There is a simpler version.

Starting a project is like unboxing a present full of bright, shiny, wonderful ideas.

But those ideas come out of the box with unnecessary packaging… ‘stuff’ness that makes it seem more complicated than it really is.

And many of us start playing with those ideas with the packaging still on.

But not you.

Carefully taking the packaging off…

Peeling back the vacuum-formed plastic cover…

Twizzling off those little plastic ties that hold it to its cardboard base…

Taking off the health hazard stickers and other little distractions…

…You’re left with something much simpler. Much easier to play with. Much easier to use.

Simpler doesn’t mean “something I’ll be less proud of.”

Simpler simply means “something I care enough about to want to play with properly.”

No matter what project you’re working on right now…

Don’t forget to work on the simpler version.

Ideas are everywhere.

Strategies are everywhere.

Mobilising them with effective action is the scarce resource.

It sounds simple.

Indeed, it’s never been simpler.

So simple, in fact, that it makes you feel like it shouldn’t be allowed.

Could you really start?

Yes. You could. And if you did, you’d have the scarcest resource all figured out.

Organising your day for effectiveness rather than productivity.

Setting aside time to breathe for a moment between tasks.

Setting aside time to learn your craft in areas you think you already know well.

Keeping your tools clean and ‘at the ready’.

Drinking a big water when you feel like you ‘need’ a little coffee.

Backing up your hard drives before you wish you had.

Prioritising posture and ergonomical over fancy and compact.

Reconciling your balance as you go.

Reading something totally outside of your world to expand your mind.

Journalling to review your day in the evenings.

The boring little things make a big difference.

Consider keeping a “Boring daily things” list and be proud to keep it.