Archive of posts from September 2023

The internet has a shortage of bizdev opinions.

Oh wait…

That’s not right, is it.

Everyone who’s ever received a five-figure check is a business guru now.

They’ll all share their opinion about their one new hack that changes everything.

And, impressively, they’re not wrong once about that.

No. They’re wrong three times:

• There’s not one thing. There are lots of little things. When they’re all good enough, things start to move.
• It’s not new. Safely give people what they want, how they love to receive it. It’s not new, but it is rare.
• It’s not a hack. People don’t want to be hacked. They want to be seen, supported, entertained and protected.

What good news this is.

I cover this topic in more detail in this week’s issue of The Productoon newsletter!

Being an overnight success takes years.

Decades.

Most aren’t prepared to do the work.

They thought it would happen overnight.

But the ‘overnight’ part is just when people discover it… at the finishing line.

Are you truly ready to put in the work?

You don’t have to trick people into clicking your ads.

You don’t have to make “ugly ads” tricking people into viewing something they don’t want.

Why not just make ads people are excited to see?

Just like they were excited for each new episode of their favourite cartoon as kids.

In this video I explore what ads really are, and what people really want to see from your ads.

“Best practices” are dragging marketing down.

Just look at the last few campaigns:

• Maybellene putting lashes on trains
• Scrub Daddy putting F-bombs on TikTok
• RyanAir publicly roasting their own customers

Any ‘best practices’ marketing guru would give you a ‘bombastic side eye’ if you told them that’s your marketing idea.

And yet… these ideas are worth millions today.

Sometimes, doing the opposite of best practices is the real best practice.

I once had a big influencer ask for help…

Publicly, they lived a superstar life.

Publicly, they promised clients on tap.

Privately, they had no clients.

They asked me to help them get some with a great ad campaign.

I will: Help sell quality services ethically.

I will not: Tell lies on behalf of others.

Lessons:

• Focus on doing your thing
• Not all that glitters is gold
• Don’t believe the hype
• Practice gratitude

I was mowing the grass over the weekend, and something dawned on me.

Something you don’t hear bizdev influencers talk about on the ol’ social timeline…

…But something super-important while building a business that doesn’t make you want to put pins in your eyes.

So I was thinking:

“I’m here cutting the grass and next week I’ll need to do it again. Same lanes, same yards, same corners, same machinery, same cleanup, same maintenance, on repeat.”

And we could ‘delegate it all away’, where we do none of it - find a service provider, never have to do it again, buy your time back, yada-yada. And that would be “efficient”. But that’s not what we do. We get help here and there but we do most of it ourselves, even though we could pay someone to work our land all week for just a couple hours of my consulting time.

But why do we choose to do it when we can just “leverage it away”? And what’s this got to do with building a business you love?

Well, it’s got to do with remembering to do stuff you actually WANT to do. Or with feeling satisfied with a job well done. Or getting better at your craft. Whatever brings you joy, y’know?

I’ve built products and services for like, 20 years or something, and I’ve always been happiest when I’ve remembered this truth, and saddest when this was lost for whatever reason.

So the take-away is this:

Don’t copy-trade others. Don’t allow people in your life, home, or even social timeline that tell you your happiness isn’t a worthy trade.

Do you have a healthy mind?

An unhealthy mind steals all joys.

An artist can make a living making art they love…

…yet be unhappy because they earn less than peers who continue to do things they hate.

A solopreneur can earn more than they were making in their former career while touting ‘freedom’…

…yet be unhappy because someone else is earning more, shackling themselves to 12 hour workdays.

All four people could be happy. Instead, they choose not to be.

What you do is a choice. How you feel about it is a choice.

If an unhealthy mind steals joy… a healthy one can find it anywhere it looks.

So, again:

Do you have a healthy mind?

The creator economy is losing its love for the creative process.

It’s not enough for someone to love their work and get paid to do it.

It’s not enough to enjoy the toil and feel satisfied with the results.

No:

There needs to be more MRR…

There needs to be more leverage…

There needs to be less time working…

That’s not being a creator. That’s being a creator imposter.

That’s someone who wants to be a proprietor or entrepreneur who scalps the market for maximum gains and minimal effort… but calls themselves ‘creator’ like it’s first gear in a bigger engine.

Now, that’s may be one way of doing business…

But it’s no way of doing art.

Are you a creator, or a creator imposter?

What you won’t remember in 10 years…

• How hard you worked on this particular project
• The late night you worked to get that thing done
• The ambition you rushed your work with

Things you will remember in 10 years…

• How you skipped those dinner dates or long family walks
• How you didn’t make time to be with your kids much
• How you watched life through photos app, not by being there

Prioritise what you’d wish you prioritised.

Today, I could have finished a project.

It’s almost finished, but not quite.

Instead, I went to playgroup with my son.

Did that make me an all-star go-getter grindtastic creator?

Nope.

Did it make me a better Dad?

Nope again.

But I really, really wanted to spend that time with him.

So I did.

Success isn’t about completing the most projects, earning the most dollars, or collecting the most accolades.

It’s living your life without stacking more regrets.

Worth thinking about.

If there’s one thing that many outspoken creators love more than the ability to produce fulfilling work they love in their own time in their own comforts in ways our parents and grandparents could never have ever dreamed of…

It’s also lusting after the 1%-on-paper lifestyle.

Well if you’ve fallen victim to that energy, good news:

Some studies say as low as 15% of people really, genuinely enjoy their work.

And that around 25% of people get to work from home.

And that around 20% of people have real time flexibility.

So creators get to choose to be in the 15% of 25% of 20%.

I know it’s napkin math… but that’s 0.6%, for anyone counting.

It’s not unreasonable to suppose that only 0.6% of people get to live that way.

And you know what? You already get that by choosing to be a creator.

The money’s useful, not gonna lie, but a free and joyful life beats it hands-down.

So quit stressing and throwing away your gifted position. And create, already.

It can be fun, remember?

Still fighting off the flu.

But the flu reminded me about a key step in the creative process.

Ideas grow in gaps.

Like weeds between patio tiles.

Gaps are when you slow down and pick up a book, or let your mind wander.

Gaps are when you stop thinking about what’s on your plate, so there’s space to think about other realities.

And where there are gaps… there will be weeds.

Mind weeds.

Consider making time for some mind weeds of your own this week.

Throw a dart.

But careful, you’ll hit a ‘storyteller’ on Twitter/X.

Is it a fad?

Sometimes.

But only when it’s used as a hot trend to gather followers.

Storytelling is also one of the most important vehicles of knowledge transfer humans have ever had.

When used properly, it’s a fantastic means of empathy, connection and (consequently) sales.

As for the rest, it’s a buzzword to get followers.

You get to decide which path is more virtuous and beneficial for your business in the long-run.

I’m really sick at the moment.

Pushed too hard and my body responded yesterday with a kind, but stern, message:

“Take a break.”

I ignored it, and proceeded to lug huge bags of silage and rubble for four more hours.

Only to be told again, a little more sternly:

“Take a break”.

This time it wiped me out. Not sure where the weekend went. Still feeling it.

Here’s the lesson:

There are no awards for pushing too hard. And no shortcuts in ignoring your body.

Our pursuits are privileges to enjoy, not sentences to serve.

“That’ll be so much fun!”

Ever think (or say) that when you encounter a project or product opportunity?

If so, write it down. Here’s why:

When you’re half way through it, you may be inclined to review its worthiness of your time via a balance sheet.

But “That’ll be so much fun!” doesn’t show up on a balance sheet.

Writing it down will help you remember that.

Not everything valuable is numeric.

The one thing that takes care of sales for you:

"Community"

Done right, it can transform your business.
Done wrong, it can be be a stupid, stupid waste of time.

Everyone thinks they’ve got a community.

They don’t.

We don’t "have" communities.
We can "form" communities…
We can "lead" communities…

…But we don’t "have" them.

(That’d be slavery… which is generally pretty frowned upon these days.)

But what is "Community", then?

Isn’t it something for people who sit in degenerate chatrooms all day?
Isn’t it something for people who don’t have any real work to do?

Nah.

That’s just what people who haven’t experienced community for themselves think.

It’s when likeminded people congregate and engage their like mindedness.

That’s it.

Ancient tribes formed communities…
to share their interest of "not being eaten by lions".

Fans form communities…
to nerd out on nuances of the thing they’re fans of.

That’s all lovely but: how does it take care of sales for you?

Simple:

• If we see you around, contributing to the community, we trust you.
• If we trust you, when you have something to offer, we trust it.
• If we try your thing and like it, we recommend it. It becomes part of how our community solves that thing, and we tell all members about it.

I cover this in more detail in the latest issue of The Productoon newsletter. Check it out!

The thing about deathbed regrets…

Is that the deathbed is a certainty, but the regrets are optional.

The things you value today may not affect those deathbed regrets much.

How much money you made? The dying don’t care anymore.

How much of a legacy you made? The dying rarely care about that either.

How good of a child, parent, or spouse you were? This is regret-central.

How brave you were to do what made you happy? Another regret-magnet.

One day, you will be lying on your deathbed, breathing your last breaths.

And on that day, today will feel like it was just yesterday.

Keep that in mind in your weekly plan.

How much time does a 10-minute productivity hack save you?

It sure ain’t 10 minutes.

Sure, use it once and it’s 10 minutes.

Use it once a week for the next year and it saved you over 9 hours.

Use it daily for the next year and it saved you 60 hours.

Wowser.

What could you create with an extra 60 hours this year?

I wasn’t sure about a strategy earlier today.

So I wrote about it.

For about half an hour.

By the end of it, I knew what I thought about it.

And what I should do about it.

When in doubt, write.

Not to tell everyone what you think.

But to reveal what you think to yourself.

Ever find your creator journey a bit difficult?

As though the “no map, no guide, no certainty, aaahhh” side of things can be a bit much sometimes?

Remember that being this way might just be in your bones.

Something you do because of who you are, not because of what you want.

Maybe that’s all you need to remember to throw out the sense of difficulty.

After all…

“Makers gonna make”.

Do you compare yourself online?

Lots of people do.

And it makes me wonder…

• Does comparing make you feel bad?
• Does comparing make you stress out?
• Does comparing demoralise you?
• Does comparing make you feel like you’re failing?

If any of the above are yes, then what if you were to just… stop it?

Like, altogether?

If it doesn’t motivate or you… or give you calm focus… or educate you in a healthy way… why do it?

• If it’s happening in an essential social circle, fight consumption with creation or get out.
• If it’s happening in a workplace environment, grow out of that environment or get out.
• If it’s happening in your family, limit your exposure to it and opt-out of those conversations.

Comparing can feel like it’s “research” or “motivation”, but it’s not.

It’s eating away at you.

You’re better than that.

Focus on the things that are good for you.

Who makes the best leader on a team?

The one with the highest standards will challenge and raise everyone up, though they may not be thanked for it.

The one with the best communication skills will align players, though they may not be aligned around their best work.

The one who has the highest standards and the best communication skills is thus the best leader.

One is a skill that can be learned.

And the other is a decision.

Is your social ‘engagement’ down?

Are you getting fewer ‘engagements’ at the moment?

Hold on.

Hold on a second.

Please remember this:

You have more supporters than you think you do.

• They don’t all click like/comment.
• They don’t all see your stuff when you post it.
• They don’t all see all of your stuff.

Just like how you don’t click on all the stuff from creators you like.

Just like how you don’t see all of the stuff from creators you like, right when they post it.

Don’t sweat the ‘engagement’.

It’s much higher than technology is capable of reporting right now.

Social is awesome for creators

And terrible for creators (emotional vampire)

At the same time.

For better/worse:

• Everyone in the world is here
• Every opinion and mindset is on offer
• Algorithms show you what pushes your buttons

But what algorithms can’t control is:

• The discipline to disengage with toxic people and ideas
• The security to not see other people’s gains as our losses
• The bravery to be ourselves despite what others are doing

Focus on what you control.

Ignore the rest.

Experimenting can feel like wasting time when you just want to crank up volume.

Testing landing pages can feel like wasting time when you just want to beat the phone.

Refining your offer can feel like wasting time when you just want to present it to more people.

It’s not wasting time.

It’s sliding your enthusiasm for action into a higher gear.

Buckle up.

I’m covered in blisters.

Since moving into our new house recently, getting anyone to ship lawn equipment has been unusually difficult.

And we’ve been watching the grass get taller and taller as a result.

Well today, the equipment arrived.

And it’s been hours of battling to get that first cut done without overheating the engines.

It reminded me of building businesses and other projects:

The first cut takes the longest. Getting it done without burning yourself out is harder than most folks are prepared to admit.

But when it’s done, the second cut is easier.

And the third.

So if you’re on your ‘first cut’, just take it one little bit at a time without wrecking yourself.

It’ll all look beautiful soon enough.

Sometimes the things you make work great.

Other times, they kind of flop.

Both are okay.

When they work great, if means you learned something.

When they flop, it means you’re learning something.

Flops lead to things working great.

And things working great don’t deny you the opportunity to keep pushing, and flopping forward.

Enjoy the process regardless of outcome.

It’s what growth looks like.

Have an amazing product.

If you can’t have that, have an amazing offer.

If you can’t have that, you’d better have amazing persuasion skills.

If possible, have an amazing product coupled with an amazing offer.

Choose your amazing.

Know what’s gross?

Being gross.

That’s why gross people doing sales make sales seem gross.

But you know what powers businesses?

Exactly.

Creators often find sales scary.

(Like, I’d-rather-go-out-of-business-than-do-this scary.)

So here’s the thing about doing sales:

• You need to know what to do.
• You need to be doing it.
• You need to know how to read data to optimise what you do.
• You need to not tolerate not doing it.

Could it be that simple?

Could you be good at this after all?

This week’s issue of The Productoon newsletter goes into this in more detail. Check it out!

Know what’s a super-rare trait?

Being an actually-nice person.

Are you? Then you’re ahead of most.