Daily Lab: Could you do this forever?
The question to ask before you start.
The question to ask before you start.
To grow a sustainable business, though, marketing costs need to go down over time, not up.
Marketing is a lot easier, a lot more fun, and a lot less stressful when you’re patient.
Whether it’s simple procrastination or the insidiously banal interruptions of the work day, sometimes, we just don’t pace ourselves like we should. Instead, we kick the can down the road, gearing up for what I like to call “One Big Day.”
Structured Joy and Joyful Structure are two complementary approaches to having a successful and satisfying working (and marketing!) life.
Today’s newsletter is, hopefully, applicable to everyone, but it’s specifically focused on small business owners and consultants. No one else—no agency, partner, or consultant—can care more about your dream, your business, or your marketing than you do.
I was talking to a good friend about a business idea he’s been mulling. He presented his (excellent) plan for the work he’d do, and the clients he’d attract. And then he said, “And I think I’ll just charge a couple hundred bucks for it.” Because I can’t help myself, I immediately blurted out, “No.”
Everything is overwhelming. Writing the copy for your new website. Your social media marketing. Your latent guilt over not yet joining TikTok, and your growing worry that everyone else is moving faster than you are.
A lot of business owners are putting off working on their marketing strategy. They’re waiting for things to settle down, for the market to become more stable, or to simply have more certainty about the way things are going to go. But the problem is that they’re likely to be waiting forever.
Most of the small business owners and consultants we work with have, at some point, worked with other marketers before. And they’ll often come with some preconceived ideas about what they feel they should be doing.
When business owners seek out a new marketing plan, it’s rarely because the last plan didn’t work. It’s because, for one reason or another, the last plan wasn’t worked.
I’ve written before about my love of bad horror movies. In so many cases, it’s clear that the director didn’t want to make a movie. They wanted to have made a movie. And there’s a huge difference between those two desires.