red barn consulting

The Marketing Strategy – Yes, You Do Really Need One

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We get asked ALL THE TIME by prospective clients if they REALLY need a Marketing Strategy. After all, they only want to grow and promote Product/Service A so what do they need a comprehensive strategy for. Having a strategic plan for the next 12 months is just smart business and it doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or a Fortune 500 company – you need one.

Spontaneity has its pluses – last minute road trip to the beach, AWESOME – throwing spaghetti at the wall to figure out your marketing strategy for the next year – not so awesome. A marketing strategy takes time, research, and planning to be effective. It takes creative visions, thinking outside the box at times, understanding your ideal client(s) and validating all that good stuff with in data and research.

The strategy also sets the objectives and timeline – putting those goals on paper and being accountable. However, a marketing strategy is fluid and can change as new opportunities present themselves or new challenges come into play. A Strategy is NOT meant to sit on the shelf until it’s past its expiration date. Tasks need to be assigned, executed, and measured!

This one is a big one, so pay attention! A marketing strategy also defines who your target audience is going to be. If you don’t know who that is – WE HAVE A PROBLEM! You can’t market to everyone – it’s just not possible. Targeting your audience is the only way that your marketing strategy is going to make any sort of impact. You can’t market Skinny Jeans on Snap Chat to 65-year-old men and expect to see results, right? If your goals aren’t aligned with your target audience, then you can’t expect to move that revenue needle.

You don’t build a house without a budget, set of plans, timelines, etc. So, why would you build a business and its success without a solid plan? It just doesn’t make sense! There are a lot of moving parts and the strategy keeps you organized, on track, and knowing what to do next. When you organize your strategy, you’re ensuring that you won’t miss important opportunities to convert leads.

It’s not just the marketing person\’s job to make the strategy work. That’s right – it’s all hands on deck. If you want success, everyone must believe in the plan and work towards those goals. Sales, writers, designers, client facing staff – everyone needs to be on the same page and working that strategy.

A strategy also keeps your budget in check. Ever do a home remodel without a set budget – probably not. Same goes for the strategy. You estimate your costs and try to stick as close to them as possible to eliminate any surprises. This also goes for allocating resources too. You can make sure staff aren’t overworked while others are underworked.

At the end of the day, a marketing strategy will help you capitalize on your great ideas, stick to a budget, keep everyone accountable, and improve your ROI. Now let’s address the elephant in the room. A lot of people have no clue how much a strategy costs. It’s ok – be honest if you didn’t either.

Depending on your company size, the nature of your business, and what you are looking to accomplish in the next few years, you can expect to invest between $5,000 and $40,000. Now, those high-end ones usually include a business plan complete with a competitive analysis and a product gap analysis. If you are looking for just the basics like messaging, channels to market, ideal clients, and campaigns and initiatives to support your goals, that’s closer to the $5k price, and even lower for some smaller businesses.

Don’t look at the cost as an expense though. Because a good marketing strategy can earn you a significant return on investment. You never want to throw spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks, you might as well just flush that money down the toilet.

Have questions about how a marketing strategy works, or want help putting one together – give us a call!

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Content Marketing – How to Get Started!

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Let me just start by saying, Content Marketing is all about telling stories, giving away a ton of FREE relevant and valuable content and educating your customers and prospects to the point where they intellectually come to the conclusion that you know what you are talking about.  In other words, you are building trust through content.  

 It’s not rocket science, it is brilliance AND in today’s crazy marketing world – it’s the way to go.  People no longer will buy from you because you tell them to, because you tell them you are the best, you have the best product/service,  because you tell them you are knowledgeable.   

DISCLAIMER:  Content marketing takes time – at least 9-12 months before you see results and some serious work, but it is by far one of the most effective ways to build your brand.   

 Here’s the process we walk our client’s through or if they choose – we do it for them. 

  1.  Deep dive into your core values, your company and your WHY.  You need to know who the hell you are, what you are about before you can tell others.  Don’t skip this part.  Create a list of your core values – why you do what you do, what matters 
  2. Identify who your ideal client is – I’m talking tons of details. 
  3. Create Benchmark Goals.  What do you want to happen 12 months from now – what are your goals.  Do you want increased revenue?  Increased client retention?  Brand awareness and/or expansion – a combination thereof?  You need to know how you will measure success.
  4. Customer Journey Mapping.  (READ MY BLOG HERE).  You need to understand the type of content your prospects and customers would like to read during each part of their journey and HOW they will get that content.  Also, identify the roadblocks and motivations they have going through their journey.
  5. Overarching strategy and editorial calendar.  Get the whiteboard or use an excel sheet – list all the months on one side, and the marketing channels you are going to use.  Now start filling in what you need – types of content, assets needed (writers, videographer, designers etc).
  6. Start writing based on your editorial calendar.  You want to get ahead of the game – at least 3 months.  Make sure you include social media into the mix – this isn’t load some content on your website and they will come.  You need channels to get them there.   
  7. Use email – use email marketing to get your word out – share your content.  Strive to get opt-ins. 
  8. TEST.  Are people reading it?  Is it working?  If not –  mix it up. 

 Most people don’t comment on our blogs ON OUR WEBSITE. We get some – the real magic happens when we share them on social, we get asked to speak at events based on content we’ve written, we build credibility with our prospects.   

This isn’t rocket science, but it’s science.  If this is completely overwhelming to you – hire it out.  Don’t spend time on something you aren’t great at – spend time in your business doing what you do best! (Yea, I suppose that was a sales plug for Red Barn here – but it’s the truth.) 

Content Marketing works.  It’s not a fad, it’s the way of the world and you should be part of it!! 

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MK’s Cake Theory

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I always learn something from my clients – always!  That’s what makes my role as CEO at the Red Barn so fascinating and well, fun!

One such client is Mary Katherine (MK)  Moore, Director of Marketing at NeuGroup.  She is a quintessential southern, fierce red-head with some great stories and tons of great analogies.  MK is a firm believer in do what you do best and stop wasting time on what aren’t your superpowers.  I call it her Cake Theory.

As MK tells it.

I’m a great baker.  I know the process for making a fabulous cake. The perfect texture in the crumb, delightful filling, and frosting that doesn’t mask the taste of the cake but compliments it.  I also have all the right tools – Kitchen-Aid mixer, scale, measuring gadgets and of course an oven that doesn’t burn everything that’s put in it.  Oh – and add in some fabulous cool aprons  – because you have to, of course, look the part.  I also ALWAYS have the perfect ingredients on hand at all times so when the urge hits me to whip up a cake – boom, I can do it and have that baby in the oven in 20  minutes.  Depending on the recipe and the size of the pans (of which I have every which one you can imagine) my cake is out of the oven and cooling in 25-60 minutes on the perfect cooling racks.  45 minutes later it’s ready to frost.  Of course, it’s displayed on a delightful vintage cake stand that every southern grandmother would be proud to put on her linen covered porch table, with a pitcher of sweet tea on the side.

The result – no stress, a perfect cake, and super happy guests who have been invited over for afternoon tea and cake.  BOOM!

Now – ask a non-baker to do the same task.  No tools, no ingredients on hand, and hell no on the knowledge that you need to alternate the flour mixture (sifted not once but two or three times) with the milk, and that you need to beat it just the right amount – not too long, but not too short to get the perfect cake.

The result – STRESS, hot mess, bad cake, unhappy guests, and super unhappy baker.

Now equate this to business.  When you ask someone to go WAY OUTSIDE not only their comfort zone but their skill zone you will indeed get the unskilled baker’s barely edible fallen cake – one like you would see on a Pinterest FAIL list versus MK’s fabulous coconut cake with 7 minute frosting that would win a blue ribbon at any county fair.

Moral of the story:  Do what you do best, outsource the rest.  No one is GREAT at everything, but we are all great at something.  Stop wasting time, money, and energy trying to be something you are not.

Be like MK, be a blue ribbon winner not a Pinterest Cake Fail.

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168 Hours – Are you making the most of them?

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We all have the same number of hours in a week, so how is it that some people manage to be so productive, like Gary V, while others can barely manage to check a few items off the to do list. Are we so obsessed with trying to save time and complaining that there is never enough time, that we aren’t focusing on how we are spending our time? Think about that for a second. When you are doing something you don’t like, let’s say running on a treadmill or preparing a report for work that you know no one even reads, how fast does time go by? It crawls. 5 minutes feels like 5 hours. BUT when you are doing something you love, accomplishing things that mean something to you, 5 hours starts to feel like 5 minutes! So, if you like hiking, why are you on the treadmill day after day. If you don’t like your job and its requirements, why are you spending 40 hours a week being miserable?

Laura Vanderkam, who studies Time Management, thinks that time isn’t the issue. \”We don\’t build the lives we want by saving time,\” Vanderkam said in her TedWomen talk in 2016. \”We build the lives we want, and then time saves itself.\”

Some of the most famous business people today never complain that there aren’t enough hours in a day or week, and they probably accomplish more in a week than most of use accomplish in a month. So, what’s their secret? Is it simply because they love what they do, or do they have some magical ninja fairies in their pockets helping them get shit done? Here are a few strategies Vanderkam uses to manage her own time.

Track your time

I once had a boss who had my entire department track our time for over a month. This required filling out a spreadsheet with what we did every minute of every day. How many orders I processed, and how much time I thought those took, phone calls, responding to emails, etc., etc. It got to the point where I was adding in funny stuff to see if he noticed. He didn’t. HOWEVER, you should track your time for one week. It doesn’t have to track every minute but write down things in 30 min. increments. It might feel tedious to start and one more thing you have to do, but you might be surprised at what you discover and where you are actually spending your time. You might find that you spend several hours a week reading articles on Facebook or LinkedIn, yet you’ve been complaining that you haven’t had any time to read some new books.

Take breaks

Your brain cannot function for hours on end on the same task without taking a break. A break some rejuvenate and refresh you. You might find that you THINK you are taking breaks, but scrolling through social media, personal emails, or texting are NOT breaks for your brain – or your body. These breaks aren’t really breaks at all. Doing all those things are fine, and you should plan those in to your day, but you also need to get up, move around, and reboot your brain. Step away from the electronics!

Less is more

When it comes to making a to do list, less is more. Having a short, manageable list is MUCH easier to navigate than pages and pages that cover your whole list of monthly items. A long list = failure. You want to feel accomplished at the end of the day and check off several if not all the items on the list will keep you motivated. This list should be for both work and home – they are equally important.

Your time is your own. How you choose to spend it is up to you. Your boss, spouse, or even kids don’t make that choice for you – you do. You can’t make more time. You can’t put it in an account for a rainy day. Those 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week will get spent regardless. Make every minute count and be on your terms.

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What drives you matters

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Y’all know I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” (ps affiliate link). His philosophy states that people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy based on WHY you do what you do.  That WHY is what creates brand evangelists, followers, groupies – they drank the proverbial Kool-Aid of you and your brand. It’s kind of magical on so many levels.  #gamechanger

Here’s the thing, what motivates you to act matters.  When your WHY motivates you, you have a sense of thrill, a sense of pride, and a sense of calm about your actions even about the unknown.  I’m not suggesting it isn’t scary at times, but your deep seeded emotional motivations will carry you in an amazing way IF you remember WHY you started on the course you did.  Kind of sounds like marriage therapy – doesn’t it?  When couples are at a rough patch, therapists will often ask them to remember WHY they were drawn to each other in the beginning? Why did they fall in love?  What do they love about each other?  The WHY motivation is no different.  What drives you should not only inspire you, it should inspire others.

It’s the same thing when it comes to everything else in life – business, friendships, marriages, hobbies – it doesn’t matter.  What drives you DOES matter.

Compare the WHY scenario  to a fight or flight motivation.  You do something, you take action because you have to, because you are afraid of the consequences or perhaps because you are being forced.  There is no positive emotional connection to the action, it doesn’t bring you joy – the end result, nor the journey

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, I can promise you this is by far one of the most important things to grasp.  You MUST be emotionally and deeply connected to what you are doing if you want long term success.  You must believe in your WHY, so that others will believe it and more importantly so that passion will carry you through the rough patches.

When you don’t love Mondays ( beyond Simon this is my other favorite topic to rant on and on about) – you are in the wrong career, in the wrong space.  If you own a business and dread Mondays you are not driven by your WHY you are driven by a fight or flight.  I’m not talking one bad Monday, I’m talking “Sunday 2pm OMG tomorrow it all starts over type of I hate Mondays”.

What drives you to succeed matters, and it should never be about money. #gamechanger (TWEET THIS)

Money is a fight or flight motivator.  You fear not having enough.  You take actions based on how much you will earn or how much it will cost.  You aren’t driven by your WHY.  Think about that for a minute, I mean really think it through.  How are you motivated?

Sit down and make a list of 10 things that bring you joy, 10 things that you are really great at and 10 things that you want to accomplish in the next 5 years.  If less than 50% of them align with what you are doing right now career wise – consider the possibility that you are not in the right space and that you are driven by some motivations that aren’t aligning with your WHY.

If money is on the joy list – think about why and consider a rethink. What about money brings you joy?  Is it the security?  If so – change the word to security 🙂  just a little mindfulness tip.

This stuff matters, don’t brush it off.  When you grasp this and practice it – it’s a big time #gamechanger

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You’ve started your Facebook group – Now what?

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You’ve set up your Facebook Business Page, and you are ready to create your Facebook Group – but: What should I call it? How do you get members? What do you post about? Should the group be public, closed, or secret? How do you prevent trolls? Should I set rules or questions to join the group? All great questions, and things you need to consider before you get your Group off the ground.

Before you launch your Facebook Group – you should determine what the primary goal of your group is. Yes, the ultimate goal is to increase sales for your business, but people won’t join your group if they think it’s just a continuous sales pitch. Many businesses create Facebook Groups as a place to share some free advice and tips and tricks. It’s a place where you can be seen as an expert so that eventually the group becomes a feeder for your sales pipeline. SO, choose a name that conveys what your group is about. No one will join a group that is the name of your business. Name it something that relates to the topic or theme of what you want your group to be. You can incorporate the company name if it makes sense, but it doesn’t have to be included. Once you determine what you want the look and feel to be, pick a cover photo, create your description, etc.[/cs_text][cs_text]You also want to determine if your group will be public and anyone can join, they need to request to join, or it’s by invite only. Public groups are great for certain things, but if you only want your ideal clients or target audience in the group – I’d suggest a private group where you must manually accept requestors. There are a few instances where secret groups make sense – but those are usually part of a paid membership offering.

Many private Facebook Groups require members to answer a few questions before they can join. This is a great way to learn more about your members. Some sample questions may be: How did you hear about this Group? Have you viewed our free training or downloaded our Free XXX workbook? This helps you weed our spammers or trolls as well. They typically won’t take the time to fill out questions. BUT it allows you to get some insight into how much your audience knows about you, if they’ve viewed any of your lead magnets (free downloads or trainings) or any other info you want to gather.
[/cs_text][cs_text]It’s important to set the stage from the launch on the Group expectations. Create a pinned post at the top of the page so that the first thing new members see are the rules and expectations of the group. A few good housekeeping rules to post are 1. Keep things courteous – be respectful to others in the group. 2. No spam or plugging your business. (You will get trolls who try to join every group and post about what they are selling.) 3. This is your group too, please engage, ask questions, etc. 4. Give value – post things relevant to the group and its members. 5. Be open and share your own personal experiences, struggles, suggestions, etc. If you come across a troll or all around rude person, it’s ok to delete them.

Gaining a following in your Group can take time. Don’t get discouraged and give up. It’s important to get the word out about your group. Some easy ways are inviting people you are already connected to who might find interest it in. You can also send out an email to your list of contacts to see if they have any interest in joining. Why not add a link in your email signature or on your website as well? If people don’t know about your group – they can’t join!

Lastly, and probably most importantly, is posting engaging content. Get the engagement started with some posts of your own related to the Group topic. Don’t post salesy stuff about your own business. Share some of your own wins or loses, ask questions around areas that you may have personally struggled with. Share some 3rd party articles you found interesting or infographics. Once you get the ball rolling, others should follow.

As your group grows you may want to enlist others that you know to help moderate the page by making them an admin. It’s important that someone is always watching the group, letting in the right people, and encouraging participation.

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It’s time to lose the Dead Weight!

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You’ve heard of a detox before – whether it’s a diet, cutting yourself off from bad habits, or a break from technology and the black hole of the digital world – but have you considered doing a detox to rid your life from negative vibes and the people who cause them?

You’ve probably become so accustomed to some people’s behavior that you might not notice that their negativity is rubbing off on you or that they really aren’t cheerleading for you to be successful. Positive things come to those who have a positive mindset. You can practice gratitude, do affirmations, and positive thinking all day, but if you are consistently in a negative environment, you are just setting yourself up for failure.

You might not even realize who the toxic people are in your life without taking some time to really think about it. Have you shared a dream or goal with someone and their response was “you’re too old to change paths or try something new”, or “you don’t know enough about XYZ to be successful”? Those people are the dead weight, the toxic dream killers that are preventing you from believing in yourself and your goals. Their negativity will eventually seep into your veins – trust me.

There are all kinds of negative people out there, some are jealous of what you are doing or trying to accomplish, some just hate change or don’t have the same opinion as you do, and others are just downright miserable and want everyone to be miserable too. Some of those toxic, dead weight people might even try to make you feel uncomfortable, guilty, or even ashamed about the positive changes you are trying to do in your life. Regardless of the reason, it’s time for a detox to get rid of the dead weight. Keep in mind there are levels of toxicity and some people you can’t really cut out of your life for good (coworkers and family), but you can create some distance. Someone who is an Eeyore (Winnie the Pooh’s depressed donkey friend) probably isn’t very toxic, but they just bring your mojo down. I’d suggest distance vs. the ax.

These are the people who are most likely toxic:

Those who try to control you. These people usually aren’t in control of their lives, so they will try to control or manipulate others.

The people who ignore your boundaries. If you ask someone to stop behaving a certain way to you or around you, and they continue, then they are toxic and thrive on violating your boundaries.

The takers. A relationship is about give and take. If they only stick around when there is something in it for them, then you need to move on. If they aren’t going to be there when you need them, but constantly have their hand out, the relationship is dead.

The people who are always “right.” If they can’t admit that they are wrong or messed up, even when they know they did, it’s time to move on.

The liars. A little white lie or an exaggeration every now and then is to be expected. But you can’t trust people who blatantly and repeatedly lie. The victims. It doesn’t matter the situation, they are always claiming that they have been oppressed, put down, and marginalized in ways they clearly are not.

The finger pointers. Along with being always right and the victim, are the people who never take responsibility. When they take the role of victim and never admit they are wrong, they refuse to accept that they are responsible for their choices and the outcome of their life.

So now that we’ve identified those who are killing your positive vibes, how do you get rid of them? Burning bridges is never a good idea, so some tact will need to be involved. Depending on your relationship with the person and how involved they are in your life, here are some ways to start cutting ties:

  1. Write down why you feel the person is toxic and negatively affecting your life – these notes are for yourself, you may need them later.
  2. Talk to them. Keep it simple and explain how you feel. Remain calm and don’t offer deep explanations.
  3. If you must see them at work or at family functions, distance vs. separation will be the key here. Try to reduce the number of interactions you have with them. Make polite conversation but don’t share information about your personal life beyond being courteous.
  4. Unfollow them or block them on social media. Out of sight, out of mind. If they don’t see your updates on social media, then they won’t be able to say anything negative about what you are doing.
  5. If they try to make amends, remember step number 1 and go back and review your notes. At this point, only you can decide if it’s worth a second chance.

That’s my PSA. Yes, it’s much easier said than done, but once you start trimming off that dead weight, you’ll start to see how much more positivity is in your life and it might just inspire you to do some great things!

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Should you start a Facebook Group?

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If you are on Facebook, the odds are that you are probably part of a Facebook Group. Facebook isn’t just about connecting with friends and family anymore (or people you went to high school with and haven’t seen in 20 years, lol), it’s a way to stay more connected with everything that matters in your life. Facebook Group and Facebook Pages make it possible to follow businesses you like, public figures and even common interests and hobbies. So why should you have a Facebook Group if you already have a Facebook Page for your business and a personal page – well, simply because it gives you more ways to interact.

Before you start a Facebook Group, it’s important to know the difference between a Group and a Page. Similar to a personal profile, a Facebook Page enables you to create a profile for your business. BUT, pages are visible to everyone on Facebook. Everyone on Facebook can connect to a Page by Liking it and new posts will show up in the News Feed. Facebook Groups on the other hand are a place for people to come together around a common cause, issue, activity, or interest. They allow the members to discuss issues, post photos or video, and share relevant content. You can also choose the privacy of the group: public (anyone can join), closed (requires admin approval to enter), and secret (can join by invitation only). Like Pages, new posts in the group will show up in the News Feed of it’s members.

So, the real question is, if I already have a Facebook Page, why do I need a Facebook Group? With all the changes to the Facebook algorithms, to really make a Page work, you need high engagement from your followers, so your posts keep showing in their New Feed. It sounds simple, but it’s tricky, so most businesses are forced to run paid ads that target their ideal client audience. Also, most consumers look at a Business Page on Facebook as an advertisement for the company – they are only seeing information that the company wants them to see. More and more companies are turning to Facebook Groups instead of abandoning Facebook as a whole.

Using Groups, you can create a community that isn’t based solely around your business, but a topic within your business that others will also find interesting. Say you own your own car repair business, but you love working on Corvette’s from the 1990’s – so you create a Facebook Group for 1990’s Corvette owners. With over a billion users already using Groups – it’s a win-win to keep potential clients engaged with you.

Here’s the top 5 reasons why your business needs a Facebook Group:

  1. You can engage with your followers. This is where you will get all the likes and comments vs your Facebook Page. If you are asking questions, providing good content, and encouraging others to contribute – this is where the magic will happen.
  2. You can teach and build trust. This is your group and you are the leader. After all, you started the group because you know about the topic and can explain, motivate, inspire, and teach the content that you love. This is where you can be seen as an expert and influence people’s lives. You aren’t pushing your business but are sharing your knowledge and encouraging people to share their questions, problems, and successes.
  3. Stay top of mind. With a Facebook Profile or Page, there is no guarantee that your content will be seen unless people go directly to your Profile or Page. With a group, anything that is posted in the group will 100% be seen in the members News Feed. So, the more you post, the more you are seen by potential clients.
  4. Get feedback. Within your group, you can create polls, ask for feedback, and determine what type of content is more relevant to your members and ideal clients. Your group can be a testing ground – if you get positive feedback – move forward. If you missed the mark, then you know you need to move on to the next idea.
  5. Announce special offers. If you’ve tried to announce a special offer on your Business Page, you’ve probably been met with very little engagement. Unless you put some advertising dollars behind it, the odds are most of your followers aren’t even seeing it. BUT when you post in your Group – 100% of your members will see your offer.

Building an online community is an important step for any growing business. It can help you get in touch with your key demographic, gather insights, promote your business, increase consumer loyalty and more. If you want to start building a community, look no further than the world’s most popular social network: Facebook. If you want to start your own Facebook Group from your Business Page: CLICK HERE.

Want to check our Red Barn\’s Facebook Group – Entrepreneur Masters? Click Here to Join!

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Market Research 101

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Just because YOU think your business idea, product or service is brilliant and worth a gazillion dollars doesn’t mean the rest of the world will.  The sad truth it, something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.  Ask any Real Estate agent – they deal with this on a daily basis.

When it comes to launching a new business or a new product you have to test it.  That means market research.  How that is done will vary dependent on your product or service.  If you’ve just developed the latest greatest ice cream, then you better hit the streets and give away a lot of it, ask for feedback. Rinse and Repeat.  Next you need to do tastings in stores, farmers markets, flea markets anywhere you can get in front of your target audience.  Get feedback. Rinse and repeat.  If you have a target price in mind – ask the people who liked your fabulous treat if they would be willing to pay that price.  If the stars align – you are ready.

Say you have a service – like what we do here at Red Barn.  We are a business and marketing consulting firm.  When we decide to tap into a new market or launch a new program we do a crap load of market research.  We will do workshops, bring in beta clients, write articles, talk to people – all the while collecting valuable data.  Just like the ice cream we are not only looking for the good feedback, we want to hear the negative.  We want to know how we can improve.

Next you really need to understand your market – how large is your potential market base?  Who is your ideal client?   If you need 1000 customers to break even yet in your research you find you only have 2 that would be potential clients, well – Houston we have a problem.

Here’s the process we go through

  1. Identify our Target Client Profile. We are very specific on the socio and psycho demographics of the people, business etc.  I want to know every detail – do they like dogs, do they live in the US, what is their income, do they travel, what is their age, did they go to college…the more details the better
  2. Crystal Clear on our Deliverables. Based on our market research we hone down on exactly what the customer WANTS and how they want it delivered.  So what does their customer experience and journey look like.
  3. We make sure we are profitable.  Giving a good deal isn’t worth it, if you are losing money.  We may offer extra perks or even slight discounts to our early adopters, but our cost…is our cost.  We spend a lot of time ensuring that we understand our COGS and our time.  If we aren’t in a margin that works, then the project doesn’t fly.
  4. We want to spend time with our early adopters to ensure things are going smooth and we scale slowly.  The worst thing any company can do is scale to fast, and get into a situation where you can’t deliver what you promise.

Morale of the story:  Do the research before the launch. This goes for launching a new business or a new product.  The process is essentially the same.  If you don’t, you’ll end up with the proverbial egg on your face.

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Sunday Anxiety

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Sunday anxiety is a real thing.  Most people get super excited by end of day on Thursday because the next day is FRIDAY and then the holy grail – the WEEKEND is almost here.  Saturdays are fine and even Sunday mornings, but then 1PM on Sunday rolls around and it begins. You start thinking about the “M Word” – Monday.

Did you realize that you spend about 80% of your life working?  I had my first job at the age of 12, and most people work well into their 70s.  Why do so many people stay in jobs that make them unhappy?  Why do so many people have Sunday anxiety?

Here’s my $.02 on why people stick when they should flee:

  1. Aversion to Risk. Sometimes staying in a place you know, is easier than headed to a place you don’t know.  Maybe the grass won’t be greener?  That is true, but you will never know if you do not try.
  2. So many people I meet with don’t feel they deserve a better job, or have the ability to be an entrepreneur. What they don’t realize is that skills can be taught, what counts is the mindset and the WANT to succeed.  Switching the mind to focus on what you want versus what you do not have is one of the biggest secrets to success.
  3. Martyr Syndrome. Yes, some people just love to complain and not take responsibility for their own lives. In other words, it’s always someone else’s fault that they are miserable in their job.  #toughlove moment – Only you can control your life.
  4. So many people are in jobs they hate because of outside influences – such as spouses, parents, partners who pressure them to stay because that’s what they should do, it’s the responsible thing, blah blah blah.

At the end of the day, you only get so many trips around the sun,  the years, the days, the minutes are finite.  #YOLO  I learned a very long time ago that staying in a miserable situation is well… miserable.  I can never get that time back.  That’s not to say you jump ship when the going gets tough, that’s very different than symptoms such as Sunday Anxiety.

One of the things I work on with people who are deciding if they are entrepreneur material is digging deep into what makes them happy. What do they want to do with the rest of their lives?  Is it where they currently are?  Or somewhere else?

Next time a frown shows up on your face around 1PM on a Sunday – take a very deep look inside as to WHY.  Here’s some great news – the best time to launch a business or look for a new career path is while you have a steady income.  Less stress, higher success rate as the desperation factor is gone.

Enjoy your life, you deserve it!  Don’t you?

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