One of the great things about starting Casual Marketer has been the sheer volume of people who now approach me in different ways online to share their perspective on what I’m doing.
Now let me put it out there straight away, for the most part, I couldn’t care less about what other people think when it comes to what I’m doing. I’m one of those strange creatures in life that is entirely comfortable with whatever I choose to do and I have no need for approval from others.
But plenty of people feel compelled to share their opinions, so I listen intently to understand what they’re trying to say. Interestingly, most people project their own hopes and aspirations onto you when they’re giving you “advice”, so I think listening to what others say is an incredible insight into their insecurities and dreams.
The majority of people want to understand why I’m creating a physical newsletter product in the digital age. When I tell them about the feedback I get and the excitement most people have about getting their newsletters in the mail, the light bulb goes off or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t go off, then there’s no point in explaining it any further and if it does, same thing, no need to explain.
The next group of people are curious why I’m not “doubling my prices” and trying to “10x” whatever I’m doing. When these people talk, I often find my thoughts wandering off. I imagine that I was in a Road Runner cartoon and an Acme Anvil will swing in from the side and slam into their heads like they’re Wile E Coyote having his plan foiled again.
I honestly don’t have an answer for these people that will make sense to them because they are drunk on the hope that every IM guru has been selling them. I could talk about silly things like, “margins” or “retention rates” and share my longer term strategy for Casual Marketer, but they won’t get it. They’ll start asking me about my “Tripwire” or telling me I should be “moving the free line”, so I know before I start it’s a colossal waste of time.
I usually tell these folks part of the truth, “I’ve got a plan and I like what I’m doing” to try and move them along.
Then there is the third group of people, the ones who I most enjoy talking to, and they totally get it. They’re not interested in the mechanics or products of what I’m doing, they want to talk to me about the message I’m sharing or as one lady wrote to me in an email this week, “I want to understand your ‘Why'”.
These are great conversations because they cut right to the core.
I believe that if you want to start or extend your business online or you want to pick up some digital marketing skills for your existing role, then this should actually be your second or third priority.
This usually takes people aback. Again, the smart people want to understand this further and are usually pretty curious about what I’m sharing.
Here’s the thing.
I think there are so many more people out there sitting at home, wanting to take an idea or the passion and turn it into something bigger and there’s nobody talking to them. They may not have the skills or the knowledge just yet, but they have a motivation and drive to learn and to try to improve themselves.
What most people are telling them to do is quit their job, “go all in” on their dream and when they are desperate enough, something will manifest itself and that’s when the magic happens. This idea disgusts me on so many levels, but I see it every single day.
It makes people feel guilty about having actual adult responsibilities and it fails to acknowledge that these people may already be successful in what they are doing and maybe just want to enhance that.
I like to meet people where they’re at, not tell send them on a wild goose chase to come find me.
My Casual Marketer subscribers come from all walks of life: stay at home moms and dads, small traditional business owners, people who run digital agencies and everything in between. The thing is, every single one of them have other things that are their main focus in life.
One thing that I try and convey to these people is that this isn’t a weakness, it’s actually a massive strength. I will occasionally get a subscriber who talks about being frustrated because life is getting in the way of letting them work on their side project. My advice is to stick with it, find the time whenever you can, but keep at it.
The ones who fight through, they always go on to achieve success because they have determination and perseverance like I discussed in the March Newsletter. I often find the most successful people are the ones with an astonishing work ethic and intense dedication to whatever they are working on.
Which is why I’ve always felt that I do my best work on my business stuff when I have a job. I have limited time because of commitments, so I am more focused and while it can be pressure packed at times, I generally find working on this stuff relaxing and a great change of pace.
And for some reason, the ideas flow way better! This is something I’ve always known that when I’ve got a job and am generally busy, I get these great ideas for my own projects – really inspired things that I write down to take action on.
Let’s not kid ourselves though right, it’s a ton of hard work and makes for some really long days. This past week was tough. My day job was super busy, I had a meetup on Wednesday night, Thursday was my anniversary and I don’t think there was a single night where I stopped working on Casual Marketer before 11:30pm.
But I had a great week. I really enjoyed it and some of the ideas I’m working on for the next quarter with Casual Marketer are, at least in my opinion, going to result in some excellent things being delivered to subscribers.
That’s why I’m going to spend the April issue of the Casual Marketer Monthly Newsletter talking about strategy. When you’re busy, you need to take a holistic view of what you’re doing, what you’re trying to achieve and determine which tasks offer the highest value return for your time and focus on getting those things done first.
If you want to make sure that you don’t miss that issue, then I encourage you to click the button below and subscribe now!