4 Wins: Issue 261
Robby Fowler: Hi, I'm Robby Fowler
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Now here's today's issue of the four wins.
The four Wins issue.
261.
Something to try.
You hop in your car in between meetings.
You've got an hour before your next
appointment, and you need to go
grab a few items for the office.
46 minutes later, you
pull back into the garage.
Plenty of time to get ready for your
next meeting, and then it hits you.
You drove right past the restaurant
where you've been meaning to get a gift
card for your best friend's birthday.
In fact, you've driven past that
restaurant over a dozen times
in the past week and still never
stopped to grab that gift card.
Well, no MAs, my amigo.
Check out Pinly, P-I-N-L-Y.
It's a handy iPhone app that remembers
what you forget at the right time.
At the right place in Pinly, you drop
a pin on your map and set a reminder.
You get notified when you arrive or leave.
And you can even set repeated
reminders for those tasks you
always need and always forget.
Nothing ever leaves your phone,
so your stuff stays with you.
Pinly is free to use and
built by an indie developer.
Never feel like a goober again when
you pull in the parking lot and
ask yourself, now, why am I here?
Win number two, something
a client recently asked.
We're in part two of our series.
Why doing more marketing makes
everything worse and what to do instead.
Here's the challenge.
I know I need to post more,
but I've got nothing left.
So many clients share some
version of that with me once
they feel safe enough to be real.
This week we're looking at why the
advice to just be more consistent is
the worst advice you've been given.
So see if this marketing advice sounds
familiar to you, or maybe you've
seen it out there from the experts.
Things like post three times a week, be
on video, optimize your funnel, start
your podcast, email your list weekly.
Use short form clips.
Hire an overseas VA for social.
Leverage AI to write your ads.
Follow this template for viral content.
All of that is like a Russian
nesting doll of problems.
And here's the first problem.
I call it the starting line problem.
I ask clients where they start as they
attempt to act on this marketing advice.
One of them told me, well, I, I kinda
just start with a list of ideas.
I have another one admitted.
Well, just kind of
whatever it comes to mind.
Some turn to content pillars
that they've pulled out of ai.
The point is nobody knows where to start.
And that leads to the second
Russian nesting doll problem.
The spaghetti at the wall problem.
So when someone hands you a microphone
and you have no idea what to say, you
just start word vomiting, you throw
spaghetti at the wall, and soon the stress
of trying everything well that un nests
the next Russian nesting doll problem.
The burnout bandit problem.
Why?
Because consistently staring at a
blank screen, it's not a strategy.
In fact, it's a burnout machine.
So here's the obvious question.
Why are so many of us trapped into
following this advice if it's bad advice?
The advice feels so compelling to
business owners because the entire
industry pounds on marketing channels
and marketing tactics, and the reason
they harp on it, well, channels and
tactics are easy for them to sell.
And unfortunately, this kind of cart
before the horse development trap.
It's actually the norm out there.
Most businesses start with an
idea, then they go grab a logo,
then they'll build a website.
Then they'll start thinking about
marketing, and eventually that
will lead them right to marketing
channels and marketing tactics.
And the cost of these nesting doll
problems isn't just marketing ROI.
Every tactic you chase without a
foundation steals time from the life
you're actually trying to build.
You wanted more from your business so
you could have less on your plate, and
instead you got handed more plates.
Now you already know this.
You just forgot.
So I want you to imagine this.
Imagine me asking you to give a
15 minute presentation about your
area of expertise next Tuesday.
What's your first follow
up question for me?
Well, it's who, who am I speaking to?
How many will be there?
What can you tell me about them?
What are their challenges?
What are their expectations?
How can I help?
In other words, your first level
questions all center around the audience.
Then your second level questions
revolve around your strategic
business opportunities.
Is this a seed opportunity where your
seeding the opportunity for later,
or is it a harvest opportunity?
Can you pitch on the spot?
What can I pitch?
When could I expect sales
downline or immediate?
Are these people I can help?
Are they key decision makers?
Can they afford my services?
In other words, you would
never start with channels.
You would never start by saying, I'll
make this my U weekly YouTube post.
And you would never start with tactics
like immediately pinning your opening
and closing line once I ask you to
speak next week, just because a great
speaker coached you to script the opening
line and closing line of every talk.
You would never start that
way if I ask you to speak.
So if that bad advice isn't the answer, if
more activity isn't the answer, what is?
Stay tuned next week and that's what we'll
dig into Win number three, something to
think about during a recent discussion
with some fellow business owners about ai.
Someone exclaimed, do not sign up for
an annual subscription on anything.
Now that's kind of funny
and it's also kind of true.
Things are moving rapidly and
monthly is the wise choice.
That way you can sign up for the amazing
thing, breaking the internet next month.
Win number four, something personal.
Speaking of ai, this week I was
on yet another call with a topic
of AI came up and now I happened
to be the oldest one in the zoom.
A week before that, the topic of
distraction and stillness came up in our
new small group, and I was the oldest one
in the physical room for that discussion.
Now, the common denominator in the
air of the discussion around both
issues was the anxiety everyone sensed
associated with each of those topics.
Regarding ai, it's what's
coming, what's coming for my job?
What's someone else doing with
it that makes me feel behind?
What are you doing with it?
What should I be doing with it?
Where's it going?
Where's my place in that world?
Anxiety is just humming
and buzzing in the room.
And regarding the idea of being still, of
turning off and tuning out distractions,
the sentiment was eerily similar.
It kind of seemed like the younger
you are, the more anxious you seem
at the idea of silence and solitude.
I heard things like, well, I need
music playing in the background, or I
throw on a podcast, or I've got YouTube
running, or I have one ear bud in.
And I'll admit it, I feel a foot in the
quick sand of both of those responses--
to AI and to silence and solitude.
And as I pondered those two
experiences, I had these reflections.
AI will chase silence, like
light chasing the dark.
It will fill any stillness with
the promise of productivity.
In other words, give it an
inch, it will output a mile.
The only seeming limitation is
how many tokens you've burned
versus how many you've bought.
Now you give that kind of tool into my
hands, hands that at times are incapable
of silence and allergic to stillness.
Well, it's like a black box of infinity
with a do not open label on it.
In truth, I have little control
over where AI will head next.
I do, however, have agency
over how I will be human.
Perhaps more than any other time
in my life to date, I need to push
back and press in to being human.
Fight for silence.
Battle for solitude.
Walk without headphones.
Marvel at the Mockingbird as it
parodies the bullying blue jay.
Let the wind whistle past my
ears, the right and the left.
Take in the white noise of the
pine trees fracturing the breeze.
Sun, warm my skin.
Tear, traverse my cheek.
Babe, hold my hand as we walk.
Speaker: Thanks for listening or
reading this issue of the four Wins.
Robby Fowler: Keep building
a life-giving brand.
