I realized I’ve been a hypocrite about authenticity.
Talking about it like it’s THE strategy. The only thing that will cut through noise.
Then I caught myself doing the exact opposite.
I’ve been writing things that are technically true… but watered down so they’re more corporate-friendly.
Not because I don’t believe in what I’m writing. I do.
But I realized I’m dampening the full depth of my opinions, and the lessons I’m learning so they’re ‘safe’ and well-received by a wider audience.
But that’s not my voice.
And it’s directly opposed to how I approach marketing and branding for my clients.
The irony is – the reason I’m successful at helping founders simplify their businesses while they continue to grow… is NOT because I’m obsessed with business for business’ sake.
It’s because I’m obsessed with lifestyle.
I start with how someone actually wants to live. What truly fulfills them.
Then help them design their business as the vehicle that supports that life – not the other way around.
Lately, I’ve been leaving the most important parts of that out in my own content.
(the cobblers children, ammiright?)
For example – last week, I was on the phone with my friend Kevin Rogers.
We were talking about how to share more about what excites us in ALL areas of life – not just strictly-business.
Because as creative leaders, what we do outside the office deeply influences how we approach our work.
During the call I was walking around my house, trying to figure out where to hang a 20-pound prosciutto leg I just made so it can age properly. (it’s called multi-tasking.)
After the call I thought about how making prosciutto is a lesson in patience.
You do the work up front – carefully and deliberately – then you do nothing for quite some time.
You make sure the plan is sound.
Then make the thing, and let time work its magic.
Lots of valuable things follow this process.
Good wine. Aged cheese. Cured meats.
A high-performance sales funnel bringing a constant flow of qualified leads.
And yet in business, we constantly panic during the “let it hang” phase.
We want dashboards lighting up immediately. We want to keep tweaking, touching, interrupting the process – usually right before it starts working.
I see this constantly with marketing and growth.
Everyone wants to tie the “doing the thing” immediately to the results.
But it doesn’t always work like that.
Sometimes you’ve got to trust the plan and just let it run its course.
Do the research.
Build the engine correctly.
Integrate it cleanly with sales and fulfillment.
Then let it cook.
One of my clients did exactly that this past year when we built them a new marketing engine from scratch.
At first it seemed like wasted effort – and they fought me on it a few times when we weren’t seeing immediate results.
But I knew we had a good plan, and we needed to let it cook.
By the end of the year we saw a 67% increase in the # of marketing-qualified leads.
And the QUALITY improved as well – more of them converting faster into much bigger deals.
In fact, in Q4 we exceeded revenue goals within the first 30 days of the quarter — and are seeing that same pattern repeated again in Q1 this year.
Yes, we changed things.
But the bigger win was knowing when not to.
Now, I’m not giving the prosciutto ALL the credit… but many lessons that helped me advise them came from seeing what worked in other parts of my life.
Which is why I’m excited to start writing about all the things I’m thinking about and learning – even outside of my day-to-day work.
What I’m learning from aging meat, renovating houses, growing my own food, and helping friends launch their fun businesses without invoices attached.
Not because it’s “lifestyle content.”
But because it’s where my experience, ideas, and judgment is formed.
If that doesn’t appeal to corporate America, I’m fine with that.
I’d rather work with the people who ‘get it’.
And I know the people I help will benefit from drawing on ‘what works’ outside their immediate ecosystem.
If that’s you, I’m glad you’re here. 🙂
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