EP60: Growth or Stagnation

Because the world we live in is ever-changing, if we are not growing along with it, we are effectively embracing stagnation.

Marketing online can at times feel like your walking up the down escalator. The moment you stop your forward movement, you cannot help but be dragged back down.

Yes, there is no time to just hang out; nor is there a lot of time to figure out all this marketing stuff.

I know that seems to be a little bit out there.

But I promise you this…

If you do your best to find something that you can improve on, over time, you will see that the world will slow down somewhat to allow you to keep up.

If you had listened to the podcast last week, the episode talked about being a solopreneur.

And you may be thinking - right about now - how can one person keep up with companies that may have teams of people working for them.

My answer to you is to become efficient in what you DO do.

The 80/20 principle - says that there are things that take up only 20% of your time and yet they contribute to 80% of your growth.

Your job is to find those things…

That 20%

Look at what you are good at.

Then - Do more of that.

But, to be honest, sometimes it is easier to say than do.

So…

Every time you write content for a blog post, web page, sales page, or email…

Stop before you write your first words.

Stop and think about those people you are serving. Your audience is important for your future.

Even more…

They ARE your future.

Many times entrepreneurs forget that they need people. They sometimes tend to think people just represent their ability to make money.

But, if we’re being honest here…

If your only reason for being a marketer is to make money - at all costs - then (in my humble opinion) you’re in the wrong business.

I believe…

Therefore I teach - that your needs should come second.

This means, your customers should be the ones you place on center stage.

Without them, you would have no audience.

Without their attention, no matter what you have to say, it falls on deaf ears.

Your customers - MUST - feel as if they know you intimately.

They have problems.

REAL PROBLEMS

Problems they are HOPING you can help them eliminate.

When you share your information with them, they need to believe YOU are the one they can depend on.

You need to be their bright and shining star.

We all have our favorite idols.

You know - the person who in your opinion does nothing wrong.

I’m not saying that you will be that person. But for some of your customers and a portion of your subscribers, you have the potential of getting them to know, like, and trust you.

For you to grow as an entrepreneur, you must have an audience who will read what you write. If you are on YouTube, or even a Podcast, they need to want to listen to you.

You must develop a relationship with your audience.

When they feel as if you are completely honest with them, and that you are on their side, that you understand their struggle, and want to help them overcome it, they will move mountains to promote you to their friends and their family.

The most difficult part of being an online marketer is finding your audience, and getting them to resonate with you.

So, before you share anything, think to yourself, would you want to read this, listen to this, watch this?

Does your message resonate?

Does it make sense?

Does it tell a story, your audience – or even YOU - would want to hear?

From my viewpoint…

I receive 200+ emails per day on just one account. Of course, I could never read them all.

I can barely skim through them and decide who to keep and who to delete.

I am sure our customers, subscribers, and others are in a similar situation. They have busy lives, full of problems and important tasks that, frankly, are more important than your email.

Mine too.

So, we MUST make ourselves stand out in the mind of our audience.

They MUST remember WHY they signed up for your emails, and newsletters.

They MUST remember WHY they bought your product or service.

The truth is this, if you are NOT memorable, you will be one of those deleted emails. And you will have your product refunded.

We live in a busy world.

There is barely enough time to do what YOU want to do, let alone read something, someone else wants us to do.

Will you be able to penetrate the WORLD of ALL your customers and subscribers?

NO!

You're not going to.

You're not supposed to.

You CANNOT serve everyone.

Only a select few.

Those select few ARE your tribe.

Get to know them.

Talk to them.

Email them.

Reason with them.

Resonate with them.

They are your future.

Your mission is to help people that are struggling with a problem, a significant problem, that YOU can eliminate.

Maybe for you, it was a problem you once struggled with as well and had to work hard to overcome.

Let them know. Let them feel your pain. Let them see how it felt once it was overcome.

Your tribe is standing on one side of a cavern.

Your solution is on the other side.

They do not know how to get from where they are, and end up over there, where they so desperately want to be.

You are their trusted guide.

You are their bright and shining star lighting the way along their dark path.

That is ALL they want.

Be that for them.

I hope that in this episode, you can SEE that YOU are the difference between GROWTH and STAGNATION.

So, grow, my friends.

Grow!

Grow, and serve!

That's it.

I’ll see you then.

James "Growing" Brown

P.S. - In the event, you DO find that once an episode has been produced and posted, that YOU really would like more information, just let me know. Use the Podcast Questions link, click on the link here. Or you can just leave a voice message here.