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In the throes of crazy town…
It’s launch week for me and my major client. All I can say is yowza, I totally forgot how zainy launch life can be. This launch has sooo many moving parts and is complicated. Yet, that’s what I do best. 🙂 So then, why do I feel like I’m in the throes of crazy town? It’s interesting as I unpack it in my head. It’s been a while since I’ve done a big launch like this with so many moving parts. (Actually, it’s going to make a terrific case study!) And I’m also working with a team that I haven’t worked with since their last launch back in 2018. So…
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What frustrates me a lot is when…
I’d love to say that I’m Zen enough that nothing bothers me much anymore. And to some degree, that’s an honest statement. Then, on the other hand, when I spend money, and the company I give it to royally messes up a gift, it does kind of frustrate me. There’s one sure way of not getting any repeat business and having your business suck wind… That’s when a customer (me) purchases an item as a gift (for my Mom), and the company discovers it’s out of stock when trying to fulfill the order. Instead of checking with the customer (me)—they send another in stock item. This confuses the customer (me) when…
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We all scream, “Ice Cream! Ben & Jerry’s Case Study – Lessons in Soulful Marketing
I’m at it again, doing some fun research on “Soulful” businesses and how they use Soulful Marketing principles. This company is my personal favorite, not just cuz I love ice cream, it’s cuz of their mission, values and original focus on sustainability and social impact. Ben & Jerry’s understand their customer and how they care about issues and want to know what the company is doing to make a positive impact. This is a business that created a strong brand that totally appeals to customers who share their values. This is how you create longevity and long-term success in your business and more… Oh, and my favorite flavor is the…
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Why My Spouse’s New Truck Matters to Your Business Strategy…
Let me take you on a short journey – my spouse, Alice, has been looking for a new car for a while. We’ve been asking these questions: “Do we buy another hybrid?” or “Do we go with all electric?” Then the latest has been – “What about getting a truck instead of another sedan?” Hmmmm. Lots of options that we finally narrowed down to a midsize truck. Yet, I’m used to the comfiness of my SUV. That’s when we found a decent truck that we both were comfy with… We opted against a hybrid truck because the gas savings is minimal. And we weren’t ready to leap into the very…
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Let’s make a pact to stop doing this…
I took on a very big launch project six weeks ago. It was for a company that I helped launch two of their other docuseries very successfully back in 2017 – 2018. They had a change in management and reached out to me for a relaunch project. It was one of those decisions I had to think about because I was moving away from big client launches and working on a one-to-many strategy by teaching many people how to create Successful Soulful marketing launches. Have you ever had to make a decision like that? I ended up thinking about it for a bit, then finally decided to do it for a couple…
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Epic Marketing Fails – omg
Last week, I did a case study on REI and how they’ve used Soulful Marketing Principles to build momentum and create incredible long-term success over 85 years… So this week, I thought it’d be interesting to share some epic marketing fails in business. I’ve already shared about an epic fail for me at the start of my entrepreneurial career a few weeks ago in this eNewsletter— if you missed it…5 Epic Marketing Fails & Lessons Learned: 1. Remember Gap’s Epic Logo Fail? They changed their logo and changed it back after 6 days. No other company has ever done that before in such a short time— on October 6, 2010, new logo, and…
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Case Study – REI – How they use Soulful Marketing Principles
I’m excited to dive into a more extensive case study with you. We’re going to explore some core principles of Soulful Marketing, and how it has created immense success into some well known niche brands. My hope is that it will spark some creative ideas on how you can weave these principles into your own business. Let’s take a look at one of my favorite stores/brands – REI. Alice and I have been to most of them in Northern CA and Oregon! We plan on camping later this year and had to stock up on some stuff. That’s why I decided they’d be a terrific case study. Before I share…
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A unique perspective on growing your business from an AI
If you’ve been on my email list for a while, you know how much I’m addicted to learning. It just fuels me. And one of my favorite things to do is share some of the stuff I’m learning with you. I’m sure you’ve seen and maybe even read the big hubbub around AI. It’s just exploding. People are comparing it to the launching of the internet or the creation of the automobile. Hmmmm. I mean, it is kind of groundbreaking, yet it’s still very much in its infancy. So why care about AI? And what could it mean for your business?
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How to set yourself up for success everyday
It’s officially six months into the year. It’s half over, or as I like to look at it – there’s half the year left. 🙂 It’s also a terrific time to pause for a moment, reflect, and reevaluate where you are regarding your goals this year. The calls I’ve been on lately with clients have been focused on wanting guidance to boost their productivity and being better at meeting their project deadlines. Plus, they also want a better work-life balance. Is that why you became an entrepreneur? To plan your calendar, manage your time as yours, and work on things you love? I’ve written before about productivity. This time, I…
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The biggest roadblock to your success might be… you
Have you ever been so stressed out and disorganized that work wasn’t getting done, and you felt like you were constantly disappointing your clients? Some of what you’re feeling may be true, and some may just be your stress and fear of disappointing your clients. Yet, whatever the issue is – you still feel like that – what can you do about it? This was me back when I first started my online strategic marketing and launch business. I was running by the seat of my pants most of the time. And I constantly bought new products, attended live in-person events, and was a learning machine. Yet, a lot of the…
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What do ChatGPT, virtual events, and blank screens all have in common? Hmmmm
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a live virtual 3-day event – Product Launch Formula (PLF Live). I attended this event in person many times until the pandemic hit, and as you know – there weren’t any more in-person live events. And the people behind this event decided to keep it as a virtual event. I get it because they never were able to get more than around 900 people in-person. Virtually at this event, they had almost 2k people attend from all over the world. What do you think about virtual events? Have you attended a 3-day online one before? I honestly don’t like them. The thought of…
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Got A Question? Need Some Guidance?
What I’ve learned over the many years in business working with clients is that they always come to me with something specific that they need help with. It’s usually something like – All of these issues above have one thing in common – They all need guidance on one project or one tactic. In my experience, I’ve found something very interesting when an entrepreneur comes to me for help with one thing — nine times out of ten; it’s not just the one thing they need help with. Or the one thing will entail lots of other things that need to be done… That’s why I always ask more questions on our…
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My Business Failed… A Confession
When I started out 17 years ago as an entrepreneur, it definitely was a bit of a bumpy ride. Having come off, the heals of corporate America, there seemed to be so much to do to get my business off the ground. And back then, we had the internet. Yet, we certainly didn’t have all the tech – apps we have today. A quick refresher — Facebook and Twitter were in their infancy (Both were open to the public in 2006 – the year I started my business.) and definitely not the behemoth they are today. Instagram was just a flicker in someone’s mind, and the tech for Tik Tok…
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What type of entrepreneur are you?
Just got off a call with a person I met online at a Trends Newsletter networking event. (If you don’t know what Trends is – I’d highly recommend you check them out. Especially if you want to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.) The funny thing is I’m not usually on these networking calls. And the only reason why I was on it was because I didn’t read the whole email. I thought it was their newsletter expert speaking – my total bad for quickly skimming that email. Please tell me I’m not the only person who’s jumped on a Zoom call thinking there was a speaker and I could be invisible — turned out…
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Attitude, Challenges, Clients & Customers, Communication, Entrepreneurs, Marketing, Prospects, Questions
Is your business like Nike? Lessons from an athletic shoe company
Last week, I shared about how your business changes over the years and how that change will impact your dream clients/customers. My core message was to ensure you connect with your power dream clients/customers and interview or give them a survey so you can take into account their needs before you implement your changes. This week, I promised to share some interesting insights from Nike (and the athletic shoe industry) – focusing on sales from a unique perspective. And how these insights can help your business. My spouse, during her college years, supported herself by working part-time at Athlete’s Foot. She was one of their top salespeople. She knows running and athletic…
