It Follows: Horror Movies and Great Marketing

 

When you envision your ideal marketing, what does it look like?

Mine reminds me of the monster from the horror movie It Follows.

I don’t say this to creep you out. I don’t think great marketing should make you check your locks ten times every night while you slowly descend into madness.

But hear me out…

What I admired the most about the It Follows monster was its stubborn persistence.

It moved slowly. So slowly that you could hop in a car and drive far away from it. But if you stayed still for too long, it WOULD reach you eventually.

It was only a matter of time.

I won’t spoil the plot completely. Here’s the gist: a strange force starts following a teenage girl after she hooks up with her boyfriend. She’s the only one who can see it. And this force takes on different forms. Strangers, dead people, even her friends and family.

And this force is… after her. Every time she thinks she escapes for good, she looks out the window and there it is, creeping toward her.

Weird, right?

Now let’s think about this in terms of marketing.

The monster (I only call it a “monster” because I don’t know what the heck it really is) isn’t flashy. It looks like just a normal face in a crowd. But it’s the persistence — the steady, ceaseless creeping — that make it so terrifying.

It Follows marketing is consistent blogging, lead generation, and emails. It’s a long-term play. Make contact with a prospect enough times and demonstrate your value, and eventually you will “catch” them.

If you’ve read a few marketing books and blog posts, odds are that you’ve already stumbled on a strategy or two that will work for your business.

It’s the relentless execution of this strategy — refusing to get distracted by shiny new objects — that gets results. You accept the fact that you WON’T win over the vast majority of your audience the first time around. And that’s okay. You’re the It Follows monster, remember?

Keep putting your message out there, demonstrating your value and doing your best to be useful, and you’ll be amazed at how many customers you get.

Sometimes the simplest concepts are the most effective ones. It doesn’t matter if it’s in marketing or horror movies.

No fancy CGI or fake green alien blood needed.

Go here to see how I can make your marketing relentless.

All Systems Go

Systems saved my life.

Seriously.

It’s so easy to focus on where you want to be that you forget where you are right now — and all the steps you need to take in between.

This happens all the time with marketing.

You get busy. Lose sleep over the day to day grind of running your business. All the while, these lofty goals linger in the dark corners of your thoughts.

“Increase my email list by 100% within the next six months.”

“Grow my revenue to six figures by the end of the year.”

The more they stay there, unattended, the more insurmountable they seem.

You find yourself scrambling. Reading about Facebook advertising at three in the morning, or writing endless batches of blog posts…

All trying to force a specific outcome to happen.

Sounds miserable, right?

It is. I’ve been there. Spent way too much time there. If I’m not careful, I drift back there sometimes.

Enter systems.

They aren’t as sexy as “make $100,000 this year” or “increase traffic by 50%.” Sometimes they’re tedious. The day to day effort you have to put in. They feel like hard work.

But systems will save you too. They’re your way to dissect those gigantic dreams and turn them into something manageable.

Are you doing this for your marketing?

What are you doing day in and day out to build your visibility?

It might be blogging, emailing, or making videos. Maybe you’re a podcaster or social media junkie. Even “inefficient” marketing systems will bear fruit if you stick with them.

Best of all: you control them completely!

Systems fill lead pipelines. Build traffic. Bring in more opportunities than you can shake your fist at.

All you have to do is take a step today, tomorrow, and the day after that. It’s fun to entertain huge goals sometimes, imagine how great it will be once you get up that mountain.

But systems turn those goals into inevitable byproducts.

Doesn’t that sound like a saner, less stressful way to thrive in business?

Find out how I can help you do this here.

How to Write Blog Posts Faster

blogging fast posts

“You have to blog 71 times a week if you want any traffic.”

“No you don’t! You’re better off writing one killer post every few weeks.”

Those are extreme examples, sure. But the debates on what it takes to succeed with a blog are endless.

I’m not about to wade into the quality vs. quantity debate. That’s a topic for another post. All I’ll say on that front: why not both?

Whatever your position on this issue, I think all of us can agree that it would be great to be productive with whatever time we have to blog… whether that’s 10 minutes or 10 hours a week.

I’ve written a TON of blog posts over the past four years. When you combine personal and client projects, that number is probably in the thousands.

During that time I’ve figured out a few strategies that help me stay productive.

Everyone’s writing process is different, so your mileage may vary.

With that said, I’m hopeful that you’ll glean at least a few things you can apply today to write blog posts faster.

1. Research

My blog posts start well before I put pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

The first thing I do is read. The idea is to familiarize yourself with the topic. Run a Google search for popular articles, news stories, and other blog posts about it.

Set aside some time and read your way through it. Sometimes I will highlight something interesting or jot down a note or two. Mostly I’m just reading, reading, reading. Immersing myself in the topic.

This doesn’t have to be like preparing a college thesis. Usually you can get a good bird’s eye view of the topic in 30 minutes. After you read half a dozen articles, you’ll fill in gaps in your knowledge and come away from the process with a new angle for your post.

Once you’re swimming in information, do a different task for a while. Take a break from thinking about it and allow your subconscious to take over. Then you’re ready for the next step.

2. Outline

I have a love-hate relationship with outlining.

On one hand I despise the structure. I just want to write and see where the words take me. On the other hand, having a few guide marks to follow is nice when you feel lost.

The compromise I ended up making: a loose outline. I name and arrange the major sections, and include a short summary of each. This gives me a bit of order while keeping things flexible. I end up spending less time on revisions, which always makes me happy.

This is a personal preference. Some bloggers don’t use outlines at all. Others go into a ton of detail, basically writing a first draft except for a few stylings and transitions.

Play around with this and figure out what works the best for you.

3. Word Vomit (First Draft)

Now we’re getting to the good stuff…

Ready to go?

Pull up your outline on one monitor. Ideally, turn off the internet, silence your phone, and slaughter every distraction.

Set a timer for a set time. Start it up, write with abandon until it goes off. I work in 50-minute chunks, with 10-minute breaks between them. You might like the Pomodoro Method, which is 25 on and 5 off.

Write fast. Feel free to jump around to whatever section of the post catches your interest at that moment. No, things won’t be perfect. But that’s okay because you’ll clean it up later. It’s a heck of a lot easier to edit words once they’re on the page.

Sometimes this will feel sloppy. Self-doubt, that critical voice that tells you that you aren’t good enough, will trail you like a shadow. Just keep writing. Don’t look back. Outrun it!

I’ve found that the critical voice never really goes away, but the more you blog, the better you get at tuning it out.

4. Revise Ruthlessly

Once you finish your draft, do something else for a while then come back to the post fresh.

What I do: I start reading it aloud. Whenever I get to a part that sounds awkward, clumsy or repetitive, I change it.

Clarity trumps being witty. How can you get your message across in as few words as possible?

This might be slow going if you’re new to blogging. However, just like with writing itself, practice will make you faster.

If you need some editing tips on the fly, copy and paste your post into the Hemingway app. It shows you where the weak words are and pinpoints difficult sentences. Best of all? It’s completely free.

5. Move On

This step is the hardest one for perfectionists like myself.

Once you revise a few times, load that post into your CMS and hit “publish.”

No work is ever finished; it’s abandoned. Better to start thinking about that next post than spend months chasing perfection. If something is 95% awesome right now, and it would take 20 hours to get it to 98%, isn’t there a better use of your time?

This is liberating when you think about it. Instead of obsessing about getting one post just write, you just write more of them. And it’s that productive output which will improve your quality.

All of this sound like hard work?

I have some news for you: it is! Be wary of all the “gurus” out there promising to hack the process. This tips will help, but the most important one I can give you is to practice, practice, practice.

If all of that sounds like too much commitment, hire me to do it for you while you focus on running your business.

That’s all for today. Good luck writing your blog posts faster!

The 10 Pillars of Wealth by Alex Becker: Book Notes

 

I’ve followed Alex Becker for a few years now. I’ve watched him go from a guy selling affiliate products with SEO to buying Lamborghinis and building an eight-figure business.

Which is why I was super pumped when he came out with his book The 10 Pillars of Wealth: Mind-Sets of the World’s Richest People.

Because I’ve seen this guy’s rise, I was eager to find out exactly how he did it.

The 10 Pillars of Wealth was a great read. Some of the material was stuff I had already internalized, but a few of the pillars (seven and eight especially) were game-changers for me. I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately about what to do next; applying those pillars just in the past few weeks has already helped. The “bonus material” breaking down different types of businesses also got my wheels spinning about long-term plans.

Because this book focuses on the mental game of what it takes to build – and maintain – a thriving business, the insights inside can help you regardless of your industry. Highly recommended.

Without further ado, here are my notes covering the most salient (to me) points from The 10 Pillars of Wealth.

Introduction

  • Making money is hard, but not in the same way winning money at slots is hard. Making money is hard like getting really good at a video game is hard. (The key difference: people believe they can get awesome at a video game).
  • Beliefs can enslave us and keep our lives mediocre, preventing us from working toward the lives we truly want. But they can ALSO ensure your success
  • Rewiring your beliefs requires a massive change. The pain of the current option must overpower the comfort of the routine. Which leads to drastic action. For most people this will never happen.
  • The “low risk, low reward” world is mediocre; the “high risk, high reward” world is success

The First Pillar: Rejecting “Getting Rich Slow”

  • Everything you’ve heard about becoming rich is WRONG
  • The 9 to 5 traffic-fighters obviously don’t have it all figured out. Do they seem like the best people to teach you about becoming financially free?
  • Turning the idea of risk on its head: it’s much riskier to rely on getting rich slowly because so many variables are beyond your control.
  • “Your financial well-being is decided by everyone and everything except you, and this is your fault because you are allowing it to happen!”
  • Assuming an average salary of $120K and saving half of it for 30 years, you only have $1.8 mil
  • Becker grew his wealth to eight figures within TWO YEARS – more than enough to retire on and live comfortably through investments
  • Deciding to get rich quickly puts you in control (knowledge, effort, networking, etc.). Bet on yourself, not other people and circumstances!
  • You can fail dozens of times, then finally get it right, and still be better off than get rich slowly
  • Three key takeaways:
    • 1) You control your life
    • 2) You can get better at anything
    • 3) You’re allowed to fail
  • Three key factors separating get rich quickly from get rich slowly: 1) material luxuries, 2) stress, and 3) choices

The Second Pillar: Separating Time from Money

  • “Time is money” is NOT always true
  • The goal: set up a system that runs and generates wealth no matter what you’re doing; remove time from the equation
  • Even if you set your own salary as a freelancer, people can reject it because it’s too high, capping your earning potential
  • Ideally, the only thing limiting my income are: 1) the size of the market, and 2) how well my system sells to it (this is totally doable with book sales)
  • Once I’m maxed out in one market, I can make other machines in other markets
  • Ask yourself
    • 1) Can this biz make $ while I’m not present?
    • 2) Can this process be done by others or automated by machines?
    • 3) If this works, can I train someone else to run it?
    • 4) Can I scale it without having to increase my time involvement?
  • As a business owner, intelligently spending substantial chunks of my earnings to grow my business almost always increases my overall profit
  • The wealthier you are, the more separated your time from profits. Your money makes money through investments

The Third Pillar: Accepting That You Must Be Better Than Everyone Else

  • To be wealthy, you must be better than 99% of everyone else at making money
  • You have to believe you are the best to seize the opportunities and take strategic risks
  • Mindset shift: from “I can’t” to “I don’t know how to do that yet, but I’ll learn”

The Fourth Pillar: Everything Is Your Fault

  • We can’t get caught up complaining when things go wrong/other people screw up
  • The fact is, even when other people are technically at fault, we often end up paying the price
  • Much more resourceful to accept responsibility and take action to grow our businesses
  • Imagine what might go wrong, and take action to fix it before it does

The Fifth Pillar: Adopting an Abundance Mindset

  • Money is repulsed when you try to hard to get it and are desperate – just like women are repulsed when you are needy and trying to impress them
  • The aloof, I don’t need it attitude attracts way more. But to get that, you have to believe in your ability to always generate more income
  • Shift: instead of trying so hard to budget and save, focus on making more money
  • Doing everything yourself and trying too hard are roadblocks to making as much as you should

The Sixth Pillar: Forgetting “What If” and Focusing on “What Is”

  • All our lives, we’ve been taught to wonder (and worry) about “what if?”
  • Most of those things never happen, and things that do happen, are things we can’t anticipate
  • So we must focus 100% on “what is” – what is the single biggest problem I’m facing right now and how can I solve it?
  • First is finding clients, second is providing a product/service, and so on
  • Experiential learning is the only way to do it
  • The sooner you make mistakes, the sooner you’ll hit your success. Mistake → “a lesson that will help me make money in the future”
  • What you must do first is recognize my “absolute simple problem” (for many, it’s getting paid)

The Seventh Pillar: Mapping Out Actions That Achieve Goals

  • Key breakthroughs for me in here…
  • First, we must know exactly where we want to go. Answer: 1) How much money per year would I like to generate to finance my ideal lifestyle? And 2) How will I do it?
  • The “big event” of you making a ton of $ is really the result of many smaller actions coming together
  • Next, what are five smaller goals I must achieve to reach my BIG GOAL? (using fiction books as an example)
  • 1-Develop the “formula” for a successful fiction book
  • 2-Create a system or platform to sell the books (Amazon, Apple, trad publish, etc.)
  • 3-Find ways to advertise that attract the necessary sales
  • 4-Craft an iconic brand
  • 5-Get the books out into bookstores, movie deals, airports, etc.
  • Next, if those smaller goals are still overwhelming, slice them up into even smaller parts. In this way you build a road map to get the lifestyle you want. Just focus on each little step at a time!

The Eighth Pillar: Focusing Solely on What Gets You Paid

  • Identify your highest ROI activities
  • Either stop doing low (or zero) ROI activities, cut back on them, or outsource them
  • Keep doing this, and understand that your highest ROI now is probably not your highest ROI activity in the future
  • In the beginning, highest ROI is selling your product/service. Then it shifts to providing it, then training others to provide it while you direct them from afar

The Ninth Pillar: People Give Money to People That Get People

  • If there’s one magical skill that will serve you in any niche, it’s SELLING
  • Learning to be persuasive, understand and influence people
  • Selling and being comfortable with people is everything

The Tenth Pillar: Finding Competitive Friends and Suitable Mentors

  • Bottom line: you are the product of your social environment
  • Hanging out with successful (or fledgling) entrepreneurs and go-getters is a hell of a lot more inspirational than the typical 9 to 5 person who hates his job

Bonus Pillar: Starting Your Own Business the “Right Way”

  • Awesome chapter that breaks down the three major types of businesses
    • 1. Cash flow businesses: these businesses are usually providing services; they don’t take much time or money investment up front, and they can generate profits quickly. But the downside is they tend to top out and be hard to scale (you only have so much time).
    • 2. High investment scalable business: the typical “business” you think about with a significant investment up front, but can often result in a high payout when sold. It’s scalable and doesn’t really matter if you serve 1,000 people or 1 million. It can be sold. Software business, product businesses, etc.
    • 3. Long-term investment business: businesses like real estate; takes a lot of money to start in the beginning, but provides a steady 10 to 20 percent ROI year after year. Passive income
  • Ideally, you’ll want to convert a CF business into one of the other types, or use the profits you make there to start a HIS or LTI business so you can separate your time completely

You Are Not Alone

There’s a reason why, out of all the emails I send and blog posts I write, this title will have one of the highest open rates.

Go ahead and steal it.

Seriously.

This type of appeal will work in every niche under the sun.

Why?

Because just knowing they “aren’t the only one” struggling with a problem is almost as important to people as solving the problem itself.

We humans are strange.

But it’s how we’re wired…

If we think we’re the only person in existence to have ever faced an obstacle, it becomes that much harder to overcome it.

That changes when we know we aren’t alone.

When we can share our misery at the office water cooler and elicit nods of understanding instead of blank looks… that’s when our problem seems much more manageable.

It isn’t enough to be miserable. Most of us have a tendency to want to share that misery – to agonize over it and dissect it into little pieces.

The most compelling websites give visitors permission to do this…

They’re like virtual “therapist couches” where visitors can finally find understanding.

Are you doing this on your website?

Are you assuring visitors that there’s nothing wrong with them?

That other people have shared their struggle and overcame it?

That they can overcome it too?

In a world where “community” is a thing of the past and hardly anyone knows their neighbors anymore, a little understanding goes a long way.

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