I learned this business lesson the hard way. And I want you to avoid this, so listen up.
Always be pitching. I said — Always. Be. Pitching.
I stopped and nearly destroyed my 2 yr & 13 ppl agency @optemization.
We almost ran out of money this month.
So last year was pretty phenomenal revenue-wise. In December 2021, we closed a few massive contracts worth $300k over four months. And all of that came from word-jof-mouth referrals. Meanwhile, a year passed since I stopped actively marketing ourselves.
What the fuck, right?
Well, after building an audience of 6k followers and 2k email subscribers, I dropped our marketing in December 2020.
Closing inbound sales and serving clients took up all my time.
I also moved places and chose to put more energy toward family and relationships.
And, by the way, we were getting better and better at service fulfillment and closing sales, so revenue was growing. Each month though was either a feast or a famine.
Burn, at first, was stable plus we had cash in the bank, so I wasn't worried.
I didn't even notice that I paused marketing.
I quietly let the Procrastination Monkey take over my growth mindset and steer the ship.
If you're not familiar with this devilish ape, please do yourself a favor and watch @waitbutwhy's TED talk:
Once I paused, every day made it exponentially difficult to resume.
Eventually, things came to a full stop. The momentum was lost.
And I didn't have the energy to get the ball rolling again.
If you take away one thing from this thread -- DO NOT STOP. Like ever.
Take a break, sure. Practice "flexible consistency" as @anthilemoon suggests. But, please, for the love of it, never ever come to a screeching halt.
Once I stopped marketing, the Procrastination Monkey reigned supreme and brought an old friend along... the Perfectionism Pirate.
Every time the urge to get back to marketing bubbled up in my prefrontal cortex, the Perfectionism Pirat growled and kicked my thoughts off this ship.
I convinced myself that my content wasn't good enough or that the lack of a grand plan and purpose was so inefficienct.
The Procrastination Monkey and Perfectionism Pirate duo were really really good at their job because I avoided marketing and pitching myself like the plague.
To make matters worse, we grew. And 2021 ended revenue 7x-ing to $315k. All word of mouth. Which felt good; too good.
So then 2022 kicks off and I spend Q1 avoiding marketing. I also spend most of Q2 avoiding marketing.
Mind you, I'm not fucking around either. Each day is overfilled with a bunch of stuff across ops, sales, l&d that I consciously subscribed myself to do. Important stuff too.
Stuff "so important" that sometimes I forget that we haven't updated our website in two years.
Until one day, the big December contracts are over. A few prospects ghost me. Two clients pull back on engagements. And I have to pay Taxes for the first time. Aaaand a recession hits.
Suddenly, there isn't enough cash to make payroll.
I don't usually panic.
But when it hit me that I fucked up our cash flow and might not be able to pay our team, it got "palms sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy" real fast.
It is a very uncomfortable position, so once again, I beg of you, never stop marketing yourself.
If you made it here, you might question if this is even a "marketing" problem. And yes it's a business model/cash flow thing too.
However, I know that had I not stopped pitching myself, we would have had more clients, more revenue, and more cash to deal with contingency.
But hey — we're still kicking. And we will not be going out of business. We're gonna figure this out and thrive.
I know that for a damn fact.
So as soon as I connected the dots, I sent my team a message, acknowledging the issue and charting out a plan of action.
I also recorded a @loom and called it "We Got This" (because we fucking do). loom.com/share/072822ccc6d549389154df26c9d0d652
#BuildinPublic a la @thisiskp_ amirite
The team rallied together.
Immediately afterward, we relaunched the marketing department, came up with projects, and started relentlessly shipping.
The Procrastination Monkey and Perfection Pirates have triumphantly kicked off the ship.
Since then we closed seven deals, revamped our website, and working on much more.
And "we" are some of the most remarkable and talented people that I had the privilege of working with.
Thank you for sticking with me and @optemization thought this will journey:
⭐ @supernaturval
⚙️ @NataliePottie
🖌️ @DushiRox
🌊 @danieljhull_
🔨 @thorms11
💌 @ademusoyo
📹 @mannimoki
🧪 @luiza_cantini
🤖 @nickjanesdotcom
⚽ @lucia_judez
🙏 @celzalejandro
👯♂️ @Agile_Executive
