Digital marketing is hard– there is so much to learn and so much to do that it can be overwhelming.
Too Much Freedom
Plus, you have all this freedom, which is easy to abuse.
Not that you are lazy or do not want to work– but because friends think you are “available” all the time, they invite you out to do things.
So you want to be nice to friends and hang out, thinking you will get back to your projects later tonight or tomorrow.
Except that never happens, and you fall further behind– since more distractions come up, all from well-meaning people who think you are not doing anything.
A shift worker does not understand a digital marketer since their view of work is like a factory job when you show up at a certain time for your shift.
If you are at home sitting on the couch, why not text all day, play with the dogs and goof off?
They do not realize you have project deadlines— team members counting on you and clients putting their business in your hands.
Once Things Start Catching Up With You
So when you realize you are behind, feeling “all by yourself” in your home, it is easy to go into excuse mode.
“Let’s see… what is the best excuse I can come up with?” is what you are used to doing. We can usually think of something since if you look for something bad, you will find it.
And that excuse might legitimately cover you for a day or two, but not for the months you have continued to struggle.
So then you get caught in a loop of being so far behind, team members and courts chasing you down, and feeling unmotivated.
I would rather watch Netflix and play video games to avoid the situation that is only getting worse.
Allow this to continue and the clients will fire us. The team will believe you are not reliable and do not care.
Communication and Discipline Instead of Excuses
The root of this is you not having learned team communication skills and not having the discipline to work in an environment that does not have physical supervision. Sure, you would be more reliable if you had to drive to an office and be there by 8 am each morning and have a rigid schedule. There is much good about being a wage slave.
But if you can learn the discipline to work in digital marketing, you can have amazing time freedom and be wherever you want.
You have to decide if you are going to focus on excuses after the fact or whether you are accountable and proactive.
Do you want to be the receptionist or factory-type worker that responds only when someone comes to the counter or calls? Or are you a leader who takes charge instead of moving only when someone tells you to?
It’s Not Too Late for You
If you are reading this, you have fallen into the most common trap of new digital marketers.
The good news is that it is an easy trap to escape from, as thousands have learned on their path from beginner to pro.
My friend, are you wondering why I asked you to visit this post?
If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s because we didn’t hear from you for a few days. We tried to reach out to you, but you failed to get back to us.
And when you finally responded, you most likely attempted to justify your absence and lack of communication with a “valid” reason.
That’s why you’re here.
I created this post to show you where I’m coming from. I hope that by now, you understand why I am so critical about good communication.
This blog post is my best attempt to explain this most painful problem. I hope that starting today, you will work on your weaknesses so that we can get back on track.
Why Don’t You Start Now?
Do those five things, and you will see your teammates start applauding you instead of chasing you.
And you will be able to experience the awesome freedom of digital marketing instead of working in a dead-end job in some place you have to drive to each day and back, doing the same boring thing in an endless cycle.
If you want to grow, you are in the right place. And you should expect that learning new skills is a challenge you should be up to.
Now let us get going since the team and our clients are counting on you and rooting for you!
It takes ten times longer to upload, edit, coordinate, QA, post, and cross-post than to make the content itself.
I recorded a 5-minute video yesterday on TikTok ads that will be turned into an article and a set of social media posts, editing and distributing them into many channels (blog, book, podcast, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, TikTok, etc.)
But it will take over an hour, even with Descript, Jasper, and other AI tools, to get it processed.
I did a killer 90-minute training with John Jonas on how he built a site with 2 million virtual assistants and how to hire your own VAs to do your marketing.
But it will take 2-3 weeks to turn around this episode, maybe longer because of follow-ups and confusion from many cooks in the kitchen.
Grant Cardone made a one-minute video for me on how to make a one-minute video.
Ironic.
But it will take days to run it through the Content Factory and turn it into social media posts that we boost for a Dollar a Day.
The dread of how long it takes to go through this whole thing prevents you from making content, even if you use Fiverr or have an army of VAs.
But what if you needed only 1/10th the time?
Me sharing my expertise
Create Content Factory
Would you be willing to make more content like a “walk and talk” in your morning exercise routine, a 15-second tip while you’re driving (hands-free and safely, of course), or a 5-minute “how to” after a frustrating client meeting?
A galloping horde of robots is coming our way, eagerly peddling their automation and tools, proclaiming content nirvana.
It’s all a lie.
Because there is no one tool that “does it all,” even though these software companies put their logo in the center of a diagram with spokes outward to all the other tools they integrate with or replace.
And the social media agencies incessantly bang on our doors, hoping we’ll buy their packages attractively dressed up like Girl Scout Cookies.
But mindlessly posting content X times per week on Y social media channels is dumping more turds into the punchbowl.
No amount of fake followers or bogus influencer campaigns will drive sales. And you know it.
They’re robots, too, just more expensive.
The solution, which is not available for $1,997 or a “secret” mastermind, is to build your Content Factory to process the content you and your customers create.
Check out the Content Factory, a process more than a focus on any particular tool.
It will change how you think about marketing.
I think you’ll find that it’s more about the process to extract what’s in your head.
Remarkably similar to high-performance individuals in other walks of life, with principles and strategies.
On the surface, these lawyers are expert litigators and have sophisticated techniques to win against the insurance companies, whether through settlement or a jury trial.
But underneath, you see humans that have learned how to systematize their principles for businesses and build partnerships— to be CEOs that don’t file claims, talk to clients, write checks or go to court unless they have to.
They are stewards of people– since, ultimately, it’s a people game.
No matter what you do, you’re in the people business, so these principles apply.
Mike Morse did $160 million this year in creating a “fireproof” law firm. And he has applied principles to give him time freedom, so he never misses his kids’ games or things in life we want to savor.
Jesse Itzler sold his private jet company for billions to Warren Buffett and is married to the billionaire founder of Spanx. And he plans his entire year out in advance, blocking time for adventure, new experiences, and date night.
Put in the big rocks first; else, the pebbles and sand fill up your jar– leaving no room for the big stones later.
I witnessed tender moments with Ali Awad, his wife, his brother, and his father– a close-knit family that spends time together. And I felt welcomed, like part of the family.
It struck me more than the powerful opening keynote Ali gave how he scaled his law firm to 8 figures via social media. I admire the CEO Lawyer more for how he treats people than for his ability to convince billionaires to speak on his stage.
I’m also grateful for Mark Lack, who taught our private group while I was on stage, which happened to be during our weekly Office Hours call.
Mark shared his techniques for partnering with ultra-successful people– and I noticed how Mark and Ali have a massive overlap in their circle of friends.
And that’s not a coincidence, since many of the attendees I met, even though I’ve never met them before– feel like long-time friends because we have so many friends in common.
So even the not-so-young adults would be comfortable making one-minute selfie videos and boosting them on TikTok and Facebook.
I gave away all our training for free, as this felt like the right place– so these CEO lawyers could build a Content Factory using our processes and hire VAs for $5 an hour to edit videos.
And doing so yielded some new partnerships, where ads and analytics support from us (not as a traditional agency) will create massive growth for these firms while advancing our mission to create a million jobs to implement these techniques.
There is always another level up that you haven’t seen if you are willing to humble yourself– and these folks have such an abundance mindset that they openly share and decisively take action.
If you haven’t been to a high-end event like this, you don’t know what you’re missing.
The time is 1:26 am, and I’ve just wrapped up my emails and messages that are more than 600 a day. Though it’s unbelievable, someone stole our cameras with all recordings of the presentation I gave at CEO Lawyer Summit. So, now I have to re-film it.
Deadlines are deadly
It will take me at least 2 hours to complete — but deadlines are just ahead of me, and the buck stops with me. My life may look to you like a simple “4-hour workweek” only if you see it on social media. But I’m living like this for more than 30 years.
In the start, I only consumed the off-the-dollar menu at McDonald’s to save some money. At that time, I couldn’t afford to stay in luxury conference hotels, so rather I stayed in fleabag motels and filled my pockets with food to eat later.
I had to borrow money from my friends so that I can make my payroll. And yet I do not feel that I’m “successful” as a digital social marketer.
Entrepreneurship and overnight success
Entrepreneurship is not as easy as it looks from the outside until you experience it yourself and face very frequent table problems. I interviewed a person yesterday who, overnight, earned 87 million dollars.
And this overnight success means the person took credit card debt for about 8 years, which was just paid only last month. You will see some people on the internet achieving the success you want in a few years. On the other hand, you could be just half of them, but don’t be discouraged.
Either they are not giving you the whole information about their journey, or you might not be aware of the fact that it has taken them a decade or more to achieve that milestone. In this way, most people leave during the journey getting disappointed, which they shouldn’t.
How can we use smart strategies ? Unhappy that Facebook is getting rid of interest and targeting, and targeting going away on the various social networks?
The reasons could be many – either more profit, less govt interference, or the unavoidable result of GDPR.
However, know that LinkedIn is a platform where you can boost your posts at a price of $10 a day rather than one dollar a day.
Smart networks
The benefit you get there is that you can target people according to their skills, job titles, the place or company they work at, where they live, and so on.
Once LinkedIn was 20 times more expensive than Facebook, but it has made it feasible by reducing the gap from 20 to just 3 times more.
I’m not AJ Wilcox, the master of LinkedIn ads, but my LinkedIn posts get a great response due to my content being compelling and targeted to a relevant audience.
