TL;DR Version: It’s been a hot minute since I wrote a blog post this long, so here’s a handy-dandy guide to what’s inside: Great, sustainable communities are built on seven specific systems: Onboarding, Connection + Communication, Norms + Rituals, Identity, Moderation/Agency/Ownership, Scaled Resourcing, and Value Exchange. Stories shared: What does a coffee shop in a […]
Two Questions To Grow Your Business
If you’re a service-based business owner, there are likely two things you are not asking for, costing you marketing visibility and financial stability. What are the two things? Asking For The Sale and Asking For The Referral. I’ve got a system for you, a template that you can use that you can download right away […]
What’s keeping you up at night?
I’m gonna share some stats with you and I wanna know if it sounds like you. And if it does, then I have some very small homework for you at the end of the post, but stick around until then. 60% of small business owners and nonprofit leaders say that marketing and revenue are your […]
The #1 Avoidable Headache For Small Business Owners: Website Woes
Did you know WTF Marketing has a new podcast? Wait! Before you roll your eyes at the idea of yet-another-thing™ to distract you from binge-watching the next season of Ted Lasso, chill: the WTF Marketing podcast is bite-sized (10 minutes or less) with actionable tips in each episode so you know exactly what to do […]
Marketing Effectively in a Crisis
Connecting communities and people together is more important now than ever. We’ve all lost our “third place” – that place that isn’t either work or home. Hell, most of us have lost our “second place” in layoffs or office closures – and if this is you, you need to read last week’s post on surviving […]
How to Survive Working at Home
Howdy! It took a global pandemic for me to start blogging again, so there’s that. Over the last two years of not blogging, I’ve been doing a deep-dive in lead organizing Fort Collins Comic Con and Fort Collins Startup Week, along with a lot of course building for small businesses on Skillshare. This week I’m […]
Don’t Be Afraid To Call Out The Bullshit
“That’s bullshit,” I looked up and everybody was staring. I’d said it out loud. “Oh, looks like I’m about to get kicked out of another meetup group.” Someone at the meetup had just described using the shitshow known as Instagress to promote their product on Instagram. Basically, this nonsense piece of social media wonkware automatically likes and […]
Fuck “Fake It Till You Make It”
Hello, there. Been a while, huh? I screwed the pooch by leaving you hanging after I dropped the bomb that Most Marketing is Total Bullshit. Why? I lost my mind when it came to working, work-life balance, and the like. Newsflash: work-life balance is a fucking myth. It doesn’t exist. Yes, you theoretically can “balance” […]
Most marketing is total bullshit.
It’s true. Between clients who (having been inundated by the latest guru’s advice) insist on pushing nonsense on a customer that’s not interested – not the right demographic, not the right target market, not the right messaging – and clients who insist on chasing the wrong metrics – numbers that have no tie to business […]
7 cost-effective alternatives to that popular online program
It’s that time of year again. Soon you’re going to see all sorts of affiliate ads floating around for a certain business marketing class with a huuuuuuuuge price tag. You won’t see it on my blog. I hate that affiliate nonsense. I’ve been there, though. I know that terrible pull; the drive of curiosity to know the one secret that […]