I carry one (fairly) huge and utterly irrational fear in my life: my fear of flying.

While I’ve spent a good chunk of my past and present on planes without incident, my fear is always with me; like a heavy weight rattling around inside the well-loved duffle bag of my soul.

As you might imagine, being the steward of a lifelong anxiety like this comes with a colorful spread of trials and tribulations.

One example: I’m the woman doing a shot of whiskey and slamming a beer at the airport bar — if I have time, and if there’s no client work to be done en route.

Another: I absolutely cannot sleep on planes, even on 10+ hour flights, which meant the one time I tried Ambien to welcome the sandman at 30,000 feet, gravity turned inside out for a few hours.

And yet another: For years I’ve had to explain to well-meaning to partners, friends, family members, and colleagues that while yes, I understand pilots are highly trained, and yes I’m more likely to die in the car on the way to the airport, and yes it’s a 1 in 3 million+ chance I’ll ever be involved in a fatal plane crash… that this is the problem with irrational fear: It makes 0 sense.

(Besides, in the age of the internet we should all realize humans are largely emotional creatures. Logical thought rarely slices through the tethers of illogical patterns — and no human being is without a wild superstition, fear, or a nearly-incomprehensible view or two.)

However: This fear of mine is not without its intellectually interesting attributes— namely, the way it’s aged with me in order to stay “alive”.

Much like the organism it’s tethered to (me!), my fear of flying has evolved. It’s heavy but it’s damn wily. It shifts. It adapts. It finds new bends in reasoning to sustain itself.

When the fear found me as a kid, it was simple: I was scared I would die. I didn’t want to die!

So my fear amplified into nightmares — and a big reason why I still cover my eyes during a certain scene in the movie Flight Club.

Then, as a teenager (during my brief and eager dance with Christianity), I began pursuing solutions and turned to God. I’d wear my cross necklace and pray before every flight for protection.

Unperturbed by Jesus, my fear promptly evolved: If I died? It now meant God was displeased with me and was taking me out of the human race. My fear even inflated itself by reminding me that if I wanted God’s favor? I’d better make sure I didn’t do anything too sinful right before a flight.

Fun!

Then I entered my 20’s… and things got really interesting.

By then, I’d been on and off enough flights for my logical brain to suggest, “Hey you know what? Maybe we should chill out.”

Not to be outdone, my fear evolved again.

I remember it so clearly.

As I stared nervously down at the clouds on a flight from JFK to Fort Lauderdale, wondering why I couldn’t just relax, my heavy, clunky Fear Brain turned slowly around and said clearly:

“In every flight we’ve survived, you’ve been afraid. Fear has now become part of our routine. So clearly: If I allow us to relax? The plane will surely crash.”

Uh-huh.

Fear had managed to convince me, in some sneaky way, that my anxiety was, in fact, keeping the plane in the air.

Nope, it wasn’t the engines, or the highly trained pilots, or the crew that kept the flight safe. It was me, with my magical powers of terror levitation, doing it.

Joan Didion calls this “magical thinking” — the act of believing impossible things as your brain attempts to comprehend and navigate seemingly-impossible events.

In her case, this “magical thinking” was sparked by the sudden death of her husband while her daughter was in a coma. In my case, it was sparked by the stark reality of my fragile mortality a few miles above solid ground.

Are brains weird or what?

Now here’s the strangest part of all this (and my whole reason for telling you this story):

I realized recently that this type of thinking isn’t limited to my airline experiences. In fact, I’d been applying this adaptively unhinged thought pattern to my business every damn day.

It all clicked when a teacher of mine said something unexpected, but startlingly accurate on a group coaching call I was on:

“Heaviness, stress, fear, worry, and anxiety do not equal money.

You can make just as much money with lightness — enjoying the process of your work and business building, having fun, and doing what interests you.”

It sounds innocuous at first blush… but once the words really clicked, it was like my world froze for a second.

Wait… what?!

But…

Oh wow.

Damn.

I’ve spent a fair amount of writing time unpacking my own relationship to heaviness, a.k.a. workaholism and stress. I’ve talked about it here,here, and here, and about a million other places on various social platforms.

Make no mistake: I still think/know that having a powerful work ethic and deep stamina for the hustle is a fine, and relatively rare thing.

I still think/know if you can pick ONE superpower for yourself in this life, it should be an ability to out-work anyone.

I still think/know being a little scared of not being smart or good enough can be useful.

I still think/know if you want to run a business, you have to work hard, long, and often for a while.

HOWEVER.

What happens when the ball gets rolling? What happens when you’ve already outworked most of your competitors and are making money and doing OK after all?

Where does that fear go?

Much like my in-flight worry-wartism: fear likes having a welcoming host. So it evolves to make sure we still carry it with us.

Years ago, I had accepted fears as part of the constant process of running a business. And so, fear had stuck around where I’d made a home for it.

Exactly the same way my flying fear had evolved, as time went on and my traditional newbie-business-owner anxiety around stuff like pitching clients, speaking in public, or delivering drafts wasn’t necessary anymore — my fear adapted.

My anxiety, fear, and stress became more than symptoms. They became litmus tests for how hard I was working, or how much I cared about something.

(This is also partly why, regardless of situation or location, I put my hands up every time I hear that line from Post Malone’s Congratulations : “Worked so hard forgot how to vacation.”)

If I wasn’t doing some stuff I kinda hated, or pushing myself a little too hard, was I actually working?

If I wasn’t stressed out and uncomfortable, was I actually making things happen for myself?

Though I didn’t realize it at the time: The answer, to my heavy, illogical fear brain, was a resounding NO.

In my mind, if I let up my guard down for even a second, my life as an entrepreneur was over. If I wasn’t constantly afraid, the plane would crash.

On the flip side of the coin: When stuff feels good and is going smoothly to the point I catch myself feeling positive — I worry I’m slacking.

And whether you realize it or not? The same might be true for you.

I hear it all the time from both entrepreneurs, and friends from the traditional 9-to-5 world:

“Work? Yeah, things are going well, but…”

“I’m having a great time, but…”

“Money’s been awesome and it feels like stuff is really starting to flow finally, but…”

And all those conversations end with some variation of:

“… I’m just sitting here terrified, waiting for something to go wrong.”

At the outset, it feels like that makes complete sense. And there’s almost a delicious drama to it.

I’m so realistic I believe all of my hard work, everything I’ve built from my relationships to my skill set, can and will collapse on top of me in an instant.

I’m so realistic I believe disaster is constantly imminent and the only way to combat it is to act like it’s already happening.

So you can imagine why I swirled my teacher’s words around in my head for weeks:

“Stress, fear, and anxiety do not equal money.”

God damnit she was right.

So why did it feel like she was wrong?

Why did this concept of “lightness” feel as clunky in my mind as another language?

I think I have an idea.

As business owners, we feel we should be mentally prepared or anything, right? For disappointment, for frustration, for everything melting down.

Rarely are we told to expect, or even prepare for ease.

Because business is not easy.

So we train ourselves to assume it’s all part of the grind, and turn ourselves into good peacetime soldiers, standing at attention in the sprawling fields of existence with our armor still on and our guns drawn, ready for anything.

We train ourselves to assume that without our heaviness, our stress, and our fear, we cannot — and perhaps don’t deserve to — succeed. That if we’re not constantly on high alert, the enemy (a.k.a. failure) will smell our complacency and ambush us in the night.

But, just like lingering terror of air disaster after hundreds of successful flights, after a certain point — you have to face that your fear may not be closely tied to reality.

The more I think this over, the more I realize that after a certain point, we need to learn to take a deep breath and say:

“I’m OK now… I’m allowed to feel good.

What else do I actually want that won’t feel painful to create?”

Surely, after all this stress and hard work, we owe ourselves more than just a moment of smiles and celebration? Maybe even more than a day, or a week?

Surely, after grinding to build our reputations and make money, we can have fun and relax into what we’ve built and earned for a bit? Maybe even for a lifetime?

So imagine with me, for a moment:

What would change in our lives, industries, and hearts if, instead of waiting for the next shoe to drop, we stayed on high alert for lightness, joy, and happiness?

What if we sought that every day with our work, instead of scrambling and surviving, and steeling ourselves for when it all goes wrong?

What would running businesses feel like if our “I’m doing great but…” sentences stopped before the “but”, and ended with a confident smile?

What if we treated pleasure and fun, genuine interest, and enjoyment as our litmus test for financial and personal success, instead of glorifying what we’ve managed to pull off as the result of our long suffering?

So far, I don’t have an answer for you.

I’m still a squalling infant in the school of welcoming lightness.

But I challenge you to consider, as we wander wide-eyed into 2018:

What could that kind of thinking change for you?

Who would you become if you prioritized fun over fanaticism, or genuine interest and excitement over heaviness and stress and constant fear?

What if, instead of fearing a touch of long-term relaxation will cause everything you’ve built to float away, you just laid your burden down and… allowed yourself to float instead?

Think it over.

Your fear is not keeping your business afloat.

Try something different.

See where it goes.

Watch what happens.

And report back.

I will too.

Stay light. Float on. And good luck.

“Hillary, honest question: What the heck is this?!”

Wuh oh.

Truly? I was expecting a better response when the Voxer ping buzzed my back pocket that afternoon.

My coach Erika had just reviewed the first draft of my sales page for The Wordshops, and had left me a voice note.

I’d hit play instantly, excitedly hoping to hear her coo about how much she loved it, how smart I was, and how I was going to sell eleventy billion dollars of the product. Obviously.

Whoops. Nope.

First of all, Erika never coos. But especially not this time.

“Look,” she continued. “It’s alright. It checks all the boxes of course. It’s just not… you.”

My heart tumbled to the soles of my Doc Martens.

Not only because I was disappointed in myself.

But because I had a feeling she was absolutely right.

Before I go into why though, let’s rewind the tape.

What’s the biggest, grandest, most agonizing conundrum of professional creative work? Doing the work we do for clients for ourselves… totally sucks.

When it comes to applying our sweet digital skillZ for the people who pay us? We do in minutes what would take them weeks to complete. And it feels great. And we flip our hair.

… Until we have to turn the spotlight on our own work and ideas.

In that moment, something very, very strange happens.

Suddenly, the magical well of experience, insight, and wisdom we’ve become known for imparting dries up with loud slurping noise.

We start to second, third, and tenth guess ourselves.

And then we start… looking around.

At competitors.

At industry heavyweights.

At “best practices articles” (despite ourselves).

At videos of cats with buckets on their heads while we procrastinate.

Hours, days, even weeks go by with our own deadline looming and suddenly, there we are: As Toothpaste for Dinner so accurately states, doing “all the work while crying”.

Just like the clients we clucked our tongues at, it’s all too easy for us to take a mashup of “best practices”, the angles we see taken most by our competitors, and what we feel we should be talking about, and use that to inform our sales conversations.

We cross check to make sure we’re hitting all the right points, to keep up with the copywriting/design/strategy Joneses.

And you know what happens then?

We get it all embarrassingly, horribly wrong.

And we get audio notes form our coaches asking us what the heck we were thinking.

So here’s what happened to me:

In my eagerness to create the most powerful, high-selling, awesomesaucity word bomb of a sales page?

I did something I rarely do.

I took my eyes off my own paper… and started to look around.

Overcome with the jarring self-doubt doing your job for yourself tends to spark, I made up a little checklist in my head of what other copywriters with successful copy courses were talking about.

I wanted to be like them. I wanted to sell stuff. I wanted to be smart and cool and polished too. Do you think they’d let me sit at their lunch table after? I’d bring my Bojack Horseman lunchbox.

And (here was my biggest error) after all that looking around, I assumed I knew the magic word to spark just the right conversations: Conversions.

Yep, everywhere you look on copywriting courses that’s the hot ticket.

Increase conversions.

10x conversions.

Get more conversions, make more money!

Conversions: They’re sciency-sounding. They’re sexy. And they’re on copy-related pitches all over the effing internet.

And I thought: If I wanted to be seen as credible? I needed to use the fancy word too. In fact, it was the crux of the page.

I made sure it was in the headline, and sprinkled liberally throughout the content.

Which is why, when I got the voice note from my coach? I felt like the kid caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

“I see you’re Hillary in your buttoned up tailed suit on this page. You sound very official,” my coach continued. “And it is not you. Where’s the disco dress? Where’s the sparkle?”

At first I was defensive.

Wut. Um, it is me lady.

I wrote this, and I did my homework. Idk if you heard but I’m extremely fancy and good at my job and I —

“I see you’re talking a lot about conversions here. Um, that’s nice and all, but is that what your people told you they wanted?”

I froze.

Ohhhh crap. Oh no no no no.

Dude. She was right.

See, when I say “Done my homework,” I’d in fact done two kinds of studying.

Beyond researching what my competitors were up to so I could make sure I was on the cutting edge of my market (at least that’s what I thought I was doing)…

Months earlier, before I wrote a word of my course, I’d talked to my audience in-depth. I’d spoken 1–1 with dozens of entrepreneurs, and even more over email. I’d run not one but TWO beta rounds. I’d sent the course in its entirety through an editor, and a course quality consultant.

And you know what?

Not a lick of those conversations were coming through in the sales page as it was.

Because instead of having the sales conversation about what my audience needed? I was having the conversation I thought I wassupposed to be sharing.

In my attempt to be savvy, and strategic, and ultra-smart, I’d accidentally given my power away by using the “hot” industry angles I saw everywhere… instead of my own.

Whoopsiedaisy.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized: You know what word basically 0 of the entrepreneurs I interviewed used?

Conversions.

Did they wanna make money and sell stuff? You betcha.

But they also wanted to know about things they felt only I could give them:

They wanted to know about style. They wanted to stop looking around at everyone else’s paper (ha!) for ideas about how to write their copy, and create their own brilliant content and sales conversations from the heart.

They wanted to learn how to make copywriting fun, enjoyable, and an exercise in creativity that also happened to make them some serious cash money.

That’s what I built, and that’s what I was gonna give them.

But when I looked back at the page I’d written? That wasn’t coming through at all.

I needed to walk my talk. I needed to stop having everyone else’s sales conversation, and focus on my own.

So back to the drawing board I went. I tore the whole thing down, refused to take another single peek at competing programs, and started from scratch…

And not long after?

I had The Wordshops sales page as you see it today. The sass, the humor, the style, and far, far fewer mentions of ultra-sexy “conversions”.

Look: When it comes to writing/creating our own stuff, we get into our own heads as much as our clients do. That’s OK. It’s normal.

But what we must be watchful of, in our moments of insecurity and scary-as-hell self-doubt, is whether we’re giving the best of ourselves away in our attempt to fit in and be seen as equals to our industry colleagues.

Should we respect smart people doing well? Totally.

Should we admire what works, and contemplate ways to replicate that for ourselves? Every good business owner does.

But if we spend too much time looking and comparing — we can lose touch with who we are, and what makes us and our skill sets unique, sexy, and sellable.

Our clients aren’t just buying our products and programs. They’re buying the experience; of us, our brands, our magic, and our talents they can’t get anywhere else.

Which is why when it comes to selling ourselves? Our customers should lead the conversation. Our competitors should never even touch the mic.

Our people tell us what they want and need from us — and it’s our job to listen, give it to ’em and (most importantly) explain exactly why we’ve got what they need; on our sales pages, in our content, and in every email, blog post, and insight we offer.

The only sales conversation you should ever have is the one your customers, clients, and readers want from you — and the one you’re eager to share.

Not the conversation that industry “it girl” is having.

Not the conversation that “CONVERTED AT ELEVENTY BILLION PERCENT” landing page is having.

Your conversation.

It’s not just the best, most strategic way to do things.

It’s really the only way there ever was.

 Photo by Andrew Amistad on Unsplash

The great thing about being a copywriter — or a subcontractor/creative professional in general — is that we have a front row seat to the ebb and flow of our particular industries.

As we weave nimbly between clients, projects, and launches, we watch the trends, systems, and strategies come and go like seasons, and we watch the mighty rise… and the mighty fall.

So I’ll have right out with it:

Deep within my chosen industry (women’s empowerment/coaching/consulting/marketing/branding/the creative space), a massive change earthquake is underway.

With a jarring suddenness, the brand giants who rose to notoriety just a few short years ago are slowing down, stepping back, or crashing completely.

Millions-in-revenue programs and strategies that used to be gold standard “cash faucets” are drying up while their leaders and advocates are frantically digging for ways to restore the flow.

This is largely because, as one of my fellow writers so succinctly put it: my niche is marketing “on steroids”.

(It’s another part of the reason why you may not have spotted a trend like this in your industry yet.)

In my corner of the interwebs? The pool is smaller and the stakes are much, much higher.

Multiple similar programs launch simultaneously, and you’re constantly inundated with affiliate programs, opt-in gifts, funnels, Facebook group invites, ads, retargeting campaigns, webinars, challenges, master classes, and emails, emails, emails day in, day out.

I would know. I’ve written a lot of them.

And as an (unsurprising) result?

Consumers are getting wise much faster.

I should specify here: None of this is currently impacting me or my clients directly.

I’m not sharing it because it’s a secret, either. In fact, even colleagues and clients outside of the niche are watching it happen; utterly bewildered with cups of coffee in hand.

But it’s impacting a number of once-heavy-hitters in the space — industry giants who, coincidentally, are watching their businesses tank while continuing to teach business and branding to the unsuspecting masses.

Worrying, right?

It’s a running joke (among copywriters especially) that the biggest industry names are often the hottest messes on the back end… but I’m not sure it’s very funny anymore.

Even more worrying: These gigantic, nebulous “build your business online and brand and market yourself like a pro because that totally doesn’t take years to learn” programs are still being sold at high-ticket prices while their information hasn’t changed much from 2, 3, even 5 years ago.

And in a space that moves this quickly from one impactful strategy to the next?

That’s. Not. Good. Enough.

The people continuing to sell programs know this. Everyone who passed 9th grade Economics and learned about the law of diminishing returns knows this. Some just willfully ignore it.

We have to do better. We have to set an example. Especially if we claim to honestly give a damn about our “tribes”.

That’s why I’m writing this. As professionals in the space, it’s our duty to speak up, call stuff out, and discuss what’s not working anymore.

I’m also sharing this because my particular industry puts sales strategies and funnel tactic lifespans into fast motion — so if it’s not happening in your niche currently?

It may be soon… though hopefully at a slower, steadier pace than the current tidal wave of challenges facing marketers/brands/businesses where I hang out.

So: Whether you’re seeing it or not, I’ve collected a list of 8 observations I’ve made as this niche begins to crumble at its foundations.

Are you seeing it too? Catching it happening in different industries?

Let’s swap notes in the comments ❤!

—

Observation 1: Consumers are ever-more discerning, and it’s costing marketers BIG MONEY because they’re not paying attention, or don’t know how to react.

I’m just gonna come right out and say it: Traditional funnel formulas (looking at you, PLF) don’t work the way they used to, especially not in my niche.

Why? Because consumers in my industry now know what to look for — and how to avoid it. It’s that simple.

This may be why a number of world-famous programs in my space have had their revenue neatly cut in half year in, year out because of this, but still they plug, play, and cross fingers.

While I get it — these programs are not easy to make, and launching is exhausting— this is not enough anymore, largely due to the deluge. We all have ~50 email campaigns in our inboxes every day trying to grab our attention. We’re bored. And tired.

Observation 2: FB ads are about to change again. And this time? They may be way, way more expensive.

Rumors are spreading fast that the days of $1-$2 cost-per-click [CPC] leads are wrapping up, and we’re looking more to $8-$9 CPC. While it feels absurd… it’s something we should prepare for.

This also may be what’s currently crushing a few “million-dollar” brands/businesses who once used FB ad firehose tactics in the early days when it came to building their notoriety.

Because for better or worse? Facebook got wise even faster than our customers.

This is also just another sign that the #1 place to look for any related ads training is Facebook itself.

Of course there are a few experts you can still absolutely trust, but before you hand them your money, make sure they have deep, deep knowledge of how ads work in your industry, and have had a ton of recent success with businesses similar to yours.

Observation 3: People are wise to webinars.

Unless you’ve set a precedent of VALUE FIRST, that one webinar you’re cooking up to sell a $3,000 product probably won’t work.

Yeah, it sucks. But you know what sucks more?

Thinking people are dumb enough to purchase a high-ticket program, or work with you for a year after listening to you talk for an hour without offering anything tangible or actionable, and unsubtly make a hard pitch.

We have to realize our audiences are smart. Smarter than us, even.

(Personally I know my crew is smarter than me, and I hit the gas on my efforts accordingly.)

As marketers and leaders, we need to do more, and we need to do better.

Your tribe doesn’t need you rushing through slides so you can tell them all about *~*~* the program that will change your life *~*~*.

They need tangible results and a flurry of small-but-impressive-feeling wins.

This is why challenges/sprints/master classes are still effective, but that may soon be shifting too.

Observation 4: You can no longer rely so heavily on partner promotions to push you through to success.

Even newbies in the space can spot an affiliate marketing campaign from 100 paces in 2017. Are they still great to have? No doubt. But do not rely largely on them as a source of revenue if you can possibly avoid it.

These days, instead of just tossing a mention of a product into your casual Monday newsletter to mop up a few sales, you really have to dig into the story of why you support the product, and how you know that fellow human, before someone will even consider buying through your link (no matter how many bazillions of dollars in bonuses you have).

If it ain’t genuine? It’s gonna get glossed over, period. And you’re probably gonna lose some consumer/customer trust as a result.

Observation 5: People are more interested in access than aspiration — and you need to be in it for the long haul.

I’ll be honest: In my niche at least, consumers probably don’t want to know “the story” of how you went from homeless to seven gasprillion dollars a month for the 500th time anymore.

(Even if that’s true, it no longer feels sincere.)

Consumers don’t just want to be inspired. In fact they’re so damn over-inspired if you look closely you’ll notice they’ve got Hero’s Journey Facebook ads oozing out of their sweat glands.

Of course stories are great. Stories sell stuff. Stories will never die.

But overall? Consumers are way more interested in what you can help them DO. They want to get to know you better. They want your time and energy — even if you don’t have it to give.

So for every story you tell? You’ve gotta help them write their story too.

People are greedy when you have something they want. It’s the human thing to do — and it means they’re hungry for whatever value you have to give them.

So ask yourself: How are you serving up the brain food they need on the reg? How are you making them feel seen and heard?

This relationships-focused approach is a slower way to grow your business; it takes time to build up genuine, deep trust. But it results in a damn-near-unshakeable foundation.

Observation 6: THE RETURN OF THE SALES CALL.

Da da da daaaa! And you thought they were dead.

Well, not in the coaching industry. Discovery calls have been sealing the deal for high-end coaching packages for years, and for good reason.

People are too smart to “just trust” anymore. They need to see you. They need to talk it out.

That’s access baby. Give the people what they want. Especially if you’re selling a program that costs a few g’s.

Observation 7: The nature of email marketing is changing.

Make no mistake: Email marketing will likely always be useful and necessary, but I think its time as the go-to revenue generator for marketing campaigns is winding down…. only to ramp up again in 5–10 years or so, most likely (let’s hear it for the cyclical nature of marketing/fashion/everything in the world!).

It’s time to shift our understanding of emails beyond just sales opportunities. In this humble writer’s opinion, emails should serve as powerful long-term relationship-nourishing tools.

Emails are how you maintain attention, but a constant tap-tap-tapping on the door is required now before you sell a single thing.

The old methods to “make” someone open an email and purchase aren’t nearly as effective as the long game, and may not translate into consistent sales for much longer.

This also means brands, business owners, leaders, and marketers can no longer keep “phoning it in”. They absolutely need to make sure they’re constantly sharing value, observations, and concepts that are fresh and cutting-edge with their subscribers. No more laurel-sitting, fam.

Observation 8: They who do not invest in new tech are doomed.

Time to swap out funnels for bot copy y’all! WHO’S READY?

(Just kidding. Maybe. Bots may go the way of Google Plus, but in the interim? I’ll be eagerly watching clients and marketers play around with them.)

PSA: Paying close attention to how email systems evolve, along with bots and ads, is worth the study if you have the time. The key is likely the balance between the three, as opposed to one being a magic bullet.

We should be asking ourselves how, between emails, chats, and social posts/ads, can we create persuasive/productive/inspiring experiences, and systematize that?

—

Now you might be thinking: “Shit! Hillary! What do we do now?!”

And the answer is…

… I’m probably not the #1 authority to give you that info, honestly.

But here’s my opinion (I always have several to spare.):

1) Get the hell off the beach/vacation/spa table/retreat lounge chair andget back into your business god damnit.

I strongly believe that this current massive, terrifying shift is a result of “BUSINESS CAN BE SO EASY YAY LOOK HOW EASY” hype that was being fed to this specific sphere for so long.

People were told they could automate/outsource eeeverything and they could make All the Moneys In the World while on vacation in their villa in Italy without wifi.

So they stopped thinking. They stopped sweating. They stopped learning. And it’s starting to show.

You wanna make a difference and be a “changemaker” while you sell your stuff?

Show up — online and in person. Get back to work.

2) Focus more on value value value. Lay more groundwork. Do more footwork.

As in — run trainings that DON’T have a hard sell at the end.

Genuinely give a damn about your audience and help them with some small wins so they can see the bonus of a big investment. Train them to value you by valuing them.

Is there a short cut for that? No.

And maybe there shouldn’t be.

So keep in mind: Lead time, lead time, lead time on your next launch, guys!

Which brings me to another point:

3) Start listening to your consumers again (though hopefully you never stopped).

More and more brands have put their customers on mute, assuming what worked once is going to keep working forever. (Or they poll their audience to find out how to make money off them next, instead of listening carefully to what they really need.)

It’s way too common for business owners and marketers to see someone selling something we share expertise in and think:

“Oh that’s the ticket! I can do it better!”

But it can’t work that way.

Because people don’t need That Thing anymore, they already have it.

They need Your Thing. That thing only you specifically can offer.

And once they have Your Thing, and you’ve found out how to sell Your Thing?

Guess what? You have to keep going. You can’t stop.

I strongly believe this is why my current clientele continue to thrive the way they do. Because they never stop paying attention, coming up with new ideas, and serving, serving, serving (instead of just paying lip service).

4) Expect nothing to work the way it has before — and to prepare for that, talk to your people (this ties into the two prior points).

Spend time with your tribe — proper time, without trying to sell them something god damnit — and find out what they want.

Share with them, even if it takes up precious hours or days away from your Italian villa vacation.

Be serious about giving so your people will be serious about getting from you, because they feel:

1. They have a personal relationship with you,
2. You can be trusted.

Because once you’ve built mutual tribe love like that?

You stay agile enough to weather any earthquake your niche or market throws at you.

I can promise you that… because I’m watching it happen in real time.

To close this out, I want to stress: I am by no means a marketing prophet.

I don’t know how accurate these insights will sound a year from now.

I don’t know which capsizing brand cruise ships will find a way to right themselves, and which ones will sink beneath the waves completely.

But there’s one thing I do know: I’m not the only one catching this stuff.

… And those who don’t pay attention will likely perish.

Of course I’d love to know now: What are your thoughts on this trend? Are you seeing it too?

Dish it in the comments. Let’s talk — and let’s stay afloat together.