I feel invigorated because of a change I made to my business. You can probably make that same change.
For context, my midlife crisis ended four weeks ago and I’m already in a new world.
When I tell the story to friends, I explain the crisis was steeped in fear.
- I was afraid I was doing medical device marketing “the wrong way.”
- I was afraid of what “the right way was!”
The “right way” scared me because change itself is scary and I felt I needed an assistant, as so many had previously advised. But:
- How could she possibly understand what I would do in a given situation?
- How would I find a good one?
- How could she answer my emails? She doesn’t know how I talk or what I think. How could she possibly distinguish between a close business associate and someone I met last week?
But I took the leap – and found Marina.
She’s Beth-approved (my wife interviewed her) and knowing she’s on the team has generated so many new ideas and possibilities, it’s going to take us months to implement them all.
And here’s an equally important development.
I was afraid of spending money on an assistant. What if she just adds cost and I don’t bring in new business?
And I’ve come to realize, even if she does “just add cost” – which, it’s already apparent to me she won’t – I have no choice but to hire her.
After going to Content Marketing World last month and being bombarded with smart marketing ideas for myself and my client, I can’t keep working the old way where I handle everything myself. I would never get out of my rut, and I would never forgive myself knowing there is a “right way” and choosing to continue doing it the “wrong way.”
Implication for you (even if you work for a big company): You have permission to be afraid about integrating a new person or process into your life. It is scary. But once you take the leap, a new world of possibilities are open to you. You can do more of the stuff you love, and know the stuff you need to do will be taken care of by your trusted assistant.
Important and timely advice – no charge 😉
Part I: If the address-bar URL for your site doesn’t start with https://, you’re going to Google jail very soon. Instead of serving your site, Google will serve a page that looks like this:
Part II: If you recently made your site secure (went from http to https), you might have “broken” a few things. By adding a plug-in to a customer site, we discovered “mixed content violations,” indicating some images would not render correctly.
Implication for you: Take care of this right away! Don’t know how? Email me.
This week’s revelation: Immediate transcripts
My client sent me 13 videos to watch. I didn’t want to watch them all (no offense, Jim).
My new video assistant Lucia (you’ll be hearing more about her) gave me this life hack:
- Take your video file (or make a “video” out of an audio file).
- Upload to YouTube.
- Mark as private or unlisted.
- Get the transcript YouTube automatically generates.
It’s imperfect, but gets 95% of the way. Then you (or delegate it!) can listen and clean up the messy parts.
I uploaded Jim’s 13 videos, set as unlisted (so we could both access them), and scraped the transcriptions. Saved me hours of time.
Implication for you: You can generate additional content for stuff you wouldn’t have transcribed before. It’s free. And fast.
Three discoveries
6 Email Personalization Techniques That Go Beyond a Name
These are my new “email goals.” I don’t know where to start because of the crappy way I set up my email service years ago. You’re probably in a similar place. We’ll work through it together on The Journey.
Only 35% of Companies Think Content Marketing Is Truly Successful
94 percent of best-in-class respondents outsourced at least part of their content marketing. Three-quarters of the top content marketers said paid distribution channels are becoming significantly more effective.
Miscellaneous notes
- I got an email where his signature included, “I am in sales but not a pest, if you think I’m wasting time please tell me, click here.” It was a humane way to say, “I understand, and you can unsubscribe.” I appreciated it.
- I needed to send an account password to Marina. I used https://privnote.com – it’s a one-page form to send a “self-destructing email.” It’s free, give it a try.
Thank you for joining me on The Journey.
With Marina on board, we’ll have the time and creativity to know you and your needs better. Consider replying to this email and telling me about your journey and your needs.
P.S. Journey emails will include videos, graphics, and whatever helps me communicate with you, so please add me to your safe sender list.
