Content marketing tools and training.
There are endless reasons and ways.
You’ve got three kids. You’ve got three teeth. The rent is four months past due.
You’re a big hit at the office. She left last week. The engine won’t turn over.
You just aren’t feeling it.
The wine went bad. Success arrived too fast. Success never arrived. You’ll lose their respect. You’re in the cancer game now.
Because I run a freelance-driven agency, I interviewed 93 freelancers in 2010. The most important questions I ask them tend to focus on where they are trying to go.
What are your dreams for your business?
What are your dreams for your life?
The most common aspiration I hear is:
“I want to work on bigger projects, team up with these other freelancers. You know — turn it into a real company, like you guys … or something … maybe.”
I was amazed.
Jaw-on-the-floor astounded.
I’d been imagining what it would feel like for a long time, and truly believed if I put my mind to the task and nose to the grindstone, it was sure to happen.
But the reality was like seeing a six-pack after 100,000 crunches (not that I’d know anything about that).
I never thought I would know what it felt like to hit a million dollars with a first launch.
Remember when you last walked into that Apple retail store? It was really hard walking out empty-handed, wasn’t it?
Why is that? What makes Apple so special? How does their market share keep escalating? Why do fanboys rave all day about them? What’s their secret?
Apple consistently uses a handful of techniques to simply out-perform their competitors, both in the creation and the marketing of their products.
Dear Social Media Maven,
So … you work in social media, you’re passionate about social media, you live and breathe social media, your life revolves around social media, helping your clients with social media, turning the world on to social media, etc. etc….
To keep this whole social media thing on the road, you find yourself spending 18 hours a day on the computer, working that online buzz, working those relationships, for both you and your clients — Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. It’s never-ending. Relentless.
I had this weird dream last night that I was at the Copyblogger party at SXSW, and Brian was in a huff because he wanted a wizard at the party. So a guy dressed like a wizard shows up with a wand and a hat with stars on it. And Brian was all, “I need a REAL WIZARD so he can turn these POP TARTS into GOLD!”
But just then, the fake wizard pulled off the disguise and it’s really Shari Lewis and her puppet Lambchop. As you might imagine, the debate over authentic wizardry was pretty much over, as Shari smacked Brian with Lambchop and a 400-person Battle Royale ensued.
