When I was 10 years old, I almost drown.

At least, I think I almost drown. It was the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like I was about to die.

I was swimming at the local YMCA pool during a summer camp. The pool was inside. It must have been raining that day.

I could touch in the shallow end. No problem.

But I kept creeping out towards the deep end. Inch by inch. I was by myself, not really paying attention to where I was.

There were lots of other kids in the shallow end, so their waves kept pushing me further and further into the deep end.

Before long, I was too far out. When I tried to touch, my head went underwater.

One bob…

Two bobs…

Three bobs…

Then water started filling my mouth and lungs. I couldn’t touch. I couldn’t breathe.

I started panicking. I shouted out for one of the counselors. Harold. But he didn’t hear me.

That’s when I thought it was all over.

I couldn’t tread water. At least not in my panicked state. Which is weird because that would have likely fixed the situation.

But I wasn’t thinking clearly.

Somehow, someway, I got turned around. I finally felt the bottom of the pool settle beneath my feet. I could touch.

I could breathe.

I was lucky. So many others aren’t.

I never told anyone about it. It was no one’s fault but my own.

But obviously the experience left me with an impression. What passes through your head when you think you’re going to die.

I think of this day often.

There were so many times when I was starting out in business where it felt like I was drowning.

Just fighting to keep my head above water.

The shallow end quickly got boring for me. I knew I wanted more than just a high-paying, six-figure job.

I wanted to build something. Something great.

But that meant venturing out into the deep end. And like I said, there were times where it nearly killed me. Took me under.

I didn’t have the right tools. The right skills. The know-how to navigate the deep things of business.

I didn’t know how to stop trading my time for money. Or how to scale my ability to produce income. Or build my expertise. Or sell. (Good grief, this was the hardest part.)

It was all pure grit. Pure grind. Pure survival.

And I knew I wanted to do more than just survive. I wanted to master those waters. But I couldn’t do that if I was constantly treading, thrashing, fighting….hoping not to drown.

I know there are some of you who are treading water.

Right now.

And you’re not sure how much longer you can do it.

If you’re tired of fighting and need some help, I’ll throw you a life preserver.

But you’ve got a part in this as well. You’ve got to want to save yourself.

When you’re ready, just gimme a shout.

Let’s have the ROI discussion, shall we?

Three little words that used to strike fear into my heart: Return On Investment.

When it comes to digital marketing, no one used to care about ROI. Not really. Now, it seems it’s all anyone can talk about.

It’s like the last 50 years of spending obscene amounts on marketing with little-to-no care of results all came to a head in the last 5 years.

Everyone’s got a marketing hangover and wants someone to blame for the headache.

The question I hear most often these days is, “what’s the ROI of this digital marketing thing, anyways??”

Let me be clear: I don’t think this is a bad question. In fact, it’s the ONLY question. We obsess over producing returns for clients.

But to ask “what’s the ROI?” for digital marketing is, in many cases, short-sighted.

For instance, when I go to get my oil changed. Two things happen:

1.  drive my car into the garage and get out.
2. I drive my car out of the garage when my car’s oil is changed.

But there’s magic that happens in between.

I just never see it.

(I may not appreciate the “magic” as much if I hadn’t tried, once, to change my own oil. It was a complete disaster. It took me over 2 hours to complete, I was covered in grease, and I almost pinched off my thumb. I haven’t tried it since, and never will again!)

Would it make sense for me to say, “what’s the ROI of getting my oil changed?” No. It wouldn’t. It’s not the right context for the question.

We might choose to say instead, “what’s the VALUE I just received from not having to change my oil?”

Return on investment is, to some degree, a matter of value. But the context in which most people use it is constrictive to the overall value of an activity not directly related to dollars-and-cents revenue (even though dough is very, very important!).

Back to the VALUE of not having to change my own oil. Let’s see… For starters, I don’t have to worry about losing a digit.

• Next, I could use that time to do other things I enjoy.
• I won’t have to get dirty or change my clothes.
• I didn’t have to go to mechanic school or learn how a car works or even know the differences and viscosities of car oils.
• But most importantly, my car runs better with clean oil than it does with dirty oil. I’ve extended the life of my car without having to do much at all.

Win.

How that translates to direct dollars and cents isn’t ALWAYS immediately clear (though some times it is), but I know the value is there.

Digital marketing works the same way.

It’s like an investment.

If I took $100 to a bank, opened up a high-yield savings account, and came back the next day saying, “why hasn’t my money doubled?”…what might the banker say to me?

It doesn’t work like that.

You need to have patience, there are a lot of forces at work.

Or maybe even, get out of here.

All three would be appropriate responses.

We all know investments don’t work like that. Even the best investor on the planet, Warren Buffett, is happy with a 20% return on his best years.

Market forces like supply, demand, asset mix, a growing or shrinking economy…even weather patterns – they all combine to shape your rate of return at the bank.

Here’s the thing with digital marketing…

Everyone can benefit from it, but so very few truly understand it.

So many people have been duped by internet doofuses claiming to have made millions, all while sitting in their basement or on some beach in Fiji.

The “gurus” have distorted it for the rest of us.

Digital marketing isn’t a “thing” or “activity”, it’s actually a system. A series of layers that work together to produce a return when utilized properly. Sometimes the system has direct ROI (increasing the life of my car). Sometimes it doesn’t (using the time I would have spent to change my oil to play with my kids instead).

If you wanted to lose weight, you’d never drop the pounds if you ate 3,000 extra calories per day. It would literally be impossible. It wouldn’t matter if you worked out all day. You’d never get there.

But yet…multiple factors shape how your body loses or gains weight. Genetics, your metabolism, past injuries, food quality and sourcing, sleep patterns…they all combine to inform the way your body operates.

Similarly, some businesses look to digital marketing as a diet pill, expecting to lose weight fast. This expectation exists while they jam Twinkies down their gullet and wash it down with bacon gravy.

It doesn’t work that way.

You have to look at the whole picture, ADDRESS each layer of the picture, and build a system that takes each layer into account.

Let’s look at some of our more recent clients as examples.

Keith made a 50% return on his investment within 60 days.

Kathleen made a 16% return on her investment within 72 hours.

Jeffrey made a 7% return on his investment within 72 hours.

(Remember, Uncle Warren is happy with a 20% return ON THE YEAR.)

Do you realize the absurdity of those numbers? MOST clients are getting their money back AND THEN SOME within 72 hours of working together.

Not to mention they have a complete system set up to “compound” their investment. In other words, what we got to work within 72 hours keeps building on itself…we make it smarter and smarter.

There is direct ROI: making money.

There is indirect ROI: clients save time and don’t have to set up the system themselves.

We make sure to take into account each layer of the “system” and get it running properly.

That’s how we produce returns so quickly.

Now, in full disclosure, it doesn’t always happen that fast.

Sometimes addressing each layer in the system takes longer for a client.

I go back to the weight loss metaphor. If you are overweight and develop a knee or ankle problem from years of carrying around extra weight, it may take some time for the knee to stop hurting and work properly!

Digital marketing works the same way.

You can’t ignore your email list for years and then expect to send out an email and make a million bucks. Doesn’t work like that.

Same with Facebook Ads. Paid traffic isn’t a “money machine” no matter what the gurus tell you.

For the clients who DO THE WORK and stick with us, we get them where they need to go.

They aren’t swayed by the Siren song of fast internet riches.

We help them focus on the fundamentals to get their business engine running sound and smooth, and then we put high-octane gas in the tank. In short, we provide ridiculous amounts of value.

Instead of “return on investment”, maybe we should be asking about the VALUE of the investment instead. Something that measure both the direct and indirect return on your investment.

 

Do you have a rhythm to your work life?

I’ve always struggled with regimens. Strict routine. I find myself naturally finding ways to breakout of said routine, even if I know it’s the best thing for me.

But I’m also just as uncomfortable with having zero structure during my day. Free-wheeling days with nothing definitive gives me anxiety. I get cranky and irritable when I don’t know what they day will bring.

I like structure. I like order. I like knowing what’s coming.

This tension of liking routine but not TOO MUCH routine is very real. I’ve dealt with it my whole life. If you’re an entrepreneur, you likely have as well.

If this sounds like you, I have good news. You don’t have to pick one or the other. You can have a blend of both: the structure and order of routine with the the flexibility of an unfettered schedule.

I call it a Rhythm.

Think of your day like a jazz song. To the untrained ear, a jazz song can sound like an tangled mess of audible spaghetti. You can’t tell where the song starts and ends!

But if you listen to enough (good) jazz, you can definitely hear there’s an invisible hand guiding the musicians through the song. The hand has a name…it’s called Rhythm.

MY favorite jazz songs are the ones that go on for 10, 20, 30 minutes. They’re almost always live, which means the musicians are feeling out the crowd and going with the flow.

They dip in and out of the sheet music, sticking with the notes most of the time but going “off-script” once in awhile as the spirit moves them.

I want my days to have the same cadence. The same flow.

There’s “sheet music” (e.g. My list of priorities) to the day, but I can riff and go off-script as-needed.

I can stick with a call that’s going well for an extra 30 minutes…

I can read another chapter in a book that’s got my attention…

I can hang with a problem just a little bit longer…

Or, if I need it, I can take an extra long walk…

And it doesn’t throw the whole day off. It’s accounted for. It’s baked-in. The rhythm, not the sheet music, is my guide.

A rhythm allows you to float in and out of your daily structure as you wish. There are three main rhythms I use throughout my work day to help me get the flexibility I want while “sticking to the script” I need.

DAILY RHYTHM

This is the bread and butter of work week. Obviously. Monday through Friday, I follow a predictable schedule to keep me locked in and focused.

Here is what most weekdays look like:

• 5:30 AM – Wake up and get ready to work out (3-4 times per week)
• 5:45 AM – Complete my Morning Structure
• 6:15 AM – Workout
• 7:15 AM – Breakfast with family
• 8:30 AM – Clean up and get ready for the day
• 9:15 AM – Start work by diving into Creative Time, a blocked of section in my calendar where I can read, take online courses, review goals, write, etc. It’s blocked off and protected most days because if I don’t, it won’t happen
• 11:00 AM – Meetings and calls start, start focusing on my top five priorities for the day as listed out in my Morning Structure
• 1:30 PM – Break for lunch, preferably by myself
• 2:30 PM – Take a walk and meditate/reflect
• 3:00 PM – Continue to attack top five priorities of the day
• 5:00 PM – Start and complete wind-down ritual
• 6:00 PM – Dinner and time with family
• 7:30 PM – Kids put to bed, relax with my wife (alternatively we will both address tasks that need to be completed during this block and push relaxing to 9 PM)
• 9:00 PM – Relaxing, reading a book, watching TV, etc.
• Between 10:30 – 11 PM – BED

It’s taken some serious tweaking to get my schedule to this point. But for the season of life I’m in, it’s optimal.

I’m naturally nocturnal.

I know this because when I travel or my wife and kids are out of town, the above schedule gets shifted later by about 2-3 hours. But having small kids means a lot of my life need to be lived on THEIR terms, not mine.

REST RHYTHM

I have challenged myself to take off two weekdays per month, right in the middle of the week. There are multiple reasons for this:

1. I want to build a business that knows how to operate without me. My team is filled with bright, motivated people. They do not need me constantly meddling to get the job done. They are perfectly capable on their own.
2. I prioritize times of rest and relaxation. Physical rest is vital in the life of an entrepreneur. I believe in seasons of pushing through and getting the job done. But 80% of my entrepreneurial life must come from a place of rest. Anything less is unsustainable.
3. It’s “dress rehearsal” for where I eventually want to be in business. My lifelong desire in business is to bring along smart people to run the day-to-day and build on the foundation that I set. Taking off a weekday allows me to see what this is like, real-time.

Some months I get two days in. Some months I get no days in.

But I’m intentional about practicing the habit.

In my estimation, this one activity has bolstered my productivity and business mindset more than any other change I’ve made to my schedule. Absolutely transforming.

GOAL RHYTHM

I take the first Tuesday of every month and block it off. This means no meetings. No calls. No lunches. Nothing. I have three objectives on this day:

1. Review yearly goals
2. Review progress of previous month’s goals
3. Set goals for upcoming month

Occasionally I will adjust yearly goals during this day based on current progress and desires. (For instance, just recently I changed my profit margin goal as the one I set in January was unrealistic.)

I started this habit after watching myself set goals every year and then pushing them into some random Evernote file, never looking at them again.

Doing this monthly ensures my yearly goals are always in front of me. I never lose site of them. They are always in my viewfinder. Even if I need to make adjustments to them, I’ll know it faster and can course-correct sooner with this day firmly planted on my calendar.

CONCLUSION

I find I’m more relaxed with rhythms. I know that I can still “finish the song” even if I go off-script. In other words, the system supports me. I don’t support the system.