I realize this is kind of a weird title, but hear me out. I’m doing my best with my blog, as opposed to my videos which are instructional or my podcast which is really about people, to sort of muse on marketing and business in general. My other content is primarily how to guides, but those can‘t be as effectively utilized without the proper context from where they came from and what they should be used for.
One thing I’ve found in business, especially in the startup community, is this focus on growth hacks and getting rich quick. No one makes their own product, they dropship (not that I have a problem with dropshipping, it’s a fine business model, but too many people treat it as a get rich quick scheme, which it isn’t.) Instead of building longstanding relationships with customers, they focus purely on acquisition. Instead of finding a sustainable business model, they maximize revenue and hope to get bought out before they go bankrupt. It seems like no one is in it for the long haul, they just want to retire to Ibiza by 35. Who cares if they built anything of lasting value?
I have bad news for the people who think you can just find a hyped up idea, muscle through, focus only on short term wins, and get out.
It doesn’t really work.
I mean practically speaking it does, just probably not for you. For most people the lust for gold, as it were, can’t motivate you enough, for long enough, to achieve any sort of real success. Maybe it can for a few months, or maybe even a year or two, but building a huge business with a massive exit that you can retire off of takes far far longer my friends.
That said, there are valid reasons to use these sort of hacks. Especially early on, you need to hit very aggressive revenue goals in order to build something that can sustain you, your employees, etc while you work on your long term play. That’s why when it comes to marketing you have to go fast and slow. When I market for a company I look to see how I can get them a handful of short term wins while building the sustainable machine that will give them success for years to come. They need to see that early win to know I’m not full of crap, but they also need to start working now on what will give them success in the long term.
Having the ability and the perspective to see both the long and short term, and create a marketing program that caters to both goals is really really hard. However, if you master it and break through, you’ll become the kind of unicorn marketer that can grow almost any sort of company, and can achieve the level of success you want. You just need to be both urgent with the tactics you can do today, and dedicate the resources to the strategies that will pay off 5 to 10 years down the road at the same time.