Cuddled up in my warm blankets, I heard a buzz on the phone next to me.
"Are you coming this morning?"
"I'll be there shortly," I replied.
I slipped out of bed so I wouldn't wake my wife. I threw some clothes and a towel in a bag so I could shower after.
I gently kissed our newborn on the head and blew a kiss to my sleeping wife. Then I snuck out.
45 minutes later, I arrived to see my "Mister-ess". Trainer Dee from Iron Will Fitness.
"You ready to do this thing?"
I was.
And the workout began. An intense hour of power lifting, conditioning and high intensity intervals.
Three quarters of the way through the workout, Trainer Dee walked away to get some more weights. And I did it. I cheated. Just once.
"How many reps is that?" he asked.
"15" I said.
He looked at me in a way that told me he saw into my very soul. He didn't say anything. But he knew.
I lied. It was 12. Not only did I feel like dying, but I had now lied. I felt my stomach churn. It may have been the workout. It may have been the lie.
I lost my breakfast. And I found some of the most powerful lessons in marketing...by cheating with my trainer.
When You Cheat, You Only Hurt Yourself
By shorting myself three reps, I didn't hurt Trainer Dee. I hurt myself. If we short ourselves three reps on every set, we are stunting our own growth.
When it comes to marketing, we can't do a project half-assed. Great - you have a Facebook page. How are you engaging your followers?
Awesome - you spent $5,000 on a sexy new website. But it looks like garbage on mobile devices.
If you're going to do it, do it all the way. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies when it comes to growing our business.
Pain and Failure Help You Grow
When it comes to lifting weights, we build up our muscles by breaking them down. Sometimes that extra 25 pounds or that extra five reps feels insurmountable. Sometimes we push ourselves to failure. That's how we grow.
For many, failure isn't an option when it comes to marketing. And I believe that statement is the biggest failure of all. Because if you're not failing, you're not innovating. You're not trying new things. Not everything you do with marketing will work - but every failure you have will be an opportunity to grow.
Recovery Is As Important As Going To Failure
When you achieve failure in lifting, you've pushed yourself - hard. But you need to recover. You need to refuel and strengthen your body - or in this case, your marketing strategy. When one of your campaigns fails, don't just move on. Take the time to pow-wow with your team and learn from your failures. Come back stronger the next day.
We Grow By Raising The Bar
Last week, Trainer Dee loaded 1500lbs. onto the leg press. I told him there's no way that I'd pull it off. He told me to shut up and sit down. I listened to him. And I crushed it.
When it comes to marketing, you're not going to grow unless you push yourself way outside your comfort zone. The key? Have a spotter - someone who's got your back who you can bounce stuff off of. In my case at the gym, it's Trainer Dee. With business, it's my business partner Manny Rivera. He stands next to me and tells me to shut up and push. Who do you have to spot you?
There's Strength In Numbers and Anger Can Be A Good Thing
Speaking of my business partner, when he's not blowing off our workouts, he's a killer workout partner. Why? First of all, he often distracts Trainer Dee long enough for me to be able to catch my breath and not die. But he also makes me angry. We don't often disagree about business or clients, but when we do - it happens at the gym. And we yell at each other. We get fired up. And we take it out on the weights. By the end of the workout, we've worked out our problems and come up with solutions. Anger can be good when it's highly directed at solving problems and working through issues in a constructive manner. Anger shows passion and passion leads to growth.
Routine Is The Key To Marketing
Marketing, like working out, is about the beat of a drum. It needs to be done consistently and regularly to see results. Having a social media presence means nothing if you use it once or twice a month. Having a huge email list means nothing if you don't engage with your consumers. Be consistent and grow.
Diversify and Change
One of the best parts about our personal trainer is the fact that he constantly mixes up the workout. Your body adapts pretty quickly and so growth can be a moving target. The same thing goes for marketing. Our agency doesn't focus on what worked last month - we look at what's going to work between now and 24 months from now. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, blah blah blah. It's all a moving target. What is your team doing to diversify, change and continue to achieve growth?
There's No One Size Fits All Approach to Marketing
Manny can crush chest workouts all day long. Me? Legs are my strongest point. Our workouts have to be tailored to our strengths and our weaknesses. The same goes for your marketing. There's no one size fits all approach. Don't double down on your weaknesses. Quadruple down on your strengths.
Track and Measure
The point of working out is to become more healthy and grow stronger. But how do you know where you're going...if you don't know where you are? Whether your goal is to increase followers, conversions or overall traffic, you need to track and measure and analyze everything.
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14 hours after sneaking out of my house, I came home to my beautiful wife and baby. Tomorrow, I'll do it all over again. But hopefully I'll be a little stronger, a little more focused, and a little better. And when it comes to my "Mister-ess" Trainer Dee, I'll try not to cheat.
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