4 Wins, Issue 258
Your marketing has plenty of contractors. It's missing something else entirely. Plus how to legally snoop through an expert's bookshelf and what 3:40am taught me about knowing my limits.
1. Something to try…
What if you could peek inside the library of an expert you love?
Like a scene from a movie, you ask, “Where’s the bathroom?”
You walk down the hall past an open door, stop, then take two steps back. It’s their library!
You look around, then duck inside. Just as you approach the first shelf, ‘grrrrrrrrr.’ Their 7-pound designer dog thinks she’s a Doberman. You’re busted!
Head to Most Recommended Books instead. Click on ‘People,’ find an expert like Malcolm Gladwell or Brené Brown, and see the books from their library that they recommend.
The site has other cool book recommendation lists, too. Go explore, right from the comfort of your couch.
2. Something a client recently asked…
(Note: This is part 5 of the ‘Why Your Marketing Doesn’t Compound’ series.)
Challenge Recap: A client was planning a website redesign and asked, “Should we hire a copywriter first, or can the web design firm handle that?”
Last Time: Successful marketing and powerful branding BOTH depend on something. But what is that something?
This Week: What changes when you finally have the blueprint and someone guiding the build.
Your marketing has plenty of contractors. It’s missing an architect.
Remember the original question that kicked off this series? “Should we hire a copywriter first, or can the web design firm handle that?”
Here’s how that question sounds when the blueprint exists: it doesn’t get asked.
The copywriter knows what to write because the core message tells them. The designer knows what to build because the blueprint guides them. The ad specialist knows what to say because it’s already been decided.
Same contractors. Same skills. Dramatically different output, because they’re finally building from a single architectural blueprint instead of guessing.
But a blueprint collecting dust on a shelf doesn’t build a house. You need the architect in the room as the walls go up.
That means someone who knows when it’s time for paid ads and when it’s not. Someone who connects you with the right contractors and evaluates whether their work is actually producing business results, not just deliverables and invoices.
The Compounding Effect: This kind of strategic foundation happens once but compounds over every future campaign, contractor, and project. Every piece builds on the last instead of starting from scratch. And the architect makes sure it stays that way.
So how do you know it’s time to hire a marketing architect?
You’re about to invest in a website redesign. You’re hiring a copywriter. You’re launching something new.
Want to know the clearest signal of all? You’re doing okay, but succeeding in spite of your marketing, not because of it.
If that’s you, stop burning time and resources without a blueprint for your business results or a guide to see it through.
3. Something to think about…
Your imagination isn’t immune to letdowns.
Business disappointments lead to the atrophy of our business imaginations.
When you try something in your business, and it doesn’t work as expected, it’s not just your revenue that takes a hit. Your future imagination shrinks too. Build it back up by sharing the ups and downs with a trustworthy friend or two.
4. Something personal…
“You’re either a sleep Ranger or a food Ranger.”
That‘s what Joe told me years ago, fresh off his medical retirement from the Army.
(Longtime 4 Wins readers might recall this as the same Joe that thumped my dad-belly and said, “Suck it in or name it.” 😂)
His words came to mind a few times over the stages of moving from Arkansas to Texas.
For example, I was glancing through my sparse journal and noticed this note from December:
Woke up at 5:10am Tue morning.
Stayed up till 3:40am, technically Wed morning
Less than 2 hours shy of an all-nighter
We’ve had a few of those in various stages of house packing, house moving, and now house unpacking.
Enough for me to recall Joe’s words about the two kinds of Army Rangers. Those who can go without sleep, but must have food (Food Rangers). And the others who can go without food, but gotta have some sleep (Sleep Rangers).
Right now, I’m penning this late Thursday night. It’s been another crazy, long day of unloading moving pod #2…which was delayed a full week after pod #1 because of some logistic faux pas…
I am raising my white wuss flag. Put me down as Food & Sleep. Gotta have both.
Goodnight, and how much longer till breakfast!?
Your Turn: [CTA_Question]
Keep building a life-giving brand.
P.S. If your marketing is succeeding in spite of itself (or you’re about to drop serious coin on a website, copywriter, or campaign), let’s talk before you spend another dime without the blueprint. Reply “Architect” and I’ll share how the process works and whether it’s a fit.
Your Turn: What’s one insight from today’s wins you’re taking with you?***This email was written by the real human me. Special thanks to all my past English teachers for helping me write good well.