I’m in the middle of reading The Art of Conformity by Chris Guillebeau, and I’m loving it.
It’s full of all sorts of amazing insights, and I wanted to share one that really grabbed me
“Sometimes the smallest decisions change your life forever” – Keri Russell.
Man, this for me is beyond truth.
In 1984, I ran away from home.
After school finished, I swore my best friend Troy to secrecy and made the bicycle journey from my Mum’s house St Mary’s in Sydney’s western suburbs to my Dad’s in Baulkham Hills. It was a journey of around 40kms.
I didn’t know the route beyond a vague on-the-fly sense of where I was going honed from weekly trips back and forth, and it was well after dark when I arrived. I was 10 years old.
At that moment the direction of my life changed in ways I am still only beginning to fully comprehend. I could fill pages tracing the shockwave and its impact.
I’ve taken so many lessons from that moment – so many – and one of them is that simplicity is the key to action.
I left school that day with three things; a borrowed bike (My Mum’s), a packed lunch I’d decided to keep handy and a simple objective (though it was much smaller than it ended up being!).
It’s something that I want to make a mantra for myself this year; keep it simple. After the year that was, I think it’s vital.
This month I’m working on marketing advice and, in the spirit of the story, I believe all the marketing that matters can be distilled into 2 areas.
- How clearly you understand your own value and how well you can explain your offer
- How you generate leads across only 3 funnels; referrals, COIs/ partnerships & digital.
