Marketing Triage: When You’re Short on Time, Money, or People

Hello, and welcome, fellow Awsomologists, to Awsomology. I’m Sue.

And I’m Ben. And in this episode, we’re talking marketing triage and what to do when you’re short on time, money, or people, or any other number of things.

Or any any number of things. Not that this has ever happened to us or anybody we know or, you know, not that this is a extremely salient conversation to have, I think, any time of the year and for basically everywhere I’ve worked forever and ever. Amen.

True story.

Yeah. Part of part of doing business, part of being employed, part of being an employer, whatever bucket you fit in, you’ve probably experienced some of this stuff that we’re gonna talk about today, so, hopefully, it’s helpful.

Yeah. Yeah. And that is exactly where we should start, which is let’s level set with a reality check here.

People in a business, running a business, trying to be an entrepreneur.

That is a hard word to say. In a business or an entrepreneur and, make the moves and do the things.

Everybody feels pressure to keep up. You see what other people are doing. Maybe they have, you don’t know if they have more people, more staff, a nephews, cousins, uncles, niece who just graduated and wants some free experience. You don’t know what’s going on, but you see other people may be doing the cool things that you want to be doing, and you feel pressure immediately to try and keep up.

And that, that can cause burnout. Right?

For sure. I mean, it at least can be an aspect of the burnout. Right? And I think it’s right in line with personal life too.

Right? And I think this is the world that we live in where it’s just easier than ever to see what everyone else is doing and feel the need to keep up keep up with the Joneses on the personal level or keep up with other businesses on the professional level and, you know, just with the ease of access to what everyone is doing. And, you know, I think maybe this is slightly unique to marketers, but, even that, it’s maybe only slightly because I think every line of work is experiencing some version of this. But, like, our job is to pay attention to what others are doing.

Our job is to pay attention to their, you know, everything from their ads to their social presence to, yeah, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. So, maybe maybe it’s not unique to us, but the pressure is cranked up a little bit on us in that it’s like an actual duty. You know what I mean? So Right.

But I’m sure, you know, other departments are other departments, other kinds of teams, other kinds of organizations are feeling similar challenges, seeing what their peers are doing around the industry because it’s easier than ever to see it.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that ease of access to seeing what other people are doing, maybe that is what makes it feel like it’s such a marketing specific thing because people see marketing of all kinds all of the time, and it’s only increasing exponentially how much marketing you see. So everybody, everybody has access to it in this beautiful little computer that they carry in their pocket or their purse.

And, a lot of people have opinions, and, you end up as a marketer, especially small business. Well, everyone does. Right? Where you end up neck and neck with Coke and Nike and McDonald’s and people who have spend more money in a single day than probably your annual budget will ever touch.

So Yeah.

Yeah. Right. Because that is a that is a place where it’s easy for comparison to be the thief of joy for sure.

Mhmm.

Yeah. It’s really interesting. I mean, just hearing you mention some big brands and stuff, like, I haven’t I hadn’t really thought about the comparison to, like, folks that might be air quotes out of your league. You know what I mean?

And I I do think that the expectation for, like, quality and impact and things like that are right up there with them. Like, I mean, of course, small agency or small credit union, small business, whatever, their leadership or their owner might not be expecting you to be directly, you know, matching the quality and impact and output of the agency that’s servicing McDonald’s or whoever, any of the big brands.

At the same time, though, like, if you look at, like let let’s use a fifteen second commercial, as an example, which might be something that winds up on broadcast or maybe something that’s on social or whatever, anywhere in today’s world. And you look at, like, what’s being put out there by, you know, a really small business. I mean, like, maybe even a solopreneur who’s got some talent in the editing realm or has a connection to an agency that can do good work for them. I mean, small solopreneur type business or small mom and pop type shop, the quality of stuff that they’re that a lot of them are putting out there, not all of them, certainly, but a lot of them are putting out there is, like, right up there with, like, the the quality, like, from production standpoint, the storytelling, and the writing, and the emotional standpoint that, like, you know, we’ve maybe been seeing from those bigger brands for a longer time, but it’s, like, the default expectation of them because they’re, you know, multibillion dollar corporations that, of course, their stuff should look and feel and sound like that.

Right. But, like, similar expectations are on everyone now, whether you’re McDonald’s or you’re Joe’s Burgers that has two employees. You know what I mean?

So it it’s it’s pretty interesting how that’s shifted. Whereas maybe I don’t I don’t know. I haven’t done the research to tell you an exact timeline, but it feels like not so long ago, whether that’s five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, all those all the, businesses that we wouldn’t fit into that big brand bucket, kinda got, like, a hall pass on quality Mhmm. Or impact.

You know? It’s just like, yeah. Do do the little ad thing. Do the do the fun thing that gets your logo on something.

You know? But Right.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s an interesting world.

Yeah. It it does make me think back to that period of time where and we’re way off the subject.

But Yep.

My bad.

But it makes me think back to that period of time where you sort of existed you could exist in the local ad space. And so you were your ad was competing in the minds and hearts of yourself and the people around you with other local ads.

Yeah.

You know?

And but, also, there were less channels too.

Mhmm.

Right. Television channels and also marketing channels. So you they would run local ads all in, you know, certain time frames, so you would see them all together.

Yeah. And you just had to stick out from that pack.

Right. And now, everywhere you go, I think that there must I haven’t watched just network television for so long that, I can’t tell you that I remember what a normal ad break would look like now.

But Mhmm. It it like, they don’t make the distinction between national ads and local ads, and they’re not, you know, pulled apart the way that they used to be. So Mhmm. It just and every and you’re competing in digital, and you’re competing, you know, all in the same spaces. Email. All the way. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah.

So we really are you know, we’re all out there together on that same playground, and, Yeah.

It’s fortunate that so much of that has you know, I think the advent of digital video has helped smaller advertisers tremendously.

So you can’t tell there there isn’t a distinction in video quality the way that there was before where you can where, you had the big national ads using motion picture Yeah. Picture cameras, and it was such a difference in quality.

Yeah. I mean, there is still a difference. I don’t think this is what you’re saying. I mean, you you you can see, you know, the maybe more cinematic approach that the bigger brands take now meanwhile. But from from, like, a straight, like, film quality, camera quality, you know, that category of stuff, yeah, like, it’s just there’s so much more access to good technology that makes it all just, like, it’s it’s a blessing and a curse. Right? Yeah.

That we have access to that stuff, but also, maybe, just acknowledging that everybody does, is, I think, just one example of proof bringing us back to what we’re what we’re talking about.

I think that this is just, you know, like, one aspect of this whole idea of comparison. You know? Not only are we, like, looking and seeing what others are doing, but we’re also, like, more aware than ever, more capable than ever to create similar quality at a similar rate and all the things that help, you know, keep yourself out there amongst all the competition. You know? So just the comparison is, like, almost unavoidable now just with the world that we’re living in.

Yes. Yes.

And here we are back on track. So let’s talk you know, we talk about comparison.

I think this is, you know, this is a really good example. I think there are marketers having these conversations, businesses, nonmarketers having these conversations and starting and you spin out a little bit thinking about how am I gonna keep up with that? How am I going to, you know, how am I gonna differentiate myself, my product, my business there?

And that can lead to, yeah, this I guess the feeling I I don’t wanna overblow this. I don’t wanna be overdramatic here.

Far be it for me to be the drama queen, but, like, a certain level of despair.

And I think too that this is where I’m getting us back on track. Once you start to feel that, that is maybe a sign that you need to go into triage. Right? That’s what we’re talking about here is marketing triage. And if you start to see, like, I I have now gotten so far out of my I’m so far in my head. I have spiraled so far that I don’t know what to do. I maybe have stopped posting because I can’t post what a fancy, inexpensive perfume brand is posting, and I don’t have, you know, I don’t have Spike Lee making my commercials or or whatever.

Yeah.

And so your content can become inconsistent.

You start things you just give up. There are things that you give up on.

You don’t do the tracking that you could do, and, then it comes back to burnout.

You you become exhausted by the comparison, by the inability to, to feel like you are making progress, which also when we’re talking about you’re not you’re exhausted, so you’re not tracking. Right? You don’t know if you’re making progress, and it could all just become kind of a spiral. And when you are feeling that way, we want to give you tacit permission right now to slow the heck down and refocus yourself on what you’re trying to do instead of looking at what instead of comparing in a negative way with your closest competition or the things you would love to be doing, just slow it down and recenter and figure out what your goals are. Right?

Yeah.

Yeah. For sure. And it I mean, easier said than done. No doubt no doubt because, like, slowing down when you’ve identified that part of the problem is, like, inconsistent posting, it sounds counterintuitive to be like, well, how can I slow down and take a break?

Because that just means I’m probably not posting something again, you know, and I’m just contributing to the problem. And really, it’s like, no. Like, what you actually probably need is a day, a week, a month. I mean, you know, all of it may be relative to your situation and how much time you actually might have, but whatever amount of time it is, like, take the time because that time will wind up resetting you, getting you back on track, and doing some of the stuff that we might be talking about next to, you know, make sure that you’re set for avoiding the same situation again.

You know? And I do feel like it it can be cyclical. It can be something that just, you know, as circumstances change, new team members, loss of a team member, new business, loss of business, economic factors. Like, all these things can contribute to, like, getting stuck back in that spiral that you mentioned.

So I think just at least mentioning that and acknowledging, like, it’s not always because, like, you messed up or it’s not always because, like, you got off track on your plan. Like, sometimes they’re just crap thrown at you that is unavoidable, and it’s gonna get you off track. But I think all the more important to be able to identify the the fact that you are and then chill. Take a break.

Slow down. Figure it out.

That’s just our best advice. Just chill.

Yeah. So how about we give some better advice because just chill is probably not too helpful.

We could also just say, just don’t worry.

Yeah.

And then, like, then we’re pretty much done. That’s that’s all of our work here done.

Yeah. Yeah. Don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be fine. I’ve heard that one works really well. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I like it. Don’t get so upset. I’ve also heard that one.

Oh. Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about a framework here.

Let’s do it.

Let’s break this down into a simple system.

Spoiler alert, simplifies, one of these aspects of the system. So I’m gonna talk high level right away, and then we’ll dive into the specifics so we can kinda balance off each other.

Sound good?

Sounds great.

So what kind of framework, would it be if it wasn’t just a simple three step framework? Right? It’s my favorite time. Steps. Right.

So those three are stop, sort, and simplify.

So let’s dive into stop a little bit. Alright? So like we just got done saying, maybe the reason it’s first, is because it’s most important. Take that break. Just stop, chill, and ask yourself what’s not working, you know, and be real. And I think while this might be the first and one of the more important steps, I think it might be the most difficult because this is the point where you have to ask yourself some really hard questions.

Right.

What’s not working?

What’s not giving us the ROI we’re expecting? What’s, you know, constantly raising the question like, why are we doing this? What’s what’s the purpose here? Or the things that sometimes even though they might be taking the appropriate amount of time, they might be, as efficient as they can be.

They might feel like a time suck. Like, they’re just draining my my time, my team’s time. You know, if that’s a feeling that you’re feeling, there’s probably some truth in it even if you’ve maybe taken the time to make things as efficient as they can be or whatever. So example, your weekly newsletter is taken up hours and hours of time planning, creating, publishing, distributing, and the numbers don’t look good.

The open rates and all the other stuff that you’re looking at or the actions that should come after that thing’s delivered, not seeing it.

You know, this might be a good example of something that’s not working.

Maybe we should just throw a little disclaimer out there.

This isn’t creating a a list necessarily of things to kill or to stop doing, but it might, you know, be, you know, reshaping and stuff. So we’ll talk about that next. Right?

Anything else you wanna add to the stop step in our Yes.

But it’s stupid, and I’m gonna do it anyway.

I How did I do it?

Even though I wrote these notes, trans I transcribed, copied these notes Yeah.

As you were saying it, the thing that occurred to me was to just reiterate for you that I believe you should follow the advice of the poet Vanilla Ice.

Stop, Ben.

Collaborate and listen, I think, is the way to go here.

Yeah. So those are the collaborate and listen are, like, one b and one c in the, stop phase. Right?

Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I told you it was stupid.

Yeah. Yeah.

But we didn’t what we didn’t know is how, wise Vanilla Ice was in regards to marketing.

Yeah. And we know he listens, so he’ll appreciate the show.

Right. Really one of our top listeners.

Yeah.

So what do we do next? Now we’ve stopped.

Yeah. So now we have to sort. Yes. Right? So, like I mentioned, just because we identified something’s not working or going exactly as we wanted it to, that doesn’t mean we need to get rid of it, but we need to sort that stuff. Right?

So three buckets that we can sort stuff into, what’s essential, what’s impactful, full, and what’s optional or maybe a nice to have kinda thing.

So the essential stuff, like, what what’s gotta be done? You know? That’s the, maybe I don’t wanna say bare minimum, but it’s I mean, essential is the best word for it. Right? Like, it’s the stuff that customers or clients or members need to know about, keeps the business running, keeps the right people in the, you know, in the know about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, that kind of stuff.

Impactful being the second bucket. So what’s the stuff that’s bringing in new business, generating new leads, creating brand awareness, all in a way that you can prove that it’s impactful? And I think that that’s maybe the the, you know, tricky part to this one. Like, this is where emotions need to get set aside.

Not to say that, you know, the decisions need to be necessarily one hundred percent made with hard data and black and white numbers and things like that. You know, some gut and heart can come in here for sure, and especially if that gut and heart is lining up with your mission, your vision, your purpose, your values, things like that.

But also supported with data, supported with numbers. Yeah. That’s that’s really helpful here.

So if it’s impactful, if it’s doing something for you, that’s another bucket. And then what’s optional?

You know, what are the things that are like, yeah, it’d be really nice if we did this. It’d be really cool if this was part of our mix, and this is something we’ve we’ve done for forever.

We said we should do it, and we’ve been doing it forever, but, you know, is it something we have to be doing? It’s maybe optional. Right?

So after we’ve sorted in those three buckets Wait.

Don’t leave yet. Stay here with sort.

I’m I’m not moving on to the next phase.

Oh, okay. Okay. Go ahead. Then I’ll wait.

Well, I was I was gonna prompt you, Sue.

Oh.

Sorted in those three buckets.

What do we what do we do, or what else do we have to consider?

Good question. Good question.

Once we are once we are sorted, then I think it becomes it becomes about capacity.

Right?

So if you are finding that things are not happening you know? And, again, this is back to that whole whole idea of we’ve lost a team member. We have ran out of we’ve run out of money. You know?

Any of those things, we’re run we’ve run out of time.

Once we have paused long enough to sort those things, I think you go back to that, go back to the root cause of why we are having this conversation. We’re doing this triage in the first place and say, I know the essentials need to get done.

So no matter how much time, money, or people I have, I have to do them.

I know the impactful things. If I stop doing the impactful things, then my business may not grow. I don’t know. Yeah. Especially if if it’s one of the those cases where, yes, I could pause some of these activities, but I also don’t know when I can pick them up. I don’t know, you know, how long is too long to hurt my business.

Right.

And then, you know, I think it even still when we look at the optional things, I still think that comes into consideration.

And the question becomes, do I really not have enough money? Is there a non money way I could do some of these things? Do I really not have enough time, or am I using my time, or is the other are the other folks who should be helping me with these things using their time, in a way that’s misaligned.

Right.

And, I mean, the the one thing maybe that you can say for certain, maybe not for certain. I know you don’t like certainties like that. But, if you don’t have bodies, you don’t have bodies.

And I think that probably is the thing that that small business owners, especially solopreneurs, run up against where it’s, you know, I can either take the calls to run my business and do, you know, the outside sales that will get me new clients, or I can create some things for, you know, ads or social media or whatever. I I’m only one person. I can only do one of those two things.

So I I do think lack of people can be a hard line.

But, again, maybe not. Maybe you as a solopreneur are misaligning yourself with what you’re doing or taking the hard way to get things done, and you and you could be creating more efficiency or saying no to some things, not allowing people to make things hard on you.

Right.

Yeah. You know?

Yeah.

Yeah. I think, like, plus one to everything you just said for sure. And maybe, like, coming back to the beginning here too, like, you know, we’ve been talking about this triage being, a reason for us being here is because of limited resources, time, people, money, whatever.

And, yes, let’s acknowledge that. That might be the reason why we’re stopping, why we’re doing this sorting and stuff. But, also, we we can take this time or along this journey, we can understand that, like, these resources may not be limited for forever. So what can we do to, like, help the current situation and, you know, keep us moving forward and maybe even use some of this process to help inform whatever might be next.

Right? So, like, a really specific example, if there’s something in the impactful bucket, right, like, it’s something that we’re doing. We do it well. It’s actually bringing in business or doing something good for the business.

That still might be something that you don’t have time for right now or, you know, you can’t do it quite well.

Or maybe it’s because it’s impactful, it’s something that you’ve you’re gonna decide, like, well, I just have to keep doing that thing even though it might be contributing to a different capacity problem. Like, it’s bringing in business, but this kind of business, I don’t have people to help deliver. Well, then cool. Well, you know, maybe keep pushing, but think about what you can do right now, which might mean outsourcing some of that work or, you know, finding another way to do the current work in that same category in a different way so you can still bring in that impactful work, and not completely stop yourself or slow yourself down.

And at the very least, it might help inform the decision the next time you need to buy a tool to help you do that thing better or more efficiently or or another person or whatever. This process can help address the immediate by making some decisions, but also can help set you up with information for whatever might be next, the future version of the company or your team or whatever.

So So question for you.

Thinking about those solopreneurs, those folks starting the small businesses, unfortunately, by the time we talk to them, they’re really not in this mindset. But what about those business people who say, well, the business is the thing I have to do. The marketing is not the thing I have to do, so don’t ask me what marketing is essential.

None of it is essential to me.

I have to run the business. And maybe, you know, I have a I have a membership to my local chamber, and I have a sign on the door.

I have a telephone so people can find me.

So I’ve done that’s my essential.

Mhmm. And all the rest of this just goes by the wayside. What would you say to a businessperson like that?

Well, you know, like you said, I don’t like certainties or always or never, so maybe this doesn’t apply to everyone. I’m sure that there’s some examples of businesses out there that can operate totally fine by having to do no marketing or, you know, that that sign on the door in the membership does the trick for them. You know? And and being, you know, totally upfront and honest, like, there are lots of businesses that get their start that way because things are limited.

Right? Like budget and resources, time to do marketing, and all those things because it takes time. And, like, they rely solely on doing their work really, really well so that they get referrals and word-of-mouth and things like that. So, like, businesses can grow and survive that way for sure.

But, you know, there’s a reason that the old mantra, if you’re not growing, you’re dying is cliche. It’s because it’s true. You know? So, like, eventually, you will have to do something to continue to spread the word, to make people aware of who you are and what you do.

So even if you think it might not be right now, like, you might not be wrong, but make sure that you’re also looking yourself in the mirror and asking yourself the question of, like, how long can I do this for? Mhmm. You know? And, what happens when that well of referrals and word-of-mouth runs dry?

So and my guess is if that’s something that business I mean, there are businesses that have probably experienced that.

The answer to their problem probably was, well, I probably should have started marketing myself a few months ago or a few years ago so that when this well ran dry, something else was in place. So I don’t know. That’s that’s one version of an answer that I would give folks. I suppose it all depends on, like, a lot of factors, their market, their audience, their clientele, their product, you know, and things like that.

K.

I am well Hopefully, it was an acceptable answer.

Yes. Very satisfied with your answer.

Cool. Okay. Should we move on to the third stage there?

Let’s do it.

And this one is simplify. So, simplify what you’re doing, which might be repurposing some content. You know? A great example is a a blog post or a series of blog posts that can then be converted into tons of other kinds of content, social media posts, depending on what that, you know, initial set of content is.

If it’s a video, you know, let let’s say it’s a video. Right? Can that video be converted into, like, a series of blog posts, which then can become a series of social media posts and stuff? And that’s something that I mean, we’re I think, we are constantly looking for opportunities to do this for ourselves just to create that efficiency and make sure that our message is out there more consistently and stuff.

And it’s something that we haven’t even, you know, perfected or, you know, I’m I’m sure that there’s content that we’ve created that it’s like, oh, we could have probably squeezed a bit more value out of that. You know? So, repurposing content is a a big one for sure.

What else in the simplify category?

Good question. I mean, I think a thing that we do so much of now that it has it just has become second nature. I don’t even know if we think about it as simplifying, but creating templates, using inspiration from, you know, previous artwork or things that you’ve done before just to make building that stuff more efficient. We have a number of clients that we’ve created templates and things like Canva so that we make that whole process as guilt free, as worry free as possible. They can move that stuff out. I mean, automation. I the number of things that we do now compared to five years ago that are pretty fully automated, it it’s stunning.

And the amount of time we must be saving and not even realizing how much time we’re saving.

So Right. I think templates and automation are huge, especially, you know, my and I know.

This is this is gonna sound like an absolute.

The I I also don’t like to tell people you have to do anything. Right?

But, when we talk about automation, if at this point, you are on more than one social media channel and you have not considered using some kind of aggregator to help you manage that, boy, you you’re gonna do I have good news for you? Because you are gonna save yourself so much time. And it it doesn’t feel you you know, if you’re if you’re on Facebook and LinkedIn, it would it’s really easy to say, well, it’s just two. I can take the pic it’s the same picture.

I go here. I do that. I go there. I do that. I mean, those sixty seconds that it takes to do two posts add up.

Yeah.

That, you know, that is seven minutes a week. That is three hundred and sixty five minutes a year.

Yeah. Yep. So yeah.

And anything that you can automate, and I think I especially yeah. I I actually I have talked to so many people who aren’t aren’t using an aggregator like a Hootsuite or Sprout Social or any of the the one, what we do, we do it through HubSpot. So Right.

And that is another great suggestion. Hubs something like HubSpot, I mean, hence the name, really is a hub for so many things.

So we have CRM. We have email. We have social media in there. There is website building. There is forms.

So if you can find some of those types of systems where you don’t have to get I mean, just the workflow, you save time, but, you know, thinking about negotiating contracts and due diligence, all of those other things Mhmm.

Hours and hours and hours a year you can save.

Right.

So let’s put a button on the, simplify bucket by maybe a prompt for everyone. Ask yourself if I could only do one thing this week, what would make the biggest difference? What would make the biggest impact? What would give me peace of mind?

You know? And, like, no wrong answer there. You know? Sometimes it’s about the client or the business.

Like, here what’s one thing that I can do that could help them most or help the business most? Sometimes maybe it’s like, what’s the one thing I can do so that I can, like, get out of this girl space that I’m in right now? I’m feeling overwhelmed and stuff. Like, focus on that.

Keep it simple.

Yeah.

You’ll wind up better on the other side.

Yeah. Get, like, get a w on your scoreboard. Do find the thing and win. You know?

Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, thinking about some additional thoughts, hey. If all of this stuff you know, if that stops sort and simplify, if even that feels a little overwhelming, get help. And do not feel guilty about it. You know, going back to the beginning of the conversation and that comparison being the thief of joy, we I think it is one of the most stunning things I’ve learned as an adult is that we all that feeling you have in high school or junior high I think it probably starts in junior high school where you look around and go, oh, that person dresses better than me, or they seem smarter than me, or they know what they’re doing.

It never goes away.

Yeah.

You never you think you’re gonna outgrow it. And then when you’re in a business, you do the same thing.

Mhmm. You know? As the dad as the dad of a nine year old, I can tell you it are. It’s it starts younger than middle school. That’s for sure.

God. That’s heartbreaking.

Mhmm. So nobody nobody is an island. Nobody can do this stuff by themselves.

People who appear to be doing it by themselves and succeeding, have gotten help. Yeah. That may be direct intervention from a human being. It may be that they found the time and energy to do their own research, whatever.

But you you need to ask for help. You do not need to have any guilt about doing that.

Collaborate with the people around you. Call us.

Do all of the things that you need, and outsource.

Now and that outsourcing can be Ben, you already talked about, you know, having having someone that you can have help you do some of these things.

You know? So it can be anywhere from having a paid partner to help you with some of this marketing, down to very tiny things.

So, you know, you can you could go on your social media aggregator or any one of these systems now that have AI assistant and have that darn AI assistant help you with a headline.

Mhmm. If you’re gonna save yourself, ten minutes sitting there and trying to think of what the perfect headline is for social media poise post. Outsource that, pal, and just make your life easier.

Yep. Love it all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

See Go ahead.

I was just gonna say, and I’m totally cheating and stealing, your note. But the Darn it. The point on here that you so kindly prepped for us is getting help is strategic and not a failure. And I think that, like, getting your ego out of the way, and trust me, this is coming from someone who stinks at asking for help.

You know, it’s it is really important to remember, like, asking for help is a strength. It’s definitely not a weakness. It’s a step towards success. It’s not a failure. You know? So asking for help is super important.

Yeah. It’s about knowing what you can do and bringing in the help that you need to make things better.

Mhmm.

You know? Yeah.

That what is that that saying about if you asked a fish to climb a tree or ride a I can’t remember what it is.

Ride a bicycle. I don’t know what it is. But do you know what I’m talking about?

I don’t.

I wish it did. Okay.

Yeah. That that was a failure right there. And if you could have helped me Yeah. Yeah.

Well, a nice lesson. Sometimes the help, might not be very helpful. So but what, I will commit to, Sue, is, reminding you or we’ll look that up, and we’ll put it in the show notes so you can at least Yeah. At least get it out there for people.

Alright. Should we lightning round some, survival kit, quick tips here at the end?

Let’s do it.

Yeah. Alright. Three questions to ask each week. What’s working? What’s wasting time?

Sorry. I thought we were going back and forth.

I mean Oh, yeah.

I know. You got it. You got it. Okay.

What’s working? What’s wasting time? And what’s worth doubling down on? So a nice, correlation to those three buckets that we talked about before as well. So those three questions can just really help boil things down, categorize things, and maybe help you make some decisions to get you out of the out of the mess.

Yeah.

You mentioned a bunch of top tools for teams already, you know, Hootsuite, Sprout, HubSpot.

Canva.

Canva, Constant Contact.

Mhmm.

One that we haven’t talked about yet is Hive, which is our project management platform that we use. That’s a great one. And all the words that we’ve been saying today between automation and, efficiency and categorization, like, Hive helps us do all of that.

Yeah. That’s that’s a good one for sure.

Yeah. And how about the fact that love it or hate it, the notes that we use to create these podcasts live on Teams.

Mhmm. Right.

So all of that stuff, we keep all of our, podcast information in between Hive and Teams. You know? Everything is organized for us, and it makes this whole process a lot easier.

Yeah. And what’s really cool is, like, versions of all of these things are free or super low cost. Certainly, some of them can be higher cost, especially the deeper you go in functionality or integration and that kind of thing. But you can learn that over time and, you know, keep it cheap and then, you know, invest more when you realize you need that extra functionality or connection or whatever it might be. But, those are all good. And I suppose it probably even, like, you you did mention AI, whichever one you’re using, chat, GPT, or anything else, like, just obviously, in the world we live in today, an awesome tool for sparking an idea or organizing thoughts, proofreading, whatever.

So Yeah. And I suppose you know?

Go ahead.

Yes. And, I think we would be remiss if we did not go fully transparent here and say, hey. Sometimes we get it we get to a point where we don’t know what to do on this podcast because we are also working our day jobs. And Yeah. This is also part of our day job. But we, and I used chat GPT to help me figure out a topic.

And the thing the fact is we could do, I don’t know, an hour, a couple of hours of research to try and determine, you know, what are the trending topics in marketing or, you know, we could calculate all of that in all of the different emails and webinars and different things that we see.

And we can also put a prompt into chat GPT, and it can do that research to help us out. And Right. Then we have to apply our expertise and, critical thinking to decide, is is that real or, and worth talking about? So so shout out at GPT.

Yeah.

That last point that you made is exactly what I was gonna say. You know? At the end of the day, make sure that whatever tool you’re using, whether it’s Chat GPT or Sprout Social or HubSpot, any of them, you gotta remember to put your, like, human heart into those things too because it’s pretty easy to go with the thing that can be put back to you out of the box or fit the structure of the way that the developers of the tool thought it was gonna work. But so much of, these things are made to be manipulated and customized to work for you and for your team, or the, you know, output that you get from your prompt from ChatGPT is meant to work for you based on what you initially told it, but also, like, you probably need to do more with it. And that’s that’s a really important thing to remember.

Right. Right.

You gotta give that final advice there, Sue. I think it’s just too good.

So, ultimately, this is what it all comes down to. Clarity beats hustle. We are not here to hustle until we die, friends. We are here to do good work. So don’t try to do more. Try to do what matters most.

Love it.

That’s some if if we didn’t have such nice microphones, I would drop it right now, but we don’t, like, drop around this joint.

But hey, friends. Hey, Ben. Thanks for that good conversation.

Yeah. Thank you.

And, friends, thank you for tuning in and listening to us when we have these little chats.

We love creating Awsomology for you. We love exploring what is possible and getting all of the good info out there. And we’re always excited to have you here with us. So you can always learn more about us, other things we’ve talked about, some of the amazing guests we’ve had, at our website, which is exclamation cuso dot com.

Thank you, Sue. Thanks, friends, for tuning in. Be awesome, and we’ll see you next time. The Osmology podcast is a production of exclamation services. Executive producers are myself, Ben Bauer, and my friend, Suzanne Campbell.

Thanks to Kylie Ganther for our show artwork, Scott Saager for booking our guests, and Alex Westerhausen for social media support.