25 things I was dead wrong about | STFO 🤘

After a soul-sucking internship in an industry I hated, burning $20k on a failed startup, almost losing my relationship, shutting down my first marketing agency, letting go of amazing people, working for a "rocketship" with incredible demand, growing a podcast into 1M+ downloads with no help... I've had to unlearn a thing or two about myself, marketing, and business in general.

Here are 25 of my unlearned beliefs that helped me become a better human/marketer:

Unlearned Belief #1: Funnels

❌ You can easily make more money by optimizing your funnel. It’s basic maths!!

✅ You can't create customers from thin air. The maths might look good, but the reality begs to differ.

Unlearned Belief #2: Feedback

❌ All feedback is created equal.

✅ Most feedback is either useless or dangerous.

Unlearned Belief #3: Loyalty

❌ You can make customers more loyal.

✅ You may be able to make customers purchase more frequently, but you can't make anyone more loyal.

Unlearned Belief #4: Elon Musk

❌ Elon Musk is a genius.

✅ Elon Musk is a Grade-A moron.

Unlearned Belief #5: Hard Thing

❌ Do that hard thing when you feel ready.

✅ You'll never feel ready. So do that thing.

Unlearned Belief #6: Control

❌ Thriving businesses have everything under control.

✅ Every business is super chaotic behind the scenes.

Unlearned Belief #7: Repetition

❌ Don't repeat yourself, or your audience will get bored.

✅ Find 1,000 ways to say the exact same thing. People will love you for it.

Unlearned Belief #8: Sticking

❌ Sticking to something for one year is as easy as sticking to something for one week.

✅ Sticking to something for one year is exponentially harder than sticking to something for a week.

Unlearned Belief #9: New

❌ Creating something means coming up with something new from start to finish (or you're an imposter).

✅ Nothing is new. Everything is a remix.

Unlearned Belief #10: Writing

❌ Writing is not for me.

✅ I'm a damn good writer; it just depends on what I need to write (and for whom).

Unlearned Belief #11: Demand

❌ No one is doing what I’m doing!! That's great!!

✅ No one is doing what I’m doing!! Shit, there’s probably no demand.

Unlearned Belief #12: Dream

❌ Running a VC-led startup is the ultimate dream.

✅ Being free to say and do whatever the f*ck I want is the ultimate dream.

Unlearned Belief #13: Pain

❌ People buy when they're in pain.

✅ People buy because specific trigger events trigger them to do so. (You can be in pain for 15 years with a back problem and never go to the physio.)

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I'll send you the other twelve tomorrow.