don’t forget to archive me.

What’s your business party trick? Here’s one that will save your time & your sanity.

According to Hubspot: Inbox zero is the process of labeling, triaging, and organizing your email inbox with a system that allows you to reach and maintain zero unread emails awaiting reply in your inbox.

So you’re telling me that one has to spend a bunch of time making folders and creating more tags, in order to move messages (that need action further) out of view? Ok, nope.

Forget that mess above and hang with me. 

My method:

Email comes in.

Email is read.

📧 If email requires action: keep it in your inbox as a pesky reminder to DEAL WITH IT.

📧 If email has contents to be saved: download the assets and save to your prefered cloud storage system (please don’t leave it on your desktop - I believe in desktop zero too). Reply to the email “received” & ARCHIVE IT. Confirming receipt goes a long way in helping other’s sanity and prevents another email hitting your inbox saying “did you get my last email?" 🤢

📧 If email has tasks that need to be created for yourself or team view: Pop it into your Asana, Trello, etc. Then ARCHIVE IT.

📧 If email requires no action: You know what to do. ARCHIVE IT.

That’s it!

Remember: you can always go to your “Archive” messages and search for XYZ client, email, date, event, etc.

Every second you spend moving each email into a cutesy folder or trying to remember what each color-coded tag is for, is just another second you waste on a system that wasn’t designed to be like Gdrive or Dropbox.

Helpful? Shoot me a reply –– or better yet, just ARCHIVE this message.

Dissecting glitz & Glamour.

It seems that the award circuit is never ending. Below are insights (shared among brands, tv networks, and agencies) driven by 4 common questions. I get asked a mixture of these on every award consulting call – thought you might be curious too!

1) WHY DO AWARDS MATTER?

When you think about the pizzazz surrounding awards, it may feel superficial (& in many ways it is! #jaded), but if you strip away the “stuff” making it feel as such, you’ll find pure gold.

You’ll find various and meaningful “WHYS.” People in our industry make the things they do to inspire change and action for the world that we live in. And without competition, we wouldn’t be pushed to do better work. This excellence is a snowball effect that can benefit everyone. But if you are unclear of your “WHY",” you can best believe that it will fall short in your work.

It starts with goals. If you are unclear of your awards goals, I suggest getting that sorted first, then reverse engineering a plan. Winning is great… but the win needs legs to support its purpose – and that’s unique to each and every team! Some common goals for awards are: staying top of mind with marketing/PR initiatives, attracting talent, biz dev, employee morale, and even promotions.

With your goal(s) identified, be sure to have a plan in place BEFORE and AFTER that “golden announcement” is made. The universe has the attention span and memory of a goldfish when it comes to good things (& the opposite for negative clusterf***s). Plan accordingly and be willing to go the distance.

2) CAN YOU GUARANTEE A WIN?

Fact is, you can never be 100%. To get a competitive edge, you need to buckle down and approach your work as an unbiased party (Brave Dog plays this “bad cop” role allllll the time – throwing spaghetti at the wall is a waste of everyone’s time and your money).

By looking into past winners as a benchmark, staying on the pulse of marketing campaigns via trades and social, and cutting the areas of your campaign that were not as strong prior to selecting categories, can all lead to a more level-headed and strategic approach. To be fair, if you’re not willing to do the homework, you’re not ready to submit.

3) IS IT REALLY GOLD OR BUST?

IMHO, no way! Now if you’ve done the research, you should have a pretty good understanding of where your work might land. If you’re confident that nominations will support your greater goal and winning is just a bonus – go for it. I know a handful of teams who ONLY care about getting a nomination (also known as a “finalist” position). They use those nominations to drive people to meet up for coffee/cocktails at the event, inspire a reason to send an email campaign, attract new talent, and also are an easy-to-drop note during a biz dev conversation that’s happening in the height of the action.

Pro tip: So how do you still get your best work recognized in a competition that is flooded with top talent? Break up with your campaign. Yup – break it. For starters, it's not science. And it's not 100% backed up by a fancy algorithm, but it works. Staying on top of the niche categories can sometimes get you in the door and give you greater leverage for addressing your main goals for awards.

For example, if your latest campaign had a strong social element, but the other components we’re not cutting-edge, that’s OK. Go for the home run by narrowing your focus on categories within social. At the end of the day, a win, is a win, is a win.

4) IS THE COST WORTH THE WIN?

If you’re looking to stretch your investment beyond the hardware, I highly recommend submitting to competitions that include an in-person event.

A simple “we won” graphic added to your website feels fleeting when there’s so much magic that can come from meeting IRL. I especially can’t in good conscience justify or suggest competitions to smaller creative teams that are missing this element – it would blow out their entire annual awards budget. Instead, invest the budget into new work for shows that have a meet up, or begin developing that top-tier case study video that’s required to even get a nod.

+++

If you are dissatisfied with the time spent, results, or just plain overwhelmed, Brave Dog provides creative award consultation and implementation. Rather than shuffling to complete the job in-house, or handing over the huge PR responsibility to an intern, they handle your award competitions A-Z.

Shoot me an email to ashley@bravedog.tv if you need a helping hand, or a resident bad cop 😉

Shiny object syndrome.

A couple of weeks ago, I conducted a little social experiment – I shared on social media that Mark (my fiancé) and I had finally joined a winery.

I got a handful of comments and direct DMs from friends, family, and clients congratulating us on this “accomplishment.”

Welp, here’s the funny thing… you might not know that “joining a winery” is simply signing up for discounted shipments a couple times of year. It also includes discounts on purchases outside of those shipments anytime you visit, in addition to FREE tastings (this place up to 6 people every time you go!). 

There’s no membership fee or commitment after the first or second shipment. But I worded my post in a way that made it seem like a big life step. It was the first winery we’d joined after tasting the rainbow for almost a decade here in California. 

So was this really an accomplishment? Or was it a shiny object?

Like many things, marketing gives you an opportunity to educate and to “show off,” for a lack of a better word, your expertise. For some clients, Awards are their main biz dev or PR tool to stir up conversation. To confirm in their future client’s minds that they are the best choice because they’ve won before. But it doesn’t always tell the whole story. 

Same goes for joining a panel, leading an online workshop/course, or posting a picture of the house you just purchased (OK, this is a big one on my brain right now lol!). It’s all aimed to attract the eyes of people who think, act, and/or want to align with you and what you stand for. 

🔑 So the next time you see these accomplishments shared across your social platforms, TV, or in your inbox, don’t get wrapped up in “oh I wish I could be doing that” or “wow, they must be making bank”… because in reality, these communications are just highlights from a yearbook – not the day to day hustle and grind. The sprinkling of them is meant to inspire those around us (and ourselves!) and their intent is to help all of us keep our eyes on the prize – whatever that thing may be. 

Stay grounded & drink good wine my friends! 🍷

it was a miss.

A year ago yesterday in Los Angeles, the world shut down. My good buddy Emmett Armstrong (OnRamp Data – also a company of one, by design!) and I reconnected and naturally began brainstorming how we could come together to support one of our shared industry verticals – motion designers and agencies.

The big idea was to create a free remote-first community now that the world was seemingly all virtual. As we both have been virtual ourselves for many years, the big shift of 2020 thankfully didn’t have a drastic impact on our workflow. It seemed like a no-brainer that we could help others ease into the transition!

Although we had every intention it would become a success, it was a total miss. 😳 We ultimately put things on hold indefinitely.

However looking back to our “failed” experience – we learned SO much about what it takes to launch and maintain an online community.

Note: Emmett and I have similar and yet complimentary disciplines. It was really natural divvying up the work. There was no ego. It was one of the most pleasant work match-ups I’ve ever had.

IMO, the value of our learnings far outweighs the miss. So here’s my take on it:

We lacked a clear goal for the group

We got caught up in the “remoteness” – this simple identifier became the end-all to our messaging.

Now don’t get me wrong, the preliminary beta marketing was great (some would say mysterious, which created a lot of FOMO)! We had almost 400 members from our short launch efforts and 20+ people from around the globe (literally, up at 3AM to join us West Coasters) attended our Zoom Launch Party 🎉

We failed to think long-term on how the group would be sustainable if we were not continually leading events, adding new members, and hosting the “party.”

We prematurely thought that if we brought all these peeps together in one virtual sandbox, that they would naturally have conversations and help one another (gigs, advice, tools, etc.). But against our better judgement, we experienced that the community consist of mostly CONSUMERS, not HOSTS.

But, that’s not the member’s faults! We didn’t create clear enough objectives that aided our community to want to take the reins as a party HOST themselves. We sort of just assumed them to be from Day 1… and you know what they say about ASSuming… 😉

🔑: Don’t start creating until you have a solid direction on the short and long term goals. Sure, magic happens while in the thick of production… but that’s purely icing. You gotta have the goals outlined to keep you (and your team) in check.

We were jazzed by features

50% of our efforts pre-launch were designing/creating a custom website. I haven’t made Photoshop mockups for a website in YEARS, but here I was getting my Adobe nerd on.

Cut to the fun part – we ended up TRASHING the entire site shortly after discovering Mighty Networks. 😆 It had almost every feature we mentioned in our brainstorms and more.

A couple months later, I shared Mighty Networks with my client who has a super niche community. The UI, built in pay-walls for premium groups and courses, as well as notifications/mobile app made it super simple to get the heck off Facebook. I can’t say enough good things about it. (If you want to check it out and end up using it, feel free to use my Mighty Networks referral link).

🔑: If you’re not looking to get into the business of developing platforms… steer clear on putting all your effort into custom features. There’s an infinite amount of platforms out there (ready to go with some minimal tweaks/branding updates) for you to test your beta concept.

We were not able to deliver on a BIG need

Roughly 80% of the members in the community were freelancers (~20% agencies). Many of which were looking for work. Our aspirations of matching these people/teams together was a quest much bigger than ourselves. Alas, by not defining these goals from the get-go, we were not prepared.

🔑: If you’re looking for a motion design/artist gig (or want to hire top talent)… our buddy Neil Berkeley has got you. Booq connects freelancers with studios. Get in on the beta testing here: https://app.youbooq.me

We were not consistent

#LifeHappens. Our intentions were to support this niche-community, but we let our clients and personal lives take priority.

It was around late-spring/early summer when a wave of opportunity hit my inbox. Emmett has his first baby 👶. I got engaged to my LOML 💍. Because we chose to focus on other areas (rightfully so), we were not consistent with this community.

🔑: Managing a social community requires you to go ALL in. I discovered that as much as I love hosting IRL parties, I couldn’t maintain a virtual one that needs TLC 24/7. Defining the goals, creating the strategy, and consulting on social media communities and overall communication is way more my speed and something I’ve done for years. So if you love it, great! But if you don’t and require a team to take the load off your hands, you might want to read this first.

💕If you were in this community and are reading this now, I’m sorry we dropped off the map last year and were not able to support you. It means so much to both of us that you join and participated in our events while they lasted!

…The list goes on, but we will call it right now for today’s already-too-late-to-send-Friday-email-but-gonna-do-it-anyway 🙃…

FINAL GOLDEN NUGGET

Strategy/marketing people are no different than YOU when it comes to developing, launching, and maintaining a thing.

To be honest, we’re worse because we know better. We’ve just come to the realization that we find more joy in doing it for other people so we can avoid it ourselves. Ok, maybe that last tidbit is just me. 🤣

No matter if it’s in your personal/biz life, on/off-line, with a client/friend/family member, we all create and experience total “misses.” Yet, it doesn’t have to be the end of your story. Own up to them, embrace your learnings, and do better next time.

Here’s to unpacking and celebrating your “misses!”

what’s your miracle grow?

As you can imagine, supporting others marketing and sales initiatives is way different than supporting your own. 

Think about it – it’s much simpler to create for your clients than it is running your own email marketing drip campaign, updating your website, submitting to an award competition, or remembering to post on social media. 

Those miscellaneous, yet important, tasks are likely calendar reminders that you continue to push to the next day (and repeat the cycle 9+ times 🙄). And then you wonder why the sales pipeline isn’t looking so hot.

So what’s a person to do? Hire a bunch of "experts” to do these things for them? That’s what the “experts” say to do anyhow 🙃

Well… sorry to burst your bubble, but the answer is eh, sort of.

Over the holiday, a potential client approached me via Instagram DM (of allll places!) looking for person to fill a social media management role. 

This is a huge LOL because my IG is my fairytale land of time-lapse workouts, silly pics of my fiancé and cats, and snapshots of my grub and wine. It’s the least “biz” thing about me.

I was quick to say that I had the knowledge to do it, but it was not the type of work I take on these days. 

I spent 2020 doing lots of personal therapy. 🙏 I created a routine that keeps me mentally and physically healthy – being on socials 24/7 for work was the complete opposite of what I needed to fulfill my life and support my clients.

I would however be thrilled to chat about the challenge and see if I could help identify the right person or put them in the right direction. The brand/service was one that I’ve used and recommend to others many times throughout the pandemic year.

💥BOOM. They agreed to have a quick chat. 

At the top of the call we discussed how both partners were spending so much time filling in and supporting their current social lead on a day to day basis – it was really taking away from their bread and butter. Ya know, WHY they started this business in the first place. 

🔑: Identify the suck

By the end of the call, I knew that the answer was NOT referring them a rockstar and moving on – the partners would get caught up in the same whirlwind of disappointment and be back at square one. 

The winning ticket was that the partners needed to formalize their brand voice/strategy so that it could trickle down to all their employees across ALL their communications – while addressing the immediate headache of social media. 

🔑: Find your POV

But how? For starters, they didn’t need a 1-page of guidelines. We needed to dig DEEP into what they stood for, who their ideal client was, and what scares and/or motivates them to act. Otherwise, their marketing messages would remain a bunch of fluff. 🤢 #yuck

In our second week, both partners came to the call with their respective Epiphany Bridge exercise. They shared that the previous exercise we walked through on our kickoff call and this exercise, FINALLY connected ALL the dots for them. 🙌 They saw the bigger picture, as well as the evident disconnect.

🔑: Create Alignment

Little ‘ol me was over the moon. Sure, I didn’t create this theory (thanks homie Russel Brunson!), but I led them to what they needed in order to feel like they had a grasp on their WHY again. And they wanted to have their entire team complete the exercise too!

Pssst… I made a google doc if you want to download a copy of the exercise and knock yourself out ✍️– click here.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be leading them through a series of additional exercises to further define their unique place in the industry. And with that, they will be better served to empower their team, and any future addition(s), with the wizardry they require to successfully run wild. 

🔑: Empower the crew

The Takeaway?

Before jumping into a frenzy to delegate a role, here’s some questions to ask yourself:

• Have I identified the piece of my business that I no longer want to have my hands in? 🔑Identify the suck

• Does the team understand our voice, in addition to our short and long term goals? 🔑Find your POV

• Does the team align with our message and goals themselves? 🔑Create alignment

• Am I able to convey the goals to team? Rather than send them on a wild goose chase, while crossing my fingers for killer results? 🔑Empower the crew

If you can answer YES to all of the above, then you’re one step closer to opening your company’s arms to welcome new peeps. 

If you answered NO to 1 or more, I encourage you to take a step back. 

Reassessing is NOT a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength. Your business deserves it. That’s YOUR miracle grow (and golden nugget). 💪

P.S.: if you got nerdy and completed the Epiphany Bridge exercise yourself, I’d love to hear your unfiltered feedback!