If our brain is supposedly designed to help us build the life we want, why does it so often feel like it’s working against us? Why do we think, feel, and struggle the way we do? And on the flip side, what’s happening when we actually succeed? My own journey to understand how our minds work started with that simple question: I had no idea it would lead to such profound insights about who we are.
It all started on November 11, 2021, with a COVID-19 diagnosis. What began as a mild cold quickly devolved into a crushing fatigue that made it hard to even think about moving. By the 15th, I could feel the virus in my lungs, each breath becoming a conscious effort. I kept telling myself I’d push through it, but by Sunday the 21st, my wife, Michelle, knew better. She saved my life that day.
I don’t know anyone who enjoys throwing away their hard-earned money, and I'm sure you feel the same way. This is exactly why social media marketing should be a core part of any modern marketing toolkit. It gives us the power to test our ideas and adjust on the fly.
It’s staggering to see how much money is pouring into digital marketing. Companies are shifting massive chunks of their advertising budgets online, with social media ad spending growing by over 45% in a single year. By 2019, it was an $18.4 billion industry in the U.S. alone. Everyone’s in, especially on Facebook, which now commands a huge portion of all digital ad dollars.
There’s a great quote from George Herbert that goes, “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” This idea has never been more relevant for digital marketing.
As W. Edwards Deming once said, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” This hits home when you’re navigating the world of digital marketing. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the options. Many businesses just throw their hands up and outsource everything to an agency, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m guessing you’re here because you want to build that expertise in-house. When you understand the process, you can own your and use agencies more effectively, telling them exactly what you need.
There’s a classic saying in business: “You have to spend money to make money.” This often leads people straight to the advertising dashboards of Google and Facebook, ready to pour cash into their marketing. And it’s true, scaling your reach with paid media on social networks and search engines is incredibly effective. The results can be undeniable.
On social media, the main goal is to connect with your audience in a way that feels native to each platform. When you get it right, you’ll see engagement from customers climb, and you can leverage those relationships to expand your reach far beyond what you could achieve alone.
Answering the call of entrepreneurship, whether you're launching a or rethinking an established company, requires a specific mindset. As spiritualist Meister Eckhart said, you must "be willing to be a beginner every single morning." Adopting this fresh perspective is crucial for building a marketing approach that actually works in today's digital world.