Growth // Codex Newsletter
A Weekly Digest Dedicated To Helping You
Produce // Promote // Profit Better and Smarter
Welcome to the first edition of something that’s coming from a place of love, excitement and a Fcuk average point of view
This being our first edition, is going to be robust
We’ll get to intros last, lets get right to it shall we:
How often do you have a great idea?
How often do you act on it?
Whenever you start something new you tend to feel a flurry of feelings that include:
- Uncomfortable
- Lost
- Stuck
- Excited
- Nervous
- Motivated
Pro Tip // Monthly Reminder: as you continue, you’re going to feel that over and over
Make peace with that now, and the rest becomes easier
Between the pandemic, that new thing that went crazy in gd knows where, AND the economic tensions, you’ve got almost every man, woman, and child next door to us, perhaps someone you care about, stressed, depressed, and lost
A recent Pew Research study found that In the U.S. and UK, Globalization Leaves Some Feeling ‘Left Behind’ or ‘Swept Up’
Luckily, we’re going to do something about that, focusing on us and ours, then sharing the magic with our friends and family
Btw, if you need to run, or just want to digest this edition at your own pace, click this purple button to view this on your web browserButton
Take for example Christian Williams, our latest team member, CFO and someone who went from idea to 5 clients in one month with
- No website
- No campaigns
- No ads
Following a game plan that focused on simplicity and leveraging his strengths
What he did to
Produce
The Action Plan looks like:
- Choose a skill to master: Dedicate 45 mins a day to learning
- Guage your social circle, colleagues, etc: What problems can your skill solve for them?
- Provide solution to first group of people: One person is the bare minimum
- Document the whole process: Your experiences, observations, their questions, areas of difficulty, etc
- Measure progress: What were their trouble areas? Where did they shine? Where did you struggle? Where did you shine??
- Decide whether you will package into a product, service, or both: You can always change your mind later
- Talk to your people, gather testimonials: Ask them questions such as “What were you struggling prior to starting?” What were your biggest improvements during and after?”
- Build case study, testimonials, ideal client: Once you’ve guided the person through the process of improvement, and you’ve gathered their testimonial, you’re now starting to learn who you love to help
- Use that info to reach out to your social circle, colleagues, etc: Talk to folks who are experiencing the same problem the people you helped before had – invite them to join at an introductary rate, early bird special
- Rinse
- Repeat
This process is what Christian focused on when he joined our mission, and today, as he shares in our recent brainstorm session, he’s working with 5 paying clients – fcukin awesome momentum
Hear the behind the scenes brainstorm talk where Christian shares his experience PLUS tips on business credit
Brainstorm Session with Christian Wiliams
Which brings me to something a lot of us struggle with at any given time, in fact, as a Growth Hacker this is something I tackle everyday for those I work with and our mission here
The art of how to
Promote
Pro Tip:
Don’t find customers for your product
Find the product for your customers
Something that has helped us tremendously has been rapid experimentation, it’s at the core of what is Growth Hacking (a mix of psych, marketing, and tech)
For example, back in November, I fired 90% of our clients, focused on just a handful, and began making pivots from Growth Strategy Firm to full-time media company
WHY?
We noticed that over half of our clients were marketing, pr, media, and service agencies…
We were already doing the work of a media company! So away we went
What we tackled: 3 of which were beta and another 3 of going live – we set out to
- Rely less on ads than what traditional media does
- Focus on our people first
- Prioritize context
- Publish less than what we were told to
As we hit month 6 we’re feeling pretty damn hype about NOT needing ads to survive!
Key takeaways include:
- Leverage Skills Into DIY offer
- Story Telling (personal style) comes in CLUTCH when connecting with BIG brands
- Focus on LESS “to dos”
- Focus on BIGGER goals
For example, one of my goals was to put out less content than other media companies
Focus on context & our tribe ONLY
Because it meant income // profits with zero “bosses” // annoying clients
One piece of content in particular, set things in motion and got us in front of athletes, execs, and an actor a lot of you might recognize
Even if all the advice says to “zig”
It’s more than ok // exciting to ZAG
The best part?
- Zero paid traffic
- Zero promos
- Zero outreach
We test every other day, and ship within 48 hours
What we’re seeing is that with the right tribe (audience // customers) you have freedom
We focus on shipping to your target audience, and your tribe only
Which brings us to some frequently asked questions
- “How do I get signups?”
- “How do I market better?
- “How do I grow?”
etc
Our team focuses on
Trust: over 50% of customers don’t trust a brand
Build this quickly by:
- Getting referrals from business owners, their friends, and family
- Building case studies of past projects
- Keep promises
Values: We don’t care about demographics, we focus on psychographics
For example, social media platforms such as IG have suppressed reach for a lot of brands, because there’s more money in making us pay tolls
Often, we’d notice that helpful info would only reach 3% of our audience…
that’s horrendous
So we pivoted and began finding our fellow Rogue on Linkedin, on Youtube, on Twitter, and so on…
This Codex is one way that we’re adhering to the brand promise of empowering the creative who wants to build smarter businesses and the business that wants to get more creative.
Our how may change here and there, but our WHY is fixed – and it helps us connect with YOU, the Rogue, wherever you are, whenever you need a hand
Values go a long way, which is why it is imperative you find your true north, your WHY as Simon Sinek made popular (if you haven’t claimed your welcome gift YOU INC: reply to this email and ill send you it – in which you get the step by step process to figuring out your why and brand promise)
Consistency: People know they can go to just about any McDonalds anywhere in their country, and get the same meal, same quality every time
Ok, so we’re not a huge fan of Mickie Dees, BUT if there is anything they’ve mastered, its consistency
When I was helping some of their former franchisees move over to Smashburger (a rival fast-food chain) years ago, I got a deep behind the scenes look at how they run
Holy sh*t
They’re efficient af
Consistency is how some of the people that folks mistake for dull or dumb often beat out the most “smart”
If you’re thinking of creating or curating content, this will prove helpful to you
We broke down, by platform, what content performed the best, and with who
The types include:
- Inspirational
- Educational
- Informational
- Entertainment
While it’s normal to think to yourself “I can/like doing all of those” it’s consistency you’re seeking
Start with one, get it to amazing, then move on to the next
At this moment, we’re up to Informational
This gives us the opportunity to forget about things like competing, or when to scale, or tap dancing for an investment
We just do the damn thing for the right person
By this point, this makes a perfect segway to a segment that’s near and dear to you and i…
Profit
Pro Tip:
Detect, and manage any signs of imposter syndrome
Why am I bringing up imposter syndrome in the profit section?
Justtt in case you find yourself experiencing imposter syndrome, you’re not alone
In fact, an estimated 70% of people experience these feelings
You may be experiencing some of the sneaky signs of Imposter Syndrome if you:
- Don’t like to work in groups, fear you won’t get credit
- Associate being busy with success
- Find it difficult sticking to one project
- Worry about others copying you
- Compare yourself to others, especially those you deem less smart or qualified than you who “surpass you”
Now, moving on
A reminder that Money is a tool
Picture in your head any sentence with “money” in it
Now change the word “money” to…
idk
Tools
or
Soldiers
See it? Good
Because now we’re going to visit some of the highest paying Skills that pay the bills
Learning a high earning skill not only makes it easy to get a business up and running but it also helps sort your future out
Once you begin to master a skill you can test it over and over in many different companies in many different industries and even if you fail you still have that skill and experience to fall back on
Giving you confidence and freedom
Here are some of the best paying skills
- UI/UX Design
- Web/App Development
- Product (Design and Ownership)
- Advertising
- Copywriting
- Sales
- Leadership
Which of these do you excel at?
Did you know these skills are currently netting folks $10k and more per month?
What could you accomplish if you had an extra 10,000 soldiers?
Here’s Head of Business Development Sean Gray talking about a quick investment you can make in yourself even when you’re broke
If you’d like to learn some of these skills simply email us with which ones and we’ll add it to upcoming curriculum
If you haven’t yet, check out this 3 part series for free resources you can start using today
Well, that just about does it for our first go at this
You can check out the other issues here
Your response and feedback helps us, help you, so
How did we do?
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