|
After a very long, very hot Summer, our garden looked like a giant packet of Twiglets had exploded in the sky, rained down, and buried every square inch of green that was once our lawn and flower beds. (For people wondering 'WTF is a Twiglet?' - they're a crunchy, salty, stick-shaped snack - they literally look like twigs). The lawn died several weeks ago. Then the loose dead grass got mixed into the gravel path. Then loose dead leaves blew across the (dead) lawn and path. Then some other stuff blew in from the neighbouring fields - looks like hay, thin straw, who can tell 🤷♀️ - it's just as brown and crispy as everything else. I could've been clearing it up a little bit at a time each week. But I didn't. I ignored it until it became a HUGE daunting project that seemed impossible to start. This Friday, Son#1 volunteered to help clear it (he's 21, just in case you were worried I was making a toddler do heavy labour). We started together buzzing around, picking and choosing whatever task took our fancy. There was so much to do, the order really didn't matter.*(see the P.S.) And then, this is where the magic happens.... I LEFT HIM TO IT. I went indoors and watched a TV show (GBBO) with Son#2 and left Son#1 to voluntarily continue clearing the garden. Because I'd helped him get started, provided reassurance and occasional cheerleading, and was on hand to answer questions if he got stuck, he was able to crack on solo. Now you know this segues into an offer, because I told you about it at the top of this email. If you have a huge, daunting marketing project that seems impossible to start - would you like my help with that? My next Virtual Day with Laura availability is this Thursday, 1st October. Virtual Day With Laura has such a dull name because it is quite literally a day, collaborating with me, via Voxer and email, and shared docs (well most of a day - it's 6 hours - who can concentrate for longer than 6 hours? Not me). We can work on sales pages, emails, blog posts, website content - whatever you need to write. I'm there to help you get started, give feedback, make edits, answer questions, and keep the momentum going. Here are the details on availability, price, and how it works. *P.S. I didn't know how to weave this into the already-long email. But I highly recommend this strategy. If you have something to do that seems HUUUUUGE and boring, or difficult, can you make it more do-able by totally ignoring the 'correct' order to do things, abandoning any sense of prioritisation and planning, and just getting started with whichever bit takes your fancy? In the garden, using the weed tool thingy was great fun for 20 minutes, until it wasn't, so it was time to put that down and move onto the rake. This morning I cleared a big chunk of my inbox by ignoring dates and priority labels and just clicking on what I felt like - yes it did feel gloriously rebellious. |
Join thousands of readers building a business that works around Life Stuff (like chronic physical or mental health conditions, recovery from big life events, caring responsibilities). I send two-ish emails each week, to help you enjoy a more comfy business and life.
This feels pointless. I can’t keep this up. I just really don’t wanna. Even after 10 years of running this business, I still get the Marketing Is Awful Playlist looping through my brain occasionally. Are you familiar with the tunes Reader? When those thoughts run wild, I get a strong impulse to do something radical and drastically overhaul my business (when what I really need is a snack and a nap). I’m grateful for every time that wave of Marketing Anxiety has washed over me, because when a...
LEGO Botanicals - that’s the only thing I’ll be scouring the Internet for at the end of November. I want to expand my collection beyond this one lonely cactus, so I will happily spend some time and energy looking for a good deal on those. But besides my love of the little construction brick, this year I’m intentionally opting out of Black Friday. I won’t be selling my own Black Friday offers. I (almost certainly) won’t be promoting other people’s Black Friday offers. And I’ll avoid emails and...
For me, my clients, and I suspect you too Reader, making the sale isn't the end goal - it's the beginning of a longer-term relationship. And that can make selling feel awkward. We don't want to start our new client relationship by being pushy and manipulative. But if we're too humbly-mumbly about what we offer, the client relationship might never get a chance to start at all. In the Summer, I entered a Doom Spiral about this exact dilemma, then pulled myself out of it with a cup of tea, a...