Hey, it's Rachel—

Did you guys see the Iowa Women's Basketball game on Monday night?

I'm not really a basketball fan, and you may not be either.

But you've got to pay attention to Caitlin Clark.

She's taking women's basketball by storm.

Why?

She's an all-time leading scorer and is regarded as one of the greatest players in college basketball history.

But get this: her shooting percentage is only 47%.

In other words, she misses over 50% of the shots she takes.

How is she the leading scorer when she misses over 50% of her shots?

She takes more shots.

I think this is a great metaphor for business and life.

If you want to win more, you must get comfortable taking more shots.

And do it fully aware that not every shot will work, and sometimes the miss will be public and painful.

Caitlin takes hard shots and misses over 50% of the time, but by putting herself out there more, she scores more and ultimately wins more.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, it's important to remember that more failures are sometimes what it takes to win.

In today's email:

• Idea of the Week
• Resources of the Week
• Advice Corner

Idea of the Week

One Simple Spark

If you're in business, you probably want to get attention to drive more sales and revenue to your business.

So many "gurus" tout being on social media, having a blog, running ads, starting a podcast, etc.

But raise your hand if you've tried all those things without seeing much results, and you're burnt out!?

✋✋✋(I see all your hands raised)

Here's the thing: marketing is about capturing attention. 👀

To capture attention, you must be willing to be seen, which often means getting out of your comfort zone.

But it's also about being seen at the right time and the right place by the right people.

Remember, there's no shame in setting up a lunch meeting with the one right decision-maker. Sometimes, one good meeting is worth more than 100 social media posts.

There's also no shame in doing something a little out there to get a bunch of views. Case in point: this insurance salesman created this easy, low-quality video with over 2.5 MILLION views!

Here's something to try:

Ask yourself, "How would I market my business if I weren't afraid?"

And then go to that thing.

What's the worst that can happen?

Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Resources of the Week

• Something to Inspire You: Caitlin Clark's Story of Dominating Basketball​
• Something to Make You Smile: Perfect Doggy Kick​
• Something to Talk About: How Much Does a Person Need to Retire: The 4% Rule Gives an Easy Answer​

This Week's Email is Sponsored By:

Graphic

Strategic Marketing Mix

Something New

Advice Corner

Q: Hey Rachel, I appreciate all your tips, and your email is one of the few I actually read every week. Anyway, I was wondering if you have tips for marketing my business. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, and I just started a podcast.

A: Hey! This is a great question. Here's how I would approach this.

First, think about what's working already.

Are you getting clients on Instagram and TikTok? Is the podcast generating leads?

>If yes, keep doing what you're doing, and do more!

Remember, so much in life (and marketing) is a numbers game. If you get 100 listeners on your podcast, which leads to 1 new client, you need to either do more podcasts or get more listeners (or both).

You can also do things to increase your conversion rate. Create better content, share social proof, discuss a special offer more, etc.

>If what you're doing is NOT working, then doing more won't work...

As Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Here's what you need to assess:

Product: Is your product good? Do people want it? Here's some tough love: Spending more time and money marketing a sub-par product won't lead to success. It may be better to work on creating a better product. How do you know if your product is good? Ask people for their honest feedback. Ask people to buy your product, and if they say "No," ask them why, listen very carefully, and improve your product.

Target Market: Who is your target market? (If you say everyone, I will lovingly slap you.) What is their problem? Do you understand them and the problems they have related to your product or service? Do you know where they hang out and how they make purchasing decisions (this is where you need to market to them).

Price: Is your pricing competitive? Do you offer good value? Are you pricing it too low, making people question the quality of the product? Can you offer incentives to encourage people to buy now while you have their attention? Can the people you want to help afford the prices you charge?

Competition: You can have the right product, target market, and price, but there's a bunch of competition out there distracting people from your offers. Or maybe the competition is better than you in some way. You need to understand your competition to sell your target customers on why you are better.

Advertising Strategies: Once you've assessed everything above, you can think about your advertising strategies. You must make sure you pick strategies to reach your target market (i.e., don't do a podcast if your target market doesn't listen to them). If you are using content as a strategy, you must ensure the content you create sets you up as an expert in your industry so your target market gets to know, like, and trust you.

I hope this helps. Marketing is complex, and many things go into it, but if you use every success and failure as a data point, you'll start collecting lessons that will ultimately get you where you need to go.

Do you have a burning question related to passive income, personal finance, or positive psychology that you need answered? If yes, hit reply and send me an email with your question. If you're lucky, I'll answer it in this section of the next newsletter.