The Custom Work Trap 🏛️

What do tacos and paint colors have in common?

Author

Jeff Sauer
March 10, 2024

Maybe you should stop trying to be everything for everyone

Do you ever notice how the more options you’re presented, the harder it is to choose? Take a menu at a restaurant, for example. If you can get a pizza, a half dozen oysters, birria tacos, and soup dumplings at the same place, you assume that every dish at the restaurant will be mediocre. 

You know, like the chef is a jack of all trades, master of none. How can one restaurant be great at making unique dishes from all over the world?

The same goes for the car you drive or the paint you choose for your house. The more options you are given, the less confidence you have in making the right choice. 

When you present your prospective clients with too many choices, they feel the same way about your services. The more choices they see, the more they question your ability to deliver. They are expecting you to suggest a prescriptive solution that meets their exact needs, not for them to tell you what they want. 

You’re the expert, after all.

🚀 Business OPS (Offers, Products, Systems)

PRODUCTS

Owning an ad agency is one thing. It’s a tough business model to scale, but also lucrative if you succeed. But working at an ad agency is a bit more challenging. Here’s why.

SYSTEMS

Fantastic reminder to all of us that you need to pay your debts, while equity is already paid.

OFFERS

Someone was on a performance contract and ended up getting fired because they were making too much money. If I’ve seen this once, I’ve seen it a hundred times. I’ve never seen a single marketing agency get paid on results live to the 5 year mark.

🤿 Deep Dive

Not everyone can have a robust marketing budget, and that's okay. Big budgets often create a lot of overhead in marketing. 

What if you could master a single channel and thrive without complications? Learn from those with limited budgets what you can do to maximize the impact of your marketing spending.

💎 Profit School Essentials

This is the technique you'll want to use when pitching new clients. Mercer and I share our ideas around pitching on this episode of Business Unfiltered.