Brief Overview

It’s been WAY too long, but after some BIG wins and a terrible tragedy, I’m back. And there’s a big lesson that I took from this extended break and I want to share with you!

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Big Ideas

I’m Back Baby! [00:30]

“Where are you?” – I’ve received that question from so many Marketing Your Business podcast listeners. It has been a while, but there’s good reason behind it. The cause of this break was that I received some terrible news. Three friends of mine were killed in a terrible tragedy and it really set me back. In fact, it set our entire team back, because we were all really close with them. This was a tremendously unfortunate situation and it was completely unexpected. And I’m never going to be the same as I was before, because when you lose a friend, you never forget that. Those memories don’t just disappear, but eventually you find a new “normal”, and I feel like I’ve gotten to that point now.

So, if you’re wondering if I’m going to continue the podcast, the answer is YES. I am absolutely going to continue doing the Marketing Your Business podcast. I love this podcast and I love all the feedback that I get from you and everybody else who’s listening, but the truth is, I needed the break. And here are some lessons I’ve taken from my extended break…

Why We Always Want to be “On” [04:57]

When it comes to running and marketing a business, there’s 2 sides to the coin. On one side of the coin, we always want to be on. Why? Because consistency matters. Consistency in terms of when you communicate, when you deliver content, and the frequency of which you deliver that content. The more consistent you are, the better results you will get – and the more consistent you are, the better consumption habits you will develop with your audience.

The other thing about always being on is that it helps you stay top of mind. When you’re gone, when you take a break, you become less and less relevant. Lastly, when you’re always on, it gives you the ability to serve at the highest level and most importantly, control the conversation.

When you’re gone and when you’re not there giving voice to the things that you believe – your ideals, your values and your your teachings, people are left with their own thoughts and oftentimes negativity can start creeping forward. And that’s when conversations start happening that may not be beneficial to you, to your community, or to the people that are starting them. And so, when you’re always on, you can control that conversation.

Why It’s Equally as Important to Create Space [08:21]

We need space to collect our thoughts. That was the big reason why I took a break – I needed space to process my emotions. Even now as I say this, I can feel those emotions bubbling up because it’s still raw. But you need space. You need space to collect your thoughts. You need space to process your emotions. You need space to charge your creativity. I just came back from a trip to Fiji, and now I’m feeling fired up, because time away allows you to recharge, especially on the creative side. You start having connections and thoughts and ideas that you never would’ve had if you are always on. When you’re always on, it’s like a treadmill. You’re just going, going, going, going, going. But sometimes you have to take that space to really unleash the creativity within you, and you need to take a step back to look at the big picture of where this is all going.

Time for You to Step Back and Look at the Big Picture [12:20]

Here’s what I propose to you. I want you to look at your calendar right now and I want you to create some planned breaks. And I want you to put them on the calendar right now, because if you don’t, you’ll end up burning out. Your marketing will become flat and you’ll start losing momentum. We think because we’re going to take a break that we’re going to lose momentum, but no my friend, that’s inevitable.

At a minimum, I would encourage you to plan a break once a quarter to recharge, to refresh, to take some space to collect your thoughts, process your emotions, recharge your creativity, to step back and look at the bigger picture of where you’re going and what it is you’re doing. If you do that, I guarantee you that your business will continue to build more and more momentum, you’ll prevent burnout, you will stay creative, and you’ll continue to serve at the highest level.

Memorable Quote

“Time away allows you to recharge. You start having thoughts and ideas that you never would’ve had otherwise.” – Stu McLaren

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