How taking one step back really got me two steps ahead
After addressing the bottleneck problems that I shared in a previous article, I came to another stressful moment that just kept bugging me. I couldn’t understand what was stopping me from completing a project. All the pieces were in place. The client sign off was done, on boarding was good (almost too good) and yet the project dragged on, never reaching its goals. Unbelievably frustrating — wanting to complete the project and move forward.
Here’s what I learned:
Project Based Work can be Difficult
There are many tasks that don’t require full time effort and create a wonderful marketplace that so many freelancers and entrepreneurs thrive. Project based work is how many people around the globe earn their living, to the point the “gig economy” has become its own massive industry. While these gigs been proven for projects like logo & graphic design, writing, photography, video and animation; its far from being perfect. For tasks like financial management, marketing, customer service and sales; it takes on-going work to better your results. The way I look at the results, defines the best practice.
If completion of a task is the objective: Project.
If strategic measurable results are the goal: Not a Project.
Project based work is great for some and terrible for others. I’ve seen both sides.
Projects are great:
- Distinct start and finish
- Clearly defined scope of work
- Special teams & talent collaborating
Projects can be tough :
- Limited time to complete goals (or reduced goals because limited time)
- Unrealistic expectations
- Requires more focus and effort than ongoing work
This by no measure is a comprehensive look at projects or working on a project. My intent is to show how difficult project based work can be in marketing when long term goals require hands on effort for a duration that often exceeds the length of a project. That’s what we were facing. Ideally, this could have been a client who valued us as an agency to work with over the long term. Instead, the project was the complete scope of involvement.
The business owner’s Math
Part of the problem with projects, this one in particular, is that the customer lifetime value only made sense if there was something else on the horizon. Being optimistic, as most entrepreneurs are, I wanted the client to see the roadmap that could impact their brand. This project, in our opinion, was barely getting them to the starting line. Its was web design without a strategy for future growth. It was my fault for not building the long-term value into the initial plan, but it was also an opportunity for quick-cash: the bootstrapping start-up’s best friend.
In the moment of the pitch, everything moves slowly (like a pivotal moment in a movie) when instinct takes over and your preparation shows. Its the most thrilling part of business for me (the most satisfying though, is exceeding the clients expectations) and without proper systems in place, winning new business isn’t something that I get to spend enough time doing. Yes, I want to get back into business development. — Chris Milton
Having a strong understanding of customer lifetime value, the opportunity for referrals and new business should be on every business owners mind. You must go beyond the transaction. There is so much more that you can accomplish if you stop thinking just about how much this invoice will be today. Building relationships and growing your reach is so much more important than one additional sale to someone you’ll never see again. And that’s what this situation was: a one-time transaction.
Moving Forward can be Challenging
Getting through a difficult situation can take a great team and a vision that keeps things moving. In this case, both were deteriorating. We lost one of our crucial team members (we wish her the best) and the vision was becoming less vivid as the client gave more input.
Do we stick to the scope of work or do we take a gamble on the slippery slope of scope creep?
We chose to accommodate the first round on requests on the basis of “three strikes” for change orders and revisions. It felt like it was working. But as the deadline came, we realized there wasn’t enough time to hit our milestone. The client was accepting as we had met our criteria along the way, but like many projects, we were behind. Deteriorating team and vision. We had not built our team up to pick up the slack and were shorthanded. And missing the deadline was the final nail in the deteriorating “vision’s coffin.”
One step back
Over a week of discussions, I realized we’d missed the product-market fit on this project. It was mutually decided that we wrap up the project and call it a day. In our estimations, we were 85% — 90% complete. Satisfactory for the client, but like I mentioned above, exceeding expectations is always the goal. Unfortunate, yes. Frustrating, yes. To be honest, I’m not sure how much was left in the tank for our team. It was a full effort and a big relief to move on to the next… or will we…
Two steps forward: Scaling Up
Project work isn’t out of our normal scope of services, its usually, however, the start of a long term relationship. We like to have the project kick-off to get the creative and design pieces in place for marketing campaigns. Just like analytics, we see design as a tool. A way to foster engagement. Harnessing the preference of most people to visually learn. Its a way to repurpose your content to increase your reach, impressions, engagement, opt-ins and sales.
I take a strong interest in our client’s business success and love being hands on to see them grow. Yet, when I look at our business, those clients make up a fraction of our total business. Sure, they are the higher-value clients and that pulls the revenue up, but they are the ones that I love working with. The clients that get the most value from me, and see the best results. However, I know that bringing on a full service marketing agency isn’t in most people’s budget, but there are lots of people out there who want a big boost in their business!
I’m ready to start working with more clients like that. People who want to have an on-going expert in their corner who can get them to the next level with their marketing. People who are ready to turn their marketing into a sales pipeline so their business can reach the next level.
First Step Forward
I quickly realized that leveraging technology, I can reach more people, but it has to be packaged in a way that gives the most value without the huge financial commitment that I expect from medium to large businesses. This is going to be great. I’ve put together a content marketing bootcamp and the sole purpose is to teach how to create sales pipelines for your product or service. As an introduction to the content, you can join me on a free live webinar where I’ll be going through the bootcamp’s core lessons are. There’s lots of value here for free. Taking the bootcamp will show you the formulas and tactics that we use to get our clients results.
Second Step Forward
This one is still in the works… I realized that the information we share everyday is tremendously valuable to more people than it currently reaches. I’m sure you can relate and often wonder, “Where’s my microphone?!?”
I’m not different than you, and I’ve started to record a podcast that is focused on short, actionable items that you can apply in your business immediately after listening. I’ll be sending out updates on email, be sure to sign up, I’ve already asked for feedback of what the audience would like to hear. If you’d like to be part of the voice that forms this podcast, please jump on the list.
Launch date for this will be coming soon, I’ll keep you posted.
Scaling Up and Offering Digital Services
Scale is difficult when you think in terms of effort and time. You have a finite amount of each, daily. We all run out of energy and need to sleep. The clock keeps ticking and we know that time needs to be used effectively. However, this has been a turning point for me to leverage technology to share knowledge with all of the hungry entrepreneurs, business owners, bloggers, freelancers and hustlers out there. I truly want to help as many people in the industries and positions that I love. You’re all doing a great job, let’s start the next chapter now.
This post written by Chris Milton — a marketing strategist who takes a lot of steps… some forward, some backward, but always moving in the right direction.
