The Secret Sauce Of Success
If reading the subject line inspired you to open this email as fast as possible, you probably have just one question burning in your mind: “What is the secret sauce of success??”
What if I told you the answer could be encapsulated in one word with seven letters?
BELIEVE.
Why is believing so important? I am glad you asked. But first, a story.
When I was in high school playing on the golf team, a new superstar joined our team midseason. We lived on the same street and we became awesome friends!! I was still struggling with my game at the time but he wasn’t. He’d been playing since he could walk – his dad was a pro at the golf course that they owned, and he lived, loved, and breathed golf…and on top of that, he was just super talented.
What intrigued me most about his game wasn’t his ability to hit it long or his perfect follow through or even his incredible good looks. But, what I remember to this very day is his confidence on the course. For instance, a 10-foot putt on the last hole to win the match? No problem. Right in the center of the cup. During our high school tournament on hole number 1, driving a fairway with a lake on the left while our entire team, their entire team, and the coaches were watching, he would blast one out there…right down the middle…long and straight…with so much sureness. Me? On that hole? During that tournament? I put 2 balls in the water.
So, what did he have that I didn’t? Well, for one, he had CONFIDENCE. He believed in himself. He believed that he had the ability to do what was set before him and he believed that he had the ability to do it well.
A renowned behavioral geneticist named Robert Plomin did a study 20 years ago. He took 15,000 sets of twins and followed them from birth into adulthood. In light of their identical DNA, he wanted to take a closer look at the element of confidence. So the twins had been given a standard IQ test at age seven and again at age nine. They were also tested academically in math, writing and science. Then, they were asked to rate how confident they were about each of the subjects. After much cross-referencing by the research team, they were surprised by their finding.
So, what did they find?
The students’ self-perceived ability was a significant predictor of achievement. It was even more important than their IQ. What? Our perceived ability and our realistic sense of feeling secure actually overrides our IQ. It doesn’t matter how smart you really are…it doesn’t matter how great and talented you are…it’s the fact that you believe in yourself that helps you achieve success.
So, knowing the importance of “BELIEVE,” how do I learn to start believing in myself? I would love to give you some of my thoughts on how we can achieve the confidence to expand a bit more on our series this month. So, stay tuned.
If you haven’t been following, we are talking about the mental/psychology of success and happiness. Here are the last two topics that we addressed:
We can be our own biggest cheerleaders or our biggest critics. It’s not just about “thinking positive” – your level of belief is a real thing that is either helping you or hurting you right now. And the difference between the two will make all the difference in the world.
Don’t stop believin!!
When A Joy Becomes A Burden
Let me know if you can relate.
At some point in your entrepreneur journey, or somewhere in your professional career path, you lose the joy of it all. I mean like gone. Like you can barely get out of bed to go to work, and once you get enough courage to get in the shower, you stand still with your head down with the water coming down over your face and you can’t muster up any energy to even give a crap. Maybe not to that extreme, but I think it happens to everyone. And, there’s nothing you can do to prevent it from happening. I know this because it happened to me.
For 15 straight years into my career, everything went right. I was told by Tim (our VP of Human Resources) that in all of his experience, he’s never seen anyone like me advance so rapidly in an organization. I went from an Intro Design Engineer to a Mid Manager to an Upper Managing Position with a nice big office and a personal secretary. That was the dream back then. So, was I ecstatic? No. My wife would say to me, “I think you are slowly dying inside.” And she was right.
According to Dr. Bhrett McCabe, author of Break Free from Suckville, there are 3 phases that lead you to Suckville. And for reference, Suckville is where people get stuck. For athletes, they stop winning. For creatives, they stop creating. And for all of us, it is a place where we no longer find any joy, motivation nor purpose in what we are doing. So, how did we get here?
Phase 1: Joy. When it was fun. Do you remember when you were learning something new? Learning a sport, learning how to paint, learning a new video game, learning how to build. You couldn’t be stopped. You didn’t mind spending extra hours to figure it out. Especially if you found yourself being good at it. Mastering the skill was exhilarating and the winning was just the icing on the cake. I can do this forever. During this phase, hard work produces proportional results. The pursuit of competence and the mastery in your craft drives your focus.
Phase 2: Job. Then it becomes a job. Good things come to an end. Joy dims. Entitlements begin to foster during this phase. Expectations start to emerge. Over time, the rewards lose their shine. You want more. The relationship you had with your craft while you were learning it changes. Practice becomes a task rather than a training ground to keep improving. Mistakes become magnified. People’s feedback becomes a personal attack.
Phase 3: Burden. Now, it’s a burden. When does this happen? It occurs when the rewards you receive from doing what you used to love to do no longer outweigh the sacrifices you must make to perform at your best. You start to focus more on the struggles rather than the benefits that it used to bring. What started as fun has broken you down with disappointment, frustration, and exhaustion. Your performances no longer validate your worth.
But, here’s the good news. Suckville is a temporary place. It’s where you stay for a bit to regroup, refocus and recalibrate. It’s a place where you learn to see from a different perspective, learn to be grateful about the process, and learn to persevere. It’s where you break free, where you understand more of who you are, what you are made of and what you are willing to do to escape. It’s where you reach deep into your soul and say to yourself, I got this. I want to live. I want to find joy again.
For me, it took a courageous decision to write out my resignation and quit at the top of my game knowing it was a game I didn’t want to play anymore. And I started again from the bottom in a new place, in a new role, finding joy in learning..mastering a new skill with exhilaration and focus. That’s where I am today. Am I in fear of phase 2 and phase 3 around the corner? Not as much as before. Seems like it’s easier the second time around. Bring it on, haha. And how will it be different next time around? Well, for one, I am doing a lot of work within. I am learning to be mentally tough and learning to be more aware of and staying in the phase I am in now.
I would love to hear your story as well. We are all in this together. Right? Email me back. Let’s chat.
How Not To Suck
Here’s an interesting thought. Picture an elite athlete who has reached the pinnacle of his or her success. They’ve accomplished the feat that most humans can’t even imagine to dream. Wouldn’t you think they’d now be completely free from the fear of failing, the sting of criticism and judgment, and ultimately have the power to rise above all the annoying hassles of life?
I mean, shouldn’t their continuous success and legendary status erase all doubt? Well, not according to a study that was done. Even with the fame and fortune that come with being a champion in their sport, success does not create happiness. The research and evidence suggest that even an Olympic gold medal does not protect you from the struggle.
Let’s deep dive into the research done in 1995 by a group of nerdy psychologists led by Thomas Gilvovich from Cornell University. They specifically studied silver medal winners vs. bronze medal winners. Surprisingly enough, the bronze medal winner appeared happier than those winning the silver. What the what? Why? It doesn’t make any sense.
The answer? One word. Expectations.
For Olympic athletes, they start off with such a low probability of winning a gold in an event that only happens once every four years, leading to life-changing possibilities… and added pressure. So for silver medalists, it means you lost to the winner. You are not the best, but the second best. You are the most successful loser.
Can you imagine missing the gold by .005 seconds? Feeling like just one more rep, one more hour of work, one less indulgent in-and-out double double with cheese fries could have made the difference. It can be devastating and hard to accept second place and move on without torturing yourself with “if only I could have…”
But for the bronze medalist? You are walking away with something. You get to stand on the podium. While you missed the ultimate goal of winning, the struggle to get there was worth it. Why? Expectations.
I am starting a new series this month. Let’s discuss and unpack the mental/psychology of success and happiness. Let’s look at high achievers and the rise and fall of highly motivated individuals with huge expectations of themselves. And for funzies, let’s do a challenge at the end of the series to help us do hard things and grow.
If you are asking what does this have to do with Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Business…etc…my answer to that is, everything. It all starts with you, so let’s all grow and learn together this month.
Back to managing our expectations. I believe there’s a way to set healthy, realistic and specifically-tailored goals that won’t lead to disappointment or frustration but keeps us challenged and motivated. It could be us directing our attention to process rather than outcome; it could be learning to embrace our failures; it could be practicing self-compassion and/or seeking support and help.
Please be ready to share your own thoughts and any wisdom you’ve found through the struggles – we’re all in this together! Not to overhype it, but this could end up being the beginning of the most important month of our lives. Or maybe to set the right expectations, let’s try to make it the 3rd most important month of our lives and be happy with that.
What Would You Say About Your Business In 60 Seconds?
Are you one of those people who fast-forward through commercials? I live with a person who does that (I won’t mention any names). But this person also listens to podcasts or YouTube videos at 1.5x or 2.0x the normal speed. She just wants the facts and she wants them as soon as possible.
But, back to commercials. If it’s a commercial I haven’t seen before or a commercial I want to see again, I’ll take over the remote and watch it like a normal show or a movie…with my full emotional attention and at the normal speed that it was intended to be experienced. But why such an obsession with watching commercials? Let’s think about that for a second.
If you were given an unlimited amount of money to spend and allowed 60 seconds to tell a story about your business that could influence behavior or create an emotional connection with your audience, what would you do?
I’ll tell you what I would do. I would first gather the most creative people I know. We would spend hours and hours defining the objective. Once that’s set, we would start brainstorming some outside-the-box ideas. Then, we would develop a script and create a storyboard along with other visual aids to help communicate the concept. We would then pitch the concept to everyone we know to make sure it aligns with our vision, brand, and goal. We would continue to revise and tweak the idea, and that would lead to even more ideas. This would go on and on until everyone is in agreement. Not only in agreement but beyond excited about the project.
Then the real work begins. Let’s talk about pre-production which includes selecting a location, casting actors or spokespersons, scheduling..yada yada yada. Then the actual production where we start filming. Lights, camera…action!! Now the post-production, where everything comes together…finalizing the commercial, adding the music, sounds, and special effects. Then finally, the distribution to our target audience through different platforms – TV, streaming video, social media, and all advertising channels. Are you exhausted?
What’s my point? The point is that thousands of hours were spent crafting this perfect idea and millions of dollars were spent making it and distributing it. And if all that time, money, and energy were condensed into a magical 60 seconds, do you think it’ll be good? It better be. It better be the most thought-provoking 60 seconds of my life. And it better make me cry! When that happens, I am not going to miss it nor watch it at 1.5x the speed. I am going to grab my popcorn, sit in my comfy chair with my fuzzy socks and give it my complete focus, with a Kleenex box on my lap.
Well, obviously, not every commercial will live up to that standard, no matter how much money they spent or the effort they put in. But once in a while, one will rise up and win my heart. And if you are following the “My Favorite” series this month, I am pleased to announce my Favorite Commercial of the Year – I love it so much that it’s earned this award two years in a row.
Here’s the Toyota Super Bowl Commercial.
You might be wondering… “What does this have to do with Toyota??” That’s actually the part I like the most.
At BOS Media, we always say the best marketing is about MAKING SOMEONE ELSE THE HERO. People don’t connect with companies who talk about how great they are – the key is for your customers to feel like they’re the great ones.
The commercial ends with the line: “We believe there is hope and strength in all of us.” That’s the message Toyota spent all that time and effort to deliver in their 60 seconds. This is bigger than a marketing slogan – it’s a true story, and ultimately it’s the reason we’re talking about Toyota for two years in a row.
Here’s to finding a story that will touch the hearts of our customers and help them be the hero in 2023. “It might not be easy, but it’ll be amazing.”
My Favorite Lesson I Learned Last Year
Have you heard of the term “Tiger effect”? It represents the countless ways that one person (Tiger Woods) completely changed the game of golf and its industry as a whole.
The tournaments that he played in had to prepare for quadruple the number of spectators that showed up to watch; the concession stand had to inventory additional pallets of beverages and food to accommodate for the crowd; the tournament winning purses skyrocketed; TV ratings went up; data shows that even the competing players achieved above-average results in their effort to keep up with the incredible standard he set for competitive play. Also, he made the game cool.
So, you can imagine what the scene was like when he finally came back to play after a tragic car accident that left him permanently injured, questioning whether he’d ever play again. The crowd just went crazy. They watched his every move, recorded his every swing, and followed everywhere he went, fighting for the spot to have the best position to record him doing his magic.
I mean come on, once you’ve got that on your phone, you can basically tell the whole world what you saw and what you captured through your Instagram or your Twitter account, right? You could be the next viral post that becomes a trending icon…who knows, maybe someone will turn your video into a meme and you’ll be a legend, passing on your digital imprint throughout the history of mankind. Who wouldn’t want that?
Meet Mark. Look at the photo taken above – Mark is the one without the phone. He’s the one who’s fully present, enjoying the moment and soaking in the awe of what that moment represents. No phone. Just Mark…and his Michelob Ultra Beer.
I have to confess, I am not Mark. I am the other guy that always gets asked to “put your phone down” because I am too busy documenting the moment rather than being in it. The lesson I learned is that you can’t do both. Trust me, I tried. I tried to be in the moment and document it at the same time. It just doesn’t work that way. You have to choose one or the other.
Going forward, I choose to be in the moment.
On a side note, very quickly, the marketing folks at Michelob saw the opportunity and went with it. Here’s their brilliant 15 second commercial highlighting my favorite lesson I learned. Also, see the below video of The Sports ON Tap youtube channel commentating on the entire event.
If you are like me, be Mark. Embrace the now. If you are in marketing, be Michelob and make a commercial out of it. It’s a win/win.
Joy is living in the moment. If you need more proof, let’s get together and talk about it over a Michelob Ultra sometime.
Surprising Logo Rebrand
For those of you following my weekly emails, we just got into a series on “My Favorite Things.” And as a marketing agency, I am super pumped to present my next winner.
The category? Best Logo Rebrand.
Yes, that’s right, which company spent hours and hours researching the new trends, came up with their development plan and spent millions implementing it across the various touchpoints to enhance their customer experience and image? Or should I say, which company strategically engaged a humorous and ridiculous satire and took it to another level? Well, McDonald’s did.
As background to this hilarious story, let me introduce Emily Zugay. She graduated from University of Wisconsin with a degree in Animation & Digital Media. Before she became a famous “logo designer,” she was busy working on her side business called Pet Portrait Outpost where she paints people’s pets. She downloaded TikTok during quarantine as a joke and started posting silly videos. On these videos, she talks in a monotone voice with complete seriousness yet presents the most hideous, childish and absurd rebranding ideas. She even purposefully mispronounces the names of obvious brands. (i.e. she calls the NFL “NaFal”) Hahaha! Through this comedy act, she captured the hearts of many. Well, actually, millions. 3.9 million to be more accurate.
Not only that, many of these brands have responded and even changed their social media profiles to her new design…let me show you one.
Look at their profile image, and what they posted…”thx for the new logo” – is that funny or what?
So, why am I even sharing this? Why is this important to the rest of us? Because the rules have changed when it comes to marketing. It used to be: be professional, look polished, speak smart, be excellent, appear competent…then you’ll be noticed and you’ll be trusted. Now it’s simply: be you, be human. Social media has changed the landscape. Allowing us to be us and allowing a huge brand like McDonald’s to be just like us too. A human to human connection. We’ve cracked the corporate barrier.
Well, let me take that back, maybe the rules never changed. Maybe this just re-emphasizes what we knew all along. The best rule of marketing is: you be you. Be creative, work hard and be your authentic self. No matter what.
Here are some of her other iconic re-brands…pay attention to all the comments she received. They even offer her a job.
- McDonalds, NFL, Amazon & Doritos.
- 7-11, Disney, UFC, Camping World and AT&T.
- Ohio State, Root Insurance, Fortnite, blk. Windows (FYI Microsoft Windows only follows one account, hers).
I’ll close with a question: “What’s your story?” That might be the most important thing for business owners and entrepreneurs to answer. It will help you set priorities, give customers a clear understanding of your identity, and when you feel lost, it will be the North Star to guide you home (much like “Disey’s” new logo).
Your story matters. The good and the bad, the changes and the core level non-negotiables that you are willing to fight for. Remember who you are, and be more human! The more you do, the more others will be inspired to join in and play along with you.
Raindrops On Roses
Do you know what I love? Let me tell you. I love raindrops on roses. Or how about whiskers on kittens?…so cute. In my kitchen, I like bright copper kettles, and don’t forget my warm woolen mittens on cold winter days. And if you knew me, you would know that I love gifts, especially when they come in brown paper packages all tied up with strings. And I guess you could say, these are a few of my favorite things.
Sound familiar?
I am dedicating this month to reflect on some stuff and give you a little insight and inspiration on what I found to be “my favorite things.” Let’s kick it off this week with the category, “The favorite thing I watched.” I know what you are thinking – looking back at a year of TV, movies, silly videos, all the stuff we streamed when we probably should have been doing something else. Take a second to scan through your memory of the most impactful movie that moved you, or the most educational YouTube video that taught you a skill, or the funniest TikTok that you forwarded to all your friends that was so relatable you couldn’t resist.
Before I reveal the favorite thing I watched, let me first tell you about the happiest, least stressful, most meaningful jobs, places and activities in America. It’s an analysis from the data collected from Bureau of Labor Statistics’s American Time Use Survey to find out what brought people the most happiness. Happiest Jobs? Agriculture, logging and forestry have the highest level of self-reported happiness and the lowest level of self-reported stress. Happiest Places? Outdoors ranked at the top of the list. Researchers across the social and medical sciences have found an undeniable link between mental health and green space. It also kinda relates to forestry and agriculture, don’t you think? Happiest activities? Sports, exercise and recreation…green fields and such…hmmm, golf anyone?
So, why am I sharing all that? Because our family got to spend a lot of time outdoors last year. And we ended up living by this phrase every time we went out for a new adventure: “Never miss a sunset.”
Picture the scene as we quietly walk along the the soft sand feeling the warm yet refreshing sensation with every step. The beach is quiet, no one is in sight and all I hear is the soothing rhythm of the waves. We timed it perfectly as we sat down in front of the camp fire, the sun starts to cast a golden glow. Then it happened. The sky darkened and the colors deepened…the clouds took on the firery red and orange tint. And those same colors began to reflect on the water…vivid and vibrant. Beautiful and serene. I took a deep breath.
Oh, and I also took a picture. See above.
That was the favorite thing I watched, and as I share, I hope it will encourage you to share as well. What was the favorite thing you watched last year? What brought you inspiration? What taught you something significant? What made you belly laugh? What impacted you in a way that might change the trajectory of your life or your perspective?
I can’t wait to share some more favorites. Because when the dog bites, or the bee stings, or when I’m feeling sad, I don’t know about you but sometimes all I have to do is remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad. Someone should write a song about that.
Can’t wait to chat more next week!
Why Slack Is Better Than Texting
I don’t know if some of you can relate, but I remember waiting in line with a quarter in my hand so I could call my mom from a public payphone. I also remember flipping through the pages of the phone book attached to a cable in the phone booth trying to find the nearest auto mechanic shop to get my car towed. Those were the good ol days…NOT.
We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? I mean, come on, I used to walk over to the TV to change the channel for my older sister who loved bossing me around. She still bosses me around but now I can just hand her the remote.
Communication is an essential part of our business, our society, and our lives as a whole. And technology really has advanced to help make it easier. If I had to highlight the one tool we use most here at BOS Media for communication, it’s definitely Slack.
What is Slack? Well, it’s like a messaging app specifically for business. Wait, doesn’t email do that? Yes, but not like Slack.
Slack truly brings people together to work as one unified team…it has revolutionized the way organizations, teams and even individuals communicate.
Why do we love it? First of all, for the same reason so many of us prefer texting: it’s immediate. Conversations can go back and forth without missing a beat. But if it’s just like texting, why not just text? Why download a fancy app? Because of all these key functionalities they bring to the table:
- SLACK stands for “Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge” – they built this app to make it super easy to search conversations. Have you ever scrolled up and down for days on your iMessage trying to find that one line someone said that was so funny? Not so fun right? Slack’s search capabilities are very powerful and easy.
- Slack has channels. God bless the channels. It’s a brilliant way to organize your conversations. You can create all kinds of different channels and bring specific people into that channel to start a conversation. For instance, we have a channel called “BOS-Operations” – this is where we submit ideas and complaints about how we currently do things and suggest ways we can improve upon them.
- Slack is non-intrusive. Seems like texting your boss during cocktail hours can seem intrusive, and believe me, it is. But, slacking during any hour just seems legit. This is what Slack calls “supporting asynchronous work” – it’s a fancy term that means no matter your location, time zone, or function, you can access the information you need on your own time. You can ask questions, get caught up and share updates without having to coordinate schedules. What? Cut down meetings to schedule more meetings? I’m in!
- Slack has a great user interface. It’s pretty and easy to use. It’s simple to set up and you can use it on your phone, your desktop, your tablet…you just can’t use it on a rotary phone with a quarter..sorry.
- It’s free. There are paid versions but we’ve been using it the free one for years. Thanks Slack.
Well, this finalizes our kickoff to 2023 on the Apps and Software we believe will help improve your processes in the year ahead!
Here’s a quick recap of the tools we recommend:
- Typeform – Online Form Builder
- Monday.com – Project Management
- Freshbooks – Accounting
- Slack – Communication
I hope this series has helped get your January started right. That’s part of the mission here at BOS Media – doing our part to make you more efficient, more productive and ultimately setting your business up to shine! If there’s anything I can do to support you in that, find the nearest payphone and give me a call!
Beyond Just A Great Dude
If you are following our series this month, it’s about highlighting the best online app or software I use for my business that I hope can help you too. First was Typeform. Second was Monday.com, and today, I am pleased to present: Freshbooks.
I was introduced to Freshbooks through a friend who was using Quickbooks as an accounting software for his business and wanted something a little more user-friendly and less expensive. He loved it and sent me a link to do a free trial just to check it out. I think what drew me to start using Freshbooks wasn’t necessarily the user-interface, ease of invoicing or even the recurring invoicing tool – it was how they made me feel once I started their free trial.
First of all, I started learning about the history of Freshbooks. Like most entrepreneurial endeavors, it started out as a dream, back when the co-founder Mike McDerment was a website designer and developer (sound familiar?). One of the tasks they were constantly having trouble doing well in-house was invoicing. He was creating digital invoices from a Word Document and Excel Spreadsheet… it didn’t quite provide the automation he needed, so he decided with his website-building talent, he would create his own. This turned into a full-time passion, which he ended up working on until it was finally launched. After two years and full effort in growing Freshbooks, he had 9 customers paying $9.99.month. They were making $100/month for the four of them. So, do you know what you do when you start a company and it only makes $100/month after two years? That’s right, you move into your parents basement. And that’s exactly what he did.
Since then, Freshbooks has earned a unicorn status as a privately held startup company with a value over $1 Billion. They now serve over 30 million small business clients in 160 countries. Wow!!
I think their humble beginnings allowed them to relate to business owners like me in a deep way. They really understood who I was and what I was struggling with each day. In fact, as soon as I signed up, they sent me a free book called “Breaking the Time Barrier” which taught me about knowing and charging my worth for my company and had great stories of how to overcome the daily struggles of an entrepreneur. It felt like he knew me. I just looked it up, looks like he’s still giving the book away but in a digital form now – here’s the link.
Aside from my emotional connection to Freshbooks, these are the additional reasons why I have stayed with them for the last 7 years:
- Second to none customer care: Honestly, these guys are amazing. They win awards every year for their incredible customer support. In fact, they promise that when you call, a real human will always answer. Which is crazy to me. And trust me, I’ve called them numerous times for technical questions or even some issues I am having. And sure enough, after a couple of rings, someone always answers the phone…”Hello, Freshbooks, can I help you?”
- I think Freshbooks has the easiest and the most intuitive recurring invoice feature. You can set up multiple ways to automate your billing, so you can easily receive your scheduled payment securely and fast. This feature really sold me.
- Everything about the Freshbooks platform speaks to small business entrepreneurs. It knows how we think because it’s built by the people that get us. Also, it’s very affordable (that alone shows they truly understand my priorities).
- Automated reminders. You can set your unpaid invoices to send out friendly reminders for payment. This really cuts down a lot of manual work on your end.. and you still get paid.
It’s funny – once upon a time, my Freshbooks journey started when a friend sent me a link for a free 30-Day trial… and today the tables have turned. Now I’m honored to be that friend for you! If you are interested in changing your accounting software or if you are ready to finally stop using Excel for your invoicing, here’s a link to a free 30-day trial of Freshbooks!
Hope you love it as much as I do!
The Best Tool We Use For Project Collaboration
Have you ever used a formula that starts with “=VLOOKUP”? I am guessing some of your eyes just lit up. Some of you are ready to hit the reply button to tell me you know exactly what I am talking about, and you want to commiserate together about the hours of painful memories trying to figure out how to make this formula display the results correctly.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s a formula used in Excel spreadsheets that lets you search an entire database to look for something very specific, which you can then use to find an Approximate (TRUE) or an Exact (FALSE) match….blah blah blah.
What’s my point? My point is that I love Excel. I love spreadsheets. I love the simplicity of how it functions, and the complexity that allows you to manipulate your data toward any result you want. It’s brilliant. In fact, it’s so brilliant, I know many people that use it for almost every function in their business. Client list, project status, project budget, and even their day-to-day work.
Is this you?
Confession: I created a monstrous formulated database on Excel that I input all my stats after a round of golf and it spits out all the goals I hit, all the goals I didn’t hit, and a list of what I need to work on. In fact, it calculates 25 different aspects of my game and tells me how I am doing in each. Ridiculous, right? Or…brilliant?
Well, going along with the “Best of” series this month about all the business tools we use, I would like to introduce a tool we use at BOS Media Group that I love even more: MONDAY.com.
What do I love about MONDAY… where do I begin? First of all, it looks and acts just like Excel, but even prettier and much more intuitive – seriously, you gotta check it out for yourself. Again, I am not an affiliate and do not make any money promoting these products. I just want to pass along what has helped me simplify my life as an entrepreneur.
Features I love about MONDAY.com:
- Collaboration: Okay, yes, Excel lacks collaboration but Google Sheets (an online spreadsheet that Google basically stole the idea from Microsoft to create as their own) figured out a way for teams, clients, or anyone else you share the document with to collaborate together. But MONDAY takes it to another level. It allows you to assign tasks to others, create conversations, provide feedback, and even approve changes. It’s a full collaboration tool for any project. Find out more about the collaboration here.
- Automation: Interestingly enough, everyone that’s used MONDAY says this is what sets it apart. So, practically, how is automation used? Great question – here’s a simple example of something built into a project called “status.” Let’s say the project manager assigned to this project changes the status from “pending clients approval” to “client approved.” You can create a simple automation where as soon as the project manager makes that change, MONDAY notifies the rest of the team and sends an email out to the client with the next steps. Pretty cool, eh? Another example of automation: when you assign a task and it gets completed, it could automate another task and assign it. That way, if you are the boss, you can keep your team busy for days while you are playing golf. Hahaha. Find out more about Automation here.
- Integration: It works with a bunch of other apps and software you might currently be using. For instance, Slack, Zoom, Outlook, Gmail, Dropbox, Calendar, etc. Why is this important? Because MONDAY wasn’t created to replace something you currently like working with and are familiar with, it helps connect everything in one place and helps you do your job more effectively and efficiently. Find out more about Integrations here.
One last thing I love about it is the name. MONDAY. This might sound weird to some of the haters out there, but Monday is actually my favorite day! I like to say that Monday is basically the New Year’s Day of every week – it’s the beginning of a new adventure, and a reminder that our work is not something we HAVE TO do, it’s something we GET TO do. Loving Mondays is really about loving your normal, daily life!
If that sounds nerdy, maybe you just need to try MONDAY.com… I hope this is the year you discover just how magical Monday can be!