Don’t lick the wall

My favorite Saturday morning involves making a pot of coffee and reading the email newsletters I enjoy, which I snooze throughout the week so they won’t distract me.

This is my idea gathering ritual, which serves as both a failsafe and puzzle-working exercise:

• Remember what you already know.
• Simultaneously, step outside of knowing it so you can better understand and empathize with people you’re trying to serve.
• By reconnecting with their desires and problems, you begin solving your own (by creating an offer they want).
• Add missing pieces to the puzzle.
• Slowly, a complete picture emerges.

Revelation can look like a shower of insight. It can also look like the very next stepping stone bathed in light.

If you’re not solving your problems quickly, chances are, you’re not spending enough time reading, listening, and thinking. Start an idea gathering ritual.

Keep reading ?

Has your marketing been inconsistent (or nonexistent)?

I've been there myself. A series of insights jarred me awake:

• Many problems with freelancing disappear if you have a surplus of leads.
• The only way to generate that surplus is to market consistently.
• The only way to market consistently is to develop a habit.

And the only way to keep the habit is to do it first thing in the morning, so you won't put it off, and shrink the commitment until it sticks.

So the commitment isn't "marketing" but "I send 1 outreach email a day before 9:00am, Monday through Friday."

You can always expand the scope later, but the habit must stick first.

Do you have an "always be marketing" practice?

If not, buy Morning Marketing Habit for $149.

The lessons are short, less than 10 minutes. Watch them, do the exercises, and make 1 small deposit in your future self (and business) each day.

In 6 weeks you can be in a very different place.

About Austin L. Church

Hi, I'm Austin L. Church, a writer, marketing consultant, and business coach.

I started freelancing in 2009 after finishing my M.A. in Literature and getting laid off from a marketing agency. Freelancing led to a portfolio of mobile apps, tech startup, children's book, branding studio, and consulting practice.

Over the last 15 years, I've made north of $1.8 million as a creative entrepreneur, and looking back, I see so many missed opportunities.

That's why I'm so passionate about stacking up specific advantages and teaching freelancers, consultants, and creators how to do the same.

I want more of us to find our income-lifestyle sweet spot.

You can learn more at FreelanceCake.com.