April 15, 2021

I inked a new deal, two new hot leads fell into my lap and I'm 99% sure they're gonna close, and I finally finished the giant "how to write good SEO copy" blog post I've been working on all week.

I don't talk about my business much on here because a) this is my personal blog and b) I assume you guys don't wanna know about it, but I feel like my agency is on a real upswing lately and that feels really fucking good and I wanna talk about that.

I've been hearing from a lot of people that the stuff we say about

focusing on good content 
providing value 
and being strategy and process-driven
really resonates with them

and that feels great because those are my values being expressed through my agency.

Also I learned we have a reputation for being positive and helpful.

Last Friday one of the owners of the big, old agencies in town called me up and (after venting for several minutes)

asked me for help with Facebook.

I LOVE THIS. 

I love that the owner of a place I sent a resume to out of university called me for help

I love that I'm considered enough of a subject matter expert to be the one to call

I love that he felt comfortable enough with me to talk about how he felt

and I LOVE that I have a reputation as someone people can call up out of the blue and ask for help.

What a life I lead.

What's weird about being in this position is that I never thought I'd be here.

I didn't want to be a business owner

I never wanted this kind of responsibility and pressure

I never thought I would be comfortable with the spotlight, or with monetizing my craft the way that I have

but a few years ago I was listening to a podcast and one of the hosts said a famous Andy Warhol quote that changed things for me. Here's how it goes:

"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art."

When I heard it I felt like a light switched on in my head because — eureka! — I had a framework for understanding what I was trying to do.

Because what is art, anyway?

Art is creative output
Art is helping people and doing good
Art is creating something out of nothing
Art is being true to yourself and leading with your values

Art is about adding meaning and leaving your mark on this world before your memory is lost to the void of time.

I want my business to be all of those things. It is all of those things.

And the fact that I can articulate that in our marketing and speaking and consulting I do

and it resonates with people and makes them want to work with us

is the best damn feeling I could ask for.