I woke up yesterday and did what I always do.
I put on my gear up for the elements, laced up my Hoka’s, put on my Apple Watch and hit the pavement.
I love running because it serves a dual benefit for me.
It gives me a chance to stay physically active during quarantine and it helps provide tremendous mental health benefits.
When I run I try not to think about work and priorities, but inevitably they always pop into my brain around mile 3.
I start thinking about what’s on the agenda for the day, what conversations that I need to prepare for, and ultimately how I’m going to help push The Juice forward.
Thinking about work interrupts those mental health benefits, right?
I know. I'm working on it.
Running gives me the confidence that I am starting off every day in the right mindset.
It’s been the best habit that I’ve built into my professional workflow.
Also, it helps me understand that if you tackle one of the toughest challenges of your day in the first hour of being awake then everything else is gravy.
I’ve recently learned that there is a name for this type of behavior.
It’s called “Eating the Frog”.
I didn’t realize that I was consuming an amphibian by doing something that I’ve learned to love as my first task in the morning, but I understand the gimmick.
Brand it. Sell some books. People adopt it in masses.
It’s really smart marketing and makes a lot of sense to me since unpacking its meaning.
Your task doesn’t need to be running.
It can be reading.
It can be writing.
It can be joining November Project
It can be practicing public speaking.
It can be getting out of bed earlier.
It should be personalized for you, but making it a habit will make you a more productive person.
I’ve shared the benefits of what running first thing in the morning does for me, but want to give perspective on how there’s a ripple effect that makes me a better marketer.
Eating the frog helps me set the best expectations for the work that I produce.
It helps drive more creativity, better communication, greater listening, and extreme adaptability.
Find your frog and eat it. You’ll be a better marketer, sales professional, or operator in whatever role you are in.
Here are 3 things that I’ve inherited from eating the frog that helps me be a better B2B marketer every day:
- Skepticism
You know that saying, “If it’s too good to be true then it probably is?"
This is the lens that I view all marketing through these days.
When I take off my B2B marketing hat I always try to put on my B2B marketing consumer hat.
I study experiences and if there is a funny stop along the way I start digging in to see if I can understand the why behind the decision that the company made to interrupt my path to learning.
Bad content experiences only pour gasoline on my skepticism.
I think putting in the work on the self-care side does wonders for the professional mindset.
It’s easy to be lazy and whenever I’m hit with content built for machines and not people, bad lead gen campaigns, or god forbid a form I become even more skeptical.
I used to think skepticism was a bad quality. It can be viewed as the counter to optimism.
I’ve always thought of myself as an optimistic person, but putting yourself through experiences that are challenging that form good habits can make anyone a bit grizzled.
It’s not a bad thing.
If I was optimistic about everything that was happening in B2B marketing then I doubt I would be working for The Juice.
Skepticism is a quality that can help in ideation, creation, and definitely feedback.
It doesn’t matter your role or your company size.
We should always be thinking about ways to refine processes for ourselves and the companies that we support.
Skepticism should be welcomed in B2B marketing.
- Conflict is a good thing
I used to not want to ruffle feathers internally. My goal has always been to build and develop good relationships with the people that I work with.
I always viewed creating conflict as an obstacle to achieving strong connections.
I was wrong and have seen the light since I started eating the frog every day.
Conflict creates discussion and these conversations can lead to progress.
I’ve never worked in a company of 5 that didn’t have a product yet.
I’m pretty sure I can speak for Jonathan, Eric, Alaina, and Tony that they’ve never experienced working in this type of environment either.
In the last few months there have been some of the most spirited conversations around sales, product, and even the design of our brand.
It’s been awesome and has led to tremendous progress for our business.
Confidence is a key ingredient to good conflict and it’s achievable when you are kicking ass and taking names before the sun comes up.
- Be a top performer and expect to work around top performers
The Juice is a mighty 5, but we are going to expand soon .
I mean like real soon. We just put out a JD for an Account Executive this week.
Know any good sales people who like to work with a bunch of marketers?
I’m not sure what they do, but I have full confidence that the rest of my team eats some sort of frog every day like me.
We are operating at a high clip in a virtual environment and oddly enough I can feel the energy.
We are all working through a myriad of priorities and communicating our work out daily.
I’ve quickly realized that my expectations are very high when it comes to the people that I am working around.
It’s all about standing for something and busting ass to bring it to life.
We are doing that here at The Juice and I am working around some bad asses.
People that want to take down f*cking forms.
I’m ‘bout that.
