Lessons from the Field

It wasn't necessarily a unique week... In any given week, I go from topic to topic and business to business.  I’m perpetually on the phone or Zoom focused on business / strategy / growth situations as well as always looking to increase my learning too.

Some of my Master’s students recently asked me to share some of the key takeaways from a typical week, so here are 5 nuggets I can share from last week:

The $1M Santa Business

I discussed a podcast from last year about "Santa’s Club," a Cameo-like service where parents could book a 5-minute video call with Santa for $75.

They operate only during the holidays and do 15,000 sessions.

That’s over $1M in just two months, with a majority of their sessions selling out in advance.

It’s a fascinating business model that got me thinking about how to further incorporate other seasonal opportunities into additional growth.

Content Needs Marketing

Spending $25,000 on quality content but almost nothing on marketing it?

The result: nothing.

Quality content doesn’t self-promote… and this is when I get called in to help.

Without an effective content marketing strategy, even the best content has little economic value.

It’s a critical reminder that content marketing must be planned and executed across paid, owned, and earned media to achieve real results.

Podcasting is Easy to Start, Hard to Sustain

Recording a podcast is simple; sustaining a quality one is not.

I recently ran a summit with a variety of podcast-like interviews and may be continuing down this path with more. It was fun, but a lot of work.

As podcasts gain popularity, it’s essential to have the resources to build awareness, grow your audience, find guests, edit content, and analyze performance.

That’s a heavy ask in terms of resources. Then… after laying this foundation, you can focus on profitability.

It’s no wonder most podcasts don’t last beyond 8 months.

Success Through Simplicity

I discussed a Twitter/X account with an owner who built a massive audience by making finance and investing really easy to understand.

I have over 30 years of experience in this niche, tend to think in terms of the more complex topics in this space and completely overlooked the demand that existed for basic insight.

This is a great reminder that success doesn’t always need to be complicated—sometimes, simplicity is the key.

The Power of Niche Expertise

In a conversation with a business owner I’ve known for a long time, we defined his expertise in terms of a very specific niche.

This topic had never come up between us before and I quickly came to realize why.  The topic wasn’t an easy one to address.  He tended to focus on a broad audience.  However, the more we dug deep into what he achieved for specific audiences, the tighter the definition of the niche.

I was actually pretty impressed by our outcome. The game plan from here for him is to shift his focus to be the go-to expert in this niche, tighten up his funnel for that and filter out deals that don’t fit his “sweet spot.”

The riches can be found in the niches… if you can tighten up your focus.

Growth takes many forms. If these insights resonate with you and you feel you could use some help in any area, book a discovery call with us and let’s talk about your current challenges.

Chris and Jon