“Don’t forget about me.”

I haven’t. But enough people did. John was friendly, and passionate, and had a great location for his service-based business which filled a need.

And John invited people. In a bunch of ways. There is, you might have heard, only so much money for advertising. But John didn’t want to miss anyone. At least, not all of the time. And so he jumped from a bit of this to a bit of that. Some signage, some flyers, the occasional radio spot. Community sponsorship too, of course. He understood that he could not talk to everyone all the time. But he was convinced he could bounce around enough to remind all people everywhere about his business.

He loved the excitement of something bright, shiny, and new that just might work better than the last shiny new possibility.

Change and movement feel like we are going forward. It is the wind in our hair.

The daydreams of the ultimate “moving” sale or better yet “grand opening” event are endless! But a business owner ready to sink their teeth into success does not keep moving locations, even for that rush of change and “what if….” Not even successful food trucks move all the time. They fight over and guard a stable location.

Business owners looking for a crowbar lever to the next floor know changing an address does not serve sustainable growth. You sign the lease – or the mortgage papers, set up shop, and flip that sign on the door to Open. And you stay.

I left home at 18 to get a job and figure it out. University was not an option but I had a cheque for $500, $140 bucks, and change and it was a Saturday in late August. A perfect day to pack everything I owned into my Red Chevy Nova 3 on the tree 4 door and head to the not really big but kinda big city 2 hours away. My sister rode shotgun.

We found my first apartment, a one-bedroom basement suite, and the caretaker let me move in that day even though I wouldn’t have the damage deposit until the banks opened on Monday. I paid him cash for the last week and a half of the month and only just realized that he no doubt pocketed the cash and let me move in, telling the apartment owner that he had a renter for the beginning of September.

Hmmmmm.

Of course, on Monday, no bank would cash my cheque until I called the small town bank where it was drawn from. First, I had gone with the very hyper-friendly caretaker who offered to vouch for me at his bank, but it turns out he was really overdrawn on his account.

I did have a full tank of gas because I had taken the last bit of cash I had and filled up – I explained to my sister that we needed to make sure not to run out of gas and we didn’t. But we were a bit hungry until the cheque cleared on Monday. Rent was $217 a month so I was job hunting right away and put my writing career in neutral.

I lived in a bunch of places over a few short years, moving for a bunch of reasons, buying a lot of beer and pizza for friends with trucks, and patching a lot of nail holes with bits of toothpaste (always use white- not peppermint).

I loved the basement suite I rented from an old woman with a hump on her back which I heated by keeping the oven door open and sitting on a chair close by with a book in my lap reading and imagining that one day I would have a fireplace. And a pool. And a puppy. And be a writer.

I didn’t write or read or study or live nearly as much as I could have. I was moving around too much.

Marketing decisions are the same.

Stop moving around, here, there, everywhere. There is only so much money, remember? And even if you can keep cutting checks for every earnest marketing guru with an idea for you, just stop.

As I told John, pick someone to work with. Even if it isn’t me. Roy Williams is right – trying to talk to everyone, everywhere means you will be forgotten by almost everyone when they finally need who you and your business are.

Work on your business. Make a decision to handle your marketing in a specific way, and move on. Trust someone to do your marketing. Trust yourself to grow your business. Pick someone who has a vested interest in your success. Believe in someone who believes enough in your business to be paid according to how you grow. Who? If you are on this site, reading this blog, you already know.

Don’t jump all over. A Wizard of Ads partner will create a plan and a team based on what you have created and what you envision.

A business that no one will forget.

Hire us.

Don’t keep losing your damage deposit.

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