You can choose how to react to life. You can choose good over bad, that’s up to you.

During a flight last week, while standing in line for the toilet, I felt something grab my hand. It was a baby.

Looking up at me, smiling and firmly holding my thumb, I thought: he knows nothing about me, my life, or where I come from, yet he felt safe. We often forget that babies don’t hate. We teach them to.

With everything going on in the world, and when things don’t turn out as planned, it’s our daily choice not to hate.

In today’s Storyletter:
• A marketing plan is just Lego blocks.
• Riding away - vacation time
• Fun Stuff – Weekend Vibes

Key learning

Modern-day marketing is a lot like building LEGO. The difference is you don’t always know what you want to build, and your blocks keep changing.

But what if you start by defining one building block at a time?

“We have too many things, not enough time, and there are so many moving parts. Having you onboard is just creating more work for us.” That’s how the conversation started with a new client.

I’m always happy when people start by saying there is too much to do and not enough time. It’s a simple equation. What if we decide to rebuild it from scratch?

Now we have endless time compared to before. What is the first and most important building block?

We define one win. What is the best thing we can create that gives value to users while helping us create structure?

Most companies have a newsletter, and it usually isn’t great, so it’s a strong anchor. A webinar is also great.

First, we define the goals of the newsletter. I like aiming for an open rate above 40 percent because it allows us to cut out the dead weight.
Who wouldn’t want a newsletter with numbers like that, right? It is a reminder that the real metric is people who read, not people who receive. You want a thousand fans, not ten thousand email addresses.

Around the newsletter we build a plan with three items: value, ask, and general.
Value: give them something worth their time so they open the email.
Ask: offer something you can sell. Make it interesting, and be clear that this is the sales portion.
General: a tip, an old video, something fun, like I have here.

This email can also help you share upcoming events in another section.

Now our main anchor is ready. We can plan ahead, add blog posts, resurface older videos, and plan what else is needed. The idea is to have one thing, plan it, build around it, and create the system.

We are adding the hours needed and defining how we want to build, instead of letting that overwhelming feeling take over all the time.

Do a few things, improve them, and create the system that helps you run them faster. Focus on two things:

1. Measure and improve.

2. Slowly add items to your plan.

One of my clients allowed me to lead the plan. We went from complete chaos to having our marketing materials in place, improving the content and the website, launching a newsletter, and next month, a webinar. Oh, and their short videos are almost ready. From too many things to do, we moved to doing the right things, the right way.

What’s your plan? Feeling overwhelmed? Start again with one thing, then build on top. Remember, do not create something that can only be used once. Each piece of content should serve you in at least two places and have the potential to appear again later in the year.

Not sure what’s next? Reply to this email.

Building in public

The Halfway Point

The halfway point. It’s the best and the worst in one moment.

If you are reading this, we have just finished our first week of country riding in South Africa. I’m thrilled I took the chance to go on this trip, to celebrate the wins and the hard work.

It’s also halfway, which means that in less than two weeks I’ll be launching my license model (a quiet launch, just you and a few friends). But being away means I don’t know how things are going on the other side, and to be honest, that’s causing a bit of stress.

I miss home, or rather, my girlfriend. Being away again reminded me that I’m fine with traveling and calling my duffle bag home, until there is someone I care about. That changes everything. I love what I do and rarely need a vacation because of burnout. Now, though, I feel like I want to go back to work to build something. More than that, I want to go back to build something with her.

And that, my friends, is a great feeling. One I have been working toward for the past year and a half. When I decided to change my life, it started with very little effort, just an idea (soon a book). But now, seeing it come to life, I feel proud of myself, motivated, and hungry to get more things done.

And I have writing to thank for that. What started as a one-day file has turned into over 450,000 words of me, myself, and I trying to figure out the world, where we want to go, and how we will get there.

A lot of this project has been about being open, taking chances, and having less fear. One week to enjoy, and some crazy times are coming up.

What are you hoping to achieve before this year is over?

Just for Fun

Chill & Enjoy

🎧 Music
This week’s newsletter was created while listening to Ross One at 214 Mulberry. Listen

🎬 When Netflix Met Film Noire
I love French movies and adore history, so it only seems right that I’ll enjoy this. And you? Watch

🍿 They Are Back
Gotta love this duo. They’ve been together since Good Will Hunting in 1997. Watch

Resources

📺 How to win the SEO game and AI search in 2025 - Full episode here

💡 The Business Storytelling Guide - A complete guide on how to implement storytelling to improve your business quickly. Available here 

📕 My Amazon best-selling book F*ck The Slides - How to Create a Winning Pitch. Available here: Kindle/Print/Audio

📺 My YOUTUBE Channel: Interviews, tips and some fun content Available here