Let’s play a game. Imagine you’re selling a high-end insulated travel mug. ⁣ ⁣Who’s your customer?⁣ CeCe. 38. Coffee lover. Married. MBA. Commutes from the suburbs to her corporate job in the city. Household income > $150K.⁣ Erin. 38. Coffee lover. Married. Masters Degree. Commutes from the suburbs to her…

Ideal Customer Discovery is the foundational messaging work that every business should do. It’s the most underrated, underestimated, secret sauce skill for growing your business. It informs who you sell to, how you sell, and even what you sell. It makes all the other things easier — like sales copy…

One of the most common misconceptions about Ideal Customer Discovery is that you need to know all the nitty-gritty details of our Ideal Customer’s personality and lifestyle. Ummm, maybe. No offense, but for my Ideal Customer, I don’t care if you drive a Range Rover and love the Real Housewives…

IDEAL CUSTOMER Your Ideal Customer is the sweet spot where your expertise, your style and the things your customer cares about relative to your product intersect. WHY IT MATTERS A deep understanding of your Ideal Customer is the most powerful tool you have to grow your business. It’s the one…

Ideal Customer Avatar, or ICA, is a very common term, especially in the online marketing space. Or sometimes folks will talk about their “target market.” I’m not a big fan of the term avatar or target market. They are impersonal. And that’s dangerous. The moment you slap one of those…

Summer in Central Texas means months of long, hot, dry days. Temperatures regularly soar above 100 degrees and by late July the Earth will crack right open, begging to be quenched. Relief comes, eventually, and usually in the form of a torrential downpour. Without warning that well-prayed-for rain can turn…

Please note: This post covers the subjects of pregnancy and loss. That’s me in the picture above. December 2002. Wearing my bulkiest sweater and trying my best to create the illusion of more than a tiny 10 week baby bump. Oh, the adventures Baby D and I had already shared…

Always bring a pencil to class. Take an umbrella. Do your research. BE PREPARED (bee-pri-paird) verb a command, threat or warning. Disobey at your own peril. But imagine for a moment… You forget your pencil. You get caught in a downpour without your umbrella. …

I’m writing this in response to a conversation between Tim Ferriss and Mike Maples. Before I start, if Mike or Tim is reading, I want this part to be unmissable: THANK YOU. To Mike for being inclusive and kind and generous. To Tim for his endless curiosity. I was flipping…