I probably did a terrible job of kind of pre introducing this, but the story of the lightning strike to me is this. We did this one thing and it made us a million dollars. We did this one, there's Giuliani one webinar, and you will do six fingers or, um, this ad converts for every business, it will, you know, grow your business. You only need one app, uh, or this email series template, um, guaranteed whatever results, right? So these are all pitches from frankly guys like me or gals like me, um, that I would like to distance myself from right now because I don't believe it. Uh, frankly, I don't think there's any, I don't think there's lightning strikes now. That's I don't want to say that there aren't, because guess what, there also are, there are shark attacks and there are plane crashes and there are hurricanes and there are tornadoes. 

So there are these things and in marketing, yeah, there are, is no question. There are times when somebody hits one out of the park, it does happen. However, for most of us and statistically for, you know, the vast majority of marketing projects in general, lightning doesn't strike like that. Uh, it's, it's a progression to get good results. It takes weeks, months, years of planning and execution and optimizing and improving your campaigns and your ad cycles and your messaging. I mean, if you look at the best marketing on the planet right now, some of the most valuable brands didn't start them last week. They didn't get, you know, and you think, well, we exact, that's the whole company, that's a big thing or whatever. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the marketing path. Just think just carve that piece out. Cause that's what we're here to talk about today. 

The brand, the development of the brand, the awareness, the, the message has been refined, but to the point that it's very effective, right? So again, like just citing some big stuff. McDonald's Nike, Walmart. I love the Walmart one, right? Because I remember when Walmart, like, I don't want to go to Walmart. I felt like, like I was being a cheapskate or like I was poor if I went there. I mean, I'm, I'm not, I'm not afraid to say that. Uh, but now because of refined messaging over the last, I'd say 15 years, we've all been trained to think we're smart. If we go to Walmart because we save, if we go to Walmart and saving as smart. So they've done a really good job of retraining the perception about their brand over the last decade. Plus. So now going to Walmart is perceived as a smart household exercise. 

If I could just get this one effing thing, I'd make more money. I would double sales. I would live about, you know, whatever. And every, all my problems would go away. Right? And guess what it never happened, which is why I want to make this video. Because I actually now looking back, have the wisdom to realize that, you know, what is Zack? It wasn't, it was never that, that got the businesses that I built and this agency to where it is now, it was actually just the incremental push every week, month and year, over years to get to where things are better than where they were now. Are they where we want them to be? Well, hell no, no businesses where you want it to be. Even Walmart, even the best brands in the world, somebody is in those board rooms, like more, we gotta be better. 

We got this. This is that needs to be improved. Right. So even what if, you know, for a, a small folks, we're looking at these gigantic successes and we're like, man, if we could just be like that, but the reality is they're sitting in that place, high up on the mountain and they're like, Nope, we got one more ledge to get up. And I came and see past that one and we got to keep climbing. Right. So that they're not happy even then. And so this is the story about marketing, and this is the story of this video, which is, and the story of why it's okay to suck, which was the previous video, right? Is that you, you're not going to change your business with a lightning bolt. Right. I guess the other where people use that as like the shiny object syndrome, like you're like you see like a fish Lewer. 

Cool. Go off to try to get hooked by that and try another thing and try another thing. I'm going to take you on the next couple of videos, through a mindset and philosophical approach to how to market your business. That is going to protect you from all of that and get you results. Okay. The problem. And I'm warning you now and you know, wise, wise men have said this, and I'm going to say it again, is that it takes patience and persistence. And I, you know, you may not be a person that wants to hear that right now because you might need a nine one, one remedy or something. Um, but I'm sorry to tell you that marketing in general is about patience and persistence and consistency. Not, it's not a shark attack, uh, in general. Okay. And, and if somebody is trying to sell you a lightning bolt, then I think I'd run the other way. 

Because I, I think that, that I think they might have won and they might have delivered one. And then frankly, we've, we've had a couple, we've had a couple of lightning strikes. I I'm not gonna lie. It's been awesome. And I love to remember those moments, but the daily work of growing businesses and growing our client's businesses is not like that at all. And it probably isn't like that in your business. So if you're frustrated because you feel like, like the movement is not dramatic enough. And then here's the reason why you're frustrated. It's not because you're doing something wrong. It's because you're looking at a bunch of promotional crap from agencies and marketing blogs and guru, people that are telling you that this one SU there's this one thing that's going to make all your problems go away. And so the context is what's screwing with your head. 

You're being messaged with one thing can fix everything. But your reality is one thing never actually does it. And so you're like, I'm, but don't be because that is all just sales strategy and horseshit. And it really statistically doesn't happen often in the way that it's being sold. But what really grows businesses is the Walmart, or sorry, is a decade of consistently pivoting into the direction that you want your business to go. You want your marketing to go. You want your brand perception to go. You want your offers to go and you want your customer base to go, right? So it's, it's consistently pushing the Boulder every day. Pressure, pressure, pressure every day. That's going to get you there. Okay. So don't be frustrated, be happy that you're in the process and, and, and be grateful that you're working on something and that you're being creative and turn away from all of that stuff. 

That is bad context for your perceptions about your business. Just go get them and grind every day, do a little every day. And in a month, a quarter in a year, you're going to see, uh, awesome results. So stick with me because I got more on this that is even more cool than this little uplifting top. And if this did uplift, you go ahead and like the video for me and subscribe, because I don't want you to miss the next one because it's full of deep secrets about how to actually make this work and feel great about it every week as you progress, I'll see you on the next one.