Growth Letter #9
Excuse my week’s + one-day delay this month…
But I’m just back from another incredible holiday in Sicily.
Sicily is my place to go when I need to properly disconnect and recharge.
I feel spoiled and looked after by my hubby’s parents. They’re so happy to enjoy their grandkids and Emanuele and I can have alone time or have dinners and drinks with friends.
I got to:
✅ Splurge on a fancy boutique hotel with my hubby
✅ Never worry about cooking
✅ Spend quality time with my Italian family
✅ Go out with friends for dinner and drinks (without getting interrupted every 5min)
✅ Take naps
✅ Read books
✅ Swim every day (and one day in the moonlight too!)
Our kids loved it. We loved it.
When you are on holiday you need to learn to let go.
Let go of your home. Let go of your work. Let go of your routines. Let go of your daily worries.
In return, you get new experiences and come back stronger.
Energized.
Inspired.
Ready to conquer.
Just a little postcard from Sicily.
🚮 ABOUT THE ART OF LETTING GO
One of the books I was reading this holiday (10X is easier than 2X) got me thinking about the art of letting go.
One of the key ideas is that to grow 10X you need to use the 80/20 rule.
Let go of 80% in life/work/relationships that no longer served you to focus on the 20% that will help you 10X (This is NOT just about money - it’s about knowledge, network, freedom, and much more!).
I’ve done this a few times in my life. Each time, my bold decisions came with big rewards (but also with big growth pains).
Examples of when I learned to let go:
Letting go of my life in Portugal and moving to Dublin: I 10X’ed my income and my connections (I’m still collecting “dividends” from the connections I made)
Letting go of my corporate life & traveling the world: I 10X’ed my freedom and knowledge about the world
Letting go of my last job & starting my own business: I 10X’ed my freedom and my knowledge by diversifying my client pool and owning my time
Most of the time, those rewards are not immediate (although the growth pains are!).
But with time, your bold decisions will most likely pay off.
What’s the 80% you’re willing to let go - to grow?
💪 EMBRACE BEING BOLD
Let’s talk a bit more about being bold (and using that to make your brand stand out).
🚗 FIAT
The Italian car brand Fiat recently launched the campaign “No Grey”.
They made a bold decision to stop producing grey cars.
They say Italy is a land of color and their brand needs to reflect that (plus grey cars are boring).
This is a very bold decision considering that in the UK alone, grey cars represented 25% of their sales.
“Italy is joy, optimism, love, passion, life and what has grey got to do with all that? Nothing!” - Fiat CEO Olivier Francois
Their campaign has been a success - in fact, marketingweek.com wrote that it was considered to be their most successful campaign ever according to System1 data (but it will be a while to know how this impacted sales).
This is Fiat's bold move - differentiating their colors.
👱♀️BARBIE
Another example of marketing brilliance & and being bold: Barbie!
Unless you live in a cave with no access to the internet - you’ve heard about the Barbie movie.
I went to see the movie this weekend and as it started my 13-year-old niece, who was sitting next to me said: “This looks like one big Barbie ad”.
And it was.
A 150 million dollar ad!!! (This was reportedly how much was spent in the marketing of the movie - more than what was spent in MAKING it!)
The movie is funny. Covers important topics.
But honestly, the only thing that made this such a big hit was the marketing campaign behind it.
It sure is bold to spend this much in marketing - but it’s paying off.
The movie already passed 1 billion in ticket sales in just a few weeks.
🧠 CULTIVATE A GROWTH MINDSET
But how can you make these bold decisions?
Isn’t it too risky?
Will I fail?
You need to be prepared to embrace a growth mindset and let go of the fixed mindset.
With a fixed mindset you:
👎 Think you don’t know enough, aren’t smart enough, or have what it takes
👎 Give up at the first setback
👎 See setbacks as failures
👎 Get jealous seeing other people’s success
👎 Look for other people’s approval to make decisions
👎 Don’t like to hear feedback
👎 Don’t enjoy change
👎 Hold on to what you have and fear new things
With a growth mindset you:
🔥 Know that even if you don’t have what it takes, you can learn and figure it out
🔥 Don’t see failure - instead, you see feedback, a lesson, and an opportunity to grow
🔥 Know becoming a “genius” and “mastering your craft” requires work - you can only become really good at something by practicing & failing (a LOT)
🔥 Prioritise yourself and what you want to do
🔥 See opportunities - instead of challenges and setbacks
🔥 Get inspired by other people’s success and look at what you can learn from it
🔥 Embrace feedback and criticism and use it as powerful data to grow
🔥 Embrace changes and the growth pains that come with it
🔥 Place growth before speed - You know that good things take time to build
🔥 Learn to let go of what no longer serves you with the courage to embrace new things
🔥 Cultivate perseverance and grit
A growth mindset is not something you switch to - it’s something you need to keep cultivating. Every day.
We all feel fear.
We all get jealous at some point.
We all worry that a new challenge is way out of our league.
We wall fear new things.
We all feel like failures when we have setbacks.
It’s how you deal with these emotions that will make a big difference in your life.
👋 CAN I HELP?
If you’re overwhelmed, lost, and insecure about what direction to take with your business, let’s talk.
I help B2C one-girl-band female founders grow their businesses and go from overwhelmed, lost, and insecure to inspired, focused, and clear.
Let's work together and build a marketing strategy & roadmap for your business in less than 30 days.
⏱️ Book a 90-minute strategy call. Best for: B2C female founders & educators who are ready to take action.
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Book a 30-minute free call to discuss your requirements.
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