Growth Letter #11
The other day I came across Snoop Dogg’s speech where he thanked himself after receiving a Hollywood star.
“I wanna thank me
I wanna thank me for believing in me
I wanna thank me for doing all this hard work (...)
I wanna thank me for giving more than I receive (...)”
When I saw Snoop Dogg’s video, my immediate reaction was
“Heck yeah! I wanna thank me too!”
For believing in me.
For making scary decisions.
For doing the hard work.
For pushing through even when it got hard.
For not being afraid to fail.
For being consistent with this Growth Letter.
For retaining 100% of my clients (celebrating a year with a couple of them!).
For proving to myself that I could have my own business. Something I had been dreaming about for over a decade.
And for also giving more than I receive.
Something I learned from my mom.
But also from Andrea… which is the first story I want to tell you.
🎁 GIVE MORE THAN YOU RECEIVE
There is this one place in Ortigia’s Street Market in Siracusa that I always go to when I visit.
It’s a place called Caseificio Borderi that sells typical Sicilian products, like cheese and cold meats, and they also make sandwiches (by far the best I ever had).
The owner's name is Andrea.
There were 2 things that were quite unique in Andrea’s shop:
His happiness and energy
His incredible generosity
Visiting his shop always felt like visiting a good old friend.
He’d welcome us with a big smile and feed us incredible food for FREE.
We’d get to try Tricotta (oven-baked ricotta) and he’d make us the most delicious panini from scratch because “we looked hungry”.
He was genuinely generous.
But I also believe that he was so confident in the quality of his products that he knew people would want to get more.
People who visited this place would rave about it to everyone.
It was often the highlight of their visit to Siracusa.
I know I was raving about it to everyone.
Anyone who came to visit me when I was living in Sicily was always promised a visit to Andrea for the food.
But good food you get everywhere in Sicily.
It’s the whole experience that makes the place so special.
This has led him to become the most popular shop in Sicily with thousands of incredible reviews (5K+ and counting), open a successful catering business with the help of his daughter, and get featured in big newspapers like The Guardian.
The growth lessons from this story:
Create an outstanding experience for your customers. This will make them rave about you to all their friends & it will bring you more business.
Be so confident in your products or services that you’re willing to give a lot away for free. Giving gives you business.
With Andrea in Ortigia's market - about 12 years ago. I was pregnant with my eldest kid.
LET'S CREATE AN OUTSTANDING EXPERIENCE
HOW A BIG BLUE SLIDE HELPED A MARKETING AGENCY GROW
If you’ve heard of Steven Bartlett, then you’ve probably heard of his podcast, The Diary of a CEO.
But I’ll dare to say that unless you’re following this guy religiously or you’re from Manchester, you might not have heard about his big blue slider.
So let me tell you that story.
Steven was 20 and he had just opened an office for his marketing agency Social Chain in Manchester (his agency was very much focused on Social Media).
Being 21 and hiring other 21-year-olds meant that he and the team were still very much into gaming.
He created a gaming room on the upper level of the building for all his employees to go and have fun.
Then he has this really crazy idea.
What if instead of using the stairs, I put a big slide to slide down to a ball pit?
It cost him 13,000£ to do this. His return was insane!
This absurd idea turned out to be one of his best ideas ever.
Why?
Because it generated a TON of attention and press. It worked as his sales team.
He got featured on:
VICE News
BBC
BuzzFeed
Channel 4
Channel 5
ITV
Forbes
The Guardian
And the list goes on…
But let’s unpeel the onion a bit more.
Why was this so important for their growth?
Because this absurd idea told a story about who they were:
They were young.
They were disruptive.
They were creative.
They were different.
And in a time when social media was just starting to become a thing for businesses, it basically helped them lock in big clients and grow at an incredible pace.
Steven is no longer the CEO. Social Chain currently has a market valuation of over $600M.
And all because of this one silly idea.
In his own words: “The most absurd and useless thing about your brand will say the most about it.”
The Growth Lesson: Being bold and experimenting with crazy ideas will help you build your brand, tell a story and ultimately - help you sell.
🚀 GROWTH TAKES TIME
We get inspired by other people’s success on social media, but I tell you - everyone struggles and fails to get there.
It takes several years of consistent work, strategy, marketing experiments, and teamwork.
And here’s what I mean visually.
Mr. Beast is the most famous YouTuber out there. He has 187 million followers.
187 million!!!!
But it took him 7 years to get any decent traction.
(And also doing a lot of absurd & philanthropic videos - which goes back to the lesson in story 1 and 2).
The Growth Lesson: Keep showing up - consistently.
But consistency can be a b*tch.
I still struggle with this.
Life keeps getting in the way.
Especially when you're a mom with a full time business - everything seems to get in the way. Sick kids, school runs, laundry, play time, dishes, dinner, tantrums - you name it.
But I want to prove to myself it's possible.
So I'm starting a 66-day challenge.
Why 66? Because there's evidence that you need more than 2 months to form a new habit.
To be even more accurate (and copy-pasting from healthline.com): "According to a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit. The study also concluded that, on average, it takes 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic."
So here's my challenge, my friend:
66 days running every day.
66 days posting on Instagram.
And… I'm starting today.
Have you also been lacking consistency with something that you feel is important for your growth?
Follow my Instagram stories and join me.
GROWTH INSPO: WE SHOULD ALL BE MILLIONAIRES
Because this Growth Letter is about giving - I want to “gift” you the best book I’ve read in a long time. And probably the only book I’ll ever read/listen more than once (I'm subscribing to Audible because I want to listen to it).
I think the title perfectly describes what the book is about.
Let me just tell you my experience in 4 words: Reading it was transformational.
If you're looking to grow your wealth - this should be your bible.
💗 GIVING PEOPLE A CHANCE
This is a risk I’ve taken a few times in my career - hiring and investing (with a lot of mentoring and coaching) in people with no experience.
My experience is that you can teach skills - but you can’t teach drive, creativity, and genuine care for the mission.
The girl I hired years ago with no experience (but with an incredible drive and full of creativity) is now running a successful business, refers me to clients, AND is one of my clients.
Again… giving 🙂
Again… growing
🚀 ONE ACTIONABLE GROWTH TIP: GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A BEAUTIFUL ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE
Whether you have a product or a service - onboarding your customers the right way is something you can never ignore.
The first impression is everything and you want to show your customers that they did the right thing by choosing you.
You need to show up as someone who has their sh*t together.
Be professional, be organized, and make a hell of a party for working together.
And it doesn’t have to be difficult…
Tell your customers what to expect from your product and service.
Make the onboarding easy & simple.
Make your customers feel special & looked after.
Here’s an example if you are a service provider (and what I have implemented for my onboardings):
Within 24 hours after the clients pay the deposit, use a tool like Clickup (or Notion) to onboard them with a “Welcome: Start Here” project.
The project will have a simple To-Do list. Here are examples of things that I include:
A personalized welcome video made with Loom (the party happens here!)
Our service agreement
An onboarding questionnaire that includes questions about the business, but also things I don’t want to be asking later - like invoice details or their birthday (so I can send a little present when that special day comes)
What to expect from the project, how I’ll communicate, where they’ll find the assets and deliverables
The tool I use to safely share passwords or other confidential data (and instructions on how to set it up)
A link to book our “quick off” meeting
And that’s it.
PRO TIP: For your long-term or big contract clients, go the extra mile and send them a personalized present.
👋🏽 CAN I HELP? MARKETING FOR B2C FEMALE FOUNDERS
I'll give you a strategy, a roadmap & I'll make marketing implementation really easy.
What I hear most often from all my clients is: “I'd be lost without you”.
Feeling lost in your business and what direction to take? Let's change that - today!
Book your 30-minute free call and let's do an audit for your business.
YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF GROWTH INSPIRATION
On the first Monday of every month, I'll send you these Growth Letters. I cover marketing, strategy, growth, and mindset. Also, I openly share my own journey in business.
If you enjoy these letters - do me one favour pls.
Pass the link to your friends and family who could also benefit from it.
🚀 3, 2, 1 let's gROw? 🚀
YOU CAN ALSO FIND ME ON INSTAGRAM @ROMANA.SIRACUSA
