I was trying to figure out how best to grow.

It’s possibly what you might be thinking, reading this.

I resonate with the fire in your belly - in fact,

I started my professional life as a teacher,

And have always seen my greatest strengths as a communicator & educator, across my years of creative, professional, and volunteer experience.

Part of it was my father's influence -

Who'd been a coach, trainer and consultant for almost two decades.

As a millennial who is a digital native, I have also always been fascinated by all things digital.

Especially in online marketing.

But here’s the catch: there’s so much to learn and things change at a blinding pace.

Winding the clock back, here’s when things really began to bubble and boil:

I had been suffering from demotivation in my day job for almost three years.

In a nice big corporate job in the energy industry, where I spent more than twice that time.

It was the kind of company that might make people go “you’re set for life”.

But I had stopped enjoying what I was doing.

I had stopped waking up every morning looking forward to my work.

And it was excruciating.

There’s a lot to be thankful for, don’t get me wrong.

And there were some bright sparks.

Like when I was invited to work on an exciting digital innovation project based overseas.

I felt like it was the height of my career.

Then internal politics killed my project.

And that brought my motivation to an all-time low.

So against this backdrop, when I started dabbling in entrepreneurship,

I wanted to build a business that went beyond just paying bills.

I told myself that I want to leverage the skills and interests that I have...

And eventually create a system, a team, and a movement that truly changes people’s lives.

I was done with not being able to actually help people and love my customers.

I genuinely want to help.

And I know, like many of you,

We derive the greatest satisfaction from helping someone else succeed.

So I just started stabbing around in the dark.

Implement things, research, test, etc.

Everyone said SEO and content creation is important…

But it was too time-consuming and felt too slow.

Everyone told me Facebook ads was the way to grow…

Then I burnt through thousands of dollars with minimal results.

Things like referral business? Way too inconsistent and unpredictable.

Tried the “hustle” way...but hated the idea of cold calls and getting yelled at over the phone.

Thanks to the pandemic, events and networking become much harder.

Where does that leave us? How does one grow a business?

I did what you probably did 👇

I paid multiple five figures to get into marketing coaches and business coaches’ programmes.

They were great...but never complete.

I always felt like some things helped and some didn’t.

It was never bespoke or tailored or relevant enough to my situation.

Which only meant I was overpaying.

It also felt like: if it was so easy for everyone else to learn and do this,

How competitive would I really be?

I also had limited time.

I could afford only 20-25 hours per week because I was working a day job.

Plus, I was a father and husband who was super involved with the family.

My wife and I have a daughter and another one on the way,

And time with my ladies means the world to me.

Then things got worse 👇

My father's training, coaching and consulting business came to a screeching halt.

Clients were cancelling projects left and right.

He billed nothing for 9 months.

The industry I was in was hit hard,

With the possibility of even losing our jobs.

Right then, I knew my future was at stake.

The writing was probably on the wall…

The pandemic just accelerated everything and unearthed what was already there.

Growing my business wasn’t a nice-to-have,

It became the only hope.

So I started to think deeper and notice patterns:

What were the best businesses and most successful online marketers doing?

Chances are, they’re not publishing it!

In finance, there’s a concept called the Efficient Market…

Which hypothesizes that if you have key information that you can profit from,

Once it is made public, financial markets would quickly make trading decisions to erode all ability for the average person to profit from it.

I feel like with digital marketing, there’s just way too much change, and the market is so crowded!

It hit me that the core concept in marketing is simple but not easy:

One needs to cut above the noise.

But that demands an understanding of where the crowd and noise are in the first place.

My priority was to stop “hustling”.

My priority was to find a way to shoot fewer shots…

But score more bullseyes overall.

That applied to my time, money and resources.

No more cold calling, burning cash on Facebook ads or stressing myself out about content creation.

I also wished I had someone to do it for me in a meaningful way,

Not just teach and leave.

So I can focus on what matters instead.

I realized I had everything I needed.

A solid professional background and business mindset.

My love for all things digital.

And my desire to help other coaches just like my dad.

I had what I needed to create a marketing system that would finally help people overcome the hurdles that I faced and avoid the pitfalls,

Regardless of what the newest shiny thing was on social media.

Whilst other people are crowding around trying to post endless content,

Commenting in groups and hoping they don’t get kicked out,

Running ads on Facebook and Instagram,

I went the opposite direction 👇

To look for where the untapped potential was,

In platforms and channels that people weren’t focusing enough on.

The corners of opportunity.

I focused on how could I do cold email differently -

Something that most people would say is totally dead.

I focused on outreach via LinkedIn -

Something that is getting a really bad name because of pitchers.

I focused on starting meaningful conversations and looking for fit instead of trying to sell.

In all of this I started to see better-than-market results.

Email statistics that were 2-6X better than industry averages...

First client closed in 9 days from launch...

Closing a $10K deal in 25 days…

Averaging 20 appointments per week...

Most recently, we launched our latest creation 👇

The “Little Hinges” Model for professional coaches.

It leverages a growth lever that I believe is so untapped in 2021.

But I know it won't stay this way.

And we were able to add four active clients in the first 2 months of launching.

All with 20-25 hours per week - half what most “hustlers” spend.

I’m now taking significant steps to generate a sustainable income

I feel a lot more confident about the business,

And I’m more excited about the future than ever before.

If you’re still reading,

And you’re a coach or consultant,

I just have a feeling you’re longing to cut above the noise too.

I’d love for us to have a chat,

And see if our story might intersect somehow.

See you on the other side,

Dalton