I lost my job a year ago.

I was crushed.

A month later, the stars aligned, and I joined a fantastic company.

A job I love and feel at home with.
The happiest and most peaceful I've been.
Surrounded by incredible people.

Do I have bad days? Of course. Moments of doubt? Yes.

But where I am today, and my trajectory, is a miracle.

My friend Mark asks, "How would you want your life to be different one year from now?" I couldn't have guessed this. I'm eternally grateful for how God moves.

And that's the lesson: Your life can drastically change in one year (for the better).

Believe in yourself.

(📸 December 2, 2022)

Enjoy this week's letter:

Marketing Micro Essay 💡 Intro to Content Strategy Guide

(Time to read: 3:31 minutes)

Imagine you read this guide, and within a week, your content is getting six-figure views.

You build a substantial brand for your company and become semi-famous online. All your social goals are being met or surpassed. How would you feel?

No matter how good you feel, I'd be disappointed.

Unless your business goal were to become famous on social, I would have failed you.

For many, the goal is to drive sales and build a community you can "take offline" to an email list or your website. And if all you're getting is likes and shares, you still need to use content to drive tangible business results.

This is where we need to begin this guide: Your content strategy should ladder up to help you achieve your business objectives.

If it doesn't, why are you creating content? There is no reason. Do cold calls instead.

Before you think about a content strategy, understand where your business is trying to go. What goals does it have, and how could content (marketing) help you achieve them? This would technically be included within a Mar/Com Plan, where the content strategy is merely a piece of that plan. An effective content strategy must ladder up to a specific business goal (sorry to repeat myself, it's that important).

If your business doesn't have goals, get a guide on finding a better job first.

With that out of the way, let me share what this guide is:

What this guide is + what it isn't

After reading this, you will have developed a content strategy that drives business outcomes. Not only will you be efficient in the creation, but you will also create resonating content that increases awareness and brand affinity.

The main progress this guide will help you make is improving HOW you use content to drive business results—becoming more strategic with content (marketing). You will learn a simple exercise to tie all content to pillars that your audience cares about. I'll share a concept that has helped me create endless streams of content for the same investment as writing weekly social media posts. The guide will end with execution and metrics, key pieces to refining and sustaining your content efforts.

Before sharing who I designed this (ever-changing) guide for, let me share a few things this guide IS NOT:

• A list of tactics and hacks to go viral without using your brain (thinking)

• A guide to designing your overarching marketing strategy

• The end-all-be-all for content marketing (this is only my experience)

The last bullet is critical. Too many people believe they have the answer. I don't. I'm simply wading in these marketing waters.

This guide is a work in progress. It's a public place where I can share things I'm learning, processes that help me, and frameworks I lean on to produce consistent, high-quality content.

Use the pieces that help. Disregard the rest.

Who is this guide for + who it's NOT for

This guide is for me. Well, me in 2016.

I started this marketing journey with no guides or roadmaps to help me. All I had was YouTube videos of Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone while reading any marketing book I could get my hands on. This resulted in quickly realizing the potential of content but needing to actualize how to produce resonating content regularly. This guide would have saved me thousands of hours.

But then again, this guide would not be here if I did not fall victim to poor philosophies and mediocre mental models. Through the last 6+ years, I've learned and relearned so much. That intellectual wrestling (learning → unlearning → relearning) is the DAN of this guide. To help you avoid the same arduous process.

So, if you're new to marketing or transitioning into it, this guide was designed for you. It will give you basic-level insights while laddering up to high-level exercises and mental models I use today.

It's also for marketing professionals who need more content skills and knowledge. As content only grows in importance for marketing teams, the skill of content marketing is also becoming more critical. Sadly, it's not taught. I have three degrees, one in digital media technology and one in business. Neither touched on the how and why behind content—just the what.

If you want to improve HOW you think about content and its place in your marketing strategy, you're in the right place. That could look like:

• A younger (new) marketer who wants to gain competency in content marketing

• A marketer who grew up on traditional content but wants a modern approach to content

• Anyone who wants to put together a content strategy that helps their business grow predictably

This guide is not for:

• Those who want to get the tricks and tips without doing any mental shifting

• Marketers who are unwilling to unlearn and relearn better practices around content

• Those who produce content without any yearning to be strategic

The last bullet is, sadly, many of my creative peers. They create killer content, yet they don't consider where it fits within the Mar/Com Plan. We need people like you on our content teams. I just don't believe this guide will bring you much value. You keep killing the execution.

Click here to read the Content Strategy Guide (work-in-progress)

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P.S. I share the links so you can comment and share your thoughts (assent or contrarian). Please click the link above and add your comments to help improve my thinking on this concept. Thank you!

✏️ Clip of the Week – Is TikTok a fad?

Answer: Obviously not.

When I asked Chris Roche this on February 17, 2022, it wasn't as clear now how useful TikTok is for all brands.

And Chris suggests that it was (and still could be) an undervalued channel for attention—no matter who you're trying to reach: dancing teenagers or CEOs.

Like LinkedIn before the broetry.
Or SEO before the zillion algorithm updates.
And even direct mail when it was the main communication channel.

All things have a period when they're susceptible to arbitrages.

If you can find one and "exploit it," do it. They don't come often.

Click here to watch the full video (or click the image below)

P.S1. I plan to experiment with TikTok in 2024. Sadly, it's been TWO YEARS since Chris gave me the secrets, and I still haven't taken it. Sorry Chris...

P.S2. My original design for the snippets was 🤮 Glad Season 2 is gonna look cleaner 😎

Three Books – Three Quotes

"Art is confrontation. It widens the audience’s reality, allowing them to glimpse life through a different window. One with the potential for a glorious new view.”

– Rick Rubin (The Creative Act: A Way of Being)

"A thing that is easy to overlook is that there is a certain level of inefficiency that is not only inevitable, but ideal. Once you accept a certain level of inefficiency, you stop denying its existence and have a clearer view of how the world works.”

– Morgan Housel (Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes)

“The faster a society progresses, the more persistently generational issues seem to keep springing up.”

– William Strauss & Neil Howe (The Fourth Turning)

Personal micro essay 🙆‍♂️ How to Achieve a State of Sonder

(Time to read: 3:04 minutes)

You've already taken the first step (awareness – if you read last week’s email).

Now, we must learn how to reinforce and practice this concept further. Remember (like with all things): it takes time. As I do, you will struggle not to be fully engrossed in your movie. The effort required to be a solid supporting character in another movie is tremendous. Many can't or won't sacrifice consistently to do so.

For most of my life, I simply couldn't. I was too immature and dependent on others to be of use. And then it slowly became a choice, which seemed so steep of a cost that I didn't pay the bill. I passed it to the next person. From here on out, I'm doing everything to cover the tab. And I hope you muster the courage to help another's movie, too.

1. Richard Rohr's Cosmic Egg Theory

The Cosmic Egg Theory suggests we live in three main "stories:"
1. My individual story
2. Our collective story
3. The universal story

This framework is mainly used in spiritual traditions (Christian mysticism) and has implications for our search for sonder. Here's a deeper look at each story:

My Story (Small Self): The first section, at the bottom of the egg, represents the individual level – our personal experiences, emotions, and the immediate world around us. This is the realm of our ego or small self, where personal identity and day-to-day life reside. It is our movie where we are the main character.

Our Story (Collective Self): The middle section expands to the collective level – encompassing culture, religion, and ethnicity. This represents our shared experiences as a community or society. It's the realm of mythology, history, and the structures and systems that shape collective identity. This is the collaborative people around you's movie, and yours's intertwined.

The Story (True Self/Universal Self): The top section of the egg represents the universal level – the cosmic or spiritual reality that encompasses all. This is the realm of ultimate truth and the interconnectedness of all things. Rohr suggests that at this level, we transcend individual and collective identities to experience a sense of oneness with the universe. This would be THE movie that's been playing since the beginning of time.

When you realize we all have individual and collective stories, along with the universal story, it's up to you to choose which to participate in. As children, we begin on My Story. It's a journey from focusing solely on the self and then the collective to the biggest story. It emphasizes the importance of transcending ego and recognizing our interconnectedness with all existence.

I'm still on that journey.

When I realized how small my story was/is, my ego vanished (sadly, it has a quick regeneration time). And then, I became free to participate in the universal story, which benefits us all on the spectrum of infinite time.

I first encountered this theory when reading Richard's Universal Christ book in 2019. It's been a while since, and I'm still working on it. Contemplation on this concept paired with action (over time) is the path to mastery: Vita Activa + Vita Contemplativa.

2. Meditation

I'm that guy. I believe staring at your eyelids for 15 minutes is productive for realizing we all have the same essence (spirit). After a year of daily meditation (est. 2018), I slowly accepted that "Jordan" is not who I am. I am the observer of my thoughts, not my thoughts.

And that observer is the same observer for you. We are the same (weird, I know).

"I Am Jordan" is not true. "I Am" is all that's true.

That's true for me from contemplating my own experience. The same is true for emotions. "I Am sad he's gone," or "I Am so angry they don't respect me" follow the same rule. I am neither of those things; all I can verifiably say is "I Am."

This means "Jordan's" movie isn't even real. And neither is yours.

Only The Story (from above) remains.

That helps me contribute more to others and help everyone make progress, regardless of my gain. It's not easy to actualize, but through daily meditation, you're reminded of this, pushing you to put it into practice.

One caveat: I do not practice any specific form of meditation. I know of Vipassana, transcendental, and many others. I simply find my center (I Am) and concentrate on the I Am for 20 minutes. Simply (and as hard) as that.

Continue reading the essay here (and comment your thoughts!)

Click here to find all my micro essays

It means the world you read this email.

Just you, not 10,000 other subscribers (I only have 42, 40 without my parents). If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect and have you help me further develop my thoughts, concepts, and mental models.

Shoot me an email, and let’s find a time to connect.

– Jo (every second counts)