NorthernSauce, 9 Walnut Lane, Laceby, Grimsby (2026)

29/11/2022

Me and my wife set up our own eCommerce business. It failed pretty badly.

We trundled along for almost 5 years, barely making any money from our online shop.

We were lucky if we got 10 orders each month, and our dreams of making this business our full-time career were fading away pretty quickly.

The time and money we'd spent seemed wasted and we were devastated it didn't work how we anticipated.

But why did we fail?

❌ We assumed starting an eCommerce business would be easy and was a "get rich quick" kind of deal
❌ We thought the website would be found instantly and start bringing in a flood of orders overnight
❌ We thought all eCommerce businesses make a bucket-load of money just by being online
❌ We had no idea how to market an online business
❌ We had no plan or strategy to work to
❌ We didn't have a clue who our ideal customer was
❌ We didn't know how hard it was to create an online store

But through our failure, new opportunities came to light and we both learned some very valuable lessons.

I spent hours upon hours learning new skills so I could develop new functionality for our website. I also started learning as much as I could about digital marketing. My newfound passion ended up in me getting a job as a junior web developer and I quickly made this my career.

The new opportunity for me was that I got into a career I love, continued to learn from people within the industry, and gained valuable commercial experience in the creative industry.

Nearly 5 years later and I'm now running my digital agency, Northern Sauce.

My drive is to help other business owners avoid the mistakes we made when we launched our online business and this is one of the main reasons I wanted to start my agency.

I speak to a lot of business owners who want a website and think it's going to bring them instant results or that it's easy to get a website up online, but, as me and my wife learned, the hard truth is that this isn't the case at all.

"Build it and they will come" doesn't wash in the online world - there's a lot more to think about

💡 A website on its own wont do jack s**t
💡 A website has a lot more to it than what most people realise
💡 It takes a lot of time and consistent effort to build an online presence
💡 Without having clear goals and a solid plan, things will fail pretty quickly
💡 Knowing your ideal customer like the back of your hand is crucial

We made tonnes of other mistakes along the way, but it's how you learn from these mistakes that is important, right?

25/11/2022

Chaos v Calm...which one would you choose?

I reckon bring on the chaos!

In my opinion:
Calm = Going about things in a familiar way. Sticking to the same routine. Staying safe
Chaos = Trying new things. Pushing boundaries. Getting out of the comfort zone

For me, chaos means growth, whereas calm and order are just too easy and can lead to stagnation.

I look at it this way:
If I wanted to make my muscles bigger and stronger, I'd get my arse in the gym and lift some weights. The purpose of lifting weights is to break the muscles down so that they can grow back bigger and stronger.

The more challenging the weights are to lift, the bigger the results.

If I went in and lifted light weights, my muscles wouldn't break so, therefore, wouldn't grow, whereas going in the gym and lifting heavy weights would promote growth and increased strength.

This is the same as chaos v calm

Doing the same old thing over and over again isn't going to bring growth. Pushing out of the comfort zone and doing challenging things I think is where growth is found.

I'm trying to get away from calm and bring more chaos, and for me, it's helping me to grow personally and professionally. I know this isn't the same for everyone as we're all completely different, but I'm no longer scared of chaos: in fact, I welcome it more and more each day.

What do you think? Chaos or Calm?

24/11/2022

This content challenge is hard work!

I'm only about 4 weeks in and I'm already feeling the struggle - only another 48 weeks to go

😱 I'm struggling to find inspiration
😱 I'm struggling to find ideas
😱 I'm struggling with my own mind
😱 I'm struggling to stay motivated
😱 I'm struggling to find the time to create the content

All of the above "struggles" are also just my chimp mind 🐒 trying to steer me off course towards an easier life.

I've been focussing a lot of attention recently on trying to understand myself better, especially trying to understand how the hell my mind works 🤯

The inner chimp in my head is constantly trying to sabotage me, and doing this content challenge it's no different.

I knew when I set myself the goal of creating 365 pieces of unique content it'd be hard for lots of different reasons and my inner chimp is trying to make life easier by showing me all the negative reasons to carry on so I quit and go back to not having to bother with it...but I know his game now, and I'm not going to listen!

The next 48 weeks or so will be a constant battle to keep going. But I'm determined more than ever to stick to it and put the chimp back in the cage!

How do you manage your inner chimp?

23/11/2022

My path so far has been anything but linear.

It's been full of sharp turns and unexpected curves, with its fair share of highs and lows.

The journey hasn't always been easy but every step of the way has been full of learning experiences (and plenty of mistakes!).

I've tried my hand at so many careers over the years

✅ Paper Boy
✅ Shelf stacker
✅ Customer service advisor
✅ Salesman
✅ Recruitment Consultant

I've quit so many jobs in the past and moved on to new things and it's taken me a lot of years to finally find something I love doing

I've got a passion for learning and trying new things and it was this passion that got me interested in web design and development, and then later into digital marketing.

Sometimes you've got to go down many different paths before you finally land at a destination you're happy with.

Sometimes you might never get to a 'final destination'

Never be afraid to quit something if it doesn't feel right or it's not giving you a good enough reason to get your arse out of bed each day with a spring in your step. Life's too short to wait around doing things you don't love!

What path are you on and how has the path been up to now for you?

21/11/2022

Imagine a way you could make big changes happen in your life or your business, with only a 1% increase in effort. Sounds impossible right?

Let me highlight a story that shows it is possible...

For many years Great Britain was known for having a very mediocre record in the sport of cycling. For 110 years, not one single British rider had ever won the Tour de France and Team GB had only ever won 1 gold medal at an Olympics in that timeframe.

Something needed to change, and that change came in the form of a new performance director, Dave Brailsford.

Brailsford came in and started looking at everything that went into riding a bike - literally everything, even the smallest most seemingly insignificant things.

From the bike seats through to what the riders wore, the team bus and even the way the riders washed their hands, everything was broken down and analysed, with the goal being to improve each thing by just 1%.

Brailsford called this the "aggregation of marginal gains"

Simply put, he believed that breaking everything down, improving each bit by 1%, and then sticking it all back together would yield big results.

Fast-forward 5 years and the results of the tiny increases in performance were astounding:

🥇 Team GB dominated the cycling events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics winning over 60% of the available gold medals

🥇 Team GB set 9 Olympic records and broke 7 world records at the 2012 London Olympics

🥇 Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France

🥇 Chris Froome won the Tour de France the following year, and then won again in 2015, 2016 and 2017

🥇 British riders won the Tour de France 5 times over a 6 year period

🥇 Between 2007 and 2017, British cyclists won 178 World Championships, 66 Olympic gold medals

From mediocre to winning everything from just a 1% increase. WOW!

Winning big doesn't necessarily mean we need to take massive actions. Just taking small, sometimes seemingly unimportant steps will lead us towards the big outcomes when done consistently over time.

The same applies to digital marketing. Sticking to a strategy and working on those 1% increases day by day is what it's all about. Doing the small things consistently well over time will result in big things happening. It just won't happen overnight.

✅ Posting a new blog article once a month instead of once a decade
✅ Updating the testimonials on your website that haven't changed for years
✅ Creating fresh new content that is written for your target audience
✅ Small optimisations to existing content to target new SEO keywords
✅ Adding new images to your existing site to keep it looking hot
✅ Fixing the small issues that are slowing down your website and making it hard for people to use

The changes don't need to be massive. The important thing is consistently improving things over time and having the belief that by improving day by day, you will achieve massive results.

What 1% increases in performance can you work on?

17/11/2022

Think backwards to get forward. Sounds a bit strange, doesn't it?

Backward goals might just be the answer to overcoming inaction and helping to move forwards towards our biggest goals.

So what are backward goals?

1️⃣ Start with something big in mind - the end outcome
2️⃣ Break the big idea down into smaller goals that are easier to achieve
3️⃣ Split the smaller goals into even smaller targets
4️⃣ Create a to-do list of actions

Step 1 starts with a big idea of what you want to achieve. For me, my end goal was to start my own digital agency business.

Step 2 is all about breaking down that bigger picture into smaller, more easily achieved goals. There are a lot of smaller things that need to be achieved before starting a business. My smaller goals we're to save enough money in the bank to give me some security before leaving full-time employment, secure some consistent clients, and put systems and processes in place to manage the business.

Step 3 takes these smaller goals and breaks them down further. So going back to my example of saving money, I'd break this down into a monthly target to save a certain amount that month. I'd have a goal of getting X new clients a month.

Step 4 sets out the jobs to be done on a daily or weekly basis to achieve the smaller goals from step 3 and then ultimately achieve the bigger-picture goal.

What do you think to the backward goal-setting framework and have you tried it?

16/11/2022

Where are you heading in life?

Having clear goals gives us something to aim for. Aiming for nothing will bring us nothing every time

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time" - Zig Ziglar

15/11/2022

BIG. HAIRY. AUDACIOUS. GOALS 👹

This framework is all about thinking BIG when it comes to setting goals.

So what is it?

Here's the recipe for a BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL
✅ BIG - so big it might take more than 10 years to achieve
✅ HAIRY - the idea might look totally crazy. It's something potentially groundbreaking
✅ AUDACIOUS - It should make people wince at how crazy it is. It should be exciting and compelling
✅ GOAL - It still needs to be set as a goal with objectives that can be measured

Some examples of BHAG's out in the wild

💡 Google: "Organise the world's information"

💡 Tesla: "To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy"

💡 Microsoft: "A computer on every desk and in every home"

I love the idea of thinking really BIG when it comes to goals. Pushing ourselves to do something massive is surely a good thing.

What do you think? Whats your BHAG?

14/11/2022

Have you heard of the OKR goal-setting framework?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results and it's been around since the 70's. This framework has been used by some of the world's biggest companies to set goals

✅ Google
✅ LinkedIn
✅ Twitter
✅ Dropbox
✅ Spotify
✅ AirBnB
✅ Uber

So what is it?

1️⃣ You set an objective = what you want to achieve
2️⃣ You set key results = how you're going to get things done

OKR is all about laying out what you want to accomplish but it must also include a way for you to measure your achievement along the way

What makes a good OKR?

✅ Flexible so they can adjust to your priorities
✅ They support a goal or vision
✅ They are fully measurable
✅ Transparent
✅ Aspirational

11/11/2022

What gets you motivated to achieve your goals? Is it something burning inside of you or is it a trigger from an external source pushing you forward?

We're usually driven to set goals by some kind of trigger. Either an internal one like a desire to become better at a skill, or an external trigger like wanting to impress your boss to get that promotion at work.

The source of our motivation can have different consequences on how likely we are to achieve our goals.

When we set intrinsic goals, we're motivated by something inside of us, meaning that the goal is self-driven and comes from a personal desire for growth, health or autonomy. Intrinsic motivation usually comes from a personal interest or enjoyment in the task itself.

Extrinsic goals, on the other hand, come from external factors. These can be things like rewards, being noticed, or validation from others.

When we're driven by intrinsic motivation, we're more likely to stick with a task because we enjoy it and see value in it. We're also more likely to put in more effort and perform better when we're intrinsically motivated.

I know I've been motivated previously more by external factors than internal ones which is why I think I've failed up until now to achieve most of the goals I've set for myself in the past. External motivation can be just as powerful in helping us get to our desired outcomes, but the power within for motivation might just pip those external factors to the post.

What do you think? I'd love to know

10/11/2022

Process goals versus outcome goals. What’s the difference?

It may seem like a silly question, but it’s an important one to answer. After all, if you don’t know the difference, you might not be able to set the right kinds of goals for yourself!

Here’s the deal: process goals are all about the how, whereas outcome goals are all about the what. In other words, process goals focus on the steps you need to take to achieve your goal, while outcome goals focus on the result you’re striving for.

An outcome goal is great for seeing the bigger picture for the future, the perfect vision of how you wish something to be.

An example of outcome-based goals could look something like this: "I want to grow my following to 10,000 contacts on LinkedIn by the end of July next year".

On the other side of the coin, a process-based goal could look like this: "I will send 10 new connection requests on LinkedIn every day".

Both types of goals are important; it’s just that they serve different purposes. Process goals help you stay on track and make progress towards your ultimate goal, while outcome goals give you something to aim for and help keep you motivated.

So which type of goal should you set for yourself? It depends on what you want to achieve. If you’re looking for something specific and measurable, go with an outcome goal. If you want to make sure that you stay on track and don’t get sidetracked, go with a process goal.

07/11/2022

The biggest difference between goals and expectations is that goals are intentional, while expectations are not always controllable.

When most people think of expectations, they think of hope. Expectations can be based on hope, but they can also be based on past experiences or on what someone thinks should happen.

Goals, on the other hand, are based on intention. When you set a goal, you are setting out to accomplish something specific. You have a plan and you are working towards a specific outcome.

This makes goals more manageable than expectations.

One of the biggest problems with expectations is that they often become uncontrollable. People tend to expect things to happen based on hope or past experiences, rather than on what is actually possible. This can lead to disappointment when those expectations are not met.

Goals, however, can always be adjusted if something changes along the way. You may not reach your original goal, but you can still achieve something by modifying your plan.

When it comes to achieving success, it is important to set goals rather than expectations. Goals give you a roadmap to follow and help you stay focused on what is important. Expectations can lead to disappointment and frustration when they are not met. Keep your goals in mind and remember that they are always achievable as long as you stay focused and take action.

NorthernSauce

29/11/2022

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