SHFT Agency

09/10/2026

Positioning is a mind game.

It's all about influencing what people think about your business — and trying to own a specific place in their minds.

So when they think about buying a solution, YOU are the one who comes to mind.

Easier said than done.

Because every interaction creates a perception.

- how your receptionist answers the phone
- how easy your website is to navigate
- how your content makes them feel
- how clear your messaging is
- how compelling your offer is
- how you structure your pricing
- how you handle fulfillment and delivery
- how easy you make it to get information

So that sh*tty messaging a website company wrote for you...
Or the content you created using ChatGPT...
Or the offer that no one really wants...

Will never create the position you want.

STOP 👏🏼 CUTTING 👏🏼 CORNERS 👏🏼

It's undermining the perception you want prospects to have about you.

Which means they will never choose you, boo.

✌🏼



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PS. Get a system to create the position your ideal customers regularly choose → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=positioning-mind-game

09/04/2026

I'd rather cut off the fingers on my dominant hand that respond to your AI comment.

Do better, boo.
Especially if you want my money.

✌🏼

09/03/2026

AI is an intern, not a trusted advisor.

It's never created a GTM strategy.
Never created a LinkedIn presence.
Never started a business.
Never led a sales call.
Never hired staff.

It can give you the best practices that OTHER people teach.
(Whether those best practices are right or not is a whole other topic)

But it can't give you experiential advice.
Or understand the nuance that exists in your business.

Stop trying to get it to write your messaging.
Or create your GTM strategy.

It'll give you some great ideas, sure.

But it has no skin in the game if those ideas cost you $100ks and make you $0.

Because it's a damn computer.

IBM understood this in 1979.

Maybe it's time you understood it.

If you want your business to actually grow, that is.

✌🏼



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PS. Stop relying on a machine to position your business. Get a brand strategy that actually works → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=ai-intern

09/02/2026

"Our software does so much that we don't have a compelling message. We're trying to appeal to multiple industries."

A prospect said this to me on a discovery call.
And it's the perfect example of being everything to everyone.

Now, I get it from the CEO's perspective.

If you have a product that helps multiple industries, why wouldn't you sell to multiple industries?!

More potential clients.
More case studies.
More money.

But it never works that way.

Because being everything to everyone means you're nothing to everyone.

There's no compelling reason to choose you when there are other options.

The only way this works:

- positioning and messaging for each industry
- marketing strategy for each industry
- web pages for each industry

And ultimately, a marketing team for each industry.

Because if customers don't look at you and say "THEY GET ME," you won't win them.

So you have two options:

1. Focus on ONE industry and fricking own your position there
2. Build multiple marketing teams to own a position for each industry

There is no middle ground.
If you want to own a category, that is.

✌🏼



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PS. Position your business as the ONLY choice for your ideal customers →

Attract, convert, delight, and keep your ideal customers with a brand strategy, marketing strategy, and design to stand out in your industry.

08/31/2026

Head of Marketing: Our customers hate this feature.
CEO: But all of our competitors include it.
Head of Marketing: 🤦🏻‍♂️

You should NOT do everything your competitors do.

Most businesses are not designed to stand out.

They try to be everything to everyone.
Building offers around what one customer asked for, with no research to see if it's viable.

That kind of sh*t makes you blend in.

Try this instead:

- Solve ONE deeply felt problem
- With ONE main methodology
- For ONE type of client

And ignore everything else.

Trying to build a "single source of truth" SaaS platform...
or a "full service" digital marketing agency...
or a product with all the bells and whistles...

Will never make you stand out.

Pick ONE thing your company does exceptionally well.
That your ideal customers want or need.
And your competitors can't or won't do.

That's how you stand out.

And generate a line of clients wanting to work with you, boo.

✌🏼



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PS. Build a brand that stands out and attracts your ideal customers with the Brand OS → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=customers-hate-feature

08/28/2026

I don't post about God and Jesus much on LinkedIn.

I'm not ashamed of my faith.
I just use LinkedIn for business.

And rarely post anything personal here.

But my faith is central to who I am.
And how I run my business.

I pray for my clients regularly.
I'm honest, even when it costs me.
I ask for wisdom before every consultation.
And treat my clients the way Jesus would treat them.
(or at least, I try to)

You may not know this about me, but:

- I am an ordained minister, and not through some random website.
- I've preached in churches in the US, Czech, Poland, and Romania.
- I launched and led a college ministry for 17 years.

The values my customers love (honesty, discipline, accountability, servant's heart) come from that faith.

With it: they get the results they want.
Without it: they would run away screaming.

My clients get the whole me.

No wonder they love Shft so much.

✌🏼

08/27/2026

I stopped doing the one thing every brand strategist is taught to do:

Strategy decks.

Deleted it from our deliverables in 2025.

Because our clients HATED strategy decks.

- You can't update them with new customer information
- You can't make them easily accessible to the team
- You can't copy and paste messaging from them

We even had one client try to print their deck.
And it drained their printer of ink halfway through.

🤦🏻‍♂️

So we deliver a living strategy document instead.

A Google Doc that:

- every team member can access
- sales can update with new customer insights
- marketing can update with new campaign messaging
- operations can update as they streamline processes
- finance can update with new pricing structures
- product can update with new offers

So the whole team is pulling from the same information.

Imagine that.

A strategy document that is actually used in decision-making.

As it should be.

✌🏼



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PS. Get your living strategy document here → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=living-doc

08/26/2026

Client generated 90% of their revenue through outbound sales.

99% of business advisors gave them the same advice:

"Hire more salespeople."

Don't fix what isn't broken, right?

That's absolute sh*t for the business.

Outbound-reliant businesses face diminishing returns.

- more payroll expenses
- more managers needed
- more technology and software
- more risk of your domain being flagged as spam

You will eventually hit up every potential ideal customer.
And likely make a bad impression.

The smarter (and harder and scarier) route:

Craft a brand perception that attracts clients to you.

That's what we did for our client.

- ignored typical business advisor advice
- built a brand strategy around something they DO differently
- crafted a marketing strategy to show up where their customers are
- got them placed on preferred vendor lists for the largest companies in their industry

They went from 7 outbound salespeople down to 2.
90% of their revenue comes through marketing.
They make $50M+ more each year in new revenue.

That was not possible just by hiring more salespeople.

You need a compelling reason for customers to choose you.

We call that a brand differentiator.

Find yours → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=more-salespeople

And watch your business scale.

✌🏼

08/25/2026

Prospect: "But we actually do care about our customers."

That's great. Still not a differentiator, boo.

I hear that objection from every industrial client we work with.

Apparently, caring about your customers doesn't matter in manufacturing, IoT, energy, or development.

Let me clear something up for you real quick:

Caring is a basic expectation of doing business with you.

No prospect wants a business that treats them like sh*t, lies to them, or doesn't care about getting them results.

I checked.

There are 0 Google searches for "manufacturer who hates their customers."

Customers expect you to care.
They expect you to treat them well.
They expect you to get them results.

It's why they gave you money.

Making "we care" the reason they should buy from you is like saying "you should buy our car because it comes with tires."

🤦🏻‍♂️

Yes, care about your customers.

But you better give people a REAL reason to choose you.

Otherwise, you'll be back to competing on price.

Because every business claims to care, boo.

✌🏼



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PS. Own a differentiator that actually gets customers to buy with the Brand OS → https://shft.agency/services/onlyness-brand/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=we-care-not-differentiator

08/24/2026

Being different for the sake of being different is stupid.

I could show up to every workshop dressed as a clown.

That's different. There's not a single brand strategist on the planet who dresses up as a clown.

According to most marketers, that's differentiation.

A feature. That doesn't really matter. Elevated to the position of differentiator.

🤮

A real differentiator meets 3 criteria:

→ Something you DO exceptionally well
You must be able to deliver on it 99.99% of the time.

→ Something your customers want or need
They will actually will pay for it.

→ Something your competitors can't or won't do
They lack the resources or the identity to copy it.

If it doesn't hit all 3.....it's not a differentiator.

At best, it's a basic expectation of giving you money.
At worst, it's absolute garbage that no one wants.

Find something that meets all 3 criteria.

That's how your $14M business turns into a $70M business.

And positions you as the only choice for your ideal customers.

✌🏼



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PS. Own a differentiator your customers will pay for with my free Find Your Differentiator course → https://shft.agency/resources/find-your-differentiation-email-course/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=differentiator-criteria