Don’t Get Stuck In The Suck (aka The Beginning)
Dan’s Mountain Bike
Marketing lessons on the trails…
I recently met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while to go mountain biking. He had been working hard to lose a bunch of weight and wanted to be more active, so he started to get into mountain biking. I knew I would have to go slower because it was a new trail and he had never climbed to that elevation before.
We rode. We took a break. We rode a bit further and took another break. This went on for a while. He kept apologizing; he was definitely out of his comfort zone. There was also one really important element he forgot. A water bottle. He hadn’t ridden a trail like this and he didn’t think to bring water. Luckily, I had brought water and since we were going slower I wasn’t getting as thirsty as I normally would. So we shared.
We got to the last section of the uphill and he had asked some questions about what things would be helpful to improve his riding? The first thing he mentioned was upgrading gear. He had only been riding a month or two, mind you. That was not the problem.
When we finally reached the bottom of the hill, I told him what the secret is… Ride MORE. Put time in the saddle. Don’t worry about equipment. Just get out there.
Why does it feel so hard?
I mentioned to him when I started mountain biking that the worst thing I did was only ride once a week or even every other week. It was always hard and I never felt like I was really progressing. It was like starting over every time and I was always tired and out of breath.
Mountain Biking Trail in Utah
Moral of the story: Don’t get stuck in the beginning. Or better said, don’t get stuck in the suck. Beginnings are hard and where most people give up. With mountain biking, in the beginning you are learning so much and your body is adapting to the cardio and the soreness. Put in the time so you don’t stay in this part longer than needed. While it’s necessary to go through, the fun and progress comes after.
Many businesses get stuck in the beginning of a creative process or campaign. This includes people in the creative industry. When we get stuck for too long, we don’t know how to move forward.
How does this apply to your brand?
For businesses, this is where it gets bad. Why? We start making poor decisions that don’t benefit the project or goal we sought after but whatever’s easiest or convenient. We stop following a process.
When you don’t follow a process you can’t guarantee what you’re going to get. You lose interest and passion for the task at hand and ultimately set yourself up for failure.
What does it look like in the case of a video project?
Not allowing enough time for tasks.
Not thinking about the message or how we want the viewer to feel.
Lack of planning that affects your creative problem solving.
Not scouting for locations.
Not giving people enough time to prepare or knowing what people need to be involved.
The list goes on. Skipping essential steps like script, scheduling, roles and responsibilities, timelines, shots that help move the story forward and serve a purpose, who you need and where but most importantly, story.
Preparation is key. Asking the right questions and knowing how to get exactly what you want to tell that story. When you don’t, you may end up with the wrong story in post. Or even worse. No story at all.
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