[Side Note: I’m thinking about giving away a free product to anyone who’s interested in building a growth engine (for clients or your company). It’s going to take a ton of time, so before I go nuts making this thing, I want to make sure you actually want it (and so I don’t feel like an idiot). Details are toward the bottom of this article.]
[Quick recap: This post is a follow up to this email I sent last week. It got over 100 replies from Tel Aviv, Sweden, San Francisco, Austin, and more.]
How this whole “Growth Engine” thing got started
The memory is vivid.
I remember the liberating moment I decided to ignore all the guru expert advice and shiny marketing tactics. Instead, I set up a systematic growth process that drives traffic and conversions, over and over again.
It sounds so elementary now, but looking back on it, it was a critical decision.
I stopped reading blog posts, listening to podcasts, and watching YouTube videos. Instead, I sought out the best marketers in the world and got their advice. Then I FILTERED it all as I saw fit for my business and my skills. I took what I knew about digital marketing, running experiments and measuring results, and I built a system that consistently grew my business.
As one experiment after another turned into faster and faster growth, my skills were validated (which felt good)… but more importantly the growth engine process was validated.
The Moment When It All Began
It all started when my wife and I found out we were expecting our first son (he’s two now). I was trying to build a tea company while supporting myself with freelance marketing work. The thought of bringing another human into the world scared the crap out of me… I had to get serious, real quick.
It was one of the most stressful times of my life.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night, gasping for air, terrified about the uncertainty of the future.
The panic on my wife’s voice at 2am — when she asked me “what’s wrong!?” — made it clear that something had to change. I had to get down to business and figure out a way to break through whatever was holding me back.
That was my moment. I jumped out of bed and started pacing around my apartment. I had no clue how I was going to break the cycle of going from failure to failure, never getting traction, never reaching my full potential… but that wasn’t going to stop me.
I woke up the next morning with a new determination.
I shutdown the tea company and focused solely on my marketing business. I stopped obsessing over distractions like the latest flashy tactics and hot new blog posts. Instead I started focusing on a growth process that turned everything into a well-designed, well-measured test or experiment.
I started measuring my speed to validation and monitoring my success rate. I ignored useless vanity metrics like twitter followers or facebook likes. I practiced productive analytics instead.
I set-up a growth engine workbook that to this day is one of my most valuable assets. It’s the one central location for everything that works, and everything that doesn’t.
I tweaked, I experimented, I optimized. I tested new tactics, and most importantly, I followed the data. (not some guru expert who told me what to do, while disregarding my business and my skills.)
In a little over a year, following that process, my marketing business tripled.
I remember another marketer telling me, “That’s not luck Kev, that’s your process.”
It felt like luck at the time… but I stored the thought in my back pocket.
I started sharing the process with some of my clients. After each project the process became more refined… and more effective.
After encouragement from clients and marketers, I started making it a central part of the service I provide.
At the time I couldn’t find anyone who was in the trenches, growing businesses the way I was.
There were no training programs. No plug-and-play tools and processes for accelerating growth in a systematic way.
…at that time, growth marketing was barely considered a “specialty.” So I experimented and analyzed and talked with entrepreneurs and did more experiments and analysis.
With each project, I grew and learned and adjusted.
I knew I wanted to design a process that empowered marketers and entrepreneurs to take continuous action. And not just any action, but accurate action. Focused action. The right action, over and over again. Most of all I wanted everyone to know it’s about following a process, and that growing a business isn’t just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
My passion (borderline obsession) for the subject, for helping others create a systematic growth process, and the avalanche of traffic and conversions businesses were getting from it, is what kept me going.
Upon reflection, it’s been hard work… but the passion, the drive, the determination has paid off… in big ways.
Back when I started working on all this growth engine madness, (pacing at 2AM recovering from a panic attack) I never would have dreamed that….
- More than 27k people would read my first four articles about the growth engine.
- A major credit card company would reach out to me about The Growth Engine process.
- Hundreds of people all around the world would be sharing my content on Twitter.
- That I would be quoted in marketing articles with guys like Brian Dean and Lewis Howes.
In addition to the humbling experience of the growth engine’s success… it’s blessed my personal life…
For example, less than a year after my son was born, we were in a position to allow my wife to stay home and raise him. This was always a dream of ours. We sleep well knowing we’re raising our kids, and we won’t miss a thing.
We paid off all credit card debt… because the thought of paying interest for nothing every month has always bugged the hell out of me.
And last, when my wife needed a new car two-months ago, we were able to buy one, cash.
[It’s weird to share this stuff. I never in a million years would have thought those things would happen so quickly.]
So here’s what I’m coming to… here’s what’s being demanded of me… and here’s what I feel called to do…
Here’s the deal.
The need for a step-by-step growth marketing process far outweighs what one can supply (like a thousand times over).
And with each passing day, I’m finding over and over again that the need for growth marketing expertise is way way way bigger than I could ever fulfil on my own. Not in a thousand lifetimes.
Consider these numbers:
- ProductHunt gets hundreds of new products submitted EVERY DAY.
- 80% of them will fail to get traction, despite early interest from new users.
- “Vanilla” marketers are getting asked to solve problems they have no clue how to solve.
- There is very little detailed, practical information out there on how to build, launch, and scale a growth process (even though a process is just about mandatory in today’s world).
- There is a void being filled by marketers with no expertise.
The marketers and entrepreneurs who will rise to the top, despite those mind-shattering facts, are the ones who know how to “run growth” in today’s landscape, and beyond.
So I feel that our community is being compelled to step up to the plate. As one subscriber said in an email to me… “Doooo itttt!”
The time has come for a deep dive, growth engine training program that lays out the nitty-gritty step-by-step details of how to build a process from scratch.
It’s time for The Growth Engine to be applied throughout the world… and I’m on a mission to empower marketers and entrepreneurs with the knowledge and expertise they need.
Everytime I talk with a marketer or entrepreneur, my heart pours for their passion. For a long time I’ve wanted to be able to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to actually grow a business today, in this competitive world.
But me serving the millions of businesses that need The Growth Engine process is an impossible task.
Too many businesses are failing everyday.
Too many marketers and entrepreneurs are underachieving.
Too few projects are organized around a growth process that actually works.
And that’s why I’m thinking about making something…
I’m thinking about creating a free Growth Engine Resource Kit for you (if you’re interested in learning how to build a growth engine from scratch)
I’ve been humbled by the responses to my last email. It’s clear to me there is a ton of interest in the growth engine training I MIGHT be creating.
Before I go all out though, I’d like to test the waters… so I’m thinking about organizing my best stuff into a 100% free Growth Engine Resource Kit.
It’ll be perfect for you, IF you are serious about building a growth process that gets you off to a quick start in 2017.
Here is what the free “Growth Engine Resource Kit” will include:
- An updated version of The Growth Engine Intelligence Report. With details on the 3-step repeatable process that doubles traffic and conversion.
- The Growth Marketing and Optimization Toolbox: A list of tools I can’t live without.
- A report on how to prioritize your marketing ideas so you always know what next (with downloadable “idea bank”)
- A report on the #1 way to accelerate growth rate (with a free checklist)
- Plus, a special podcast episode where I was interviewed about validating your marketing ideas with minimum viable tests.
But Here’s The Catch
I’m a hopeless perfectionist. I will inevitably create this thing and make it way bigger than it needs to be (or even bigger than you want)…
…So I want to make sure I have a list of people who are interested BEFORE I go off and make it.
Here’s What I Need You To Do…
I’m making a list of everyone who is potentially interested in getting the growth engine resource kit, and getting in at the start of all this.
If you are interested, enter your email in the form below, and if I end up making it I’ll send it to you..
[optin_box style=”3″ alignment=”center” disable_name=”Y” email_field=”email” email_default=”Enter your email address” integration_type=”mailchimp” thank_you_page=”https://growthboks.com/success-youre-on-the-list/” already_subscribed_url=”https://growthboks.com/success-youre-on-the-list/” list=”42ef9b590e” name_field=”FNAME” name_default=”Enter your first name” name_required=”N” extra_field_1_name=”SIGNUPLOC” extra_field_1_required=”N” extra_field_1_hidden=”Y” extra_field_1_title=”ResourceKit” opm_packages=””][optin_box_field name=”headline”]Growth Engine?[/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”paragraph”][/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”privacy”]100% No spam. We’re cool like that.[/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”top_color”]undefined[/optin_box_field][optin_box_button type=”0″ button_below=”Y”]Yes, I Want This[/optin_box_button] [/optin_box]
If enough people get on this interest list (I’m thinking 100 or so) then I’ll make this free thing and send it to everyone on the interest list.
If no one wants the free Growth Engine Resource Kit, then no worries.
Talk soon,
Kev