Tag: marketing

Stop to move forward

Want to grow your business? This is the one thing you must do now

If you want to grow your business, you need to stop everything and take a break. Not a vacation, a break, just so you have time to think about these 3 things.

I love working, and I always have. For years, I worked long hours, learning, meeting, writing, taking on more and more clients and projects, and my business kept growing and improving.

But the real kicker was once each year when I did the opposite. I just stopped everything and did nothing. So, here is what I can share with you from my experience of doing something so completely against my nature.

Sure, we all need a vacation or a break every once in a while, but I’m talking about stopping entirely. For years, I would fly to Berlin, Germany for 10-14 days and take some time off work. I would only do emergency stuff when my team needed my help, but everything else was personal. I would write my novels (I’ve had the pleasure of publishing 2) or listen to audio books and podcasts while roaming the streets.

Those days of wonder around the old buildings of berlin gave me time to think and build a strategy, a long-term idea of what I wanted to do, how my life could look and how I could structure my future.

When 2020 came around, we were all forced to stop for a while, but most did not think enough. We are probably living in the best time in our lifetimes to make some changes and live the life we want. Here are some things I have learned that might help you understand that taking a break is probably the best thing you could do for yourself and your work.

There is a saying that your business will grow when you start working on the business and not in the business. Most of us simply say, “That is so true,” and keep going.

Team

In order to actually make this saying a reality, I had to learn how to structure my company. We focused on finding the right people to help support the company. The main goal was to free myself from day-to-day operations while offering better service in my agency.

Time vs. pricing

The next step was to look at my schedule and the hours I work, and increase the rates for my time while reducing the number of hours I allocate to clients and consulting. Today I do very little consulting, and that for only a few very specific startups.

Time is key when you are looking to take the next step for your business. It was more than just meetings. We started to improve internal meetings, cut them short and ask clients to do as many online as possible instead of meeting face-to-face.

Clients

How much is enough? What type of clients and work do you want to do? I believe you can divide most of your work into 3 types:

Time consuming – you know the work and you took it because you need the money, but the profit margins are not as good as you had hoped and these projects suck up your or your team’s time.
The money – these are the clients you like. They help your business grow and pay the bills. You wish you had more of these (if you only had time for more business development or sales). They require attention, but you also need more like them.
Your future – sadly, you are probably not investing enough time in this since it’s usually hard work, pays less or has potential in the distant, rather than the immediate, future. You wish you could spend more time on projects like this, but you lack one of your two most precious resources: time or money.

While taking a break, ask yourself how many n.1’s you have. Can you drop one or two? What will this mean for your team? How can you replace them with another n.2?

We all have dreams of making it big, but we might make all the wrong choices when it comes to clients from n3. You see, I used to take the idea, the story, and fall in love. These days, we only focus on one project at a time.

You need to stop. Now.

You need to step away, become your own consultant and take a good hard look at where you are now and where you plan on being next year when you take another break. Create your own path and stop letting life happen to you. You got this.

Tags brand, marketing, running, stop to move forward, storytelling

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Nice to meet you, I’m your brand

Post author By nirzavar_admin
Post date September 14, 2021
No Comments on Nice to meet you, I’m your brand

The small branding fixes you need to make to take your marketing skyrocketing to the next level

Most people and companies are still using the word ‘brand’ in reference to their logo and color palette, but it’s much more than that. Marketing becomes better when you have a strong brand, with a good story and voice. A winning brand also back its up with an excellent product, customer service and everything else that brand stands for. But how can your brand stand for anything if you have no clue what it is?

For almost 20 years, I have worked as a sales manager, brand manager and marketing manager with a variety of companies and in the past decade, I have helped literally hundreds of companies improve their marketing. From coffee shops, to restaurants, to some of the most famous names you could imagine, they all have something in common: they do the best they can and not necessarily the best they should. Let me explain.

Companies have a brand, including a logo some other distinguishing attributes, but they rely on sales or marketing people to find clients instead of attracting the right clients by building a brand that is attractive.

Why? Because most of them are not consistent. Why? Because they do not have all the information they need. Why? Because their brand book is lacking.

At my agency, Streetwise, we offer outsourced marketing services. Basically, we have the unique ability to onboard a client and within 14 days (give or take), we can launch their entire marketing department. But to do that in the best possible way, we need to know what we are expected to do and how. So, we start with KPI, a plan, the platforms, the budget and anything else you can think of. Most startups will have some knowledge of these factors.

The tricky part is when we ask for their brand identity, like how it speaks, dresses and operates. You see, when we build a marketing plan, we are expected to wear the brand’s suit, like an actor – to learn and mimic everything about the visual and textual brand, their USP and the small ins and outs. In most cases however, the script still has to be written.

When a brand asks us to scream to the world they have arrived, we need to know what to say, how to sound and how to look. If not, consistency is lacking. The marketing manager and CEO are likely to have a different opinion about the brand’s marketing materials.

In meetings, when someone says, “I personally don’t like it,” or, “I would never click on it,” we know we have a problem. The world is subjective, and a coherent brand should be the only thing that matters. If the content is on brand and the message is relevant to the audience, who cares if a CMO would like or click. Most of the time, they are not the client.

When an issue arises, we ask the clients what their brand would do in that situation. Usually they have no clue, look at their CMO or CEO for decision, passing on the responsibility. If you make the right decision, it’s a brand decision. You will know you made the right call.

A potential client reached out to us asking for a meeting to see if we could help build their brand identity. During the call he asked if I am not making a mistake about the connection between story, brand and marketing. He kept going, explaining he was told these are separate things. I agreed, but….

Marketing can not survive a long successful run without a good brand and a strong story. The story includes all the answers that create a solid, well-rounded character that is the brand, like why it does certain things, how it makes decisions and what will happen when bad times hit, which they will at some point. Sorry, but that’s how the world works. Yes, a brand might have an amazing run for a long time, years even, but at some point, challenges will determine how the brand or management steers through the storm. Without a good brand we have nothing, like walking in the dark and guessing where the target audience might be.

When we have a good brand it’s like reading a story. We imagine how it might be, what it could be and we keep testing and improving. When we go out and start telling people about the brand, we are consistent and confident. We know why we should tweak small things, what should be fought for and what could be dropped. We become the brand ambassadors because we know the brand, we care about it and we are looking for the right audience, one that will feel the same as we feel.

In storytelling (this has become a washed-out word that means very little) a well-rounded character has history and attributes, skills and everything else it needs to be a complete person. This allows writers to push the plot using the character rather than just inventing stuff. When things have logic, we can enjoy the story as it’s consistent for us, the audience. As marketers, this helps us add content and know where the brand should go and how it will behave.

A book or a movie are pieces of art (I have written two novels and always wish I could fix some small things, but I can’t) but a brand is an evolving piece of art. It can grow, change, add new value and become a life force of its own.

Here are some tips that might help you improve your marketing today without having to do an extensive rebrand:

1. Your brand is a round character, so write it down. To make this easier for you I suggest you start with these:

2. What is your brand’s story? How did you come to meet, how did it all start?

3. What does your brand stand for?

4. If you met your brand in the street today, how would it be dressed? How would it behave?

5. How would your brand speak? What kind of words would it choose? How would it greet a new client coming into the office? Create your language. Make sure it’s consistent with everything you have written before. If the brand wears a suit, I doubt it would have the jargon of a surfer dude.

6. Pick 3 different dilemmas or decisions you had to make in the last few months. Look at what you wrote before. Would the brand behave the same? Would it be consistent? Sit with your team to debate these issues and to achieve a consensus on how the brand behaves and why. Some of these will serve you as a guide later, becoming your brand values.

Things change. Life is still happening while you work on your brand. Try being open to laying down the foundations. If you want to run a marathon, you need to have the right gear, training and help before you just go.

Every small tweak will help your marketing, sales and recruitment.

Tags brand, logo, marketing, storytelling, storytelling lecutre, tips, your brand

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Marketing is changing. Are you ready?

Post author By nirzavar_admin
Post date August 1, 2021
No Comments on Marketing is changing. Are you ready?

My agency just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. I remember in 2002 when I first started in marketing – it was so different back then.

Social media did not exist, mobile phones were far from being smart and things felt so simple. It actually makes me feel a little nostalgic. I loved and miss those days, when advertising on buses was the main way to get things done. Video billboards were just starting and Google ads were the big new thing.

It seems the world has progressed way more than just two decades since. Things are more complicated than ever, but at the same time, they are much more technical and data driven.

Now, if everyone does the same thing, if everyone is data driven and if all marketers look only at numbers and how to improve funnels with hard data, what will distinguish between them?

Yes, my dear friend, you are correct: their soul, or maybe we should say the brand’s soul. Companies can be amazing, grow, sell and scale, but only a few will outlast the rest – those that are running a brand and not just a business.

In my line or work I deal with lots of companies in various stages of growth and we offer services accordingly. Some small startups simply need to tell their story and build a 3–5-minute pitch to raise their next round. Others need a whole marketing team (we provide outsourced marketing services) and then there are those that need help with creative or performance marketing. No matter who they are, or what stage they’re at we ask for their brand book. Now, please let me specify something and be very, very clear: A brand book is not just your graphics!!

When we onboard a client, I like to have a one-hour session (of which I’ve probably done hundreds in the last 5 years) where I ask the client what is they do. It takes about 57 minutes or so and by the end they understand that what they thought they did or how they presented themselves is not who they want to be. Usually, this takes us down the rabbit hole where the fun starts:

1. We build the language, the wording that helps us write the creative.
2. We come to an understanding of how to service the audience and clients, and know what to say and how to behave.
3. We begin to think with the brand and not just to please a certain figure in the company.

Why?
Because we know the brand. Like any good actor, we go into character, create the persona, dress like the brand and talk like the brand.

This piece is crucial as it removes phrases like, “Well, I don’t think it will work,” or, “I would never click on that.” Good marketing needs a good brand to rely on. Magic happens when it’s not a matter of my or my client’s opinion, but rather the way their brand should behave.

The key is understanding that it’s all about building a well-rounded character that has its own ideas, feelings and values. We need to know where the brand is coming from and where it’s headed (story and vision).

I often meet people who are happy to share their brand book with me but, sadly, it only consists of graphics (how the brand should dress) and maybe some generic values or a story.

Language creates everything, so how can you build a brand without having all the pieces in place?

It’s always a work in progress, a never-ending task to keep improving and growing, an ever-changing commitment to ensure our brand is on point.

Good marketing is a combination of so many things but the most important in my opinion is a strong brand. Why?

It will be able to make tough decisions for us.
It will keep us in check and tell us where to go.
It will help us focus and move toward our vision.
It will keep the wrong people away.
It will always evolve and inspire us.

It is always a work in progress, never ending always changing concept and that Is also what makes it so exciting.

Keep working hard, feel free to reach out with thoughts, ideas or just to say hello.

Tags brand, branding, building a character, marketing, Marketing is changing, story, vision

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Are you a Storyteller?

What is the difference between storytelling and storytellers and why it should matter to you?

“Are you a storyteller? Oh, how I love storytelling, especially when there’s a good story to tell. I was at a lecture the other day about tips for good storytelling.”

Heard this much during the last few months?

We need buzzwords. We love buzzwords and what could be better than ‘storytelling’?

When talking about storytelling, some might feel a little nauseous since it’s being used for everything now. It’s like the new ‘strategy’. just drop it anywhere in a meeting and you are good to go.

Come to think of it, how can you avoid using it all the time?

We are all storytellers. Some stories are great and some suck but others are really epic. We all know someone who seems like the best storyteller ever, who makes a night out, well… legendary. I own several bars in Tel-Aviv and at each of these locations it’s always been easy to spot the storyteller at every table. They aren’t necessarily the loudest or most fun person in the group, but rather the one people listen to, the one who could take the whole party on a journey just by using words.

Storytelling is about creating a world you can imagine.

Movies, novels, comics and a good myth all tell great stories that can surpass time and place. They can evolve and become better over time – some might even be timeless. During the Middle Ages they had the troubadours telling stories and singing hymns of heroism and bravery.

True storytellers are born a certain way. They develop their craft by doing it over and over, looking at their audience, learning a certain body language and sculpting the presentation it until it works. Can anyone be a storyteller? Well, if you didn’t know it already, you are a storyteller.

When you come home and tell your spouse about your day, when you talk to your colleagues at work about the new restaurant you tried last night, or when you pitch your team a new idea during a meeting, you are practicing this fundamental skill. We are all storytellers. Good or bad, well, that’s another story.

During the last few months, I started to notice that storytelling is being used more often as an empty buzzword, and I started to apologize when using it during sales meetings.

We all have a story to tell, but we need to think if we are good storytellers or just regular people who can tell a story, not caring if it’s good or bad. What do I mean by that? A good story will sell, make people imagine or keep them on the edge of their seat. An epic story will make people believe in things they have never seen, like dragons, start revolutions, or beg you to keep going.

A few days ago, I was having coffee with a friend who had just left a branding agency. Something interesting came up as we were discussing a storytelling workshop I was about to give. I love storytellers but I feel more and more like storytelling has become just another buzzword with no substance.

You see, I have written novels and people love authors. It’s quite common for someone I meet to say something like, “You wrote a book? What a dream. I would also love to one day write a book about something”, to which I always reply, “So just do it, write a book, it’s not so hard” (it’s a white lie, writing my novels was so tedious and draining but it makes for good small talk).

When we do creative, or write posts for social media, people think it’s easy because they too can write. The entry point for the craft seems easy, and the barrier low. Almost everyone can write. But can they really write?

Now, just like writing, everyone can tell a story. People think that if they can tell a story, they are true storytellers hence.

I believe the art of storytelling is engraved in our bones, the love or words, imagination, creating something out of thin air, making people feel the chills, have a tear in their eye. Anyone can do it, really, but how many can really be amazing at it?

I believe we should find the best, the ones that can actually do it, in writing or on stage or even those who can teach. But what about you? How can you improve?

1. The goal – every good story needs to know where it’s heading. Have a pitch at work? Great. Make sure you write down what your goal is and make sure you are aligned. Always check if what you wrote serves the end goal. No? take it out.

2. Length – people will read a 600-page Harry potter but would avoid a 600-word blog post. Before you write, try and put the building blocks in place. When the structure works for you, pour in the words. For long form content, I love using post-it notes on my wall.

3. Words – words create a reality but let me tell you a secret I share during my workshops. The gaps, the silence, are also a very important piece. Leave something to people’s imagination. If you tell them every small detail, nothing is left for the brain to fill, it might be too long, and people lose interest. In my session, I use a 5-word story and let the audience feel the blanks. In hundreds of sessions, I have never heard the same version twice.

You might not be a pro at storytelling, you might not love the buzzword, but you need to improve that skill.

Have any questions? Feel free to reach out.

Tags Are you a Storyteller?, art of storytelling, goal, goals, marketing, Storyteller, storytelling

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Time to change your life

What if this is your only chance? Would you take it?

This might just be the right time for you to change your life – to switch jobs or lose that weight. Now, during the worst pandemic and economic crisis in decades, you just might find your shining star. That’s because that star is not out there in the sky or in your next job, it is literally inside you.

Just like anyone else might, I decided to look for that star inside of myself. I get closer and closer one step at a time, and it feels good. It started like most oaths to exercise, with the idea that I should do more.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

Last year was simultaneously a particularly good and awfully bad year. My podcast was alive and kicking with over 30 episodes. My agency was growing with an amazing staff and we launched new services focused on branding for small businesses. It was all set up to be an awesome year: working hard from 8a.m. till 8p.m. every day. From there I’d go home, eat, shower and go out for a beer… or two… or three. I loved finishing the day with a few beers, maybe a couple of cigarettes and some friends. The fact that I am a partner in two bars wasn’t helping my drinking habit, but it was so much fun.

The months have a tendency to pass quickly when you’re busy, so I would work hard, play hard and knew that whatever I didn’t get done could wait for tomorrow. Funny thing about tomorrow though, is that we always delay the most important things, right?

We postpone working on our dreams, spending time with our family or improving our lives by exercising, cooking, etc. Whatever it is, we are too tired to do it. “I will run tomorrow,” I said, “I will stop smoking after this weekend.” Writing? Maybe next week. I promised myself I would film a couple of YouTube videos as soon as I had a few hours. But time is tricky – it never comes back and it’s always elusive, giving us that feeling that it will never run out.

And as the days passed, I noticed I just wasn’t having fun anymore. I had become a CEO, but didn’t get to participate in any of the fun bits that come with running a business. I stopped doing the creative stuff like writing and focused instead on employee issues, taking care of financial things and working hard, but feeling stuck. I wasn’t entirely aware of it, but despite all my plans, life was telling me I needed a change.

It will take as much time as it takes

What I needed was a vacation, and the holiday season was just around the corner. I had always dreamed of seeing Japan; it was time. When I was there, I was overwhelmed by the difference in culture (I am from Israel, the opposite of Japan in every way imaginable).

It was mind blowing – like being in outer space. In my environment, everyone wants everything faster, focusing on quick tactics and results rather than strategy. Honestly, it had worn me out, and I wasn’t sure if this way of doing things had gotten me where I wanted to be. In Japan, time is based on patience. Things take time because they need to take time. How much time? As much as it takes. And after 3 weeks, I came back ready to make some changes to the business and my lifestyle.

But making changes and decisions is not easy, especially when my business has played such a big role in my life for almost a decade. When you have employees and clients, you can’t just drop it all and go traveling again (trust me, I thought about it every day). I prepared a plan and included everything I needed to change in my business: fewer employees, fewer clients, bigger clients, more focus on work and making an impact. Everything started to seem better. It definitely felt better. Our tasks weren’t easy, but step by step, I started down this new path. Going into 2020, I felt I was on the right track. Looking back at it now, I see that I was basically on the track to making the same mistakes I had made before.

I kept finding excuses not to write, vlog or push my brand. Something wasn’t right, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I decided to exercise and start reading more. So, I sold my motorcycle and started walking 30 mins every day back and forth to the office. It was fun. Winter days here in Tel-Aviv are great and Audible books kept me company. A few months later, still feeling I could do more but unsure where to start, I was in Berlin for the weekend to have some meetings and see some friends. I made sure I kept walking while I was there. Right after I returned to Israel, the news hit us: we had to quarantine for 14 days.

Free falling

We have all the time in the world…until something like this happens. Understanding that all hell was about to break loose, I did what most people would do: I hung on to what I knew instead of taking a huge breath and diving into the deep end. Back and forth, I walked in my apartment, worrying. How was I going to pay salaries? What might happen to me, my family, my company?

It was around 2a.m. when I decided I needed to let go. There was simply no point in feeling stressed. I couldn’t control most of what was happening. I needed to look at this situation from a different angle. “How much time do I have every day and how could I utilize it to make the most out of it?” I asked myself. What things I want to fill my days with? How would I like to feel at the end of every day when night comes?

Then I stopped. The panic stopped. The smoking at the window as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders was over. For the first time in about 10 days locked up at home, my mind felt clear. It would take me just a few hours to make a list of all the things I could control.

The next day, I spoke to my accountant. We made some important decisions together, and a few days later the whole country was ordered to stay home. Out of quarantine and into lockdown. I still couldn’t leave the house. Time, which everyone always complained was lacking, suddenly felt abundant again, but I knew better this time. Now it was time to move forward. I believe we can choose how we look at things. For me it was either fall into depression or make the best of a bad situation and start making my dreams my job again.

Personal brand

As time progressed, I figured things were not going back to normal and we might need to rethink the definition of normal altogether. If so, I knew I would have no option but to make the best of a bad situation. I made a to-do list and got to work. Ok, I didn’t actually make a physical list, but more like sat in front of my computer screen for about 17 hours a day and worked… or created work… or had fun… well, you get the point, I hope.

I have already been working on my personal brand for years. I have my own logo for my surname and a cool title on my card and E-mail signature: Chief of Happiness. For years, people meet me at events around the world and all they can remember is my title – I love it.

I felt it was time to take the next step. I scouted the net for cool sites of famous people, mainly speakers and marketing gurus. I wrote down all the things I loved and got a good friend to help me build a new website for my lectures, consulting and workshops. It took time, but writing and the little bit of design we did on WordPress wasn’t too difficult for us (ok, for him more than me).

It didn’t take long to start getting work and I am happy to say this entire situation has become a life-changing experience for me. I’m actually writing content about my work/hobby and being invited to teach about these things – it’s absolutely amazing. I have been planning to do this for over 2 years, but now, I had time, I did it and it’s working. Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Writing

I always loved writing. Hell, I wrote two books and I’ve been messing around with my third book about a marketing concept for a while now. Something about the idea of asking my students to read chapter 4 in my book for the next class always made me laugh. But sometime a few years ago, my writing went from novels and long social posts to tweets, short comments, quick blog posts, nothing to write home about. Now I’ve relaunched my Medium, started writing on my website and returned to pursuing long stories on my laptop – just writing. I am now at the point where I think I know how to continue my 3^rd book and maybe even a new novel or a TV script.

Interviews

In 2019 I decided I had to get better at interviews. I wasn’t even sure why, but I had to. Many people around me already liked my podcast concept, so I went with video interviews and fell in love. Being a creative person, the decision to improvise all my interviews seemed natural to me, and after the first 3 or 4, they got pretty good. Some episodes were excellent even. And I had a plan for 2020: to interview and speak in as many countries as possible. I even made a video about it. Now, at home, I wrote some people and started the 100 interviews project, where I interview people from different countries. If I am not mistaken, episode 10 should be just around the corner. The concept of conducting interviews gives me the opportunity to just randomly introduce myself and ask someone to join me for a quick session. If you or someone you know might be interested, mail me. I need more countries and good people.

Filming

When I was younger, I think there were about 12 years when I barely had any pictures taken of me. Things were different when film was used and it was easy to avoid being photographed. Now I run two YouTube channels, go live, teach in 2 colleges and I love it. But to this day, I change the moment I see the red record icon and it takes me some time to warm up to the camera. But as a marketeer and someone looking to build a personal brand, I needed to face this fear.

I ordered a Canon M50 and started filming myself every day during quarantine to get used to the camera. It was the only way to get over that fear and embrace it.

I now film somewhere between 2-4 videos a week for my YouTube channels and Patreon.com supporters. I need to keep practicing and remember I will never get over that fear completely, it will only keep getting smaller. Embrace your fears.

Editing

I do not want to feed the negative feelings I have about editing so let’s just say I don’t feel I’m very good at it. For years, I had help – some of the best! But now at home, I decided again that I need to own it. Even though I found out I was better at doing one shot to save time, I had to learn some editing. Now, I spend about 10 hours a week and during the weekends improving my techniques.

For me, it is crucial these days to go back to doing everything by myself. I believe that amazing all-around players will be the ones who thrive and survive. If you can afford an editor, great. If you can’t, learn. When you have the money, you will remember the early days and know the jargon so you can communicate better with your editor. Don’t give up because you do not know how to edit.

Live sessions

I can’t sing or act and I don’t think I have ever been good looking enough to be a model, even when I was young. So, teaching is my way of being a rock star, standing on stage, giving that show and holding the room. When I first started teaching at college, people told me kids are terrible and college students even worse. They won’t listen, and don’t care. But I believe if my talk is interesting, people will stay, listen and engage.

I owe a lot to my students for helping me improve, and sitting at home, anything suddenly became a great excuse to take action, so I jumped on the idea and started offering free live sessions on Zoom anywhere possible. Thanks to the time differences, I could always find another accelerator or hub to engage with somewhere.

This became a great way to test new material, meet 25-30 people at once and even get leads, paid gigs and consulting work. Giving my time for free paid off in so many ways. So, to everyone who asked why I do this for free, I say it makes me feel good and reminds me we can impact someone on the other side of the world with words. It is a long game and I never know who these people might become in a few years or if they will remember me at all, but it actually pays the bills if you are patient.

Marketing

I LOVE MARKETING!!! My passion has never run out. To this day I keep reading, learning and meeting new people. Quarantine was an awesome chance to revisit all the things we did over the past couple of years and improve them. We went back to content strategy and produced more videos and articles, refined our messages and made changes to our target audience. All this is based on our core values and it has been fun. It’s also producing results faster than ever.

I found a few clients who get what I’m doing. We can work on long term strategies, gamification and YouTube content together. Creating more, learning more – feels like I am just starting again.

Catan

Well, to be honest, why not? The online version has some bugs, but I was willing to overlook those and have fun with my friends over zoom. I always had a thing for strategy games but Catan takes the cake and most of the time, so do I. This game reminded me that the hand you currently hold says nothing about the larger game. Even if you roll a 7 and have to let go of half of it, this means nothing, you can still win. When your opponents are doing well, remember, they can still lose if you focus on playing smart, negotiating hard and having fun.

Running

During quarantine I did not run, just walked back and forth in my small apartment. Now, I run almost every day. That feeling you get that you can’t possibly run anymore, but stretch it just a little more anyway is key to me working now, at 1a.m. writing this. Keep moving no matter what, no matter where you are or how small (or bad) each step feels – just keep moving. Great things will come of your suffering.

It is up to you, always

I truly believe life is random and we can only control our decisions based on the knowledge we have in that particular moment and our gut feeling. Take these two, do the best you can and be happy you are where you are. Tomorrow, you might be on top of the world, but there is always a chance you might fall down. Be happy with what you have and keep moving forward.

When you look at things, try and be as positive as you can because it is the right thing to do. I love complaining in a cynical way, myself. It’s always funny and I find laughter makes everyone feel better. But sometimes, I too dwell on things and feel down, alone or miserable. It is totally ok in my mind to feel these things, but, and this is a big but, we are judged on what we do after those feeling take over.

You might have skimmed this article quickly, or maybe you scrolled straight to the conclusion. So, TLDR, here it goes: it’s up to you to make a change and stop looking at the past, my friends. What could have been is not relevant; it will never happen.
Time will pass, things will probably get worse before they get better and this might be a final call – an unmissable last chance to prepare and make sure your better is awesome.

It is time for each of us to take action and ensure we are doing our best in this new evolution. This might mean putting your head down and working more, following a dream, moving cities, starting a running routine or anything else that might help you get through these next 12-24 months.

For me, it was following my dreams.

Good luck

Tags Catan, change your life, Editing, Filming, following my dreams., Interviews, Live sessions, making plans, marketing, running, Time to change your life, Writing

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I never wanted to own a bar…

Post author By nir zavaro
Post date August 19, 2020
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Now I am a partner in 2. But only after a big failure.

I never wanted to own a bar, I just wanted to make some extra cash. I distinctly remember telling myself that before investing in one. Little did I know, that failure would lead me to where I am today, now, writing to you, a stranger on the other side of the world, offering you my consulting services.

When we opened the first bar, we thought we couldn’t go wrong. Hundreds of people came in every night to party and drink. The problem (one of many) was that our managing partners had no clue how to run such a business and about 6 months I had to quit my job and learn how to manage a bar with a big staff, a six-figure P&L and a huge inventory that goes bad every couple of days. Till this day, in my storytelling workshop for startups, I repeat that running a restaurant is more complicated than what my listeners do. If you want to run a tech business, go manage a food & beverage business for a year.

I needed help fixing the business. I called everyone, went to every meeting. I knew how to market and sell things but knew nothing about running the back office. I had to learn everything from scratch. My friends who owned bars came to help, teach and support me. Slowly I started to learn the business and implement things I learned years back in the retail industry. I started to improve our marketing and reach through word of mouth. About 9 months in I managed to sell the place. Since then, I have helped over 70 businesses in the food and beverage industry improve, grow and sometimes help them realize the best thing is to close shop and move on.

Thanks to so many amazing people along the way I started my consulting service, built streetwise, a digital marketing agency serving mainly startups, and today I am still a partner in two bars (another successful one was sold in 2014). As I meet more young entrepreneurs and companies, I always tell them how one thing led to another.

What I thought would be a small investment became one of my biggest failures. I lost more than $150K but was able to learn and grow other businesses. When it looks grim and you feel lost, look for people that are different from you, that can help you look at things from a fresh perspective. When you think you need a push, just ask for it.

No one wants to fail but are you willing to ask for my help?

If so, I am inviting you to a 30min session with me online to hear about your idea, business and where you want to go from here. We will discuss options and ideas; I will share my experience. I am not looking to hold your hand but rather be productive and think about the future, your habits, and if you are willing to put in the work.

If you feel you need that push, let’s talk.

Tags ask for help, bar owner, business fail, fail big, marketing, storytelling, storytelling lecutre

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Why reading that one book changed my life forever

Post author By nir zavaro
Post date August 16, 2020
No Comments on Why reading that one book changed my life forever

We never know where we might end up, where our stories might lead. For me, it was about writing and telling the stories that define us.

When I was 20 or so, serving in the Israeli military up north, on the Israel-Lebanon border, we had time – free time, or at least it felt like free time.

I was mainly doing night shifts from 10p.m. to 6a.m. knowing the other side would try and hit our bases at dawn. It was a strange ritual for everyone involved. And, as you do, I started forming my own habits around this daily routine. I would read at night, and at around 5a.m. I would make coffee, clean the desk and check the radio was working so I could hear the first shouts when all hell broke loose.

But, interestingly enough, what I remember most from this time is how the books I read made me feel. They were my escape from the day-to-day army life of shooting and danger. I devoured stories about far away places or the nightlife scene in some city I wanted to visit or crime-solving mysteries and I just could not stop reading.

Then someone (I can’t really remember who she was now) told me about this one funny book written by a young author about dating and Tel-Aviv, the city I was born and raised in. It probably took me 2 shifts to finish the book and I said to myself, is that it? That’s a book? I knew then and there that I could write a book, a novel. All I would need is time.

I was 20, mind you and it took me another decade to find the time to write my first novel. It was a great experience. Well, that’s not exactly true. But you know how it is, time passes and we remember things differently, in this case more positively. It took me about 14 months to write and self-publish my first novel (the second one took more than double that amount of time).

I started to write long essays sometime in the 4^th grade when my teacher Deborah told my parents I should write more, as I was very imaginative. I like to attribute this imagination to bad 80’s TV shows, Dungeons & Dragons, computer games and the Neverending story. It was never about me, but rather taking people on a journey just by using words, making them feel good, laugh and being able to control that entire emotional rollercoaster. I loved it.

Over the years, I learned much more about the power of the written word. When I worked as a marketing manager and later brand manager, I sold snowboard gear using only words to describe the feeling one might have if they were to buy a specific board or boots. Increasing my language skills through sales, meeting hundreds of clients every month and improving my technique, all made me better at storytelling.

Writing a book is never easy. Telling a story sounds easy but telling a good one takes practice. We had countless funny moments in the army and whenever I reunite with my former comrades, we still tell those same stories. They have evolved into something completely different than what actually happened over there, but when we get the chance to tell them to a new audience we spice it up – a good opening, a solid punchline, you know, the juicy stuff. These little anecdotes have changed and morphed into well-crafted stories.

And the book about dating in Tel Aviv? I loved that book. Many years later I even met the author and joined his masterclass. I remember one night after class, we sat outside on the sidewalk downtown having a smoke and he told me he loved my short stories and I should publish a book. I smiled, gave him a copy of my novel and said thank you for the inspiration all those years ago.

It would take about 20 years from that night, reading that book to finding my passion, to make storytelling with my main business. It is ok if you still have no clue what your story is or how to tell it, but I offer you this one piece of advice: write. Once a day or on the weekends, just write online or in a notebook. It could be your thoughts, dreams or hopes. Why? Because writing makes it real – because it’s yours, and who knows what treasures you might find.

None of us know where our story might take us, but it is our story to tell, our journey to enjoy and grow from. Your story is your passion. Just make sure not to waste it.

יום 2/90 – ריטריט מלון פרא

May 28, 2024 No Comments

26.5 יום ראשון – ריטריט מלון פרא הפוך 1 חמש קפה נוספים בדרך לריטריט עם שלושים יזמים, מארגון היזמים EO. תמיד כיף אבל יהיה המון

יום 1/90 – 25 במאי האתגר מתחיל

May 28, 2024 No Comments

25.5 יום שבת – האתגר מתחיל צעדים – מעל 15,000 קפה – 6, הפוך – 2 כושר – ריצה כארבעה ק”מ עבודה – יש כמה

Tags book that changed my life, books that impact you, marketing, my first novel, storytelling, storytelling lecutre, the best book i have ever read, workshop marketing, writer

Nir Zavaro

Nir Zavaro

I believe the art of storytelling is engraved in our bones, the love or words, imagination, creating something out of thin air, making people feel the chills, have a tear in their eye. Anyone can do it, really, but how many can really be amazing at it?

What if this is your only chance? Would you take it?

Now I am a partner in 2. But only after a big failure.

We never know where we might end up, where our stories might lead. For me, it was about writing and telling the stories that define us.

יום 2/90 – ריטריט מלון פרא

יום 1/90 – 25 במאי האתגר מתחיל

We are all storytellers, but only the best ones win this game.