Fourth quarter is here; can you believe it? It's time to finish 2025 as strong as possible and build momentum for 2026, all the while taking the time to enjoy the moments that matter. As the years go by, I'm finding that moments like a simple walk with my family or working on a puzzle together bring the most joy, especially as my daughters get closer to leaving our nest. What is it for you? What are you looking for these next three months?
Alright, let's get to this week's takes.
Marketing Tip: Eliminate Friction to Create Fans
Friction kills momentum.
Whether it is waiting in line, hunting for an answer, or filling out one more form, frustration is the fastest way to lose a customer.
Jesse Cole, the founder of the Savannah Bananas, built his Fans First philosophy on this first idea: eliminate friction. He looked at every part of the fan experience and asked, “How can we make this easier, faster, better?” From one flat ticket price that includes unlimited food to faster games and zero hidden fees, the Bananas made baseball fun again.
Your business needs to do the same thing. Walk through your customer journey from first contact to final delivery and look for the pain points. Is it slow rate quotes? Confusing invoices? Long hold times? Unfriendly contract terms? Every frustration you find is an opportunity to build trust.
Start small. Fix one friction point this week. Empower your team to spot friction and solve it. Be transparent, simplify processes, and communicate early. Every time a customer thinks “Wow, that was easy,” you move one step closer to turning them into a fan.
Most of us move from one task to the next without ever stopping to think. But some of the best ideas, solutions, and moments of clarity come when we finally step away from the noise.
Taking time to think is not wasted time; it is where creativity lives. When you give your mind space to slow down, stress fades and ideas start to emerge. Problems that felt heavy suddenly look solvable.
So this week, block time on your calendar to step away from the business and simply think. Take a walk. Sit somewhere quiet for a 30 minutes. And, most importantly, do it without your phone. Let your thoughts wander.
The best solutions rarely show up when you are staring at your screen. They appear when you make room for them to surface.
Interested in having me share these mindset shifts with your team in a virtual or in-person keynote or workshop? Book me here.
Meet-up Spotlight: Swag Giveaways Speak Loud
Swag says a lot about an event. Cheap giveaways get tossed in a drawer and subconsciously tell the attendees the conference is cheap. Great swag giveaways get used, remembered, and talked about.
At the Post & Pray Classic, we take swag seriously. Players walk away with a high-quality Branded Bills hat, a full leather golf glove, a dozen premium golf balls (ProV1s this time), and at our last tournament, a custom driver head cover. It is all designed to make people say, “Wow, they thought this through.”
This time we're giving each player a dozen Titleist ProV1s, a custom putter cover and much more because we want people to walk away feeing like they got a premier golf experience.
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