Mushroom Coffee Dealers are popping up left and right.
And it’s harder than ever to say no.
I’m not talking about litteral mushroom coffee.
I’m talking about the mushroom coffee of marketing.
This came up a little while ago when I was talking to a client.
She’s got about a dozen marketing plates spinning.
I asked her, what are your “water” maketing activities. The ones where, if you stop, you’ll see a decline pretty quickly.
And then, what are the “food” activities. The ones where you do actually need them to live, but less so than water.
And finally I asked her, what’s something you do for your health becuase you think it’s a good idea, but you’re not actually 100% sure it actually makes a difference?
“Mushroom Coffee”, she said.
Mushroom Coffee in one business isn’t necesarily Mushroom Coffee in another.
Let’s take podcasts for example…
One of my clients’s business teaches people how to run podcasts. In his business, clearly his podcast is water. It’s the core driver of sales, it’s also the proof he can do what he teaches.
For others, it takes a full day/week to get a podcast live, and it’s brought in a client or two now and then, but if you compare it to their core marketing activities, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
So if people aren’t getting good results from mushroom coffee, why are they so addicted to it?
I have a couple hypotheses…
- Status. Mushroom Coffee activities are often around wanting to be perceived a certain way, when that’s usually not the bottleneck of the business. Redesigning your website, creating a logo, creating a podcast… all things that are “high status” but not necessarily likley to drive meaningful outcomes (unless they’re your genuine bottleneck).
- Mushroom Dealers. Let’s be honest, marketers out there are SHARP. They could sell ice to an eskimo. So when they knock on your door understanding all your problems so well, and saying they can solve them, we want to beleive. Sometimes we’re led astray by the promise (or hope) of a better future.
- Fear. Behind the forest of mushroom activities is an entrepreneur who just wants to succeed. They’re afraid that if they don’t do it all, maybe they’ll fail, and worse, it’ll be their fault. So they try to do it all.
The thing is, Mushroom Coffee might feel good in the moment. It might even have some wins along the way, but it’s a disctraction.
And depending on how much mushroom coffee you’ve commited to right now, and how much more you’ll say yes to in the future, it could be really problematic for you and your business.
So now, I want you to make 3 lists:
- What are the top 1-3 marketing activities that if you stopped doing them, you’d see a decline in the next couple weeks (aka your water marketing activities)
- What are the next 1-3 marketing activities that consistently drive results for your business (aka your food marketing activities)
- What are the Mushroom Coffee activities in your business?
This is a really hard exercise to do yourself.
When I work with clients, I can make snap judgements on what’s what. But sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.
I had this experience myself.
I was talking to Danny Iny about starting (you guessed it) a podcast. He asked if it would be “Mushroom Coffee” for me?
I had a hard time answering. Um, yes maybe it would be mushroom coffee, but [excuse, excuse, excuse]. It would be fun, I could refine my ideas, it would build my profile… I think want to!
I realized there was a disconnect in this model.
If you know me, you know I beleive that you are the life force of your business.
And there is nothing more important than your creative energy and creative output.
So where does the “heart whisper” / “creative mofo energy” fit in all this?
Well, that’s what your whitespace is for.
Your whitespace allows you the freedom to take on what I’ll call “shroom” projects.
Shrooms can be mistaken for Mushroom Coffee, because they have some things in common, but they’re actually completely distinct.
Mushroom Coffee is something you’re hoping will do the job of water or food.
Shrooms are something you’re doing primarily because you feel called to.
When you follow the shrooms, you find yourself in places you didn’t expect, learning new things, exploring new ideas.
This experience, is water.
And that’s the power of whitespace.
Most of my clients spend about 1-2 days/week on client delivery, 1-2 days/week on marketing (water + food), leaving them 1-2 days/week of whitespace.
The key is to cut out the mushroom coffee, so you can have the whitespace to take on the projects you’re called to take on simply becuase you want to.
So with that, I’d love to know, what are some of the shroom projects you’re either working on, or would love to start working on?
Cheers,
Joey