It was a few months ago and I had one of those moments that made me literally laugh out loud at myself.
I'm sitting at my desk, surrounded by three monitors, multiple notepads, and enough post-it notes to wallpaper my entire cabin. My phone's buzzing with notifications from what feels like a million apps, and I'm juggling between different 40 different browser tabs.
Does this sound familiar?
And then it hits me - I'm the guy who is in the middle of writing a whole book about simplification.
Here I am, caught in the exact complexity trap I have seen some many others caught up in, and worst still, that I am writing about. The irony wasn't lost on me, let me tell you! But you know what? It was exact the wake-up call I needed.
Why is Complicated so Comfortable?
More times that we really want in business, we all slip into times of over complicating things. It's like a comfort blanket - the more tools, systems, software and processes we have, the more in control we feel.
But here's the kicker - it's usually an illusion.
Back in 2019, I had this "brilliant" idea to implement every marketing automation tool I could get my hands on. My thinking? More automation equals more freedom. And the more I could implement, I could speak to my clients and show them what was working for me. Business was good and I had the money to invest in these things so I kept buying.
The problem was, I ended up spending more time managing the automations, playing with the software and learning the systems than connecting with my customers.
The reason that 2025 is going to be different
I'm not just talking about simplification anymore - I'm living it. And I'm seeing it everywhere in the business world too.
The most successful entrepreneurs I work with aren't the ones with the most complex systems. They're the ones who've stripped everything back to what actually matters. And it’s not just the funnel simplification that I write about in my book, but about everything that impacts the entrepreneurial life and business.
If they were the only reasons for me to suggest this to you, reducing stress and anxiety is business have been my biggest wins.
From a Mess to $4,500 in One Week
I remember one client that came to me with a funnel that looked like a plate of spaghetti thrown at a wall. She had about twenty different lead magnets, even more email sequences, and enough automation rules to make an AI robot cry.
We simplified it down to:
- ONE killer lead magnet which was a webinar
- ONE offer
- and ONE straightforward sales process.
She generated over $4,500 from the first webinar she did! And that was after months of making nothing. This was all possible, not because we added more stuff, but because we took stuff away and simplified.
Here's my radical plan for 2025, and I'm inviting you along for the ride:
- I'm killing half my tech stack (goodbye, shiny object syndrome! 👋)
- I'm focusing on a simplified marketing funnel
- I'm replacing complex automation with human connection
Is it scary? Oh yes! There's this little voice in my head screaming "but what if you need that tool someday?" You probably know that voice too. It's the one that makes us hold onto complexity like it's our security blanket.
But here's what I know for sure...
The businesses that will thrive in 2025 won't be the ones with the most sophisticated systems. They'll be the ones brave enough to embrace SIMPLICITY and do the UNSCALABLE.
“I get simplicity Ant, but what do you mean by the unscalable?”
There’s a few things I mean by unscalable – but they all have one single thread running through them.
You have seen them as much as I have, the adverts and videos of some gen-z influencer telling you how you can you use AI to create content and post on your social media every day by autopilot so you don’t have to be spending all your time doing it.
What’s next? Someone telling us they found a way to post five times a day, ten times a day, fifty times a day – all thinking that more content is what will help you grow your online business. When will it end? These shortcuts and tactics will do nothing but create noise online.
I’m already becoming bind to video clips that have been chopped from longer form content when consuming in social media.
I am watching and listening to content that has been specifically created for the purpose it has been published for. I'm engaging with content that has all the ingredients needed to be helpful rather than leaving me hanging waiting for the next part.
AI created podcasts, AI chat bots on websites, simulated chat on evergreen webinars, AI SMS chat conversations…
The UNSCALEABLE is about bringing the HUMAN back into the funnel.
The UNSCALEABLE is about you planning and creating content specifically for what you are going to publish - record a 60-second clip not chopping it down from longer videos.
The UNSCALEABLE is the idea you of showing up live for your people in webinars - not simulating live or being lazy with evergreen webinars only.
The UNSCALEABLE is you being there for your people when they have a question - not just expecting a bot to do the job for you.
The UNSCALEABLE is you doing the opposite of what everyone else is saying we should be doing in our businesses - actually write instead of letting some AI do it for you.
The UNSCALEABLE is adding in a HUMAN connection point into your marketing and sales process, so people can actually speak and interact with a person not just consume robot generated content.
SIMPLIFY your business, your marketing, your offering… and then do the UNSCALABLE and bring the human back into the system.
That’s what I am on a mission to serve people in 2025 as it’s the path I have taken this year… and it’s SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD to be on this path beleive me (no AI would add that many O’s!).
⬇️ Less stress.
⬇️ Less worry.
⬇️ Less pressure.
⬆️ More enagament.
⬆️ More sales.
⬆️ More impact
You might be sat there thinking....
"Easy for you to say, Mr. 'I Wrote a Book About This' and have a successful business that you can simplify when I am not even making bank on my online business."
And yeah, you're right - I should know better.
But that's exactly why I'm sharing this with you.
I have been in this game a long time, I have grown a successful business, I have won many awards, I achieved 7-figures in sales of digital products online, I have written a book (that is in the final edit stage) on simplifying marketing funnels and systems.
And if I can get caught, slipping into the complexity trap, anyone can.
And if I can break free from it, so can you.
So, here's my challenge to you this week (and to myself) - if you are game for it...
Look at your business right now. Find one thing - just ONE thing - that you've overcomplicated. Maybe it's your email marketing, your client onboarding, or your social media strategy. Whatever it is, I dare you to simplify it and make it unscalable at the same time.
Here are two examples and action steps you can take this week…
1 - Short form Video in Social Media
Look at how you can take the idea of chopping up your latest YouTube video into daily shorts so you have content to post, and instead look at recording seven shorts on your mobile as sixty-second clips.
Here’s your framework:
- Hook (pain point – “Have you ever struggled with…”)
- Empathy (“I get it, I had this challenge once”)
- Promise (“Let me tell you how I overcame it”)
- Content (three key steps to overcome the challenge)
- Call to Action (“Want to know more, comment with the word GUIDE and I’ll send you a free guide to walk you through it all).
I have given you a framework here that simplifies things for you. And instead of chopping up a long format video or podcasts using AI, checking it for accuracies, correcting things and editing things out, simply record a few clips that will take you no longer than half an hour to complete once a week.
The unscalable act here is that you need to do it not the AI. But the time you save checking and editing the AI clips, you have just spent time intentionally creating valuable content for your social media that will stand out from the crowd in a sea of AI generated content.
2 - Webinars
Go live! Radical thought hey, I know.
When all we are told to do is record an evergreen webinar, put it up online and drive traffic to it, it will generate leads and sales for us in our sleep. WRONG!
While having something like this is good for those that can’t make a live date and time that you will be presenting online, or to send to people if they registered and want some kind of replay, it’s proven that live webinars, Q&A’s and real-time broadcasts get the best results.
Real-time engagement increases sales, builds loyalty and trust, plus it gives your audience what they are looking for – human connection.
Run webinars live and see what could happen!
If you have an evergreen webinar that is running and not generating you anything more than a list of freebie hunters and timewasters, pick two or three dates between now and the New Year and go live.
Send emails to your list, even those that registered for your evergreen webinar, tell people in your social media, tell them you are going live!
Who know's you could have a great few weeks like my client did previously.
Here's my formula for successful lives...
- Make sure you are live – be totally Authentic - no fake-live or hybrid presentations, present live.
- Leave room during and after your presentation for Interaction and questions.
- Ensure you have totally transparent Audience Visibility - Allow everyone to see how many people you have live and their comments too.
- Make Sales Offers and sell something – don’t just do a free training.
- Follow Up with your sales offer and even offer the next live to those that registered and attended the previous lives (you will be surprised how many people show up again – and sometimes they need to see it again to buy)
Will you join me on this Simplify journey in 2025?
Throughout the year I'll be sharing my progress, and probably my failures too - keeping it real here.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that things happen and you get better results, when you do it together with other people.
Accountability, challenge and encouragement all come from being together on a mission.
Who's with me?
Drop a comment below if you're ready to make 2025 your year of radical simplification and you’re prepared to do the unscalable.
Let's show the business world that sometimes, less really is more.
And yes, I wrote this newsletter post on one monitor, with all notifications turned off and with Microsoft Word being the only help with spelling and grammar.
Baby steps, right? 😉
Speak again next week.
PS... if you have questions, want to get live answers, join my LIVE Q&A inside my community tomorrow at 4pm UK time (8am PST / 11am EST) - you need to be a member, so click here and join today.
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