EDITOR’S NOTE:

“And that’s pretty much the strategy,” I said. “Simple.”

My boss was nodding. “Yeh,” she said. “Simple and SMART. I love it!”

I pursed my lips and nodded along.

“Really, I love it,” she said. “How’d you come up with this?”

“I didn’t,” I said. “Just heard it on Marketing School.”

“The podcast?” she said.

“Yeh,” I said, “You listen?”

“Of course,” she said. “I love it.”

As of this post, Eric Siu and his co-host Neil Patel have recorded 1381 episodes of Marketing School, a daily podcast. Plus Eric hosts another podcast called Leveling Up. 

Combined they have over 30 million downloads. Remarkable. 

And when he’s not recording, writing or speaking, Eric is building ClickFlow, a content intelligence platform that helps you grow traffic. And when he’s not doing that, he’s running SingleGrain, an ad agency that’s helped Amazon, Airbnb, Salesforce, and Uber acquire more customers. 

Now I’m honored and delighted to have Eric Siu on for a VeryGoodCopy micro-interview.

In only 205 words, he shares:

• How long it typically takes online projects to get their legs…  

• A unique way to organize your week for maximum productivity…

• Probably the most practical “parting piece of advice” I’ve heard… 

And more...

Thank you, Eric.

Let’s get started:

1) “What’s your work routine?”

My days are usually themed.

Mondays = Team and 1 on 1 meetings
Tuesday = Recruiting, financing, strategy
Wednesday = Recruiting, financing, strategy
Thursdays = content days (podcast, video, etc.)
Friday = strategy days (no meetings allowed)

After the work day I'll usually spend the evening reading, learning or watching CEO interviews. 

2) “What do you know about your work now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”

That it typically takes 3 years to start to see traction and to not give up too early.

3) “What did your biggest professional failure teach you?”

That everything is about people and culture.

4) “What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your craft’s learning curve?”

Relationship building via conferences/masterminds/dinners/online and then asking for references for people to pay to teach me or do it for me. :) 

5) “What book has helped you the most over your career?”

I recite a few lines from Think and Grow Rich every morning (been doing it since I was 23). So I guess that? 

But more recently, I’d recommend The Great CEO Within by Matt Mochary.

6) “And your parting piece of advice?

”Read annual shareholder letters from top companies such as Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Constellation Software, etc. — you'll get smarter for sure. ;)