It’s that time of year again. When we make our New Year resolutions, publish trends for the upcoming year, or in my case share #my3words.
My 3 words was started by Chris Brogan in 2006 as an exercise to help you choose three words that will guide any decisions you may need to make in the coming year. I’ve followed his posts ever since even when I didn’t publish my own. Here are Chris’ 3 words for 2024 and some background on his approach.
Before, I set out my 3 words for 2024, I wanted to take a step back and look at what I chose in 2023: Grow, Engage and Learn. I’m going to say that I got two out of three. It’s not that I missed one but instead because I’m ongoing giving myself half marks for Engage and Learn.
With Grow, I get full marks as Zinc Marketing had a great year and was able to help many B2B technology companies with their marketing efforts. The team far surpassed the goals set this year and I’m super proud of that. We also launched both Zinc Social and Zinc Academy as affiliates to expand how we can help small businesses and other marketers get better results.
On the Learn front, I think it’s safe to say I’ve learned something throughout the year but I didn’t get to complete the courses I planned or read all the books I have piled up. I’ll keep Learn on my list but not as one of my words as you can’t repeat them.
Similar to Engage, I have been active on social but probably not engaging as much as I had hoped. I did continue to connect with a lot of amazing people on LinkedIn and not only get to know them but learn about their journey and companies. I look forward to continuing to do this more and engaging in other ways in 2024.
My 3 words for 2024
You are likely not reading this post for a recap of 2023 but instead to look forward at 2024 so without further ado, here they are…
Focus
While Chris does not recommend this as a word, it just feels right for me this year (we’ll see if I regret this choice when I do next year’s post). The reason I chose focus is that I do tend to take a lot of things on but they do not always align and sometimes they can pull me in too many directions. That’s why I think focus is a good one for me in 2024. I need to keep that in front of me at all times so that I don’t go off on any crazy tangents or try to do too many different things. This year I want to focus and make sure whatever I do fits in the bigger picture.
This year I want to focus and make sure whatever I do fits in the bigger picture.
Create
Looking back, I created more content last year than I ever have before, including these blog posts, webinars, eBooks, social media, the B2B Messaging Bootcamp, and more. Plus, that doesn’t count all the work for our clients. But, when I say create in 2024, I am not thinking of quantity but instead what we create. I want to explore new formats, mediums and topics (without totally contradicting my first word above ;)). Create is to remind me to try new things both for myself, Zinc Marketing and more importantly our clients.
Create is to remind me to try new things both for myself, Zinc Marketing and more importantly our clients.
Build
While I was able to successfully grow Zinc Marketing over the past year, I also learned that there is more to a business than growth. To build a successful business that lasts, you need to have the right people, processes and plans so you can scale the business. That’s why this year, I want to put a lot of my effort into building the best foundation for Zinc Marketing. That means building the brand, building the team and building the other elements you need to make the company and our clients even more successful.
That means building the brand, building the team and building the other elements to make [Zinc Marketing] and, more importantly, our clients even more successful.
There you have it. My 3 Words for 2024: Focus – Create – Build.
Despite the fact, I don’t always deliver on the words I choose, I continue to believe #my3words or a similar framework is a great way to guide you each year. I encourage all of you to try this and I look forward to seeing your 3 words in action. You can check in on my progress on these by following me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
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