One afternoon, my daughter, Leah, pops into my office. She’s like,

“Dad, are you able to help me with my Digital Design project?”

“Am I ABLE to help you?” I leaped from my chair. “I was BORN for this!”

“So, we have to create a 30-second ad. And I’ve chosen Pringles chips…

But the stupid program on the school computers isn’t working right. Have you got something we can use?”

“Sure do!” I say, grinning wildly, “Let me introduce to your new bff, Canva.”

After a little messing around with the image she found… chatting about what she was thinking… and me gushing forth a torrent of ideas (a habit of mine)… we decided to leave it there and pick it up after school tomorrow.

But was that the end of it in Chris’s mind?

Oh, no no no!

There was a little more messing around that evening. And a LOT the next day.

By the end…

Chip cans were spinning. Flying. Multiplying. Cha-cha-ing.

All to this awesome beat-heavy public domain music I’d tracked down.

“Can’t wait for Leah to see this!”

She gets home the next day and I call her in. Excited to show off my masterpiece…

But before I can, she pipes up, “Guess what, Dad? My teacher helped me do the thing I wanted. So I’ve just about finished my project!”

😖

“Uhh… that’s… great. Ahh… good job!”

She wanders off.

Then it struck me how much of a colossal waste of time this was.

Not the quality time with my youngest. That was worth it.

But the fact that: Leah has to make the project herself.

So no matter how many Pringles cans I make erupt onto the screen… she couldn’t use it at all.

I got caught up in this rather big distraction because I like mucking around with things like this.

But it took time away from my business that I’ll never get back.

This reminded me of the ridiculous lengths it seems necessary to go to to get attention on social media these days.

SO MUCH TIME is needed for it. Is it really worth it?

If it’s not silly dances… then it’s the constant posting. That all seems to get lost amid the noise of everyone else doing exactly the same thing.

All while worshipping the mystical “algorithm.”

Thankfully we have email.

Where it’s simply about inviting people to opt-in if they see some benefit in what you can offer them.

Then it’s relationship-building from there. Through sending regular, relevant emails to a much more engaged bunch of people.

The overall strategy isn’t hard.

But learning from other people’s experiences goes a long way with dodging some bullets. And being able to make your own rapid strides forward.