Chloë's 3 Things: No / Simple / Swag
Chloë Thomas
Follow for eCommerce, Marketing, and Sustainability stuff + LinkedIn Top Retail Voice 2023-now. Plus insights on growing a media company.
Welcome to this week's newsletter!
This week's thinking theme is probably... simplicity.
Enjoy!
Thing 1: No ❎ the joy of constraints
OK, so this is a repost of yesterday's 'normal' post because:
Newsletter version:
In the last 7 days, I've said 'no' to £10,000+ of business.
Why? Peri-menopause. But I think it's good news...
Every time I've added a constraint to my business (like no longer working weekends, moving to Cornwall, not being a consultant), it's made the business better.
Yeah, there's been a bit of pain adjusting - but it's improved the business within months.
In the past, the decision to add a constraint has always been a proactive choice, a positive strategic move.
This time I'm being forced into it - but I think it's actually just making me do something I should have done anyway. (or maybe that's just wishful thinking? 😂)
Why am I turning stuff down?
Earlier this year, the peri-menopause sent me the gift of migraines. I'm interpreting them as a red flag that I'm pushing myself too hard. 🚩
I have no intention of letting what I choose to do to earn a living make me ill.
So I'm turning down projects that:
❎ Don't serve our existing core audience
❎ We can't execute without adding complexity
❎ Spread me too thinly
See why I think this is good news?
I reckon it's going to deliver loads for us:
💸 Opportunity Cost Savings
💸 Energy Savings (mine, not carbon!)
💸 Brand Strength
💸 Team Focus
Basically, more time & energy to focus on what actually moves the needle.
✔️ More podcast episodes with guests who truly serve our audience
✔️ Getting DEEP into audience growth
✔️ Finally launching a couple of projects I've been sitting on for months
It's just a little annoying that it took a kicking from the peri-menopause to make it happen - when you say no to good opportunities, you create space for great ones.
📝 What constraints have actually improved your business?
Thing 2: Simple 🤫 the joy of constraints
Building on the constraints theme... I've been doing a lot of thinking about how great it is when you simplify things.
And I seem to have been attracting conversations about it:
The podcast about simplification (out in September)
This week I recorded a podcast interview with a founder who's grown her business to $2m in 2 years. With 2 products, and TINY niched niche. A clear key to her business is keeping it simple and cutting out the crap that doesn't need to be done.
She's doing it all with her, and a virtual assistant she hired just a few months ago.
AND still has time to do some coaching 🤯
The networking chat about simplification
I also caught up with someone who does a lot of panel chairing at big marketing events this week - and he started sharing that he's decided to cut back on all the ones he's been doing for free.
Make life simpler - remove things from the diary!
It's a plan I'm following too - in fact I said no to one big brand event just last week, that 6 months ago I'd have attended.
The broken CRM system
Regular readers will know I'm busy systematising our sales this year, and back in the spring it was pointed out to me I was building something overly complicated...
Well, I broadly stuck with it due to time investment (rarely a good move 😂) and just plodded on.
Well, this week the complicated system at the heart of it all fell over - for some reason all the fields in my primary field set (so email, name, etc) just would not show in the table view 🤬.
Support were on a 12 hour response time, finally admitted it was a system error, and that it would be fixed in the next release - probably 2 weeks away.
I'm finally listening to the universe (who must have broken a toe the amount it's had to kick me about this issue!!) and today will re-build the whole thing, on a more tried and tested tech stack.
More simply!
The one good thing about that de-tour is that I've got a much better vision of what I need now...
Wish me luck!
It's hard to keep things simple
I think it's harder to keep things simple.
It certainly is for me - I want to over complicate every step of the way!
Just think about when you're building a budget for next year, EVERYTHING you're currently doing gets added in, nothing gets dumped.
To do simplicity well, you have to STOP doing things.
📝 Any advice on how to keep things simple? because I clearly need to read it!!
Thing 3: Swag 🤢 need a rethink
A while back, I stopped picking up swag at events, unless I was actually going to make use of it.
And I've been trying to turn down gifts that come in the post - but I'm not very good at it.
Last week I was asked for my postal address by an event organiser, and without thinking, I sent it.
Actually, I did think "I should turn down the offer of free stuff... it doesn't fit with my sustainability values", but I was tired and didn't have the energy to write it well - so I just submitted it.
Isn't it weird how hard it is to gracefully turn down free stuff??
So this week I received a massive box of stuff that had come across the ocean, and I suspect by plane because it arrived so quickly.
And yet again, I'm feeling guilty about the carbon footprint of it all, and (to reduce my guilt) now have the problem of giving it away.
Re-boot the "No to Swag" system
I clearly need to give my "saying no to swag" system a reboot, so here's the plan:
👢 Write down the criteria for a 'no' and a 'yes' in each scenario - post vs F2F
👢 (on a good energy day) write and save the "polite no" templates
👢 post about it again to encourage others to cut back on pointless stuff
On the list for next week!
📝 What's your swag system - do you take it all? And how do you get rid of it?
That's it for this week!
I'd love to engage with your comments, so please do add your thoughts below. Distract me from the CRM rebuild!!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Who am I and what do I do?
I've been in eCommerce for 20+ years, worked brand side, ran a marketing agency for 10 years, and now I run the media business Emetko Media.
We create content to help brands make better decisions on their path to success, and sell advertising and sponsorship to SaaS and agencies looking to get in front of our audience.
Key audience and content channels include:
Ecommerce Wizard 🧙♂️ Marketing Demon 😈 Analytics Ninja 🥷 MCIM/FIDM 🤓 2 Decades+ in Ecom 👴🏻
1moI'm firmly in the NOSWAG camp. Even "good swag" is problematic, because for every person who finds it useful there will be a dozen who take it just because, let it gather dust in a corner, and ultimately landfill it unused. I don't really want to encourage that. That said, if you are a heavy metal band then give me all the swag baby! 🧙♂️
Founder & CEO, Los Angeles Brands | Retail Expansion Expert | Brand Builder | Helping DTC Brands Scale Through Retail, Content & Omnichannel Strategy
1moI have read the newsletter. That moment when you share your address and instantly regret it, so relatable.😅 Saying no to free stuff somehow takes way more energy than it should!
Growth Marketing expert. NED at Go Direct Marketing. Fractional CMO. Klaviyo Gold Partner.
1moI'm with you on the over complicating things - I am desperately trying to get better at simplifying things. I've made some progress - still more to be made. Ah - SWAG - at a recent Klaviyo event there was a SWAG room and the queue was down the corridor for most of the day. I decided to see what the fuss was about when it was a bit quieter later in the day. I got myself a laptop bag which I've actually used multiple times since as well as a note book (perfect handbag size) and a pen. I turned down the jacket which I wouldn't wear and some other bits that would have just sat in my office. I have no doubt given the size of some of the bags I saw that a lot will go to waste. I use 2 water bottles - one of yours and a Klaviyo one from an event two years ago. So I love it when the item is practical but not when something has just been produced for the sake of having a freebie.
Ecommerce & Subscriptions Expert | Top 100 Marketing Influencer 2025
1moI generally decline swag in person, but as you say, it's really hard when someone asks for your address. Especially when they say that they want to send you something to say thank you. If you come up with a polite way to decline, please let me know!