Who else thinks bro marketing is GROSS? 🤮
2 weeks ago I paid $5000 plus plane tickets and hotel to travel to the Westcoast to attend a business growth workshop with marketers that are super well known in the space, with millions of followers and a massive audience.
Their content was what caught my eye as it was super valuable, and because of what I learned from consuming their IG content and books alone, I invested in an in person event with them and their team.
I wish I got more value from it, and had nothing but wonderful things to say about this, but unfortunately the entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
I felt mislead, as they sold this event for anyone who wanted to grow their business, but it was clear it was an event specifically for one type of business over another.
I felt like I didn’t belong, as the room as 99% white bro marketers under the age of 35 and I was one of 4 women of color in a group of 120 people.
I felt lied to, as there were 2x more people who were there than what I was told, leading to little time for question and getting individualized attention or feedback.
I felt the entire experience lead to a high pressure sales funnel with guys walking in with clipboards at the end of each day, aggressively upselling you into their $20,000 event that made more grand promises, eventhough I didn’t at all feel seen at the current event.
Don’t get me wrong, the room was full of business owners who were doing incredibly well in their business, some even making $35 million dollars a year in revene,, which was inspiring.
But what really stuck with me was the lack of diversity and one-size-fits all approach to “how to grow a business” because they had such a “track record of growing businesses to hundreds of milions.”
It got me thinking: growth is nice, but isn’t it time we had a more nuanced definition of growth and success?
Isn’t it time for us to be more specific in who we serve, what we do, and create spaces for different types of business owners, instead of lumping all of them into one category of capitalism?
❤️The experience made me realize that in 2024, I am evolving beyond a “more is always better” belief, as I no longer believe that growth and more revenue at all costs is the end goal.
If you read my “10 reflections on my birthday” post, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say that “it can feel RICH to make less revenue”
🤮Oh, and I forgot to mention that the two guys sitting next to me were bragging about how they told their wives to stay home after having kids, because “at least someone can take care of the mess at home now”. Somehow, that sounded strange to my ears…
If you are also on your own journey of defining what success means to you, and being extra careful about WHO you are following, WHOs content you are consuming, I invite you to join our PR program, where we are shattering the status quo and doing things differently.
Because the new era of empowered business owners aren’t just following the templates from the “loudest guys in the room”, they are also cultivating community with kind, mission-driven humans with real stories and who invite others to the table.
With love,
Gloria