Hey, Reader!
Happy 2026!
Today is my first in-person speaking event of the year. Later today, I’ll be onstage in Minnesota speaking to 1,000 Realtors from Edina Realty.
Before each event, I always ask myself, “What’s the most important thing I can say to this audience today?”
It’s the same question I ask myself before hitting “send” on an email to this list, too. And this morning, I found myself reflecting on some of the best advice I’ve received.
This week marks the third birthday of my book, Creating Superfans. Two years before I finished writing the book, I was sitting in a room with lots of other entrepreneurs and creators at a Brand Builders Group workshop in Nashville.
My friend, AJ Vaden (a New York Times best-selling author and BBG CEO), told us,
“Don’t write a book unless you’re prepared to talk about the message in that book every day for the next five years.”
A guy sitting across from me looked like he was going to be physically ill. “Five years?!” he said. “I don’t even know if I’m going to want to talk about this in five months!”
AJ didn’t flinch. “Then don’t write the book,” she said. “If you’re even a little bit unsure, don’t write the book.”
At the time, I understood intellectually — like, obviously. If you don’t care about something, don’t write about it. But, I can honestly say that living what she shared has been something else entirely.
Creating Superfans came out 1,101 days ago, and there have only been a handful of days between then and now that I haven’t talked about the lessons it holds.
I’ve had the same conversations again and again, with people whose lives and work look nothing alike.
What I didn’t realize before I wrote the book is how repetition would sharpen the idea, not exhaust it. And, one of the coolest experiences of the past three years has been hearing from people who’ve used the SUPER Model to improve their businesses.
A few of my favorites?
- A monster-truck driver who reached out on LinkedIn to tell me my book has helped him better connect with fans on and off the track.
- A funeral director who used Creating Superfans to help redesign experiences for grieving families.
- Countless professionals working in real estate, mortgage, and title who have accepted the challenge to take every touchpoint from “commodity provider” to “category of one.”
Which brings me back to today — this newsletter, this keynote, and the most important thing I can share right now: Repetition isn’t boring; it’s branding.
Regardless of your role, there’s a good chance that you’re retelling the same set of stories over and over again — to customers, employees, partners, investors, and sometimes even yourself.
And if you’re paying attention, each retelling teaches you something: What resonates. What needs more context. What doesn’t land the way you thought it would.
Strong stories aren’t static. They get better when they’re told often, in different rooms, to different people.
Consistency compounds. The stories that you’re sharing and the experiences that you’re designing get better and better through repetition.
AJ was right — you shouldn’t write a book unless you’re ready to live with it for a long time.
In a world obsessed with instant everything, let’s all try hard to stay focused on the long game.
What can you do today that will impact you positively for the next five years?
What can you do today that will help you keep a customer or employee or other significant partner for five years?
It’s hard for me to believe that nearly 30,000 people have purchased Creating Superfans, and I’ve presented onstage to more than 50,000 people since the book launched three years ago.
Not because of the numbers (although they’re pretty rad!), but because of what it represents: thousands of people applying the same ideas in their own way. Asking the same questions, but through their own filters.
I can’t think of anything more SUPER than that. I am so very passionate about customer experience as a strategic differentiator that I hope I have the privilege of shouting about it from the rooftops for the next fifty years. :)
Something SUPER
Recently, I was a guest on the Know Like Trust for Real Estate podcast 🎙️
I sat down with Christine George to talk about why being “good enough” is the fastest way to be forgotten—and what it actually takes to turn clients into consistent referral sources. We covered everything from why database size doesn’t equal influence to how consistency (not gimmicks) is what truly compounds results.
If you’re in real estate and focused on growing through relationships—not hustle—this episode is for you.
ICYMI
On Monday's episode of the SUPER AMAZING Show, Shep Hyken and I shared a brilliant strategy that you should steal from Taylor Swift.
P.S. My 2026 speaking calendar is filling up, but I still have several dates open! If you’d like to hear more about the four keynotes I’m sharing from stages this year, reply to this note and let’s connect!