There is a smiley face tattooed on my arm.
My mom drew it.
Underneath it, in her handwriting, are two words and a number:
Rule #6.
If you have no idea what that means, allow me to take you back to school for a minute.
I first heard about Rule #6 while listening to The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. There’s a story in the book about two prime ministers having a conversation when one of them keeps getting interrupted by people who are completely frazzled.
Each time, he tells them, “Remember Rule Number 6.”
And each time, they immediately calm down.
Finally, the other prime minister asks the obvious question: What exactly is Rule Number 6?
The answer:
Don’t take yourself so seriously.
I loved it so much I permanently put it on my body.
My mom drew the smiley face and wrote Rule #6 underneath it, and now I carry around a permanent reminder to loosen up.
When life gets going, loosen up.
When something doesn’t go according to plan, loosen up.
And when an opportunity comes along to try something new, something outside my comfort zone, something that might make me feel a little ridiculous?
Loosen up and say yes.
Listen, taking yourself too seriously doesn’t just make life heavier; it makes your marketing boring.
Your Social Media Doesn’t Need Another Hall Monitor
September is back-to-school season, so class is officially in session.
And today’s lesson is about something I see CEOs struggle with all the time:
They are so concerned with looking professional on social media that they forget to be interesting.
Everything has to be polished.
Everything must sound official.
Everything has to look like something a business would post.
Meanwhile, the people scrolling LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube are looking for something that makes them stop.
Something they relate to.
Something that makes them laugh.
Something they want to send to somebody else with:
“THIS. 😂”
That’s where Rule #6 comes in.
Your Assignment: Give a Skit
Stay with me.
Skits are one of my favorite ways to turn everyday experiences into content.
There’s a reason we love watching good television shows and movies. Characters help us see ourselves in a story. Social media skits work the same way.
You take a recognizable situation, exaggerate it just enough to make it entertaining, and let people think:
Oh my gosh. I KNOW this person.
Or even better:
Oh no. I AM this person.
You can use skits to recreate conversations with customers, poke fun at something everyone in your industry knows happens, demonstrate a common problem, teach a concept, or call out the elephant in the room.
And you do not need a cast of 12, a soundstage and a craft services table to pull it off.
Most times you just need yourself.
Exhibit A: Professor Holloway
On my personal social media, I occasionally transform into a very distinguished academic.
And by distinguished academic, I mean I put on a Nike cardigan and become Professor Holloway.
Professor Holloway runs the Cliché Clinic.
Her specialty?
Diagnosing outdated clichés that desperately need to be retired (here’s an example).
Why?
In my Stress Less, Serve More workshops, I teach people how the language we use can change the way we experience a situation. Reframing our language is one of the practical tools I teach.
So Professor Holloway gives me another way to teach that concept.
I get to play a character.
I get to make people laugh.
I get to demonstrate something I teach while drawing on a whiteboard (awesome!).
And I get to show executive directors, my ideal potential client, a little piece of what they might experience if they bring me into their organization.
Personality. Proof. Promotion.
All wrapped inside something entertaining.
Professor Holloway understood the assignment.
What Does Everyone in Your Industry Know?
This is where I want you to start.
There are probably a million little scenarios your customers, employees or clients experience that everyone in your industry recognizes immediately.
What happens during the sales process?
What question does every customer ask?
What does everybody secretly complain about?
What misconception do you constantly correct?
What happens behind the scenes that your audience never gets to see?
What sentence makes everyone in your office exchange the look?
There’s your material.
You don’t have to manufacture relatability.
Pay attention to what is already happening.
Then play with it.
Yes, You Can Play All the Characters
This is another place where Rule #6 comes in handy.
You don’t need multiple people to make a skit.
Change your shirt.
Move to the other side of the room.
Put on a pair of glasses.
Grab a coffee cup.
Suddenly you’re Linda from Accounting.
Congratulations on the promotion, Linda. 😂
Listen, Linda, if appearing on camera like that feels completely unnatural for you, don’t force it. Rule #6 is permission to experiment, not permission to become somebody you’re not.
Find the version that fits your personality and your brand.
And if your idea calls for something bigger?
Now we get to have some fun.
Bring in the Action Figures
I grew up in the ’90s, so naturally my brain immediately goes here:
What if your characters aren’t even people?
Could you tell the story with action figures?
Objects from around your office?
Little characters?
Animation?
Could Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles finally get the B2B thought-leadership opportunity he deserves? Cause he does; he’s the ultimate Turtle.
The possibilities get much more interesting when we stop asking:
“Is this what I’m supposed to post?”
And start asking:
“Would somebody actually want to watch this?”
That is a very different creative brief.
Most Big Brands Don’t Do This. Great!
There’s an advantage to being a solopreneur or running a company with a small team.
You can move.
You can experiment.
You can try something weird.
You can see what happens.
Ask my wife, Meg, who’s also in digital marketing, and she’ll tell you from experience that large brands often have layers of approvals, brand standards, and stakeholders standing between an idea and the publish button.
You might have you, your VA, and a Canva account.
I like those odds.
The fact that everybody else in your industry is posting the same AI-polished graphics, stock photos, and carefully worded corporate messages doesn’t mean you should join them.
It might be your invitation to zig.
Try the skit.
Play the character.
Use the Ninja Turtle.
Put the cardigan on.
Worst-case scenario?
You learn something.
Best-case scenario?
You learn something, and you create the thing people remember.
Rule #6
You and I don’t need another marketing framework.
I tattooed Rule #6 on my arm because I wanted the reminder.
Life gets heavy enough all by itself, and business will too.
There’s always something important to figure out, a decision to make, a goal to hit or something we’ve never done before.
I don’t want the seriousness of any of that to keep me from trying.
And I don’t want it to keep you from trying either.
So this September, I’m giving you some homework.
Make one thing you’ve never made before.
Try the skit.
Play the character.
Tell the story.
Get a little outside your comfort zone.
You might surprise yourself.
And if you need someone to take your idea from “Wouldn’t it be funny if…” to something you can actually publish, well…
Shameless plug: that’s what Holloway Media Services is here for.
So here’s your September assignment: Find the idea you’ve been sitting on because it feels a little weird, a little different, or a little outside your comfort zone.
Then give it a shot.
Your audience doesn’t need you to have it all figured out. They need a reason to stop scrolling, stick around, and get to know the human behind the expertise.
Have some fun with it.
Class dismissed.
POWER LINE
What Could Better Look Like for Your Business?
If your marketing has become one of those places where too much time, energy, and creative effort are slipping through the cracks, you don’t have to keep carrying it alone.
At Holloway Media Services, we help business owners turn their ideas, expertise, and lived experiences into purposeful content that supports the business they are building. Together, we can look at what is working, what is draining your team, and where the right creative partnership could create more consistency, stronger work, and a whole lot more breathing room.
Book a conversation with me, and let’s talk about what better could look like for your business.
