Two entrepreneurs buried in AI tools, still stuck. A retired Marine asking if the next generation can lead. The answer starts with three words: See the battlefield.
I had a different piece lined up for today.
"The Industrial Age Hangover That is Killing Modern Entrepreneurs."
But last week changed that.
Two powerful conversations with driven entrepreneurs.
Both buried in AI tools, tactics, and trends. Still stuck. Still overlooking cash flow already within reach.
Then, after my Sunday night soccer game, I got pulled into a conversation with a grouchy retired Marine.
We were not talking business.
He was reflecting on something deeper.
"Will the next generation still know how to lead when it really counts?"
That stuck with me in a way that only parents will understand.
Because this is not just a strategy issue. It is a clarity issue. A leadership issue.
In a world obsessed with what is next...
It feels like too many people have forgotten how to see what is true.
So instead of talking about AI today, I am bringing you back to center.
Not with what is new, but with what still matters.
That is why I am resharing a piece I wrote nearly six years ago. One that is even more urgent in today's louder, faster world.
(Originally published August 1, 2019)
You may have heard that you have to think strategically and change your mindset if you want to be successful today.
And I understand why you might think that.
Because you see that philosophy being pumped everywhere, all day every day.
But if that were true, then everyone who spends time developing their marketing strategy and mindset would already be wildly successful.
And we all know that is not the case.
So what do people who are having the MOST success with their marketing today have in common?
Well, I remember a story one of my mentors shared.
When he was in the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia, he and the other candidates were sitting at their desks waiting for another boring class to start.
When BOOOM!
Their instructor barged into the classroom and slammed a massive book on the desk, ordering them to get into push-up position.
Then he yells out:
"What is the ONE skill that defines a leader?"
So they all start shouting out different answers.
"Communication skills." "Courage." "Charisma."
Frustrated, the instructor starts hollering:
"NO NO NO! Not one of you has the slightest clue about leadership!"
So this goes on for about ten minutes before everybody gave up.
Then the instructor finally tells them:
The SINGLE defining quality a leader must have above ALL others is the ability to SEE THE BATTLEFIELD!
You should read that again.
Write it on a sticky note and post it to your computer, mirrors, wherever.
See the battlefield.
Because this is the key to renewing your clarity and unlocking better marketing results faster, without wasting time and money chasing bright shiny objects.
Because unless you can SEE the battlefield, unless you have the PROPER perspective about what is happening on the terrain and the environment around you, it is impossible for you to win.
Think about this.
We live in an era of new knowledge at high speed.
You already feel the impact of this in one way or another.
But did you know the evolution of consumer behavior, society, and technology is evolving FASTER than our ability to adapt?
So much so there is a definition for this phenomena. It is called Digital Darwinism.
This, along with new digital business models, is the reason why since the year 2000 over 50% of the Fortune 500 companies have disappeared.
So none of us are exempt from dealing with this.
And unless you are truly paying attention to the dynamics of this new ecosystem (if you cannot SEE the battlefield), here is what you can expect as a business leader:
You will find yourself clinging to outdated assumptions as a way to justify your unwillingness to change.
So as you move forward, you will keep making decisions with incorrect criteria for deciding if, how, when and for how long you should invest in any given marketing or sales strategy.
That ends up muddying the waters.
So you will be unclear about what you really want or what is possible for you today.
By default, this will impact your ability to truly understand what your clients want.
As a result, you will not understand how their needs and desires are changing with the market.
(This is how you end up with weak offers that nobody wants to buy and messaging that does not resonate.)
And because your messaging is not aligned, you will not be able to clearly communicate a path for the transformation your clients will experience IF they decided to work with you.
So you will keep plugging away as best you can.
And unfortunately, this is where too many people get stuck, on a plateau with boring, inconsistent follow-up and little to no engagement at all.
By this point, you are so exhausted and burnt out that when you do hire people to help, even if you are lucky enough to free up a little more time for yourself, you still end up with a half-baked, hodge-podge marketing system, because you are working with multiple vendors (a lot of them have outdated assumptions themselves).
And what is painful is how this translates.
Because how this shows up for you on a day-to-day is a lack of confidence and an unwillingness to fully promote yourself and get your best work into the world faster.
Now you are stuck in an infinite loop of "stop-start marketing."
Another webinar. Another conference. Another meeting. Another course.
But just when it starts to feel like you are gaining real traction, somehow you end up losing whatever momentum you had.
And after all this, what sucks the most.
What you are scared to admit to family, friends and business partners is that it feels like you are suffocating under the pressure of your own refusal to grow.
I hope you see how important this is.
See, this is why the typical "buzzword" advice of "be strategic" or "improve your mindset" does not work. Not today.
Because it does not take into account that the very definition of strategy itself is outdated.
Strategy (the old definition) is defined as "the art of devising or employing plans and resources toward a goal."
And mindset is defined as "the habits of mind formed by previous experience."
And that is the problem.
Because if things are evolving so fast that your previous experience has not prepared you for it, and you have not had the time to develop new skills, habits, and plans for properly identifying let alone deploying your available resources, is it even surprising that so many business owners are experiencing diminishing returns on their marketing?
It is no wonder that so many business owners feel like they are running out of time, chasing shiny objects (or letting people convince them that they should).
This is not your fault.
But you have to do something about it.
The first step is to get off the merry-go-round and embrace a new definition of strategy.
Strategy: a long-term plan for achieving an aim that allows you to see the battlefield (no matter how complex it becomes) and make consistently correct decisions about your people, resources, and direction.
This is what the gurus are not telling you.
Because this is hard work!
It is deep work.
And as things continue to get more complex, it is not going to get any easier.
You cannot solve it with a "new Facebook hack." You cannot advertise your way out of this. You cannot automate your way out of this. You cannot hire your way out of this. You cannot "influence the influencer" your way out of this either. You cannot even spend your way out of it.
If that were true, 50% of the Fortune 500 would not have disappeared since the year 2000.
For us to thrive going forward:
Business leaders who are committed to learning the new models of business growth at all costs because their generational legacy depends on it.
Business leaders who understand that at the end of the day, it does not matter what hacks, tricks and tools you have if you do not execute the fundamentals correctly.
Business leaders who understand that just because you can use paid advertising to get people's attention, it does not mean you are entitled to their trust.
They understand that their competitors focus 80% of their time, effort and energy on learning the platforms first (Facebook ads, Google ads, funnels). They know the reality is that this ratio should be flipped.
They know that because their clients' success is synonymous to their own and because they care MORE than their competitors, they embrace the reality that their marketing must attract, capture and multiply demand at EACH STEP of their clients' lifetime value journey, regardless how things change or how complex and competitive the market becomes.
This new breed of business leaders understands that as we commit to up-leveling our perspective, we must also develop the spiritual acuity, emotional intelligence, curiosity, enthusiasm, as well as the right marketing systems and technology to connect ideas that create meaningful transformations.
And we will never develop the ethical endurance to pull this off if we are not committed to transformative leadership.
Listen, my ears are closest to me. And I am a business leader just like you. In no way am I saying that I have got this all figured out.
But if this resonates with you, I invite you to join us by answering one simple question.
Are you competing for the moment, or competing for the future?
Since writing this, AI has cranked the "shiny object" problem to 11.
Every week brings new tools. New hacks. New distractions.
But the leaders who thrive will not be the ones with the most tools. They will be the ones with the clearest lens.
I created The Asset Alchemy Method for that reason.
To help you see what others miss.
And unlock $20K-$50K+ already sitting in assets you control.
Stay surgical,
Colin Taylor
Creator of The Asset Alchemy Method
What does "see the battlefield" mean for business owners?
"See the battlefield" means developing the proper perspective about what is actually happening in your market, with your clients, and within your business operations. Most entrepreneurs make decisions based on outdated assumptions rather than current reality. This clarity gap leads to chasing shiny objects, misallocating resources, and building marketing systems on faulty foundations. The concept directly connects to why systems gaps make AI implementation catastrophically expensive, because you cannot optimize what you cannot see clearly.
Why does traditional strategy advice fail modern entrepreneurs?
Traditional strategy is defined as "the art of devising plans and resources toward a goal," while mindset is "habits of mind formed by previous experience." Both rely on past experience, but the market is evolving faster than anyone's experience can keep up with. Over 50% of Fortune 500 companies have disappeared since 2000 for exactly this reason. A new definition of strategy is needed, one that allows you to see the battlefield no matter how complex it becomes. This is why optimizing your lived experience matters more than chasing the latest trends.
How do I stop chasing shiny objects and focus on what matters?
Start by auditing what you already have rather than adding more. Most entrepreneurs overlook cash flow already within reach because they are too busy pursuing new tools and tactics. The Asset Alchemy Method is designed to help you inventory your existing assets, document your proven systems, and optimize what you control first. As the Secret Level case study demonstrates, constraints breed excellence, and focusing your resources on clarity beats spreading them across complexity.
What kind of business leaders need to emerge in the AI era?
Leaders who flip the ratio, spending 80% of effort on fundamentals and 20% on platforms rather than the reverse. Leaders who understand that paid advertising gets attention but does not earn trust. Leaders committed to learning new models of business growth because their generational legacy depends on it. Most importantly, leaders who can build relationship assets that survive cognitive equality, because when everyone has access to the same AI tools, clarity and trust become the only remaining competitive advantages.
Ready to see what you're sitting on?
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