What chasing scratch is teaching me about business 🏌️‍♂️ 

I've gotten obsessed with golf this year.

But life's busy, so "let's get out for 18 on a Saturday" mostly isn't happening. What I've got instead is a golf simulator at 6am before the house wakes up, swing tutorials on YouTube, the whole thing.

I'm chasing a scratch handicap: Golf's version of shooting par on every hole. Not there yet.

But chasing it is teaching me something I didn't expect, and it had nothing to do with golf.

Today in 3 minutes or less:

✔️ Every Shot Counts the Same

✔️ Your Business Has Three Shots Too

✔️ Drive for Show, Putt for Dough

✔️ What You Can Do Today

🏌️ Every Shot Counts the Same

A 300-yard drive counts as 1 on the scorecard.

A 3-foot putt counts as 1 on the scorecard.

Same number. But one of them feels way more impressive.

That's the whole problem. Most golfers obsess over the drive. It's dramatic. It's satisfying. It's the shot everyone wants to watch. But if you three-putt every hole, it doesn't matter how far you're crushing it off the tee… you're still losing.

Scratch isn't about a super powerful drive. It's about every shot being intentional.

And once I saw that, I couldn't stop seeing it in my business.

⛳ Your Business Has Three Shots Too

Every hole in golf is basically a mini-business:

• Your drive = marketing and sales. The flashy shot that gets attention.

• Your approach = onboarding and activation. Where most of the game is actually decided.

• Your putts = retention. The small, boring wins that keep the score down.

Most business owners obsess over the drive. Cost per lead. Ad performance. Traffic numbers. The stuff that feels like winning.

But retention counts just as much on the scorecard. A customer who stays for 12 months counts the same as one who signs up brand new. Actually, that customer probably counts for more (they're cheaper, more profitable, and way more likely to refer).

A retained customer feels like a 3-foot putt. Easy. Obvious. Not exciting.

But it goes in the scorecard exactly the same as your best drive.

💰 Drive for Show, Putt for Dough

Here's where a lot of businesses get in trouble.

They optimize for the lowest cost per lead. Grand slam marketing. Cheap leads flowing in. On paper it looks like winning.

But cheap leads make your approach shot harder. They don't convert as well. They don't stick as long. They don't refer.

So you win the drive… and lose the hole.

We've matured our lead scoring recently — opt-in, survey, book a call, conversation, close. We're now tracking the whole journey. And when we pull the historical data, we can see: certain folks look great on the way in but they never buy. Other folks look worse on the way in but they buy and stay for years.

Drive for show. Putt for dough. 💸 

If your marketing is winning but your business isn't, look at your approach. Look at your putts. That's where the game is actually decided.

⛳ What You Can Do Today

Take a look at your business through the lens of a golf scorecard.

Then ask yourself:

• Which shot am I obsessing over that doesn't count more than the others?

• Where can I build in more practice so the real shots feel routine?

Because business isn't won by the biggest drive.

It's won by the person who plays every shot with the same intention.

Keep swinging 💪

To profiting more and working less. 💸 

-Matt

GOLDEN NUGGET OF THE WEEK 👑

"Pick a high-value niche" is the worst advice you can follow in this business.

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