When lobbying for a new tool like telemetry, don't just ask for the tool. Frame its absence as a direct blocker to your core responsibilities. By stating, "I can't make decisions without this data," you tie the budget request to clear business outcomes and personal accountability.

To convince leadership to adopt low-production content, go beyond performance metrics. Frame the argument around business efficiency: highlight the drastically lower budget and the ability to be more timely by reducing production time from months to days. This combination is more compelling than engagement data alone.

By managing expenses maniacally 95% of the time, businesses earn the right to spend 'foolishly' the other 5% on extravagant, high-impact gestures. This creates memorable stories and deep loyalty that traditional marketing can't buy, while maintaining financial discipline.

Don't view limitations like budget cuts or recessions as purely negative. As architect Norman Foster told Guidara, constraints force you to be your most creative. Moments of adversity are when groundbreaking, efficient, and impactful ideas are often born out of necessity.

Treat government programs as experiments. Define success metrics upfront and set a firm deadline. If the program fails to achieve its stated goals by that date, it should be automatically disbanded rather than being given more funding. This enforces accountability.

Before planning the future, analyze the past. A Profit & Loss (P&L) statement reveals what truly drove revenue and where money was spent. For a deeper, non-obvious analysis, input your P&L into ChatGPT and ask it to act as a financial analyst, identifying trends, overspending, and hidden opportunities.

Escape the trap of chasing top-line revenue. Instead, make contribution margin (revenue minus COGS, ad spend, and discounts) your primary success metric. This provides a truer picture of business health and aligns the entire organization around profitable, sustainable growth rather than vanity metrics.

Position marketing as the engine for future quarters' growth, while sales focuses on closing current-quarter deals. This reframes marketing's long-term investments (like brand building) as essential for sustainable revenue, justifying budgets that don't show immediate, direct ROI to a CFO.

To prevent rigid plans that break, maintain consistency in your high-level strategic pillars for the year. However, build in flexibility by allowing the specific tactics used to achieve those pillars to change quarterly based on performance and new learnings.