1% Startup Marketing Challenge

Week 5

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Hey folks! 👋

We're back with another week of the 1% Startup Marketing Challenge for you.

Reminder: This challenge gives you one thing to do in ~15 mins each week to improve your marketing. It's your ticket out of "Marketing Drift" (where founders and operators kick the marketing can down the road) and into a world where little improvements each week add up to a lot. Let's go 🚀

Challenge #5: Write down your marketing 'no-gos'

You said no to TikTok. So why is it still taking up space in your head? 🤯
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Some of the most useful marketing decisions aren’t about what you’re going to do, they’re about what you’re not.
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One of the things I’ve noticed across early stage teams is how much mental energy gets spent on the things we’ve technically already ruled out... but haven’t quite let go of.
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👉 Maybe you decided not to run paid ads this quarter, but you’re still second-guessing it.
👉 Maybe you agreed not to chase daily content, but every time you open LinkedIn, it pulls at your focus anyway.
👉 Maybe someone said “we should be on TikTok” and now it’s quietly sitting in your mental backlog, taking up space.
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📝 This week’s 1% challenge is to write down three marketing things you’re NOT doing this quarter.
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Not things you’ve failed to do.
Not things you’ve abandoned out of fear.
Just honest, thoughtful no’s, the kind that give your yes’s more room to breathe.
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Some examples we’ve seen:
🚫 “We’re not chasing 10K followers.”
🧩 “No paid ads until we have a funnel that converts.”
📆 “We’re not pretending we can post every day with a team of two.”
🏢 “No trade show booths until our ACV justifies it.”
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It’s a small exercise, but it reduces mental noise. It frees up focus. And it’s a gentle way of building confidence in the strategy you’ve already chosen.
Saying no creates space for the stuff that actually works.
Make peace with it. Write it down. Move faster.

Any feedback? 💌

We'd love to hear it. Did you try this challenge? How did it go? Hit reply on this email to let us know.

This newsletter is from the team at Stella Startups 👋

ICYMI, we’re Stella Startups – a marketing partner for AU and NZ startups from early stage to scale up.

We bring you marketing strategy, brand expertise and hands-on execution, all with a commitment to innovation so you can make an impact bigger than your budget. Head to our website to find out more and if you’d like help, book some time to chat (we don’t bite).

See you next time,
Gemma & Bridget