Jake Zufelt

Growth hack: Find mentors who make you squirm.
Set stakes that matter (like promises to your kids).
Then do the work even when it feels like punishment.

The pain you pay for today funds the promise you made tomorrow.

The result?
Clients became long-term partners who stayed and referred.
Revenue grew.
The house with stairs became real.

But first, I had to pay someone to tell me I was doing it all wrong.

We stopped selling tasks and started sharing outcomes.
We stopped chasing clients and started building partners.
We stopped being perfect and started being "halfbuilt."

Building while learning, with convictions held open-handed.

But here's the thing...

You're not paying for their advice.
You're paying for ACCOUNTABILITY to act on what you already know deep down.
The pain is in the mirror, not the messenger.

Here's what I learned about growth that HURTS:

The coaches worth paying don't make you feel good.
They make you face what you're avoiding.
They charge you to be uncomfortable.

That pain funded the promise I made my kids about a house with stairs.

In 2020, I left ministry with a laptop and three kids.
Today we're 20+ teammates across Oregon, Nicaragua, and Madrid.

Pay for the pain that grows you.

I hired coaches who told me what I didn't want to hear.
It felt like paying someone to HURT me for a season.
And it reshaped our offers, pricing, and leadership.

Key takeaway for your next launch:
Don't make ads. Make ARTIFACTS.
Give people something they want to show off, not just use.
The best marketing turns customers into collectibles they're proud to display.

The shift is massive.
Traditional marketing: "Look at our app"
Nano Banana marketing: "Look at YOURSELF as a collectible"

When users become the hero of their own miniature story... they can't help but share.

This follows a clear PLAYBOOK:
Trigger: Novel feature launch
Shareable artifact: Collectible version of yourself
Distribution: Social proof through mimicry
Result: App store dominance

The packaging mockup is the secret sauce - it makes you feel like a PRODUCT worth buying.

The mechanics behind the surge:
• Dev hackathons seeded early adopters
• Public figures amplified the trend
• Ultra-fast AI processing (seconds, not minutes)
• SHAREABLE artifact beats traditional ads
• Natural language prompts = zero friction

The viral loop is GENIUS:
1. Take selfie
2. Get hyper-realistic mini figure
3. See yourself in collector packaging
4. Post because it's status + novelty
5. Friends copy the format
6. Repeat

Each post becomes free marketing with ZERO ad spend.

While everyone obsesses over AI capabilities...
Gemini won with miniature FIGURINES.
The Nano Banana feature turns your selfie into a 1/7 scale collectible with packaging mockups.
People aren't sharing the app.
They're sharing themselves as toys.

I tracked the Nano Banana spike.
Here's how Google's TINY collectible feature just dethroned ChatGPT from #1 on the App Store.

Start with your digital foundation:
• Centralized password management
• Organized platform access
• Clear login protocols
• Secure credential sharing

THEN build marketing that actually works.

The boring stuff wins every time.

Because marketing success depends on operational foundations:

If your value proposition is unclear internally, external messaging won't fix it.
If your fulfillment can't deliver on promises, traffic won't help.
If your team can't access platforms, optimization is WORTHLESS.

My book "Digital Marketing Sucks" starts with the UNSEXY stuff:

Logins first. Passwords first. Access first.
Then audience, messaging, processes.
The progression is deliberately methodical.

The priority inversion is everywhere:

• ChatGPT courses before login management
• TikTok growth hacks before password security
• Marketing automation before basic digital hygiene
• Advanced AI tools before fundamental infrastructure

Here's what nobody talks about:

MARKETING AMPLIFIES what already exists.
Brilliant campaigns fail when your team can't access their own accounts.
Chaos amplified through great marketing becomes EXPENSIVE chaos.

I've watched this pattern for nine years across every industry:

Business owners spend thousands on funnels while using 'password123' across twelve platforms.
They hire automation specialists while their team writes passwords on sticky notes.

The most expensive marketing mistake costs zero dollars.

It happens when your team shares login credentials through Slack messages.
No budget required, maximum damage guaranteed when something goes wrong.

Stop chasing the masses.
Find your ORGANIZERS.
Build for them.
Watch your average party size climb and your calendar fill with recurring bookings.

The Z-pattern eye tracking reveals everything.
Top left: Problem acknowledgment
Top right: Your solution
Bottom: Clear call-to-action
One scroll, two clicks maximum.

But here's what you're doing wrong...
You're marketing to yourself instead of HER.
Your ads speak to horror fans, not busy organizers.

Women ages 35-55 are your GOLDMINE.
They control family calendars.
They manage budgets.
They make the booking decisions 80% of the time.

That woman who booked the birthday party?
She's the one organizing girls' night out.
The mom who brought her family?
She's planning the office team building event.

Scan your reservation data right now.
Look at email signups.
Check purchase patterns.
The same names appear again and again.

You think your escape room or haunt succeeds because of mass appeal.
Wrong.
Your BIGGEST wins come from one person... the group organizer.

Every sold-out Saturday points to one buyer

The early-mover advantage window is OPEN.

But it won't stay that way.

Are you positioning yourself to win on the bigger canvas?