Here’s where things get unhinged (in a very on-brand way for me)

A behind-the-scenes look at my own unfiltered shenanigans from the marketing trenches. A real-life, no BS view of what it's really like to market a small business and ideas to make it all feel a whole lot easier!

This winter is weird.

That’s the only way to say it.

There is no snow. Or at least not a lot. Which feels deeply offensive considering we bought a new snowblower this year and haven’t been able to really break it in.

To be clear: it’s not even new-new. It’s used. We got a great deal. And we only ended up spending about $100 more than what we sold our old snowblower for.

But here’s where things get unhinged (in a very on-brand way for me).

Most people know me as a words person. Strategy, content, messaging, storytelling. Soft skills.

What you might not know is that I am also a complete numbers geek. I love math. Love it. Which meant that once the snowblower came home, I absolutely had to run the numbers.

Here’s the setup:

Our old snowblower was 24 inches wide.

I measured the driveway (really).

Assuming a 3-inch overlap per pass, it takes 28 passes to clear the whole thing.

There are three types of snow we deal with:

Light, fluffy snow ~40 seconds per pass
Deeper (but still fairly fluffy) snow ~60 seconds per pass
Wet, heavy snow ~90 seconds per pass minimum, because you have to walk slower or it turns into cement

With the old snowblower:

Light snow: 18.6 minutes
Deep snow: 28 minutes
Wet, heavy snow: 45 minutes

Now enter the new snowblower.

It’s 32 inches wide, which means 21 passes total instead of 28

Same snow types, same conservative timing estimates:

Light snow: 14 minutes
Deep snow: 21 minutes
Wet, heavy snow: 31.5 minutes

That’s a savings of:

4.6 minutes (light)
7 minutes (deep)
10.5 minutes every single time we deal with wet, heavy snow (which seems to be the only thing we're getting this year)

In a normal winter, we snowblow 4–6 times per week.

On average? We’re saving about an hour a week.

All from a $100 difference.

And that doesn’t even account for the bonus benefits:

This thing throws snow farther, so we’re not re-blowing the same snow.
The driveway won’t shrink as fast over the season.
It’s heavier duty, so my time estimates are probably conservative.
And honestly? Snowblowing feels… less dreadful.

That’s the real win.

Because finding an extra 40–45 minutes a day is hard, but finding an extra 10 minutes feels doable.

Which is why this stuck with me.

This wasn’t a massive investment. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t a total overhaul.

It was a slightly better tool that created a disproportionate return.

And the same thing is true in marketing.

You don’t need a $10,000 rebrand or a six-month strategy sprint to make meaningful progress. Sometimes it’s $100 and one focused hour that unlocks momentum.

A slightly bigger snowblower changed our entire winter routine.

A slightly better marketing decision can do the same for your business.

Not louder.

Not trendier.

Just smarter.

And with this mindset, let's bring on 2026!