Red wire, blue wire, marketing.

The first thing I'll tell you about bomb disposal is this:

You’ll never have perfect information.

A device half-buried in the dirt.

The x-ray shows wires, a power source, something solid.

A mess of possibilities.

Maybe it’s live. Maybe it’s a decoy. Maybe the real one is beneath it, waiting.

The person who placed it knows more than you.

You assess. You make the best call with what you have. Then you act.

Hesitate too long? Boom.

Rush in blind? Boom.

The people who make it out? They learn to trust their process.

Even when they don’t have all the answers.

What the f*#k does this have to do with marketing?

Not a lot, in all honesty.

Truthfully, I was never in a situation where I had to choose between a blue wire or a red wire.

That’s very Hollywood.

Most of the time we'd send in the robot, shoot it from a distance with a dearming slug, or just function the thing. It's safer that way.

But I was still in plenty of situations that got my heart rate elevated, and plenty more that left me lying awake for nights afterward, unable to sleep.

Most of those hard-won lessons are kept in the far reaches of my mind, now.

Hopefully for good.

But more and more, I’ve been noticing similarities.

Very different stakes.

Very different consequences.

Same patterns.

People think marketing is about finding the perfect strategy.

The right ad. The right campaign. The right platform.

But here’s the truth: you’ll never know for sure.

Will this ad outperform the last one?

Will this website convert better than the old one?

Will this brand strategy take off, or fall flat?

You don’t get 100% certainty.

Not in bomb disposal.

Not in business.

Not in anything.

But people wait anyway. They hesitate. They tweak.

They hold off launching because they want the perfect conditions.

And in the time it takes them to be “sure,” their competitors have already tested, adapted, and moved.

It’s not about knowing.

It’s about testing.

Good operators don’t guess.

They follow a process.

Good marketers don’t hope.

They test, iterate, and adapt.

You don’t wait for certainty.

You move with confidence.

That’s how you win.

What does that mean for you?

I have no idea, because I don't know you.

I'm just some guy on the internet.

But I do know that you won’t have all the answers upfront.

And that your first attempt won’t be perfect. It might even suck.

Your strategy will evolve as you go.

More than anything, I know that if your idea ever dies, or fails to even exist, it will be because of hesitation.

And that will cost you more than failure ever will.

So make the call.

Launch the thing.

Trust the process.

And if all else fails?

Blow it up and start again.