Adam Fairhead
Bezos makes over $3,000 per second. Many Amazon workers earn poverty wages. What can we learn from this?
If you’ve ever been money-driven, consider reconsidering. If a goal is a moving target, how can you ever meet it? At what cost might you pursue it?
Before Bill Gates was loaded, a newspaper stand twice extended a kindness (a free newspaper when Gates didn’t have the change). Gates later described that man as richer than he – not because of the...
Adam Fairhead
Knowing who you are is important. Same is true for your company, that’s what your brand identity is for.
But, as in life, it’s not all about you.
If a person figured themselves out then proceeded to talk about themselves at every turn, you’d deem them shallow and unworthy company.
One of the reasons so many “get rich quick” social media advertisements turn you off so readily.
Same is true for your company once again: if it talks about itself...
Adam Fairhead
It sounds like the start of a cheat code for a game, doesn’t it?
It’s not – it’s actually just a reflection of our work when we’re getting marginal results.
If we’re up and down, we lack the emotional energy to do our best work.
If we’re left and right, we’re here and there, we lack the focus to master what we’re working on.
If we want a start – or to make real progress on what we’ve started –...
Adam Fairhead
Like new toys?
‘Course you do! We all do!
Creators like new toys because they get to explore their creativity in new ways.
Businesses like new toys because they can try hot new operational or marketing techniques.
We enjoy the act of forgoing focus.
Creators that focus get to master their existing tools, to produce a higher caliber of work, or a greater quantity of work – they get to create more.
Businesses that focus get to master their current...
Adam Fairhead
We hear a lot about how the market is shrinking due to COVID.
Here’s a shot of reality:
There are the basically same number of people in the market today as there were in January.
It doesn’t shrink. It changes.
The market is like energy in this regard. You can’t “use it up”, you merely change it from one form to another.
Here’s another shot of reality:
The market is always changing. This year is no different to any other...
Adam Fairhead
Heard of “dark patterns”?
You’ve probably experienced them, even if you’re unfamiliar with the term.
“No thanks, I don’t want to grow my company” – we’ve all seen pop up dismissal links that say things like this. They work, we feel them at work in ourselves as we click on them anyway. We’re aware that we’re being manipulated, and we don’t thank the website (or the company behind it) for it.
“Read this article in our new app!” – we’ve...
Adam Fairhead
What’s your story?
Every Hermès scarf is screen printed by hand onto silk. Even the rolled edges are hand-sewn. Their pieces are great, but you only care when their narrative matches your own. Those with a preference for mass-market luxury goods will likely prefer LV goods to Hermès goods, for instance.
Everything in an Aston Martin is made of what it looks like – if it looks like carbon fiber, it’s carbon fiber. If it looks like wood, it’s wood....
Adam Fairhead
What does “painting the back of the fence” look like for you?
Sales people could anticipate and prescribe a “no-sale” to those a sale makes no sense for, while having lined up alternate right-fit offers – potentially from totally different businesses – in order to ensure they’re able to help those they serve to take the right steps forward.
Developers could reduce and defer JavaScript usage for faster pages increases user confidence (conversions, sales) and endorses fair access to those...
Adam Fairhead
Tools are cool.
New tools are cool too.
But good tools don’t solve the problem. Good communication solves the problem.
Marketing problems? Tools will be used to fix them, but better communication is what makes all the difference – listening to prospects and responding appropriately.
Operational problems? Tools will be used to fix them, but better communication is what makes all the difference – listening to team members and responding appropriately.
Product development problems? Tools will be used to fix...
Adam Fairhead
“Download Now”, “opt-in”, “it’ll be worth it.”
Opting in is supposed to be a commitment.
A promise of action.
Action that goes beyond downloading something or inputting an email address, an isolated progression-point. Yet that’s what many marketers have made it mean.
It should be a two-way valve of commitment:
The creator should commit to only producing opportunities to opt in that he/she is truly proud of, that produces results select people desire. If it’s just an excuse to hound...
Adam Fairhead
What is the cost of not knowing the manifesto behind your body of work?
You can’t advertise. Not well, anyway. You don’t know you’re speaking to, what to say, or how to say it. Sales won’t happen as you think they should.
You can’t pick tools. Not well, anyway. You might choose tools that reflect your values, or you might stumble into misrepresenting yourselves and not even know it.
You can’t connect deeply. If it’s not clear what you stand...
Adam Fairhead
What do you believe about success and failure?
It’s easier to believe “it’s all better now” when things are good. That the trajectory remains constant providing we stay the path. Believing this makes us fat in prosperity and less effective guardians of those in our care.
It’s easier to think “it’s part of a grand plan” when things are bad. That the failures aren’t really ours, because reasons. Believing this starves of the biggest benefit of self-attributed failures: progress.
It’s...
Adam Fairhead
Why is this appealing?
The acquisition of skills enables us to achieve new things, be it through ourselves or others.
The removal of skills enables more to have what was previously unlocked only by the attainment of those skills.
“No tech skills required”, and it’s many brethren (just replace the word “tech” with anything else), appeals to the part of us who wish the world would be easier, kinder, simpler more bent in our favor.
It turns out that all...
Adam Fairhead
Which should your work do?
Emulation is where we try to match – or surpass – precisely that which has gone before us. We observe what has been, recreate the result by the same means, in hope of achieving equal or better results. For example, a product that sells widgets to a particular demographic could be emulated through mimicking of operations and process in order to reach those same people in a similar way.
Interpretation is where we explain and...
Adam Fairhead
I closed a brokerage account.
Not because it wasn’t paying off. It was.
Their systems were sound, their product feature-complete, their brand reputable.
But people don’t usually leave because of minor feature omissions or niche brand status.
They’re far more likely to leave – as I did – because someone on the front lines wasn’t trained properly:
Bad support: If you don’t feel looked after, you’ll notice loud and clear when someone else treats you better.
Bad customer service: If...
Adam Fairhead
Got an iPhone, Mac, or iPad?
Let’s talk about quality vs quantity:
When the Mac/Apple ecosystem was a smaller place with fewer developers (early 00s), the community collectively celebrated quality while dismissed lazy development.
Conversely, Google’s Gmail app (one of the top-downloaded free App Store apps) has recently released split-screen view in their iPadOS. Five whole years after the feature was released. Quality ruled.
Back in the day, this was the sort of thing we shunned. Today, platform popularity has...
Adam Fairhead
Do you and those you work alongside produce the same work as everyone else in the market?
Or do you do something special, something unique?
If you don’t do anything unique, there will be off-the-shelf, already-in-the-box tools for you to use precisely as prescribed.
If you do things differently, specifically for the benefit of those in your care, expect to operate with an imperfect setup.
One where you have to build some of your own tools. One where not everything...
Adam Fairhead
Minimalist interfaces. Slick animations. We like this stuff.
You know what we like even more, though?
Understanding what is going on.
If we design something so clever that nobody can use it because the intended audience doesn’t use it often enough to care, is it really all that clever? Email, for instance, should be simple, not clever.
If we design something so cool and simple that nobody can use it because the intended audience uses it so often that options...
Adam Fairhead
While one of our teams shopped for an additional tool to use in their operations today, I noticed a curious pattern in preferences:
How the tools felt.
If it was functional and reasonably priced but felt wrong, it was either dismissed or judged far more harshly than it logically deserved.
If it was functional and possibly more expensive but felt write right, it was shown far more favor by the whole team.
For our team, the feeling was dictated by...
Adam Fairhead
“The project wasn’t successful because our competitors didn’t play fair.”
“The project was a learning experience which informed what we’re doing next.” Both of these statements can be true about the same body of work.
The story we tell changes the narrative, both for listeners and for ourselves.
The first one attempts to excuse you for not succeeding, regardless of the fact that no project is successful in spite of market reception. Of course the competition didn’t play...
Adam Fairhead
“Do work you’re passionate about” is a common mantra in the workplace.
And it’s holding people back from their best work.
Passion is a side-effect of mastery (h.t. Cal Newport), not a prerequisite. By focusing on a passion, we become limited only by the experiences we happen to have had already.
A child that got good at drawing will want to draw when he grows up. But what if he’s an even better speaker, or developer, or writer?
By exploring...
Adam Fairhead
If you pull an all-nighter, do you get more done?
Most would agree that the lack of sleep will have a real impact on your working IQ, diminishing your output and quality of life.
What about multitasking – do you get more done then?
Most would concur that multitasking helps us achieve more, hopping between essential activities like some kind of productivity ninja.
Except both of these things reduce working IQ by the same amount – as much as 40%.
...
Adam Fairhead
When I say “Unilever”, what do you think?
Exactly.
Nothing. It pressed, you might expand your thought to “faceless, spineless blob that takes a stand for nothing”.
When I say “Virgin”, what do you think?
Fun.
Because it was designed that way. The way products and services are designed and marketed ooze the personality of their founder.
People don’t just buy your products. They buy why they exist. They buy as an expression of a shared belief.
If you’re opinion...
Adam Fairhead
Your ideas, your work, these are things that people will steal… if you’re lucky.
It means they were good. So good, in fact, that they’re prepared to walk where you’ve trodden, accepting that you’re out ahead.
It means people took notice. So much so, in fact, that they’ve taken a totally different approach in their own work, bending toward your view of the way things should be.
Doing good work that people notice is good thing, not a bad thing.
...
Adam Fairhead
We know vaccines contain the very thing they vaccinate us from. What about other problems we experience in our pursuit of meaningful bodies of work?
Don’t know what to say on video? Make more videos. You’ll find the words with practice. The disease (inexperience on video) is the cure (do more video).
Don’t know what to write today? Write more. You’ll find the words flow easier with practice. The disease (writers block) is the cure (write more often).
Don’t know...
Adam Fairhead
Earned authority enables good people to help other good people move forward in life.
What makes you the authority?
What other people say.
If you’re the best, but nobody knows it, you’re a “selfish secret” – remaining hidden due to fear or lack of enthusiasm toward the pursuit of those you wish to serve.
When you’re not that great, and everyone knows it, you’re safely discarded by the market.
When you’re the best, and everyone knows it, you’re able to...
Adam Fairhead
How do you connect with your ideal clients online?
You change the words you use when you speak.
Let me explain:
When you go where they are and you call upon those who are not ideal – by casting a broad net or by focusing on the wrong people – then you will, naturally, attract lukewarm interest from an unpredictable array of individuals.
When you go where they are and you call upon those who are ideal – very specifically...
Adam Fairhead
“I don’t have time to blog.”
“I don’t have time to learn that skill.”
“I don’t have time to try that idea.”
“I need to work on my idea before starting.”
“I need all these things before I can launch.”
“I need this sum of money before I begin.”
“I need these things before I can become rich.”
Those who say these things are very sure of their words, considering they’ve never done it before.
Honestly: just start.
Adam Fairhead
Like new tools?
Careful:
New tools mean you could get better at what you do. A new email app that doesn’t prey on nervous energy? Great, now you’ll do better work. An improved technology that speeds up your process? Super, now you’ll achieve more, faster.
Or…
New tools mean you could get the same at what you do, differently. A new email app that is basically just the same but different? Great, now you need to learn how to be...
Adam Fairhead
What makes a sportsperson achieve greatness?
Practice and focus.
Following greatness, these things become increasingly replaced by endorsements and promos.
The dip in practice and focus means they’re not so great anymore. So the endorsements and promos dry up.
Maybe it’s not the endorsements and promos that need your focus.
Maybe you simply need to continue to practice and focus.
Adam Fairhead
Would you like to buy this product?
Unlikely, until…
First, we buy into the idea. For example, BuiltForImpact is built on the idea that the quantity of one’s success is in proportion to the quality of their communication. If you don’t believe that idea, you won’t want what it offers.
Second, we buy into the system. For example, the above product outlines a few key steps that one must take in order to realise the idea. If you’re not sold...
I create a newsletter called GrowthCandy. Each issue shares one idea to help build and spread your work, delivered as a short comic. Fast to read. Easy to apply. Hard to forget!