Archive of posts from December 2021

It can be tricky enough getting small businesses to focus on their target audience at the best of times.

The ‘other target audience’ only comes up once the first has been mastered.

What is the ‘other target audiences’?

Cultural observers… these folks may not ever be buyers, but they’re critical to the fabric of you market. Buyers care what they think. A lot.

Fans… these folks also may never be buyers, but they behave precisely as though they are. They’re...

Maximum productivity and efficiency is good, right?

Not necessarily:

More isn’t necessarily better. General Motors make 7.7 million cars a year. Rolls-Royce only sold 5,152 in 2019, yet is deemed more valuable. Some buy for economic travel, others buy for prestige.

Faster isn’t necessarily better. The bond between source, artisan and buyer is much stronger with Hermès than it is with Walmart. It takes longer to do everything, and shoppers feel a connection through their purchases.

We celebrate productivity and...

Brands that claim to want to get closer to their audience will, soon, be faced with a choice.

An opportunity to truly be community-focused has emerged. Will brands take it?

Hierarchical: The way you’ve thought of companies up to now. The company decides things and makes things, you buy them, they profit.

Heterarchical: The way many brands will develop in the future. The community decides things, buys them, and profits from the growth… the company makes for the community.

How...

“The mind must be given relaxation - it will rise improved and sharper after a good break. Just as rich fields must not be forced - for they will quickly lose their fertility if never given a break - so constant work on the anvil will fracture the force of mind. But it regains its powers if it is set free and relaxed for a while.” — Seneca, on Tranquility of Mind

For a long time, I used...

We know what ROI (return on investment) is.
We’re talking money.

We know what ROTI (return on time invested) is.
We’re talking time.

What about ROᾰ̓́? (return on ἄξιος, or ‘axia’)?
(‘ROA’ is already taken to measure profit generation, so let’s go with Greek characters instead!)

Axia is the true worth. Not what it sold (or could sell) for, but what it costs an owner to own.

When measuring return on axia, we have to factor in...

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, soothed may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled — have you no shame in that?” — Epictetus Enchiridion, 28

If you use social media, this may be happening to you.

Not because social media is bad, it’s not; it’s how society communicates.

If communication is a vessel that passes from mind to mind, then we...

It’s Christmas.

Whether you celebrate for the original meaning behind the day, or you prefer to prioritise a good excuse to spend more time with your loved ones, keep in mind…

Your important work can wait, for just a day, if you let it.

Treat it like a loved one.

Let it rest, let it enjoy the margin of a few days.
Great things often come from a little bit of breathing space.

That’s what we’re doing, and by...

Bought a new smartphone or laptop in the last 18 months?

Have you invested in your mind to the same degree in the same span of time?

Many I speak to invest more on tech than on the minds that drive the tech… tax-deductible investments that have the added benefit of improving your whole life.

Seems like a good deal to me.

How about you?

“For this is what makes us evil – that none of us looks back upon our own lives.” – Seneca, Moral Letters, 83.2

I didn’t journal much in 2021.

It ended up being one of those things that I kept meaning to pick back up, but kept…not. T’was a loaded year and, while I appreciate why it didn’t happen, I would have liked to have a journal of the year.

Seneca’s point is that looking back creates time to reflect...

“From Rusticus… I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.” — Marcus Auraleus, Meditations, 1.7.3

This can be applied to the marketing guru, the crypto chad, and the social media influencer.

Many opinions, many agendas, many perspectives. None appreciate your condition like you do.

Like Marcus says: Read carefully. Don’t be satisfied with rough understandings. Don’t...

Twitter is ablaze with anxiety from people who have missed an opportunity.

Don’t tell them about all the millions of opportunities they missed that they didn’t see!

See, there is opportunity all around us, all of the time.

Sometimes, you see it.

Sometimes when you see it, you feel good about exploring it.

Sometimes when you explore it you still feel good about it.

You take those opportunities.

You miss all the others.

To mourn the passing of every opportunity...

Designers take issue with clients that don’t make good design decisions. Of course they don’t — that’s why you’re there.

Coaches take issue with prospects that think they don’t need a coach. Of course they don’t — or they’d already have one.

Soft-play funhouses take issue with customers behaving childishly. Of course they will — their target market is children.

These aren’t things wrong with the system. These are things working the way they’re supposed to.

When we remember that,...

Sales costs are the tax we pay for one of two things:

#1 The margin between cost and value is negative (“it’s not worth it”)
#2 There is no margin between cost and value (it’s as much as you’re willing to pay)

This post is about #2.

The problem with #2 is that it’s deemed shrewd, smart, good business.

People happily buy things that they believe are worth more than they cost. But #2 makes that difficult to determine....

Most NFT projects will fail. You haven’t heard of most of them. You couldn’t track every single one of them even if you wanted to.

Most lines of plastic or stuffed toys will fail. You haven’t heard of most of them, either.

Most smartphones.
Most books.
Most indie video games.
Most paintings.

Most most things.

That does not mean, “Don’t try doing anything”.

It simply means, “The odds of failure are high, so enjoy the act of...

Do you feel others in your industry are better than you?

Or that you’re better than them?

What if you could operate with neither, showing admiration, not overvaluing their opinions or undervaluing yours?

If you think they’re better, you’ll revere their steps and question yours. You’ll put yourself in their shadow by the moves you make, and make your belief come true through stifled innovation coupled with a little envy.

If you think you’re better, you’ll dismiss their steps and...

What do you think about the metaverse? How about web3?

I ran a metaverse brand in 2008 I first met my wife in a metaverse! And now metaverse is brand-new in 2021. Interoperable virtual experiences aren’t new, but the money flowing into it is new, so therefore the media says it’s new.

It’s dripping with potential, but then again, it has been since 2008! The problem isn’t whether opportunity was present or not.

The problem metaverse has is that, 13...

Some brands strike it lucky with right place, right time.

For the rest of us, there’s a formula like the one below.

It’s not complicated, but it’s not easy either.

Nor should it be.

Chapter 1: The Secret. Nobody knows what you are yet. We all start here. As we ought; it’s the right way for things to start.

You move to the next step by showing up consistently with good stuff.

Chapter 2: The Dismissable. Some have seen you...

You know that idea you’re scared to talk about because it’s really weird?

The fear is your kryptonite and the weird idea could be your superpower.

Historically, doing something really weird that nobody has ever done before is where “the first” of something comes from.

Larva Labs’ Cryptopunks were weird. But they were the inspiration for the ERC-721 standard that powers most NFTs now.

Similar stories can be told for Edison and the lightbulb.
Alex Bell and the telephone....

My wife had an operation recently.

We thought we were lucky to get it done privately now, rather than wait over a year to be done via public health service.

Only after getting it done did we realise that waiting that year could have proven fatal.

Before the operation, we weren’t especially focused on how fortunate we are to be alive.

We are now.

What a shame that it takes the risk of loss to appreciate what we have.

What...

There’s not enough time to do everything we want.… and yet there’d enough time to do anything we want.

There’s not enough time to live a thousand lives… and yet there’s plenty of time to live one, fully.

The project you want to want to run… is there time? It depends on if you’re willing to say no to other things.

And those things don’t have to be huge sacrifices. It could be saying no to procrastination. Or over-analysing things....

I spoke with a founder today who was having a hard time with some of their key stakeholders.

These stakeholders struggled with being defensive and offended when accountability came up.

Insecurity takes many forms. Especially in teams that produce important work.

Both Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus wrestled with this in their own ways. Epictetus said, “If you are tempted to look outside yourself for approval, you have compromised your integrity. If you need a witness, be your own.”

If you...

If the font on your website doesn’t match the one on the box you ship,

If your team’s email signatures don’t all match in size or style,

If your blog posts shift in tone and voice every quarter due to shifting specs,

If your team photo shot contains a bunch of people who aren’t there anymore,

It might mean that you’re growing and developing. Listening and iterating. Focusing on both the horizon and the steps.

It might not be a...

I’ve met founders who are desperate to get into execution.

I’ve met founders who are desperate to get their initial assets shipped.

I’ve met founders who are desperate to get their outbound/inbound running.

I’ve met founders who are desperate to get their first customer.

I’ve met founders who are desperate for their acquisition systems to run smoothly.

I’ve met founders who are desperate for their service systems to run smoothly.

I’ve met founders who are desperate for a break.

Most...

Who is about to own your work?

When we put our work into the market, it’s not for us.
It was never really for us.
It’s for the person who will buy it.

When we create with that person in mind, it’s easier for them to buy.
They can see themselves more clearly in the work.
They can see themselves more clearly in your description of the work.
They are more confident in their yes.

Ever wished you started a business or a project sooner?

Or that you had invested in something sooner, before it mooned?

There’s probably a valid reason why you didn’t.

Perhaps you weren’t ready for that business, and the right time wasn’t ‘sooner’.

Perhaps the investment would have overexposed you, or interfered with your focus.

Wishing you started sooner could result in wishing that you were more reckless…

…With projects that are important to you, or your finances, or your health.

Ever noticed how you get most what you give most?

Doing things that help make others happy, might just make you happy.

Doing things that help make others money, might just make you money.

It’s funny how that works.

Similarly…

When you demand happiness, happy leaves the room.

When you demand money, money leaves the room.

Please, look after yourself. But for the things you want most, give most.

Which learning mindset do you have?

Learning mindset 1:
This is hard and I’m doing it wrong, how frustrating.

Learning mindset 2:
No idea what I’m doing, but it’s great fun.

Most of us are born with the second one…

…and most of us swap it out for the first one in school and in the workplace.

You can change your mind again, though, if you want to.

Since it’s your choice: which do you choose?

If you’ve ever upgraded a computer or a phone…

It’s probably because you decided that, despite the new version doing essentially the same things as the previous version, that the upgrade is worth it.

…That the incremental gains are important enough to invest in.
…That leaving it too long means you’ll be left out, or less competitive.
…That the cost is justified, even if not in an immediately obvious way.

Even if that cost is many thousands of...

A journey of a hundred miles starts with…

…a single cup of English Breakfast tea.

Another after each successive mile is optional, too.
At least, that’s how my miles tend to start.

You get to choose.

A hundred miles is a lot of miles, but you get make all the rules.
Be sure to set the rules in a way that enables you to achieve YOUR goal.

I find that I tend to like some parts of projects much more than others.

In the moments I enjoy, I wish they’d last longer.
In the moments I don’t, I wish they’d hurry along.

But when I’m reminded that the moment — now — is all we really have…

…suddenly the whole project becomes more enjoyable.

It all moves from something “I got to do” to something “I get to do”.

The constant is you: how you approach...

How do you change the world?

By changing the life of the next person you encounter.

The world is a large place…
But people are changed one life at a time.

A library consists of lots of smaller books, each consisting of even smaller pages.

Big things can happen when you’re brave enough to start small.