Archive of posts from April 2022

What’s the most important part of your product description?

Clarity, or Personality?

Without clarity, people won’t know what your work is all about, why they should care, and what they should do about it.

Without personality, people won’t get the opportunity to form a relationship with your work, or see themselves in your duty of care.

Clarity without personality leaves us clear… yet cold. Illuminated… yet detached.

Personality without clarity leaves us connected… yet disengaged. Ready… yet stuck.

I admit:...

Sometimes, we get to build and share what we’re building at the same time.

Other times, we’re quietly building.

But when we’re quiet, the tendency is to assume something is wrong.

But it could mean something very right is about to happen.

Don’t feel bad about quietly building.

We can’t wait to see what you’re up to.

We get to choose the blessing or the curse:

The curse: Not wanting to get up, because you don’t want to go to work… then not wanting to go home and deal, then not wanting to go to bed because it’ll start over again.

The blessing: Can’t wait to get up, because you get to be yourself as a verb… where there’s no “work” to “get through” nor weekends to live for, there’s simply living.

The difference is determined by...

Love SaaS?

Buy a print magazine about gardening.

Love flying fixed-wing?

Join a Discord server full of web3 degens.

A polymathic means of learning — the interest in a substantial number of potentially-divergent subjects — unlocks the ability to see what others cannot.

What’s “the only way to do things” in one industry is an innovative revolution in acquisition or production in another.

Being able to see around corners feels like staring at the wall for a moment.

And then...

What makes something special?

And what makes it special, and not merely extra?

Both exceed what is necessary. Both may be topically unrelated.

Yet one is good, and the other is something we’re indifferent to.

What makes special…special?

Its ability to distinguish itself to a specific person or specific group.

Special is special because it’s not trying to please everybody. It’s selective by nature. It’s niche.

Without that, it’s merely extra.

Worth keeping in mind when you think about your...

Want people to support your venture? Ask.

Want to collaborate with a great brand? Ask.

Want to do a project with that person? Ask.

Want to know how that creator made that thing? Ask.

Want to be introduced to that influential figure? Ask.

The things we want are on the other side of Asks…

…so Ask!

What happens to your work when the bubble bursts?

No market trend lasts forever…

Whether you’re in Facebook Ads, Shopify app development or NFTs, there will come a day when your landscape will change.

A lot.

What then?

One of two things.

Option 1: Your work collapses with the chapter and, with a bit of luck, you can rebuild in the next chapter.

Option 2: Your work transcends the trends, where your people stick to you because of what you’ve...

Most company websites say “We are __”.

They tell you what they are.

But they don’t tell you what they are not.

This is equally important.

For instance, the Mortiverse experiment is exploring how we could explore stoic philosophy in fun new accessible ways.

But what is the experiment not?

It is not interested in changing the world.
It is not trying to become the next BAYC.
It is not trying to build a hyperactive Discord...

Being the best is exhausting.

It’s broadly defined by competition, and your rank among it.

You don’t control the competition, and so pursuit of conventional ‘best’ means being governed by forces outside of your control.

What a lousy way to live.

What’s the alternative?

Redefine best.

It might not be to change the world.
Or to become the next _____.
Or to have the biggest marketshare.
Or to have the best perks.
...

I love making things.

And I love selling them.

The combination of those two things brings so much joy.

But it can be lonely. Perhaps you’ve experienced this too:

You can be surrounded by care, yet feel you can’t share. Many folks don’t want the responsibility of a three-dimensional relationship with you; you fit better as a two-dimensional success in your craft.

You can be surrounded by promises, yet know they’re rarely kept. Many folks will promise a commitment or...

We love and hate simplicity.

We love it because we know that represents mastery. In your area of genius, you’ll likely have experienced the elegance of simplicity that comes from mastery; fewer brush strokes yielding better art.

We hate it because others don’t know that it represents mastery. The fewer the brush strokes, the more an amateur (which is more likely to be a buyer, and you a seller) is to wonder, “Why should I pay for this when it’s...

The market is only as competitive as we choose.

Choosing to offer a commodity service at an aggressive price is highly competitive. Lots of people are doing the same thing, and so only of the only ways for a buyer to choose is to filter by price.

Choosing to offer an elevated service at a fair market price is less competitive. Far fewer people are doing this, so there are fewer to filter by.

Choosing to offer an elevated service...

Clarity isn’t popular. It requires most things to get out of the way, so that only the most important things take centre-stage. It requires the obvious to be obvious, the main thing to be the main thing.

Decoration is popular. It doesn’t require taking a stance like Clarity does; it encourages whatever is cool and loud to take centre-stage, alongside anything else that is cool and loud. There’s no room for Clarity here.

Focus isn’t popular. It requires saying no...

Never mind your “big idea”…

What’s your “big opinion”?

A big idea may not be rooted in a big opinion. It’s simply a loose idea, that is big. It has no opinion, or perspective, or vision that its trying to pursue. ‘Big’ is all it has.

A big idea that fails leaves you looking for your footing. There’s seemingly nowhere to go except perhaps to another idea. Wandering from campaign to campaign, not backed by something bigger than itself.

A...