Narratives about modernity
If we give an isolated community access to the internet, very quickly, the quality of life will improve. Time will be saved, research into proven solutions will produce value, and people will become connected to a larger population. Those connections will lead to productivity and learning.
And, then, soon thereafter, they will become less happy.
Not because they’re worse off, but because the dominant media narratives that arrive exist to make them feel insufficient, inadequate or simply jealous at how green the grass is over there.
Our narrative defeats our surroundings, every time.
2020年3月31日 星期二
Seth's Blog : The Big Fish theory
The Big Fish theory
In all markets, the market leader gets an unfair advantage. That’s because casual and unsophisticated customers choose the leader because it feels easier and safer.
The strategy, then, is not to wish and dream of becoming a big fish.
The strategy is to pick a small enough pond.
By engaging with the smallest viable audience, you gain the reputation and trust you need to move to ever bigger audiences.
In all markets, the market leader gets an unfair advantage. That’s because casual and unsophisticated customers choose the leader because it feels easier and safer.
The strategy, then, is not to wish and dream of becoming a big fish.
The strategy is to pick a small enough pond.
By engaging with the smallest viable audience, you gain the reputation and trust you need to move to ever bigger audiences.
Seth's Blog : Freelancing is a brave act
Freelancing is a brave act
When I quit my job in 1986 and went out on my own, it was shortly after my picture had appeared in a small feature in a national magazine. My grandmother proudly kept a copy of the magazine (not the article, the entire magazine) on her coffee table, proudly telling anyone who stopped by that her grandson was now a “FREE lancer.” Not sure what that meant, she had a hunch that it wasn’t nearly as stable, easy or prestigious as having an actual job.
Freelancers show up in the world without a safety net, offering to do their best. Freelancers rarely get the credit they deserve for the work they do.
Freelancers aren’t always sure of what’s next, and freelancers often get the wrong end of the stick.
But it’s about a pure a craft as most of us can find. You’re your own boss, most of the time, and figuring out a way to become better at being the boss of you is a worthwhile investment of effort.
I’m so pleased with the results we’ve achieved with The Freelancer’s Workshop. It’s a straightforward approach to the biggest problem most freelancers have: Finding better clients.
Our new session begins signups today, and I hope you’ll check it out (click to find the disappearing purple circle discount). It’s the last session of 2019.
Better clients demand more, pay more and talk about your work. Better clients make it easier for you to level up, and better clients challenge you to dig deeper and do what you’re capable of.
You don’t do better by working more hours. You can’t work more hours. You do better by finding better clients.
I’m delighted that so many freelancers read this blog, and proud to be, on my best days, a freelancer.
Join me at 1 pm ET today, Tuesday to talk about freelancing and how to level up. I’ll be taking your questions on my FB and Insta pages.
Now might be the time to be seen as the professional you’re capable of becoming.
Seth's Blog : What did you expect?
What did you expect?
If you run a rush delivery company, expect that the customers will be rushed.
If you run a health food restaurant, expect that your customers will care about the ingredients you use.
If you run a preschool, expect that your users will act like little children at times.
If you offer urgent consulting services for clients in trouble, expect that they’ll be stressed and want you to work all night.
If you treat people with mental health issues, expect that they’ll not always be patient and long-term thinkers.
Sometimes, we get what we expect and still complain about it. It’s a feature, though, not a bug.
If you run a rush delivery company, expect that the customers will be rushed.
If you run a health food restaurant, expect that your customers will care about the ingredients you use.
If you run a preschool, expect that your users will act like little children at times.
If you offer urgent consulting services for clients in trouble, expect that they’ll be stressed and want you to work all night.
If you treat people with mental health issues, expect that they’ll not always be patient and long-term thinkers.
Sometimes, we get what we expect and still complain about it. It’s a feature, though, not a bug.
Seth's Blog : Ways to grow
Ways to grow
A checklist to get you started—you can either do the same thing or a different thing…
More of the same
Persist
Get the word out
Doing something different
Change an element of what you do
Raise your prices
Lower your prices
Make it better
Tell a different story
Serve a different customer
Enter a new segment
Change the downstream effects of your work
Earn trust
Make bigger promises
Organize
Get better clients
Do work that matters to someone
Seth's Blog : Up and to the right
Up and to the right
The typical performance chart has two axes. And one is time. We can’t do anything at all about time, so there’s really one axis.
How fast did your profits grow?
How many followers did you add to your account?
How much muscle did you add to your calves?
The problem with a graph that only has one axis is that it’s dumb. No room for nuance. It’s a blunt instrument, easy to game.
If you want your profits to go up faster, simply cut corners. If you want more followers, buy them, or lower your standards, or pick a fight. And if you want to add muscle faster, sacrifice your health…
Adults are better off realizing that we have the patience and intelligence to measure our lives on two or more axes. Which means that instead of just one quadrant, there are four. That maybe it makes sense to choose to pursue something longer term, more resilient, more important.
That maybe the metric that was chosen for everyone isn’t really the metric you care about it.
PS Applications are now open for the next session of the altMBA. Today’s the Early Deadline, and the best chance to set your sights for 2020 (yes, it’s almost 2020). The altMBA is a powerful, proven approach to leveling up and making work matter.
The typical performance chart has two axes. And one is time. We can’t do anything at all about time, so there’s really one axis.
How fast did your profits grow?
How many followers did you add to your account?
How much muscle did you add to your calves?
The problem with a graph that only has one axis is that it’s dumb. No room for nuance. It’s a blunt instrument, easy to game.
If you want your profits to go up faster, simply cut corners. If you want more followers, buy them, or lower your standards, or pick a fight. And if you want to add muscle faster, sacrifice your health…
Adults are better off realizing that we have the patience and intelligence to measure our lives on two or more axes. Which means that instead of just one quadrant, there are four. That maybe it makes sense to choose to pursue something longer term, more resilient, more important.
That maybe the metric that was chosen for everyone isn’t really the metric you care about it.
PS Applications are now open for the next session of the altMBA. Today’s the Early Deadline, and the best chance to set your sights for 2020 (yes, it’s almost 2020). The altMBA is a powerful, proven approach to leveling up and making work matter.
Seth's Blog : Open the cookies
Open the cookies
Put a bag of cookies in the break room and it might sit for days.
Open the bag and leave it out, and within an hour, all the cookies will be gone.
We are happy to take a tiny slice off the thing that’s being shared, but we hesitate to open the bag.
The same is true with all of the initiatives in our culture. Design, movements and ideas are all trapped, waiting to be opened, and then the rest of us will happily pile on.
Open the bag.
Put a bag of cookies in the break room and it might sit for days.
Open the bag and leave it out, and within an hour, all the cookies will be gone.
We are happy to take a tiny slice off the thing that’s being shared, but we hesitate to open the bag.
The same is true with all of the initiatives in our culture. Design, movements and ideas are all trapped, waiting to be opened, and then the rest of us will happily pile on.
Open the bag.
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