As we wind down for the holidays I thought I’d try to avoid some Netflix and ice cream and try to share something with you (carb-free!).
If I think back over the year, here is the idea that strikes me the most:
in 2018 I figured out our biggest opportunity is in doing stuff that doesn’t scale.
Selling “scalable stuff” is for Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple. They have algorithms and cash machines they can crank at will.
But for us humans?
The game is in doing stuff that DOESN’T scale:
- Stuff you can’t sell on Amazon? –that’s an opportunity.
- Ninja, the video game guy who streamed 1300 hours in 2018— that’s an opportunity.
- Fiverr and Etsy? The stuff you sell on those platforms is hard to scale– that’s an opportunity.
- Your spin, your take, your perspective, your sense?– that’s an opportunity.
Us humans win when we build and sell stuff that doesn’t scale.
Do you also realize we’re now in the beginning of an “unscalable content” arms race with the big tech companies?
Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and others are now spending billions of dollars to acquire original content in a competition to see who has the best underlying business model. It’s to see which business model can withstand the most lavish content spending. It’s a race to see who can support the most unscalable human creativity. Netflix is racing to spend hundred of millions on individual shows, no end in sight.
But get this: The same is true for us individuals. That’s right, we’re in an “unscalable content” arms race with each other. In 2018 the question is now, “Can you create enough original content and monetize with a great underlying business model?” It’s a race to see who can support the creation of content, which fuels sales, which then supports the creation of more content.
Whether you like them or not (and I personally don’t):
Netflix = Kardashians/Jenners/West
Amazon = Trump
They win because the content drives sales. And they create content at massive scale. Massive flywheels. The good news for us?
Small opportunity is everywhere. The ability to win is everywhere.
That’s why we call my podcast “Chancebending”. It’s the art of bending chance and making the odds work for you. This is available to everybody. I have a podcast this week for you– Trish Baden of Flores Lane. Flores Lane is a candle company. Beautiful candles. Trish writes her name on every candle she sells. She took something that anybody can do (including Amazon), and made it unique and hard to scale.
Injecting yourself is your greatest weapon. That’s the secret, the tool, the antidote. That’s how you beat the algorithms and tech giants. That’s how you beat your crappy corporate job and global trade competition.
We have another podcast this week with one of the leading Cannabis and CBD academic researchers in the world. He is studying if there is something in cannabis that you can’t get in a Cannabis or CBD pill. It’s like vitamin c and oranges. Is there something else in the orange that’s important and vital? Another example is Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Does Jiro somehow infuse his sushi with something different?
You are the ultimate weapon. You can choose to use your weapon selling cheap crap, or you can choose to sell a one of a kind, unscalable brand.
That brand is you. Lots more on this to come. Back to ice cream 🤦♂️
