The Desert of Arizona
Clear 52 Degrees – 6:59 a.m.
Here’s a slide from the first session of the Platform Lab:
I created this to represent the journey you go on when you build a client attraction system powered by a media platform.
That green circle is you. The line in the shape of a mountain represents effort. When you start your media platform and begin publishing (a newsletter, podcast, video series, whatever), you’re all the way at the bottom with nowhere to go but… UP. Congrats! It can’t get worse!
So you climb for a while. Eventually, you get to the peak of the mountain and over the crest. From that point on, all of that “stored” effort and value you exerted climbing the mountain becomes the fuel for momentum as the ball races down the hill. The longer you go, the easier it gets.
Seth Godin refers to this challenging part at the beginning of the journey by calling it “The Dip.” That’s the point after you start something, before you see real success, where you’re not sure if you should stop or continue.
In the case of the media platform, you actually START there. And calling it a DIP would be an understatement. It’s more like a deep valley out of which you climb.
But here’s the good part…
The minute you start climbing, you leave about 50% of your competition behind. Just ONE step is enough to rise above HALF (maybe more!) of everyone else. They simply will never do much of anything except WANT things they’re not willing to work for.
If you manage to take another step, and another, consistently, you’re now about 75% ahead of the pack.
They’ll try to catch up. They’ll buy ads, they’ll do joint ventures, they’ll arrange for big overpriced product launches. Whatever. They’ll try just about anything to get there FASTER and EASIER than you.
They just won’t be willing to do the one thing YOU are willing to do: And that is to pay in time by SHOWING UP.
That mountain in the picture represents an enormous competitive advantage that can’t be overcome by $$.
“Hey, I’ll pay you $4,0000 if you trust me!” Sorry, that’s not how it works.
No matter which path you choose here for your business, my recommendation would be to just be honest with yourself.
If you want to do this work, then do it.
If you know you simply aren’t going to stick with it, just accept that now and get on with something else. Go look in the mirror and say, “I know I don’t have what’s required to take this path, I will find another one.”
Either way is fine. I’m partial to the path I see working, but that’s me.
Do what’s right for you.
There are TONS of people out there with problems that you can solve. Figure out a way to do that and you’ll never WANT for much of anything.