By the Ocean
Clear 68 Degrees
5:38 a.m.
When I started in business, I just couldn’t get excited about finding a need in the market and filling it. I tried, but I found it boring. As best I can explain, the reason is because it had no connection to something deeper inside of me that I actually cared about.
What I COULD get excited about was finding something that I loved to do, figuring out how to position it as a solution to someone’s problem, and then collecting the people for whom that exchange made sense. Even when this path is hard (sometimes it is very hard!), it’s worth it. (I’m good at helping people with this process because I practiced this for 20 years!)
I think the business gurus might call this approach “bass ackwards.” To me, it seems like the only way to enjoy life. You would think money would be enough to take care of that part. So why not just go get the money doing whatever and then use it to buy your happiness?
That’s the billion dollar question. The first answer is because money isn’t enough, as I’ve learned by working in and around a lot of people who have tons of it. The other answer is because I can’t. It’s just not what I’m here to do. And BETRAYING what I’m here to do has serious consequences over the long term that I’d rather not experience.
So I’m left with my approach: build a business that positions something you love to do as a clear solution to a specific problem for a certain group of people who have the resources and desire to pay for that solution.
When you’re using this strategy, the work pretty much from the beginning is very clear: FIND YOUR PEOPLE. In other words, you ATTRACT the market.
Who are my people?
They are people who I affectionately refer to as, “Winners.”
- These are people who want to be better tomorrow than they are today.
- These are people who don’t sit around for a year talking about what they are going to do.
- These are people who make educated investments in future returns.
- These are people who understand that business is a marathon, not a sprint.
- These are people who are smart, with something unique and valuable to offer to the world.
- These are people who already KNOW that showing up completely unique and different is what they want to do.
A few weeks ago, Dan Kennedy mentioned me in his new book. He was kind enough to print my name and a simple link to my website.
The folks on the other side of that book are some of my people.
First of all, it’s in a book. Not on a feed. Not something you click. Not something you scroll by.
Right there we’ve cancelled out 98% of the people who will never do anything. Those are not my people.
I call them the “Do Nothings.” They spend a lot of time hanging around but they don’t actually DO anything.
“My people” are not persuaded by sales tactics. They simply want proof. “Show me,” is the operative phrase. If I do that, sales happen without resistance.
Who are your people? Where are your people? How do you attract your people?
When you get answers to those three questions, you’re ahead of 99% of the businesses out there.