One last job. Then she’ll retire. But this job just might kill her. Isn’t that always the way?
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I am wary whenever somebody says “this is the next thing” or “this is the only thing that works now”.
It’s not to say those things shouldn’t be tested, but I know people who are still relying on radio ads and sell things just fine.
The sky will always be falling, and new strategies might work better than old strategies in some ways, but once everybody gets into those new strategies, suddenly their unprofitable and don’t work.
Some people, the ones who found it first, will rake in money, like when a few people hit the Snapchat wave.
Then, there’s a dip, where tons of people get in, and the new glut overloads the system.
Most of the time, those things fade away. Sometimes, they hang on.
What happens most is people jerk their heads around trying to find what’s missing in their business without worrying about finding a product and developing a client base.
Two things: product and client.
The rest are ways to connect them, but every new fad is only as good as how it helps you create new products and helps you find new clients.
If something prevents you from doing one, the other, or both, there’s a good chance it’s a waste of time.
Yes, there is a learning curve to some really great things, like Facebook ads, and mailing lists, and there are others too.
However, for everyone that’s worth it there are a hundred that aren’t worth anything.
Usually, entrepreneurs drown in these stupid new things because they haven’t gotten the only things that really matter.
Making great products and finding clients
The rest of it is noise, and necessary to those ends, but shouldn’t distract you from them.
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Great email. Love that you drilled it down to the only two things that really matter. If you don’t have them, nothing else you do will work. Most forget that the product has to be the best it can be which is the reason indies are still working to get rid of the stigma attached to them from those who put out really bad products…you know, those that let their customer’s edit their books after publishing, the obviously homemade covers, the poorly written or cloned work…I’ve seen them all. I read mostly indie books with a few top selling books scattered in to keep up with what constitutes a good book.
I’ll admit that I’m still learning and improving, but as an author, I take pride in my work. Over the past year, I seen a big chunk of authors have no clue what work is let alone taking pride in what they are doing, believing they will get a paid just for completing a book regardless of how poorly it’s done. (Sorry, but I’ve been subjected to tons of ‘bad’ product over the past few months. Most had the excuse of no money which I won’t accept. You can still put out a good book on a shoestring, it just takes longer.) You can’t get repeat customers if your product is poor quality. That is one of the things that many indie authors don’t understand and is one of the things that keeps those of us who self-publish having to work twice as hard to get readers.
I’m glad it resonated with you. You’re so right. You must have a world-class product if you want a legit hope of breaking through, because even WITH a wonderful book it’s almost impossible to break through.