Seth Godin was on Tim Ferriss recently, and his advice is excellent for anyone who wants to stay busy when the “boom” is over. We highly recommend this short podcast.
Seth Godin is a famous Stanford MBA, Author and Marketer. His books, like Purple Cow and Tribes, are additional “must-reads” for entrepreneurs. Here are key takeaways from the podcast.
Don’t Just Connect, Contribute
The days of ad-blasting and connecting via happy hours and golf are coming to an end. Effective marketing requires “contribution” to the group you want to sell to. You need to help the group with valuable info (like a daily blog :)) or with extraordinary products or services.
Limiting Beliefs/Changing Self-Narrative.
Godin’s limiting belief was his bad narrative in college, as he constantly counted his rejections, failures, heart-breaks, etc. He took off when he practiced (for a long time) a new narrative in his head that focused on successes, wins, and all the times he brightened someone’s day.
Start Small Before Expanding – Build Your Tribe.
Many businesses focus on too big of a market, when they instead need to make sure they have a formula or product that always works on a small group first. Entrepreneurs should only expand once their loyal tribe is in place with a formula that works.
The “Long Cut” Is a Better Path Than the “Short Cut.”
Everyone looks for shortcuts because we hear about them working in Silicon Valley, or because we get spoiled by boom-times. Godin makes it clear that the “long cut” is the surer and often faster path to success. There are very few short-cuts that lead to success. One of his long-cut examples is the thousands of performances the Beatles played in Germany before they took off in the U.K.
