MTF needs a slumpbuster: Too many swings, no hits.

[MTF]

1. It sounds like you are getting almost the same inputs every day. Same people, same office, same texts read, same podcasts listened.

I might be wrong, but you might do yourself a favor by changing your environment (going away for some time).

I was in another city for two weeks and came back a few days ago. Before that, I spent most of 2023 traveling. But yes, I'm tired of my current environment despite all that traveling.

You can write me if youre in Southern Spain and if you want some company. I will be there around the beginning of June.

Okay, thanks. I usually don't go to Spain in the summer (too crowded, too hot).

2. You might also benefit from doing some sports that you have not done for some time. I have neglected my gym sessions a lot these 4-5 months and it is like a magic pill for me these days.

My favorite sports are all performed outdoors. With shitty weather, that's not possible.

 

[MTF]

Brandon Sanderson has talked about that... if I remember it correctly, he has had several offers for adaptations to some of his works and/or there are some in work currently. I know that a game based on his world is in work.

That's my point. The guy is one of the top writers, has ALL the connections, has soooo much extraordinary content to be adapted into a movie or a TV show and has been in the industry for 20 years or so.

Despite that, there are still zero adaptations. Even if there are any offers, no TV shows or movies will get made in the next 5 years if there's no official announcement today.

I'd love to see his work turned into a TV show and hope to see it one day. I'll be a happy consumer but not a producer.

 

[Simon Angel]

Are you actually looking to start another business or struggling with meaning in general?

 

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[MTF]

I think you're generalising again. Growing audiences is a skill. Some people are better at it than others.

I meant that content, in most cases, takes way longer to work. Unless you can crack the algorithm, you won't get 1,000 visitors within 24 hours of posting an article (and you can do that easily with an ad).

Be careful of these limiting beliefs @MTF.

Noted.

Ah. That's interesting. It makes sense to build a business around your skills and motivations though, so how can you still lean into it?

I mostly referred to writing. If I start every business thinking how I can use my writing skills, I inevitably always end up with some kind of a content business that's not even a business.

Feel free to post an example of something you might consider. I'll reply with how I'd approach it.

Okay. I'm not looking for any specific ideas now. I'm just resetting.

 

[MTF]

Another limiting belief?

I really think you should watch how you say things. I'm super protective of my mindset and watch my language like a hawk.

And you came to the wrong conclusion imo. I start all projects asking "How can I use my high ground?"

How can you use your current skills, knowledge, and network to help people while building a business you like?

What's your unfair advantage @MTF?

To answer this question I need to think of myself more positively than I'm thinking now. Otherwise my answer will be "I have no unfair advantage." I'll think about it when I'm in a more productive state of mind.

My only question is: what if your unfair advantage is no longer that useful? Because that's how I see writing. It's a cheap skill, soon to be even less important.

 

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[MTF]

Maybe go listen to those podcasts I linked to before. Sahil Bloom is a smart guy. So is Nathan Barry.

I'll investigate Sahil Bloom (I saw this tweet of his and now I know we're on the same page regarding time freedom) and Nathan Barry. Anyone else you'd recommend checking out?

I just signed up for Sahil's newsletter and will explore his content more.

I saw there's a transcript of one of the podcasts you shared before so I'll read that:

078: Sahil Bloom – Using Flywheels to Build Longevity in the Creator Economy

In today’s episode, I sit down with investor, entrepreneur, and content creator, Sahil Bloom (in front of a live audience) to unpack the key strategies and lessons

nathanbarry.com

 

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[MTF]

This works - considering you are able to work with the right influencer.

I would suggest that charging them is going to be problematic. You'd be better suited to doing a JV / royalty arrangement, whereby you put up the capital for the book, printing, illustrator + promotion and they help promote it.

There are two people I follow who've recently had this treatment (although I don't know how the money side of it is handled).

The first is a young woman I met a decade ago who won a young engineering prize in the UK and now makes "invention" type content (particularly for children): -

View attachment 54809

You can view the pre-order page here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1915569273/?tag=tff07-21

The second is a woman I found about 10 years ago when she won Miss France, Marine Lorphelin. Since that time, she's become a qualified doctor and is doing the rounds on the Parisian media circuit: -

View attachment 54811

She recently released a book called "In Great Shape". As far as I can tell, it's some of the most basic advice possible but because she's got une belle visage, people buy it. You can see an example of the level of demand it's generated here:


View attachment 54812

You can see the type of promotional work she's done for it here: -

View: https://youtu.be/p1nO9nTHEB0?t=2510

In both cases, the development of the books were handled by a third party. Whilst they provided the content, without the higher level organization writing the cheques, it's unlikely either would have come to fruition.

I would strongly advocate working with someone who has a pedigree in their field. Most don't, and the "books" they create are shit.

I think the position of Rob's suggestion, in this regard, is off; rather than selling a way for some random influencer to promote themselves, why not consider a qualitative product that is based on real industry knowledge. Whilst both of the above are basic products focused on mainstream adoption, working with people who are slightly more advanced would absolutely give you an opportunity to supersede others in the market.

--

Having looked into this sort of thing for my own business, the price for doing a run of books like that will be about £30k for the printing. Illustration would be dependent on how much work is involved.

I got a quote some years back (before inflation) for just over £20k for 1000 premium hard cover books, similar to the following: -

View attachment 54813

View attachment 54814

The above were printed by a company called PurePrint in the UK, one of the largest printing companies.

The two primary printers of books, however, are CPI Group or Clays. Clays tends to do monochrome whilst CPI tend to do full colour prints. Pick up any book in the UK and it's highly likely to have been printed by either CPI or Clays.

--

If you have the money for something like the above, it would lead to a CENTS business.

I actually did start working on this years ago (high-quality books like that). But then I got into a depressive spiral and I had to shut everything down.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Those prices are mad. I’ve had quotes that are about half that. Are they a POD company or a proper printers dealing with medium run printing?

Yeah, agreed, they are rip off prices. I'd never pay that

 

[StrikingViper69]

It's a proper printing company and I requested quotes for the equivalent of a coffee table book - the type of quality you'd get from the likes of Taschen. For something less ostentatious, it would be less.

The quote was from PurePrint.

Regarding whether the prices are too high, I would see it as an investment into my company's brand equity, so would be happy to spend the money to make sure it's correct. There's a big difference between selling small commodified products for % margin and building a massive company that can do billions in revenue. The former is why most stay small.

Aaah something with high quality photographic paper for each page? Yeah that would be pretty pricey

 

[Black_Dragon43]

View attachment 54832

And someone won the lottery? So?!?!

 

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[MTF]

My point was that there are a ton of influencers who have been getting book deals. The young woman I met isn't special; she won an award in 2006 and runs a YouTube channel with 60k subscribers.

Marine Lorphelin is hot and has a lot of followers on Instagram... but she's no different to the other women who graduated medicine in France. Her big pull is the fact she won Miss France in 2013, meaning her looks garner attention, which filters through to people buying the book.

In either case, those women would not have had the means to fund the production of a book themselves, nor hire an illustrator/typesetter etc. Giving people like that the opportunity to create a book, have them promote it to their audience, and have some sort of royalty scheme set up, could prove fruitful over the long term.

That's a very good observation and I like that idea. This could even be extended to offering to do online courses for them or helping them set up their own list so they have something else besides social media presence.

I know there's a ton of micro influencers/semi-famous people in their fields who would do very well selling their professionally published life stories or how-to advice.

But yeah, this could only work with a royalty scheme so that if you score some wins, they make up for the losses.

 

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[MTF]

If you can hit satisfactory financial success once it is already top 0.1 percent of the population.

And out of 0.1 percent, less than five percent can repeat the same feat in another 4-5 year cycle.

So I don’t see why you need to beat yourself.

Thanks for this observation. I'm generally very hard on myself and always demand more.

 

[maverick]

tl;dr

Did anything interesting happen in the end here?

 

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[MTF]

tl;dr

Did anything interesting happen in the end here?

No, nothing interesting happened here and this is all my fault.

There was a lot of good advice posted for people who are struggling with the business part of things so I hope at least that was useful.

But if your mental state sucks, then any business you start will be destined to fail which is why I haven't taken any action. There's no point as I'll just sabotage myself sooner or later.

 

[Mr. Tycoon]

I would guess that if you decide to become a skilled plumber and start your own business, learn something about digital marketing and just show up long enough, your odds of failure are slim and you will become a multi-millionaire within 20 years. Now does that sound exciting?

who the f@ck would willingly endure a 20-year struggle, only to achieve the modest status of being a millionaire (a middle class status in 2024).

Let's say someone wants to start a business with an almost guaranteed success rate. I would guess that if you decide to become a skilled plumber and start your own business, learn something about digital marketing and just show up long enough, your odds of failure are slim and you will become a multi-millionaire within 20 years. Now does that sound exciting?

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

It depends on the area of life. In sports, your mental attitude has a huge impact on what you can do. If I doubt I can dive to 30 meters, I won't reach it. Subconsciously I'll sabotage myself in some way that will translate into the physical world.

This is an interesting one. I do think mindset has a much bigger impact in sports, but still I find it very hard to control. It’s true that if I feel confident, strong bla bla, then I can easily lift a lot more with a lot more verve than if I feel like I hate doing it.

But… putting myself in that state isn’t something that I can count on. I may be in that state, but if I’m not, then what can I do? I haven’t found a way to control it.

 

[Andy Black]

Problems are actually stepping stones in our path. We overcome them them one at a time, and that's how we progress on our journey.

I don't know if you ever watched this little video, and the one by our son when he was 5...

MINDSET - What's Your Problem?

What's Your Problem? Do you know what your biggest problem is? If you can’t decide then these short videos might help. Andy Black’s Video (2 mins) Apologies for the hushed voice. All the kids were in bed by the time I did the audio. I’ll only ever record audio during the day going forward...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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