Great Businesses Think and Act Like Monopolies
We tend to want to build out businesses within markets that have already been validated, which by nature, already have some level of competition.
The problem with this, is that the more competitive a market is, the less opportunity there is for huge profit margins and aggressive pricing power. So, why should we gravitate to markets that are more competitive, even when the upside is often far less attractive?
In this model we’ll uncover the concept of monopolies and why you should view them as the most attractive opportunities.
True Innovation Moves From Zero to One
Textbook market analysis principles are very effective for assessing decisions with existing businesses in established markets, yet they can be extremely misleading when assessing products and innovation that may not fit into any existing category.
This model unpacks the Zero to One thinking required for ideas and products that create categories, rather than fit within categories that already exist.
How Our Brains Think In Two Ways
Rational thinking is slow and uses up a lot of energy, therefore the brain often opts towards instinctive thinking to make decisions.
Although this leads to faster decisions, it can leave us exposed to making irrational, foolish decisions that are driven by emotion and gut feels, rather than logical reasoning.
Finding Value in Deep Work
Deep work is a state of mind that is difficult to access, yet once in, all the best work tends to follow. Everything starts to get done effortlessly, completely locked in to a hyper focused state of flow.
We need time, no distractions and action to access the clear mental space to transition into deep work.
How We’re Wired to Keep On Buying
Our failed ability to recognise forever increasing dopamine baselines is critical to why we fall into an obsessive cycle of buying.
The awareness, and then control of our own buying habits come from seeing that our mental wellbeing doesn’t seem to improve as we buy more things. In fact, our wellbeing may even decline with an ever increasing dopamine baseline that seems forever out of reach.
Real Growth Lies in Value Creation
If a person or product provides value to society, they’ll be financially compensated by society based on how useful (or valuable) that product is. This is the beauty of creating value, the upside is limitless and there's essentially no cap on how much value you can generate.
Minimising costs is critical first step, but quickly hits a limit, building value is where the financial opportunity is infinite.
How Status Influences What We Buy
One core driver of why we buy things we don’t need, is the insatiable need to acquire approval from our peers, making our buying rates a reflection of our current social status state.
If we feel like we need to boost ego or self esteem, we buy more, if we’re happy with who we are, we want for less.
Controlling Emotions in Stock Trading
Trading assets often brings more anxiety than enjoyment. This model unpacks how emotions are a traders worst enemy, so the key is to acknowledge its power, before putting the systems in place to control its influence on decision making.
When a clear exit plan is documented when an asset is purchased; most of the short term and long term emotional influence is muted.
The Growing Era of Niche Fame
The web has blown up the amount of opportunities to win for very specific needs, or niche topics. With billions more people at our disposal, micro audiences for specific needs now far exceed entire local audiences from the pre-internet age.
Therefore, we're seeing specialisation create far more opportunities than generalisation, as there are simply more areas than ever to build fame in.
The Strength in Skill Stacking
Skill stacking is the idea of stacking your strengths on top of each other to create a unique, single product. This stack is your superpower that is unlikely to be matched.
The more skills you stack, or the better you are for a particular set of skills, the more unique and distinct your product will be, giving you a higher chance of owning an audience for a very specific need.
The Webs Winner Take All Effect
With global internet access, the winner takes more than ever before. Those who would have won in a smaller, geographically limited competitive set, now lose out almost completely as their audiences flock to the new found best.
Why Society Wins With the Web
No longer do we have to settle for the best within our local geographic limitations, the internet reveals the best global talent available on almost any skillset.
How to See Through a Convincing Story
Talk is cheap, action and past behaviour is everything. What someone has done defines who they are, what they say is often how they wish to be defined.
Why the Best Businesses Build MVPs
2/3 | For many business people, their ego is the enemy when it comes to time wasting projects and ideas. Great businesses grow by building MVPs to validate ideas, before scaling them up to huge projects.
The Trap of Shiny Object Syndrome
3/3 | Although building small MVPs are the best friend of progression, they have a destructive side effect, the lure of Shiny Object Syndrome.
Ongoing iteration continues deeper into a path forward over time, strengthening a product. Starting from scratch constantly brings you back to square one.
Making Money From Digital Content
The traditional content monetisation model of selling ad space brings only a fraction of a cent of value per viewer, but now with digital, creators can directly access their most highly engaged followers, unlocking more opportunity to increase the depth of value per follower.
A Different View of Maslow’s Needs
The first personal development model I ever discovered was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. As time has gone on, I have come to realise its fundamental flaws, as it presents a misleading ‘checkbox’ style approach to achieving a fulfilled life.
How to Become an ‘Overnight Success’
The larger a block of time separates a meeting with someone else, the more recognisable certain changes are. This is what creates the illusion of an ‘overnight’ change, as the incremental gains toward a goal are hardly noticed step by step.
How to Use the Corridor Method
1/3 | As a person that falls victim to over thinking, I always wanted to make sure everything would be perfect before I sacrificed any hours into the work. I then discovered the Corridor Method and it completely changed my outlook.
Surviving a Three Day Fast
Recently, I began fasting for extended periods, specifically 3 days at a time. Initially, the idea of a 3 day fast was frightening, but what I discovered was unexpected.