Yesterday, I wrote this tweet.
Before you read on, think about your answer to the question.
It’s kind of a devious question because there is no wrong answer. This question is more about understanding your own mindset.
If you’re thinking purely from a business perspective and the short timeframe of 6 months, then the answer is obvious: the person assembling the IKEA furniture.
Essentially, this is the Creator looking for templates to drive their growth. The one who needs the exact steps to take to do everything and I understand that person. I really do.
We want to believe that success is replicable and while some of the steps might be similar to everyone, little details always differ.
The problem is…well, hold on.
Let’s look at the question from another angle. After 6 months, the IKEA assembler is doing well. Their business is solid and they are always booked.
The one building custom furniture still isn’t making great furniture but they are a hell of a lot better than they were 6 months ago.
So it seems like the IKEA assembler is the smart play.
But something happens. Others catch wind of the success the IKEA assembler is having and because he’s building IKEA furniture others begin to do it. And they do the exact same thing he is doing. The IKEA furniture can’t be improved. It is what it is.
So the Assembler has to start trying to build more and get his face in front of more people to fend off his rivals. The only distinction between him and the competitors is price and customer service. Both are things that anyone can match.
After a while, there is a good chance the Assembler quits because competing with all of these people is too exhausting.
And what about the custom furniture guy? There were times he looked at the Assembler with envy. The Assembler was making money while the custom furniture man (we need to give him a name because I can’t keep typing that…ummm, let’s go with Baboo) was fumbling around.
But at the 7th month mark something magical happens. Since the beginning, Baboo has been sharing his progress on Instagram. Every single day that he works with wood he posts pictures. He didn’t have much of a following. At this point, it was just 237 people, but those people loved to watch his progress.
In the 7th month, one of his followers sends him a DM asking how much for a coffee table. Baboo agrees to a deal, makes the table, shows the progress along the way, and the client shares the results with her audience.
She has 7,050 followers.
This of course gets Baboo some more followers and a couple more people have him building custom pieces. Each time he shares the process and each time his clients share the final result with their audience.
In 10 months he’s at 9,000 followers.
12 months, 29,000.
And each one is there because they either appreciate watching him work or they want to do the same thing.
(Psssst, the point isn’t the follower count growing the point is…well, just keep reading.)
Every once in a while there is an opportunist that comes across what Baboo is doing and sees that Baboo is starting to make good money. They see it as a chance for them to make money and so they decide it’s time to build custom furniture.
But after 13 days they give up. It’s not worth learning. Takes too much time.
So they go and assemble IKEA furniture…
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I shouldn’t have to tell you what happens to Baboo after 12 months, 3 years, or 10 years. They love what they do and every single day they love waking up and getting a little bit better at their Craft.
And I think this is what a Creator should aspire for but this philosophy is lost in what we see now. What we see now is the need to only make it about the business.
I get that. I promise you that I do. A lot of people start this journey because they want freedom from something. A job, a bad relationship, debt, whatever.
So telling them that if they can find joy in their craft they will be more successful in the long run doesn’t register when you go on social media and are bombarded with stories of 13-day successes.
But with MILLIONS of people trying to take this journey over the next couple of years, who is going to win out in the long run?
It’s not that you can’t find early success. I encourage you to try. I like making money on Day 1 more than waiting to make money on Day 1,000.
But you’re going to be far more dangerous if you can mix the Creator mentality with the Entrepreneur mentality.
Most of you only want to be Entrepreneurs. Opportunists.
And I have no problem with people that want that for themselves. Just know that’s a different game than the one I play and teach. It’s a completely different timeline.
