Big companies fear you. Let me repeat that. Big companies fear you.
You’re fast, they’re slow. You’re nimble, they’re not. You’re innovating, they’re conference-calling.
Yes, their mass makes them extremely powerful. They can monetize FAR better than you can even dream of. That’s what they do… they push the big lever that works really well.
But if you’re smart and stay in the blue ocean, they can’t touch you. They know it.
That’s why they need you. They need you to find a new lever that works. They need you to show them the way through dangerous new water.
Don’t compete on the big levers. Find the small ones that work and grow them.
Win.
“You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.” — Don Draper
You’re not gonna starve.
You’re not gonna to sleep in the rain.
What is it you’re scared of? A mortgage? A non-existant scoreboard that shows you losing to non-existant competitors your age? You already lost.
401k, IRA, credit score, retirement, mortgage, lexus, granite countertops.
Amateur-hour, dude.
You keep thinking you’ve moved up. You’ve got more. You’re almost “there”.
The reality is, if you’re “moving up” just to move up, you’re doing very little other than ratcheting up obligations. Trapping yourself into a situation where you feel like you don’t control what you do.
The good news… it all goes away the minute you decide it does. You’ve got the keys.
DO.
win!
Attribution: ”A Whiskey Girl” by daveydeathwish
“How did you come up with the idea for Voomly?”
I’ve been asked that several times over the last month.
The answer really has two parts:
-
I have always been, and will always be, inspired by the prospect of empowering individuals to do big things with their passions and knowledge.
It’s my natural state. When I hear someone talk about what they know…what they love…and I see that twinkle in their eye…. I want them to do something with it. For themselves. I want to be a part of it.
Digital goods and services are knowledge, experience and passion transfer mechanisms. The scalability that an individual can achieve through digital mediums is unbelievable….it’s literally greater than the power that Julius Ceaser wielded in his prime.
Combine these with the innate goodness of “price” (which by definition demands an exchange of real value) and you have a winning thesis: Empower individuals to create and sell premium digital content from their knowledge, experience, and passion.
In other words… Voomly is a business-manifestation of myself. -
We regretted selling our first company.
DaytradeTeam was a subscription-based business where clients gained access to expert traders’ knowledge and content.
After spending 7 years building the company, the subscription platform, the client base, the content-delivery mechanisms…. we sold it. It was a good deal with a good buyer and we felt really good about it.
But we soon grew to regret it.
Because we realized that we left so much on the table. We realized that we had built this system for ourselves only. We benefitted from it, so did our clients, so did the buyer. But no one else.
We realized, after the fact, that we had built a platform for creating a very meaningful subscription-based business….and only released it to one user…ourselves. “That could have been so powerful for experts in other niches. Damn it!”
So here we are. The platform is ready & growing. So is the user-base.
We can’t wait until a single Voomly Seller is bigger than DaytradeTeam was. It will happen.
I hope it’s you.Give it a shot. I’ll help you create and promote your business. It’s what I do.
p.s. Yes I eat my own dog food! Swantastic Startups, for help with your startup.
REAL is an opportunity.
Everything around us is fake.. Reality TV is fake. Photo-ops are fake. Language is fake.
Forget that noise. People are thirsty for real. They want to know YOU.
Some will reject you, others will ignore you. Maybe even a lot of them. ”Don’t let the door hit ya…”
Some will disagree with you but respect you. They’re real, too. Others will embrace you and go to war with you. Real.
You need an audience of one.
A core that is obvious.
Win.
![Shit just got real. Introducing…
Voomly … our newest startup win in progress.
Our CORE is to help you turn your reputation into revenue.
I’ve been Voomly’s first client, using it to power my Swantastic Startups service, which has been both easy and fun to run….and helped me stack some paper in the process.
IF you have an audience (blog/twitter/facebook/etc) and unique knowledge or expertise….
You should start a voomly. It’s free to get started. Our revenue model is a 10% revenue share. In other words, we don’t make a dime until you make a dollar.
Sign up today— we’ll personally help you set-up and promote your product.
Turn your reputation into revenue.
Win.
p.s. Voomly is built to plug into existing networks and communities. Let’s work together to turn your community into a marketplace of win. andy [at] andyswan [dot] com for more details.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/0cfba471c00698bdbcbf418942421ef6/tumblr_mg9grbUGnx1qgopu5o1_500.png)
Shit just got real. Introducing…
Voomly … our newest startup win in progress.
Our CORE is to help you turn your reputation into revenue.
I’ve been Voomly’s first client, using it to power my Swantastic Startups service, which has been both easy and fun to run….and helped me stack some paper in the process.
IF you have an audience (blog/twitter/facebook/etc) and unique knowledge or expertise….
You should start a voomly. It’s free to get started. Our revenue model is a 10% revenue share. In other words, we don’t make a dime until you make a dollar.
Sign up today— we’ll personally help you set-up and promote your product.
Turn your reputation into revenue.
Win.
p.s. Voomly is built to plug into existing networks and communities. Let’s work together to turn your community into a marketplace of win. andy [at] andyswan [dot] com for more details.
I’d love to help your startup. That’s why I created my Swantastic Startups service on Voomly…
There are four basic benefits to subscribing:
- Private Q&A access: Email me specific questions about your business, and I’ll give it my best shot within 24 hours. I’m a pretty good resource and sounding board.
- 365 Startup Tips in 365 days: New tip every day. Some are quick-hitters/links, others are lessons learned.
- Expanded blog posts: You obviously like my blog. This is the only way to get more of it. Deeper dives into the topics, war-stories…all backed up with Q&A access to let you reply with your questions about your specific situation.
- Luck. I’m lucky and that shit rubs off.
I know you’re probably expecting to pay an arm and a leg for something like this. And you should be.
But the truth is, this is part of a larger vision for me….and I love interacting with people that want to #win….so it’s not really “work” anyway.
$29/month. Twenty-nine bucks. Not for long though…. the price is going up. Once you’re in at 29 it’ll never go up for you.
Though this is the first announcement of it, I’ve already had a phenomenal response from people that have stumbled on it… I’m really excited to be helping so many people build such a wide-range of awesome startups! It rocks.
So come on and sign up. It’ll be fun. I’ll help your business (current or future), and you’ll help me in my larger quest.
Let’s do it.
Win.
p.s. Don’t forget to sign up now for Swantastic Startups and get private access to me for 29 little dollars per month…the price is going up eventually.
p.p.s. Did you know that a good “p.s.” like that one can increase sales tremendously? See… that’s just one of the 365 startup tips of the day :)
Surround yourself with happy, lucky people. Avoid the unhappy and unlucky.
It’s all contagious.
You’re not going to know if this approach will work.
You do know you can swim.
Win.
