Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

I love what I do! How come I can’t sell it?

Remember Seth Godin’s Marketing in Five Steps?

We left off with step 3.  Let’s recap:

1.  Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling , and a contribution worth talking about.  

2.  Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

3.  To tell a story that matches the built-in-narrative and dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest viable market.

And now four… Spread the word.

In the book Seth says this is the step everyone gets excited about.  I agree.  A lot of people do enjoy droning on about their course, or new book coming out.  But plenty of people have anxiety about it too.   Cause after you build it there’s a question you gotta answer.  

How the f*@k do I promote this?

Let’s face it.  It’s not like you’re The Rock who gets paid $1 million to promote his movies.  You probably can’t do like Tom Cruise did years ago and jump around on Oprah Winfrey’s couch either.

There’s tons of ways to promote your biz but one of the biggest hangs ups I see is people think they have to be loud, annoying, or not themselves.  

Whether you buy ads or start cold calling your friends like you just became a distributor for Amyway.  Do what is best for you.  Not comfortable.  Best.  

In Kevin Garnett’s book KG AtoZ, he recalled a quote from Chauncey Billups.  “Just because someone doesn’t play with the same fire as KG, it doesn’t mean they’re soft.”

Put another way…

Just because you don’t have poise on camera like Marie Forleo, promote like Steve Jobs, or have a booty like Kim Kardashian.  It doesn’t mean you aren’t good at spreading the word.

You love what you do.  Show that love to other people.

Adam

Mamby Pamby Land: Fun to visit but don’t stay there

I read a post the other day by an info marketer who struggled with getting leads.  Just about any business on Earth can relate to this problem, right? 

She said maybe she needed to create free weekly content, start a podcast, or maybe her team could do more on social media .

This gal is an accomplished info-marketer.  So I was surprised she never mentioned e-mail marketing.  Which is odd because e-mail still blows the socks off most digital sales methods.  Especially over time.   So I asked her about it.

She said, “I already crush at that.”  

Even John Holmes would call that answer cocky…

After her response, I was out.  Everyone else kept talking about SEO, funnels, limited time offers (LTO), and all the normal business paradigm stuff.

She may be “crushing” her e-mail marketing but I say she’s living in Mamby Pamby Land.  You know why?  Because she is NOT building relationships with her e-mail list if her sales are sucking wind.

She’s focused on finding a lot of people and saying YOU need to buy this before the sale price ends or before this bonus goes away.  And before you know it you’re back head-hunting for more people.

You can run a business like this but it’s exhausting.  Us artist paradigm types are different.  

And when you use a Blockbuster approach and entertain and teach with your e-mails a strange phenomenon happens.  Your readers actually give a shit about you and read what you say.  

Maybe they buy maybe they don’t but they stay on your list.  And the longer people stay on your list the more they usually buy.  

I may not have a list the size of Tony Robbins’ but I can spot an e-mail marketing problem.  I’m not a nutritionist either but I can tell you eating  a box of brownies will make you fat.

I just call them like I see em.

If you’d like to know how I could help you attract super high-quality, clients who are fans of your work holla at me:  https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam

Everyone Loves a Good Mystery!

Big Foot.  Stonehenge.  The chupacabra.  There’s a lot of weird stuff out there we don’t understand.  

Some things you can ignore but some force you to ask some pretty serious questions.  Like the strange thing that happened to me last week.

It happened the week before and the week before that.

This X-file that I’m referring to keeps happening when I visit my brother’s gym.  For some mysterious reason the gym won’t sell to me.

I’ve had a gym membership more or less since high school.  Gym sales people are like hungry piranha and they’re usually some of the most aggressive ones you’ll ever meet.  My old friend Zeke’s gym was so over-the-top aggressive they would make a used car salesman blush.  

Here’s the story.

My brother’s gym allows guests to workout for free.  I visit, I give them all my info.  They now have a lead.

Most gyms take you on a tour.  And by “tour” I mean a salesman in a tight shirt gives you a sales presentation.  Or at the very least  they e-mail you, send you mail, or call.

You may be thinking this is nice.  It’s great to see an organization not be so psycho about selling.  But here’s the thing, they’re leaving money on the table by not asking me for the sale.

Wanna know a secret?  

I WANT to join the gym.  I go there at least twice a week—sometimes more.  I still have my current gym membership but my brother’s classes are just that cool.  So I’ll join sooner or later.  

Could be tomorrow.  Could be a year from now.  As long as I can drink the milk for free, I’m not real motivated to buy the cow.

What’s the lesson here?

Ask for the sale.  You are doing no one any favors by not asking.

Don’t think you know more than your clients and prospects.  And don’t make decisions for them.  Ask.

Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield wrote a book called the Alladin Factor.  The book is about asking for what we want.

I love Hansen and Canfield’s work and yet I refused to buy that book for years.   I have a sales background, why do I need a book on “asking”?   The answer to that question came abundantly clear when I read the book.

I read somewhere one of the reasons Mother Teresa got so much done was because she was fearless in her asking.  If she needed time, money, resources, etc…she asked for it.  

So um.  Don’t over think it. Ask.

Adam

Chernobyl, Zombies, and why going small matters

Let’s talk about ZOMIBES! 

But first, let’s pick up where we left off with Seth Godin’s Marketing in Five Steps.  To recap, here’s the first steps:  

1.  Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling , and a contribution worth talking about.  

2.  Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

And the third step is:

To tell a story that matches the built-in-narrative and dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest viable market.

I would have thought this was crazy talk had I not read Kevin Kelly’s essay, 1,000 True Fans.  If you haven’t read it yet, do it now!  https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

1,000 True Fans is about how an artist, musician, author, etc. needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

Back then I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I could make it as an indie comic creator.  Web comics were just taking off and I just couldn’t see how I could survive doing the ‘indie comic thing’.  

When I read 1,000 True Fans that all changed.  

I realized I didn’t need a horde of fans just yet.  I just needed a few.  A small viable market of people who liked what I did.  

This was empowering.  Every time someone told me they didn’t like my art instead of my self-esteem taking a hit, I had a different thought.  My art wasn’t for them.  So I built my audience one fan at a time.

Back then, I started from scratch but you don’t always have to.

You can also find and ride the wave of an existing small viable market.

Did you notice zombies were kinda popular for a while?  

Before the zombie craze went Chernobyl, my friend Adam Miller (and his buddy Rich) released a comic anthology series.  And let me tell ya, they milked it for years.  

Miller knew not everyone liked zombies.  But ENOUGH people did and that was enough.

An old saying comes to mind…  “Think global but act local”.  Have your big goals in mind but act on finding and satisfying your minimal viable audience.  

If you need help finding your smallest viable market contact me today. 

https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam

Turn up your volume

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  

Hopi Native American proverb

I disagree.  Those who tell entertaining stories will rule the world.  

That’s why I’m always rambling about adding Blockbuster Storytelling or SHOW to your words.  An ounce of entertainment can go a long way.  It’s like adding caramel and candy sprinkles to vanilla ice cream. 

That’s why the media loves Donald Trump.  You may not like what he says but you know it’s probably going to be interesting.

‘Entertaining’ is also how we can connect with our audience.  But it doesn’t always come naturally to most of us.  

So how can you do it effectively and keep it real?

When you return calls, send emails, and post on social, it’s you.  It’s you BUT with the volume turned up.  

If you listen to “Stupid Love” by Lady Gaga on level 3, you’ll hear it.  If you turn up the volume to level 9, it’ll be even louder.  Same song, same lyrics.  

Just louder.  

You give your audience more of you.  More of your thoughts, philosophy, personality…all the good stuff.

What you’re doing is what Perry Marshall calls racking the shotgun.  When you press send or post you’re qualifying and disqualifying leads.  The louder you and your message are the wrong people leave and the right people lean forward to hear more.

Adam