Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 8h

The bad news is: They're not looking at you.

The good news is: That means you can screw up and learn in public.

Thing is, you 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 want to solve the first thing…

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 14h

If you read the books about them, it's not pretend!

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 14h

Thank you!

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 15h

You worry that if you email 1000 people, you’ve “burned” that list for future messages.

So you delay until “everything is perfect.”

They won’t be burned.

Almost no one reads or remembers any email.

You can email them again.

What your next excuse? 😃

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 17h

Be particular, and obsessive.

Greatness requires it. Competitors either won’t do it, or are different.

But not about everything -- there not enough time.

Pick just a few, so you can be extreme.

That’s who you really are.

Let others see.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 22h

That's a good idea.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 22h

Fair! Fortunately, I have an article for that:

Failure to face the truth

This admonition recurs in myriad books, frameworks, and topics, across decades of time. When something is so consistent, it must be wisdom.

longform.asmartbear.com

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 22h

Ha, yes.

Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 22h

Your ICP is your narrowly-defined target customer.

But tons of other people will sign up anyway.

Good! But don’t get distracted by their requests or even their churn.

Why it happens like this:

Selling to Carol: Why targeting an ICP brings 10x more customers than you expected

Targeting your “Ideal Customer Profile” (ICP) is the best way to differentiate and win sales, but does it limit your target market?

longform.asmartbear.com

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 1d

Facing the truth is so hard, most of us can't do it, most of the time.

But the truth stays true even if we ignore it.

So in the end, we just waste a ton of time.

No benefit, only waste.

Failure to face the truth

This admonition recurs in myriad books, frameworks, and topics, across decades of time. When something is so consistent, it must be wisdom.

longform.asmartbear.com

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 1d

Normally you shouldn't assume rare things will happen.

But sometimes you're objectively in an unusual, special situation. Then, the rare thing might not be so rare. It might be happening now.

So the rules might be different, and typical probabilities might not apply.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 1d

Ha, that's true.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 1d

“It’s not good enough yet.”

This is great when it’s motivating you to become the best version of yourself.

But not when it overflows into “I’m not good enough.”

See the difference -- one is about the product, the other is about yourself.

Impostor Syndrome: Why I felt like a fraud, and how I overcame it

Most high-performing people experience Impostor Syndrome. I did too. When you understand the cause, you can defeat it.

longform.asmartbear.com

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

You already know the answer.

Half of the great and not-great companies, and half the big and small companies, didn't have a co-founder.

Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

I'm not sure, but it's a great space.

Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

If I make a checklist for myself, so I make fewer (of a certain type of) mistakes, that's not about power, it's about being more excellent than our meat-based systems are normally able to be.

At its worst, it's power indeed, but it needn't be at its worst.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

The best companies will use AI to give personalized, 24/7 support to every customer, in that customer’s primary language.

The rest will be compared to those companies.

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

If you’re doing it yourself, make sure there’s a good justification. Either it really does make financial sense in a global calculation, or it’s a temporary tactic with an “end” and learnings to bring forward.

(7/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

If you see your competitor doing it, it’s scary, but realize it’s unsustainable, and probably not working out for them. It’s a signal of weakness, not strength. If you stay sustainable and serve your customer segment better, you will thrive in the long run.

(6/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

Nowadays, with valuations based on R40 rather than pure top-line growth, this might not be an option even for a well-funded or mature company.

It’s certainly not an option for unfunded companies.

(5/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

But more likely it’s a sign that the company doesn’t have a good strategy, doesn’t have a good plan, and is flailing, hoping that something smarter will make itself known.

(4/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

But it’s never leverage, and therefore never scales. It’s a tactic, temporarily. At best, it needs to be justified as above.

(3/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

“Throwing lots of money at it” is never leverage. It could be useful -- inefficient growth funded by existing efficient growth, or a way to run many experiments at once to accelerate learning.

(2/7)

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

“Leverage” means accomplishing a lot relative to the inputs. It requires using some sort of special skill, asset, or comparative advantage.

(1/7)

The three kinds of leverage that anchor effective strategies

Leveraging strengths -- not “fixing weaknesses” -- is how to win. Better when differentiated. Best when durable. Here’s how to create leverage.

longform.asmartbear.com

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Jason Cohen @asmartbear.com · 2d

If you read my articles and posts and think AI writes them (as opposed to copies them), you should stop reading them!

(If you ask ChatGPT, you'll see it's been trained on me, not vice versa!)

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