The Book Every Entrepreneur Should Read This Year- Valutrics
Failing fast is a popular concept. So is creating a minimum viable product. In the Internet economy, speed is everything.
Or not.
What if you want your products, your services, or simply your thoughts to last — and pass the test of time?
That’s the premise of Ryan Holiday’s outstanding new book, Perennial Seller. Ryan is also the bestselling author of The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, and Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator. All are great. And he’s a really good guy.)
The idea of putting in minimal effort — the idea that doing a little will lead to achieving a lot — is incredibly seductive… but never works. Scratch the surface of any person with rare skills and you’ll find a person who has put thousands of hours of effort into developing those skills. Scratch the surface of any person who built a lasting product, a lasting service, or a lasting business, and you’ll find a person who put untold hours into developing that end result.
And they don’t go it alone. As Ryan writes,
“Whether it’s with an editor or a producer or a partner or a group of beta users or just through your own relentless perfectionism — whatever form it takes is up to you. But getting outside voices is crucial. The fact is, most people are so terrified of what an outside voice might say that they forgo opportunities to improve what they are making. Remember: Getting feedback requires humility. It demands you subordinate your thoughts about your project and your love for it and entertain the idea that someone else might have a valuable thing or two to add.
Nobody creates flawless first drafts. And nobody creates better second drafts without the intervention of someone else. Nobody.”
Another key is to set an incredibly high standard for every project. Average success is often based on setting average goals. Decide what you really want: to be the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the biggest, whatever. Aim for the ultimate. Decide where you want to end up. That is your goal.
Then you can work backward and lay out every step along the way. Never start small where your goal is concerned. You’ll make better decisions — and find it much easier to work a lot harder — when your ultimate goal is ultimate, lasting success.
As Ryan writes,
“With Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen said he was trying to make a record that would ‘grab you “Brashness, newness, boldness — these attitudes are not at all at odds with perennial sales. In fact, it’s an essential part of the equation. Stuff that’s boring now is probably going to be boring in twenty years. Stuff that looks, sounds, reads, and performs like everything else in its field today has very little chance of standing out tomorrow. That’s exactly what you don’t want.”
Maybe you already think you’ve created your perennial seller, and all you need to do is launch it.
But you haven’t. As Steven Pressfield says in The War of Art, “The counterfeit imitator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
Read Ryan’s book and you won’t be nearly as scared, though, because you’ll have the mindset — and just as importantly, the tools — to create and build something of genuine, lasting value.
And best of all, you’ll also know how to market it. Ryan spends considerable time not only laying out the principles behind gaining attention but also the practical steps involved.
As he writes, “If you can make the time, I can show you the skills. It’s easier than you think — I promise… (and) it’s also a fun and worthwhile job. You’re selling something you believe in, that you’re invested in, and that you know people will like.”
That’s the beauty of putting in the time and effort required to create something that will last. You get to feel genuinely proud of what you’ve accomplished.
Which is reason enough to take that journey.