“Enjoy the little things in life. Because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.” – This is not just a great philosophy for life, but the code for 21st century entrepreneurs:
Are you thinking intricately enough?
I flew to California from Bali to hear tips from Ryan Deiss, an Internet marketer with a $100 million+ business. He said “To improve your open rate, test your email headers.” I thought “I flew all this way to hear that? We always test our email headers – sometimes as many as 10.”
He then showed us how they test 1,000 headers to find which works best – in 100 times more detail than I had ever taken.
I flew to England to meet Mike Harris, who has built three billion dollar companies. I asked him what advice he had for my business. He said “Segment your market”. I thought “We already know who our different customers are.”
He then showed me the detail and care they went to – to speak to and know their customers, define them, choose the right segments, and then give them exactly what they needed – in 100 times more detail than we had ever taken.
I flew to Necker Island and met with Richard Branson. I asked him how he chose what business to start. He said “I look for some people I can make a difference with.”
Before I thought anything, I asked “How many?” and he answered, “Well, where there’s at least a million people and a billion dollar market.”
He thinks in 100 times more detail about markets 100 times bigger than I had ever been thinking of.
We’re now living in a world where if you want to get 100x bigger, you need to think 100x smaller.
In the past, Founders and CEO’s didn’t need to know all the detail. Today, it’s essential you do. Do you know your customers intimately? Do you know your metrics intricately?
This isn’t micro-management. It’s micro-mastery.
You need to focus at 100x greater quality to get to 100x greater quantity.
You need to focus at 100x more care & attention to get to 100x more scale & expansion
Like a diamond, the strength of the sparkle comes from the care in the cut.
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” ~ Michelangelo
During the renaissance, the great artists would delegate the broad brush strokes to their apprentices, but would always be the ones to add the final, fine detail.
This image is of Michelangelo’s David, who with one small, perfectly formed stone and fast, perfectly aimed shot brought down Goliath. Small things can lead to big results.
Leave a Reply