This lesson won’t apply to everyone. It’s a very idealistic approach to business that doesn’t fit all circumstances.
I say that because there are times you might see an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short period of time and you want to take advantage of that opportunity to set yourself up for the future.
There is nothing wrong with that (assuming you aren’t taking advantage of people). One of my good friends started a recycling company after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
5 years later he sold the company for millions and now he can do whatever he wants. He didn’t play the Infinite Game and I don’t fault him for it one bit. I’m an Infinite Game type of player though so it’s important that I adopt that mindset into the things that I do.
If you don’t know what the Infinite Game is then let me explain.
The Infinite Game
Finite Games are played with the goal of getting to the end of the game and winning.
Football is an example of this. Every game has a beginning, middle, and end, and the final winner is recognizable from everyone else.
Infinite Games are played for the purpose of continuing to play rather than to win.
Read that sentence again because it’s important.
People tend to think that business is a finite game, but it isn’t. There are only winners and losers when those players attempt to play Finite Games.
But business is Infinite. Business was around before we were born and it will be around long after we die.
You can’t win at business just like you can’t win at marriage.
Marriages fail because the couple sees a winner and a loser. But if marriage is seen as an Infinite Game then the small fights seem irrelevant in the big scheme of things.
(Don’t get me wrong though, a shitty relationship is a shitty relationship.)
I don’t know if I’ll run Makers Mob for the next 50 years, but I make decisions on how I treat people like I will. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that playing the Infinite Game means you ignore money.
That’s not it at all.
Remember, the goal of the Infinite Game is to continue to play and that requires money. But because there is no winner and there are no losers, the goal isn’t to make the most money this month because someone beat you last month.
Building Happy Neighbors is how I’ll get to continue playing. If I do that well enough, the money will follow.
And because of that the money will grow as I continue to build Happy Neighbors. I get to play the Infinite Game by focusing on serving my audience.
Not seeing how much money I can make from them.
Infinite Content
I don’t want to keep creating content forever. For a while the only thing I had on this site was The Pocket Course and honestly that would’ve been enough.
I call that type of content Infinite Content because it feels like it can last forever. I’ve added more content since then to expand my world and allow myself more freedom in the future.
How does this lead to more freedom?
The more upfront value I can provide, the less work I have to do selling. That means the more (helpful) content I can get out there, the more people I can come across and the more money I can make.
At some point, there will be so much content out there that I can take longer breaks. But I do have to build up to that.
If I can create an amazing experience on this site that does the majority of the legwork when it comes to selling (but it doesn’t feel like selling, right?) then that means my only focus is social media (or whatever I choose).
If I only have to focus on one thing then doesn’t that allow me more freedom?
The Value of a BVA
As I mentioned, for a while the only content on this site was The Pocket Course. I call that a BVA (Big Value Asset). The goal of a BVA is to provide so much upside value that people can’t help but to look at you for more help.
It’s important to note that a BVA isn’t like the workshops where half is education and the other half is a sales pitch. It has two main goals:
- Get people to better understand the world that you’re creating so they can see if it’s what they want
- Set you apart from everyone else they might compare you to
A BVA doesn’t have to be a course like this one that spans multiple pages. It could be a workshop or masterclass.
For example, the WordPress Masterclass if a 50-minute video. There are two main qualities of a BVA:
- It’s awesome.
- It’s freely available.
The first one is self-explanatory but the second one is where you might get confused. When I say “freely available” I mean your audience can access it without exchanging anything.
But what about collecting emails?!
You can still do that but in a way that makes sense to the audience. For example, with The Pocket Course you have the option to grab the book version in exchange for your email.
Now, I very well could make that freely available as well, but again, the goal is to make money so I’d love to get an email address. And that feels like a fair trade for my audience because you can go through the whole course without giving me your email.
I could hide everything behind an email and I know some marketers are dying because I’m not doing that.
But there is immense value in giving my audience this stuff for free (and I mean free without any exchange).
Instead of the only free value they get coming from social media, they get multiple layers of value that nobody else offers.
It’s also a resource that can easily be shared. Do you want to tell your friends they nee to go sign up for this thing so they can get it or do you just want to send them a link where they can go through it immediately?
What about the SEO value? I’m not saying it’s going to top the rankings in Google or anything but with a concentrated effort it could show up for a lot of different search results.
Stop Being Scared of Freebie Seekers
I constantly see entrepreneurs worrying about freebie seekers and here’s the thing. You have no idea who is a freebie seeker so what’s the point in trying to derail them?
If I give away so much value upfront then people will understand if they want more. But when everything is hidden people have no idea so of course everyone signs up just to see what’s behind the curtain.
These are some numbers from one of my automated email campaigns. 4 emails, 4 days in a row.
Each one over 60% open rate with zero unsubscribes.
Yes, I send good emails, but it’s also the fact that the people signing up weren’t signing up to get a bonus. They knew what they were signing up for and they wanted more of it.
You create your customer. But guess what? You also create your subscriber.
Next Lesson: The Secret >>>>>