Linchpins don’t act in isolation. They grow with and through others. They ship their craft as often, as unpolished, as intimately as possible. They connect to us, and that connection drives their success. A linchpin, by definition, is never alone. We hear about the number of true fans or the spread of the long tail–linchpins build their own tails (and tales). Their creation attract us into their community. They are served and servant to the community that’s developed from their interaction.
Imagine becoming a linchpin by connecting with 6 new people every day for 5 years. 6 x 365 x 5 = 10,950. Connecting with just 6 new people every day for five years will make you an unparalleled networker. You’ll perfect your community–and having such a broad audience will ensure you will never want for a market ever again.
11,000 people who are a mix of tribal & true fans–with a fair amount of transactional/transient customers–will be more than you can handle. But it will bring you more prosperity than you could ever imagine. What if you had 11,000 people who read your email every Sunday, or your blog post twice a week, or who you sold your CD directly to? Imagine having 11,000 clients of different levels and access. This is the heart of permission marketing–an expansive audience wanting you to connect with them because of the energy you took to connect with each and every one.
Have you started yet?
“It’s so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on using a spreadsheet or a time clock to measure your progress, but in fact, it’s the investment you make in your interactions that will pay off”
Connection is a metric that doesn’t translate efficiently into industrial age models. It’s not easy to fit it into a profit/loss statement. Most people see it as an expense, not an investment. You can’t limit developing a relationship to just Excel. There’s no time/success ratio–you can date for 5 years and still never get married.
In real estate, we say dedicate 3 hours every day to prospecting. No matter what. In fat markets or lean. But what do agents often do? Stop prospecting while sales are hot, then start when leads run dry. They stop/start efforts with their connections, maintaining a negative loop and limiting the strength of their community.
“My friends who are writers sell 20,000 books and they’re happy. My friends who are theater directors sell 5,000 tickets and they’re happy.”
The mass market, the mainstream, pulp media–they drive us to think of either going platinum or broke. You have to be on the big screen. You have to be in Blockbuster (or what was once Blockbuster). You have to have a CD in a mall. We believed in middle men–not the market–to validate authenticity. But as middlemen lose their monopoly on the market, the opportunity for art to flourish exponentially increases.
Linchpins find their connection on any screen. Perfecting their art and building their community is a cyclical process. The smaller the target, the easier it is to please, benefit, and appreciate others. Linchpins build and are built by their communities. Linchpins don’t care about the masses–they are too faceless to ever care about or know. Don’t look to your audience as “them”–look at your audience by their individual names.
“It’s about figuring out whom we can trust and work with and who must be kept at bay.”
You can’t package connection. This is why companies are afraid. Industries will be rebuilt on connection. You can’t make connection linear, into a package, divisible. Every connection counts through its own inherency, not by some potential sale or promise of sale later on.
But within your community–there will be trust and turnover. Trust among others. Trust you exhibit in mastering/broadcasting your craft, and trust in your fans to share and appreciate you. Hard sellers push for broadening that connection. Sellers strain their network to make their numbers. We only trust people who treat us as authentic fans–they won’t scam the group or betray its members.
Communities change as they age. This is to be expected. But as old friends move on, new friends come forth. Never stop building–every community evolves. Every member counts.
Where’s Your Audience?
photo credit: crsan – christianholmer.com via photo pin cc