Working in a commercially smart practice you need to be always putting ideas into the world and at the same time detaching from the reactions and responses (or lack of).
Listen to the blog here.
Your job is to do good work, ship your ideas and focus on creating value for others.
I know this sounds counterintuitive in a survey-rich, feedback-welcome world. You need to be open and responsive but not directed by the market. Thought leaders create differentiation not by fitting in 'faster horses' but rather by changing the game, 'automobiles'. It's not quite that binary but it's essential to pursue fulfilment by following your gut rather than finding a gap in the market and exploiting it.
While you can split test and refine your ideas, perhaps survey people to see what they want from you. That's not the game. The game is …you. Your lived experience in the world as great speeches, workshops, books, videos and ideas. It starts with you and then you connect with your market, audience, readers and tribe around what you know, that they value and, yes, will pay for.
Thing is, some of your ideas work, some don't. That's why we launch MVP clusters around intuited hypothesis as a way of testing. And remember in science, a null hypothesis is just as valuable as one that's validated.
Some, for some reason, strike a nerve and rock people's world, some …well, crickets! Nada. Nothing. Remember always your job is to create.
I love Ren and in this full on clip, he posts and posits what it means to create and do it your way. Be like Ren. Your work, your way. Don't fit in to what you think people want from you. Be you.
*Trigger warnings for those struggling, REN's work is raw and in your face.
Equally, though, don't block the energy. Don't tell the world you're exhausted, don't do therapy on stage or in your blog, and don't block opportunities when they knock. Sometimes, we are so sure we want to do work we love that we say no to the world and block creative opportunities as they appear. You can't see opportunity when you have a fixed view of what you want.
Set desires.
Have intentions.
Create and ship excellent stuff.
Chill about what that might turn up.
You just might be 5 degrees off what the world wants you to share. Stay open and tune in, follow the energy.
Some ways we can help?