The Commandment of Control is the “It won’t happen to me” commandment. As posted in the chat group, this startup had $75M in revenue, 100+ employees and a $100M LOI for its sale — oh yes, and totally reliant on Facebook and their algorithm. Then FB changed everything without notice or recourse. The $100M offer disappeared, as did the company several months later.

Full story here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/commandment-of-control-violations.51169/post-991957

If you can brand your biz with a purpose & a story, like a personality, it’s a powerful value skew. This process is exemplified in the story behind The Great Rat Race Escape. When people identify with your company’s “personality” price becomes less important & loyalty rockets. This is also why many corporations have gotten political, even though it might alienate large swaths of the market.

Had a bunch of folks ask me about hot-button politicization (or going “woke”) as a marketing/brand builder, such as advocating FOR/AGAINST guns. I think it is a bad strategy, despite being recommended by some marketing gurus. You can personify your brand without alienating large segments of your market. The power of story and narrative can do this. There are corporations I avoid because of their brand positioning.

Interesting factoid: "Snake Oil" was actually a product that was used by Chinese laborers to ease back pain in the late 19th century. When American marketers heard of this product, they produced their own that was defective (wrong snake) and added other ingredients (opium?) to increase its "effectiveness". After the fraud was discovered, "snake oil" then became synonymous with a scammy marketing.

Discord recently changed their terms of service to basically say that if "they" determine you are distributing misinformation, you can be cancelled and your community terminated, once again proving that there are huge risks in building a brand around these technocrats.

Your time is worth more than a few bucks an hour. Learn the difference between making $180,000 hour return on your time, or a paltry $8 bucks. Most of the world, even the seemingly affluent, values their free time at less than minimum wages. You are better than that and YOU get to decide what your time is worth. Don't let the Mercedes or Audi fool you.

https://youtu.be/_4uSt5i1bNI

PART ONE: Former President Trump is behind the new Truth Social app which already has over 1M users. First thing of relevance: #1) VALUE SKEW: The skew behind the service is free speech and not being censored by Big-Tech technocrats. This fact has created a void in the marketplace and an opportunity for skew creation for the president's associates, or for other entrepreneurs.

PART TWO: Trump has a huge audience. If you focus on “audience building” before launching your business, you can cut the acquisition curve by months, even years. Even if you don’t have a biz in the works, it pays to start building an audience early. I started my forum years before I wrote my book. If you have a YT channel with 1M subscribers, how much easier would it be to monetize your new biz?

As a follow up to last week's tip about earning $180K/hr return on your time, after hearing this, a reader messaged and said he just saved $10K on an industrial project cuz he decided to spend an extra 20 minutes ensuring he was getting a competitive price. That's $30,000 per hour return on time spent. Saving money is not cool if it yields poverty wages, it's cool if it generates CEO returns.

Spotify has a 29% conversation rate on free trials whereas the normal "good" conversion rate is about 4%. Two value skews are responsible for this incredible conversion-rate: 1) User experience (customization, recommendations) and 2) emotional connections through music. If your biz can stimulate emotions through user experience, you likely will blow beyond the good average of 4%.

I think sometimes my messaging seems to dismiss marketing as my philosophy is very product-centered, focused on building products/services that are recommended. 1 new customer + 1 new customer = 3 new customers. However, marketing is a top value skew. Take 2 identical products with exact same utility: The better marketer will grab the sales and grow. The other will lag.

I saw an AD (not a recommendation) for a device that claimed improved sleep. Several value skews incited me to buy, including a refund guarantee. I bought. After 2 weeks of use, the product was a total disaster, I asked for a refund. I posted a bad review, which they quarantined. In short, they're gatekeeping reviews. Liars. Not a Productocracy. This is why I'm skeptical of massive ad pushes.

In a follow up to the prior message, a lot of folks asked what company my message was about. Since my negative review (which was purely factual) was not posted by this company (they are gaming the reviews) I decided to let you know who cannot be trusted: Apollo Neuro. Oh yes, and it's been 3 days since asked for a refund to which they replied with "technical difficulties" - just like the technical difficulties that exists for their crap product. BUYER BEWARE.

Native Deodorant sold to P&G for $100M in cash. Value skew: Natural ingredient list, great scents. Dollar Shave Club sold to Unilever for $1 Billion. These products are unsexy & boring, but via value skew, opportunity can be created in any industry. Truth #2: Neither founder as teens likely dreamed about selling deodorant or razors. They didn't follow passion, the passion was in their creation.

In a follow up to the last text about NATIVE selling for $100M in cash to Proctor/Gamble, had someone send me this regarding the founding of the company. Some interesting tidbits, including a false failure flag. Excerpt is from 12 Months to 1 Million from Moran.

Thought experiment for evaluating your current biz or potential biz: Fast forward to a 1000 unit or $10K profit day. Can the biz do this volume? If not, why? If so, what does it look like? Employees? Warehousing? Ops? Manufacturing? The answers will give you significant clarity in the scale potential of your venture. It might also help you avoid an opportunity that lacks asymmetrical potential.

Scale, or revenue growth always prioritizes customer acquisition and more clients. But the often overlooked growth opportunities go beyond more customers: 1) the frequency of customer orders (is your product repeatable?) 2) the average order size, and 3) “going wide” such as offering a complementary product to your existing line. "Going wide" was a strategy used by the entrepreneurs in the book, The Great Rat Race Escape. Minor increases (10%) in these areas can yield 100% revenue growth.

If you haven't heard of "first principle thinking" it is worth learning and can be a great asset for your entrepreneurial journey, from solving problems, to discovering new opportunities. Elon Musk often speaks to "first principles" as one of his mental frameworks. Here is a great link to learn more:

https://www.maray.ai/posts/first-principles-thinking

A nice write up on the forum on how to find new ideas that can be leveraged in a Fastlane opportunity. This thread is ongoing, so keep checking for updates. The thread is written by an 8-figure entrepreneur who has had success in the space., and likely never needs to work again.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/idea-generation-to-execution-fastlane-millionaires-step-by-step-guide.103810/

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/fastlane-success-8-figure-exit-now-back-to-the-starting-ground.103705/

The more you find yourself divergent from cultural trends, the more likely you will succeed. Culture is a proxy for mediocrity. The latest cultural talking point is the concept of anti-work, or anti-labor. Every low-paying, low-gratitude, and low-fulfillment job I had when I was young served greater purposes: Perseverance, discipline, accepting discomfort & more. Without those "crap" jobs, I wouldn't be where I am today. Don't fear unsatisfactory work that might appear to have no immediate benefit to your life.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-does-a-culture-survive-when-a-whole-generation-refuses-to-work.103874/

Extreme Value: What is one tool or app that you use in your biz/life that is absolutely invaluable for the price paid?

I asked this question a year ago and got some great answers that really helped out a lot of people. For me, CANVA has been great for ease of use for scoping out new ideas from social media to book covers, certainly better than Adobe for some light weight applications.

What has been indispensible in your life or business, an extreme value?