Easy to start. Harder than ever to succeed.
Forging your own work path is like learning to drive a stick shift. It's hurky jerky at first. Hard to get out of first gear. And then you start to feel the gears mesh. Using the clutch gets more fluid. At first, it takes all of your brain power. And then it starts to become second nature.
Driving an automatic requires none of this. Put it in drive an go. That's the path of having a job. I'm not saying it's easy to get the job of your dreams. But it's the path most of us know and navigate. The search is hard. But once we land we know what to do. Like using an Automatic transmission.
Manual isn't like that. You have to feel your way through the gears. You have to know when to shift up and down. And hills? Gotta learn how to work the clutch, brake and gas pedal at the same time lest you roll back into the car behind you. One roll forward, two rolls backward?
Hills are terrifying at first. And then they become second nature. Except I'm not sure I ever got totally comfortable in San Francisco the few times I drove my manual car through there.
Learning to drive a stick is a process. And driving one connects you with the car and the road more than the average automatic. You're a part of the process.
That's what it's like to create your own path. It requires you to be a part of the process.
Today it's easier than ever to start a business. The tools are free or low cost. You can get a quick proof of concept even with physical products through 3D printing.
It's also harder than ever to build a business. You can be copied. Fast. Especially by someone already established. In fact, I know Pottery Barn in the past has been known to copy artists' work and mass produce it, leaving the artist out. They're not alone.
Most all of us have enough of what we need to sustain us. In the B2B world it often seems there's software created to support software that's created. In other words, layers of software to fulfill ill defined needs. Pare it down and do you really need all the software you have? How many apps on your phone do you ACTUALLY use regularly? Most apps are downloaded once and then forgotten. I know that's been true for me.
Everyone has access to the same tools.
When everyone has access, it's almost the same as no one having access. Such access isn't special or unique. That means you need to go much farther in defining what you stand for and why.
This takes a lot of soul searching, iteration and trial. What you think made you unique may not be what people think makes you unique. What you take for granted may be things others find really hard and thus would find valuable.
On the plus side, most people will find it too hard and give up. That's where you, with your clarity of purpose and tenacity, can succeed. The deeper down the path, the less competition. Your competitive differentiator is possibly outworking your competition. But best to go further and add in your secret sauce. Know what that is yet?
If not, get curious and play a bit.
In addition defining where this newsletter is going and the community I wish to serve and build (i.e. those mid to late career facing a reboot, voluntary or involuntary), I'm building Walloy, a gallery for fine art photography. This may be harder than building Own The Cow. Because the latter delivers the promise of a more financially secure future. Art is more discretionary.
The job of art is to create a mood, foster happiness and home, show status ("I paid $250,000 for an NFT" or "I have an original Picasso"), or on a basic level, to cover up bare white walls. Or some really ugly 90s wallpaper. In that case, it doesn't matter what it is. A cheap poster will do.
Art can be a statement. It can be an accessory. It can be a color accent. There's a ubiquitous supply of art to choose from. Why someone would choose mine or yours has more to do with the 'story' around the art. Price point is one story as much as the content and creator of the art. While it's easy to create the gallery - 'anyone' can - it's hard to build an audience.
Brick and mortar galleries have to reinvent themselves too. Sourcing and buying art online is rapidly gaining more traction with sites like Singulart, 20x200.com, Lumas, Magnum Photos (where you can buy famous works for $100 this week only) and 1stdibsjust to name a few. A single gallery in New York is competing with those around the world the same as a gallery in Portland or Peculiar. My challenge is to identify where Walloy fits. And to curate the art I have to offer in a way that makes sense for those I seek to share it with.
My reason for talking so much about my art project is to give context to the challenge all of us face. You have to find your unique selling proposition. That's timeless. Your challenge is to package your offer in a way that makes sense for those YOU seek to serve.
It's important to keep in mind that achieving scale with any of your side hustles or main hustles isn't going to come from friends and family. They may be the least likely to buy your wares. It's more likely that weak ties and those you reach because you've understand how to deliver value to them will fuel your growth. The people that know you the least won't get bogged down by who you used to be or really are. I'm not advocating being something you're not. Nor being duplicitous.
But the reality is we like a little mystery and unfamiliarity. Familiarity can hang us up. Not in all cases, but often enough. And there are a lot of people you don't know that could benefit from what you do know.
You just need to find them by showing up where they are. And that's both the challenge and the journey we're on here.
Keep going.