Wouldn’t it be nice to 10x your business?
The problem is that your very thinking about the growth of your business gets in the way of making it 10x.
This week’s book, 10x Is Easier Than 2x, is by the founder of Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan. I mentioned him earlier and touched on his ideas of who, not how, and the 10x concept, but now we are going to dive deep into what this could mean for your author career.
We are also going to discuss AI.
To set the stage for these two topics, I’m going to mention something from next week’s book by Brad Jacobs. Brad is one of the most successful CEOs on the planet and is starting a new business focused on building product distribution. He has settled on that business because it has a lot of complex problems. He believes AI will be a massive disruptor but won’t eliminate our need for houses and buildings.
I share this because I believe that AI will disrupt e-commerce, advertising, marketing, search, and entertainment. Storytelling will remain a uniquely human enterprise that will always require our organic spark to make it resonate with another human, but it will be very different in ten years.
If you agree, then we are at a spectacular moment in storytelling. Your ability to improve by 10x rather than 2x can be driven by how you adopt AI. If you don’t, you likely will be replaced by those looking to improve by 10x. Keep in mind ‘m not talking about 10x’ing your content but the EXPERIENCE you deliver.
Embracing the 10x mindset
Dan’s main premise is that once you decide to think in 10x mode, the game changes because it forces you to think so far out of the box that you abandon much of what holds you back.
Think about where your business is and what it would take to 10x it. The irony is that 10x doesn’t mean 10x more work, just different work.
When you think on such a larger scale, you begin to see how smaller thinking limits you and restricts your system’s ability to scale.
When you think on such a bigger scale, you begin to see how smaller thinking limits you and restricts your system’s ability to scale.
Scaling 10x requires letting go of the 80% that doesn’t serve you. People who can regularly keep up the 10x mentality get comfortable with reaching a new plateau and then reconfiguring what they do. They learn to let go of 80% of what they used to do and only focus on the 20% that will result in the next 10x. They hand off the other 80% to someone else or let go of it if it doesn’t serve them.
Understand that there is gravity, or, as we discussed in article three of this season, a tension that can hold you in the status quo. I believe you can choose proactively to massively disrupt your status quo, or have it done to you, and you react. The coming technological changes will hit like a Tsunami. Right now, we are experiencing the tide going out before the wave comes.
How often do you hear someone say it was easier in the gold rush or some other past point?
How it was much easier when the internet or KU first started?
In some respects, it was, but it was also harder.
The internet was dial-up, and formatting a book for Kindle and Createspace was akin to alchemy.
If you worked through those constraints, you got a first-mover advantage and began building cumulative advantage sooner.
Mark my words, there will be someone posting on the prevalent social media platform of 2035 that it was so much easier to succeed for those who adopted AI into their business back in 2024.
Funny that it doesn’t feel easy now. It feels daunting and confusing and dangerous when certain groups mob on people when they discuss its use in our industry.
Do you agree that the future of storytelling will be fundamentally different?
I think it will be so different that it’s not worth trying to figure out what it will look like.
Instead, focus on the two key anchors of IP creation and audience development. How can you 10x your publishing business looking at those two facets?
What do you need to let go of right now?
What 20% requires all of your attention?
More often than not, it is just writing another book. Maybe it’s leveling up your craft.
What would it mean for you to 10x your story experience?
If we are in an experience economy, then that looks like a 10x pathway to me.
What would 10x your authenticity with fans?
This act of 10x’ing will leave you in a cycle of shifting from comfort to discomfort. You’ll need to develop psychological flexibility and endurance. It requires you to break away from questions like, “Just tell me what to do?” and instead envision what your version of 10x might be.
The focus on such audacity also results in you stretching yourself further. Maybe you don’t 10x in the timeframe you envisioned, but you 5x or 7x, more than two or three times a 2x plan.
If you are into the woo, then it is obvious to you that what you manifest is rooted in what you consciously and unconsciously believe. It’s the old adage of be – do – have. Act as, and then the results come.
This isn’t a “Hey, you need to work harder lecture.” Instead, it’s “You need to think bigger.” Some of my messaging could be the issue as I talk about how difficult popularity markets are. That is just an observation of the historical results. You decide whether the game you’re playing is the head or the long tail of the market.
What if you 10x your standards for story quality? No matter where you are now, 10x it. That has nothing to do with marketing or advertising but with what story experience you deliver for a reader. Are the stakes higher? Are the feelings deeper? Are the characters more realistic?
With much of marketing, advertising, editing, and other tasks becoming automated, none of that will differentiate you.
Think about how algorithms work. They concentrate and amplify. They do more of what works for everyone else, so many of the things we will hand off to AI will become vanilla. However, a book that is 10x the experience will stand out and “go viral” as all the algorithms slice it, dice it, and try to replicate its success.
I know that many folks fear that AI could replace storytelling or that some will flood the market with books. Let’s be real: That’s been a force to contend with since publishing opened up. It’s not good or bad; it just is.
Ultimately, your story must connect with another human being in a way that makes them value the story more than the money you ask for it.
Remember when I shared the book 4,000 Weeks and talked about the Telic and Atelic?
What is your Telos?
Is it to write to the market or to 10x the reader’s experience?
Doing the work to 10x the experience will result in you becoming the market.
Read: Priceless Lessons From “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars”