“Attention is the new oil.”
So said Alex Hormozi during one of his podcast episodes.
Hormozi went on to share case studies of entrepreneurs, like Kylie Jenner, who turned the attention they owned into cash. In Jenner’s case, she sold 51% of her company, Kylie Cosmetics, for $1.2 billion (however, she pocketed a “mere” $340 million after taxes, so she’s not a billionaire, as has been widely reported).
To sum up the whole podcast (although I highly recommend you listen to it), if you have a lot of attention then you can turn that into…well, whatever you want. Maybe your goal is to make money, but maybe it’s to start certain types of businesses. Maybe you want to become a paid speaker. Maybe you want to become a bestselling author. Maybe you want to change the world for the better. Whatever it is, attention will help you do it.
Let’s focus on your business, for a moment. As an entrepreneur, your business is like a bucket you can fill with cash. By attracting attention and then funneling that attention through the right process, you can fill your bucket with cash, like this:
The $100M question for any entrepreneur is, “How do I do this?” What’s the right mix of attention generators for you and how do you create a funnel that turns that attention into customers and cash?
With that in mind, here’s what the ideal attention generator would look like.
First, it would be profitable. Billboard ads are one type of attention generator, but they don’t produce a cent of income—they cost you money. On the other hand, if you speak at an industry conference, you may not only generate leads, you might also get paid to speak. If that covers some of or all your expenses, that’s great. If you not only break even but walk away with extra cash, so much the better—you’re getting paid to market yourself and your business. All things being equal, would you rather pay for your marketing or get paid for your marketing?
I’d rather be rich than stupid. – Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts
Second, the ideal attention generator would not only make money but make it while you sleep (i.e., passive income).
Third, the ideal attention generator would be easy to implement. 10 out of 10 people say they would prefer getting attention be easier rather than harder (not really, but I’m pretty sure they would).
Fourth, it would be effective, at least as effective at generating a positive at generating an ROI as the traditional marketing you might invest in.
Fifth, it would produce immediate results as well as positive outcomes in the long-term.
Finally, it would be synergistic, that is, when paired with other attention generators it would perform better than it does by itself and it would raise the performance of those other attention generators as well.
“Yeah right, this sounds like a wonderful, magical attention generator, but there is no such thing!”
You’re right, it is magical, and I’ve got the perfect person to help you believe—Walt Disney.
In 1957, Walt Disney created the strategy map below to illustrate how the Disney empire works. The map shows the relationships between TV, music, merchandise, theme parks, and publications. Each of these generates attention, makes money by itself, and helps the other attention generators make more money as well. And in the center, tying it all together is movies.
Can you imagine Disney without movies? Where would the music come from? What merchandise would they sell? What rides and attractions would you see at Disneyland? Without movies, Disney would be a shell of what it is today, rather than one of the most successful and admired companies in the world.
Another company with a compelling strategy map is the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). In 2016, they visualized their strategy with training, publications, events, and awards, centered around their blog as the hub.
The Disney map and CMI’s visual strategy chart are like your thought leadership system. However, whereas those organizations centered activities around movies and a blog, at the core of your system is a book. Your book.
For many entrepreneurs, their thought leadership system looks something like the image above. Perhaps they don’t have all these buckets, but many entrepreneurs, in addition to their business, do some paid speaking, some consulting, and perhaps they have an online course.
If you’re an established entrepreneur with a larger business, you may not be interested in launching a coaching practice, an online course, or a membership group. For you, the main bucket might be your business, and everything else in your thought leadership system is an attention generator to drive traffic to your business. Your system might look more like this:
Regardless, a book is one of the best anchors to tie your thought leadership system together and maximize how much goes into your business bucket.
Why?
Because a book carries more weight and authority, generally speaking. There are exceptions, of course. One entrepreneur may be a YouTube star, another may have a podcast with a million listeners, and another may build their clout through a blog and email list. Regardless, a book is seen by a wider range of the general public as something that takes more work and represents more refined content and therefore it commands more respect. Gary Vaynerchuk, Alex Hormozi, and Oprah could all have built powerful personal brands without a book, and yet…they all have multiple books and continue to write more.
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