Crossing the Chasm to a New Beginning

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

Thanks for asking!

Internalize Knowledge

I want to learn more and internalize what I’ve already learned. I enjoy reading and learning about what I do but there’s a level of shallowness to it. There’s no internalizing of the information unless I take extra steps so that’s what I hope to accomplish through writing.
There is a method called the Zettlekasten method that I learned about in a book called How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens that completely changed my perspective on learning and internalizing the information I take in.
In my case, I read on my Kindle, highlight different things, make a note on why I think the information is worth remembering, it gets sent to Readwise (an app that collects highlights), it sends me highlights, I review those highlights, I use the idea to write, elaborate and connect that idea to other ideas from myself, other books, articles, etc and create original ideas by connecting ideas together.
There’s a book that I read called The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns. In this book, the author brings up the idea that in order to learn deeper, you need to put it out to the public in order to get feedback and understand if you know what you’re talking about.
Writing is, without dispute, the best facilitator for thinking, reading, learning, understanding and generating ideas we have. [Location 494] [The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns]
In a book called Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, she touches on a similar idea about how you want to get validation through an outside perspective so you’re not learning within a vacuum.
The kind of feedback we work toward is in and of itself often unimportant: … What makes this information valuable is the symbolic message it contains: that I have succeeded in my goal. Such knowledge creates order in consciousness, and strengthens the structure of the self. [Location 1285] [Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi]

Remove the Need to “Prove” and “Convince”

I also hope to put on display the things that I am learning in order to show my expertise to eliminate the need to prove or convince potential clients that I can do the work I say I can do because that is not a good posture to have when trying to sell your services.
Most of the projects I am approached with are jobs I have never done before and that’s the case for every project. The nature of what I do is that there are no two projects that are the same, which understandably brings a level of uncertainty for potential clients. Therefore my goal is to show myself as a problem solver to ease clients perceived risk.
This concept is the main premise in the book The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns. To not convince and prove yourself to your clients but to share your expertise as a way to continue to learn while displaying what you are able to do for your clients.

Give Back

I also want to cultivate a community of learning for us all to strive and work together to achieve a common goal. We can’t do that if we are hoarding information and not sharing.

This also brings up another point.

Deplete to Gain

There is an idea from a book called Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon where he quotes Paul Arden:

“The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually, you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. . . . Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you.” —Paul Arden [Location 306] [Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon]

So, for me to give you what I have, it forces me to go out and search for more things to replenish my information.

MY IDEA

So I had an idea.

Because I use the Zettlekasten method and write about the things I learn about to internalize it, I figured I could also take on a different approach that could bring around different results. By recording videos of me talking about the highlights, it forces me to articulate otherwise unarticulated ideas jammed in my head. Not only that but also creating a more digestible way to accomplish the above goals.
So let’s get crack-a-lackin’.

Highlight #1: White Water Rafting

When faced with such nasty decisions, it is usually best to make them quickly, get into the new flow, and plan to course-correct going forward. This is a white-water rafting strategy, where hesitating on a split decision is the one behavior guaranteed to capsize the boat. When you do pick, go hard in the direction chosen, regardless of doubts. [Location 1640] [Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore]

Diffusion of Innovations

I learned about this book (Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore) through a topic called the diffusion of innovation discussed in a book called Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It’s a concept to explain how new products or ideas ‘diffuse’ and are accepted by the public.
Diffusion of Innovations explains much more than just the spread of innovation or technology. It explains the spread of ideas. … Our population is broken into five segments that fall across a bell curve: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. [Location 1662] [Start with Why by Simon Sinek]

Chasm and Social Proof

In Crossing the Chasm, he explains how there is a spot in between two marketing segments called the chasm. The chasm is the area between the Early Adopters (aka Visionaries) and the Early Majority. What makes it a chasm is the Early Majority needs social proof in order to accept something new but they actually are the social proof needed.
According to the Law of Diffusion, mass-market success can only be achieved after you penetrate between 15 percent and 18 percent of the market. That’s because the Early Majority won’t try something new until someone else has tried it first. [Location 1716] [Start With Why by Simon Sinek]
They don’t like taking much risk when it comes to using something new.
if you try to strike a deal with late-adopting Pragmatists (aka Early Majority) using the same pitch you gave to early-adopting Innovators and Visionaries, you will likely fail. That’s because Pragmatists (aka Early Majority) care about incremental, measurable, predictable progress and are much less willing to take risks beyond their existing infrastructure, operations and core revenue streams; in contrast, Innovators and Visionaries are more open to higher-risk projects and are freer to prioritize technological innovation over financial performance. [https://medium.com/@cheriehu42/the-artist-as-technology-part-2-what-is-your-whole-product-c5d871472418]

How to Get Social Proof

To cross the chasm, you want to focus on a very small part of the Early Majority. That way, even though they will still want the social proof to mitigate their perceived risk, you only have one group to focus on so you are able to meet all their needs and concerns.

if we want market leadership early on—and we do, since we know pragmatists (aka Early Majority) tend to buy from market leaders, and our number-one marketing goal is to achieve a pragmatist installed base that can be referenced—the only right strategy is to take a “big fish, small pond” approach. Segment. Segment. Segment. [Location 1115] [Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore]

The bigger the group you aim for, the harder it is to do this. By taking care of this small group, you can overcome their perceived risk and create customers out of that group to utilize as social proof for other later marketing segments.

Overall, to market to pragmatists (aka Early Majority), you must be patient. You need to be conversant with the issues that dominate their particular business. You need to show up at the industry-specific conferences and trade shows they attend. You need to be mentioned in articles that run in the newsletters and blogs they read. You need to be installed in other companies in their industry. You need to have developed applications for your product that are specific to their industry. You need to have partnerships and alliances with the other vendors who serve their industry. You need to have earned a reputation for quality and service. In short, you need to make yourself over into the obvious supplier of choice. [Location 793][Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore]

White Water Rafting

Part of crossing the chasm is something he calls “White Water Rafting Strategy”. It references the approach to winning over a niche group in the Early Majority. When you choose a niche, attack it and focus on them. The goal is not to:

…pick the optimal beachhead to be successful. What you must do is win the beachhead you have picked. [Location 1640] [Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore]

That’s what he means when he says “White Water Rafting Strategy”. When you pick a niche group to serve as a basis to make it across the chasm, you must commit to them and only them because it could otherwise “capsize your boat”.

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Frank

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    I write to give until I have no more to give. You deserve my best. Help me to continue to strive to be my best by taking what I have. It will in turn force me to replenish in order to continue to give.

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