ou will be tempted from time to time to do a little less than you could. You will be tempted to hold a little back, so little in fact that nobody will notice.

The idea is that if by holding back just a tiny little bit, compromising the impact of your work, in enough tiny little places, that all those tiny little adjustments will add up to a tidy profit. A tidy profit is more than a little tempting.

The problem is pretty obvious. Someone always notices, and some people even get offended and some of them leave and never come back. If you leak out a tiny bit of good will every day, gradually then all of a sudden you’re in trouble.

Over the long run, companies that do a tiny bit more beat the companies that do a tiny bit less.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Every industry has a short list.

There is a short list of directors that Steve Spielberg has on speed dial. There is a short list of session musicians that Mick Jagger would want to work with.

How do we get on the short list?

Being on the list is important, your fees go up, you spend less time attracting business and more time weighing opportunities. Its easy to tell yourself that its all based on merit – the funniest commedians get on The Tonight Show, the most impactful and insightful speakers get invited to present.

This isn’t true.

Sure, you need some talent and even some luck can really help but what you really need is persistence. There are a lot of people with plenty of talent, and lots to say who aren’t anywhere near the short list.

The secret to getting on the shortlist is doing your best work fearlessly for a long time before you get on the list, and especially when you’re not on the list. Put the work in, it’s worth it.

Have a great day.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Everyone wants to make a big splash, but I wonder if everyone is willing to make a big enough leap, to take enough risk to do something that is worth noticing, getting excited about and sharing?

When you share a really good idea – an idea that is going to make an impact, you should expect your audience to say “I don’t get it” or “explain it to me.”

These are the only two things you should hope to hear.

When someone gets it right away, it’s because they got it already and they already know where they can get it again, for less.

Have a great day.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Successful marketing starts at the beginning when you answer these two critical questions. Who is this for? What change does it help create?

This means that before you start to do anything, your first seek to understand who your client is today and more importantly who your customer wants to be tomorrow. Steve Jobs once famously said that everything at Apple was guided by this question – “Where can we take the customer?”

When you start with the products and then try to figure out why people will care about it you’re selling, not marketing.

Who is it for?

What change does it help create?

Have a great day.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

We love to believe in the big splash, the once in a lifetime opportunity, the chance meeting that changes everything.

We like to believe in these things because it gives us an excuse to wait. To wait to be discovered, or for the offer or the time to be right.

Waiting for a miracle is a lot more compelling than working for chance.

The truth is, the reason we can all tell a story about a big splash, or an overnight success story is because they stand out. Miracles are miracles by definition, because they almost never happen.

Usually success comes from the drip method. One drip, impression, touch at a time that builds familiarity and trust until finally, you get the result you’re looking for.

Obviously, you know this.

I’m not here to tell you about first drips, I am here to warn you it will be lonely. You will have a lot of friends around celebrating the first drip, but not the last. Everyone who gets excited about first drips will have moved on to another first drip to be excited about.

Not you though.

What you know is that the thing to be excited about is the opportunity to release the next drip.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

At some point everyone who wants to build an audience will have to make the difficult decision to try something that might not work.

Or, you can choose to never take a risk by doing work that is so predictable that it lies outside the possibility of criticism. The Peanut Butter Sandwich is a great example of this – it works, it has forever, everyone knows what it is and if someone is hungry and you hand them one they probably won’t complain. If they are hungry enough, they might even thank you.

This fear of doing something original, or losing the audience is the trap that cover bands fall into as well. A cover band can make a living playing someone else’s songs, but the upside is equal to the risk.

Mick and Keith took a lot of risk when they created the song Sympathy for the Devil. If I play it at the local pub as part of a 10 song set, I’ll get paid a pitcher of beer. I’ll do a good job, but that isn’t the point. You don’t get paid for the job, you get paid for the risk.

So are you the next big thing, or a successful cover band or worse? Something stuck somewhere in the middle?

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Three Steps to building a great tribe.

First, create content constantly that will help your clients.

Second, don’t focus on who are you are not reaching, just worry about the people who are paying attention.

Finally, show up every single day. Trust your audience, if you keep showing up so will they, and they will bring a friend to the show.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

10 days ago you decided to lose some weight. You have been minding yourself, watching your calories and changing your habits. So far so good. But this morning you woke up and you’re still fat. Life can be so miserably unfair.

This is called “Changing your life for the better for the long run.” Stay at it.

Your child struggles at school. You help with homework every night and sometimes you are pretty sure that for every step forward you take two steps back. I have been there.

This is called ‘Being a parent.” Stay at it.

You are tired of the status quo, you have this great notion for what your work could be, for its potential to change people for the better. The problem is everyone you share the idea with tells you that you’re crazy.

This is called “The Serious Shift.” Stay at it!

The biggest fantasy that entrepreneurs, small business owners and creators believe is that if you create something excellent to share, that people will beat a path to your door.

This simply isn’t true.

The Beaten Path doesn’t happen to you, you build it.

You build it by identifying the people who are already predisposed to want it.

Over time, an engaged tribe is the easiest way to build your audience. One engaged tribe member at a time.

Trying to convince people who are not convinced to be convinced is selling, and you’re not a salesperson. At least I hope not.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Anyone can weather a big bad storm. Stop moving, shutter the windows, if you have to move to the basement and wait it out. Trust us on this we’re Canadians and weathering storms (and driving through them) is our thing.

An adversary that isn’t so obvious as a big storm, or a pillaging pack of Pikers isn’t so easy to defeat. A persistent enemy that is willing to take an inch from you every day will eventually, given enough time, take you over.

The good news for you is that persistence works both ways. What you can lose gradually you can also gain. So long as you understand that persistence isn’t your willingness to do the same things day after day, persistence is never changing your goal.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams