If you are a business that makes or sells products, it is important to be able to tell the difference between the cake (the product's core features) and the frosting (the product's extra features). The cake is like the foundation of a building - it might not look very pretty, but it is what makes the product work.

Cake vs. Frosting

A tap is a household item that delivers water. It can be a simple, old tap, or a more elaborate tap with special features. The important thing is that it delivers water to your hands.There are all sorts of different taps, like bronze, gold-plated, copper, marble, and tap with motion sensors. But, at the end of the day, they are all just taps that deliver water.<ul><li>A tap delivers water. That’s cake.</li><li>A tap may look like a work of art. That’s frosting.</li><li>The tap is still a tap without the frosting.</li><li>The tap is no longer a tap without the cake.</li></ul>

Using Tap as an Analogy 

Building a product can be exciting and fun. Sometimes, people get excited about the frosting (or the features) instead of the cake (or the main goal of the product). This can be dangerous because the frosting might not be the most important thing.

Product Management Using the Analogy of Cake

Some people focus too much on making frosting that looks good, instead of making a cake that tastes good. This is also true for investment pitches and sales pitches. People can be easily distracted by the beauty of a pitch deck or website, without realizing that the engineering might not be good.

Frosting Sells

The fancier the frosting, ask more about the quality of the cake.<ul><li>“What’s cake, and what’s frosting here?”</li><li>“Let’s see the plumbing instead of the PowerPoint.”</li><li>“I don’t care how great it looks. Tell me how it works.”</li><li>“Forget the frosting, show me how good the cake is.”</li></ul>﻿You might buy a cake for the first time because of the frosting. But, you’ll buy it again because of the cake.

Demand the Cake, Not Frosting

A great comparison is drawn between cake and frosting in Priya Narasimhan's explanation of product management.

Cake represents core functionality, the product features that actually provide the value that the user is looking for or that the user benefits from. Cake often looks plain, unprepared for the…

business

Business

startup

Startups

product

Product & Design

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Leave the frosting. Take the cake.

A business strategy is a plan that tells your company how to achieve a competitive advantage.Sun Tzu's book on strategy, The Art of War, is one of the earliest examples of strategic thinking.Tactics are the means you use to put your strategy into action.

What is Strategy?

There are two types of strategic choices: 1) Business-level strategies help a company become more successful in a specific market or industry. 2) Corporate-level strategies help a company become more successful by operating in multiple markets or industries simultaneously. Both types of strategies are important, and a business can be more successful by using the right strategies at the right time.

Two Strategic Choices

A real strategy is a set of choices that define what the firm is going to do and what it's not going to do. Many so-called strategies are actually goals, and others may be a couple of the firm's priorities, but they do not form a coherent strategy when considered in conjunction.A good example of a real strategy is when the British toy company Hornby Railways decided to focus on collectors and hobbyists instead of children.

Many Strategies Fail Because They’re Not Actually Strategies

<ol><li>Blue Ocean Strategy</li><li>Michael Porter's Generic Competitive Strategies</li><li>Differentiation Strategy </li><li>Defensive Strategy </li><li>Offensive Strategy </li><li>Flanking Strategy</li><li>﻿Guerrilla Strategy</li><li>Brandwashing Strategy </li></ol>

Types of Strategies 

A Blue Ocean Strategy is when you don't compete with others in the same market, but in a new market where there are no competitors. This was developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. The idea is that it's better to create new customers than to compete with existing ones. Example: Tesla created a blue ocean for itself by venturing into electric vehicles within the automobile industry.

Blue Ocean Strategy

1) Cost leadership: The goal of reducing costs is to offer competitive prices and to make more money. High volume, low-profit margin.2) Differentiation: Creating different products for different groups of people makes your company different from others. This can make your products more desirable, and give you a competitive advantage. 3) Focus: Focus is about concentrating on one market segment and doing everything possible to dominate it. However, this can lead to short-term thinking and overlooking other opportunities.

Generic Competitive Strategies

Differentiation strategy is when a company creates unique products that are different from their competitors. This makes customers more likely to accept higher prices, which means the company makes more money.Bajaj Auto chose a differentiation strategy as opposed to a familiarity (following the leader) strategy.Example: Mercedes was already a market leader when BMW entered the US market. To set themselves apart, BMW ran a campaign saying that BMWs are the ultimate driving machine, and Mercedes is the ultimate sitting machine.

Differentiation Strategy

Defensive strategies are tools that help companies protect themselves from attacks by a competitor.A market leader has to only defend the position by simply raising the bar. Example: Coca-Cola is the market leader, so it just has to raise the bar to stay ahead.

Defensive Strategy

An offensive strategy is when a business takes certain steps against the market leader to get ahead and become more competitive. A market challenger has to adopt an offensive strategy by doing the opposite of the leader.Example: Bajaj Auto couldn't use a defensive strategy. Instead, they used an offensive strategy, which is to be different from the leader. They told their customers that if they just want a high-mileage motorcycle, they should buy a Honda or Hero Motorcycle. But if they want a cool, sexy, sporty, fast, and powerful motorcycle, then they should buy a Bajaj Pulsar.

Offensive Strategy  

Flanking strategy is when a company attacks from the side. In some markets, there are leaders and also someone who is the opposite of the leader. In this case, companies can use a flanking strategy. Companies think that if they make a better product, consumers will buy it. But consumers don't buy a better product, they buy something different. There is a difference between being better and being different.Example: Bajaj Auto made a motorcycle called Discover that gave good mileage + was stylish + good performance.

Flanking Strategy

A Guerrilla Strategy is when you attack a company with a lot of small attacks to push it out of its position in the market.If a company has a niche then they use a guerrilla marketing strategy.Example: Royal-Enfield in India makes powerful bikes that have become cult items within the biking community.

Guerrilla Strategy  

Brand-washing is a marketing strategy that makes a company's products and services more appealing to consumers by making them seem more connected to the customer.Example: the smacking sound we hear when unscrewing certain jars and containers has been patented. It conveys a feeling of freshness and cleanliness.How do companies brand-wash us?<ol><li>Fear-mongering marketing</li><li>Nostalgia marketing</li><li>Sex in advertising</li></ol>Who are the people companies use to brand-wash us?<ol><li>Peer pressure</li><li>Family and friends</li><li>Celebrities and experts.</li></ol>

Brandwashing Strategy

1) Plan: Start with a goal in mind, and design a plan tailored to help you achieve it.2) Ploy: Figure out what tactics you can use to deal with competitors or others in your company.3) Pattern: See if you can identify any patterns in people's behavior, in order to improve processes or find new customers and markets.4) Position: Understand how your company stacks up against the competition.5) Perspective: Think about how the company's character could be improved to better suit its strategic goals.6) Process: Constantly monitors and tweak it to make sure you're on track.

6 Ps of Strategic Thinking

<ol><li>What is our winning aspiration?</li><li>Where will we play?</li><li>How will we win?</li><li>What capabilities must we have in place to win?</li><li>What management systems are required to support our choices?</li></ol>

Five Questions to Develop Winning Strategy

In strategy, less is more. Narrow your focus.

1) Build the products you want to own.2) Don't apologize for charging what you're worth.3) Cut the clutter.4) You can't be everything to everyone.5) Control your distribution.6) Create a feeling, not a product.7) Account for all aspects of your product.

7 lessons to be learned from Apple's successful business strategy

37signals (now Basecamp) has been doing well because they have been careful not to grow too fast. If they had expanded, they would have had to deal with more people and more bureaucracy, which would have made it harder to get things done.Jason Fried believes in: <ol><li>Keep it small</li><li>Hire when it hurts</li><li>Avoid raising money and control investment</li></ol>

Minimalism in Business Strategies 

Over the years, I learned a great deal about strategy, and I've distilled it into an easily understandable guide for you.

strategy

Strategy

All about Strategy (mini masterclass)

1. Time is more valuable than money2. Commit random acts of kindness3. No balls, no babies (Once you are prepared, you have to go for it)4. Work hard, play hard5. Don’t let fear be a roadblock6. Expect the unexpected, and always be ready7. It’s okay to yell and be yelled at8. Everyone gets down; the key is how soon you get back up9. It’s not whether the glass is half empty or half full, it’s who is pouring the water10. It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing11. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered12. You only have to be right once

Twelve Cuban Mantras for Success

<ol><li>Recognize that it’s okay to live like a student.</li><li>The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that.</li><li>Take lots of chances: It means trying different things to find out what it is you love to do.</li><li>Figure out if you are in the right job.</li><li>Figure out how to be the best.</li><li>Start the day motivated with a positive attitude.</li></ol>

WTF To-Do List

1. Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love.2. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession. 3. Hire people who you think will love working there. 4. Sales Cure All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales. 5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them.

Twelve Cuban Rules for Startups

6. Don't worry about perks from the outset.7.Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up.8. As far as technology, go with what you know.9. Keep the organization flat.10. NEVER EVER EVER buy swag.11. NEVER EVER EVER hire a PR firm.(Public Relation)12. Make the job fun for employees.(reward them)

<ul><li>I wrote overviews of what I was selling, why I thought the business made sense, an overview of my competition, why my product and/or service would be important to my customers and why they should buy or use it.</li><li>Once I could put the idea on paper, I gave the company a name.</li><li>I tried to find people to shoot holes in the name.</li><li>It’s as if the missing link for success in a business is cash to get started. It’s not.</li></ul>

How To Start A Business 

<ul><li>The minute you take money, the leverage completely flips to the investor. They control the destiny of your dreams, not you.</li><li>There are only two reasonable sources of capital for startup entrepreneurs: your own pocket and your customers’ pockets.</li><li>Businesses don’t have to start big.</li><li>It’s okay to start slow. It’s okay to grow slow.</li></ul>

Raising Cash Is The Biggest Mitsake

<ul><li>Sweat equity is the best startup capital.</li><li>The best businesses in recent entrepreneurial history are those that began with little or no money. Dell Computers, Microsoft, Compaq, Apple, HP and tens of thousands of others started in dorm rooms, tiny offices or garages.</li><li>The reality is that for most businesses, they don’t need more cash, they need more brains.</li></ul>

Start Small

<ul><li>Get the fundamentals right and then add to your base skills before you try to take on the trick shots.</li><li>If you are adding new things when your core businesses are struggling rather than facing the challenge, you are either running away or giving up. Rarely is either good for a business.</li><li>Creating opportunities means looking where others are not.</li><li>We tend to be less than honest with ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses.</li></ul>

Fundamentals

“The worst evaluator of talent is a player trying to evaluate himself.”

<ul><li>It’s always the little decisions that have the biggest impact.</li><li>I read more than three hours almost every day, but it gives me a level of comfort and confidence in my businesses.</li><li>I spend time in bookstores because one idea from a book or magazine can make me money.</li><li>As I would learn later in life, money makes you extremely handsome.</li></ul>

LifeLong Learner

<ul><li>The thing you do need to do is learn. Learn accounting. Learn finance. Learn statistics. Learn as much as you can about business.</li><li>Read biographies about businesspeople.</li><li>Going to college should be about learning how to learn and recognizing that learning is a lifelong endeavor.</li><li>School isn’t the end of the learning process, it’s purely a training ground and beginning.</li></ul>

Learning == Earning

<ul><li>Once you have learned how to learn, then you can try as many different things as you can, recognizing that you don’t have to find your destiny at any given age—you just have to be prepared to run with it when you do.</li><li>The greatest obstacle to destiny is debt, both personal and financial.</li><li>The more people you are obligated to, the harder it is to focus on yourself and figure things out.</li><li>Financial debt is the ultimate dream killer.</li></ul>

Learn How To Learn To Earn

“Your biggest enemies are your bills. The more you owe, the more you stress.The more you stress over bills, the more difficult it is to focus on your goals.”

<ul><li>Everyone follows the path of least resistance.</li><li>The path of least resistance is why I think Amazon.com, Apple and Google have been so successful.</li><li>In business, one of the challenges is making sure that your product is the easiest to experience and to sell.</li><li>Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.</li></ul>

Path Of Least Resistance 

<ul><li>Always ask yourself how someone could preempt your products or service.</li><li>Always run your business like you are going to be competing with biggest technology companies in your industry—Google, Facebook, Oracle, Microsoft, whomever.</li><li>The sport of business is the ultimate competition. It’s 7 × 24 × 365 × forever.</li><li>The biggest mistake people make is getting too greedy.</li></ul>

Ultimate Competition 

<ul><li>In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies to business.</li><li>I had to kick myself in the ass and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge.</li><li>Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results.</li></ul>

Effort

<ul><li>The edge is getting so jazzed about what you do.</li><li>The edge is knowing that you can fail and learn from it, and just get back up.</li><li>The edge is knowing that people think you’re crazy, and they are right, but you don’t care what they think.</li><li>The edge is knowing how to blow off steam a couple times a week, just so you can refocus on business.</li><li>The edge is recognizing when you are wrong and working harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again.</li></ul>

What Is Edge?

<ul><li>“Everyone has got the will to win; it’s only those with the will to prepare that do win.”</li><li>Win the battles you are in first, then worry about expansion internationally or into new businesses.</li><li>Jobs = getting paid to learn.</li><li>Take the lead, and you can control your own destiny.</li><li>Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but are cheap.</li></ul>

Hire The Best

<ul><li>Every day some stranger somewhere in the world is trying to come up with a way to put you out of business. To take everything you have worked your ass off for, just take it all away. How cool is that?!</li><li>Never settle. There is no reason to rush. If you aren’t happy with where you are, simplify your life and go out and try as many things as it takes to find what you may be destined to be.</li></ul>

Try Out Many Things

<ul><li>In business, to be a success, you only have to be right once.</li><li>One single time and you are set for life. That’s the beauty of the business world.</li><li>With every mistake and failure (not only mine, but also of those around me), I learned what not to do.</li><li>I’ve learned to hire people in whom I can build trust, and let them take the ball and run with it.</li></ul>

Only One Single Time

The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and from those around you because … All that matters in business is that you get it right once.When I spent far too much time fixing things rather than selling new deals, it killed my business.

Learn From Failures

“Every no gets me closer to a yes.”

<ul><li>The best salespeople are the ones who put themselves in their customer’s shoes and provide a solution that makes the customer happy.</li><li>The best salesperson is the one the customer trusts and never has to question.</li><li>The best salesperson is the one who takes immense satisfaction from the satisfaction her customer gets.</li></ul>

 Most Important Job In Every Company

<ul><li>Entrepreneurs always need to be reminded that it’s not the job of their customers to know what they don’t.</li><li>It’s part of your job as the owner of the company to stay ahead of them and “kick your own ass” before someone else does.</li><li>No company is perfect, but the CEO who doesn’t listen to direct feedback from customers will not take the company as far as it can go.</li></ul>

Kick Your Own Ass

Success is about making your life a special version of unique that fits who you are—not what other people want you to be.

Mark Cuban shares his wealth of experience and business savvy in his first published book, HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS. "It's New Year's resolution time, and Mark Cuban's new book offers the rationale for a good one." —BUSINESS INSIDER Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, Cuban has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur. He tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends' couches to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billion dollar success story. His unconventional yet highly effective ideas on how to build a successful business offer entrepreneurs at any stage of their careers a huge edge over their competitors. "In short, [HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS] exceeded...expectations. Short chapters...got right to the point and were not filled with 'stuffing'." —HUFFINGTON POST

career

Career

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

books

Books

Mark Cuban shares his wealth of experience and business savvy in his first published book, HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS. "It's New Year's resolution time, and Mark Cuban's new book offers the rationale for a good one." —BUSINESS INSIDER Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, Cuban has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur. He tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends' couches to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billion dollar success story. His unconventional yet highly effective ideas on how to build a successful business offer entrepreneurs at any stage of their careers a huge edge over their competitors. "In short, [HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS] exceeded...expectations. Short chapters...got right to the point and were not filled with 'stuffing'." —HUFFINGTON POST

Mark Cuban

How to Win at the Sport of Business

<ul><li>The way you present your art, and what people know about it, completely changes how they perceive it.</li><li>Your creative decisions continue all the way to the end. Every step so far has been a creative expansion of your original idea.</li><li>The way you communicate with the world, how you make your music available, the stories you tell about your music and yourself - These are all the continuation of your creation.</li><li>Marketing is the final extension of your art.</li><li>A creative description also suggests that your work will be creative, too.</li></ul>

Art doesn’t end at the edge of the canvas

<ul><li>Turning off your creativity — trying to play it safe — is the worst thing you could do. Get confident, creative, playful, and experimental. Break the rules. Try some things that nobody else has done.</li><li>Think of how comfortable you are with your instrument — improvising, experimenting, and having fun with it. Now be that comfortable when marketing. Improvise. Experiment. And have fun with it.</li><li>Norms are for businesses without personality. Pour your personality and philosophy into the way you do business. People actually appreciate it when you do things in a surprising way. </li></ul>

Business is creative

Everything usually feels so serious — like if you make one mistake, it’ll all end in disaster. But really everything you do is just a test: an experiment to see what happens.It’s actually impossible to fail if your only mission was to see what happens!

This is a test. This is only a test

Don’t be so plain or obvious that there’s nothing left to wonder. But don’t be so cryptic that they give up.<ul><li>Give just enough to make people curious. Let them search for explanations, clues, or context.</li><li>Once something is explained, it stops captivating your curiosity.</li><li>Once people start wondering, they can’t stand not knowing.</li><li>Make up a curious answer to common questions. Make people curious.</li></ul>

Make people wonder

<ul><li> Put as much creativity into your marketing as you do your work. Marketing is just an extension of your work.</li><li>Start trying things just to see what happens.</li><li>Add creative restrictions when you're stuck.</li><li>Have a unique voice and persona. Stick to it.</li></ul>

Marketing your work

<ul><li>Marketing means being considerate. Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you.</li><li>The best marketers are the best listeners. Marketing means listening to what people need and creating something surprisingly tailored for them.</li><li>Marketing means getting to know people, making a deeper connection, and keeping in touch. Ask what people want, listen closely, and give it to them.</li></ul>

What marketing means

<ul><li>Set the tone. Pull in those people who love that kind of thing. Proudly alienate those that don’t.</li><li>Be different. Show who you are. It gives people’s lives more variety, too.</li></ul>

The way you communicate with people is part of your art

When communicating with your fans and contacts, don’t try to sound bigger than you are.<ul><li>Don’t appear flawless. Show a charming flaw. Confidence attracts, but vulnerability endears.</li><li>Don’t use corporate speak to try to sound like you’re a big business. It comes across as fake, insecure, or spam.</li><li>Your fans are your friends. Speak to them like real people. Be weird. Prove you’re a real person. Write every post or email as if it was from you to your best friend.</li><li>People have grown deaf to the bland language of big business. It all sounds like contrived posturing. It has no personality — no voice.</li></ul>

Don’t try to sound big

<ul><li>Prepare the most succinct version of your reason for contacting someone. Make it so short that if the person only has 30 seconds to talk, you could communicate your point, ask your question, and get the answer.</li><li>With real-time communication, like text or phone, just start by asking if they have time. If they do, then take the time to get personal, be a friend, and have a good conversation. But if they don’t, then just use the short version.</li><li>With non-real-time communication, like email, assume you’ve only got ten seconds. Edit your emails down to a few sentences</li></ul>

Considerate communication

<ul><li>People send business to people they like. It’s all more personal than I had expected.</li><li>Don’t always be selling yourself. That keeps people at a distance from you because it shows you’re not friends.</li><li>The initial contact usually happens for professional reasons. Even if it starts professional, get personal as soon as possible. Be a friend. That’s how things are done.</li></ul>

Get personal

<ul><li>People like doing favors. They’ll gladly show off their knowledge.</li><li>Contact everyone you know and ask. Friends of friends will know how to get everything you want in life.</li><li>By making them feel important, connected, and needed, you’ll be doing them a favor, too.</li></ul>

Don’t be afraid to ask for favors

As you climb the ladder of success, giving a gift may go a long way and be remembered for years.<ul><li>Get presents for the people you’ve met that are probably under-appreciated.</li><li>Be generous. You’re going to see the same faces for years to come.</li></ul>

 Small gifts go a long way

Someone doesn’t reply, so you assume they must be swamped in work. You wait a week, and contact them again. If still no reply, you feel sympathy that they must be really overwhelmed. You wait a week, and try again. If still no reply, you try to reach them a different way.Overwhelmed people don’t have time for all the random first contacts. Patience and persistence separate you from the rest, and show how much you care.

Repeatedly follow up to show you care

Start with rejection therapy, but once you get into any of these places, your credibility sets you apart from the rest and opens more doors. You can even re-approach the places that rejected you before.

Overcome the fear of rejection by constantly exposing yourself to it

<ul><li>Extreme talent requires extreme practice. Extreme success requires extreme focus — saying no to distractions and leisure.</li><li>Extreme fame requires extreme ambition — taking the spotlight and its pressure.</li><li>When you are not practicing, someone somewhere is practicing. And when you meet him, he will win.</li></ul>

You don’t get extreme results without extreme actions

<ul><li>We’re drawn to the confidence of someone who is not trying to please anyone. We admire a strong, defiant stand. You can use this to attract your future fans.</li><li>You can say, “Don’t listen to this if you’re happy with your life.” Then people who hate all that happy crap will be intrigued.</li><li>Loudly reject 99%. It signals who you are. When someone in your target 1% hears you proudly excluding the rest, they’ll be drawn to you.</li><li>Make sure they can find you. You want the passionate fans of your niche, not the casual fans of the mainstream.</li></ul>

Proudly exclude most people

Every person you’ve ever met has the potential to help you.<ul><li>If you keep in touch and stay on their mind, there’s a good chance an opportunity will come your way.</li><li>When you contact each person, just find out how they’re doing. See if you can help them in any way.</li><li>This regular contact should be unselfish, and sincerely caring about how they are. Don’t ask a favor unless you’ve been in touch recently. </li><li>Most people are so bad at keeping in touch that they will really appreciate you doing it.</li><li>It takes effort to meet people. So once you’ve met someone, get the most out of the relationship for both of you.</li></ul>

Stay in touch with hundreds of people

As you get more successful, share that success with those who helped you years ago.When you are famous, return the favors. Reach out to contact them, and invite them into your new world. (Don’t wait for them to ask.)

Include everyone in your success

a philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

music

Music

creativity

Creativity

Every creator has the same problems with marketing. <ul><li>How do you call attention to your work?</li><li>How do you get your creations into people's minds and hearts?</li><li>How do you get fans to tell their friends?</li><li>How do you charge money for your labor of love?</li><li>How do you get the media to help?</li></ul> Derek Sivers was a professional musician before he started a music distribution company that helped 150,000 musicians sell their music to over four million people. So after years of living the problems, he was able to learn the solutions. "Your Music and People" shares a successful philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected. It's not just for musicians.Though it uses music as the example, it is meant for any creator trying to reach people. Early readers called it one of the best books ever written on business marketing. Example points include: <ul><li>Business is just as creative as music.</li><li>Marketing is an extension of your art.</li><li>Marketing means being considerate. Focus on others.</li><li>Being weird is considerate.</li><li>People skills are counterintuitive. To be helped, be helpful.</li><li>Persistence is polite.</li><li>Call the destination and ask for directions.</li><li>Get specific about what you want.</li><li>Be extreme and sharply defined. Proudly exclude most people.</li><li>Money is just a neutral representation of value. Be valuable to others - not just yourself. People like to pay.</li><li>Nobody knows the future, so focus on what doesn't change.</li></ul> The first 10,000 early buyers of "Your Music and People" have posted hundreds of 5-star reviews at sive.rs/m - but it is now being released to a wider audience.

Derek Sivers is an author of philosophy and entrepreneurship, known for his surprising quotable insights and pithy succinct writing style.Formerly a musician, programmer, TED speaker, and circus clown, he sold his first company for $22 million and gave all the money to charity.Sivers’ books (How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Your Music and People, Anything You Want) and newest projects are at his website: https://sive.rs/

Derek Sivers

Your Music and People

Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

It adds the extra element of challenge to your hobby. Learning to make money from your hobby is a very important way to solidify your knowledge of said hobby. <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">You are also adding value to people's life, otherwise you wouldn't be able to monetize the video</li></ul>

Why should you monetize your hobby

<ul><li>the First step is to think about who is the people to that you want to add value to.</li><li>Figure out what sort of problem these people have, you need to be able to solve a problem You need to be able to think outside the box that is very important</li></ul>

How to monetise your passion part 1

Combine different passions to create a killer combination: This is pretty important, you want to be able to combine the different things that people want so that you can actually stand out, for an instant if you teach guitar you also could  teach singing and scalesFigure out the different vehicles for your value delivery: Creating Goods: What can I make that people need or want? and then Selling Services: What can I do that people want/need or don't want to do

How to monetise your passion part 2

Sometimes making money from your hobbies can completely ruin or cancel the joy you get from the hobby.Don't feel the need to make your hobby into a full-time job.

The dangers of trying to make money from you hobbies

Everyone has hobbies, why not try and learn to make money from them?

Get a 14-day free trial of Shopify with this link - https://shopify.com/aliabdaal 😀 Making money from your passions can be a really good thing to do and it's completely changed my life but sometimes it's hard to know where to start and what to do. So in this video, the latest in our Money Club series, we'll go through why you consider why you should consider it, how to do it and how to avoid those risks. Enjoy x If you want to learn more about monetising your passions and potentially turning it into your career, check out my free crash course on becoming a Creatorpreneur here - https://go.aliabdaal.com/creator-crash-course Watch this video ad-free on Nebula - https://nebula.tv/videos/aliabdaal-how-to-make-money-from-your-passions-without-burning-out ⏱ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:31 Why you should consider monetising your hobbies 03:04 How to actually monetise your passion 11:44 The dangers of trying to make money from your hobbies MY FREE ONLINE COURSES: 🚀 Productivity Masterclass - Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/productivity 🎬 Video Editing with Final Cut Pro X - From Beginner to YouTuber - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/video-editing 🎓 How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/studying PART-TIME YOUTUBER ACADEMY: 🍿 My 6-week live online course - https://academy.aliabdaal.com CREATORPRENEUR 💰 My flag-ship course for scaling up your creative side-hustle - https://creatorpreneur.academy/course YOUTUBE FOR BEGINNERS COURSE 📸 This is for anyone who'd like to start a YouTube channel. You'll learn everything you need to get started as a YouTuber including how to script, shoot, and edit your first video - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/YouTube-for-Beginners MY FAVOURITE GEAR: 🎥 My YouTube Camera Gear - https://kit.co/AliAbdaal ⌨️ My Keyboard - Wireless Coral mechanical keyboard (Cherry Blue) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/keyboard 📝 My favourite iPad Screen Protector - Paperlike - https://go.aliabdaal.com/paperlike 🎒 My Desk Accessories + Todo List - Ugmonk - https://go.aliabdaal.com/ugmonk MY FAVOURITE SOFTWARE: ✍️ The best summaries of books (Shortform) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/shortform 📚 How I remember what I read (Readwise) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/readwise 🎵 Where I get my Music (amazing for YouTubers) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/epidemicsound 🎙 Deep Dive podcast - https://www.youtube.com/c/DeepDivewithAliAbdaal/ The podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. You can find it by searching “Deep Dive” on any podcast app (eg: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts etc). BE MY FRIEND: 💌 Sign up to my weekly email newsletter - https://aliabdaal.com/friendzone/ 🌍 My website / blog - https://www.aliabdaal.com 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/aliabdaal 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/aliabdaal 💙 The Friendzone Discord - https://discord.gg/Dh2kGavffd 🎮 Twitch - https://twitch.tv/aliabdaal WHO AM I: I’m Ali, a YouTuber, podcaster, soon-to-be author and ex-Doctor working in London, UK. I make videos that explore the strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. I also have a weekly podcast called Deep Dive (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfo46ZNOV-vtehDc25A1Ug), and I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some quick thoughts + links to interesting things (https://email.aliabdaal.com). GET IN TOUCH: If you’d like to talk, I’d love to hear from you. Tweeting @AliAbdaal directly will be the quickest way to get a response, but if your question is very long, feel free to email me at hi@aliabdaal.com. I try my best to reply to things but there sadly aren't enough hours in the day to respond to everyone 😭 PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from 😜

Get a 14-day free trial of Shopify with this link - https://shopify.com/aliabdaal 😀

Making money from your passions can be a really good thing to do and it's completely changed my life but sometimes it's hard to know where to start and what to do. So in this video, the latest in our Money Club series, we'll go through why you consider why you should consider it, how to do it and how to avoid those risks. Enjoy x

If you want to learn more about monetising your passions and potentially turning it into your career, check out my free crash course on becoming a Creatorpreneur here - https://go.aliabdaal.com/creator-crash-course

Watch this video ad-free on Nebula - https://nebula.tv/videos/aliabdaal-how-to-make-money-from-your-passions-without-burning-out

MY FREE ONLINE COURSES:
🚀  Productivity Masterclass - Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/productivity
🎬  Video Editing with Final Cut Pro X - From Beginner to YouTuber - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/video-editing
🎓  How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/studying

PART-TIME YOUTUBER ACADEMY:
🍿 My 6-week live online course - https://academy.aliabdaal.com

CREATORPRENEUR
💰 My flag-ship course for scaling up your creative side-hustle - https://creatorpreneur.academy/course

YOUTUBE FOR BEGINNERS COURSE
📸 This is for anyone who'd like to start a YouTube channel. You'll learn everything you need to get started as a YouTuber including how to script, shoot, and edit your first video - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/YouTube-for-Beginners

MY FAVOURITE GEAR:
🎥  My YouTube Camera Gear - https://kit.co/AliAbdaal
⌨️  My Keyboard - Wireless Coral mechanical keyboard (Cherry Blue) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/keyboard 
📝  My favourite iPad Screen Protector - Paperlike - https://go.aliabdaal.com/paperlike 
🎒 My Desk Accessories + Todo List - Ugmonk - https://go.aliabdaal.com/ugmonk

MY FAVOURITE SOFTWARE:
✍️ The best summaries of books (Shortform) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/shortform
📚  How I remember what I read (Readwise) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/readwise 
🎵  Where I get my Music (amazing for YouTubers) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/epidemicsound

🎙 Deep Dive podcast - https://www.youtube.com/c/DeepDivewithAliAbdaal/
The podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. You can find it by searching “Deep Dive” on any podcast app (eg: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts etc). 

BE MY FRIEND:
💌  Sign up to my weekly email newsletter - https://aliabdaal.com/friendzone/
🌍  My website / blog - https://www.aliabdaal.com 
📸  Instagram - https://instagram.com/aliabdaal
🐦  Twitter - https://twitter.com/aliabdaal
💙  The Friendzone Discord - https://discord.gg/Dh2kGavffd
🎮  Twitch - https://twitch.tv/aliabdaal

WHO AM I:
I’m Ali, a YouTuber, podcaster, soon-to-be author and ex-Doctor working in London, UK. I make videos that explore the strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. I also have a weekly podcast called Deep Dive (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfo46ZNOV-vtehDc25A1Ug), and I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some quick thoughts + links to interesting things (https://email.aliabdaal.com).


GET IN TOUCH:
If you’d like to talk, I’d love to hear from you. Tweeting @AliAbdaal directly will be the quickest way to get a response, but if your question is very long, feel free to email me at hi@aliabdaal.com. I try my best to reply to things but there sadly aren't enough hours in the day to respond to everyone 😭

PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from 😜

📚 Check out my first book Feel-Good Productivity here: https://www.feelgoodproductivity.com/

Hey, I'm Ali, a doctor turned entrepreneur, and the world’s most followed productivity expert 😜 

On this channel, we explore evidence-based strategies and tools that can help us be more productive, and build a life that we love. 

If that sounds interesting, consider subscribing! See you in the next video x

Ali Abdaal

How to Earn Money Doing What You Love

How To Make Money From Your Passions (Without Burning Out)

An economic moat refers to a sustainable and enduring competitive advantage that companies can use to maintain profitability over the long term.An example of an economic moat would be a brand name, intellectual property like a patent, or control over distribution channels.The term was coined by Warren Buffet.Just like a medieval castle, the moat serves to protect those inside the fortress and their riches from outsiders.

Economic Moat

1) Cost advantage - In this case, it is a cheaper cost per unit to produce or buy than its competitors.2) Barrier to entry - It can be as simple as large fixed costs, limited availability of resources, or high capital costs.3) Network effects - This is where other participants within the market that are reliant on each other for success and benefit from that success indirectly by getting what they need from one another's

3 Key Elements of the Economic Moat

A company with an economic moat is less likely to be disrupted by a competitor.This is because while there are multiple companies competing, the company with an economic moat can take advantage of its lead in the market and maintain it.Economic Moats create barriers for competitors and make it harder for them to enter the market.This gives a company more time to plan ahead and develop new products before competitors even enter the market.

Competitive Advantage 

It is difficult to target the richest market for your product or service because of the sheer number of competitors.The key to finding a low-competitor market is understanding what the customers are actually looking for and understanding their decision-making process.In order to find a low-competitor market, the company needs to do some research and understand the decision-making process of its customers.This includes observing how they compare products in their minds and what factors are most important in their decision-making process.

Finding a Market 

The economic moat is created by blocking out competitors from entering the market and cutting off their supply chain.Companies like IBM and Coca-Cola successfully maintained their economic moats by utilizing a variety of strategies such as Coca-Cola patenting its secret recipe.Businesses that establish an economic moat for themselves have a competitive advantage over their peers.They are able to charge a price premium for their products or services and maintain profitability without much competition.

Creating Economic Moat

<ol><li>Create and deliver high-quality products or services that customers are willing to pay.</li><li>Enhancing customer experience</li><li>Build a proprietary technology</li><li>Invest in intellectual property</li><li>Find profitable niches</li></ol>

5 Ways A Company Can Build An Economic Moat

Any company with a competitive advantage can be considered to have an economic moat. 

Do you know how some companies seem to be unstoppable? That might be because they have a competitive moat. In this video, we will show you what a competitive moat is, how a company acquires it, and how the company can leverage their competitive moat to create a competitive advantage. A competitive moat is a company’s ability to create a long-term sustainable advantage. The essence of the term, as defined by Warren Buffet, is that “a company with a sustainable competitive advantage versus its industry/competitors will continue to show profits in the long term, without the need for corporate investments, such as acquisitions and advertising.”As a company continues to generate profits over time, the ability to produce earnings will also be sustained. A competitive moat defines a company's competitive advantage. When you have one, you have a true competitive advantage that is hard for others to imitate or overcome. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Check out all the digital products from Weekly Concepts Academic CV template in Notion: https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com... The Uncomplicated Marketing ebook: https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com... The Uncomplicated Marketing for Kindergarten (preschool): 8 proven strategies to boost admissions and brand awareness: https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com/l/boost-admissions We would really appreciate it if you could rate the products on gumroad.

Do you know how some companies seem to be unstoppable? That might be because they have a competitive moat.

In this video, we will show you what a competitive moat is, how a company acquires it, and how the company can leverage their competitive moat to create a competitive advantage. A competitive moat is a company’s ability to create a long-term sustainable advantage. The essence of the term, as defined by Warren Buffet, is that “a company with a sustainable competitive advantage versus its industry/competitors will continue to show profits in the long term, without the need for corporate investments, such as acquisitions and advertising.”As a company continues to generate profits over time, the ability to produce earnings will also be sustained. 
A competitive moat defines a company's competitive advantage. When you have one, you have a true competitive advantage that is hard for others to imitate or overcome.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Check out all the digital products from Weekly Concepts

Academic CV template in Notion: https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com...

The Uncomplicated Marketing ebook: https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com...

The Uncomplicated Marketing for Kindergarten (preschool): 8 proven strategies  to boost admissions  and  brand awareness:
https://theweeklyconcepts.gumroad.com/l/boost-admissions

We would really appreciate it if you could rate the products on gumroad.

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What is Competitive Moat in business and how to build one

The tool was created by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, to analyze an industry's attractiveness and likely profitability.Since its publication in 1979, it has become one of the most popular and highly regarded business strategy tools.Porter recognized that organizations likely keep a close watch on their rivals, but he encouraged them to look beyond the actions of their competitors and examine what other factors could impact the business environment.He identified five forces that make up the competitive environment, and which can erode your profitability.

Business Strategy Tool

<ul><li>Consider the ease with which new companies can enter the market.</li><li>Many factors need to be considered, such as barriers to entry (patents and high set-up costs), the profitability of the business, and the brand's reputation.</li></ul>

1) Threat of New Entrants

<ul><li>Analyze how easily your products can be substituted with others.</li><li>It will depend on factors such as its relative price, accessibility, and quality.</li><li>All alternatives should be considered, not just similar products.</li><li>As an example, airlines compete not just with other airlines, but with train and bus operators as well.</li></ul>

2) Threat of Substitute products

Porter's Five Factors is a model that identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that define every sector and aid in determining an industry's strengths and weaknesses.

Michael Porter's Five Forces is a simple but powerful tool for understanding the competitiveness of your business environment, and for identifying your strategy's potential profitability. The tool was created by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, to analyze an industry's attractiveness and likely profitability. Since its publication in 1979, it has become one of the most popular and highly regarded business strategy tools. Porter recognized that organizations likely keep a close watch on their rivals, but he encouraged them to look beyond the actions of their competitors and examine what other factors could impact the business environment. He identified five forces that make up the competitive environment, and which can erode your profitability. These are: 1) Competitive Rivalry. 2) Supplier Power. 3) Buyer Power. 4) Threat of Substitution. 5) Threat of New Entry.

Michael Porter's 5 Forces Model explanation

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All about Strategy (mini masterclass)

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How To Make Money From Your Passions (Without Burning Out)

What is Competitive Moat in business and how to build one

Michael Porter's 5 Forces Model explanation

Entrepreneurial traits of Elon Musk that we all can build

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