You Can't Own Your Audience - But You Can Own an Idea in Their Minds
Imagine you're putting up a sign in a town square. Let's assume it's one of those old timey wooden signs you hammer through the cobblestone with a mallet. (While we're at it, let's also assume we're wearing knickers and saying things like, "Dickens, my good man, how doth your smithing business fair, pray tell?")
(Listen, just because it's a new year does not mean you're getting a new Jay.)
Next, let's imagine the sign is for one narrow purpose: to rally others to build a ship.
What might you chisel into that sign to ensure others respond and act?
"But Jay," I hear you saying, "I don't WANT a new version of you. I love your writing voice just the way it is." Oh thanks, I'm chuffed, I reply, losing my grip on what year and location we're supposed to be in right now. "But also?" I hear you wondering, "I don't want people to build me a ship." Why, my old chum! I shout, tightening a three-point hat on my head, We're ALL in the same line of work in the end. It's our job to spark action in others.
(Tosses aside the ill-fitting hat.)
Look dude, we're not trying to build a ship, but we are trying to build our businesses, and that means we need one thing: action from others. We call those actions "results." To get those results, we share our words through whatever medium or channel we deem worthy and right, and we hope and pray and do a little rain dance that someone, somewhere, will experience our words and care.
We speak. They act.
That's the job. That's the need. And that, my old chum (adjusts knickers) ... is, like, SO freaking hard to do omg.
Back to the wooden sign, set in some questionable time period I've given up on defining already. What would you say on that sign to motivate others to build you this ship? What would cause them to act?
Maybe:
Build a ship. It'll be great. Trust me.
Meh. Not feeling it, and indeed others have to feel it. By simply demanding you to do something, I have to hope and pray that you're just SO ready to act, you will. This is how we treat way too much marketing. We overemphasize the very tiny number of people who have been in the market awhile already and have come down to the final decision, then we try to leap out and say, "It's us! Pick us! Do it! It'll be great! Trust me..."
But we haven't actually built any trust to begin with.
Let's try again:
Become a world class builder of ships in just a forthnight. Join over twelve citizens transformed.
(Hey that was a lot in Old Timey times.)
That's a bit better perhaps, but maybe I could try something else. Maybe I could share my perspective with you -- and in doing so, tap into some personal, emotional reason why you'd care. That emotional jolt is arguably why you'd then act. Don't be meh. Be moving. Be more like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
This French writer, aviator, and author the author of The Little Prince once said this:
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
That's the power of sharing a perspective. When a perspective becomes positioning, I call that a premise.
A premise is the specific, defensible purpose for your project or platform, pulled from your personal perspective. It's something you assert is or should be true. It's the big idea driving a project or an entire platform or brand. There's a problem. It frustrates you, but you have a specific vision for how to solve it. You're going to take us there. As a result, we care. Because we care, we might act.
My assertion these past couple years: "Don't be the best. Be their favorite." That's the smallest summary of my overall premise right now, and that premise colors how I talk about every topic relating to my work -- topics, by the way, which thousands of other humans write and speak about. WHAT I explore doesn't make me refreshing. HOW I explore it? I hope that does. You can judge for yourself. But if you judge favorably, that's because I've developed and learned to explore (and thus own) a premise.
It's not what we explore but how we explore it that gives others a reason why they'd care. That's the power of a premise.
Other premises I admire sit across powerful projects -- or even define a person's entire public platform.
Hrishikesh Hirway: Song Exploder (podcast) — music should be understood and appreciated in the minutiae.
Jay Baer: The Time to Win (book + research study) — you should make speed of response the edge for your business (but you should also find the right speed for the right interaction).
Ann Handley: Everybody Writes (book) — you should write in ways that drive marketing results AND fill your soul.
Andrew Davis: the Loyalty Loop (keynote + visual framework) — you should use customers you have to win the customers you want.
Dan Runcie: Trapital (entire platform) — Hip-hop artists and execs should be celebrated as world class business leaders.
Michelle Warner's one-on-one and small group coaching (and upcoming podcast!) — entrepreneurs should prioritize sequence over strategy (that is, the order in which you do things should matter more to you than knowing the entire playbook of what to do).
The central driving word defining a powerful premise is should. That's because the premise is an assertion -- it's a statement of fact that something is broken and the solution should be THIS. What? That's your perspective. That’s what they know you for. (Everyone wants to be known right now. But the key is to be known for SOMETHING.)
What is your assertion? What do you believe should be true about your field, your community, your work, and how people think or act? Make that claim. Put a stake in the ground with a bold post somewhere, anywhere. Then go exploring that idea. Your content is a means to explore questions, not merely hand out answers. Act like an explorer, not an expert, and watch more passionate fans come your way.
You've identified a problem. It frustrates you. Now, share your perspective. How should things be? You have an idea, but as for the means to reach it, you have more questions than answers. Invite others to join that journey and follow you as the investigator, the leader, the person synonymous with that premise.
Doing this helps your become more valuable (because it's more insightful) and more original (because it's through your personal perspective).
If Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wanted to motivate others to act, he wouldn't say, "Do this." He also wouldn't say, "Look at how many others do this!" Both might be needed, but both are incremental ways to secure results. "Do this" could be the button you click. What makes you arrive to the button, eager to act? "Look how many" helps assure people that the desire they feel to act won't ostracize them. What sparks the desire to begin with? We're SO focused on things that are needed at the very last moment before we act that we often fail to consider what leads people to that moment of action.
"Don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
Do your ideas provide motivate others to act? That's the first job of a premise. The premise provides motivation to act. It also provides shared language to empower others to share you more easily, as well as a means for you to focus all your content, your marketing, your choices internally.
The premise is the first step towards ensuring you can stop demanding action and start inspiring it. The premise is why you resonate.
Resonance is a literal energy transfer in the sciences. Two frequencies align, so they are resonant frequencies. Likewise, in our work, resonance is a sort of energy transfer. What you're saying imparts that inner feeling of, "YES! THIS!" such that others decide to act. Maybe they change the way they think and feel, which aligns them further with you. That prepares them to buy or subscribe. Or maybe they take those actions already -- buying or subscribing or sharing or something else you can actually measure and see. Regardless, ideas can be built to inspire action. Ideas can move from rough and relevant to pithy and powerful. That's when they become your premise. The core change I want for you in 2024 is to get off the content hamster wheel to compete on the impact of your ideas, not the volume of your content. Said another way, I want you to stand out easier and resonate deeper -- but through the substance you offer, not through hackish stunts people claim inject quick hits of attention or revenue into a business. Those are fleeting at best and damage your reputation at worst.
In 2024, go beyond merely talking about topics. Develop and explore a premise. You can't own your audience, but you can own an idea in their minds.
Make some kind of assertion. I think the work should be this way.
Convey what you believe. This work is really about THIS.
Rally others to change. Stop doing THIS. Start doing THAT.
As for my work lately, here is my premise as I'd describe it right now. I've included each part in brackets in case you wanted to write your own.
[My Mission] I'm on a mission to help others make what matters to their careers, companies, and communities. Because when you matter more, you can hustle for attention less.
[Our Shared Frustration] I'm sick of people with meaningful things to share, getting drowned out by folks who are all hype, no help. What you know is worthy, but what you say has to make that clear. I want to empower more people with substance to stand out and get the attention and passionate support they deserve.
[Desirable Transformation] So to change that, I teach experts to become more effective storytellers in their key projects like shows or public speaking, and in their overall creative platform. I mean that, too: become storytellers. This isn't about just learning the process. This is about working on your posture and your practice. The way you see and think, plus the way you ship and improve, are much more important than the checklist of steps or the techniques you know by name. Don't learn story. BE a storyteller.
[How We Achieve the Transformation] To make that change, I help clients and members develop differentiated premises -- the big idea they can own publicly -- then take that idea to market strong to cement ownership and grow audience through pillar storytelling projects I co-create with you, like podcasts, keynote speeches, your personal practice, and your overall positioning. I coach clients one-on-one to do this, and I run a mastermind called the Creator Kitchen where members actively wrestle with ideas, projects, and problems together with me and a small group of elite creators to produce higher-impact work.
[Leave Them Inspired] Remember: reach is how many see it, but resonance is how much they care. This work is about resonance. From resonance comes results. I help ensure you stand out and drive results easier by resonating deeper. The best way to do that is to develop and own a premise, then tell stronger stories pressed through that lens. That's why they pick you and stick with you despite infinite choice. We have a word for things in our lives like that, which is why I say: Don't be the best. Be their favorite.]
I hope all of that resonated (said with a punchable cheeseball grin on my face). But here's the thing: I don't sit around wondering, "Is this right? Is that the correct premise?" I'm not wordsmithing each line. I'm focused on ensuring it packs an emotional punch and conveys the idea in some way shape or form, because this is like starter dough copy -- I will dip into it to inform everything I do. Every essay, speech, or social video. Every podcast episode or even entirely new shows I launch. Every book or service offering. Every guest appearance or conversation.
Everything flows through that premise. It's a pair of glasses through which I see the work and the world. It's also iterative. It'll evolve as I explore it through my content. In getting it to feel right, more than "be" right, we empower ourselves to ship and validate and improve before the ideas feel final. (Spoiler alert: they never will. The more I talked about my 2018 book, Break the Wheel, during book promo appearances, the more those ideas continued to evolve. Your premise will never feel ready or done.)
This is emotional labor, and it matters. In 2024, make it a priority to master this craft. Everything else we seek in our work gets easier as a result.
Don't just reach people. Resonate with them.
Stop demanding action. Learn to inspire it.
Don't talk topics. Explore a premise.
Are you ready? Good. We set sail at dawn, exploring this vast and endless sea.