2 builders who never spoke to each other
Be visibly moving before you ask for help
People will stop for someone already pushing their own car and drive past one sitting still. Your first job in building an audience is to stop being the only person in it, which means continuing to move forward in public, including through losses, because that persistence is what recruits the first collaborators.
The method
- 01
Your first move when building an audience is to stop being the only person in it: keep visibly moving forward, even through public losses, and that persistence is what recruits your first collaborators.
- 02
People help someone who is visibly already helping themselves, so start moving before you ask anyone for support.
What it returned
Harvey Milk was beaten in more than one run for office before he won, and Hillman credits his attitude under those losses for attracting organizers to him.
Schulz retells a Chris Rock line about how drivers pass a broken-down car but stop for someone pushing their own.
Sources
- What I learned from watching Harvey Milk: A Roadmap for Community OrganizingAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 1. Inspire · 2008-12-01
- The marketing genius of Andrew SchulzHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Part 2 · undated
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in word of mouth
- Check word of mouth exists before you build8 unconnected · contested
- Turn buyers into fans instead of buying ads6 unconnected
- Show up in person where your readers are5 unconnected
- Make the second user arrive with the first5 unconnected
- Answer support as if it were the sales channel4 unconnected
- Give the hardest customers your hours4 unconnected