Ted Gioia

Who wants to be a billionaire?

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The oldest rum brand in the world, and also the oldest living business in Barbados, is Mount Gay Rum.

The Mount Gay distillery, sitting in the middle of wind-blown sugar-cane fields, dates back to 1703. For hundreds of years now, Mount Gay Rum has been a favorite of the pirates, sailors, and tax evaders who landed in Barbados.

When you look at the oldest businesses in other countries around the world, the picture is similar:

Ireland – Sean’s Bar, founded in the year 900

China – Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House, founded in 1153

Ukraine – Drohobych Salt Mine, founded in 1250

Looking at businesses that are still running after a few hundred years or more, you will find lots of small breweries… small inns… small mints… small mills… small mines… and an occasional bell foundry thrown in.

Which led author Ted Gioia, who wrote about this topic recently, to conclude:

“You might assume that the best corporate survival strategy is to get bigger and bigger, but empirical evidence tells a completely different story. These long-term survivors are far more likely to be small, focused companies that do one thing very well, rather than ambitious growth-oriented megacorporations.”

Is Gioia right? I don’t know. But it resonated with me. And so I want to warn you:

A business owner recently tried to motivate me into working with him. “This could be a billion dollar company,” he said, “and you can be a part of it!”

I didn’t say so at the time, but I shuddered at the thought of being part of a billion-dollar company.

Who wants to be a billionaire? My idea of being rich is having more money at the end of each month than I had at the beginning — without scrimping, scrounging, or worrying along the way.

I know that when I don’t work, I get depressed. So I’m more interested in enjoying what I do, and being able to stick with it for the long term, than in making a lot of money and cashing out.

So now that you know that, it’s time to make a decision to avoid my email newsletter or not.

​​You might be wasting your time by signing up to my newsletter. What’s worse, you might be exposed to dangerous ideas that steer you away from your primary goal, in case that goal is to get very rich.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for enjoyable work, for the long term, and if you’re ok focusing on one thing and doing that very well, then it might make sense to sign up.

Who knows?

Maybe I can give you good ideas so you can run a business that you enjoy.

​​Or maybe, even so you can build a little legacy. So a hundred years from now, your great-great-grandkids are still running the direct response brewery you start today… while pointing proudly to your picture on the wall.

If you’re interested here’s how to sign up.

I’m sorry Ms. Jackson

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This one right here goes out to all the email copywriters… the business owners who write their own emails… maybe even those with a YouTube channel.

Here’s the story:​​

A few weeks ago, a music industry insider named Ted Gioia made a big splash by writing an article with the title:

“Is Old Music Killing New Music?”

Gioia had a bunch of stats and anecdotes to prove that old music — stuff that came out 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago — is crowding out the new music being produced today.

Gioia has his theory for why this is.

Basically, he says, record company execs just wants to get a piece of the American pie to take their bite out. So they keep giving people tried-and-true stuff. They’re not willing to take risks.

It’s short-term thinking, Gioia says. Because ironically, the execs are making themselves irrelevant in the process. But one way or another, the fact remains, in Gioia’s words:

“Never before in history have new tracks attained hit status while generating so little cultural impact.”

In my own uninformed yet subjective opinion, this is part of a bigger trend.

It’s not only music that’s getting old. I think it’s movies also, and perhaps other pop culture too.

This matters for marketers.

Because from what I’ve seen writing approximately a billion sales emails… pop culture always gets a great response.

Pop culture references turns you into a magician who can abracadabra a sales point… get people to enjoy it… and maybe even get them to buy.

So what exactly am I telling you?

Well, it’s the same thing that some 40 years ago, A-list copywriter Gene Schwartz said:

“If a movie does a hundred million dollars or more, especially a movie that does two hundred or three hundred million dollars or more, I would go to it two or three times.”

This is a good idea today just as it was in Gene’s time.

Go see blockbusters. But make sure you see the same ones that Gene was talking about, like Lethal Weapon and Home Alone and Pulp Fiction.

In other words, don’t take risks with any of this new stuff. Give people the tried-and-true. And keep doing it. Forever. Forever-ever. For-EVER-ever.

“Whoa there Bejako,” you say. ​”You’ve been handing out a lot of careless and maybe even harmful advice lately.”

Oh yeah, like what?​

“Well, like ​first you said to bet on the Bengals for the Super Bowl. We know how that turned out. Then a couple days ago you almost got me sucked into QAnon.”

That was an honest mistake.
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“Whatever. The point is, now you’re telling me to pander to my audience with references to Fleetwood Mac and Kill Bill. But isn’t this the same short-term thinking as those record company execs? Won’t I be making myself irrelevant in the process?”

I don’t know. You might be right. I might be wrong. So all I can say is:

I’m sorry dear reader. I am for real. Never meant to send you bad advice. I apologize a trillion times.

But I’ll do more than apologize.

I’ll tell you how to avoid pandering and talk about pop culture your audience isn’t familiar with, without taking much of a risk. That’s in my email tomorrow. I hope you’ll read it. You and your mama.

The real Djokovic problem

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If you’re a tennis fan or an Australian or a non-Australian, you’ve undoubtedly heard the smouldering news:

World tennis #1 Novak Djokovic is being deported from the Land Down Under.

Djokovic arrived yesterday to play in the Australian Open, which he has won 9 times already. But…

Djokovic is not vaccinated against corona and was not willing to get vaccinated to participate at the Australian Open.

So the organizers had to finagle (“rigorous review process”) a special medical exemption for Djokovic to be allowed into the country, which has strict vaccine mandates.

And then the folks at the Australian Open had themselves a “good news, bad news” situation:

“Good news! We have the world no. 1 coming to play at the tournament!”

“Bad news! The people of Australia seem genuinely pissed about the medical exemption… since they’ve been forced to live under lockdown for the better part of two years!”

And so, while Djokovic’s plane was in the air, and the smoke from the wildfire on the ground was rising thick and heavy, the Australian PM went on TV to take a tough stand. On arrival, Djokovic would have to prove his medical exemption is legit — or “be on the next plane home.”

The tension was immense. But thankfully, it seems to be getting solved in a nice and clean way.

It turned out somebody on Djokovic’s staff had fumbled the visa application, and had ticked the wrong box somewhere. So Djokovic’s visa is invalid. The Australian government refused to make an exception — “rules are rules” — and so here we are.

At this point, I could switch and talk about direct marketing, and the kinds of prospects you want to sell to, and more importantly, the ones you want to avoid.

But instead, I’d rather talk tennis. All right, not really tennis tennis, but what this Djokovic situation can teach us about personal branding, in tennis and more broadly.

Because I feel this entire situation could not have happened — not with this level of scrutiny, outrage, and interest — without the animosity that has built up against Djokovic over the years.

Let me make it clear:

I personally like the guy. I’ve been a tennis fan for a long time, and I root for Djokovic whenever I see him play. Plus, I find his public appearances charming and funny.

But the tennis media will tell you the world hates the man. His corona stance is just the latest reason why. Before that, it was that he is a cult-minded kook… before that, that he is arrogant… and before that, that he is a whiner and malingerer who takes medical time-outs as a game strategy.

To me, all these seem like surface justifications for something deeper. So I kept asking myself, why do many tennis fans hate Djokovic, and why does the media keep making him into a villain?

I’ve had my own theory about this for a long time. And today, I read a very interesting article, which put my theory into a bigger context. The gist of it is this:

There is a difference between having an enemy and a nemesis.

An enemy is just somebody in your way to getting what you want.

But a nemesis is much like the “Shadow Man” in the Prince of Persia video game — an eerie, bizarro version of yourself, who can match all your skills, who keeps foiling you at key moments, and who ultimately forces you to learn, develop, and grow in order to win.

A true nemesis makes for peak levels of drama, a story we instinctively respond and cling to.

And that’s what made Djokovic so offensive.

My theory for all the Djokovic hate is that he ruined the greatest rivalry tennis has ever known, the one between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Federer and Nadal had a true nemesis storyline, which fans and media loved.

Djokovic ended that. And in his dominance over the past 10+ years, he has had no true nemesis of his own. People never forgave him for what he took away and failed to replace.

That’s been at the core of why he’s been made into a villain. And now it’s coming back to bite him, at the tournament which was his best chance to break the biggest record in tennis — the number of Grand Slam titles — for which he is currently tied with Federer and Nadal.

So here’s my takeaway for you:

If you want a personal storyline that people eat up, get emotionally involved with, and fight to defend, then find yourself a worthy nemesis. Somebody who matches your skills and who can genuinely defeat you.

Because if you don’t, the consequences are clear. Over time, you’ll face growing resentment at your success… hostility at your attempts to be friendly and open… and eventually, a long and lonely flight, “on the next plane home.”

By the way:

The article on the nemesis I mentioned above, by a guy named Ted Gioia, was both interesting and well-written. So in case you’re curious about nemesizing your life or your business, here’s where you can read more:

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/you-dont-need-a-mentorfind-a-nemesis