Tag: innovation

Your Established Customers Don’t Want Innovation

When I had very few established readers,
I wrote whatever the heck
I wanted to write.

There were no expectations
and not many people who would protest
if I wrote something completely new.

Today, I have a healthy readership
and those readers
don’t want completely new stories.
They want stories
that are similar to my past stories.

When I write something completely new,
they punish me with 1 star reviews
and they are less likely
to read my next story.

As Seth Godin
shares

“As you cross the chasm,
the bulk of your new customers
don’t want innovation at all.
They want promises kept,
a lack of surprises
and reasonable prices
and efficiency.”

Once your business
finds its customer base,
it is unlikely
that this customer base
wants extreme innovation.

If you haven’t yet
found that customer base,
enjoy the freedom
to innovate
now.

Pushback On New Ideas

Whenever I share an upcoming story premise
(a new idea)
with others,
I almost always get pushback on it.

The more original the idea,
the more pushback I receive.

The argument usually is
if readers (prospects) wanted
that type of story
(that type of product),
those stories (products) would have already been
written (developed).

Which is ridiculous
because SOMEONE has to go first.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you wait
until the market is telling you
exactly what it wants,
you’re almost certainly
too late.”

Expect pushback
when you share new ideas.

Develop those new ideas
anyway.

Breakthroughs Bundle

A couple of days ago,
it was announced
that a malaria vaccine
was being rolled out
en masse in Africa.

Yesterday,
it was announced
that a COVID-19 vaccine
would soon be rolled out
for children aged 5 to 11.

There is currently a race
to develop
HIV vaccines.

Multiple breakthroughs in niches
tend to happen
over the same short time period.

Sometimes, it is because
there’s media focus on the industry.
We merely find out
about the breakthroughs then.

Sometimes, it is because
there’s investor interest in it.
There’s increased funding
and that funding leads to
discoveries
and
important work being done.

Sometimes, it is because
a new development (like mRNA delivery)
makes other breakthroughs possible.

Sometimes, one breakthrough
inspires other breakthroughs.

And sometimes, it is merely a coincidence.

This is one of the many reasons why
we need to stay current
in our niches.
We need to be informed.
Because there will be multiple breakthroughs
over a short time period
and that will significantly change the niche.

Stay current.
Let others inspire you.
Push forward.