Im up late, and I cant sleep, and its a perfect time for worrying about the future.

I’ve got a habit of learning how to be moderately good at lots of new things.  This is keeping me from working in a field where I can really excel, and I’m counting the years adding up (33 now) and looking at my life accomplishments, and it’s not adding up to a whole lot.

 

Yeah, I can do lots of cool shit.  But I’m not applying it to the levels of greatness that I consider worthy of me.

Some of the things I haven’t been so good at:

  • Bringing other people onto a project, people with clout and audiences all their own.
  • Delegating aspects of a project to others, often because I feel that I have to pay people full time salaries in order to merit their assistance at all.
  • Focusing exclusively on what I am best at and what I want to be known for, and doing without (or delegating) everything else.

I want to get better at all three of these things, but I am hesitant to commit to their implementation, because I am leaving the United States this summer.  My network in Portland will no longer be essential for me to do business; I have to start thinking globally, about the people I can skype with and email with in order to make things happen.

I don’t know what kind of project I can do in Central America that will bring in other people’s expertise and audiences.  I also don’t know what it is that I am uniquely good at that I want to focus on.  My only vague notion is that it has something to do with performance.

There are plenty of other things I can do that support this major goal; I can teach, via video, and build websites to house the information.  I can make movies.  I can lead online seminars.

Instead, I am building a web design business, so I have a marketable craft when I go into a country with little to no online infrastructure.  Due to their great telecommunications network, however, it should be easy to work there, especially with my networking skills.

But being a solopreneur is not my ultimate goal.  I want to create something bigger.

The online marketers I most admire:

  • Gary Vee.  He chose a niche product with crossover appeal, and markets to a demographic with money.  It also has the benefit of being a topic with endless educational possibilities, and huge networking potential.
  • Andrew Warner.  He brings together the best entrepreneurial minds and hosts a video podcast about it.
  • Rhonda Byrne.  She compiled The Secret from the modern day works and interviews of personal development gurus.

The similarities between these tactics is clear: these people leverage the networks of other people.  They make success by amplifying other peoples messages.

Theres gotta be a way I can do that.

What field?  And how can I introduce performance into the mix?

Interviewing people?  Thats an easy solution.  While I’ve never hosted an interview show before, like with anything else, I’m sure I can figure it out if I try.

How can I bring these interviews into websites I create, and help to leverage their own brand positioning to help both of us?

There has to be some sort of crossover appeal, with a singular focus.

Success is an easy one; anyone still in business is successful, and loves to talk about how they did it.

Service.

How do you make the world a better place?  Thats something lots of people can get behind.  Lots of people have an opinion about it.

Family.

Easy crossover.  If you have kids, if you have parents, you have family issues to deal with.

The hard part with family is that people go through stages; but people drink wine all their life.

Joy.

Daily joy.

How to get joy out of your day.  How to find joy when you should be looking for it all the time.

Happiness experts.

Joy Divisions.

Positude.

Again, easy crossover appeal, because everyone likes to be happy.  But how to turn this into a product?

Interview all the greatest experts on the subject of joy?

There seems to be two diverging paths here; ideals and products.  Ideals are great, but they have to have a product to package them (like the Secret DVD, and book, and the other spinoffs).  Gary Vee has an easy product, especially because its not his.  He is the clearinghouse for all of the info, and sells other peoples products through his site.

He is a retailer.

Were I passionate about gadgets, that would be an easy solution.

Sports, too.  That would work great.

The tough thing is, I’m not passionate about things that the mainstream populace is passionate about.

What can people order and buy online that I could be a retailer for?

What sort of ecommerce site could I have that would serve as an online clearinghouse and authority on the subject?

Sales Manifestation is still a possibility.  That idea has hung around for so long because its closest to what I’m trying to make.  It’s not quite there, but its the closest I’ve gotten so far.

Comic books.  DVDs and movies.  Tarot.  The future.  Kabbalah.  Books.  Fitness.  Yoga.  Personal growth.  Performance.

How could I turn other people’s love of performance into an online business?

Interview the heavy hitters in the field.  Give them a chance to tell their stories and cross over audiences.

Entertainment Weekly meets Inside the Actors Studio.

Interviewing Felicia Day and a WB studio exec.  Jillian Michaels and…

wait!  Thats it!

Personality, identity, how do you care for your public character!